Good grief Candy Crowley is one horrid interviewer. She starts out the segment pretending that she doesn't know full well that Republicans want to privatize Social Security and then after Rep. Chris Van Hollen points out that they clearly have wanted to privatize it for years and that Minority Leader John Boehner has been quite vocal on the issue, Crowley then asks if it is fair to imply that Republicans want to get rid of it. Van Hollen does a good job of explaining why it is completely fair to imply that and if they had their way they'd privatize Medicare as well and turn it into a voucher system.
CROWLEY: But the implication is the Republicans want to get rid of Social Security. Is that not the implication, and do you think that's true?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, yes, effectively. Because if you take -- if you partially -- if you privatize Social Security, if you privatize it, the end result will be that that money is not there. There is not a stable source of retirement money because we will be literally gambling it on Wall Street.
And that has been a long-held position of our Republican colleagues. And they all voted last year, Candy, on a budget that would also privatize Medicare. It would cut it by 75 percent. It would turn it into a voucher program. And a senior would be given a voucher and say, hey, you go out with this -- you know, this voucher that has been cut by 75 percent, and go get your insurance. They voted on that. That's part of their...
Van Hollen could have also pointed to Rep. Paul Ryan and his budget proposals which also call for privatizing Medicare and Social Security.
Crowley also cut off Van Hollen before he could respond to McCarthy's statement that the Democrats cut Medicare by $500 billion. Paul Krugman laid waste to this sort of double speak from Republicans last year during a panel discussion on This Week.
Maybe Chris Van Hollen can go have a little talk with President Obama's debt commission and try to talk some sense into them next.
Full transcript below the fold.
CROWLEY: Let me call a time-out here, simply to move us along here, if I could. You know, here's -- I mean, I think we get where the two of you all are coming in terms of the economy. And I think we get where the economy is right now. And that's a battle we'll really see who wins in November.
I wanted to move you on to some of the specifics of the campaign that is before us. And President Obama gave his Saturday morning radio address, which now is online as well, in which he talked about Republicans and what they wanted to do about Social Security, which has just celebrated its 75th anniversary.
Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: They are pushing to make privatizing Social Security a key part of their legislative agenda if they win a majority in Congress this fall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: So, Congressman Van Hollen, I have not heard Republicans say that privatizing Social Security is a key part of their agenda if they take over. This seems to me to be one of those things that gets out there, whichever side it comes from, which is sort of an exaggeration of where people are. Do you think it's true that your colleagues in the House are aiming to get rid of Social Security and put it all in the private sector?
VAN HOLLEN: Yes, I do. And we know that the Republican John Boehner was very vocal in support of the Bush plan to privatize Social Security, which, as you know, would have resulted in millions of senior citizens in this country losing a whole lot of their retirement savings during this economic meltdown.
And the fact of the matter is, they would like to send more of the Social Security money to Wall Street. That has been a position the Republicans have held for a long time. And their -- their leader, the guy who wants to become speaker...
CROWLEY: But the implication is the Republicans want to get rid of Social Security. Is that not the implication, and do you think that's true?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, yes, effectively. Because if you take -- if you partially -- if you privatize Social Security, if you privatize it, the end result will be that that money is not there. There is not a stable source of retirement money because we will be literally gambling it on Wall Street.
And that has been a long-held position of our Republican colleagues. And they all voted last year, Candy, on a budget that would also privatize Medicare. It would cut it by 75 percent. It would turn it into a voucher program. And a senior would be given a voucher and say, hey, you go out with this -- you know, this voucher that has been cut by 75 percent, and go get your insurance. They voted on that. That's part of their...
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: Let me -- yes, let me let Congressman McCarthy in there. I have something to play for you too. But go ahead and respond to that.
MCCARTHY: But this is a scare tactic to try to get off jobs. Social Security isn't a fundamental problem. We should be able to sit down with both parties and start talking to make sure we secure it. Republicans want to secure it and actually make it there for the future.
One of the reasons why it's actually losing money right now is because there are so fewer jobs out there, fewer people paying in. We need to get the job creation going. And this is the exact tactic of the Democrats.
Why they have not produced a budget the first time since '74. Why their job plan has failed to not move America forward. They are trying to have a scare tactic to move forward where Republicans have not produced this plan.
And if Chris wants to talk about Medicare, there is only one party going into this election that has cut Medicare by $500 billion, and that was the Democratic Party.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: I have to cut you off both here. I'm sorry, I've totally run out of time.
VAN HOLLEN: He should read the trustees report.
CROWLEY: You need to read the trustees report, according to Congressman Van Hollen. Let me know what you think of it. Thank you all both very, very much. I thought it was Congressmen Nadler and Congressman King I could not control, all the time it was you. But thank you so much. And by my count, it's a little past 6:30 in California. Everybody back to bed. Thank you very much.
