CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Speaker Boehner and the Tea Party

Interview

WOLF BLITZER, CNN: Let's bring in Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen, the Ranking Minority Member of the House Budget Committee. Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Wolf, great to be with you.

BLITZER: So, I'm sure you're very happy with what the Senate is about to do. Just walk us through the process a little bit because that process is important to hundreds of thousands of workers. Will they get reinstated today on the job or tomorrow or a day after that? What's your understanding? Does the Senate vote first on this legislation, then the House votes, or does the House vote first and then the Senate?

VAN HOLLEN: Yes, Wolf, you're absolutely right. This is important to hundreds of thousands of workers and, of course, it's important to the whole country. Things, as you know, have been changing minute to minute around here. My best understanding is the current plan is for the Senate to go first. The Senate would actually have to take up a House bill that's in the Senate, put the agreement into the House bill, and then it would be subject to some potential procedural hurdles. Now, I understand that Senator Cruz has said that he's not going to delay that. We'll have to see. And then of course, when that bill comes over to the House -- probably later this evening -- then Speaker Boehner would have to bring it up on the floor of the House. Hopefully, that will all happen before midnight tonight and we can put an end to this very sad and unnecessary chapter in Congressional history.

BLITZER: I know the Speaker, John Boehner, is meeting with his Republican colleagues in the House at 3:00 pm Eastern. What do you anticipate? Is he going to allow whatever passes the Senate to come up for a vote, a yea or nay vote on the floor of the House of Representatives without any further amendments, changes, other alterations?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, Wolf, I certainly hope so -- because the alternative is not only a continued government shutdown, but defaulting on our debt. Because as we all know, as we head into tomorrow, we're really already running on empty in terms of the monies in the Treasury to keep up with our debt obligations. So, that's the fundamental choice that we've been facing in this Congress all along: is the Speaker going to stand up to the really reckless faction within his party in order to do the right thing for the country? I certainly believe so. I hope so. I believe he's made that decision, but again, around here, we find out that things have changed minute to minute. I mean, this morning we thought this process might actually begin in the House. Now it seems that it's going to begin in the Senate.

BLITZER: It probably will begin in the Senate. Especially now that Senator Cruz and colleagues say they're going to let it go forward without any procedural roadblocks. Talk to me about one aspect of this deal, that House and Senate budget conferees would begin negotiations, would begin discussions to come up with some sort of agreement by mid-December, long-term, on the budget. I assume, as the Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, you'll be one of those conferees. But explain what all of this means in layman's terms to our viewers out there. Is there any penalty if you don't come up with an agreement by December 13th?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, Wolf, I certainly hope we can come up with an agreement but the answer is there's no specific penalty if you don't. What happened is, back in March, March of this year, the House passed a budget, the Republican budget, and the Senate passed a budget. And since March, we've been trying to go to a budget negotiation with our Republican colleagues. Three times here in the House, Speaker Boehner blocked the appointment of negotiators and 20 times, Senator Cruz and others blocked the appointment of negotiators in the Senate. So, it is progress that now we're actually finally going to the budget table because it is obviously very hard to get an agreement if people refuse to talk. So, we're really glad that we're now going to open this dialogue. The discussion will be between the two budgets. I mean, you've got a comprehensive House Republican budget. You've got a comprehensive Senate budget. There are deep differences between those budgets in terms of priorities. We've been trying to get together so we can compromise on those budgets, as I said, since March. I hope our colleagues are now ready to do that.

BLITZER: Senator Patty Murray, the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Paul Ryan the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, they will lead these negotiations and you'll be involved, other Senators, Representatives will be involved as well. But here's my fear. As much as there's good intention, goodwill right now, if you guys don't come up with a budget agreement acceptable to the House, acceptable to the Senate, are we going to have to go through this same crisis in January and February once again?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, two things, Wolf. First of all, one of the important, I think, lessons that came out of what we've seen just now is that nobody should try to exact their demands on budget issues by threatening to shutdown the government or threatening to prevent the United States from paying its bills. So, what we hope is that, in the future, people will have learned this terrible lesson, an unnecessary lesson, from what we're seeing right now. So, nobody should be threatening government shutdown or default on our debt if they can't get their way in a negotiation. That's number one. Number two, I very much hope that we can have a negotiation. There are lots of bipartisan groups that have provided a model for the way forward when it comes both to job acceleration and also long-term deficit reduction. Simpson-Bowles, Rivlin-Domenici, all those groups said if you want to tackle your long-term deficit challenge, you've got to look at cutting on the mandatory side but you've also got to look at closing tax loopholes, getting rid of tax breaks and through that balanced combination, you can achieve that long-term deficit reduction which is good for the economy in the long run. I should emphasize though we also think it's important to do what we can to accelerate job growth now. And that means replacing the sequester and investing more in our national infrastructure and in those areas that are important to maintain our competitive edge.

BLITZER: Those are going to be tough challenges given where a lot of your political opponents stand on some of those issues, as well.

VAN HOLLEN: We will be naming budget negotiators later today as part of this agreement. So you will see that announcement in the House and Senate later today.

BLITZER: I assume you'll be one of them, right?

VAN HOLLEN: I will be one of the House budget negotiators, yes.

BLITZER: Good luck.

VAN HOLLEN: Again, I very much hope that we can bridge some of these differences and get something done.

BLITZER: We're counting on you and your Democratic and Republican colleagues to get this done. It's a tough challenge. But you've got till December, what, 13th to do it. Let's see if that deadline forces you guys to come up with an agreement. That would be nice. Alright, thanks very much. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat from Maryland

VAN HOLLEN: Thanks Wolf.

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