Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. We're all keeping our
Speaker 1: eyes on Capitol Hill today for good reason. The Senate
Speaker 1: passed the legislation last evening that would reopen the government.
Speaker 1: Once the House does the same, the President pulls out
Speaker 1: the sharpie and we're back in business. Of course, knowing
Speaker 1: that it could take some time for airlines to get
Speaker 1: back together, for airports and air traffic control towers to
Speaker 1: be fully staffed, snap benefits to be funded, and of
Speaker 1: course the hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers to
Speaker 1: get back to work get a paycheck in the bank account. So, Tyler,
Speaker 1: what we have here is a rules committee hearing. It's
Speaker 1: going to be an important one that's set to start
Speaker 1: a few hours from now, and they'll start hashing out
Speaker 1: the rules that will bring the bill to the floor,
Speaker 1: and by four pm, we're told, don't necessarily bet on that,
Speaker 1: but around four pm we'll have a vote in the
Speaker 1: House that could actually end this shutout.
Speaker 2: Right, if we've learned anything, things could change quickly the
Speaker 2: goose of Representatives. But this is what we're tracked as
Speaker 2: of now. How Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to
Speaker 2: lose two Republican votes, but it appears that his hand
Speaker 2: has been bolstered by the fact that President Trump has
Speaker 2: thrown his weight behind this deal, saying that he wants
Speaker 2: to sign it into law. Now, we're going to talk
Speaker 2: to one of the members who is going to cast
Speaker 2: his vote when this comes up tomorrow, and that's Congressman
Speaker 2: Byron Donalds. He's a Republican representing Florida's nineteenth district. Congressman,
Speaker 2: thanks so much for joining us here on Bloomberg Television
Speaker 2: and Radio. I think I probably know the answer, but
Speaker 2: just to get you on the record and to confirm,
Speaker 2: how are you going to vote when this package comes
Speaker 2: up tomorrow?
Speaker 3: I'm voting yes. Tomorrow.
Speaker 4: It's time for the government to be reopened and this
Speaker 4: shutdown created by Chuck Schumer and the Democrats to be blunt.
Speaker 4: We're still not even sure what they shut the government
Speaker 4: down for in the first place, but we're excited to
Speaker 4: get back to work and get this to the President's
Speaker 4: desk as quickly as possible.
Speaker 2: Congressman, I want to ask you about one of the
Speaker 2: provisions that we're seeing included, which is a rollback, a
Speaker 2: reversal of the mass federal firings that started on October
Speaker 2: first also puts a block on any future firings until
Speaker 2: January thirtieth. Do you have any concern with this policy
Speaker 2: since we know it's something that this White House had
Speaker 2: been advigating for.
Speaker 3: No, we don't.
Speaker 4: There's been a lot of work in this regard the
Speaker 4: entire year.
Speaker 3: That's number one.
Speaker 4: Number two, everybody knows at this point that one of
Speaker 4: the ways we're going to be able to get our
Speaker 4: spending under control, which is a major concern for the
Speaker 4: bond markets and our credit rating agencies, is we're going
Speaker 4: to have to streamline the federal government across the board.
Speaker 4: Part of that has been giving workers an opportunity to
Speaker 4: leave the federal workforce. Some of them have been provided
Speaker 4: bonuses on their way out the door, and so I
Speaker 4: think this is going to continue. Well, you know, we
Speaker 4: have a temporary measure that we have to get through here,
Speaker 4: and we're going to do that and get the government reopened.
Speaker 5: Congress.
Speaker 1: But it's good to see you, and you said something
Speaker 1: in your first answer that was important.
Speaker 5: What was this all for?
Speaker 1: Because it seems to me that this could have been
Speaker 1: something that took place weeks ago, knowing that Democrats were
Speaker 1: offered an up or down vote on extending Obamacare subsidies.
Speaker 1: Many told us here on the air that that was
Speaker 1: simply not good enough. And I know a lot of
Speaker 1: them still feel that way, who are going to vote
Speaker 1: no because they wanted an actual deal on paper. John
Speaker 1: Thune has promised that vote. Now, should Speaker Johnson do
Speaker 1: the same.
