. >>> maryland congressman steny hoyer joins me now live in new york. and congressman, good to see you, thanks so much for being on the show. >> good to be with you, luke. thanks very much. >> number one, this hearing, it wasn't an official capitol hill hearing per se. what are the politics behind this? are you guys having a hearing like this today in order to try to stretch the issue out during a recess week. you've had republicans on a defensive last week when issa wouldn't allow the panel. how much of this is politics? >> i think that everything we do in some sense is politics in the best sense of educating people of informing them, of giving them the different viewpoints that are being represented on capitol hill. and i think here we have a purpose example of the republican chairman of the committee wanted to shut out a particular perspective that sandra represents. and in fact, i believe the overwhelming majority of americans support. so what is going on today is an opportunity to give that perspective, which was censored and shut out last week an

. >> you have two sides of this argument, the democratic whip and the house of representatives steny hoyer saying that the president's plan does in his words create a path to stabilizing the country's death and stirring job creation. you heard from paul ryan calling the budget irresponsible, and it seems to be part of debate is how do you create a path towards economic stability while also reducing a $16 trillion debt that will grow over the next 5 to 8 years? >> that's exactly right. that's the fundamental if you were seeing here which is the issue of taxes versus spend sg one you hear about a lot on capitol hill. the president is trying to make the case for targeted increases for especially wealthier individuals in the country to rein in the deficit. secretary geithner said on the hill he doesn't see a way to handle this without including some measure of tax increases, but at the same time republicans are saying tax increases are exactly the wrong way to go about this. instead we need to focus more on making changes to entitlement programs and looking for places to cut spending to be ser

on our side of the aisle, steny hoyer has made the lead make it in america, manufacturing. refine products and chemicals are manufacturing. up until the high prices of natural gas, chemicals was one of our biggest export items. and those are jobs that are not only in my district, but all over the country. actually pennsylvania has chemical jobs, new jersey. we just don't share the wealth with our refinery jobs as much. but refining is manufacturing. my fear years ago is that we had countries including venezuela in the '90s who wanted to build refineries to export to our country. just think if we would have agreed to that in the 1990s. a bunch of us together in congress opposed it. chavez doesn't want to send us cruise o crude oil. what if we depended on the jet fuel from venezuela? why would we want those production capabilities, produce all you can in our own country and yet send it overseas. those of you who may know we have great ice cream, called blue bell. we eat all we can and export the rest. that's what with we do with the refined products. so this is definitely a b

at that time we had just receive a letter from steny hoyer signed by 196 democratic members of the house urging secretaries of state to protect voting rights by opposing new state measures that would quote make it harder for eligible voters to register to vote, end of quote. while we have invited a number of speakers and guests from the list that signed the letter, none of them could join us today. i was wondering if anyone in the room who might have had dialog with mr. hoyer might have any comments at this time? or if he sent anybody to speak on his behalf? no one? okay. at this time, i feel it appropriate as president of the organization to speak and to say that i believe this organization has a collective interest in ensuring fair and honesty elections and i believe that policy disagreements and elections and i believe that policy disagreements and discussions are healthy and inevitable, however, the blanket letter to all members of this organization is not. his stating that "partisan plays" are being made, that within itself is partisan. disorganization is not partisan. we all take o

. >> the debate on capitol hill between congressman steny hoyer, who represents an area of maryland that includes a large number of federal work, and congressman sean duffy, republican of wisconsin, as congressional lawmakers deal with a plan that could freeze the pay or the salary of federal employees and members of congress, their salaries frozen for at least another year if the bill passes the house of representatives. we

you've seen more publicly at least to date is the traction from democrats, house minority whip steny hoyeraid he won't vote for this. you have senators from virginia and maryland particularly where federal workers are obviously highly concentrated. it's been a long day. who are opposing this bill because they don't think it's right to cut federal workers pensions in order to pay for an extension of european employment insurance which as recently as two years ago did not have to be offset. so the simple question or answer to your question now that i've meandered. i think it will pass. many republicans will vote in favor for it. senate democrats had a press conference to pressure senate republicans to get on board to make sure there's enough votes because they acknowledge they will lose senator warner who has come out of this bill. they are calculating a number of others might fall off before the final votes are held but i think that everyone wants to wrap up work and get on planes and go home for president's day recess and you'll probably see that happen. >> let me tread you this news reaso

