Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. You're listening to the
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at
Speaker 1: noon Eastern on Apple CarPlay and then Rouno with the
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts,
Speaker 1: or watch us live on YouTube.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Balance of Power here
Speaker 2: on the radio, on the satellite, and on YouTube, where
Speaker 2: we invite you, as always to join us in our
Speaker 2: live feed. Search Bloomberg Global News. When you get to YouTube,
Speaker 2: we'll meet you there in the studio where the lights
Speaker 2: are lit and we have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2: It's a beautiful day here in the nation's capital. Nice
Speaker 2: day for a picnic, you might say. And that's the
Speaker 2: big plan at the White House later. Imagine cats and
Speaker 2: dogs feasting on hamburgers and hot dogs. This is the
Speaker 2: big congressional picnic at the White White House. Joe Biden,
Speaker 2: Joe Biden, six fifteen pm, South Lawn. There will be
Speaker 2: remarks and it's going to come after the President. You'll
Speaker 2: witness all of this live today on Bloomberg Speaks to
Speaker 2: the Nation around two o'clock. That's at least the schedule
Speaker 2: about an executive order that he is about to drop.
Speaker 2: And we've talked about this a lot, with great reporting
Speaker 2: from Bloomberg's White House team in the formation the creation
Speaker 2: of this EO. We've actually been waiting for this four
Speaker 2: weeks and here we are today. This will be the
Speaker 2: topic of conversation at the picnic. You've heard of this
Speaker 2: before if you've been with us on the program here.
Speaker 2: Reaching a certain threshold of illegal border crossings would trigger,
Speaker 2: essentially a shutdown of the border would effectively prevent new
Speaker 2: asylum claims by migrants who walk across the border until
Speaker 2: levels drop by roughly two thirds of where they stand. Okay,
Speaker 2: so here are the actual numbers. Where's the cutoff? The
Speaker 2: measure would kick in when levels hit roughly twenty five
Speaker 2: hundred crossings per day. Authorities, for perspective, recorded about forty
Speaker 2: three hundred crossings per day encounters rather, I want to
Speaker 2: be specific per day in April with undocumented migrants between
Speaker 2: ports of entry, the most recent data available. It gives
Speaker 2: you a sense of the numbers here. Now, when we
Speaker 2: talk about restricting the definition of asylum and so forth,
Speaker 2: included in that Senate negotiated compromise that went nowhere the
Speaker 2: end of last year beginning of this year. We don't
Speaker 2: see so much of that in the EO. But we're
Speaker 2: going to let this come out a little bit later
Speaker 2: on today when the President speaks. Although first we speak
Speaker 2: with Maria Fernanda Buzzmoski, who was with us during the
Speaker 2: debate in the Senate and back now that we have
Speaker 2: paper at the White House, deputy director of the Adrian
Speaker 2: Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council. Maria, it's great
Speaker 2: to see you. Thank you for giving us your time today.
Speaker 2: Is this the right thing for Joe Biden right now?
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me again on the show. Joe. I
Speaker 3: think that.
Speaker 4: This is.
Speaker 3: Perhaps the most aggressive attempt from Joe Biden to address
Speaker 3: the border situation. He knows very well that elections are
Speaker 3: right around the corner. Mexico just had its election on Sunday,
Speaker 3: and we saw there will be a continuation of the
Speaker 3: Mona Party under Claudia Scheinbaum, and we expect the rhetoric
Speaker 3: around immigration create and Mexico to start to heat up.
Speaker 3: And I think that this is his attempt and the
Speaker 3: Democratic Party's attempt to address the numbers at the border.
Speaker 2: Well, we're going to hear a lot about this today
Speaker 2: from Democrats and Republicans, including I'm sure quite a bit
Speaker 2: of criticism, just as we heard from Republican lawmakers the
Speaker 2: last time around. It's interesting, though, Maria, to hear from
Speaker 2: Hispanic Democrats in the capital alex Badia, Democrat California Joe
Speaker 2: Biden quote paralleling some of what the Trump administration tried
Speaker 2: to do unsuccessfully unquote Greg Caesar, Democrat Texas, pushing back
Speaker 2: on Biden publicly if he pursues these policies quote, it's
Speaker 2: not going to help the president politically, because I don't
Speaker 2: think Fox News is ever going to give him any
Speaker 2: credit anyway, unquote.
Speaker 5: Is there some truth to that.
Speaker 3: I think that this is again his attempt to appear
Speaker 3: domestically as he's tough on the border and immigration. One
Speaker 3: of his talking points might be later tonight that he
Speaker 3: tried to do this in a bipartisan manner earlier this
Speaker 3: year and it didn't happen, and now this is what
Speaker 3: he has to do in order to bring those numbers
Speaker 3: back down.
Speaker 2: I want to mention that a statement is just out
Speaker 2: from the White House on this, even though we've not
Speaker 2: heard from the President yet, this is official Maria. Quote,
Speaker 2: we must be clear, this cannot achieve the same results
Speaker 2: as congressional action, and it does not provide the critical
Speaker 2: personnel and funding needed to further secure our southern border.
Speaker 2: Congress still must act unquote. But you don't expect that
Speaker 2: to happen to you, Well.
Speaker 3: I think it's quite unlikely. But at the end of
Speaker 3: the day, and I think that if we read between
Speaker 3: the lines on that statement that you just read, this
Speaker 3: is a band aid. This is a band aid to
Speaker 3: a much bigger wound that needs aggressive surgery, and it
Speaker 3: needs a team of people from both sides of the
Speaker 3: aisle to come together and start to address something that
Speaker 3: is very clearly broken, which is the immigration policies of
Speaker 3: this system of this country.
