MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MAJORITY LEADER: Well, we"re going to see what comes from the Senate, but we"re going to vote on something, I"m sure. Whether it"s the exactly what the president made a deal with on the Republicans or not, well, that remains to be seen. There"s obviously, as you know, Chris, a lot of concern on the House side that we did some things that are not going to grow the economy but will add substantially to the deficit which were not necessary to do.

But the Republicans made it clear that they were not going to make sure that middle-income taxpayers didn"t get a tax increase and held hostage that freezing of rates to the upper-income Americans having a freeze. So we"ll see what comes over from the Senate.

MATTHEWS: Well, let me ask you about the president"s decision and what the alternative would have been. When you look down the road to an alternative, not dealing with the Republicans at all, saying, Tough, we"re not going your direction, what was the ultimate opportunity that was out there the president didn"t take, as you see it?

HOYER: Well, I don"t think there was an alternative of not dealing with the Republicans. Clearly, in the United States Senate, there need to be a bipartisan agreement in order to move forward. Harry Reid didn"t have the votes to move forward without Republicans, and so discussion was essential, and frankly, Chris, desirable. We want to have a bipartisan agreement on this issue.

We passed a bill, of course, over to the Senate, which incorporated what we thought was the priority in making sure that there was unemployment insurance available, and secondly, that middle-income taxpayers did not get any increase in their taxes on January 1st. That has not moved in the Senate, as you well know. It"s pending there. It will be amended.

The president discussed with us, but he negotiated with the Republicans a deal. That deal incorporates some things that we don"t think were necessary. We wish the president had made that case more strongly.

But having said that, we"ll see what the Senate does and we"ll see what their product is. And then, as we said today, we"re going to consider it and we may make some changes and send it back to the Senate.

MATTHEWS: I guess the big question is a question of fact. Did Speaker Pelosi offer to negotiate with the Senate Republicans, or the Republicans generally? Or was the president forced to send Vice President Biden on a nighttime mission to talk to Mitch McConnell? Did the president have an opportunity to bring you guys, the House Democratic caucus, into this discussion earlier? Did he let it go by, or did you folks tell him, No, we"re not going to negotiate with those people?

HOYER: No, I don"t think there was expression by us that we would not negotiate. Again, there are a lot of things in the president"s package to grow the economy, to encourage people to invest, to give them breaks on investing and buying capital products now, rather than later, giving them a tax benefit in the short term. So there were a lot of things in there the Republicans wanted and that both parties can support.

However, our position was pretty clear on and the president"s position was pretty clear that we didn"t think that freezing taxes on the upper income, which would make the deficit worse but not grow the economy, was good policy. So--but there was no refusal by us to negotiate. But negotiating with the Senate Republicans really is the--is Harry Reid"s job, and the president pursued that, as well. That makes sense.

MATTHEWS: You know, I"ve been--I"ve been critical somewhat, although I understand the values involved, of this eruption of rebellion against the president because it seems to me it"s coming from people from one-party districts. It"s coming from people that don"t face general elections, people like Anthony Weiner and people from the Bay area. They don"t have to fight general elections. How can people in districts that don"t know what a general election is help develop a national Democratic Party position?

HOYER: Well, of course, they"re participants in the party, just as everybody else is, so--

MATTHEWS: I know.

HOYER: -- they do participate in the caucus, Chris, in creating policy. But we need to create policy, as you point out, that moves us forward in a way that is positive for the country. And again, two objectives in mind, growing the economy, creating jobs, and looking at a longer-term fiscal responsible package that balances the budget, or at least gets us back to a more balanced budget.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

HOYER: But you know, they--every district has a representative, as you well know as well as anybody else--

MATTHEWS: Yes.

HOYER: -- who wants to express the opinions of that district. That"s appropriate. That"s acceptable. And it"s welcomed.

MATTHEWS: OK. Well, who"s going to represent all the Democrats who lost in this last election? Who"s going to represent Bucks County and Scranton and Lackawanna County and all those counties where the Democrats got blown away? Who"s going to represent the Democratic people in those Democrats, who may well vote Democrat in the next election? Or is your caucus just going to be the inner city and the wealthy suburbs around the Bay area of San Francisco? Is your party going to become a party that doesn"t represent the middle anymore? That"s my concern. I"ll admit it. It"s my concern.

HOYER: I think that"s the concern of everybody that--and I believe we have a party that does represent the interests of working men and women throughout this country.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

HOYER: And very frankly, Chris, I think the legislation we passed through the House reflects that.

MATTHEWS: OK.

HOYER: (INAUDIBLE) I think. As a matter of fact, when you look at the polling data, you see that 52 percent of Republicans believe that the bill that we passed through the House--not specifically the bill, but the policies included in it--

MATTHEWS: I get you.

HOYER: -- they support. Sixty-four percent of independents support that same premise, that you give the middle income taxpayer a tax break or you do nothing, and do nothing so you can make a big crack in the deficit that we"ve incurred. So that I think we were representing the majority view--

MATTHEWS: Yes.

HOYER: -- of the United States, including a majority of the Republicans, and by the way, 87 percent of Democrats. So we think that our policies are representative. But you"re right. We need to focus on the districts that we lost to make sure that they know, as we believe, that our party represents them, their values, their aspirations, want to grow the economy and cut the deficit.

MATTHEWS: Yes. Thank you so much.

HOYER: You bet, Chris.

MATTHEWS: Congressman Steny Hoyer, the Democratic leader of the House right now. Thanks you so much, sir, for joining us tonight.

HOYER: Thanks.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source