MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Unemployment Benefits

Interview

REP. STENY HOYER, (D-MD) DEMOCRATIC WHIP: Always good to be with you, Ed.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, where are we going to be five years from now? We`ve just talked about where we`ve been in the last five years. What are the next five years going to look like?

HOYER: Well, you know, the president came to Congress and gave a state of the union and said look, I`m optimistic. We come up for our pace as you`ve just outlined very well, but we need -- and we need to go forward and we need to do some things to grow this economy to make sure it works for everybody to make sure that Americans can make it in America. And we want to see us work together to accomplish that objective. But the president said, look, if you`re not going to act, I`ll act.

Just the other day, he did act. And so, the people contract him with the federal government planned a decent wage to the workers that are working for of those contractors. We need -- and we just announced that we`re going to be going back to Congress a week from now and we`re going to put a discharge petition in and get the minimum wage on the calendar. We hope our Republican colleagues will join us so that we give the incentive for people to work. And when they work, and they won`t be living in poverty.

We want to see comprehensive immigration reform passed as you pointed
out.

SCHULTZ: OK. Let`s.

HOYER: That`s good for the economy. It`s the moral thing to do. One more thing.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HOYER: We also are -- continue to urge our Republican colleagues to reestablish the safety net for those who are unemployed for no fall (ph) of their own, can`t find a job because street (ph) people are looking for every job that`s available. We need to do that as soon as we get back.

SCHULTZ: So Congressman, you`re making my point. You`re off -- you`re going and making plans for what the Democrats want to do. They have come back and said, "Well, we just don`t trust the president." I mean, OK, let`s talk about this minimum wage discharge petition. Federal workers, it was signed yesterday, they`re going to get $10.10 an hour of minimum wage, what is the discharge petition going to do to minimum wage in the House?

HOYER: The discharge petition wants to take the minimum wage bill that`s been introduced off -- on the floor cleared up for a vote so that we can raise the minimum wage over a couple of years to $10.10 an hour.

SCHULTZ: And will that happen?

HOYER: And Ed, I`m sure you know and -- it will happen if we get some 20 to 25 Republicans to sign that bill. Yes, it will happen. Now, whether we can get those signatures or not because as you pointed out so well, there`s very little action on the other side of the aisle. And they rationalize their failure to act by, they don`t like the president, they don`t trust the president, this that and the other. But the fact to matter is, their party is a deeply divided party that cannot come up with the consensus for action. They are the party of no. They are the party of repeal. They`re the party that doesn`t have the ear of the American public frankly. Because 70 percent of the American public believes the agenda we put forward is something that`s good for America, good for growing a share.

SCHULTZ: Certainly (ph).

HOYER: . and good for them and their families.

SCHULTZ: Well, Republican Congressman Tim Huelskamp recently said after the debt ceiling, he says, "that`s what our leadership said. If we get past this one, we`re done until the election." Meaning, nothing is going to.

HOYER: No.

SCHULTZ: No one -- nothing is going to happen this year. Your response to that.

HOYER: Ed, I can`t believe that there`s any American who believes in the middle of February will just fold (ph) our hands and say, "Well, we`re done for the year." And that`s absurd. We still have a lot people who are not participating in our economy and we still need to invest and growing the jobs in America. We still need to make sure that we address a system that is broken by the admission of every Republican leader.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HOYER: . I know and do comprehensive immigration reform. There`s still a lot of work to be done and I can`t believe that Huelskamp is right that the Republicans are going to projecting the American people. Well, we`ve done our job and we`re going to rest for the rest of the year.

SCHULTZ: Yeah. All right. Finally, Congressman, I want your response to Priorities Action USA saying that they`re going to sit out the midterms. They`re focusing on 2016. In other words, all hands won`t be on deck for the midterms. Your response to that?

HOYER: Let me tell you. Sitting out to this coming election is not an option. If the people want to see this country move forward, grow our economy, have a working relationship between the president and the Congress of the United States, the American people`s Board of Directors, they cannot afford to sit out on this 2014 election. We cannot afford to continue to have the crisis that we`ve had fiscally which have held the economy down.

SCHULTZ: So.

HOYER: Sitting on the side line should not be an option for any American.

SCHULTZ: So you want Priorities Action USA to get involved and raise money for this midterm?

HOYER: Absolutely. We want them engaged. We want all the voters engaging.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HOYER: . whether they agree with us or disagree with us. Democracy works best when all of us participate.

SCHULTZ: All right. Congressman Steny Hoyer, great to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

Source