Speaker 2: Well, so this is far from comprehensive, right, This would
Speaker 2: lower the number of daily crossings, that would allow the
Speaker 2: president a better story to hell, And I guess even
Speaker 2: if this were made permanent, it still wouldn't address the
Speaker 2: issue of demand at our southern border or security surrounding it, right, correct.
Speaker 3: And this executive action that has been unveiled today does
Speaker 3: nothing to address the issues that are driving thousands of
Speaker 3: people to the US southern border every single day. And
Speaker 3: that's as you've just mentioned, it's everything from security in
Speaker 3: Minor America and the Caribbean, it's economic opportunities. This is
Speaker 3: not addressing at all the root causes of migration. What
Speaker 3: we see at the border is just a symptom of
Speaker 3: a much larger problem that begins, as we repeatedly say,
Speaker 3: three thousand miles south of the US border.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, let's talk about that for a minute, because
Speaker 2: we spent quick bit of time yesterday talking about Claudia
Speaker 2: Shinbaum and a remarkable and historic election in Mexico. What
Speaker 2: is it going to mean though? For policy at the border.
Speaker 2: The timing here is, I'm guessing pretty difficult for this
Speaker 2: Mexican president elect. Twenty four hours later, Joe Biden is
Speaker 2: rolling out an executive order to potentially close the border,
Speaker 2: but as a protege of President Amlo Or should we
Speaker 2: expect the same policies from Mexico.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think she had some time to calibrate her victory,
Speaker 3: but was quickly kind of reminded of the gigantic task
Speaker 3: that lays ahead for her and for Mexico. The timing
Speaker 3: of this executive order is probably not coincidental at all.
Speaker 3: He was waiting for that election on Sunday. Claudia thus
Speaker 3: far has said that she thinks the United States can
Speaker 3: do more to address again the pushing factors in Central
Speaker 3: America and in Latin America and the Caribbean. We expect
Speaker 3: to see some continuation from the Shainebaum administration on the
Speaker 3: policies that President Lopez Alor has carried out. Thus far.
Speaker 3: She has been very explicit though in saying that with
Speaker 3: the United States she will seek a collaboration and cooperation
Speaker 3: and not a relationship where Mexico is subordinate to the
Speaker 3: United States. I think we'll have to see who's part
Speaker 3: of her team and we'll see where her policies carry her.
Speaker 2: Just lastly, Maria, what happens to the border if Donald
Speaker 2: Trump wins the election.
Speaker 3: I think we'll have to see if whether he has
Speaker 3: a willing partner in Mexico to kind of work on
Speaker 3: as he has in the past with Lopez. I think that,
Speaker 3: you know, Trump, were he to come to the Oval
Speaker 3: office once again in January, needs to recognize that Mexico,
Speaker 3: with the election that we just had, not only the
Speaker 3: strong mandate that fell the shame on hash, but also
Speaker 3: the composition of her Congress. She and Morena right now
Speaker 3: has twenty four out of thirty one governorships. She Morena
Speaker 3: is pretty strong, and I don't expect Donald Trump to
Speaker 3: have an easy time pushing her to cave into some
Speaker 3: of his eventual demands.
Speaker 2: No, we'll have a lot more to talk about in
Speaker 2: that scenario, Marie. I'm glad you could come back and
Speaker 2: see us. Thank you for your time from the Atlanta Council,
Speaker 2: Maria Fernanda Bosmoski.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens
Speaker 1: just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Apple car Play
Speaker 1: and Enroudoo with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also
Speaker 1: listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York
Speaker 1: State Joe Say Alexa playing Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 6: For just about an hour away from expective remarks from
Speaker 6: President Joe Biden about the executive order he's issuing today
Speaker 6: related to the border. It'll be interesting to hear Joe
Speaker 6: how he toes the line between trying to appeal to
Speaker 6: those critics who have been critical of this administration and
Speaker 6: its policies toward the border, and then those progressives who
Speaker 6: may think that this is going too far, and it's
Speaker 6: potentially alienating a key demographic.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: It's kind of like the issue surrounding his policy with Israel,
Speaker 2: where he's managed to upset people on both ends of
Speaker 2: the political spectrum. Here, we're going to hear from the
Speaker 2: President in less than an hour, assuming he's on time.
Speaker 2: And we're joined now at the table by Bloomberg White
Speaker 2: House correspondent Josh Wingrove, who has been far out on
Speaker 2: this story. This is something that we've been reporting on
Speaker 2: for a couple of weeks in anticipation of this executive
Speaker 2: order dropping. Josh, it's great to see you. We're going
Speaker 2: to be talking with critics all day or we're questioning
Speaker 2: to begin with the number, What is this twenty five
Speaker 2: hundred number? Why should twenty five hundred people be allowed
Speaker 2: to cross the border illegally every day?
Speaker 7: The starting point officials have told us is that bipartisan bill,
Speaker 7: and that talked about or in the negotiations for that,
Speaker 7: they zeroed in on about four thousand. What they've done
Speaker 7: here is picked twenty five hundred, which appears to be
Speaker 7: the net when you take out the people that make
Speaker 7: appointments and those are allowed to happen In other words,
Speaker 7: asilum claims are still open as of tomorrow. If you
Speaker 7: have an appointment and go to a port of entry.
Speaker 7: What's closing are the people that simply walk across the
Speaker 7: border between points of entry and backing up here. I
Speaker 7: mean we have just dealt with this for years. I
Speaker 7: mean we dealt with this in Trump's first campaign against
Speaker 7: Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 5: Ye.
