House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" this morning to discuss the recent Speaker election, the need for bipartisan action in Congress, and presidential politics. Below are excerpts from the interview.
On Speaker Ryan and the Need for Bipartisan Action in Congress
"Well, I certainly think [Speaker Ryan] will be different [than Speaker Boehner]. I think, as he pointed out, he is a movement conservative, more ideological than John Boehner, very enthusiastic, and perhaps not as wisened as John Boehner was because [Boehner] went through some of the battles. But he has a lot of ability. He wants to do well. He wants to lead the Congress in a way that is effective. The fact is, though, it wasn't the Speakership that was broken; it was a deeply divided, dysfunctional Republican Party, and that remains. It remains a party that has a very, very strong ideological bent not only inside but outside. And the outside influences, in effect, constrain what I think are the majority of reasonable, pragmatic Republicans, which is why, frankly, the Ryan budgets, which sets forth his visions of what he wanted to do, were never implemented by the Republican Party in the House of Representatives."
"[Speaker Ryan] said the solutions needed to be collaborative, and if he means that, [Democrats] are certainly willing to work with him and to try to solve the problems. We need to get back to work. We need to pass a highway program. Frankly, we need to pass the Export-Import [Bank] bill, which was bottled up in Committee. [Speaker Ryan] talks about relying on Committees. [Rep.] Jeb Hensarling in the [Financial Services] Committee bottled up a bill that came to the Floor [last week] and had a majority of Republicans for it and all but one Democrat for it. So, he's going to have to take some risks, and he's going to confront the same challenge as John Boehner confronted when he said, pragmatically, in order to keep the government running, in order to keep the economy growing, we're going to have to take some actions. We'll see if he can get the support that John Boehner found so difficult."
"Well, if [Speaker Ryan] is going to offer as he says "movement conservative' bold visions, yes, the answer is that's correct [there will be more fighting over ideology]. We're not for changing Social Security as it exists today; we're for strengthening it. We're not for making Medicare a voucher program. So, some of those bold visions that he talks about are things that are worthy of a good debate, and we think we win that debate with the American public. On the other hand, to the extent he wants to sit down work and work collaboratively to solve problems -- one of those is comprehensive immigration reform. He's already taken that off the table because they don't trust the president. I'm not sure what that has to do with the House of Representatives passing substantive, constructive legislation that the Chamber of Commerce supports, and labor supports, and a broad spectrum of the country supports."
On the 2016 Presidential Election
"I think [Senator] Rubio is good. I think Rubio speaks well. He comes across as rational. Rubio's problem is he does not appeal to the disaffected, the anxious, and the angry in the Republican Party. That's why [Donald] Trump and [Ben] Carson and [Senator] Cruz and some others are doing so well and why [Jeb] Bush is doing so poorly. Unless [Senator Rubio] can appeal to those -- and frankly, he's changed his position on comprehensive immigration reform because the right wing in his party didn't like it. So, we'll see what issues he takes as a presidential candidate and whether those resonate with the base in his party, which is an angry, conservative base."
"[The most important question when evaluating candidates is] who can best lead the country. Who has the experience, the commitment; who has the broader reach to lead this country and bring our citizens together Broader reach in terms of reaching to all factions of the party and all factions of our country, bringing them together and to lead them. That is what I think -- Marco Rubio said it best, it's not an accountant's job, it's a job for a leader who can express a vision and then create a consensus to achieve that vision. As you know, I think Hillary Clinton is the person to do that, but I also think Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley [are] very substantive alternatives who are discussing real issues. I think that's the difference between the Democratic field and Republican field."