Van Hollen: A Democratic debate on workers, Wall Street
WASHINGTON — Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, is proposing a far-reaching policy blueprint that includes new types of tax breaks for the middle class and a controversial tax hike on Wall Street traders — the latest entry in an emerging divide among Democrats on economic issues.
In an interview on Capital Download, Van Hollen called for a bolder approach than the White House or the Democratic Party has taken in the past to address the wage stagnation that has left many working Americans feeling left out of the nation's economic recovery.
He also discussed whether House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, will be able to control his Republican troops — he's skeptical — and described former president Bill Clinton's quick response to reports last year that the congressman was on a Hillary Rodham Clinton "political hit list."
Van Hollen's "action plan," unveiled this week, comes as some Democrats argue a more populist economic stance could have helped the party stem losses in November's midterm elections. It also stakes a claim on economic policy less than a month before the Obama administration submits its budget proposal to Congress.
"We want to move forward ... on the priorities the president has laid out," Van Hollen, a respected Democratic voice, told Paste BN's weekly newsmaker series. "But I do believe that we need to go farther if we're really going to tackle an issue that's been a chronic problem dating back really to the late 1970s, which is this issue of stagnant wages and middle-class squeeze."
His proposal would provide a new $1,000 tax credit for workers who earn up to $100,000 a year, or a $2,000 credit for couples who earn up to $200,000 a year. To encourage savings, anyone who puts away at least $500 of that credit would get a $250 bonus.
Much of the cost would be financed by a 0.1% tax on Wall Street trades in coordination with the European Union, where the idea is also being debated. Not only Republicans but also top Obama officials, including Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, have raised objections to the proposal as "problematic."
But Wall Street has become the particular target of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a hero for progressives who are urging her to run for president. She argues the U.S. economic system has become rigged against regular folks in favor of the wealthy and powerful.
"If you look at our tax code, it is clearly skewed in favor of people who make money off of money and against people who make money off of work," Van Hollen said.
With Republicans in control of the House and the Senate, the Maryland Democrat acknowledges his proposal isn't likely to be enacted anytime soon. "This is going to be a conversation that I think we'll have in Congress and going into 2016," he said.
In the interview, Van Hollen questioned whether House Speaker John Boehner would be able to control restive conservatives in the Republican caucus. The House on Wednesday voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security through September but included amendments that would undercut Obama's executive action granting millions of undocumented immigrants temporary legal status.
"All I know is that, if past is prologue, he cannot control his troops," Van Hollen said. He noted Boehner opposed a government shutdown last year, "and yet we had a 16-day government shutdown led by Sen. (Ted) Cruz, who had a lot of influence here in the House with House Tea Party Republicans," which he called "a pretty large group."
"We saw more House Republicans vote against the speaker than expected, and the real numbers there in terms of policy on the Tea Party side is even much higher than that."
The Maryland Democrat also discussed a report in a book published last year that the Clintons had put him on a "political hit list" of lawmakers and others who they thought should have supported Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential bid but didn't. Van Hollen, then chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, had remained neutral through most of the primaries, then endorsed Obama when his nomination seemed to be in hand.
In an interview on MSNBC a year ago, anchor Chris Jansing had asked Van Hollen about the report, included in a book, HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton.
"I said, I have no idea what this is," Van Hollen recalled, "and within a very short period of time, we got a call here in this office from the Clintons' office saying they did not know what that was about either." Bill Clinton was the one who called to convey that conciliatory message.
"Look, I have a very good relationship with Secretary Clinton, Hillary Clinton," he said. "We're good friends, so I really don't know where someone buried in the Clinton campaign did that. But to this day it's a mystery to me."