Speaker 4: No, I think that's something that John Thune and the Senate.
Speaker 3: Has to go through.
Speaker 4: Let's talk real quickly about these Obamacare subsidies that were
Speaker 4: part of one of the things that Democrats were talking about.
Speaker 3: Let's first be clear.
Speaker 4: Democrats who are arguing for like five different things over
Speaker 4: the last forty days, and that's how you know that
Speaker 4: their negotiations weren't serious. This was much more about politics
Speaker 4: from the Democratic left and politics from Chuck Schumer trying
Speaker 4: to save his job as Senate Minority leader. But to
Speaker 4: the specific issue about Obamacare subsidies. What the Democrats have
Speaker 4: been telling the American people consistently is that they need
Speaker 4: more subsidies to cover up the true cost of health care.
Speaker 4: And these subsidies are on top of the existing structure
Speaker 4: of subsidies built into the law of the Affordable Care Act. So,
Speaker 4: in short, more subsidies is not going to fix Obamacare.
Speaker 4: What it's going to do is mask the true costs
Speaker 4: and the true damage to families everywhere. I've talked to
Speaker 4: people where their premiums for a bronze plan are now
Speaker 4: two thousand dollars a month. That's rent, that's a mortgage
Speaker 4: in some parts of the country. The deductibles twelve to
Speaker 4: fourteen thousand dollars a year. So if you're making one
Speaker 4: hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a year as a family,
Speaker 4: you don't have two thousand dollars a month in disposable
Speaker 4: income to pay premiums, let alone the fourteen thousand dollars
Speaker 4: to pay the deductible before you even start accessing the
Speaker 4: health insurance policy. This is what's wrong with Obamacare. The
Speaker 4: Democrats want to cover it up using subsidies, as opposed
Speaker 4: to fixing the problem that they created fifteen years ago.
Speaker 2: So then what is the plan, Congressman, are we talking
Speaker 2: about replacing? President Trump has said that he'd be willing
Speaker 2: to negotiate when it comes to this very issue. So
Speaker 2: what's feasible, what's going to get through your chamber that
Speaker 2: would get your vote?
Speaker 4: I think what's feasible are some of the reforms that
Speaker 4: we try to get through back in twenty seventeen. I
Speaker 4: will tell you by the way Democrats refuse to lift
Speaker 4: a finger and work with us to avoid the calamity
Speaker 4: that we see today. But that centered around health care
Speaker 4: policies that are patients centered. It's about health care policies
Speaker 4: that do not have overburden some requirements on all the
Speaker 4: things that are covered that really create a bureaucratic bloats
Speaker 4: and makes the premiums more expensive. It's about making sure
Speaker 4: there's more catastrophic insurance policies in the marketplace.
Speaker 3: Maybe you have young workers.
Speaker 4: They don't need a full gold plated healthcare policy. What
Speaker 4: they need is catastrophic health care coverage and ability to
Speaker 4: go get regular visits and checkups. That's a key part
Speaker 4: of this. There's a study being done. It was one
Speaker 4: I think Senator Ron Johnson released these findings actually, and
Speaker 4: it's demonstrated that employer provided coverage and most of the
Speaker 4: country has had just marginally risen over inflation. But when
Speaker 4: you look at health insurance policies in the Obamacare exchanges,
Speaker 4: they are up to three four hundred in some respects
Speaker 4: five hundred percent over inflation.
Speaker 3: That's crazy.
Speaker 4: We've created a two tier system in healthcare. So I
Speaker 4: would tell the American people this is not simply about
Speaker 4: subsidies for Obamacare. It is about providing real solutions that
Speaker 4: put patients first. So we have a healthcare system and
Speaker 4: a healthcare insurance marketplace that people can afford and be
Speaker 4: able to access health care readily in their communities.
