随着11月中期选举的迅速临近,所有人都在关注两党为控制众议院和参议院所做的最新努力。
众议院多数党领袖Steny Hoyer (D-M.D .)周三与“GMA 3”讨论了他对民主党保持多数党地位的前景。
GMA 3:最近的锡耶纳学院-纽约时报调查发现在注册选民中,民主党比共和党高出两个百分点。这里讨论的是来自马里兰州的众议院多数党领袖Steny Hoyer。霍耶队长,谢谢你和我们在一起。是的,T.J .刚刚提到很多事都岌岌可危。这两个百分点关系到众议院和参议院的权力和控制权。不同的是,你知道,非常薄。我们也知道,回顾2016年,我们看到的一些民意调查中不一定有很多信心。作为民主党人,你对中期选举有什么感觉?
霍耶:嗯,我感觉很好。
是的,那个民调显示[两个百分点],但是我们有一些真正的民调。我所说的真正的民意调查,是指人们走向投票箱,为候选人投票,表达他们的观点。我们已经取得了两场巨大的胜利,实际上是三场,但只有两位议员,一位是纽约州的帕特·瑞安,在一个共和党人预计会获胜的地区。
再往西2600英里的阿拉斯加州,前州长萨拉·佩林和我们的候选人玛丽·佩尔托拉也参加了竞选,她是第一位代表阿拉斯加的土著美国人。她做得非常非常好。就在过去的四周里,我们赢了两场本不该赢的比赛。
然后,来自共和党领导的红色州堪萨斯州的选民以60比40的票数确保女性的选择权得到保护,以及她选择医疗保健方案的自由得到保护。所以,你知道,在一个支持共和党的州,我们也赢得了选举。
众议院多数党领袖Steny Hoyer于2022年9月21日在华盛顿特区向GMA 3号讲述了即将到来的选举。
但展望未来,我们有一些非常非常好的候选人。你展示的民意测验数据领先两个百分点。但是我们已经落后了四五个百分点,所以运动、势头和支持的方向正在向我们走来。所以我相信我们会保住房子。我想我们可以把参议院的成员扩大到50人以上。因此,我认为在11月8日,我们将度过一个美好的夜晚,我对此充满期待。
我认为,我们正在通过我们所采取的措施来表明这一点,无论是救市计划,还是我们对基础设施的投资将会促进美国的发展和就业机会的增加,或者是投资于科学和芯片的法案,以确保我们依赖美国的技术,而不是让我们失望的海外技术。然后是降低通货膨胀的计划,我们将降低人们的医疗保健费用,降低处方药的费用,限制胰岛素的费用,我们将使能源对人们来说更容易获得和负担得起。所以我认为问题在我们这边,我认为人民在我们这边,我认为选票在我们这边。
GMA 3:你谈到了民意调查,我们看到的一些民意调查与总统的支持率有关,随着油价持续下跌,总统的支持率有所提高。我们知道油价连续99天下跌。他们有一点点进步。我们将在接下来的几天和几周内看看会发生什么。但是,你看,食品价格正处于自1979年以来我们从未见过的高位,实际上是我们见过的通货膨胀。所以我知道民主党人和总统喜欢把油价作为一个指标来谈论,但是当人们仍然因为试图把食物放在桌子上而受到伤害时,你会怎么做呢?
霍耶:T.J .,我们所做的是我们通过了一项食品和燃料法案,不幸的是,几乎没有得到共和党的支持,该法案旨在确保我们在食品生产行业有竞争,我们有供应链将食品运送到需要的地方。这是一场艰苦的战斗。通货膨胀是我们正在处理的一个严重问题。这就是为什么我们通过了通货膨胀削减法案来降低其他成本。人们的医疗成本和能源成本尤其下降。但是我们也必须降低食品价格。不幸的是,乌克兰发生了战争。这在非洲和其他一些地方造成了真正的饥饿挑战,而不是在美国,但它正在推高价格,我们必须解决这个问题。我几乎每个周末都去杂货店,看到那些价格上涨,人们受到伤害,我们正在做出反应。共和党人对通货膨胀没有任何反应。他们可以抱怨。他们可以指责。
如你所知,TJ,我确信通货膨胀正在影响着全世界的人们。为什么?因为疫情实际上切断了供应,切断了供应路线。所以存在短缺。但是人们在受伤,我们在行动。共和党人只是在谈论和批评。
GMA 3:让我问你这个问题。总统预测,我在这里引用他的话,“如果我们失去众议院或参议院,这将是非常困难的两年。”我的问题是,它一定很难吗?你是否希望或相信,如果这些情况中的任何一种发生,或者一种或两种情况都发生,共和党人和民主党人可以共同努力,努力减轻人们在生活的各个方面感受到的痛苦,特别是在财政方面?你能不顾一切地通过重要立法吗?
