MSNBC "Jansing & Co" - Transcript

Interview

Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, today appeared on MSNBC's Jansing & Co. to discuss Democrats' efforts to extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans before it expires at the end of this year. Video of the interview is available here and the transcript is below.

CHRIS JANSING, MSNBC: I'm joined now by Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, former chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Good morning, Congressman.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Good morning, Chris.

JANSING: I'm sure you've seen it, the President unveiled this "Debt Clock" countdown yesterday. There's no shortage of high-profile finger-pointing. So tell me, can Congress get this done?

VAN HOLLEN: Well we have to get it done because if we don't get it done before the holidays, beginning January 1st, 160 million Americans -- every working American -- is going to see an increase in their payroll tax if we don't extend. And I hope we bump up the payroll tax cut as the President has proposed. We have put a lot of proposals on the table. We're hoping our Republican colleagues will join with us to get it done.

JANSING: Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney also say, by the way that, they favor the payroll tax extensions. So if these Republicans, the two frontrunners on the Republican trail, find that this is a politically helpful position, why aren't there more electeds on board? Why do you think this fight is going on?

VAN HOLLEN: That's a very good question. It's good to see Mitt Romney finally coming on board on this issue after waffling for a very long time. Obviously he realized that it would be a mistake not to do this. I'm glad he got to that point. I hope that will help convince some of his Republican colleagues up here on Capitol Hill. As you know, there was a Republican counterproposal in the Senate very recently and it did not even get a majority of the Republican votes. Democrats now are putting on the table their second proposal to extend the payroll tax holiday for every worker and to bump it up a little bit -- they scaled back the overall size of the package -- it's totally paid for over the budget period. So, again, we hope as we count down toward the end of this month that our Republican colleagues will join with us.

JANSING: Even as you make this fairness argument -- and as I said among those who support it is Gingrich and his campaign is on fire -- he is not backing down, not one bit, on his idea that poor kids should become janitors in their schools. And let me play just a little bit of one of his defenses of the plan.

CLIP OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NEWT GINGRICH: What if they cleaned out the bathrooms and what if they mopped the floors? What if they in that process were actually learning to work, learning to earn money? They didn't have to become a pimp or a prostitute or a drug dealer.

JANSING: Your reaction to that?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, this is part of Newt Gingrich's sort of twisted thinking. And unfortunately, even when given a chance to retract his comments, he doubled down on them. The reality of the day is that poor kids try and work very hard. The reason poor kids are having trouble these days is not for lack of work; it's because of lack of job opportunities, particularly in many neighborhoods around the country where you have higher levels of unemployment even than the high national average. So let's get to work trying to make sure that we create jobs rather than blaming people who can't find jobs that don't even exist. And it's part of the blame game that Newt Gingrich has engaged in throughout his political career to try and divide people, when, in fact, people who are poor are out there looking for work and it's not for lack of looking. It's for lack of jobs out there. Let's solve that problem.

JANSING: We're out of time. But I want to ask you really quickly, given your experience, given what you know about what's going on there, what's the percentage chance you think this payroll tax cut is going to be extended? Is it going to happen?

VAN HOLLEN: I think there's a very good chance. I think ultimately our Republican colleagues will come on board. They've moved from opposing it totally to saying that they want to work with us to find a way to get it done. But you have to get it done in a way that's fair. They continue to resist the idea of asking the very wealthiest Americans to share more in the responsibility for getting the economy moving for everybody. People who are doing very well, even in this down economy, should help share in that responsibility. While the Republicans did not want to increase -- or preserve -- the payroll tax cut for working Americans, for a very long time they have worked very hard to extend the tax cuts for the people at the top. So I think that kind of contradiction is finally catching up with them and I think we will get it done.

JANSING: Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen, always good to see you, thanks.

VAN HOLLEN: Good to see you, thanks.

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