the federal pay freeze for one more year, on the other side of the aisle, democratic congressman steny hoyer, who represents a large constituency of federal employees in maryland, here's what he had to say on the house -- i apologize, it's congressman chris val holland is going to be with us tomorrow morning on "washington journal" to talk about this and other issues. we hope you tune in beginning at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. here's what he had to say on the floor earlier in the day. his constituency also includes a large number of federal employees in maryland. >> i think the record should be clear that every year that the congress has frozen federal employee pay, we have also frozen congressional pay. what we have not done is try to hold federal employee pay hostage to what we do on congressional pay. and we should be very clear that we all on the democratic side support freezing congressional pay in the year 2013, indeed, mr. cummings and i, mr. hoyer and others, have introduced legislation to do just that. it's hr-3858. the democratic leadership asked that we be able to bring that up o

so, majority leader cantor, the speaker, leader pelosi, whip steny hoyer all are coming together to seeis told for generations, and it's wonderful. our children and their children will have an opportunity to know what happened on the march from selma to montgomery and what role members of congress played then and even now. >> now, at the same time, we've had some really nasty rhetoric back and forth. there have been some pretty sharp words between members of your party and the majority leader cantor on other issues. and out on the campaign trail, what about some of the things that we heard from rick santorum speaking out against john f. kennedy's big speech in houston on the separation of church and state and his comment that the president is a snob for supporting post high school education? >> well, i don't quite understand where senator santorum is coming from. he served in the house with us, but i'm really shocked and surprised that he said such a thing. say t philosophies, beliefs are so basic as part of the american way. for him to suggest that we should have separation between chu

there's steny hoyer right now. some of your senate democratic colleagues have said they'll vote no. how are you going to vote? >> i plan to vote for it. i share some of the concerns, but i believe the most important thing is that we've got to keep this economy growing. and to the extent that we can help middle class families put more money in their pockets so they can pay their bills and be able to help generate a growing economy, that's what's most important. now, we've got to deal with this debt and the deficits, there's no doubt about that. but job number one is to get this economy moving. >> senator, thank you so much. it's good to see you, jeanne shaheen. let me go back to the contraception issue, e.j., you have been upfront on this. obviously the debate is not going away. how important is this in the overall 2012 campaign? to the point i just made to the senator, for example, in michigan, where anybody can go to the polls. democrats, independents, how big of an issue will this be in driving voters? we typically say social issues really only work on the margin. >> well, i think

federal workers in their district, specifically a lot of folks from maryland who have very powerful, steny hoyer, ranking member of the budget committee, van hollen says he's going to vote against this deal because of how it's paid for. it's an interesting compromise on capitol hill that does not please either side but eventually go forward with it because they realize they think it's the right thing to do. the big winner here is president obama, this will be his single biggest domestic policy achievement this year. and i can tell you in all honesty, this is the last thing that will get done on capitol hill in 2012 of any significance. it's all campaign mode now starting in february. >> we'll see the forward motion this hour. luke, thank you. >>> federal immigration agents opened fire inside a federal building in long beach, california, last night. the fbi saying the agent wounded another agent before being shot and killed by a third. the agent who was injured is listed in stable condition. >>> the plane got a little too close to the presidential chopper yesterday. air force fighter jets were sc

i'll speak with her number two congressman steny hoyer, and the only witness. >>> and the koran burninga is offering an apology. all that in the 11:00 a.m. hour on luke russert in for thomas roberts. >> thanks so much, luke. >>> in an abrupt change, virginia's republican governor and legislature backed down, gone from a bill just tasked into the requirement to get an invasive -- that women get an invasive ultrasound before an abortion. but the fight continues. today virginia's legislature holds a hearing on a bill and nancy pelosi a hearing on contraception. richard lui is here now with a look at virginia and maryland so close, richard, and yet, boy, so far apart on these kinds of business. >> the potomac separating virginia and maryland by just miles here, but they're oceans apart on women's issues. for instance, pre-abortion screening. maryland rejected tight restrictions to its abortion clinics last year. across the river, virginia's republican-led legislature almost passed a bill some democrats callied "akin to rape" -- should get the right and privileges of other people. maryland h

