Fox News Sunday - Transcript

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Fox News Sunday-Transcript

MR. HUME: Joining us now, the House Majority Leader, Congressman Steny Hoyer. And welcome back to you as well, sir.

REP. HOYER: Thank you, Brit. Good to be here.

MR. HUME: Let's talk SCHIP a little bit. You heard Congressman Boehner say, well the Republicans are open to a compromise, that that money really wasn't the issue, that safeguards were imposed that would keep the program from being, you know, a program for adults and people way, way over the poverty line, that something could be worked out. If I heard him say all that --

REP. HOYER: (Laughs.)

MR. HUME: If that's the case, why go forward with what appears to be a certain to fail veto override? Why not negotiate and try to get a bill that can be passed and signed?

REP. HOYER: We think this is a compromise. As a matter of fact, an overwhelming number of Republicans in both the House and the Senate voted for it. And Senator Grassley, the former chairman of the Finance Committee, Republican leader, Senator Hatch, Senator Corker from Tennessee, Senator Roberts from Kansas, none of them for too much government spending, none of them for socialized medicine, all believe the president's wrong on this, as is John Boehner wrong on this.

In fact, what this program does is exactly what the president said he wanted to do when he was campaigning in 2004. He said he wanted to add millions of children, currently eligible but not included, under the child health insurance program, to the program. That's exactly what this bill does, and it's a compromise. This was not the House bill, as you know, Brit. The House bill was substantially more expansive. About two and a half times as much.

We cut it way back, focused on children, and he's wrong on adults. In fact, we penalize states, they get less money for the inclusion of adults. This is focused on children of families who are not poor enough to be on Medicaid --

MR. HUME: Right.

REP. HOYER: And not wealthy enough to be able to afford insurance. We believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans want this legislation to pass, which is why we're moving forward on it.

MR. HUME: Nonetheless, however, there's no evidence, that we can see yet, that you've moved any Republican votes, certainly not enough to give you the two thirds you need to override the bill, send it to the Senate for a similar vote. That being the case, right or wrong, doesn't the president now have some leverage with which to forge a further compromise with -- (inaudible.) --

REP. HOYER: Well, you know, leverage is a funny thing. We're in a democracy, and the American people ultimately are going to rule on this. Some 72 percent of Americans believe we ought to pass this program as it's now providing. Sixty-one percent of Republicans think that's the case. And almost 70 percent of independents say that's the case.

MR. HUME: Are you prepared to predict here and now that you will have the votes to override?

REP. HOYER: Oh, I don't think I'm going to predict that now, because I think the Republicans are reflecting -- this is a defining moment for the Republican Party, in my opinion. They're going to say whether they are, in fact, a compassionate community, or whether they're going to unthinkingly follow the dictates of their party and their president against the program that the overwhelming majority of their constituents are for, to include children in America and access to affordable quality healthcare.

MR. HUME: Well, if they do all those various things you just described and they vote to sustain the veto, as it now appears they will, what then? Does that mean the program then dies, the Republicans get the blame, Democrats get the issue?

REP. HOYER: Absolutely not.

MR. HUME: Or do you go back to the table and forward something different?

REP. HOYER: This is not about accessing blame on Republicans. That would be not a bad thing, perhaps --

MR. HUME: (Laughs.)

REP. HOYER: But irresponsible. This is about including four million additional children under healthcare coverage. We think that's what we ought to do, and therefore --

MR. HUME: So, you don't think it'll die if it's not sustained?

REP. HOYER: No, it's not going to die. We're going to go back and were going to pass another bill, and we think we're going to pass it with equally strong Republican participation.

MR. HUME: All right. So, in the end, you think a compromise will be reached and the program will be reauthorized?

REP. HOYER: In the end, I think we're going to add four million children to healthcare, as the president said he would do in 2004, and his veto did not keep that promise.

MR. HUME: Let's talk about the renewal of the FISA authority that got everybody stirred up this week and that I just discussed with Congressman Boehner.

REP. HOYER: Yes, I heard.

MR. HUME: It appears there are two sticking points. One is the requirements for the warrants, never before required, even though they can be a year-long warrants --

REP. HOYER: Right.

MR. HUME: For the interception of conversations or emails from overseas. Any give on that?

