CNN "American Morning" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining me to talk about this now is Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen. He is the ranking member of the House Budget Committee. He is a Democrat.

Congressman Van Hollen, thank you for joining us. REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Good to be with you.

VELSHI: Do you know anything about the reports that have been coming out that the president is prepared to talk about Medicare and Social Security with the Republicans in exchange for their support to raise the debt ceiling?

VAN HOLLEN: Ali, I do not know the details on this. I saw the reports and will hear a lot more from the president around 11:00 when he meets with bipartisan group at the White House. I do know that the president has been looking for a comprehensive deal that will get about $4 trillion in deficit reductions. That was along the lines of the proposal from the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission.

But respect to the history that appeared this morning on Social Security, I do not know what exactly the president is referring to. And I should be clear that congressional Democrats are not going to support something that seeks to balance the budget on the backs of Social Security beneficiaries would be --

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VAN HOLLEN: I'm pretty confident that that's not what the president is referring to

VELSHI: OK. So, let me just ask you just so we can set the stage here. What kind of things you and Congressional Democrats with respect to Social Security might support if we support an increase in the age when you get Social Security for people who are younger at this point so it phases in over some time. Is that the kind of thing we could be talking about?

VAN HOLLEN: I think that would meet with a lot of resistance for this reason. It's easy for people who make a living like you and I do talking to retire a little bit later. It's a lot harder for someone who's been doing back-breaking work. What we could do and this is something that is a part of the design of the existing system which says you don't take away the option to retire early, but if you do retire early, you do get a lower benefit over a period of time.

That's part of the design in the current system. You could build on that. There are other options that we've discussed. For example, lifting the cap on the payroll tax. That would bring in some more revenue. So, there are ways to strength Social Security. Obviously, an important issue and not to do that as a way to balance the rest of the budget.

VELSHI: Let me ask you this then because a part of the reports that are coming out is that the president could agree to or push for $3 to $4 trillion in cuts over the next ten years. Where do Congressional Democrats stand on that?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, the president's proposal that he laid out just a short time ago at George Washington University called for about a $4 trillion in cuts over 12 years. And while I think you'd find people disagreeing with some of the details, the overall architecture of that proposal is something that certainly I could support because it was a balanced approach. It said we got to close a lot of these corporate tax loopholes.

We got to ask the folks at the very top to go back to paying what they did under the, you know, -- during the Clinton administration, but it also called for some significant cuts which we're going to have to do on domestic discretionary spending. But the president was clear that while we made cuts on the domestic side of the ledger, we also got to look at Pentagon spending and that's something the bipartisan commission also recommends.

VELSHI: Let me ask you this, Congressman Van Hollen, you're a leader in the Democratic Party. So, at some point, we know that Republicans have dug in about nothing that looks, smells, or walks like a tax increase or an elimination of a credit. You do have to compromise, and you will probably tell me that you and Congressional Democrats have, but the bottom line is what can you do to bring hard line fiscal conservatives over who will not get off of that mantra?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, that's exactly the question that I think all of us need to ask, and I, frankly, do not have a good answer for you, because what you've got right now is a dynamic in the Republican Party, especially with the tea party movement that says that we're not going to support closing corporate tax loopholes even for the purpose of deficit reduction.

And, until the Republican party is more worried about the deficit than they are about Grover Norquist and sort of that whole part of their coalition, then, we're going to have real problem. Now, maybe, the ice is beginning to break a little bit there. I haven't -- you know, there were some signs yesterday, although, you have to see it to believe it. I need to see an actual proposal.

VELSHI: Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat from Maryland and the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, thanks very much for joining us. I hope -- as you said, I hope the ice starts to break.

VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.

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