Rep. Rob Andrews was on Fox News this morning talking about the health care summit at the White House tomorrow.
Transcript:
Steve Doocy: Good morning to you, Congressman.
Rep. Andrews: Good morning, Steve, how are you doing today?
Steve Doocy: Doing ok. We know a lot of Congressmen and Senators wanted to be invited so they could be in the room. Why did you get invited?
Rep. Andrews: Well, I'm the chairman of one of the subcommittees of the House that deals with this issue so I'm really very honored to be invited and I'm going to do my best to help reach a good conclusion.
Steve Doocy: You know, Congressman, after Scott Brown's stunning win up in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the conventional wisdom would be, you know, he made a point there that maybe Congress should be working on jobs and not talking about health care right now and yet, you're talking about health care.
Rep. Andrews: Well, I think fixing the health care problem is a part of creating jobs and fixing the economy in the long run but the other point, Scott Brown's win made is that our party needs to start listening to everybody. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents and that's what tomorrow is about. So i think that his victory served a very constructive purpose there.
Steve Doocy: Congressman, we understand that the -- part of the Republican game plan is they're going to be talking about different ways to go ahead and accomplish much of the same goals. But one of the big things they say that the Democrats are doing is they are going to raise taxes and they're going to be slashing Medicaid and Medicare. How do you respond to that? Those are two things that people care a lot about.
Rep. Andrews: Yeah. neither of them is true. What we're doing with Medicare and Medicaid is not cutting anybody's benefits. What we are cutting is some of the waste and abuse over the years that's overpaid people for procedures that weren't necessary or equipment suppliers for things that weren't necessary so i think that's part of the waste in medicare and medicaid both parties have been talking about for a very long time. As far as taxes are concerned, yes. there are higher taxes on the top 5% or so of people in the country, that would be couples making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year were the President ran on that. There really is no secret about that and I know there's a disagreement, but that's what negotiations are about.
Steve Doocy: Sure. Ultimately, though, it comes down to whatever happens tomorrow and a lot of people say it's just theatrical, just an infomercial, is I think John Boehner described it yesterday. Ultimately what happens is going forward, will it be able to pass? Some have suggested they might be able to pass it in the Senate. What about in the house? Because right now we understand Nancy Pelosi does not have enough of you guys lined up to say yes.
Rep. Andrews: First of all, if John Boehner wants it to be an infomercial, it will be. I hope what he will do is come to the meeting and ready to negotiate and get something done the way john did on No Child Left Behind a number of years ago. I hope he does. If he does, I think we'll get something done. Look, the people who are watching this show, I think, whether they're liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat, would pretty much agree that the exploding cost of health care is hurting their family and their business and the country and we need to do something about it.
Steve Doocy: All right. Congressman, something we're all worried about. Congressman Robert Andrews, thank you very much for joining us live.
Steve Doocy: Good morning to you, Congressman.
Rep. Andrews: Good morning, Steve, how are you doing today?
Steve Doocy: Doing ok. We know a lot of Congressmen and Senators wanted to be invited so they could be in the room. Why did you get invited?
Rep. Andrews: Well, I'm the chairman of one of the subcommittees of the House that deals with this issue so I'm really very honored to be invited and I'm going to do my best to help reach a good conclusion.
Steve Doocy: You know, Congressman, after Scott Brown's stunning win up in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the conventional wisdom would be, you know, he made a point there that maybe Congress should be working on jobs and not talking about health care right now and yet, you're talking about health care.
Rep. Andrews: Well, I think fixing the health care problem is a part of creating jobs and fixing the economy in the long run but the other point, Scott Brown's win made is that our party needs to start listening to everybody. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents and that's what tomorrow is about. So i think that his victory served a very constructive purpose there.
Steve Doocy: Congressman, we understand that the -- part of the Republican game plan is they're going to be talking about different ways to go ahead and accomplish much of the same goals. But one of the big things they say that the Democrats are doing is they are going to raise taxes and they're going to be slashing Medicaid and Medicare. How do you respond to that? Those are two things that people care a lot about.
Rep. Andrews: Yeah. neither of them is true. What we're doing with Medicare and Medicaid is not cutting anybody's benefits. What we are cutting is some of the waste and abuse over the years that's overpaid people for procedures that weren't necessary or equipment suppliers for things that weren't necessary so i think that's part of the waste in medicare and medicaid both parties have been talking about for a very long time. As far as taxes are concerned, yes. there are higher taxes on the top 5% or so of people in the country, that would be couples making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year were the President ran on that. There really is no secret about that and I know there's a disagreement, but that's what negotiations are about.
Steve Doocy: Sure. Ultimately, though, it comes down to whatever happens tomorrow and a lot of people say it's just theatrical, just an infomercial, is I think John Boehner described it yesterday. Ultimately what happens is going forward, will it be able to pass? Some have suggested they might be able to pass it in the Senate. What about in the house? Because right now we understand Nancy Pelosi does not have enough of you guys lined up to say yes.
Rep. Andrews: First of all, if John Boehner wants it to be an infomercial, it will be. I hope what he will do is come to the meeting and ready to negotiate and get something done the way john did on No Child Left Behind a number of years ago. I hope he does. If he does, I think we'll get something done. Look, the people who are watching this show, I think, whether they're liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat, would pretty much agree that the exploding cost of health care is hurting their family and their business and the country and we need to do something about it.
Steve Doocy: All right. Congressman, something we're all worried about. Congressman Robert Andrews, thank you very much for joining us live.
