Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Therein lies the challenge that is facing House Republicans right
Speaker 2: now as they try to find a path forward on
Speaker 2: budget reconciliation to achieve the legislative objectives of President Trump,
Speaker 2: which includes steep tax cuts, making permanent his twenty seventeen
Speaker 2: tax cuts, specifically energy and border policy, which they're trying
Speaker 2: in the House to roll all into one bill. And
Speaker 2: we got the budget outline yesterday's right. It seems things
Speaker 2: are changing though as they mark things up, with the
Speaker 2: Budget Chair Jody Errington now saying if they can't reach
Speaker 2: two trillion dollars in tax cuts the maximum allowed or
Speaker 2: two tucks in spending cuts, rather the maximum allowed in
Speaker 2: tax cuts would be four trillion dollars. The problem is
Speaker 2: just renewing the twenty seventeen tax cuts is expected to
Speaker 2: cost a bit more.
Speaker 3: Than that, so the math is difficult here. And that's
Speaker 3: where Congressman Ralph Norman comes in. I'm glad that we
Speaker 3: have the opportunity to bring in a member of the
Speaker 3: aforementioned House Budget Committee representing South Carolina's fifth district with
Speaker 3: his own point of view here, and we're told Congressman
Speaker 3: welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. That you're one
Speaker 3: of two potential knows with the numbers that we're hearing.
Speaker 4: So let's we'll update that.
Speaker 3: Let's say it's at least two trillion in spending cuts,
Speaker 3: four and a half trillion dollar camp on tax cuts,
Speaker 3: a four trillion dollar extension of the debt limit.
Speaker 4: Would you vote yes on a bill like that?
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, what we started out with was
Speaker 1: we could not continue the path of unsustained spending. Spending
Speaker 1: is a problem for inflation. Inflation, it's not income, it's
Speaker 1: spending the base budget. I voted to get out of committee.
Speaker 1: We had the timeline to meet, which is today for
Speaker 1: the markup, which we're doing. To be honest, I'm confident
Speaker 1: that we're going to have the amendments in place that
Speaker 1: will get the job done. And as you mentioned, we've
Speaker 1: got one point five trillion and baseline number with an
Speaker 1: aspiration of two the tax cuts four trillion, four and
Speaker 1: a half, and then with three hundred billion four or
Speaker 1: defense and homeland security, and I think we're going to
Speaker 1: get there. I think supported for us to get our
Speaker 1: own version out. I know the Senate is working on one,
Speaker 1: but you know, all the House is responsible for the
Speaker 1: purse strange. So I'm confident we'll get it out. It's
Speaker 1: going to be a long day, but we expected that
Speaker 1: a lot of amendments, a lot of Democrat amendments, and
Speaker 1: we'll have our own that I'm confident will add to
Speaker 1: the value.
Speaker 2: Well, obviously, Congressman, getting it out of committee is one hurdle,
Speaker 2: but getting a package that can actually pass on the
Speaker 2: House floor with what is assumed to be zero Democratic
Speaker 2: votes is another thing. Entirely with this structure, are you
Speaker 2: confident the requisite votes would be there?
Speaker 4: Here's what I'm confident of.
Speaker 1: When it goes to the floor, there will be a
Speaker 1: total explanation of.
Speaker 4: Every cut every committee comes up with. I think where
Speaker 4: it's coming from. Is it going to be easy? No,
Speaker 4: it's not going to be.
Speaker 1: But every dollar in Congress that's spent has got an
Speaker 1: advocate for it, and they're coming out in full force
Speaker 1: as I speak to you right now, Kayley. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm confident, and I'm confident because of this it will
Speaker 1: make sense. Everybody agrees that we can't continue the path.
Speaker 1: But I tell you what's got to happen. President Trump,
Speaker 1: who's got a sixty five sixty nine percent approval rating.
Speaker 4: He's going to have to get involved.
