MSNBC "Andrea Mitchell Reports" - Transcript

Interview

Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee and member of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, today appeared on MSNBC to discuss the deficit committee's work. Video of the interview is available here and the transcript is below.

ANDREA MITCHELL, MSNBC: Chris Van Hollen is a member of the supercommittee and joins me now. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.

MITCHELL: The Republicans were saying last week there couldn't be any taxes, yet today a Gang of Six member Senator Chambliss was on Morning Joe with Senator Warner and this is what he had to say about the possibility of taxes and the necessity of taxes being part of the eventual bargain. (VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHAMBLISS: The fact of the matter is you can't do this with just reducing spending, you can't do it with just reforming entitlements, and you can't do this on the revenue side. It takes a combination of all three and the more you're involved in it like Pelosi and Boehner have been in the last several weeks, the more you realize that.

MITCHELL: I know he's not a member of the supercommittee, and the Gang of Six has not -- their recommendations have not been incorporated, but is there any crack in that Republican opposition to taxes?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, Andrea, Saxby Chambliss is exactly right as is Mark Warner. We've said from the beginning that we need to look at two things. Number one, ways we can get the economy moving again and get people back to work, and number two, a ten-year deficit reduction plan that has to have a balanced approach. Senator Chambliss is exactly right. That will involve some difficult choices and cuts that have to be made and reforms that need to be made, but it also means getting rid of a lot of these special interest tax loopholes that benefit special interests at the expense of the rest of the country. You need to have shared responsibility as we move forward. That's what we've said from the beginning.

MITCHELL: Is there any sign of agreement coming out of your committee? Is there white smoke puffing at least from Capitol Hill?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, we're at a critical time now. We've got until November 23rd, but everybody knows the real deadline is earlier because the Congressional Budget Office needs time to analyze and score, look at, the budget impact of whatever agreement may be reached. So we're working hard to do that. Tomorrow we have a hearing with Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, as well as Alice Rivlin and Pete Domenici, both bipartisan groups that also concluded -- like the Gang of Six -- that in order to reach a deficit reduction agreement, you need to take that balanced approach. You need cuts, yes, but you also need to have the revenue piece. So I think it will be very helpful to hear from them tomorrow.

MITCHELL: Congressman, what do you say to AARP which is running ads, and our friend Tom Brokaw on Meet The Press made the point, the AARP ads are basically saying, don't take away any of our entitlements. Now, shouldn't they be saying those who need them should get them, but those who can afford to give up some of their benefits ought to be able to make some sacrifice given the crisis that we now face?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, let me distinguish between two approaches. One approach that was put forward in the House Republican budget that ended the Medicare guarantee altogether would have said for seniors, you have to fend for yourself in the private health insurance market with a voucher that declines in value. That's a non-starter and that's not the way to go. The better way to go is the way we started in the Affordable Care Act where we began to reform the system to put more focus on the value of care and the quality of care as opposed to the volume of care and the quantity of care. And there are reforms that can be made in that area that both improve the system and save costs for everybody. That should be our focus, not the kind of approach we saw out of the Republican budget.

MITCHELL: Well, some would say not the kind of approach we're seeing in some of these scare ads, either. But to be continued. Congressman Chris Van Hollen, thank you very much.

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