REP. HOYER: Brit, we believe that this bill needs to accomplish two things. First of all, it needs to facilitate the intelligence community's ability to intercept communications which may prove dangerous to our people and to our country. We're absolutely committed to doing that. We believe that the legislation we're proposing does in fact accomplish that end, and we believe that Admiral McConnell, who heads up our national intelligence directorate, shares that view.

Secondly, we have an obligation. We swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States, to defend the Constitution and protect our country.

We believe our bill also accomplishes the objective of protecting Americans' constitutional rights. We think both objectives are critically important for us to achieve, and that we can do so and make them compatible. So, what happened here is, the technology changed.

MR. HUME: Right.

REP. HOYER: As you know.

MR. HUME: Right.

REP. HOYER: And now, foreign-to-foreign communication may well go through an American switch on American property.

MR. HUME: Right.

REP. HOYER: Therefore, the Defense community and the Intelligence community said, well, maybe there's a problem on interception.

MR. HUME: Right.

REP. HOYER: Came to the Congress.

MR. HUME: Congress acted last August.

REP. HOYER: And we acted last August.

MR. HUME: And the administration and the Republicans liked the measure that you passed last August.

REP. HOYER: Yeah. Most Democrats voted against that measure, because it did not protect the constitutional rights. What we said --

MR. HUME: Constitutional rights of whom?

REP. HOYER: Of Americans.

MR. HUME: To avoid what, exactly?

REP. HOYER: To avoid having their Fourth Amendment right to privacy undermined.

MR. HUME: Because -- well, now how would the --

REP. HOYER: Well, let me finish -- let me explain to you.

MR. HUME: Okay.

REP. HOYER: Foreign-to-foreign communications is not covered by our Constitution. It ought not to be covered by our Constitution. Under FISA, was not covered. This -- so now --

MR. HUME: But even if the communications were routed through the United States?

REP. HOYER: Yes, even though they're routed through -- no. Because it was routed through the United States, there was a question raised. So, we fixed that problem. We fixed that and said that blanket warrants --

MR. HUME: Is that why the blanket warrants were -- (inaudible.) --

REP. HOYER: If you're going after al Qaeda, it's not one person. If you're going after al Qaeda, you have the ability to go after al Qaeda. But it says if an American becomes a U.S. target, then you have to have a warrant. And we believe that's what FISA originally contemplated. That's what FISA ought to now contemplate. Essentially, Brit, the argument is this, the administration does not want any oversight of the Congress or the courts.

It does not want the courts involved in anything that it does. That's all this is about. Because, as you know, they have 45 --

MR. HUME: Well, you know you'll get a strong argument on that.

REP. HOYER: Well, I don't know. You've got 45 days to act here before you have to get the court. And all the courts procedures review does is say whether or not the intelligence community is pursuing procedures that will, in fact, protect Americans while facilitating the interception of foreign communications. We believe that a large number of scholars on both sides of this issue believe this bill does, in fact, what we should be doing.

MR. HUME: And what about this question of immunity from lawsuits and other legal actions from companies that, namely in the aftermath of 9/11 --

REP. HOYER: That's going to be --

MR. HUME: Helped the administration.

REP. HOYER: That's going to be an issue for discussion. And I want to say that I talked to Peter Hoesktra, who's the ranking member on the Intelligence Committee --

MR. HUME: Right.

REP. HOYER: Talked to Roy Blunt on this issue. Obviously, we want to accomplish the objective of facilitating our intelligence gathering and protecting America.

On immunity, you saw in today's paper, or yesterday's paper, the Qwest CEO saying his company was penalized because they weren't sure that what the administration was asking was legal.

MR. HUME: I remember that, yeah.

REP. HOYER: So what we really need to do, Brit, is find out what we're talking about.

MR. HUME: So, you're open to suggestions on that measure, possibly?

REP. HOYER: Yep. We're open to discussions on that matter. But what we need to know is, from the administration, what did you do, what did you ask the companies to do, how did they respond? We just can't give blind immunity for anything that was done. We need to know what was done. Was it appropriate, consistent with our national security? If it was, then certainly retrospective --

MR. HUME: So you're going to have to have an investigation of these companies before you do that/

REP. HOYER: Not necessarily. I don't know that an investigation of the companies is what we're calling for.

MR. HUME: You're going to turn Congressman Waxman loose on them?