Speaker 1: Anybody that at the end of the day when he
Speaker 1: goes to the floor that doesn't agree with it or
Speaker 1: has issues, I think he will directly get involved, as
Speaker 1: he has, and he's done a brilliant job of doing
Speaker 1: that and explaining why the tax cuts. We've got to
Speaker 1: get this out because it's gonna be a tax it's
Speaker 1: going to be a tax increase for over twenty eight
Speaker 1: to thirty five percent for all Americans. We can't let
Speaker 1: that happen. The prosperity that happened under his reign. We've
Speaker 1: got to continue and I think at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I think we'll pass it.
Speaker 3: Well, we know, Congressman, that President Trump is not above
Speaker 3: picking up the phone when it's time to weigh in
Speaker 3: on things. As I'm sure we all recall from the
Speaker 3: most recent Speakers vote.
Speaker 4: Are you hungry for the President to weigh in here?
Speaker 1: Absolutely, he's got away in because we can't afford to
Speaker 1: stumble on this. I mean, you know, it's it's interesting
Speaker 1: every politician every four hundred, well five hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: five members of Congress campaign on conservatism cutting the depths
Speaker 1: that we know it's not sustainable. Now when it actually
Speaker 1: comes down to it, that's where he comes into the
Speaker 1: picture and does it put Does it make sense to
Speaker 1: put work requirements on Medicaid?
Speaker 4: I think it does.
Speaker 1: Does it make sense to, you know, to go down
Speaker 1: the line and let block grants, let states handle some
Speaker 1: of that funding. It's not a cut in Medicaid as
Speaker 1: one example. But yeah, I mean, I think he's going
Speaker 1: to have to get involved and he will to pass
Speaker 1: what he considers this is a lynch pin for his
Speaker 1: whole four years in office. Is great to start it. Now,
Speaker 1: look what he's done on the Dove's Commission, and so
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm anxious, and I think he's going to
Speaker 1: pass and I'm optimistic.
Speaker 2: Well, and with this structure you already mentioned potential cuts
Speaker 2: to medicate here. But essentially what this structure will mean
Speaker 2: is that if the cost of Trump's tax cuts go higher,
Speaker 2: if we're adding on things like no tax on tips
Speaker 2: or overtime or social Security, lifting the salt cap, perhaps
Speaker 2: more spending cuts have to come into place. So what
Speaker 2: else is going to have to go on the chopping block?
Speaker 2: If Donald Trump the president is to get everything he
Speaker 2: wants here.
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, it's not cuts to Medicaid. We're
Speaker 4: not doing that.
Speaker 1: Is it a reallocation yes. Is it getting people off
Speaker 1: the rows of a healthy Yes. And that's what he
Speaker 1: can sell to anybody who is feeling a lot of pressure,
Speaker 1: which I understand.
Speaker 4: But you've got to consider the growth rate.
Speaker 1: I think we've got a two point five percent growth
Speaker 1: in the economy of GDP. I think that'll happen. That'll
Speaker 1: make some of the difference up. But it's not going
Speaker 1: to be easy, but it never is.
Speaker 4: But I think we'll get there.
Speaker 1: And the alternative of letting the tax cuts his fire
Speaker 1: and give Americans that kind of a tax increase is
Speaker 1: not a pretty picture, and we're not gonna let that happen.
Speaker 3: I'm wondering where you are on the timeline here, Congressman,
Speaker 3: and just how much time there is to work all
Speaker 3: of this out. We've got a funding deadline twenty nine
Speaker 3: days out. Would you support a continuing resolution to keep
Speaker 3: the lights on if negotiations we're moving in the right direction.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't like CRS. I think it needs
Speaker 1: to be a kind of a modified CR. As example
Speaker 1: of the ones that get hit the most of the military.
Speaker 1: I think Pete Hexstath will weigh in on what he needs.
Speaker 1: I think Tom Holman will weigh in with what he needs.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I would vote for a CR depending on
Speaker 1: what the final conditions are as part of it. But
Speaker 1: you've got to allow the continuation of what particularly the
Speaker 1: military is doing. And every contract, every lease extension is
Speaker 1: affected by a CR. In a negative, we will have
Speaker 1: to do some carveouts and they will have to tell us.
