Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: We're lucky to be joined now by one of those
Speaker 2: members of Congress who is currently out of session but
Speaker 2: joins us now from Capitol Hill. That's Congressman Brian's Style,
Speaker 2: Republican representing Wisconsin's first district. Congressman. It's good to see you,
Speaker 2: and thanks so much for joining. I've loved your opinion
Speaker 2: on this. The Senate majority leader suggesting it's time for
Speaker 2: the House to come back into session. Do you think
Speaker 2: that's a good idea.
Speaker 3: Well, it's time for the Senate to pass the clean
Speaker 3: cr We're in this situation because the Senate Democratic leadership
Speaker 3: under Chuck Schumer refuses to vote for a clean CR.
Speaker 3: This used to be a non controversial vote here on
Speaker 3: Capitol Hill. In fact, Democrats have voted time and again
Speaker 3: in favor of clean crs, most recently in the spring.
Speaker 3: What changed is the politics for Democrats in the United
Speaker 3: States Senate. So the House has done our job, We're
Speaker 3: all waiting for the Senate to do their job. Chuck
Speaker 3: Schumer is beholden to his radical base. A lot of
Speaker 3: us are frustrated. It's time for us to move on
Speaker 3: because there's really important negotiations in front of us, including
Speaker 3: fiscally your twenty six appropriations, as well as other priority
Speaker 3: policy priorities that you mentioned Congress.
Speaker 1: But it's good to see Kevin Hassett had suggested yesterday,
Speaker 1: maybe there's capitulation this week and this whole thing comes
Speaker 1: to an end. But every time the Senate votes on this,
Speaker 1: it's the same two Democrats an independent who break ranks here.
Speaker 1: So I mean, at some point we could be bumping
Speaker 1: up against November twenty first, what do we do then?
Speaker 1: Do you wait forever for Senate Democrats? We just stay
Speaker 1: shut down until Chuck Schumer changes his tune.
Speaker 3: Well, the consequences of the Schumer shutdown continue to build.
Speaker 3: President Trump has done a great job taking some extraordinary
Speaker 3: actions to make sure that the consequences aren't felt by
Speaker 3: our troops, for example, But many of these are one
Speaker 3: time actions, and so the consequences will continue to build.
Speaker 3: The pressure will build, and I do believe at some
Speaker 3: point the Senate will come to the table and recognize
Speaker 3: that their action to close the federal government and put
Speaker 3: at risk, for example, payment to our troops, the men
Speaker 3: and women wearing the United States military uniform, was the
Speaker 3: wrong bet the sooner we come out of the shutdown
Speaker 3: and begin the substantive negotiations on fiscally your twenty six
Speaker 3: approaches as well as other policy priorities, the better off
Speaker 3: we are.
Speaker 2: Well the White House has come to the table on
Speaker 2: some of these really critical issues, like military pay, pay
Speaker 2: for the Coastguard, also finding that supplementary funding for that
Speaker 2: key federal nutrition assistance program that helps women and children.
Speaker 2: But Congressmen, we hear from Democrats that they want President
Speaker 2: Trump to come to the negotiating table when it comes
Speaker 2: to the policy stances at stake here, particularly related to healthcare.
Speaker 2: We know he had this luncheon today with Senate Republicans,
Speaker 2: but do you think President Trump should be getting more
Speaker 2: involved as this shutdown drags on?
Speaker 3: Well, I think again, the challenge here is we put
Speaker 3: forward a clean CR now, as you not weeks ago
Speaker 3: passed in the House. We're three weeks into a shutdown.
Speaker 3: We should be three weeks into the CR utilizing the
Speaker 3: time that we're burning right now to negotiate those policy priorities.
Speaker 3: Many of these have year end deadlines, appropriate conversations for
Speaker 3: us to be having, but we should be doing that
Speaker 3: in the context of an open and operational government. Again,
Speaker 3: the House did our job. The Senate is running into
Speaker 3: filibuster challenges. Center Fetterman is even calling now and saying,
Speaker 3: maybe we have to overcome that because a minority of
Speaker 3: United States Senators are standing in the way, under the
Speaker 3: leadership of Chuck Schumer, from reopening the federal government.