Speaker 1: Well, I love that we're having this conversation, Congressman, and
Speaker 1: I wonder your thoughts on what the President said to
Speaker 1: Laura Ingram last evening, because he's been on truth Social
Speaker 1: about this as well. Give the money directly to people
Speaker 1: and let them negotiate with health insurance is essentially what
Speaker 1: he said. The quote was the insurance will be better,
Speaker 1: it'll cost less. They're going to feel like entrepreneurs, he said,
Speaker 1: They'll actually be able to go out and negotiate their
Speaker 1: own health insurance. Would that still require a pool of patients, though,
Speaker 1: Congressman to create leverage or am I calling up United
Speaker 1: Healthcare and trying to get my own rates at the
Speaker 1: same time that you are?
Speaker 4: Well, I think there's parts of what you're saying or true,
Speaker 4: some that will have to be worked on. I think
Speaker 4: the premise of the president laying out is the correct one.
Speaker 4: Look at any industry in our economy, the ones where
Speaker 4: people have direct purchasing power to go to companies and
Speaker 4: buy the product they're looking for, those prices are actually
Speaker 4: increasing lower than the rate of inflation. But when you
Speaker 4: bring in these other issues, these other areas where the
Speaker 4: government is doing direct subsidies, that's where the prices are
Speaker 4: completely out of control. And so for me, the situation
Speaker 4: is clear. The situation is clear. You have to put
Speaker 4: people at the front of the line. They got to
Speaker 4: be able to make those purchasing decisions. If it's doing
Speaker 4: if it's giving those dollars directly to the individual, that
Speaker 4: will work. Now to your question around risk pools, this
Speaker 4: is essential in all insurance. We could look at setting
Speaker 4: up geographic risk pools as an idea so that people
Speaker 4: in that community or in that state can actually be
Speaker 4: dealing with the insurance companies, but the insurance companies actually
Speaker 4: have a defined risk pool. This is one of the
Speaker 4: reasons why large companies have cheaper insurance than when people
Speaker 4: are just going into the marketplace by themselves, because they're
Speaker 4: using the risk profile of working for that company to
Speaker 4: set up the risk pool to with. Then the actuaries
Speaker 4: kind of decide how much is the cost to ensure
Speaker 4: each person in that pool. There's ways to do this,
Speaker 4: but the Obamacare way has been a disaster. It is
Speaker 4: now proven and the costs are out of control.
Speaker 2: We're talking about next steps here, and I also want
Speaker 2: to talk about the next steps for fully funding the
Speaker 2: government because this stock gap measure goes until January thirtieth.
Speaker 2: How are we going to avoid another shutdown? Are we
Speaker 2: going to be having this conversation again when we know
Speaker 2: that the Senate has been proposing some spending levels that
Speaker 2: are higher than many House Republicans want to see.
Speaker 4: Well, again, we're going to get back to the negotiating
Speaker 4: table in short order. I know Speaker Johnson has told
Speaker 4: the members that we can expect some very long days
Speaker 4: when we get back to Capitol Hill.
Speaker 3: And that's fine. That's our job, and we're more than
Speaker 3: happy to do that.
Speaker 4: I think it's important for my Senate colleagues, both Republicans
Speaker 4: and Democrats, to understand one very important thing.
Speaker 3: We are borrowing a lot of money.
Speaker 4: The bond market is looking at us to curtail spending,
Speaker 4: and this is the core position of House Republicans. We
Speaker 4: can still have a federal government that does its job,
Speaker 4: but we don't have to be so obscene in how
Speaker 4: we are spending other people's money. And I think that
Speaker 4: if we come back to the situation again in January,
Speaker 4: I think, whether it's healthcare or spending, it's important for
Speaker 4: myself and my colleagues to communicate clearly to the American
Speaker 4: people of what's truly at stake. Everybody wants to talk
Speaker 4: about the economy, affordability. These are major issues for the
Speaker 4: American people. The core of our affordability problems is massive
Speaker 4: government overspending deep It diminishes the purchasing.
Speaker 3: Power of the American dollar.
Speaker 4: It does not help American families be able to make
Speaker 4: ends meet.
Speaker 3: In Washington, for once, we've got to do the right thing.
