Senator Joe Lieberman appeared on FOX News Sunday. Read the complete Transcript. Excerpt below:
WALLACE: Congressman Van Hollen, what’s the message from the vote last night? The House, for the first time in history, passing a major overhaul of health care reform, but with only one Republican voting for it and 39 Democrats voting against it?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, the message was clear. It’s time to begin to fix what has been a broken health care system for millions of Americans. Between the year 2000 and 2008, we saw premiums double for Americans during that period of time.
Insurance company profits were over 400 percent. So we’ve had a great system for insurance companies. They get to say no to you based on your pre-existing condition. They get to dig into the fine print of your insurance policy when you need it the most and say you’re not covered. They’ve enjoyed an antitrust exemption that we eliminated.
So this is a message to the American people. It’s time to bring down your costs, which will allow more people to afford health insurance.
WALLACE: Congressman Pence, what’s the message from last night? And what about those Democrats from conservative districts who ended up voting for the bill? Are you going to make them pay in the next election?
PENCE: Well, Chris, I think the message from last night is that the Democrats didn’t get the message in August or last Tuesday.
I think from this past summer we saw the American people express overwhelming opposition to a government takeover of health care. They attended town hall meetings, rallies across the country, and then this last Tuesday.
I mean, the historic reversals that Democrats saw in just 12 months in New Jersey and Virginia, again, was an effort by the American people to send a message to this party that they’re tired of the borrowing, the spending, the bailouts, the takeovers.
But last night on a narrow partisan vote the Democrats put their liberal, big government agenda ahead of the American people.
WALLACE: So are you going to go after those conservative Democrats, moderate Democrats, in Republican-leaning districts who voted for this bill?
PENCE: Well, look. I don’t -- I don’t know if it’s about -- I think the American people are deeply frustrated with a liberal establishment in Washington, D.C. that is ignoring their will.
Nancy Pelosi last night said that they were answering the call of history. Well, I -- I’ve got to tell you, if Democrats keep ignoring the American people, their party’s going to be history in about a year.
WALLACE: Congressman Van Hollen, I’d like you, first of all, to respond to that, but also -- yes, you did pass a bill, but the Senate is considering a very different bill, with a very different public option, and very different taxes -- a number of measures.
So how much have you really moved the process forward?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, first, just in response, the message from the last election was loud and clear. The American people were tired of us pushing big issues under the rug, not dealing with the major challenges...
WALLACE: You’re talking about 2008 or 2009?
VAN HOLLEN: I’m talking about 2008 election, the 2008 elections, when President Obama and the larger majority went into Congress. You know, with all due respect to Mike and his party, when President Bush -- and they had a lock on the Congress.
They did nothing about these issues, these rising costs, the fact that insurance companies could essentially abuse consumers. They did nothing about it.
And people back in 2008 said it’s time to step up on some of these issues. And that’s what we did last night.
And I would point out that in terms of the elections last Tuesday, there were only two races in the country where what we’re doing in Congress at the federal level was at the center of debate, and those were the two congressional races. Both members of Congress won. Both of them voted yes last night on health care reform, so...
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