Speaker 7: Biden, very early in his presidency proposed a immigration bill
Speaker 7: went nowhere. Neither party really has any interest in it
Speaker 7: for various reasons. Used to be that the grand bargain
Speaker 7: was border stuff for immigration stuff, not so much. And
Speaker 7: now the bipartisan bill collapsed. Trump had a lot of
Speaker 7: pressure on to kill it, and Biden has decided to
Speaker 7: try and do something, even though it is certain to
Speaker 7: be challenged. The ACLU has already said that they will
Speaker 7: challenge it. I will leave it to lawyers to say
Speaker 7: whether that will be struck down. The Democrats himself have
Speaker 7: said that congressional action is the safest path. In other words,
Speaker 7: they will int ave at the farm that this thing
Speaker 7: will hold up. And that's where we're at.
Speaker 8: Well.
Speaker 6: And even in the release that the White House put
Speaker 6: out the statement, they said we must be clear this
Speaker 6: cannot achieve the same results as congressional actions, so perhaps
Speaker 6: they're trying to get in front of that narrative. But
Speaker 6: what we're hearing out of Congress Josh is Republicans on
Speaker 6: the one side essentially critical that he didn't exercise this
Speaker 6: authority way sooner, that he's waiting to do it until now.
Speaker 6: On the other side, you have the likes of Senator
Speaker 6: Alex Padia, who in a statement today said President Biden
Speaker 6: has undermined American values with this decision. Is there real
Speaker 6: winning on this issue for the president?
Speaker 7: I guess he's hoping that there's a silent majority in
Speaker 7: the middle and we're kind of up in the air
Speaker 7: right now and where those swing state democrats fall. Some
Speaker 7: border Democrats Mark Kelly and Arizona, for instance, have come
Speaker 7: out in favor of this. We'll be looking at two
Speaker 7: o'clock to see who will be there. It doesn't sound
Speaker 7: like a lot of the swing state senators, the ones
Speaker 7: that are up Tommy Baldwin Wisconsin, for instance, will be there.
Speaker 7: So it's not just progressives who are mad about it,
Speaker 7: or people that are sort of immigration reform advocates like
Speaker 7: Senator Padilla. But where will those sort of middle of
Speaker 7: the road types go. We do in our story have
Speaker 7: an Custers saying that she thinks that this will appeal
Speaker 7: to sort of moderate swing voters. In our polls, people
Speaker 7: are worried about this right now. It is the second
Speaker 7: top issue, second only to the economy when you ask
Speaker 7: people to name their single thing. Now, though when you
Speaker 7: drill down it's more Republicans that are worried about it.
Speaker 7: Then I'll follow by that independence, which is the problem.
Speaker 7: Democrats aren't so worried about it. Biden is basically trying
Speaker 7: to woo independence the power. He's using a Section two
Speaker 7: twelve F that is what Trump used. Trump got the
Speaker 7: courts tied up in the courts with it as well.
Speaker 7: Be fair to assume Biden will be tied up to
Speaker 7: some extent in the courts with it. This is essentially
Speaker 7: a loophole that they're trying to drive a big mac
Speaker 7: truck through to get things for.
Speaker 5: It's going to be a fun congressional picnic tonight. Yeah see,
Speaker 5: I'm guessing it'll be great.
Speaker 7: And this is two days after the Mexican election, by
Speaker 7: the way.
Speaker 5: Well, and that has a lot to do with the timing.
Speaker 2: We understand would Republicans support this if the president set
Speaker 2: the daily cap at zero.
Speaker 7: They might more?
Speaker 5: Why not?
Speaker 7: Well, I think the Republicans. A lot of Republicans want
Speaker 7: the issue to campaign on regardless, so if you set
Speaker 7: a cap and zero, they might find different ways to
Speaker 7: do it.
Speaker 5: But why not set the cap and zero?
Speaker 7: Because there's a legal right to asylum claims under international
Speaker 7: law and their American law, and that is what is
Speaker 7: probably going to lead to these challenges and may well
Speaker 7: end up getting struck down. They're trying to get around
Speaker 7: that with exemptions for instance and accompanied minors. This will
Speaker 7: not apply to, for instance, people in extreme health certainty.
Speaker 7: For instance, if you're you know, parched and at risk
Speaker 7: of you know, dying of thirst in the desert, you
Speaker 7: can walk across America.
Speaker 5: We'll be like arrest or whatever.
Speaker 2: But outside of legal asylum claims reports of entry, why
Speaker 2: not set the captain zero?
Speaker 7: Because they believe that you can make asylum claims as
Speaker 7: an irregular crosser you don't necessarily need an appointment. But
Speaker 7: even the legal pathways they're creating have attractive political blowback.
Speaker 7: And Biden's whole philosophy is people will wait in line
Speaker 7: if there's a line that's moving right, and so they
Speaker 7: think that if they create these legal pathways, it'll lessen
Speaker 7: the incentive for people to pay thousands of dollars or
Speaker 7: some smuggler to take them across Mexico and put them
Speaker 7: into the US. And so what they're trying to do
Speaker 7: is sort of short circuit that now ahead of summer
Speaker 7: months where things normally rise, and if this year is
Speaker 7: the same as other years, Biden would be facing rising
Speaker 7: members heading into election, which he doesn't want and hope
Speaker 7: that people will sort of go the other route, which
Speaker 7: is this CBP one app you know, obviously I roll
Speaker 7: my eyes with my bank asked me to use an
Speaker 7: app let alone time, you know, So we'll see. The
Speaker 7: jury's out, I think obviously on whether that will be.
Speaker 7: Everyone agrees that Congress would have stronger powers here, and
Speaker 7: so might you know, look forward to the next Congress.
