CNN "American Morning" - Transcript

Interview

CNN "American Morning" - Transcript

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Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

In the battle over health care reform, President Obama pushing his agenda hard this week, but still a lot of questions about what that final bill is going to look like. Our next guest might be able to shed a little bit of light on that.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland joins us now from the Capitol.

Congressman, good to see you this morning. Thanks for joining us.

REP. STENY HOYER (D), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Good morning, John. Good to be with you.

ROBERTS: I wanted, if I could, to start off by playing a moment that occurred earlier this week -- you and the speaker of the House, Congresswoman Pelosi. Let's take a look and I want to ask you about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOYER: I'm not one of those that says if you don't have a public option, it's not a good bill. I think it's a very good bill. I think the public option makes it much better.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: And I do believe that in order to pass a bill in the House, we will have a public option. This is the legislative process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So, you said that a public option may not exactly be necessary. The speaker of the House came forward and said she really wanted to have it.

What do you think in the end here? You know, maybe you were looking a little more forward than she was. If you get a bill out of the House, even if it has a public option, you get one out of the Senate that doesn't, in the conference committee, are you prepared to drop this idea of a public option?

HOYER: Well, look, there's no difference between the speaker and myself, number one. We're both for the public option and we want to see the public option in a bill passed from the House. We want to see a public option coming out of the conference committee.

But what I have said is, there's a lot in this bill that is very good, in addition to the public option, and we ought not to just focus on that. However, our objective is to have, as the president indicated in his state of the union, an option which will bring down costs, which will give people an option that they might not otherwise have, to make sure that they have affordable, quality health care accessible to them.

So, there's no difference and that is the objective. But this is the legislative process and we're going to have to talk back and forth -- as the president indicated -- on exactly how to get to that objective.

ROBERTS: So -- but if push comes to shove, are you prepared to drop the public option to get a broader health care reform bill?

HOYER: I'm prepared to pass a health care reform bill that provides millions access to affordable, quality, health care. We think the public option is an important component of that. But obviously, you're going to have to have 218 votes in the House and you're going to have to have a at least a majority in the Senate to do that. We'll have to see how that legislative process goes.

The public option is a priority for us. It's our objective. And we think that in some form, a public option will be available.

ROBERTS: All right.

The other big question that people have is: how is this all going to be paid for? The president said his plan would be about $900 billion, wants to make sure it doesn't add a penny to the deficit. He talked about cost savings and Medicare and Medicaid, fees on insurance companies and drug companies.

But we had our health care economist Paul Keckley on earlier this morning, congressman, who said that the numbers just don't add up, that there's just not the money there to wring out of the system.

HOYER: Well, let me -- let me say this: The president made it emphatically clear that he would not sign a bill that was not paid for. I want to make it equally clear that I'm not going to vote for a bill that's not paid for. So, we're going to have to work towards the objective of making sure that whatever additional costs are included in the bill are, in fact, offset by savings and by revenues from the system. And so that the commitment of the president is clear, our commitment is clear. And the speaker and I both agree, this bill will be paid for. We're not going to add to the debt.

ROBERTS: So, on the revenue side of the equation there, does that mean that a tax increase is inevitable? And if there is going to be a tax increase -- who's going to pay for it? Who's picking up the tab?

HOYER: Well, of course, as you know, there are different proposals that have been made. The president talked about the one that the Senate Finance Committee is talking about, which is a tax on insurance companies for policies of -- over a certain amount. That amount hasn't been set. There are other options that have been discussed as well.

But the bottom line is, as we work through this over the next six to 12 weeks, we're going to make sure that it is paid for. That's our commitment. That's the necessity in my opinion, given the budget deficit that confronts us, and we're going to do it.

ROBERTS: I mean, can high income earners in this country, this morning, take away from this -- the idea that they will probably be subject to some sort of surtax to pay for health care reform, should it get passed?

HOYER: Well, certainly, that's one of the proposals. As you know, that's included in the ways and means committee, which would, frankly, impact very few people in this country. We're talking about $350,000 of taxable income for individuals and over half a million for couples. So, that we're talking about the highest earners may pay some additional, under one proposal. But there are other proposals as well and that determination has not yet been made.

ROBERTS: Congressman Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader -- good to catch up with you this morning. Thanks for taking the time.

HOYER: John, could I -- if you've got a second, I'd like to add, you know, Congressman Boustany in his response...

ROBERTS: Yes.

HOYER: ... to the president said we're 80 percent in agreement. I hope that's the case and we can move forward working on the 20 percent, perhaps, that we don't agree on. I'm going to be interested in talking to Congressman Boustany about the 80 percent on which we do agree.

ROBERTS: We can look forward to those -- the results of those conversations. We'll get you back to talk about it. Thanks very much for joining us this morning.

HOYER: Thank you, John, very much. Appreciate it.

ROBERTS: I appreciate it.

We know that you've got lots of questions about health care reform. We're helping you sort fact from fiction online. Just head to CNN.com/healthcare. Carol?

COSTELLO: Tea party express on its way to Washington. The CNN Express not far behind. Ali Velshi is on board our bus. He'll talk to tea party members about what message they plan to bring President Obama.

It's 18 minutes past the hour.

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