OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

TRANSCRIPT

Addressing the Recovery Plan on Fox News
September 27, 2008

... WE HEARD UNLESS THEY PASS SOMETHING BY FRIDAY, REMEMBER, THAT'S WHAT SECRETARY PAULSON SAID, THEY DID NOT. IT WAS SATURDAY. THEY'RE WORKING ON IT THIS HOUR. >> HE'S ALL MIC'D UP AND READY TO GO. DEMOCRATS ARE SAYING THE $700 BILLION BAILOUT IS A GAIT PLAN. GOOD MORNING, CONGRESSMAN HOYER. >> GOOD TO BE WITH YOU. >> WHERE DO WE STAND NOW? THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF FIRE UP THERE, SHALL WE SAY? A LOT OF STRONG WORDS, REPUBLICANS AGAINST DEMOCRATS. ARE WE GETTING ALONG THIS MORNING? WHERE ARE WE? >> I DON'T THINK IT'S SO MUCH REPUBLICANS AGAINST DEMOCRATS AS IT IS REPUBLICANS AGAINST REPUBLICANS. THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS ARE IN CON -- CONTENTION WITH THE PLAN PUT DOWN BY THE REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION AND MR. BUSH. WE HAD PRETTY CLOSE TO WHAT WE THINK WAS A CONSENSUS GOING FORWARD. OF COURSE, MR. MCCAIN CAME TO TOWN AND BLEW THAT UP TO SOME DEGREE, AND THE REPUBLICANS CAME UP AND THE HOUSE CAME UP WITH ANOTHER PLAN WHICH SECRETARY PAULSON DIDN'T THINK WAS A VERY GOOD ONE. THIS IS A CRISIS, VERY SERIOUS. THE CONSEQUENCES TO EVERY DAY AMERICANS, VERY, VERY SEVERE. WE'RE WORKING VERY HARD TO COME TO AN AGREEMENT. WE BELIEVE WE CAN. BARNEY FRANK BELIEVES WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS. >> LET ME ASK YOU SOMETHING. >> I TALKED TO ROY BLUNT YESTERDAY. >> WE TALKED TO HIM ABOUT A HALF HOUR AGO. >> HOPEFULLY BY THE END OF -- BIT END OF TOMORROW, WE'LL HAVE A PLAN WE CAN PUT FORWARD. >> CONGRESSMAN, ARE YOU ACTUALLY SAYING IF JOHN MCCAIN HAS NOT COME UP TO WASHINGTON ON THURSDAY OR FRIDAY, I FORGET WHICH DAY IT WAS NOW, THAT THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS WOULD NOT HAVE DONE WHAT THEY DID ANYWAY? >> WELL, LET ME SAY THIS. SECRETARY PAULSON CAME UP A WEEK AGO THURSDAY, SAID THIS WAS A CRISIS. JOHN BOEHNER WAS IN THE ROOM. HE SAID WE NEEDED TO ACT QUICKLY, DECISIVELY. HE AGREED WITH SECRETARY PAULSON THAT WE NEEDED TO MOVE FORWARD. SECRETARY PAULSON THEN SUBMITTED PLAN ON SATURDAY MORNING. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THURSDAY THAT THE REPUBLICANS SURFACED THEIR OWN PLAN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. SENATE REPUBLICANS WERE WORKING ON THE CONSENSUS WITH CHAIRMAN DODD, A DEMOCRAT, SENATOR FRANK, A DEMOCRAT. THEY WERE COMING TOGETHER. JOHN MCCAIN CAME TO TOWN, AND A NEW PLAN WAS SURFACED, SO YOU DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS. HAVING SAID THAT, CLEARLY WE'RE TRYING TO DRAW IT BACK TOGETHER. SECRETARY PAULSON IS WORKING WITH THE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS TO TRY TO BRING THIS SOLUTION TO THE CRISIS THAT CONFRONTS US BECAUSE ALL OF UNDERSTAND SPEED IS NECESSARY. >> WE'VE HAD A NUMBER OF PEOPLE ON TODAY, IN FACT, WHO TALKED ABOUT THE FACT THAT WHEN JOHN MCCAIN SHOWED UP, HE ESSENTIALLY PUT A FACE ON THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS' PROPOSAL WHICH HAD NOT BEEN UNVEILED AT THAT POINT. LET'S GO BACK A SECOND. BEFORE JOHN MCCAIN ARRIVED, THERE WERE A NUMBER OF DEMOCRATS WHO CALLED A PRESS CONFERENCE AND SAID OKAY, WE TENTATIVELY HAVE A DEAL, AND IT LOOKS LIKE CRISIS AVERTED. THERE WAS -- THERE WAS NO DEAL. >> WAIT. HOLD ON A SECOND. YOU SAID A NUMBER OF DEMOCRATS. SENATOR CORKER AND SENATOR BENNETT WERE THERE PARTICIPATING, SO IT WAS A BI PARTISAN CONFERENCE. >> SURE. EXACTLY. A NUMBER OF REPUBLICANS SAID WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT CAME FROM BECAUSE THERE WAS NO DEAL, AND IN FACT, THERE WAS NO DEAL. >> WELL, LET ME -- LET ME SAY THIS. AT THE WHITE HOUSE, SENATOR SHELBY EXPRESSED RESERVATIONS. HOWEVER, SENATOR MCCONNELL, THE REPUBLICAN LEADER AT THE WHITE HOUSE, AT THE MEETING THAT YOU REFERENCED, SAID HE BELIEVED THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF REPUBLICAN SENATORS WOULD BE SUPPORTING THE PLAN. >> BUT ON THURSDAY WE HEARD THERE WAS A DEAL, AND CONGRESSMAN, THERE WAS NO DEAL. >> WELL, THERE WAS CERTAINLY NOT A DEAL. YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. >> RIGHT. >> THE FINAL AGREEMENT HAD NOT BEEN REACHED, BUT CONSENSUS WAS BEING WORKED AT, AND CONGRESSMAN BAUCUS HAD BEEN IN THE ROOM AND WAS WORKING. SENATOR SHELBY HAD BEEN IN THE ROOM. THIS IS NOT A QUESTION THAT THIS IS THE ADMINISTRATION'S PLAN, PAULSON'S PLAN, REPUBLICAN PLAN TO MEET A CRISIS THAT IN OUR OPINION WAS CAUSED IN LARGE PART BY THE FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY OF THIS ADMINISTRATION AND THE REGULATORY NEGLECT OF THIS ADMINISTRATION. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE SEC INSPECTOR GENERAL SAID THAT THE A.I.G. PROBLEM WAS NOT PROPERLY ADDRESSED BY THE SEC, SO THAT'S CONFIRMED BY THE -- BY THE I.G. OF THE SEC ITSELF. >> ONE THING WE'VE LEARNED OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS, BEING THAT THERE'S ABOUT A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD THAT CAN FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW WE GOT THERE. >> I THINK YOU MAY BE RIGHT. >> BOTH SIDES HAVE BEEN SCREWING UP SINCE 1977 AND IT'S JUST LED UP TO THIS. LET'S JUST ASK YOU ONE QUESTION. CONGRESSMAN, WHAT, AT ALL, IN TERMS OF THE ACTUAL NEGOTIATION, I KNOW YOUR STAFFERS ARE DOING IT. ...