FOX News "FOX News Sunday" - Transcript

Interview

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WALLACE: Joining us now is House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer.

And, Congressman, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."

HOYER: Good to be with you, Chris. Thanks a lot.

WALLACE: While Republicans have their pledge, and I know we're going to get into that, Democrats have their record over the last two years controlling both the White House and both houses of Congress, so let's take a look at that.

The federal deficit this year will be $1.3 trillion. Since President Obama took office, 3.2 million Americans lost their jobs. And despite Democrats adding almost $3 trillion to on the national debt the last two years, GDP growth is just 1.6 percent. Congressman, that's your record.

HOYER: That's the record, and it's better than we inherited. We inherited four quarters of declining growth, about 12 percent declining growth over the previous four quarters, including the first quarter of '09, which I think is correct to attribute to the Bush administration.

And we've brought it out, and we're gaining jobs, almost 700,000 jobs this month -- this year alone. Clearly, the deficit is a terrific problem that we've got to face. Why did we have that deficit? About 90 percent of it comes directly from the economic recession, the Bush policies that were not paid for, the two wars...

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: But unemployment's gone up since you guys came into office by 3 million people and unemployment is 9.6 percent.

HOYER: We lost 3.8 million the year before we got into office. So we were in a deep hole. And in fact, of course, jobs went -- unemployment went up 83 percent under the Bush administration and has gone up 26 percent under the Obama administration. So yes, but we've gone into positive numbers...

WALLACE: Tell that to the 15 million people that are out of work, sir.

HOYER: Absolutely, and it's a real problem, and we have to -- and we've been passing bill after bill, just passed one this last week to expand small businesses, to give small businesses a tax cut, put $30 billion on the table, which will be leveraged into $300 billion to grow jobs, to expand jobs.

And we've passed a tax bill through the House which said we're not going to outsource jobs that, unfortunately, every Republican voted against.

WALLACE: All right. Briefly, here's "A Pledge to America." I'll give you a minute and a half. What's wrong with it?

HOYER: Well, the "Pledge to America" is more spin than specifics.

And the "Pledge to America" -- I can't really say anything as harsh about the "Pledge for America," which is really no pledge at all, than the -- than the Republican opponents have said, that conservatives have said, that tea party members have said.

And a matter of fact, the Club for Growth said it was milquetoast and that the people who wrote it weren't prepared to lead.

WALLACE: Yeah, but they don't want to go in your direction. They want to go even further in the other direction.

HOYER: But the point is we are pursuing a program which is getting our country back to work, creating manufacturing jobs where we lost manufacturing jobs under the Bush administration, and has a plan to get the budget under control, re-adopted pay-go.

The reason we got in such a deep hole is because Republicans passed programs and didn't pay for them. In this document, they don't want to pay for them either.

In fact, in this document, they want to create another $4 trillion in debt. And they say the way they're going to solve that deficit problem is to cut non-defense, non-security discretionary spending.

They'd have to cut between two-thirds and 80 percent of all discretionary spending over the next 10 years. Our country would...

WALLACE: I think it's actually more like 22 percent, but...

HOYER: Oh, I don't think so.

WALLACE: Well, for the $100 billion in the first year. But let me -- let me...

HOYER: Well, the 100...

WALLACE: Let's move on to another issue, taxes.

HOYER: Yes.

WALLACE: Simple question: Will the House hold a vote this week before you adjourn for a month of campaigning, a vote this week on whether or not to extend the Bush tax cuts?

HOYER: I doubt that we will, and let me tell you why. The Senate has refused to move forward on that issue. As you know, we have some 400 bills pending in the Senate, 75 percent of which have gotten 50 Republican votes or more, but they can't move through the Senate, so it would be an specious act.

But Democrats have absolutely pledged and we'll make sure that before the end of this year the Republican increase in middle-income taxes will not go into effect, the Republican bill that phased out this year...

WALLACE: Wait a minute. You're calling the Republican -- you're calling the Bush tax cuts an increase in taxes on the middle class?

HOYER: The budget ended in 2010. That's why we have this confronting us. Why did they do that? Because they played budget games for scoring purposes. And yes, it's the Republican plan to eliminate those tax... (CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: But you've got a big majority.

HOYER: I understand.

WALLACE: Why not pass the extension of the middle-class tax cuts before you go home to campaign for a month?

HOYER: I just told you. The Senate has decided they wouldn't do it because of the...

WALLACE: Well, that's the Senate. You're the House.

HOYER: The obstruction is in the Senate. Well, it would be a specious act for us.

But what we have -- what is not a specious act, Chris, is we have absolutely guaranteed that there will be no increase in middle-income taxes. The president's that. The speaker and I have said that. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin have said that. There will be no increase...

WALLACE: All right.

HOYER: ... in middle-income taxes.

WALLACE: But here's the -- here's the point, Congressman. The Democrats have held a big majority in both the House and the Senate for almost two years now, since January of 2009. You've had it for almost two years.

Isn't it a serious failure by Democrats in both the House and the Senate that you haven't told the American people what's going to happen to their taxes on income, on dividends, on capital gains, on inheritance, and it's coming up now just three months away? Is that any way to add certainty and confidence to the economy during tough times?

HOYER: It is not. And that's largely due to the obstructionism in the United States Senate by the Republicans who have just enough to stop any action.

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: ... majority for more than a year. Add the fact is that the Democrats in the Senate -- I'm not asking you to defend the Senate -- they haven't even written a bill. You haven't written a bill in the House.

HOYER: Well, now, hold it. We passed a capital gains bill more than a year ago.

