that none of us repeat. in other words, the crimes that went on shouldn t repeat and neither should the subpoenas. welcome back to hardball. that was congressman darrell issa on a couple of weeks ago on cnn. he s expected to chair the house oversight committee the republicans take the majority. last night on hardball, jim clyburn the third-ranking democrat in the house leadership told us what he expects if republicans get control. let s listen. do you really believe as you ve said the other day that if the republicans get control that congress and the subpoena power, they re going to usually go after the president s birth records, they re going to try to prove he s a foreigner and other nonsense like that? i absolutely believe that. i take them at their word. i ve watched their actions. you know what i always say, having grown up in a postammage, it s not their words, it s their deeds. let s look at the members of
opportunity to lead. do you believe that members of congress, your colleagues, were bribed to vote for the health care bill? you used the term here, it s a legal term. do you mean it? i certainly think there were a lot of inducements but we can go back to a lot of inducements on medicare part d. it is not unique to have the heavy hand from the white house to try to move legislation. the real question is are we going to make it impossible, either for an administration or for powerful members of the house or the senate to airdrop in spending or benefits in order to get a vote on an unrelated matter, that s important. and something that i take very seriously. i think all republicans have learned from many republicans falling into that. i think that s important issue. have the republicans learned their lesson from having been in the majority at a time in which earmarks got out of control.
you sound very sober now, congressman. and i would accept anything you say tonight because you re in a very sober mood, but your staff is putting out terms like this, and i just got this, calling congressman clyburn, one of the ranking democrats, ranking members of the house, a sock puppet. you call him goofy and paranoid. you think these are appropriate ways to get along with your fellow members? these terms? i think calling someone paranoid, putting words into mouth when my position is just to the opposite as to the president, i think that was appropriate. i think perhaps the democrats are getting paranoid the republicans are going to gain control, so they re coming out with things in fear or making them up. i have supported this president. i ve worked with this president. i ve tried to get legislation passed with this president and i intend on working with the president next congress regardless of the outcome, so i would hope we can use better language. i would hope we would not
the concern is that if you can bribe and i mean bribe members of the house and the senate to get their votes, then democracy as we know it simply won t work. what we re talking about health care and you re using the term bribe there. you use terms like bribe, like impeachable, the subpoena power. the question is, is this going to be another 80th congress. like we had right after world war ii, where they used to say, they open every day with a prayer and ended it with a probe. are there going to be a lot probes like this going after people like rahm emanuel and people who you say took bribes in the health care bill? well, i wish, i wish rahm good luck in his campaign. the truth is we have a problem in congress with earmarks, we have a problem in congress with trading something for a district, for something else in somebody else s district. and yes, i m going work with, i hope, speaker boehner, to end the era of earmarks no matter where they come from and get back to accountable sp
senate to get their votes, then democracy as we know it simply won t work. what we re talking about health care and you re using the term bribe there. you use terms like bribe, impeachable, the subpoena power. the question is, is this going to be another 80th congress. are there going to be a lot of probes like this going after rahm emanuel? i wish rahm good luck in his campaign. we have a problem in congress with earmarks, with trading something tr a district for something else. and yes, i m going work with, i hope, speaker boehner, to end the era of earmarks no matter where they come from and get back to accountable spending. it s not the issue of my committee, but it is the issue