NBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript - Affordable Care Act and Iranian Talks

Interview

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REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D) MARYLAND: Good to be with you Ed.

SCHULTZ: John Cornyn, Texas Senator said that this whole thing with the
Iranians was a manufactured destruction away from ObamaCare. I`m curious
what you`re reaction is to that.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, Ed it`s either the most incredible display of ignorance
we`ve seen in a long time or it`s purely political. Ignorance in the sense
that anybody who`s been following the Iranian talks knows that after the
election of President Rouhani last summer, we`ve been engaged in these
negotiations with the Iranians. So, to even suggest that somehow the
timing of this is related to ObamaCare is ridiculous.

I suspect that this is more about politics. I think Republican pollsters
have told every republican politician to make sure you say ObamaCare in any
sentence that you`ve got. If there`s a hurricane somewhere in the country
or the world, I`m sure it`s somehow going to be related to ObamaCare. And
so, when it came time to discuss these issues well, they just have it say
ObamaCare.

Now, I agree with you that as we get the chinks and problems out of the
system, the marketplace sign up system, people are going to begin to like
what they see, but obviously, we`ve got a -- I get to that point.
But in the meantime, Republicans as I said are just going to -- are trying
to play politics with this.

SCHULTZ: Now, some Democrats are critical of this Iranian deal. What do
you think of that? I mean, now, there`s no deal that`s ever going to be
perfect. I guess, I view this as an opportunity to find out if the
Iranians really want to be serious about brokering some kind of peaceful
settlement with the rest of the world and it will vet them out on their
intention.

Is there much division in the Democratic camp about this?

VAN HOLLEN: I don`t think so and I really hope everybody will sit down and
really take a close look at this agreement. This is not about trusting the
Iranians. There`s very specific requirements that Iranians have to meet.
There`s a very comprehensive verification regime, in fact, daily
inspections are allowed and at the end of the day, the reality is under
this agreement which is an interim agreement, Iran has to actually
neutralize its most highly enriched uranium. Uranium enriched at 20
percent and freeze the rest of their enrichment activities.

And the fact to the matter is people have to ask themselves the question,
"What`s the alternative?" So folks who are being critical have to explain
why they want the Iranians to be able to accelerate their nuclear
enrichment activity during the six-month period which they would be free to
do in the absence of agreement and then they have to explain what their
response would be to people who want to skip diplomacy and go straight to
military action and war. If that`s their position, they should come clean.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, I want to play a clip from the Chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, his reaction to the deal. Here`s Republican
Congressman Mike Rogers of Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE ROGERS, (R) MICHIGAN: I think this was a deal for the sake of a
deal and I think that`s dangerous. It makes the next six months even more
difficult to get to a place where we need to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Deal for the sake of a deal. How do you read that?

VAN HOLLEN: Again, I think that that`s politics because I think, Mike
knows better. As I indicated before, if you don`t have an agreement during
the six-month period, then Iran is free to actually accelerate its nuclear
enrichment activities. Under this agreement, it will be harder for them to
break out. We`ll have more lead time if there was any effort by the
Iranians to break out.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

VAN HOLLEN: So again, people who are against it, they need to explain why
they believe that Iran would just sit on its hands and do nothing in the
six-month period.

In my view, it`s very naive to think that if we do nothing, Iranians are
just going to, you know, pack it up and end their nuclear program. At
least, what this does is puts constraints on it and inspection regime and
during the six-month period, we will negotiate with them for a fuller
agreement.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, where is the political gamble here? What is the
downside for people in the Congress who vehemently support this
opportunity?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, the only somebody who believe that we are going into
this process, somehow, saying, "Well, we`re going to trust the Iranians,"
and Iranians` expectations very high, they could certainly be disappointed.
I think those of us who look at the parameters of this deal and think the
pros vastly outweigh the cons are not going into it thinking that somehow
there`s been this personality change in Iran.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

VAN HOLLEN: But what we believe is that there are very clear measurements
that we can -- progress points, benchmarks .

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

VAN HOLLEN: . that we can measure against and if you look at what the
Iranians got, they got relief over a very small slither of sanctions. If
they don`t comply during this six-month period, those sanctions will not be
relieved and if at the end of the six-month period, we`re not satisfied
with next steps. We can reverse those sanctions.

The overwhelming architecture, the sanctions, remain in place throughout
the six-month period.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, Chris Van Hollen, good to have you with us on the Ed
Show. Have a great Thanksgiving. Thanks so much.

VAN HOLLEN: You too, Ed. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all.

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