>>> yet again, lawmakers on capitol hill are digging in their heels over extending the bush tax cuts , which expire at the end of the year. the white house says the president won't extend the cuts for the richest americans, even temporarily. but republicans are insisting on cuts across the board, and everyone is getting ready for a big vote in the house as early as next week on extending them. congressman aaron shock, republican of illinois and member of the house ways and means committee joins me now. mr. shock, thank you so much for being on the show.
>> good morning, luke . good to be with you.
>> you know as well as i do that republicans have owned the debt issue since 2010 , used it very much to get elected. but if you look at the numbers, the center on budget and policy priorities said simply letting the bush tax cuts expire on schedule or paying for any portions of policymakers decide to extend would stabilize the debt to gdp ratio for the next decade. the bush tax cuts , ex tenning them would add trills to the national debt . how can you be for debt reduction but extending the bush tax cuts ?
>> because we know what nearly every economist knows, and that is if you raise taxes in a down economy, it's going to make the recession worse. i think it's why the president was right a year-and-a-half ago after the midterm elections came out and said, look, we need to extend the tax rates as they currently are. now is not the time to raise taxes on any american. i think it's why president clinton two weeks ago said he thinks we ought to continue the tax rates as they are. larry summers , the former economic adviser to president obama has said we need to keep taxes where they are. and now, luke , just yesterday, the senate democrats were having conversations among themselves about, you know, the fact they think perhaps we should extent the rates for at least one year.
>> do you -- but you're for it to be put in forever.
>> well, actually, we're not. the republican house position is we need to extend the tax rates as they are for one year, but also put instructions in that extension that in 2013 , the ways --
>> are you saying -- are you saying that john boehner and eric cantor are not for the permanent extension of the bush tax cuts ?
>> that's not the conversations they've had with me. they want to throw the 70,000-page tax code out the window and get rid of all of the special deductions and loopholes and lower the rate to make our tax code more competitive. that was what was in the house past budget. that is what we're talking about in the next couple of weeks. next week, as you mentioned, the house ways and means committee is expected to take up a number of bills, extending the rate, but also putting instructions in there to do comprehensive tax reform in 2013 . with -- whether it's president obama , president romney , we need to have time in 2013 to do comprehensive reform. alice rivlin , who spoke yesterday before the senate budget committee , a democrat, former budget director under clinton, said the same thing. we're not interested in extending tax rates for a year by themselves. we think they ought to be extended, but also have instructions in there to simplify the tax code and do comprehensive tax reform . i think there's actually pretty good agreement among republicans and democrats in the house, and in the senate finance committee that we need to simplify our tax code and make america more competitive.
>> you obviously have staked out a position on the economy that seems to be the mantra of the gop. but there is going to be a contempt vote today about eric holder . do you think those types of things -- and abortion votes distract from the message of the economy, which could prove to carry you to victory in the presidential side in november?
>> well, i think for the most part republicans have been unified on their message of the economy. i think despite all of this distractions that the president has tried to throw up, whether it be contraceptives or guy marriage or immigration, the fact of the matter is, the issue remains the same for the american people , and that means our economy is in bad shape, has not gotten better over the last three years and that is why the president and mitt romney are neck and neck right now. look, if attorney general holder is not complying with the government oversight committee requests for documents that they are legally entitled to, then they shouldn't just disregard that or shirk their responsibilities as the oversight committee of congress. but do i think that's going to be the major issue of the campaign or that we should shift focus as that should be our main message? absolutely not.
>> but you're not worried that's a distraction.
>> well, no. i think -- i think a lot of americans actually do care about what happened in the justice department with the gun-running incident in mexico. i hear about it when i go back home in my district. they say, hey, what's going on with holder, what do you know the media is not telling us? they want us to get to the bottom of it.
>> i want to ask you before we go, sorry to cut you off, but to get you on the record, who do you want to see as vp?
>> oh, you know, i think -- there's a lot of good peep in the running. i -- you know, i'm going to be a supporter of whoever governor romney chooses. you know, i really like senator rubio. i think he's a dynamite person to go out and sell our party and talk about what we stand for. i'm a big fan of secretary condo lisa rice.
>> you said rubio number one. so put you down as someone is happy the romney campaign is vetting him at this moment.
>> i am.
>> aaron shock from illinois. thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it.
>> good to be with you, luke . thanks.