霍耶:我们已经通过了重要的立法。但非常坦率地说,艾米,如果你看看记录,当保罗·瑞安和约翰·博纳担任议长时,就在几年前,是民主党人挺身而出,帮助他们通过美国需要的立法,因为他们无法获得自己一方的选票,即使他们拥有多数,非常坦率地说,四票多数。我们在没有帮助的情况下通过了主要的立法,这些立法旨在让人们——把钱放进人们的口袋,让孩子们回到学校,让2.5亿人武装起来。没有一个共和党人投票支持该法案。
所以,是的,有这样做的可能性。但是让我告诉你如果共和党接管众议院会发生什么。他们已经说了他们要做什么。他们要调查美国总统。他们会试图搞垮他。我们的国家将会严重分裂。非常坦率地说,共和党人所做的,唐纳德·特朗普所做的,正在深深分裂我们的国家,并使我们的政治两极化。这对我们的国家不利。这对我们的人民不好。这对美国国会的成功没有好处。所以我相信民主党人这些年来,无论是罗纳德·里根、乔治·w·布什总统,还是任何其他总统,我们都看到民主党人以两党合作的方式支持关键的立法。坦率地说,我们还没有从我们的共和党朋友那里看到这一点。我希望我们将来也能如此。
但是我不想看到我们的国家被党派政治所束缚。如果我们的共和党朋友在众议院赢得多数席位,恐怕这就是将要发生的事情,因为他们的议程不是建设性的议程。这是一个消极的议程。它在人们心中制造恐惧。它在我们国家制造分裂。这对任何人都没有好处。这对世界没有好处。我们在打仗。
我戴着乌克兰国旗,作为我们需要赢得这场反对独裁统治和战争罪犯的战争的象征。为此,我们需要团结一致。坦率地说,我认为我们民主党人,我认为乔·拜登,拜登总统一生都在努力创造两党合作。因此,无论11月份发生什么,我都将继续努力。
House Majority leader gives outlook on control of Congress as midterms loom
As the November midterm elections quickly approach, all eyes are on the latest efforts by both parties to gain control of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-M.D.) spoke with "GMA 3" Wednesday to discuss his outlook on the Democrats' chances of keeping their majority.
GMA 3: A recentSiena College-New York Times surveyfound Democrats up two percentage points over Republicans among registered voters. Here to discuss is House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer from Maryland. Leader Hoyer, thank you for being with us. And yes, T.J. just referenced that a lot is at stake. The power, the control of both the House and the Senate are at stake in that two percentage points. Difference is, as you know, razor thin. And we also know, looking back at 2016, not a lot of confidence necessarily in some of these polls that we're seeing. So how are you feeling heading into the midterms as a Democrat?
Hoyer: Well, I'm feeling good.
Yes, that poll shows [two percentage points] but we've had some real polls. And what I mean by real polls, voting people going to the ballot box, casting their votes for candidates and expressing their opinion. And we've had two huge victories, actually, three but two members, one in New York, Pat Ryan, in a district that the Republicans were expected to win.
And then 2,600 miles further west in Alaska, again, we had former Gov. Sarah Palin running and our candidate, Mary Peltola, the first Native American to represent Alaska. And she is doing very, very well. So we won two races that we weren't supposed to win, just this past four weeks.
And then the voters from Kansas, a red state with the Republican leadership, voted essentially 60-40 to make sure that a woman's right to choose was protected, [and] that her freedom to choose her healthcare options would be protected. So, you know, in a red state, a Republican state, that we won that election as well.
But going forward, we have some very, very good candidates. The polling data you showed was a two-point ahead. But we have been as much as four or five points behind so that the movement and the momentum and the direction of support is coming our way. So I am confident that we're going to hold the House. I think we can expand our membership in the Senate to beyond 50. And so I think that on Nov. 8, we're going to have a good night and I'm looking forward to it.
