Hoyer: Republicans Have Broken Their Promise

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) accused Republicans on Tuesday of reneging on a promise they made last year to not attach policy riders to necessary legislation.

“In the Pledge to America, the Republicans said this: ‘We will end the practice of packaging unpopular bills with must pass legislation to circumvent the will of the American people,’” Hoyer quoted.

“That’s what they’re doing,” he said. “They said they wouldn’t do it, they’re breaking their pledge, they are doing it. They’re doing it because it’s politically expedient to do it, not because they think it will pass.”

Hoyer referred to the GOP’s payroll tax cut extension plan as “political gamesmanship” because they were explicitly told by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that his chamber would not pass their bill.

The inclusion of the Keystone XL Pipeline mandate, which President Obama said would be grounds for vetoing the bill as a whole if it reached his desk, is further proof of Republicans’ partisan policy, according to Hoyer.

Hoyer, a longtime advocate for federal workers, continued to criticize the package for breaking the deal made in the Budget Control Act. Included in the GOP payroll tax package is an extension of the federal base pay freeze, which, according to Hoyer, would decrease the agreed upon “discretionary number” for federal employees. If the freeze extension is passed, $60 billion would be taken from federal employees’ salaries over the next decade.

With a number of issues still on the table and less than a week before the House is set to break for the holidays, Hoyer expressed concern that the session would be extended.

“This is theoretically the last week of the session,” Hoyer remarked. “I say that hopefully, but not with a good deal of confidence.”

Hoyer Blames GOP Leadership For 'Do Nothing' Congress

By Adrianna McGinley

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday he remains hopeful that Republicans and Democrats will work in the last weeks of the year to pass economic recovery legislation, but the GOP must be willing to cooperate.

“There is no doubt in my mind that if Mr. Boehner, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Cantor and I sat down and we could all agree that we’ll both come up with a majority, under the following circumstances…we could do it,” Hoyer said. “The issue is whether or not we’re going to do it in a bipartisan way or pursue a partisan message.”

Hoyer blasted Republicans for moving less than half the amount of legislation the Democratically-controlled Congress moved in 2007 under a Republican administration and attributed the lack of action to a complete unwillingness of the GOP to move away from political messages.

“They voted three times to end Medicare, we’re not going to do that, they continue to vote for it. [They] voted ten times on regulatory bills that do not create jobs…They voted 23 times against initiatives to create jobs…They voted 14 times to repeal patient protections and put insurance companies back in control of healthcare, they know that’s not going to pass the Senate, they know the president is not going to sign it. These are all political message bills for their base, a relatively narrow base.”

“We’ve moved a lot of legislation through the House which the speaker must have known, we knew, had no chance in the Senate, but it was their political message,” Hoyer added. “They’ve been pursuing their political message, not policy.”

When asked if he thinks House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is responsible, he said, “Yes, I think the Speaker bears responsibility. He is, after all, the leader.”

With the current continuing resolution expiring in two weeks, Hoyer said “we are going to urge staying here until we get [the sustainable growth rate, unemployment insurance, and payroll taxes] done.”

On the legislation proposing an extension and increase of the payroll tax, Hoyer said Republicans are alienating their constituents, citing that roughly 75 percent of Americans support raising taxes on millionaires to aid the middle class.

“I frankly think the millionaires’ tax is putting a lot of heat on the Republicans,” Hoyer said.

He criticized arguments that raising taxes on the wealthy would negatively affect small-business owners, saying it “is not going to impact at all, according to any economist, job creation in America. What it will do is give us resources to protect the most vulnerable in America.”

“Every bipartisan group that has looked at it says you cannot get to where we need to get if you do not deal with additional revenues, and very frankly, almost every Republican leader that I’ve talked to agrees,” Hoyer added.

While he does not want to see sequestration take effect, Hoyer said, Democratic leadership is not working to avoid it, and he believes Democrats will support a presidential veto on any legislation with that goal.

“We need to keep the sequester in place, but realize it is an incentive, a reason, a demand, if you will, that we come to an agreement and adopt a balanced response to the fiscal challenge that confronts us…The sequester was the discipline. If you now simply spend time figuring out ‘well how can we get around the sequester,’ frankly, it eliminate the discipline.”

Hoyer Confident Dems Will Win Back House In 2012

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday that he remains confident Democrats will take back the House in next years election, despite having lost some notable members like Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to retirement. 

The recently announced vacancies of 17 House Democratic seats, including Frank and Texas Democrat Charlie Gonzalez who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, could be seen as cause for concern over Democrats’ ability to win big next November, especially with the increased number redrawn districts in many states across the country. 

Fewer Democrats, however, have made their decision not to seek re-election compared to the 23 House Republicans who left Congress following the 2008 election cycle when Democrats regained control of the lower chamber. The numbers could indicate to Democratic leadership that the enthusiasm and potential may still be alive for 2012, Hoyer said.

“We have less retirement now than we had in ‘94 [and] I don’t think this will adversely effect, in any way, Democrats’ ability to take back the House,” Hoyer told reporters. “I fully expect us to take back the House.”

Frank said that he himself is confident Democrats will take back the House, especially if the newest front-runner, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, becomes the nominee.  

“The answer is I don’t know, I don’t think anybody know,” Frank said about the potential for Democrats to win back the House in 2012. “Is Newt Gingrich going to be the Nominee? Then we win it back.”

House Prepares To Take Up Balanced Budget Amendment

By Mike Hothi

The House is set to vote on a balanced-budget amendment (BBA) by the end of the week.

Passing the amendment would require a two-thirds majority vote in the House, a number that is unattainable without Democratic support.

“[I] hope that this passes,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters Tuesday. “I will be voting for it because I do think ultimately that the biggest check we can put on the government’s unbridled spending is a forced balanced budget amendment like most states have.”

Although in support, Cantor expressed a desire to see stronger version of the proposed amendment, noting that in its current form, the BBA does not include a spending cap or provide supermajority voting requirement to increase taxes like many Republicans had hoped for.

On the other side of the aisle, Democratic leaders are holding firm in their opposition to the amendment.

The bill would have to pass by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate before being ratified by three-quarters of the states to take effect.

No Presidential signature is required for a Constitutional amendment but the Obama administration did release a statement Tuesday warning that it “would impose serious risks for our economy… by requiring the government to raise taxes and cut spending in the face of a contraction, which would accelerate job losses.”

The administration emphasized the importance of finding a bipartisan solution to the country’s economic woes instead.

Hoyer Has Low Expectations On Super Committee Success, Remains Hopeful

By Andrea Salazar

With a Nov. 23 deadline fast approaching, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said Wednesday that he has high hopes but low expectations for the president’s Joint Select Committee’s success in recommending at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings. 

“The human nature tends to procrastinate on tough decisions,” Hoyer told reporters at his weekly briefing. 

Despite the looming deadline, the Democratic Whip said his hope is derived from the fact that he hasn’t heard requests from members of the super committee to extend the deadline.

The Democratic Whip, along with 100 other representatives, sent the super committee a letter asking them to “go for the big deal,” find $4 trillion in savings and put both mandatory expenditures and revenues on the table.

“The stakes…are very much higher and, hopefully, that will compel us, even in light of the short time frame available to us, to come together and reach agreement and act in a manner that will be consistent with the American people’s desire that we face tough challenges and meet them,” Hoyer said.