Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts Radio News.
Speaker 2: To expand the conversation, We're joined now by Congressman Jason Smith.
Speaker 2: He's a Republican representing Missouri's eighth congressional district and chairman
Speaker 2: of the House Ways and Means Committee. Congressman, thanks so
Speaker 2: much for joining, and it's good to see you. I
Speaker 2: want to ask about these recent comments from Senate Majority
Speaker 2: Leader John Thune, who says it might be time to
Speaker 2: start thinking about having the House come back into session
Speaker 2: because this stop gap bill that they are voting on
Speaker 2: would only fund the government until November twenty first. Is
Speaker 2: a November twenty first stop gap still viable at this point?
Speaker 1: Well, it's hard to predict the actions of the Democrats
Speaker 1: because right now they've been stalling a very basic, clean
Speaker 1: continuation of funding. What we need to see in the
Speaker 1: House representatives for the Senate to send us some kind
Speaker 1: of funding bill. They need to figure out what they
Speaker 1: can pass in that side of the building. Unfortunately, because
Speaker 1: of the filibuster you have Democrats that's preventing a vote.
Speaker 1: If they would just allow a vote on the continuing
Speaker 1: Resolution that they have voted for numerous times in the past,
Speaker 1: we would be able to open government, we'd be able
Speaker 1: to fund government. Chuck Schumer voted for a continuing resolution
Speaker 1: just like this thirteen times when Biden was president, in fact,
Speaker 1: as recent as this past March.
Speaker 3: Well, I know that you've been very consistent in your
Speaker 3: views on this, mister Chairman, and it's good to have
Speaker 3: you back on Bloomberg. You probably heard the conversation we
Speaker 3: were just having, and it's causing some heads to explode
Speaker 3: here in Washington. The idea of a full year CR
Speaker 3: being the only way out of this, is that a
Speaker 3: non starter for you? And what does it tell us
Speaker 3: about where we stand on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 1: So I've been hearing this conversation from senators, from House
Speaker 1: members that a CR not just for a year but
Speaker 1: to December first of next year. This has been conversations
Speaker 1: that I've been hearing in Washington, DC. And we just
Speaker 1: need to make sure that government is open and serving
Speaker 1: the American people, and we need to make sure that
Speaker 1: government is not at risk of political games, which we're
Speaker 1: seeing played right now by the House and Senate Democrats.
Speaker 2: So just for clarity, Congressman, is that's something that's really
Speaker 2: on the table. Would you be where do you fall
Speaker 2: on this idea of a longer term government funding bill.
Speaker 1: I strongly support a longer, longer term continued resolution. I
Speaker 1: would support that until December first. I think that that
Speaker 1: would allow more stability for our economy, stability for the
Speaker 1: American people. The fact that we had the whip of
Speaker 1: the House Democrats just recently say on TV that, yes,
Speaker 1: people are hurting in the shutdown, but this is our leverage.
Speaker 1: It is unfortunate that people believe making the American folks
Speaker 1: hurt as leverage. That's unacceptable. That is why I would
Speaker 1: support a longer term continued resolution.
Speaker 3: Are we talking December first, weeks from now or December first,
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six, mister chairman.
Speaker 1: December twenty first, twenty twenty six is what I've been
Speaker 1: hearing up here as a suggestion as an opportunity of
Speaker 1: a continued resolutions. As we know, we're operating under a
Speaker 1: year long resolution from last year. We're looking at what
Speaker 1: was appropriated when Biden was president.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's which is one of the ironies of this
Speaker 3: whole debate that now Republicans are urging Democrats to vote
Speaker 3: for Joe Biden's budget plan. Would that still allow for
Speaker 3: a debate over Obamacare subsidies. Is that something that you're
Speaker 3: interested in for your constituents as open enrollment is set
Speaker 3: to begin.
Speaker 1: Well, first, let me let me just respond to the
Speaker 1: fact that Republicans, if they completely had their way, they
Speaker 1: would actually want to reduce the amount of funding from
Speaker 1: Biden levels. But that's not how it's able to work
Speaker 1: up here with the Natbold rule over in the United
Speaker 1: States Senate, and so that was our issue in regards
Speaker 1: to the subsidies for insurance companies. This is something that
Speaker 1: we've been willing to discuss throughout this whole time, and
Speaker 1: it's something that needs a lot of discussion because access
Speaker 1: to healthcare is essential for Americans. We need to make
Speaker 1: sure that we're talking about access for all Americans, not
Speaker 1: just twenty four million Americans, but three hundred and forty
Speaker 1: seven million Americans. Well.
