Hoyer Discusses Government Funding, the Need for Bipartisan Action on C-SPAN's “Newsmakers”

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) discussed government funding, the need for bipartisan action in Congress, and the 2016 election on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers."  Below are excerpts and a link to the video:

Click here to watch the video.

On the Omnibus

“We just passed a CR, which extends the time that government is funded until Wednesday, and there is great hope that over the weekend a deal will be reached and that by Wednesday we will be able to consider a bill that has enough votes for it to pass. Now the fact of the matter is that we’re not there yet. We have a lot of tough negotiations going on... Hopefully, the Republican majority will understand that what the appropriations bills are about [are] appropriating the resources to run our government at the appropriate levels. And the Appropriations Committee has worked on all of these bills but the riders are complicating; they are not necessary for government to operate. They are political issues, and they are issues on which the parties have real differences. So we ought not to include these in these considerations but, obviously, they are being included.”

“The way to get it done, of course, is to make sure we have on the appropriations – on the omnibus bill – bipartisan agreement and that we do not try to force on the other side something that they don’t want and can’t vote for, in which case we’d have trouble getting a majority.”

On Speaker Ryan and the Need for Bipartisan Action

“Paul Ryan is a very bright, very able – also he calls himself a movement conservative, which means he is a believer, and although both he and Speaker Boehner are conservatives, I think it is accurate to say that Mr. Ryan is more ideological. Now whether or not that will provide in the flexibility that a leader needs to make the kinds of compromises that are obviously necessary for us to move forward in an effective way, we’ll see.”

“We’ve shown in recent weeks that we could make very positive steps forward in a bipartisan way. We’re still having trouble getting there on the omnibus and the extenders tax bill, but we’ll see if Speaker Ryan over the next 72 or 96 hours can lead his caucus to come to a bipartisan agreement with us. We’re prepared to do that as we’ve indicated [and] as we’ve demonstrated over the last month. Hopefully, that will happen.”

On 2016

“So what [the Republican presidential candidates] say about the Republican party is they clearly have opted to represent the anti-government, anti, if I can, [anti-]unity party of trying to bring the country together, who prefer confrontation, as Senator Cruz has said repeatedly, not to compromise, not to try to get to an agreement but to stand – even if it means shutting down government – for propositions that don’t enjoy the majority of support of the Congress of the United States, and I would argue nor of the American people. So, I think what it says about the Republican Party now is that they’re the party, that in many ways, is not interested in constructively working with the other side or with people that disagree with them on the issues because they are so absolutely certain of the rightness of the positions they have taken. Democracy does not work that way. You’ve got to come to consensus, you do that through discussion and you do that through compromise.”

“[Clinton] has great ability, great intellect, great political skills, and great experience. I think that no one in the race has the experience that Hillary Clinton has, either on the Republican side or the Democratic side… She’s shown herself to be a very effective Member of the United States Senate, an effective legislator, an effective consensus builder working across the aisle. So that I think she has unmatched experience and capability. In addition, as Secretary of State, she has the kind of knowledge of the international community, of the challenges confronting the United States that I think we need.”

On Iran

“I ended up voting for the [Iran] agreement because I thought that voting against the agreement would not make things any better. It would not have been the agreement that I would have negotiated, but it was the agreement that was reached and was supported by all the nations that were parties, as well as by the United Nations, and so we’re moving forward. But I think that we need to move forward very carefully. I think we need to make absolutely sure that Iran is meeting their obligations, and I was very, very disappointed and distressed that Iran, in violation of U.N. sanctions that were placed, had a missile test just in the past few weeks that are clearly in violation. I issued a very strong statement on that issue, and I urge the Administration to do so as well. So while there were differences, while there were strong feelings, now, we need to be united in making sure that A) Iran not only follows the agreement that it made with respect to nuclear arms but that it also is confronted and called on to meet its obligations under international law and to stop the spread of terrorism, stop the spread of funding terrorism, and participating, frankly, in supporting terrorists, not only in the Middle East but in other parts of the world. We need to be very, very pointed and vigorous in our oversight of their activities, and when warranted, confront that activity to stop it.”