WASHINGTON, DC - House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet The Press” this morning to discuss the Trump shutdown and the urgent need to reopen government.  Below are excerpts from the interview and a link to the video:     “…This is not a Democratic position. This is a pretty broad position that [the border wall] does not make sense. What we ought to do is open up the government first, and that's what we're going to do. We passed legislation last Thursday that would open up the government. I would hope that Senator McConnell would take the responsibility as the leader of the co-equal branch of government, the legislative branch, and send this to the President. That would open up government, which would start serving the American people.”

“When you say have we compromised – we have voted for and are prepared to vote for Republican bills. These are all the Republican bills from the last Congress, and as a matter of fact, Chuck, as you know, we're going to make every effort to open up government next week. We’re going to offer two bills to open up [agencies funded in the] Financial Services [and General Government appropriations bill], which will make sure that taxpayers get refunds. We’re going to open up [Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies] to make sure that people get food stamps. We're going to open up [Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies] in order to make sure that housing vouchers [are available]. And [Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies] so people can use their parks."

“What we voted for last Thursday were Republican bills, all Republican bills, no Democratic bills, and we took them as they were passed in the Senate. We're going to do the same thing this week. The difference is we'll do it bill-by-bill so we can help taxpayers; we can help people who need food assistance; we can help people who need housing vouchers and people who need flood insurance. We’ll do it one-by-one. I would hope that Mitch McConnell, as the leader of the United States Senate, would represent the Congress of the United States, the co-equal branch, that says we believe we ought to open up government. Mitch McConnell believes we should open government."

"We don't think the wall is a good technology to do the objective. This is a substantive argument. The reason I read the Republican views that say the wall is not the technology we ought to pursue is because this is a different substance. We ought to have that argument on the substance, and not be held hostage 800,000 federal employees and millions of people who need food stamps. [Republicans] are holding them hostage."