Speaker 7: The odds of a you know, one party holding all
Speaker 7: three levers don't seem particularly high, certainly possible, and so
Speaker 7: if they are, will this happen. Some of the Republicans
Speaker 7: who were fans of the original bipartisan bill urge their
Speaker 7: Republican collegues to take it because they didn't think Democrats
Speaker 7: would have as much incentive to make a deal. So,
Speaker 7: even if Republicans were to sweep the House, Senate and
Speaker 7: Presidency in the elections, the odds that they get a
Speaker 7: comprehensive reform through I don't know.
Speaker 6: Well, we're going to talk to one Republican lawmaker now,
Speaker 6: Josh wen Grove, Blueberg, White House Correspondent. Great reporting, Thank
Speaker 6: you Gran so much. We go now live to Capitol
Speaker 6: Hill where Republican Congressman Brian Style of Wisconsin is joining us.
Speaker 6: He's the chair of the House Administration Committee, also a
Speaker 6: member of the Financial Services Committee. Congressman, welcome back to
Speaker 6: Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and Radio. You have
Speaker 6: been on this program repeatedly in the past talking about
Speaker 6: President Biden not exercising authority that he has when it
Speaker 6: comes to the border. It seems today he is doing so.
Speaker 6: Does he deserve credit for that?
Speaker 9: What he's doing today is woefully insufficient. Joe asked the
Speaker 9: right question, why not set it at zero? And it
Speaker 9: should be noted that this only addresses one of the
Speaker 9: three key buckets of individuals who are in the country.
Speaker 9: This is addressing the bucket of individuals who are entering
Speaker 9: through non ports of entry. Think about somebody wading across
Speaker 9: the Rio Grand River and coming in and claiming asylum.
Speaker 9: We saw about two point four million of those individuals
Speaker 9: last year. This would throttle that down to about nine
Speaker 9: hundred thousand individuals. It does nothing to address what we
Speaker 9: call known godaways. Last year roughly six hundred thousand individuals
Speaker 9: who were observed entering the country, but who got away,
Speaker 9: and we have no idea.
Speaker 4: Who those individuals are.
Speaker 9: And the third bucket is the one thousand, five hundred
Speaker 9: individuals a day, roughly another half a million people per year,
Speaker 9: who are coming through legal ports of entry. And so
Speaker 9: the action by the President is woefully insufficient to a
Speaker 9: challenge as large as he has created. He needs to
Speaker 9: take a series of executive actions, all of which are
Speaker 9: under his authority, to actually and truly secure the border.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 2: I do know that you want more, Congressmen, and I
Speaker 2: anticipated that you would give us an answer like that.
Speaker 2: But if this would in fact lower crossings, illegal cross
Speaker 2: things on any level, and it appears to be by thousands,
Speaker 2: why not do this now and ask for more after.
Speaker 9: There's nothing wrong with the President taking this executive action,
Speaker 9: But I think it's important for the American people to
Speaker 9: realize that this is woefully insufficient to address the crisis
Speaker 9: that he has created at the US Mexico border. The
Speaker 9: crisis is being felt not just in communities along the border,
Speaker 9: but being felt in my home state of Wisconsin and
Speaker 9: across the country. And so the President needs to take
Speaker 9: a series of executive actions, most importantly to reinstate stay
Speaker 9: in Mexico and the catch and release program and the
Speaker 9: abuse of the parole system, and reinstart border wall construction immediately. Again,
Speaker 9: he's taking a small step in the right direction, but
Speaker 9: woefully insufficient to address the challenge that he is created
Speaker 9: by allowing the US Mexico border to remain unsecured.
Speaker 6: Well, the way the White House is characterizing this Congressman
Speaker 6: is that to actually adequately address the challenge would require
Speaker 6: Congressional action. They said so in the statement, of course,
Speaker 6: the President had agreed to a bipartisan compromise with Senate
Speaker 6: negotiators earlier this year. That quickly died, I know that
Speaker 6: you're probably going to tell me that the House passed
Speaker 6: HR two, But considering HR two was known to be
Speaker 6: dead on arrival when it passed the Houses, it received
Speaker 6: not a single Democratic vote, and obviously the bipartisan border
Speaker 6: deal didn't end up going anywhere. Should you not try
Speaker 6: to start fresh, try to find a compromise.
Speaker 9: I'd critique a little bit of there what you said
Speaker 9: as it relates to the Senate bill. I think it's
Speaker 9: important to reflect back on the most recent vote on
Speaker 9: the Senate bill. They didn't even get all the Democrats
Speaker 9: on board. That's how broken the bill is. That is called,
Speaker 9: as your term, bipartisan. My view would be the opposition
Speaker 9: of the bill is bipartisan. Only a fraction of the
Speaker 9: Democrats even voted for it because it doesn't work. The
Speaker 9: House pass bill actually works. It actually secures the US
Speaker 9: Mexico border. It was passed now approaching a year ago,
Speaker 9: the Senate should act on it. If the Senate thinks
Speaker 9: that they can make amendments to make it better, make adjustments,
Speaker 9: I'd love to see that vote take place on the
Speaker 9: Senate floor. Actually think that it would pass in the
Speaker 9: Senate because it works and the problem that's been created
Speaker 9: by this administration is so significant that actually there is
Speaker 9: a political need to act further. The President has a
Speaker 9: series of executive actions that he could take over sixty
Speaker 9: in total that he could take to substantively secure the
Speaker 9: US Mexico border. Again, the four easiest that are at
Speaker 9: the top of the table is reinstating the stay in
Speaker 9: Mexico policy, end in catching release, restart border wall construction,
Speaker 9: and end abuse of the parole system. But there's a
Speaker 9: series of actions that he could take. The action he
Speaker 9: is about to take today, as reported, is woefully insufficient
Speaker 9: to actually address the crisis that is impacting every community
Speaker 9: across the country.