Speaker 4: What they need.
Speaker 1: We finally got people in office that they know it.
Speaker 1: Pete Hexteth knows the military, he knows where the money
Speaker 1: ought to go. The same thing with Tom Holman. He's
Speaker 1: got this deportation down, but the agency is at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, the appropriations are going to have
Speaker 1: to come up.
Speaker 4: With the money.
Speaker 1: And that's where Donald Trump comes in to make the case.
Speaker 1: And I think there's no one better they can do it,
Speaker 1: that can present the case than he can.
Speaker 3: Do.
Speaker 2: Democrats come in somewhere, Congressman, on this when we're talking
Speaker 2: about just keeping the government funded beyond March specifically.
Speaker 4: They don't come into the solution. I mean, we're not
Speaker 4: gonna have to deal with them hopefully. I mean.
Speaker 1: Some of the things that we've heard they're going to
Speaker 1: ask for, like the elimination of Elon Musk, like the
Speaker 1: end to deportation.
Speaker 4: It's ludicrous.
Speaker 1: People are excited about what Elon Musk is doing, and
Speaker 1: if you have to deal with them, they're so it's
Speaker 1: just two.
Speaker 4: Different universes with them today.
Speaker 1: And I mean, look at the demonstrations they've done on
Speaker 1: I guess what Elon Musk is doing. He's not getting paid.
Speaker 1: He's an investigator. He's supplying the numbers that we should
Speaker 1: have had years ago. So no, I don't think we'll
Speaker 1: have to deal with them, and I don't think we'll
Speaker 1: need their vote.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, they're not going to
Speaker 4: vote with us.
Speaker 1: When you watch the hearings and the budget committee, I
Speaker 1: don't think any of them going to vote for this budget.
Speaker 4: And we've got a good budget and I think we'll
Speaker 4: pass it.
Speaker 3: Realizing you support the spirit of Elon Musk's mission here, Congressman,
Speaker 3: as a lawmaker in the House of Representatives, do you
Speaker 3: worry when we talk about exing out entire agencies without
Speaker 3: the approval of Congress.
Speaker 1: Absolutely not let the money flow, which has never been discovered.
Speaker 1: People are asking, maybe why didn't Congress discover these abuses
Speaker 1: of where.
Speaker 4: Our money goes? The reason is we couldn't get to it.
Speaker 1: He's the only one that had the brain power and
Speaker 1: the bandwidth to get to where to follow the checks
Speaker 1: to where they actually ended up.
Speaker 3: Money is one thing, though, but the actual existence of
Speaker 3: the agency just just if they blow them out. You
Speaker 3: don't think Congress should have a saying that.
Speaker 1: I think when yeah, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: we'll have to vote on it. But through his executive
Speaker 1: powers and through the Constitution, he can cut the funding off,
Speaker 1: which he's doing. And you know, if let's say an
Speaker 1: agency that has some good parts in it, President Trump
Speaker 1: is will recognize those that need to be continued. But
Speaker 1: it's the money is where it all ends up showing
Speaker 1: whether an agency should continue. It shouldn't go overseas. It
Speaker 1: shouldn't go for Sesame Street books for the tune to
Speaker 1: twenty million, It shouldn't go on to sixteen million, to
Speaker 1: Vietnam for inclusion, things like that. We the people are
Speaker 1: going to weigh in on and they already have. But
Speaker 1: some agents will need to be modified, Some agencies will
Speaker 1: need to be scaled down. Department of Education is one
Speaker 1: of them. Social Security is another one. When you find
Speaker 1: out from what I'm hearing, people are getting four and
Speaker 1: five checks. He's investigating all that and let the American
Speaker 1: people decide. It's not their money, it's the facts payer's money.
Speaker 2: All right, Congressman, thanks very much for joining us live
Speaker 2: today from Capitol Hill. That's Republican Congressman Ralph Norman of
Speaker 2: South Carolina. Of course, member of the House Budget Committee.
Speaker 2: Is that markup is still underway.