Rep. Mike Pence on the Stimulus Bill

HANNITY: 500 million. All right. Now I know at least one person who disagrees with you, Madam Speaker, Indiana congressman, Mike Pence, is the House Republican conference chair, and he joins us now from D.C. tonight.

Congressman, thanks for being with us. I've got to tell you something.

MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA CONGRESSMAN: You bet, Sean.

HANNITY: You know, by the way, and late night tonight, the Senate agreed to add a provision that will push this bill now in the Senate to 920 billion and the amendment by Senator Johnny Isaacson would give Americans a $15,000 tax credit or 10 percent of the value of a home.

Look, first of all, I -- the question right out of the box, why is this getting more expensive, Congressman, not less expensive?

PENCE: Well, look, in my -- yes, in my years in Congress, I've never seen a bill get better in the Senate, Sean, so that's for starters.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: OK.

PENCE: And it started out as a bad bill in the House. I mean, look, this bill is chalk full of a liberal, you know, wish list of dusty old spending priorities that have little to do with creating jobs. I mean that list that you just enumerated on your program very well is just a taste.

What's $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts going to do to put people back to work in Indiana? What's tens of millions of dollars for something called a fish passage barrier going to do to get people from the unemployment line to the factory line?

This bill is ill conceived, the American people are figuring it out, it's losing support. And it's time that we look for better solutions.

HANNITY: Well -- I've got to tell you something, Congressman. I mean this sincerely. Thank you to you, thank you to John Boehner, thank you to Republicans, I love the fact, and I've been very critical of Republicans abandoning their conservative values.

Look, I -- the way I see it, Congressman, and many of our audience sees this, there's only one way to stimulate the economy. And we've got to do it. Give more money back to the American people and insist that the stimulus be now. Not in 2011, not in 2012.

Will Republicans hold the line on that, sir?

PENCE: Well, we're dug in, and as Karl Rove just said, you know, I was awfully proud that House Republicans unanimously opposed this -- big spending so-called stimulus bill when it came to the floor last week, but I'm even more proud of the fact that House Republicans, you know, answered the call of our new president.

We build an alternative with time tested tax relief measures for working families and small businesses that is now and always has been the way that Congress can most effectively.

HANNITY: Yes.

PENCE: . get the economy moving again, and we brought those ideas forward. Hopefully this so-called stimulus bill will collapse in the Senate and we'll have the opportunity to come together and bring tax relief to families and businesses this year.

HANNITY: But -- I've got to tell you something, Congressman, we just heard Speaker Pelosi, 500 million jobs are going to be lost? It's an outright lie. Barack Obama said today that we'll have a catastrophe if we don't pass this and pass this immediately here. So they're using the tactic of fear to scare the American people as much as they possibly can.

Look, the Democrats have the votes, Congressman. If they want to pass it, they can pass this bill.

PENCE: Right.

HANNITY: So the question, I guess, is Republicans, are they going to stay united or do you envision a scenario where they basically use taxpayer dollars to buy off or peel away some Republican votes?

PENCE: Well, it's a concern in the Senate. But to be honest with you, I've never seen House Republicans more unified than they are right now, and the reason we're unified is because we're hearing from people all across this country that they want Congress to do better.

HANNITY: Yes.

PENCE: They take this president at his word, that he wants a stimulus bill that brings the best ideas from both parties to bear on these challenging times. This.

HANNITY: Yes.

PENCE: You know this stimulus bill is a catastrophe. The American people are figuring that out.

HANNITY: It's not a stimulus bill.

PENCE: Let's scrap it, start over, and -- build a stimulus bill, Sean, around those.

HANNITY: We've got to run.

PENCE: . timeless principles you describes, tax relief for families and businesses.

HANNITY: It is, it is the European socialist act of 2009. We're counting on you to stop it. Thank you, Congressman.