Hoyer Discusses the Need for Balanced Deficit Reduction on MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

“We need to cut spending, raise revenues and have a balanced program, just as Bowles-Simpson, Domenici-Rivlin, Gang of Six [suggested]. I don't know of a group that hasn't said we need to get our fiscal house in order. ... I agree with you: the most important challenge confronting our country is getting our country on a fiscally sustainable path ... and that's why I think we need a big, bold, balanced plan.”

“As you well know… we're dealing with a common-sense, pragmatic problem, but we're dealing with it in an ideological sense. We frankly have, I think, too large a number of people bound ideologically. I've talked to a lot of Republicans, a lot. I've been working for now three years with some of my Republican colleagues who believe that you need to have a balanced program. But when [Speaker] John Boehner says not a single new cent of revenue, you can't get there from here without that.”

“Managing from crisis to crisis every 30, 60, 90 days is an absurd way [to govern] … Congress is not working because we've got this ideological confrontation when we need pragmatic [solutions] … How does the math work? [President] Clinton said it best: you've got to do the arithmetic. And if you do the arithmetic, we can get there.”

“We can get [to a solution] if we put aside the ideological constraints that we have and say, how do you make the math work for America, for business.… If we got a deal, in my opinion, it would be the single biggest stimulus package we could pass. The restoration of confidence would be magnified.”