REP. HOYER: That would be a good thing to do in any event to make sure that they're doing what they're supposed to do. But having said that, that's not what we're talking about. I talked to Jay Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate committee, talked to Mr. Reyes, who chairs the House committee. What they want, and what they've asked the administration to do is give us the documentation of what you asked for and what was responded before we talk about immunity.

By the way, Brit, so you know, we are giving prospective immunity in this bill. Which is to say --

MR. HUME: Going forward.

REP. HOYER: If the companies follow the rules, they won't be subject to suit.

MR. HUME: All right. Let's talk about this bill relating to the Turks, the Armenians, and the word "genocide."

REP. HOYER: Yes.

MR. HUME: The bill has been reported.

It has not yet been acted on it. Will it come to the floor, in your judgment?

REP. HOYER: Yes.

MR. HUME: And --

REP. HOYER: I schedule the bills and I'm telling you, it will come forward, it'll come to the floor before November 16.

MR. HUME: And where do you think the votes are right now?

REP. HOYER: I think we'll pass this. It passed out of committee 27 to 1, closer than I think it would have been. The administration has expressed to me and to others concerns because the Turks have indicated it will have adverse effects --

MR. HUME: Well, it already has -- just on the strength of the committee action, the Turks recalled their ambassador, which is a, you know, it's more than a mild form of protest about this. If it's that sensitive at this moment, why do it now?

REP. HOYER: Okay, Brit. That's a good question. I've been in the Congress 26 years. I've been for this resolution for 25 years. I've talked to the Turkish ambassadors, the Turkish government, Turkish parliamentarians, over a quarter of a century. Never once in that quarter century has anybody in the Turkish government said to me, okay, this is the right time. In other words, there would be no right time, but the fact is, our government is absolutely convinced a genocide was committed. Not by the Erdogan government, or the present Turkish people. But almost 100 years ago, 1915, during the course of their civil war --

MR. HUME: But why is it a good idea to say it now?

REP. HOYER: Because if we forget what has happened, if we paper over what has happened, then we are at risk of letting it happen again. As a matter of fact, unfortunately --

MR. HUME: Do you think it's an urgent issue, something that happened to Armenians in World War I?

REP. HOYER: Brit, do I think it's an urgent issue? I think the issue of genocide is a very urgent and present issue. It's happening in Darfur now. It happened in Bosnia not too long ago. And the world sat by and watched. Yes, I think it's an urgent issue.

MR. HUME: But nobody's arguing that it wasn't a mass killing, or even a massacre --

REP. HOYER: No, it was a genocide. And I understand some people are arguing that why don't historians look at it? Historians have looked at it. Nobel writers have looked at it. There is a conclusion that, in fact, this was a conscious effort to eliminate a race of people.

MR. HUME: And I don't think anybody in the administration would dispute the -- (inaudible.) -- However, do you think it's worth making this expression of this at this time all these years later, at the expense of souring relations with a country who's help to us is vital in the Mideast and in Iraq in particular?

REP. HOYER: Well, I think Turkey's help to us is vital. More vital is the United States help to Turkey, Brit. Over the last half century, the relationship between the United States and Turkey has far more advantaged Turkey than has the United States. Are we both advantageous to one another? We are. Speaker Pelosi and I met with the Turkish ambassador just a few days ago, and said to him, we are friends, we are allies. We believe this is a historical observation, it is not about your government, it is not about the Turkish people. It is about a historical event that happened that we need to remember to preclude its happening again.

I hope the Turkish government will reflect upon this. Very frankly, as you well know from reading today's paper, the Turks, in my opinion, have a much more critical issue on their agenda, and that is, what they perceive to be the PKK, a group that they --

MR. HUME: The Kurds --

REP. HOYER: That the U.S. government judges to be a terrorist organization, that the PKK had sanctuary in western Iraq, and is attacking Turks and their military in Turkey. I think that's a real concern to them, I think we need to work with them to preclude that from happening, very frankly, and I think that's a much greater concern.

This continuing -- you know, the Turks have a provision in their constitution that has resulted in writers being imprisoned, parliamentarians being imprisoned; anybody who would deign say that maybe the Turkish government 90 years ago made a mistake. You know, we can't constrain ourselves by that, nor should we.

MR. HUME: Congressman Hoyer, a pleasure to have you.

REP. HOYER: Good to be with you, Brit.

MR. HUME: Thanks for spending part of your Sunday with us.

END.

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