Van Hollen Discusses the President’s Budget on MSNBC

“We need more shared prosperity in this country. We need to make sure that we lift all boats.”

Washington, DC – Today Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, appeared on MSNBC’s Jansing and Co. with Chris Jansing to discuss the President’s budget. Below is a transcript and video of his interview:

CHRIS JANSING, MSNBC: Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, joins me now. Good to see you, Congressman, good morning.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you Chris, thanks.

JANSING: So we said this is setting up a pretty epic battle, and there’s this 204-page report that House Republicans have put out that I know you’ve seen, and it, basically it says we can’t afford to do it the way that the President is laying it out. Congressman Paul Ryan, I’m quoting him here, “for too long, we have measured compassion by how much we spend instead of how many people get out of poverty.” So does this budget just throw more money at a problem?

VAN HOLLEN: Well Chris, what the President is proposing in the Earned Income Tax Credit proposal you just laid out, as well as the Child Tax Credit, are provisions that have had bipartisan support in the past. What the President is doing here is extending that tax cut to childless workers. Right now, it applies to lower-income workers with kids. And so, we hope, actually, that this will be an area where Republicans can come together with us and work together.

JANSING: Well, what’s the indication you’re getting on the Hill, Congressman? Is that going to happen?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, we’ve had some hearings in the past where there have been indications that Republicans support this approach. But as you indicated, you know, Chairman Ryan just rolled out this report the other day talking about a range of anti-poverty programs. We’re happy to work with them to improve these programs. What we’re not willing to do is to allow their budget to be used as a Trojan Horse to try and dramatically slash these social safety net programs. So, again, if the past is prologue, they’re planning to make major cuts to very important economic security programs. But let’s wait and see.

JANSING:  Let’s look at another aspect of this, because the President’s plan would give a total of $60 billion in tax breaks to Americans, and plans to pay for it, at least in part, by closing tax loopholes – the so-called Gingrich and carried interest provisions that let high-income professionals avoid the income and payroll taxes that some other workers pay. Again, you know, part of the Republican argument has been this is anti-businesses, it will stifle job growth. So, how do you pay for it?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, interestingly, Chris, those two tax provisions that you just talked about – reducing the break for hedge funds and what we call the Gingrich-John Edwards loophole – were proposals that Dave Camp advanced in his tax reform package the other day. Now, we saw the Speaker of the House run as fast and as far from that proposal as possible the other day. But those two items are things that he identified, so maybe there’s some common ground. Now, unfortunately, a lot of Republicans are not willing to end specific tax breaks unless they’re, at the same time, lowering tax rates for very high-income individuals.

But I want to point out one other area of possible overlap. The President has proposed eliminating a lot of tax breaks that actually encourage multinational companies to move their jobs offshore.  So American companies moving jobs offshore as a result of some of these tax incentives. We don’t want to do that, right? So, what the President is proposing is close some of those tax breaks and use the savings to invest in modernizing our infrastructure, so we can compete in this 21st century.

JANSING: This is more than a budget document, it really is a way for people who are running in these midterms to go out and say this is what we stand for as a party. Particularly in what both parties have identified as critical, which is this gap between, the growing gap between, the rich and the poor. And obviously all budgets are works in progress, there are compromises to be made, as you just indicated. But if you had to lay out the Democrats’ priorities – the things your candidates will run on in the midterms – what do you think is not negotiable here?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, what’s not negotiable is the focus on making sure that middle-income, middle-class workers are better off. We need more shared prosperity in this country. We need to make sure that we lift all boats. And some of the Republican proposals in the past have essentially been tax giveaways to the very wealthy at the expense of investing in important areas for growing the middle class.

So, we want to continue to increase our investment in our kids’ education, in science and research that has helped grow innovation in the country, and in our infrastructure.  Republicans in the past have wanted to cut all those important investments and preserve tax breaks for special interests. So, again, we haven’t seen what the House Republican budget proposal will be this year. But if the past is prologue, that will be the direction they take, and so you’re going to have a major debate over priorities and values.

JANSING: Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, Congressman, Chris Van Hollen. Always good to see you, Congressman. Thank you.

VAN HOLLEN: Good to see you. Thanks.