Speaker 2: Well, it'll be especially insufficient if it's struck down in court,
Speaker 2: of course, Congressman, and I wonder what your thought is
Speaker 2: on that section two twelve f of the Immigration and
Speaker 2: Nationality Act. Everyone suddenly an expert every time this comes
Speaker 2: up again. We saw this not play well in court
Speaker 2: for Donald Trump in some cases when he invoked those authorities.
Speaker 2: If that happens again, now it's kicked back to the
Speaker 2: other end of Pennsylvania Avenue and we start all over again.
Speaker 5: To Kayley's point, right.
Speaker 9: Well, this is in large part where the House pass
Speaker 9: Border Security package is so essential. We make essential reforms
Speaker 9: to the asylum system to end the abuse of the process. Importantly,
Speaker 9: what we're seeing right now is when individuals illegally enter
Speaker 9: the United States, they're often released with a notice to appear,
Speaker 9: in other words, a court date three, four, five years out,
Speaker 9: and at that point they're released into the country and
Speaker 9: able to travel freely. What we should do is dramatically
Speaker 9: accelerate the process that we're reviewing those cases. And again,
Speaker 9: when they're reviewed, about ninety eight percent are ultimately rejected,
Speaker 9: meaning the vast majority of the individuals coming into the
Speaker 9: United States illegally are actually making an asylum claim that
Speaker 9: when adjudicated, when heard by a judge, are found to
Speaker 9: not be valid. And so we could dramatically increase the
Speaker 9: rate and scope of how we're processing those claims. Again,
Speaker 9: the House Pass Border Security package makes those adjustments to
Speaker 9: our asylum laws that are essential. If the Court chooses
Speaker 9: to strike this down, which I don't think that they
Speaker 9: should do, but if they did, all the more reason
Speaker 9: the Senate should act on the House Pass Border Security legislation.
Speaker 6: Congressman, one of your colleagues in the House, Congresswoman Marjorie
Speaker 6: Taylor Green of Georgia, yesterday floated the idea of forcing
Speaker 6: an impeachment vote against President Biden over this issue of
Speaker 6: the border. If she succeeded in getting that on the floor.
Speaker 6: Would you vote to impeach the president?
Speaker 9: I think we got a big election coming up in November,
Speaker 9: and the American people are going to be able to
Speaker 9: have their say as relate to the disastrous policies being
Speaker 9: put forward by President Biden. I think we are always
Speaker 9: better served when the American people are able to make
Speaker 9: that decision. I'm incredibly concerned with the actions of President
Speaker 9: Biden day in and day out, but at the end
Speaker 9: of the day, we're about six months away from the election.
Speaker 9: The American people are going to have their opportunity to
Speaker 9: have their voice heard.
Speaker 2: Interesting, as the primary takes place today in the District
Speaker 2: of Columbia here in the Cap City, Congressman, something is
Speaker 2: going to happen that's never happened before, as non citizen
Speaker 2: residents are allowed to vote in primary elections to have
Speaker 2: a say in the communities that they live in. More
Speaker 2: than five hundred non citizen residents registering to vote and
Speaker 2: have cast their ballots here today. This is an issue
Speaker 2: that you have strongly opposed and tried to take action
Speaker 2: against as chair of the Admin Committee in the House
Speaker 2: of Representatives.
Speaker 5: Now that it's happening. What will it mean.
Speaker 4: I've held a series of hearings on this exact point.
Speaker 9: I think it's important for all of your listeners and
Speaker 9: viewers to realize that today, in our nation's capital, non
Speaker 9: citizens are legally allowed to vote in particular municipal elections
Speaker 9: for things like city council. This includes individuals working in
Speaker 9: an embassy. So, just to give you a flavor of
Speaker 9: how ridiculous the law is in our nation's capital, the
Speaker 9: front door to the country, an individuals, say working at
Speaker 9: the Russian embassy residing in DC for only thirty days
Speaker 9: is eligible to vote in our nation's elections. I'm of
Speaker 9: the view that US elections should be for you, US
Speaker 9: citizens only. We passed a bill here in the House
Speaker 9: to ban non citizens from voting here in our nation's capital.
Speaker 9: The Senate has refused to act on that.
Speaker 4: I think that they should, and more broadly, we need
Speaker 4: to make sure that we're.
Speaker 9: Ensuring elections across the country are for US citizens only.
Speaker 9: The fact that our nation's capital today is allowing non
Speaker 9: citizens to vote in a primary election for positions like
Speaker 9: city council is absolutely absurd.
Speaker 4: I think we need to change the law.
Speaker 6: Congressman we have just a minute left with you. But
Speaker 6: to what extent are you concerned about in your home
Speaker 6: state of Wisconsin people who shouldn't be legally allowed to
Speaker 6: vote attempting to do so.
Speaker 4: This is a broader concern that we've had.
Speaker 9: We had a series of hearings, and what we have
Speaker 9: seen are non citizens registered to vote illegally in other locations.
Speaker 9: In particular, Ohio recently identified a number on their voter rolls.
Speaker 9: Georgia did a proper Czech Pennsylvania identified issues as well.
Speaker 9: I think in a period of time, we need to
Speaker 9: dramatically look at whether or not we have non citizens
Speaker 9: on the voter rolls and states across the country. We
Speaker 9: need to make sure that we're protecting the integrity of
Speaker 9: our elections such that only US citizens vote in our elections.
Speaker 9: In a period of time when seven million people have
Speaker 9: come across the border I legally under prison Biden's three
Speaker 9: and a half years, where you have cities in jurisdictions
Speaker 9: like Washington, d C. Not only allowing but encouraging non
Speaker 9: citizens to vote, I think it's absolutely imperative that we're
Speaker 9: making sure we're protecting the integrity of our elections by
Speaker 9: making sure our elections are for US citizens only.
