Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: Joining me now live from Capitol Hill is Democratic Senator
Speaker 2: Gary Peters of Michigan. He's the ranking member of the
Speaker 2: Senate Homeland Security Committee, also member both the Senate Appropriations
Speaker 2: Committee and the Commerce Committee. Senator, thank you very much
Speaker 2: for the time, and let's start with what we heard
Speaker 2: there from the House Speaker about Democrats and Republicans needing
Speaker 2: to come together. I note that Lisa Murkowski, the Democratic
Speaker 2: senator where the Republican Democrats had a center from Alaska
Speaker 2: speaking on the floor calling upon colleagues to forego their paycheck.
Speaker 2: She said she'd be willing to do that, indicating that
Speaker 2: the Congress should not go out of session until all
Speaker 2: of this is handled. How likely is that. What's the
Speaker 2: quality of conversations that you're having among Democrats and Republicans
Speaker 2: on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 1: Well, there's no question we have to come together. We
Speaker 1: got to have a substantive of conversations. I find it's
Speaker 1: interesting you have the speaker saying we have to come together,
Speaker 1: and yet none of his members are here in Washington.
Speaker 1: They're basically all back home on vacation. Very difficult to
Speaker 1: have conversations when none of the House members are here
Speaker 1: working I can say in the Senate. You know, I've
Speaker 1: been actively engaged in conversations with many of my Republican
Speaker 1: colleagues along with Democratic colleagues. So we're going to continue
Speaker 1: to have those conversations. But quite frankly, we need to
Speaker 1: have leadership involved, and quite frankly, you're going to need
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. He's going to have to get engaged. You know,
Speaker 1: I've worked with Republicans in the prior administration and currently,
Speaker 1: and even if you're negotiating with Republicans, unless Donald Trump
Speaker 1: signs off on it, they're not going to support things
Speaker 1: even if they agree to it with us. I saw
Speaker 1: that in the last Trump administration, we had an agreement
Speaker 1: on border security legislation. Republicans said they agreed, and literally
Speaker 1: an hour before the vote came up on the Senate floor,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump said he wasn't for it, and all of
Speaker 1: the folks who shook my hand and said they were
Speaker 1: for it were no longer for it. So we've got
Speaker 1: to make sure that we can negotiate in a way
Speaker 1: with someone who can actually deliver when we come together
Speaker 1: to make sure that Americans have access to quality, affordable healthcare.
Speaker 2: You've been back in Michigan, you're now returned to Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. Carrying with you. I imagine comments and worries
Speaker 2: from your constituents about this shutdown. What are your constituents
Speaker 2: say to you about how it's affecting them in the
Speaker 2: prospects for them if this continues.
Speaker 1: Well, certainly people no one likes a shutdown. I don't
Speaker 1: like a shutdown. I think we should never have a shutdown.
Speaker 1: We should come together. And certainly, if you're the majority party,
Speaker 1: if you have the presidency, you have the Senate, and
Speaker 1: you have the House, you should do everything you can
Speaker 1: to bring people together to make sure that we can
Speaker 1: keep the government open. But I think folks also are
Speaker 1: very concerned about increases in healthcare cost. It is becoming
Speaker 1: increasingly unaffordable for more and more Americans. And we know
Speaker 1: the Affordable Care Act, with these tax credits, which have
Speaker 1: already expired, impact people. They're going to see it starting
Speaker 1: November first, when they get their bills. Some people are
Speaker 1: going to see a doubling, a tripling of their cost
Speaker 1: that's simply unafford We know that people are now going
Speaker 1: to have to go without insurance. And we also know,
Speaker 1: when people lose their insurance and they don't get on
Speaker 1: a plan, that ends up actually costing everybody because then
Speaker 1: the cost of insurance goes up for folks. And we
Speaker 1: look at the people who are likely to lose insurance
Speaker 1: because of this large increase that we could avoid, which
Speaker 1: is what we want to do as Democrats. Avoid these
Speaker 1: large increases in premiums. They tend to impact younger folks,
Speaker 1: and you've got to have younger folks in the insurance
Speaker 1: pool to keep the insurance affordable for everybody. So this
Speaker 1: is a critical situation. Health insurance is something that I
Speaker 1: believe has to be affordable. It should be a right
Speaker 1: for Americans to be able to have the peace of
Speaker 1: mind to know that they have that kind of coverage.
Speaker 1: And all we're asking the Republicans has come for let's
Speaker 1: talk this through. In fact, it's curious that if you
Speaker 1: look at the areas that are actually most impacted, the
Speaker 1: people who are going to see the largest increases in
Speaker 1: these healthcare costs tend to be Republican congressional districts and
Speaker 1: republic in states. So if they don't want to stand
Speaker 1: up for their own people, I know it's difficult to
Speaker 1: get them to stand up for others, but they're not
Speaker 1: even standing up for their own folks in their own
Speaker 1: districts in states.
Speaker 2: Sata, let me ask you to change the subject here
Speaker 2: about what we've seen off the coast of South America.
Speaker 2: You were in the Navy and you've watched as the
Speaker 2: gerald Ford has been dispatched down there, is making its
Speaker 2: way to to South America. As I said, you said
Speaker 2: in the Armed Services can be how do you process
Speaker 2: what's happening with this military movement, this military maneuvering. What
Speaker 2: is it signal to you? And what questions do you
Speaker 2: have about the administration's objectives here?
Speaker 1: Well, we have all sorts of questions. So, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: I serve in the Navy. I also serve on the
Speaker 1: Armed Services Committee. We have been asking for our briefing
Speaker 1: as to what is going on down there. We know
Speaker 1: that they have ensroying boats, what is engaged? Who is
Speaker 1: being engaged? How do you know who is on those boats?
Speaker 1: How do you know where they're going? You know, I'm
Speaker 1: the ranking member on Homeland Security. I want to stand
Speaker 1: firm to make sure that we don't allow illegal drugs
Speaker 1: into our our country. That stuff is poisoned we have
Speaker 1: to do everything we can to keep it out of
Speaker 1: our country, but we have ways to do that. I
Speaker 1: work closely with the US Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security,
Speaker 1: but we always get information about those operations and what
Speaker 1: we need to do in order to keep our country safe.
Speaker 1: Right now, the administration has been radio silent. We don't
Speaker 1: know what is happening here. It's hard to comment. And
Speaker 1: when you go in and destroy a bote and kill
Speaker 1: folks and we don't know who those people are or
Speaker 1: how they were identified, it raises a lot of serious questions.
Speaker 1: The part of the moral authority we have as the
Speaker 1: United States is that we believe in the rule of law.
Speaker 1: We are a country of laws, and I believe that
Speaker 1: we have to continue to be a country based on
Speaker 1: the rule of law. And part of that is having
Speaker 1: the information to understand exactly what that military force is
Speaker 1: being used for. Congress has to be engaged in that.
Speaker 1: We know that Congress has the power under the United
Speaker 1: States Constitution to declare war, but in order to declare war,
Speaker 1: we have to understand exactly what that war is going
Speaker 1: to involve, what the purposes are, and how it's being
Speaker 1: carried out and We're completely unable to do that right
Speaker 1: now because we have not received the information that quite frankly,
Speaker 1: the Constitution demands of the executive to provide to the
Speaker 1: Congress and.
Speaker 2: Very quickly here ten seconds or so. Have you gotten
Speaker 2: a response to requests for briefing from the administration.
Speaker 1: Not yet. We've asked repeatedly and still have no response.
Speaker 2: Gary Peters, the Democratic Senator from Michigan, thank you very
Speaker 2: much for the time on this Monday afternoon. I really
Speaker 2: appreciate it.