Speaker 2: Cenate majority leader John Thune has floated that there could
Speaker 2: be an up and down vote once the government reopens
Speaker 2: on a one year extension of these expiring Affordable Care
Speaker 2: Act premium subsidies, but Democrats say that they don't want
Speaker 2: to get on board with that because there's no guarantee
Speaker 2: that such a vote would happen in the House. Do
Speaker 2: you think that this is something that hous Speaker Mike
Speaker 2: Johnson should bring to the floor so there is at
Speaker 2: least this debate on perhaps structural changes or some sort
Speaker 2: of extension down the road.
Speaker 1: I would not be support of a one year extension
Speaker 1: period without reforms. There has to be reforms the corruption
Speaker 1: that's within the program. There's twenty four million people that
Speaker 1: are on the Obamacare exchanges. Half of them last year,
Speaker 1: that's twelve million didn't even file a claim. Why did
Speaker 1: those twelve million not file a claim. I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: because they didn't even know that they were on the exchanges.
Speaker 1: But guess what those insurance companies, they received the subsidized
Speaker 1: premiums for it, even though they didn't even provide the
Speaker 1: health care for it. These are the simple kind of
Speaker 1: reforms that need to be addressed and need to be explained.
Speaker 1: We also shouldn't be subsidizing premiums for people who make
Speaker 1: more than four hundred percent of the federal poverty level,
Speaker 1: people who make six hundred thousand dollars a year. I
Speaker 1: don't think Americans are good with that.
Speaker 3: Well, what I appreciate this conversation because it's more detailed
Speaker 3: than just about any that we've heard. It's time to
Speaker 3: start getting down to this debate. Congressman, I'm wondering what
Speaker 3: should be the timeline. Do you want to go down
Speaker 3: the road of permanently extending subsidies with those callers on
Speaker 3: them as Democrats have suggested, make it permanent or should
Speaker 3: these be sunset after a year or more.
Speaker 1: You know, everything has to be looked at and has
Speaker 1: to be on the table. I don't want to set
Speaker 1: any limits pros and cons and negotiate an agreement in
Speaker 1: the press. But what we need to do is have
Speaker 1: Republicans and Democrats come together and figure out what is
Speaker 1: best to creating more access to healthcare for all Americans,
Speaker 1: not just people on exchanges, but all Americans. There's one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy four million Americans that are an employee
Speaker 1: health insurance, but that employee health insurance is quite expensive,
Speaker 1: so we need to look at all different ways to
Speaker 1: help lower the cost of health care.
Speaker 2: Congressman, I also want to ask you about something else
Speaker 2: that the government shutdown has impacted, which is economic aid
Speaker 2: for farmers. Now, the Trump administration says that it is
Speaker 2: planning to unveil three billion dollars worth of such economic
Speaker 2: assistance tomorrow. Actually, I've learned that Missouri, your state, is
Speaker 2: one of the top three soybean producing states in the country.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering how you are looking ahead to this meeting
Speaker 2: between potential meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Jijiping.
Speaker 2: What's going to happen if China does not agree to
Speaker 2: purchase agreements for our US farmers, particularly related to soybeans.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you what the Chinese have done to
Speaker 1: US soybean farmers alone has been atrocious. Typically, in the
Speaker 1: average year, China purchases somewhere between twelve to fifteen billion
Speaker 1: dollars worth of soybeans a year from the United States.
Speaker 1: They have not purchased one dollar this year, and so
Speaker 1: that that ter be on the table. That has to
Speaker 1: be something that's being discussed, because that is drastically affecting
Speaker 1: the commodity prices here in the United States. I represent
Speaker 1: Southeast Missouri. We have more soybean farmers in Southeast Missouri
Speaker 1: than the entire state of Missouri, and these folks are
Speaker 1: facing some dire dire situations. I'm glad that the President
Speaker 1: has said that he's going to take care of the farmers.
Speaker 1: It's extremely important that he does that. But we need
Speaker 1: to make sure that China opens up their markets if
Speaker 1: they want us to purchase their products.
Speaker 3: It does seem punitive at this point, Congressman, we only
Speaker 3: have thirty seconds left. Is that how you see it?
Speaker 1: Well, what the Chinese have done is clearly punitive. It
Speaker 1: was for a punitive measure, much like how they've been
Speaker 1: restricting critical minerals and rare earth to try to be
Speaker 1: punitive to the world that is unstable. That's why there's
Speaker 1: so many concerns about trading with the Chinese. Fully, they'll
Speaker 1: be able to get to a common ground in their meeting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, really fascinating conversation. Congressman Jason Smith, Republican Missouri chairs
Speaker 3: the House Ways and Means Committee and has been knee
Speaker 3: deep in this shutdown. Congressman, thank you. It's great to
Speaker 3: have your insights here on Bloomberg