Speaker 5: It's good to have you back. Congressman.
Speaker 2: Thanks for your insights to a Brian style, the Republican
Speaker 2: from Wisconsin with us on the fastest show in politics.
Speaker 2: As we mentioned, less than an hour from now, Joe
Speaker 2: Biden is set to speak to the executive order on
Speaker 2: the border.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
Speaker 1: us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then
Speaker 1: Proudoro with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcast. I watch us live on YouTube.
Speaker 2: It all starts at six fifteen pm Washington Time. That's
Speaker 2: the annual Congressional picnic on the South lawn of the
Speaker 2: White House. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines. I can
Speaker 2: only imagine the conversation over hamburgers and hot dogs, because
Speaker 2: that will be less than four hours after the President
Speaker 2: speaks to the American people about this executive order he's
Speaker 2: dropping today on the border. He's going to be speaking
Speaker 2: from the East Room, at least according to the schedule,
Speaker 2: about twenty minutes from now, and Kaylee, as we've learned
Speaker 2: over the course of this hour, he's upsetting both ends
Speaker 2: of the political spectrum today with this announcement.
Speaker 6: Yeah, of course, Republicans think he is not going far enough.
Speaker 6: Progressives may think he's going too far with this executive
Speaker 6: action that essentially when crossings cross a threshold of twenty
Speaker 6: five hundred, that's right across the border, will shut down
Speaker 6: those seeking asylum, at least in some cases. There are
Speaker 6: carve outs and exceptions here, and perhaps the exceptions are
Speaker 6: providing more fuel to the buyer who are upset. The
Speaker 6: thing is, though, Joe, there's something else to consider here politically,
Speaker 6: and that is the implication this could have for the economy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, this is a big deal.
Speaker 6: Standard chartered. Steve Englander, who's a great friend of Bloomberg
Speaker 6: TV and Radio, put out research today that found roughly
Speaker 6: half of non farm payrolls growth since October is accounted
Speaker 6: for by undocumented immigrants. According to his estimates looking at
Speaker 6: data from US Immigration Services, the Customs and Border Patrol,
Speaker 6: and others. He suggests, if you take those workers out,
Speaker 6: job growth may actually be running at a much lower
Speaker 6: pace of one hundred and twenty five thousand.
Speaker 5: Imagine that per month.
Speaker 2: So then couple the impact that this has had as
Speaker 2: well on shelter costs and housing immigrants in cities all
Speaker 2: over the country, not just New York, and the impact
Speaker 2: could be great. And you wonder, if you keep walking
Speaker 2: this line, does this executive order hasten the first interest
Speaker 2: right cut It's.
Speaker 6: An excellent question. If it means more softening in the
Speaker 6: labor market, one could see how that argument could be made.
Speaker 6: But we want to pose these questions and more now
Speaker 6: to Rebecca She She is founding executive director of the
Speaker 6: American Business Immigration Coalition. Rebecca, welcome to balance of power.
Speaker 6: How should we be thinking through the economic ramifications of
Speaker 6: this executive order today? Not allowing as many migrants to
Speaker 6: seek asylum in the US, something that will start effective immediately.
Speaker 6: How is this likely to impact the economy?
Speaker 8: Thank you so much for having me today. The President
Speaker 8: is moving forward on this executive order to ensure legal
Speaker 8: and orderly processing and crossing, and this is going to
Speaker 8: have important impact on both the economy and our communities.
Speaker 8: I think you just mentioned that one of the reasons
Speaker 8: that our markets and economy continue to roar is because,
Speaker 8: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we have two
Speaker 8: point one million new migrants new workers in the economy
Speaker 8: over this last two and a half years, and this
Speaker 8: has made sure that jobs, particularly jobs and construction, hospitality,
Speaker 8: tourism are filled despite our very tight labor market. And
Speaker 8: this has meant that you know, stock market is reaching
Speaker 8: historic highs as we have seen, as well as tamping
Speaker 8: down inflation. And just the last thing I would add
Speaker 8: is that you know, we see all the demographics data
Speaker 8: that average Americans are having, you know, less than replacement
Speaker 8: rate in terms of births. And this new energy, new
Speaker 8: entrepreneurships from both new migrants and long term immigrants already
Speaker 8: here has been a gift to the economy and to
Speaker 8: our country well.
Speaker 2: So as the President speaks to the American people, then today, Rebecca,
Speaker 2: should he also be making an announced about work permits.
Speaker 8: That is something that we're hoping for as the American
Speaker 8: Business Immigration Coalition, and we are a bipartisan group of
Speaker 8: about fourteen hundred employers and CEOs across the country. Over
Speaker 8: this last year, we have been leading a national campaign
Speaker 8: we call it Here to Work actually calling on the
Speaker 8: administration and the President to issue more work permits for
Speaker 8: both the new migrants as well as the long term
Speaker 8: immigrant contributors. You know, if you think about people that
Speaker 8: are picking crops, cleaning hotel rooms, emptying bedpans in nursing homes,
Speaker 8: or even designing semiconductors at our fabrication facilities. They're over
Speaker 8: represented and significantly contributed by immigrants of all scale levels.
Speaker 8: So having more work permits, legal work permits in the
Speaker 8: marketplace is a good thing. It's a good thing for employers,
Speaker 8: is a good thing to protect immigrant workers from exploitation,
Speaker 8: and it raises wages and depresses inflation for every American consumer.
Speaker 8: And if nothing else, we've seen that work over this
Speaker 8: last two and a half years.
