Hoyer Joins "Capitol Review" on WDVM

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Steny Hoyer (MD-05) joined "Capitol Review" with Tasmin Mahfuz on WDVM to discuss priorities important to Maryland's Fifth District. During the interview, Congressman Hoyer discussed the recent bomb threats against HBCUs, the need to protect voting rights, the impact of the bipartisan infrastructure law across Maryland, the Build Back Better Act, and more. Below are excerpts of his remarks and links to the interview.

Click here and here to watch the full interview.

On HBCU Bomb Threats

"What is so sad is that here we are 2022 in America, a country that has dedicated itself to the equality of all people - although not lived out those principles - we had a Civil War to establish that, we voted on Civil Rights bills, we preach tolerance and acceptance. We talk about, we put our hand over hearts and pledge fidelity to one nation, indivisible, and it is so sad that what we see around the country is not the practice of that. So, I've written to Attorney General Garland and Homeland Security [Secretary] Mayorkas [on this issue], and yesterday I talked to my good friend, the president of Bowie State… fearmongering, this hate-mongering, has got to stop, and we all need to speak out against it."

On Protecting Voting Rights

"You know, I have a picture out front of my office of my dear, dear friend and brother John Lewis. I was very, very close to him and I walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with him 15 times to commemorate Bloody Sunday, which was about not only to be able to register to vote, but able to vote. [Protecting] voting rights is critical. Voting rights historically has been a bipartisan piece of legislation [that has] passed overwhelmingly and been signed by Republican and Democratic presidents."

"… [W]e're not going to quit. Giving up is not an option. Voting is central to our democracy, voting is a right that every citizen has, and we ought to facilitate them in doing so, not making it more difficult. That is what is happening in in state, after state, after state: making it more difficult to cast the vote. That's wrong. We need to pass this bill and I want you and your viewers to know, Tasmin, that every Democrat voted for this voting rights bill. Every Democrat in the House and every Democrat in the Senate. Unfortunately, the procedures in the Senate provide that you need 60 votes. Not a single Republican supported the voting rights legislation and how sad that is, and it's such a change from what historically has happened. So, we're going to keep fighting, and I have hope that we're going to get something done."

"Well, again, I want to emphasize that every Democrat, including [Senators] Manchin and Sinema supported the Voting Rights Act that we sent over to them, which included [addressing] the right to vote, and facilitating the vote, and the John Lewis Act which fixed the Supreme Court's decision to un-fix the Voting Rights Act [of 1965] by prohibiting preclearance. We expanded preclearance to all 50 states so that discriminatory actions cannot be taken preventing people or making it more difficult for them to vote. My message to Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema is: look, the filibuster is undemocratic. The filibuster ought to be eliminated entirely. But certainly, the filibuster in this instance, ought to be eliminated for the Minority to undermine the Majority from voting either because of not passing the Voting Rights [Act] or from not honoring the filibuster is, just, in my opinion, not consistent with American democracy. So, my message to them is: think carefully about it and let this voting rights bill pass with a Majority vote in the United States Senate. The Majority should rule, and the Majority certainly should rule in protecting the rights of the minority."

On the Build Back Better Act

"I think the [Build Back Better Act] that we sent them was a very good bill and would make a difference in the lives of millions and millions of frankly, every American, and we'll see what the Senate can pass. There are obviously some provisions in the Senate that a couple of Senators - at least one Senator has reservations about. So, they're going to have to get a bill that can get 50 votes because no Republican is supporting [this] bill. But [this] bill [is] extraordinary – with child care and preschool… home care… and let me go back to child care and preschool…[they are] so critically important so that Americans who want to work and get back to work and have confidence that their children are in a good setting…prescription drug policies, we bring the prices down on prescription drugs. So, the Build Back Better [Act] deals with so many critical items, including housing and very, very importantly, climate. Climate [change] is an existential threat to the welfare of our people are and economics and we need to deal with that in a very, very robust and effective way and the Build Back Better [Act] does just that. So I'm hopeful that the Senate, over the next to a few months, will come to a place where they can the pass most of what we sent them in Build Back Better, perhaps not all, and when they send it back … I'm confident that we'll have a lot of very, very important pieces of the legislation."

On the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

"Look, I think we were a real winner in this law. Maryland is going to give $7.4 billion from the infrastructure bill that deals not just with roads, bridges, and highways - and by the way, and Maryland over the next 5 years, we're going to be receiving about $410 million dollars for roads bridges and highways; $158 billion for airports and $4.1 billion in highway funding over the 5 to 10 years. So, very substantial resources to make sure that we can get to work on safe roads, [and] so that we can have mass transit funded properly. Frankly, we can deal with broadband, and water purity in terms of drinking water, in terms of waste water…and the Chesapeake Bay, [a] very, very important provision. So, the infrastructure bill which passed with a bipartisan vote in both [chambers] and is now signed into law by the President and is being implemented as we speak. Very important for our physical investment in infrastructure, in the state of Maryland, and throughout the country which will make us more competitive and create opportunities and jobs for millions of people."

On Make It In America and the America COMPETES Act

"Well, Make It In America is relevant now and more relevant than when I start putting it forward in 2010, and the reason [why it] is more relevant [is that] what the pandemic has shown us is that we are reliant on so many foreign suppliers for [our] needs. Obviously, we saw that in terms of medical needs, whether was [it was] masks, or was a syringe, whether it was aprons, whatever it might have been, what we found [is] that we were relying on foreign suppliers. And then, of course, because the pandemic shut down so many factories that were producing chips, absolutely essential to the production of so many different goods, particularly cars, one-third of inflation in our country is related to automobiles. One-third of our inflation - and one of the reasons is because of cars. Why? Because they don't have the chips. Make It In America is critically important for our independence and for our national security and for the creation of jobs, good-paying jobs for our people…The[America] COMPETES Act…will have clips produced in this country…that is a 50-billion-dollar investment in America's ability to compete. In addition to that, the [America COMPETES] bill will provide for educational opportunities for people. Entrepreneurship opportunities and continuing infrastructure investment. So, the America COMPETES Act will help Maryland because Maryland is a state that has a lot of talent. Technical talent, other talent, we have a lot operations and technical operations in our state, biomedical research is big in our state. So, the [America] COMPETES Act is going to energize all of [our] enterprises."