Hoyer Remarks at Press Conference on House GOP’s Proposed Spending Cuts, Poison Pills
WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) joined a press conference today with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02), other Members of Congress, leading budget advocates, and Americans likely to be harmed by the House GOP’s proposed spending cuts and poison pill riders. Below is a transcript of his remarks:
“This is a difficult Congress in which we serve. We have agreement on a lot of things, but we are immobilized by the fact that there are some people who will not agree on anything other than that which they want. That’s not democracy. That's not the Congress. That's not what the American people expect and should be getting.
“Over the past year, we watched the House Republican Conference devolve into dysfunction and division. Oh, as a matter of fact, we watched that 24 hours ago. Now, apparently, they've turned it around — maybe for an hour, maybe even for 24 hours — but not for long. That's been our experience. We made a deal. I want to say to everybody who is watching – everybody makes a deal almost every day, husbands with wives, wives with husbands, parents with children, coworkers with coworkers — that's the way we live.
“In order to be successful, we need to [rely] on the representations that people make – that I will do this, if you will do that. [Former Speaker] McCarthy did that with the President of the United States. Now, in that instance, it took them about seven days to break their word.
“What I see coming out of the Speaker's office, the Freedom Caucus came out, said we have a deal. The Speaker came out and said we don't have a deal. That was just an hour ago, maybe two hours. Each side, when they make a deal, wants to have the deal done. They don't want to make another deal, and another deal, and another deal, because we want to make government work — particularly as the appropriations process and particularly not shutting down government, which is not only a bad policy, it is stupid and very costly.
“And so one of the things both sides do is there are things called poison pills. What's a poison pill? Poison pill is something that people do not want to take. Quite frankly, everybody’s poison pill is not the same. So they have some poison pills that they don't like, and we have some poison pills that we don't like. And so what we agree on historically, is we put yours aside and ours aside, and we will move forward constructively on behalf of the American people.
“Now, it's clear that if the Republicans want to keep government open, they need our votes. They have displayed over and over and over and over again – they can't get it done on their own.
“It’s hard for them to elect speakers much less pass votes. We will not accept partisan riders, whether they restrict women's reproductive rights, limit Americans' access to affordable, quality health care, target the LGBTQ community, or do anything else to harm the American people. And if I were a Republican here, I'm sure they have a list of things that they would not accept.
“So, we're responsible. If we do our duty on behalf of the American people and we do our oath of making sure that this republic — this democracy, this nation — can function effectively and give confidence not only to us, but to those around the world, whether they are friend or foe. So I'm pleased to join all of you here, so many great organizations, and I am particularly glad to join you too.
“Well, you know, Mr. and Mrs. America, you need to expect your representatives to act responsibly and to understand in a democracy, as in life, compromise is absolutely essential. And while we need to hew to principle, the primary principle ought to be to make sure that we can work constructively together to make the government work, not to demand things that, you know, the other side cannot agree. We have large agreement. Let's grab it. Let's go and dump the poison pills.”