Speaker 6: Well, Rebecca, you just said there that you've been pushing
Speaker 6: the White House and the Biden administration to do more
Speaker 6: in that effort. Is that effort something they can carry
Speaker 6: entirely alone? The administration and the White House when it
Speaker 6: put out a statement today talked about how realistically to
Speaker 6: get more substantive reform you need congressional action. What are
Speaker 6: the limits of what President Biden himself is able to
Speaker 6: do unilaterally?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 8: Absolutely, And we've seen the President and particularly Democratic leaders
Speaker 8: and some Republican leaders as well, you know, know, the
Speaker 8: police Senator Langford of Oklahoma really trying very hard to
Speaker 8: come together on a bipartisan solution to our borders. I
Speaker 8: think this bill was brought to the floor several times
Speaker 8: this year, and then former President Trump intervene and it
Speaker 8: fell apart. And so then we see today that the
Speaker 8: President deciding to act, you know, laterally on executive order
Speaker 8: around the border. So similarly, you know, given the gridlock
Speaker 8: in the Congress, that the executive action on work permits
Speaker 8: can continue and also be granted for people, particularly people
Speaker 8: that have been here for decades working, many of them
Speaker 8: are married to US citizens. We actually have one point
Speaker 8: one million US citizens in our country who are married
Speaker 8: to undocumented spouses on average for sixteen years. Just just
Speaker 8: kind of bonkers to think about that people with such
Speaker 8: deep roots in our nation are still unable to have
Speaker 8: a passive permanence because of our broken immigration system. So
Speaker 8: I think the you know, to your point, ideally right,
Speaker 8: things are done on a bipartisan basis by congressional action.
Speaker 8: But we've just seen this Congress again and again, even
Speaker 8: on something that both sides have agreed on, like border security,
Speaker 8: we can't even make any progress. And so as such,
Speaker 8: we're calling on the President to also do a executive
Speaker 8: action on legal work permits and something that everyday Americans support.
Speaker 5: Well, as you call on this president to take action.
Speaker 2: Having referred to the fourteen hundred CEOs and employers you represent, Rebecca,
Speaker 2: this is an election year. Who do they trust more
Speaker 2: with reforming the immigration system, Joe Biden or Donald Trump?
Speaker 8: I would say that are just where we are in
Speaker 8: on the issue has been sally a failure of both sides.
Speaker 8: I mean, we are operating under a menagerie of the
Speaker 8: alphabet soup for our visa system that was created in
Speaker 8: nineteen eighty six, So over nearly forty years ago was
Speaker 8: the last time we had a reform to our immigration
Speaker 8: system and our economy. Today it doesn't look anywhere like
Speaker 8: how it looked in nineteen eighty six. And so the
Speaker 8: politics always keep getting in the way of this issue.
Speaker 8: And the thing is that's American. Everyday Americans understand that
Speaker 8: we need to have legal, orderly border crossings and as
Speaker 8: well as bringing people out of the shadow, especially people
Speaker 8: that have been here working, paying taxes for decades with
Speaker 8: American family members, just again and again, you know, for
Speaker 8: our dreamers, for our mixed status families. It always posts
Speaker 8: so well, it doesn't change because Americans know that those
Speaker 8: are the right solutions to fix this super outdated and
Speaker 8: just honestly beyond frustrating immigration issue.
Speaker 5: Rebecca, it's great to have you.
Speaker 2: Rebecca She founding executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast Ken
Speaker 1: Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and enron
Speaker 1: Oto with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen
Speaker 1: live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station,
Speaker 1: Just Say Alexa, playing Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 6: It's not just any Tuesday, It's a primary Tuesday. In
Speaker 6: a number of the primary day largely stopped paying attention
Speaker 6: to primaries as we have our presumptive presidential nominees. That
Speaker 6: doesn't mean that they're not worthy of at least some analysis, considering.
Speaker 6: We do have primaries in Montana, which is going to
Speaker 6: be a key state in deciding the balance of the Senate,
Speaker 6: as well as in New Jersey, where there has been
Speaker 6: a lot of political intrigue about not just Senator Bob
Speaker 6: and Endesk, who is currently on trial for bribery charges,
Speaker 6: but his son, who was facing a primary challenger today.
Speaker 5: Is the same first name.
Speaker 2: So it's interesting that as we've been hearing from folks
Speaker 2: on the ground, some of the campaign signs have gone
Speaker 2: from Menendez to rob because of a difficult association here
Speaker 2: with what his dad's going through. That's New Jersey's eighth district, Cayley,
Speaker 2: and we can look ahead to some of these primaries,
Speaker 2: but of course it's all against the backdrop of this
Speaker 2: protest vote that we've been hearing about and watching just
Speaker 2: about every Tuesday. How many Nicki Haley votes will there
Speaker 2: be in the Republican primary in a state like New Jersey.
Speaker 2: That will be part of the story tonight as well.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, as we've seen continuously something in the ballpark of
Speaker 6: twenty percent of the Republican primary vote still going to
Speaker 6: Nicki Hayley, even though she suspended her campaign months ago.
Speaker 6: This will be the first time, though, we get those
Speaker 6: results after Donald Trump's guilty conviction, and I wonder if
Speaker 6: it will actually prove to be a tell on as
Speaker 6: to how many more voters are trying to protest the
Speaker 6: fact that he's the presumptive nomine.
Speaker 5: Really great point. Let's see what the panel thinks about it.
Speaker 2: Genie Shanzano and Rick Davis are with us at your
Speaker 2: panel Bloomberg Politics contributors on Bloomberg TV and Radio. What's
Speaker 2: your thought on that, Rick, As we anticipate votes tonight,
Speaker 2: could we see an uptick for Nicky Haley following the
Speaker 2: guilty verdict or might it look like the opposite?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it's a good question.