WALLACE: I'm talking about extending the Bush tax cuts.

HOYER: I understand what you're -- they are part of the Bush tax cuts. We are extending the capital gains tax -- excuse me -- the estate tax at what it had been. That would have given certainty.

It's unfortunate that we weren't able to get that bill through the Senate. We weren't able to get it through the Senate because of Republican obstructionism. Why? Because they want to eliminate the capital gains, because they're focused on the 1 or 2 percent of the richest people in America. That's what we've been confronted with on taxes.

They want to raise -- they want to cut taxes on the wealthiest in America. We want to make sure that middle-income America, working Americans, don't have a tax increase. And the obstructionism in the Senate has not allowed us to move forward. It's unfortunate...

WALLACE: If your...

HOYER: ... Because we need certainty.

WALLACE: if your party loses control of the House, will you promise not to hold a lame duck session after the (inaudible)?

HOYER: Of course I'm not going to promise that, Chris. That would be an irrational promise to make, because we're not going to complete the appropriations process, again, because of the difficulty of the obstructionism in the United States Senate...

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: Well, you're the House. You could have passed all these things. But -- but here's...

HOYER: We certainly could have.

WALLACE: But here's the -- here's the question.

HOYER: But we need to come back to make sure we completed that process as, frankly, Republicans did when they were in charge.

WALLACE: Do you think it's right to have members of Congress who have just lost -- I'm talking now about a scenario where the House goes to the Republicans -- to have members of Congress who have just lost come back and decide taxes and spending against the will of the Americans who have just voted?

HOYER: I don't think we're going to make any decisions against the will of the American public. Frankly, Chris, that's your assumption.

WALLACE: No, I'm...

HOYER: I think -- I think... (CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: ... I'm presenting a scenario.

HOYER: I think it is absolutely correct -- and under both parties' leadership we have done that -- that members of Congress are elected for 24 months, not for 21 months, not for 22 months, for 24 months. And they will continue their responsibilities...

WALLACE: So even...

HOYER: ... to the end of their term.

WALLACE: So even if, let's say -- I'm just -- suppose -- even if Republicans gain control of the House, and one of the clear messages is we don't want to raise taxes on anyone, it's OK for the Democrats to come back in a lame duck session and vote to let the tax cuts for the wealthy lapse?

HOYER: I certainly think it's OK. They'll make a policy judgment. As a matter of fact, Chris, there's no -- there's no confusion where the Democrats stand on this issue. The president's made it very clear. I've made it very clear. The leadership's made it very clear.

We are for making sure that the middle-class Americans do not get a tax increase. And we're going to make sure that happens. We've also made it clear that cutting taxes on the wealthiest in America will simply exacerbate the deficit without any assistance to the economy.

WALLACE: I've got less than two minutes left and I want to ask you two questions, if I may, sir. When Nancy Pelosi became speaker, she promised to drain the swamp of ethics abuses in the House.

Two top Democrats, Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters, have both been charged with breaking House rules and both have demanded trials before the election. Question, sir: Will the Ethics Committee hold those trial before the election or not?

HOYER: Well, that's up to Jo Bonner, the Republican, and Zoe Lofgren, the Democrat. But let me...

WALLACE: But so far they haven't scheduled them.

HOYER: I understand that. That's because of their own scheduling problems. But let me say this, Charlie.

WALLACE: I'm Chris.

HOYER: Chris, excuse me.

WALLACE: Charlie Rangel.

HOYER: Chris, let me say this. The fact of the matter is the ethics process is working. The fact of the matter is, unlike under Republicans, we haven't fired the chairman of the Ethics Committee because they went after somebody in the Democratic Party, and we haven't removed any members from the Ethics Committee. The ethics process is working.

WALLACE: But you're not -- you're not committing that they will have the trials that they have sought... (CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: ... before voters have to vote on Waters and Rangel in November.

HOYER: I think that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. Obviously, the members of the Ethics Committee are going to have to make that determination. And they have their own issues to deal with in their own elections.

WALLACE: And finally, 30 seconds left. On Friday, comedian Stephen Colbert testified before a congressional committee in his fake comedic character. At a time when the country faces real problems, sir, was this an embarrassment for the House?

HOYER: I think his testimony was not appropriate. I think it was an embarrassment for Mr. Colbert more than the House. He was...

WALLACE: Well, he was called by the Democratic chair...

HOYER: He was called...

WALLACE: ... of the subcommittee.

HOYER: You asked me, Chris, whether the testimony was appropriate. I think it was not appropriate.

WALLACE: And he should not have been called.

HOYER: Well, I don't know about whether he was called, but what he had to say, I think, was not the way it should have been said.

WALLACE: Why was it...

HOYER: If he had -- if he had a position on the issues, he should have given those issues. And I think -- you asked my personal opinion.

WALLACE: You regret it.

HOYER: I think it was inappropriate. Can I say something -- go back to this pledge? Because the...

WALLACE: Thirty seconds, but...

HOYER: The American public heard from these young guns. It turned out to be a pop gun. It turned out to be spin, not substance, not specifics. It turned out to be a return to the failed Bush policies which demonstrably got us into a deep hole.

The American public could compare two economic premises -- one we pursued which gave us the best economy that we've seen in yours and my lifetime in the '90s, or the worst economy we've seen in the 2000s.

WALLACE: Congressman Hoyer, we want to thank you. Thanks so much for coming in. And with 37 days left till the election, it's going to be quite a rush to the finish.

HOYER: You bet. It is.

WALLACE: Thank you, sir.

HOYER: Thanks, Chris.

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