. >> sreenivasan: and house democratic whip steny hoyer criticized it for cutting retirement benefits of new government hires. >> nobody is targeted in this bill, other than federal employees! you can tell i'm angry about that, because that's not fair. and that's not how you ought to treat our employees, america's employees. >> sreenivasan: president obama thanked congress for their efforts during a visit to a boeing factory in everett, washington. >> today, we took one important step in the short term. just before we got here, congress did the right thing, and voted to make sure that taxes won't go up on middle- class families at the end of this month. >> sreenivasan: the president is expected to sign the bill right after returning from his west coast trip. a 29-year-old moroccan man was arrested today after planning to detonate a suicide vest near the u.s. capitol building. a counter-terrorism official said amine el khalifi was taken into custody with an inoperable gun and inert explosives given to him by undercover fbi agents. he is not believed to be associated with al-qaeda, but

steny highwayer, number two in house -- steny hoyer, number two in democrat leadership, has said that passing a budget is not needed in times like these. we just have a complete ax of leadership in the white house. host: and you can see the history of the line-item veto, 1996 it was first passed. president clinton used it 82 times. congress overrode president clinton's veto 38 times. and it saved almost $2 billion before being declared unconstitutional. some of our facebook comments this morning, danny says i don't think it should be done because they develop laws in committees, and that shouldn't be undone so easily. jesse says, i think it is great if they use it to cut spending, cut spending, cut spending. and peter says, a hopeful step to the post-obama presidency, america reset, sign of good things to come. middletown, connecticut, tricia on our democrats line. what do you think about the line-item veto being passed? >> caller: i was just thinking about what they're doing, if you know the bible, all money belongs to god. host: next call, victor in new york city, another democrat.

>> reporter: we had a passionate argument from steny hoyer, a lee leader in the house for the democratsf the pay fors that new federal employees will have to pay more of their pensions than currently is part of the deal. here is a republican in the house and why he's a no. >> this legislation is simply an election year gimmick. it jeopardizes our already fragile social security system, while literally tricking voters, 160 million of them, with the hopes that they believe it's real tax relief. >> reporter: bottom line, it is a compromise, so there is something in here for probably everybody to like. there is also probably something in here for everybody not to like, so we will be counting votes today, heather. heather: our chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel, live for us from washington. thank you very much. >> obama's reckless agenda must be stopped and there is only one principled candidate with the courage to do it. rick santorum, father, husband, a champion for life, the leader with the bold plan to restore america's greatness. bill: that is part of an ad out today from ri

you have steny hoyer, minority whip, he's concerned about the energy crisis on how it affects the administration. senator schumer's answer is to get the state department to talk to saudi arabia to produce more oil. then you've got the president, ending keystone pipeline. this is an ability that we can produce our own. you know what happens when you produce your own energy in america? you don't spend your money somewhere else and you create american jobs. that's why the house we passed the energy bill a couple weeks ago. we will continue to do this. there is a way out of it, and this shouldn't be politics. we should be more concerned with how this affects america than how it affects the administration. bill: on the political issue, the political equation, are democrats worried about november if the prices stay where they are for several months or even beyond? >> i think the president, you saw him, he's now saying okay to half of the keystone pipeline. when he vetoed it twierks you look at the process, in california, the price is 4.35, you can look at the price changes when you stay at the lights.

>> steny hoyer is the democratic whip. he is quick to report that democrats are not passing jobs bill. he is taking a swipe at the class act. do not do anything to create jobs. however, republicans did just rollout in major bill around the highway trust fund. it is going to take a while to process. the house is going to be active on that. republicans are going to push back on that. they are not doing anything to create jobs. >> he is washington correspondent for the takeover. thank you for the update. in a few moments, the head of in a little more than 20 minutes, you will hear from newt gingrich in orlando. he finished second. the other major republican presidential candidates are nevada. campaigning in nv there the answer coming up shortly. >> with talk of possible legislation, john discusses this. >> i have an alarming thought of this. the discussion of cyber mayors the discussion of terrorism had in the 1980's and 1990's. there's a great deal of difficulty coming to the consensus until we had 9/11. we knew what to do.

