MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. PETER WELCH (D), VERMONT: It"s good to be here. And I was in front of the rules committee with Congressman Sessions. And I thought he was a legitimate chairman.

MADDOW: The things that Congressman Fitzpatrick and Congressman Sessions, the things that they voted on when they weren"t technically members of Congress, do they have to go back and vote on them again? Do they get undone? The things that they introduced, do they have to be made right somehow?

WELCH: Well, you know, the parliamentarian in the rules committee is tying itself in knots trying to figure that out. And some of these things are somewhat silly but correctable. But some of are quite serious.

You know, the Republicans campaigned very effectively and beat us up badly and won a big majority. But whether they can govern effectively and responsibly, we"re getting off to a bad start. And it"s hard to having off a lot of confidence.

In some of the promises they made after criticizing us, like having open rules so that we could propose amendments, like having a commitment to paying down the deficit and then having us their first item of business, literally, the first item of business, repealing health care that will increase the deficit by $230 billion, that"s got me alarmed. And I think it should have a lot of the American people concerned.

MADDOW: Are there any procedural changes they have proposed? I"m thinking specifically of this proposal that they withdrew actually, that they would want to publish a committee member"s attendance at various committee hearing and proceedings. Are there specific things they propose that you actually think might make a difference and might make the House run more smoothly? Or do you think these are in the whole essentially symbolic measures that won"t make a difference?

WELCH: They made a proposal to have open rules. And that actually is fundamentally important and a real opportunity. They criticized us for not having more open rules. And actually, I think they had some legitimate criticisms of us.

But on the health care bill, which is going to involve taking away hard-fought insurance protections for middle class families in this country and for seniors, they are not even going to let myself and 65 colleagues who proposed amendments to let you know--because we can take an up-or-down vote on whether we let insurance companies continue to deny us because we have a pre-existing condition, or whether we"re going to protect the right of parents to have their kids on their policies until age 26, or whether we"re going to maintain the law that we have now that you continue to get coverage with no lifetime caps if you have a chronic disease like diabetes or cancer--we should have an opportunity to vote "yes" or "no."

And when I was in the rules committee, I really suggested to the Republicans, they have people in their district whose kids need that health care coverage, who folks, brothers and sisters, that have pre-existing conditions. Why not each of us raise our hand, vote "yes" or "no" and then we are not only accountable but our constituents know where we stand? And then they can decide whether they agree with us or not in the next election.

So, that"s a very important reform applied to a very important bill.

Their bill on health care is taking away rights that Americans now have. And we should be held accountable. And people should know where we stand on each of these provisions.

MADDOW: If the Republicans stick to their plan right now on the health care reform bill, which is to allow no amendments even though they have been saying they want their to be an open rule, they want there to be amendments broadly speaking, even if they don"t want them for this one piece of legislation, if they proceed the way they say they"re going to--will Democrats have a chance in this process to try to resell the idea of health reform to the American public? Is this a chance to do more communication around the benefits of health reform?

WELCH: It is and we must. You know, the Democrats blew it in explaining to the American people what was in the health care reform and why it was so important. And the Republicans were very successful vilifying Obamacare. It meant a million different bad things to a million different people.

But now that we"re trying to get specific and we"re saying and ask them the question: do you think your kids should stay on your policy when they get out of high school and they get an entry-level job with no health care? Do you think that seniors, your mom and dad, who are on Medicare, in trying to take care of themselves, should they have free preventive care? Do you think that somebody who"s got a pre-existing condition shouldn"t be able to buy insurance?

But Americans support that. And the Republicans know it. The reason they"re not having hearings is if they had a hearing, they"d lose.

So, you know, the campaign is one thing. But when you get to governing, you actually have to acknowledge that the decisions you make have real world consequences for real people, real families all across this country. An d we"ve got to take on that fight to make the American people know what"s at stake and what"s being taken away from them. Needlessly and incidentally, the control goes back to the insurance companies.

MADDOW: Democratic Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont, seen as national profile rise recently with his strong criticisms of the Republican and at times with his own party--Congressman Welch, thank you for speaking out. Thanks for your time tonight, sir.

WELCH: Thank you.

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