Speaker 4: Let's cut our spending, get that down, and let's pass
Speaker 4: bills so we're not doing this sprinksmanship, which, by the way,
Speaker 4: the Democrats are the ones want to do it. People
Speaker 4: should know the Democrats half of them, most of them
Speaker 4: are mad about this deal to reopen the government. They
Speaker 4: want the government to continue to be shut down. That's
Speaker 4: not an appropriate way to get the business done for
Speaker 4: the American people.
Speaker 1: Well, we have talked to a number of Democratic lawmakers
Speaker 1: who were not happy with the AID who crossed the
Speaker 1: aisle on this because there wasn't a deal there that
Speaker 1: they were hoping for.
Speaker 5: Certainly, Congressman, I.
Speaker 1: Want to mention to our viewers on Bloomberg TV, if
Speaker 1: you're watching this on YouTube right now, that the Congressman
Speaker 1: does not have a new job.
Speaker 5: He's not working at Cantor.
Speaker 1: He's actually down in Miami right now at an important
Speaker 1: AI energy infrastructure conference. And I've got to ask you
Speaker 1: because we typically get to this because of your committee
Speaker 1: assignments and your areas of interest. An important bipartisan bill
Speaker 1: came out of the Senate last evening, the AD Committee
Speaker 1: on a crypto market structure bill, and I'm wondering where
Speaker 1: this stands in the House. We've talked so much about
Speaker 1: the Clarity Act and whether there's going to be some
Speaker 1: reconciliation between these two pieces of legislation or a different path.
Speaker 4: I think we're probably going to end up sitting down
Speaker 4: and get coming to an agreement between the two chambers
Speaker 4: on this. The one thing that's very clear, I'm happy
Speaker 4: that my Senate colleagues are.
Speaker 3: Taking this seriously.
Speaker 4: AI quantum computing, the future of energy for our country.
Speaker 4: These are critical components to our economic future.
Speaker 3: If we don't actually.
Speaker 4: Create the frameworks for this, we fall further behind to China,
Speaker 4: to Europe and some of our rivals on the globe,
Speaker 4: on the world stage. So this is actually important stuff
Speaker 4: that we can get done. I'm very happy that AI
Speaker 4: and quantum is not a partisan issue because it's really
Speaker 4: about the future of our economy.
Speaker 3: And so let's see what they have.
Speaker 4: We'll work together with them and try to get something
Speaker 4: done that's going to put the American people first and
Speaker 4: that should be in the best interest of our country.
Speaker 2: Could you give us any timeline that we should be
Speaker 2: watching out for any chance that this is going to
Speaker 2: get done by the end of the year.
Speaker 4: Listen, I don't put any timelines on Washington. You've been
Speaker 4: around long enough. You know you just what you do
Speaker 4: is you go in there, you work hard, you try
Speaker 4: not to set artificial deadlines. I do believe that you
Speaker 4: have members of the Senate, members of the House, myself included,
Speaker 4: who want to see a regulatory framework in AI at
Speaker 4: crypto and quantum.
Speaker 3: It is important.
Speaker 4: We have to be able to get this job done
Speaker 4: because we have many other public policy issues that we
Speaker 4: have to address as well.
Speaker 3: One of them is energy.
Speaker 4: I'm a major proponent for small modular nuclear reactors to
Speaker 4: be commercially deployed throughout the United States. Every state needs
Speaker 4: to double their amount of power on their grid. The
Speaker 4: United States needs to do that, and this is something
Speaker 4: where my colleagues on Capitol Hill. This is common sense
Speaker 4: stuff that actually provides energy at a lower per kilowatt
Speaker 4: hour than any other generation source. We need to get
Speaker 4: in the game and get that done as well.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, Congressman, a few stories are more important
Speaker 1: to our audience, So let's talk about that. Let's have
Speaker 1: that conversation when you're back in town with our eyes
Speaker 1: of course on the AI space. Congressman Byron Donald's, I
Speaker 1: hope you get the flight back to DC.
Speaker 5: All right. That's easier said than done.