. >> next, eric cantor and steny hoyer discuss the house agenda for next week. this is 35 minutes.aker. i thank the gentleman from maryland, democratic whip, for yielding. mr. speaker, on monday the house will meet at 1:00 p.m. in pro forma session. no votes are expected. on tuesday, the house will meet at noon for morning hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m. on wednesday and thursday, the house will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and noon for legislative business. on friday, the house will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business, last votes of the week are expected no later than 3:00 p.m. mr. speaker, the house will consider a few bills under suspension of the rules, a complete list of which will be announced by the close of business tomorrow. in addition, the house will consider h.r. 7, the american energy and infrastructure jobs act of 2012. the house may also consider legislation relating to h.r. 3630, the temporary payroll tax cut continue -- continuation act. i thank the gentleman from maryland and yield back. mr. hoyer:

>> steny hoyer is the democratic whip. he is quick to report that democrats are not passing jobs bill. he is taking a swipe at the class act. do not do anything to create jobs. however, republicans did just rollout in major bill around the highway trust fund. it is going to take a while to process. the house is going to be active on that. republicans are going to push back on that. they are not doing anything to create jobs,. >> he is washington correspondent for the takeover. thank you for the update. in a few moments the head of the congressional budget office releases the economic forecast. in more than an hour, we will hear from mitt romney, the winner of the florida primary. you also hear from newt gingrich who finished second. next congressional budget officer says he expects unemployment to remain a 0.9%. he also spoke about extending the payroll tax cuts set to expire in march. the cbo released its forecast on tuesday. this is an hour and 15 minutes. part of the way we fulfill our mission is to create budget econom

on our side of the aisle, steny hoyer has made the leap i make it in america.acturing, refined products and chemicals for manufacturing. in fact, up until high prices of natural gas, chemicals was one of our biggest exported items. and those are jobs that are not only might just hurt, but all over the country. actually pennsylvania has chemical jobs, new jersey. we just don't share the wealth as much. refining his manufacturing. my fear a few years ago was we had countries, including venezuela in the 90s who wanted to build refineries to export to our country. just think if we would've agreed to that in the 1990s. a bunch of guys in congress opposed it. we didn't want to send the crude oil. what if we waited on sending military overseas as we depended on jet fuel from venezuela. why would we not want those production capabilities in this country to produce and send it overseas. we have great ice cream up right about. lubell. we either we cannot export the rest. that is what we can do with refined products. this is definitely about amendment. i don't think they

at that time, we had just received a letter from house democratic steny hoyer that was signed by 196 democrat members of the house to protect voting rights by approving new state measures that would, quote, make it harder for eligible voters to register to vote, end of quote. while we have invited a number of speakers and guests from the list that signed that letter, none of them could join us today. [laughter] >> i was wondering if anyone in the room who might have had dialog with mr. hoyer might have any comments at this time or if he sent anybody to speak on his behalf? no one? okay. at this time, i feel it appropriate as president of the organization to speak and to say that i believe this organization has a collective interest in ensuring fair and honest elections. and i believe that policy disagreements and discussions are healthy and inevitable. however, whip hoyer's blanket letter from 196 members of his party to all members of this organization is not. his stating that, quote, partisan plays, end of quote, are being made, that within itself is partisan. disorganization is no

also, remarked from house democratic whip steny hoyer. this is about 30 minutes. pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from maryland. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his information. would ask him on the timing, the conference committee has met twice on the payroll tax cut, the unemployment insurance, and the so-called doc fix to ensure the fact that doctors are compensated and will be available for medicare patients. conference committee, mr. leader, has met twice since december 23. we adopted a motion to instruct overwhelmingly through the house to make sure that they reported back by february 17. i think you may have read my comments in the press that if we do not do it by the 17th, then we are off for a week and we will be back, 27, 28, 29, come back the night of the 27th will be jammed at the end on wednesday the 29th. we on have six full days left before the february break. that does not include our 6:30 start times. house democrats, mr. leader, stand ready to, frankly, i think work through the weekend if that was necessary, but i'm very

on our side of the aisle, steny hoyer has made the lead on make it in america. manufacturing. refined products and chemicals are manufacturing. in fact, up until the high prices of natural gas in the middle of the last decade, chemicals was one of our biggest export items. and those are jobs that are not only in my district but all over the country. actually pennsylvania has chemical jobs. new jersey. we just don't share the wealth with our refinery jobs as much. but refining is manufacturing. my fear years ago is that we had countries, including veins swale a in the 19 -- veins swale a in the 1990's that wanted to build refineries to export to our country. just think if we would have agreed to that in the 1990's. a bunch of us together as members of congress opposed it. president chavez doesn't want to send us crude oil. what if we were waiting to send the military overseas because we depend on our jet fuel from venezuela? why would we not to produce in our own country and send it overseas? and those of you who may know from texas, we have some great ice cream. we all brag ab