And I think we are showing that by the issues that we've adopted, whether it was the rescue plan, whether it was the infrastructure investment that we've made that's going to grow America and grow American jobs, or whether it was the bill that invests in science and chips to make sure that we rely on American technology, not a technology overseas that fails us. And then the inflation reduction plan where we're reducing the costs of healthcare for people, reducing the cost of prescription drugs, capping the cost of insulin, and we're going to make energy more available and more affordable for people. So I think that the issues are on our side, I think the people are on our side and I think the votes are on our side.
GMA 3: You talked about the polling and some of that polling that we look at has to do with the president's approval rating, which has improved as gas prices continue to drop. We know that streak of gas prices dropping into the 99 days. They ticked up a little bit. We'll see what happens then in the coming days and weeks. But also, look, food prices are at highs that we haven't seen in the past since 1979, actually the inflation we've seen. So I know Democrats and the president love to talk about gas prices as one indicator, but what do you do when people are still hurting by trying to put food on the table?
Hoyer: T.J., what we did is we passed a food and fuel bill, unfortunately, got almost no Republican support for it, which was directed at making sure we have competition in the food producing industry, that we have availability of supply chains in getting food to where it needs to be. Now, that's an uphill battle. Inflation is a serious issue that we are dealing with. That's why we passed the Inflationary Reduction Act to bring other costs down. Medical costs in particular down and energy costs down for people. But we've got to bring food prices down as well. Unfortunately, we have a war in Ukraine. That is creating a real challenge of starvation in Africa and some other places, not in America, but it is pressing prices up and we've got to get a handle on that. I go to the grocery store almost every weekend and see those prices rising and people are hurting and we're responding. And the Republicans don't have any response to inflation. They can complain about it. They can point the finger.
And as you know, T.J., I'm sure inflation is impacting people throughout the world. Why? Because the pandemic, in effect, shut down the supply and it shut down supply routes. And so there are shortages. But people are hurting and we're acting. The Republicans are simply talking and criticizing.
GMA 3: Let me ask you this. The president predicted and I'm going to quote him here, "If we lose the House or lose the Senate, it's going to be a really difficult two years." My question is, does it have to be difficult? Do you have any hope or belief that if either of those scenarios happen or one or both, could reach across the aisle, that Republicans and Democrats could work together to try and ease some of the pain that people are feeling in every part of their lives, especially when it comes to finances? Can you pass important legislation regardless?
Hoyer: We have passed important legislation. But very frankly, Amy, if you look at the record, when Paul Ryan was Speaker and when John Boehner was speaker just a few years ago, it was Democrats that stepped up to help them get legislation through that America needed because they couldn't get the votes on their own side, even though they had the majority, very frankly, with a four-vote majority. We passed major pieces of legislation without help, which were designed to put people -- put money in people's pockets, get kids back in schools, and get 250 million shots in arms. Not a single Republican voted for that bill.
And so, yes, there is a possibility of doing that. But let me tell you what's going to happen if the Republicans take over the House. They've said what they're going to do. They're going to investigate the president of the United States. They're going to try to tear him down. And our country is going to be deeply divided. And very frankly, what the Republicans have done, what Donald Trump has done is deeply divide our country, [and] polarize our politics. That's not good for our country. It's not good for our people. It's not good for success in the Congress of the United States. So I believe that Democrats over the years, whether it was Ronald Reagan, President George W. Bush, or any other president, we have seen Democrats support in a bipartisan way critical legislation. Frankly, we haven't seen that from our Republican friends. And I hope we do in the future.
But I don't want to see our country locked down by partisan politics. And that's what's going to happen, I'm afraid, if our Republican friends win the majority in the House of Representatives because their agenda is not a constructive agenda. It's a negative agenda. It's creating fear in people. It's creating division in our country. And that's not good for anybody. And it's not good for the world. And we're at war.
I'm wearing the Ukrainian flag as a symbol that we need to win this war against dictatorship and war criminals. And we need to be united to do that. And I think we Democrats, frankly, and I think Joe Biden, President Biden has worked all his life in trying to create bipartisanship. And so I will pursue that whatever happens in November.