Van Hollen Remarks Following Democratic Caucus Meeting Today

Statement

"I thank you Mr. Clyburn and to my colleagues. Thank you for your leadership.

"I think in the last several days we've seen some good news and some bad news. The good news is that a wake-up call has been sent to those people who were deluded enough to think that if the United States defaulted on its debt, it would not have very serious consequences for our economy and jobs. Because for awhile there were people who could say, "oh Secretary Geithner, he's cooking the books, he's making this stuff up, it's not real.'

"Well, is Standard and Poor's making it up? Is Moody's making it up? Is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce making it up? Defaulting on our debt -- not paying America's bills for the first time in its history -- would have devastating consequences for the economy, and it is absolutely irresponsible for people to continue to take the position that it's okay for the United States not to pay its bills.

"The bad news was unfortunately what we just heard from the Republican conference. Because I heard the Speaker say two things that were in conflict. On the one hand, he's said he still wants to get a big agreement -- a big agreement to try and address the deficit in this country and other issues. That's what we want. That's what the President of the Unites States wants. But what the Speaker of the House said in the same breath was you can't close loopholes in the corporate -- the corporate loopholes in the tax code. That you can't get rid of the loopholes that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas. That you can't ask the oil and gas companies to no longer take taxpayer subsidies. That's what he said.

"Every bipartisan group that has looked at this issue -- Simpson-Bowles, Domenici-Rivlin, every other group -- has said you need a balanced approach if you want to get something big done. That's what the President of the United States wants to do. So to in the same breath say you want to get a big comprehensive plan through and at the same time say your objective is to protect special interest tax loopholes in the tax code, and the folks at the very high end of the income scale is, I believe, irresponsible.

"What is their answer they're going to bring to the Floor of the House? Their plan to end the Medicare guarantee. Say to seniors who no longer can participate in Medicare you're going to have go in the private insurance market where you're going to have higher costs and you're going to have to eat more and more. Slash Medicaid. That's their proposal.

"I'm just going to end with this point. Ronald Reagan -- Ronald Reagan was a strong conservative. But Ronald Reagan said that there were important times for compromise for the good of the country. Debt ceiling was raised 17 times when Ronald Reagan was President, and as Alan Simpson -- former Senator Simpson said, that when push came to shove, Reagan agreed 11 times to packages that included revenue for the good of the country, for the good of compromise. And unfortunately that's what we're not seeing now.

"Again, on one hand, let's get a big bargain, and on the other hand setting conditions that make it impossible because the number one priority is not reducing the deficit. The number one priority has been protecting the special interests here in Washington. Let's change that."

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