Speaker 1: You've seen what's going on with the premiums here, Congressman,
Speaker 1: and I know that you're careful not to conflate this
Speaker 1: debate with that of government funding. But we saw a
Speaker 1: couple of states this morning in Georgia, where I know
Speaker 1: Congressoman Marjorie Taylor Green has been making some noise here,
Speaker 1: Obamacare premiums could rise as much as four times. They
Speaker 1: could quadruple in main plans. We'll see premiums up in
Speaker 1: average of twenty four percent. In Michigan, could surpass eighteen percent,
Speaker 1: and that's before factoring in the expiration. What would it
Speaker 1: mean for people looking at their subsidies rise in Wisconsin.
Speaker 3: Well, I think what we see as the data continues
Speaker 3: to come in that the Affordable Care Act was anything
Speaker 3: but affordable for the American people. The program the Democrats
Speaker 3: put in place, and again the Democrats set the sunset
Speaker 3: date themselves. This was a Democrat decision to sunset it
Speaker 3: at the end of the year. But what we continue
Speaker 3: to see is challenges inside the structure of the program.
Speaker 3: There is plenty of evidence of the waste, fraud, and
Speaker 3: abuse inside this Democrat created program. There's a Treasury report
Speaker 3: that came out under President Biden that identifies as significant
Speaker 3: flaws inside these premium credits that go back to insurance
Speaker 3: companies as to why it's structurally unsound. So at an
Speaker 3: absolute minimum, we would need to make meaningful and substantive
Speaker 3: reform in the program. But again, these are the conversations
Speaker 3: and the debates that we should be having right now
Speaker 3: on Capitol Hill. Instead, we're shut down all because Chuck
Speaker 3: Schumer and Democrats in the Senate refused to open the
Speaker 3: government with a clean cr to allow these negotiations and
Speaker 3: debates to take place.
Speaker 2: Well, Congressman Joe just outlined one of the potential impacts
Speaker 2: for constituents. Another has to do with economic assistance for farmers.
Speaker 2: A senior Administration official tells me that's currently been delayed
Speaker 2: because of this ongoing shut down. I looked up the
Speaker 2: stats the USDA estimates Wisconsin farmers produced one point three
Speaker 2: billion dollars worth of soybeans each year. This is, of
Speaker 2: course at the center of this issue, as China hasn't
Speaker 2: imported any US soybeans so far this harvest season. I'm
Speaker 2: wondering if you're in any discussions with the administration on
Speaker 2: what this aid package might look like. Are they talking
Speaker 2: with Congress on this and any update on when it
Speaker 2: could be ruled out.
Speaker 3: I had a long conversation with two soybean farmers from
Speaker 3: Wisconsin yesterday talking about this exact challenge. The short term
Speaker 3: fix may be that type of a subsidy, but the
Speaker 3: long term fix is getting trade agreements in place and
Speaker 3: having China once again purchasing US soy The US soy
Speaker 3: exports are heavily dependent on the Chinese markets. The broader
Speaker 3: trade negotiations that we're having is causing concern. I'm of
Speaker 3: the view that we have a huge opportunity here to
Speaker 3: work with our allies, hold China accountable, and then strike
Speaker 3: the trade deal. I think President Trump's in a position
Speaker 3: to do that. The short term fix may be providing
Speaker 3: some level of assistance. The long term fix is striking
Speaker 3: these trade agreements to the benefit of American workers and farmers.
Speaker 1: Congressman, we appreciate the insights. As always, that's Brian's style,
Speaker 1: Republican Congressman from Wisconsin who chairs the House Admin Committee,
Speaker 1: and always a pleasure to have the chairman with us
Speaker 1: as part of our conversation.