Speaker 10: I mean, there's definitely been a rallying around Donald Trump
Speaker 10: to be expected after the indictment. Republicans, you know, they
Speaker 10: still want to win elections, and he's the top of
Speaker 10: the ticket.
Speaker 5: Whether they like it or not.
Speaker 10: And yet Nicki Haley has been cruising around twenty to
Speaker 10: thirty percent of the primary ballot and in most of
Speaker 10: these states that have been selecting primary candidates since the
Speaker 10: presumptive nominee has you know, sort of taken charge. So
Speaker 10: this will be interesting. I think it's a bit of
Speaker 10: a tell. I've never put much credence on primary results
Speaker 10: as it relates to general election, and there's no real
Speaker 10: track record that they have an impact. But this is
Speaker 10: definitely an area that Nicky has now endorsed Donald Trump.
Speaker 10: Donald Trump is now a felon, so maybe maybe that
Speaker 10: booster up to the upper thirties, and we have a
Speaker 10: talking point for Wednesday.
Speaker 6: Well, Jeanie, if that indeed does transpire, is that more
Speaker 6: telling than the mixed polls that we have gotten in
Speaker 6: the days after the verdict, because that's real votes being.
Speaker 11: Cast, it is, and you know, for somebody to go
Speaker 11: out in a primary where at least at the top
Speaker 11: of the ticket in this case, it doesn't matter thou
Speaker 11: all too much because of course we know who the
Speaker 11: presumptive nominees are on both sides. It is a tell,
Speaker 11: and I'm not sure how this is going to come off,
Speaker 11: quite frankly, because you could see it going either way.
Speaker 11: You could see people who, as it settles in that
Speaker 11: this is a convicted felon, say hey, I'm going to
Speaker 11: go out there and cast my vote for somebody else,
Speaker 11: or to Rick's point, you could see a sort of
Speaker 11: rally around the Trump effect, and people say this was
Speaker 11: political persecution. These are all Republicans for the most part,
Speaker 11: voting in a primary, after all, and it goes in
Speaker 11: the op direction. So I think we have to wait
Speaker 11: and see where this pans out, but I think it
Speaker 11: is a tell in terms of at least where Republicans
Speaker 11: are in this case, and of course as you look
Speaker 11: at the Democratic side, you know, Joe Biden wants to
Speaker 11: make sure that there is not a lot of you know,
Speaker 11: loss to an independent third party candidate because of what's
Speaker 11: going on in the Gaza strip or any other issue.
Speaker 11: So on both sides, it is sort of an indication
Speaker 11: as to how at least the base of their party
Speaker 11: is feeling.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the Trump effect in the House, and it
Speaker 2: brings me to what's happening today, Jeanie. I love both
Speaker 2: of your take on this, because we've had a knockdown,
Speaker 2: drag out hearing with the Attorney General Merrick Garland. Everyone
Speaker 2: knew that would be the case as he testifies before
Speaker 2: some serious Republican critics here on the Judiciary Committee is
Speaker 2: Jim Jordan's committee, and he came out swinging in his
Speaker 2: own prepared remarks to try to blunt some of this.
Speaker 2: But beyond the Robert her testimony, the committee wanted to
Speaker 2: acquire Joe Biden's testimony with the Special Council. Beyond the
Speaker 2: contempt vote that went nowhere, there's something else going on here.
Speaker 2: Three members of the committee, this is Freedom Caucus, Andy Biggs,
Speaker 2: Chip Roy, Tom Massey sent Merrick Garland a letter stating
Speaker 2: their concerns about aggressive prosecutions of those who were at
Speaker 2: the US Capitol on January sixth, the January sixth rioters,
Speaker 2: and they wanted to talk about the FBI. This is
Speaker 2: a quote from their letter, the FBI's possible involvement in
Speaker 2: facilitating the events of January sixth. This is like tinfoil
Speaker 2: hat time here, Rick, where we're talking about white vans
Speaker 2: and unmarked officers in the crowd. What does this tell
Speaker 2: us about the direction we're going in in this Republican conference.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's a pretty dark direction. Republicans in the House,
Speaker 10: especially the Freedom Caucus. Republicans want to take the country
Speaker 10: and that is basically creating their own set of facts.
Speaker 10: And in this case, just because they dream it up
Speaker 10: means that it should be a fact. And I think
Speaker 10: Merrick Garland going to the Capitol Hill and saying no,
Speaker 10: these things are simply not true. No, Joe Biden is
Speaker 10: not the reason that Donald Trump got prosecuted in New
Speaker 10: York at a state level. No, the FBI was involved
Speaker 10: in January sixth.
Speaker 5: Here's the thing.
Speaker 10: If somebody doesn't say no to it, And frankly, I
Speaker 10: think the Biden administration has done a very poor job
Speaker 10: of pushing back on fake news that emanates from legitimate
Speaker 10: institutions like the House of Representatives and people like Donald Trump.
Speaker 10: Then that's going to become true over time. And so
Speaker 10: I think the fact that the Attorney General is up
Speaker 10: there fighting the fight for facts is really important. And
Speaker 10: I don't understand why the Biden administration would not deploy
Speaker 10: their cabinet in an effort to do the same thing,
Speaker 10: Because Joe Biden can only get elected if the country
Speaker 10: is working off the same set of facts about the economy,
Speaker 10: about the border, about Gaza, and if he allows these
Speaker 10: fake facts to proliferate, you know, it's going to be
Speaker 10: very hard for him to find a clear path.
Speaker 6: Jeannie, I'd love for you to weigh in on what
Speaker 6: Rick just said. Is the administration not been forceful enough
Speaker 6: in pushing back against miss and disinformation.
Speaker 11: This is a challenge, I think for all of us,
Speaker 11: and you know, I look at this very broadly. We
Speaker 11: are living in a time when it is very very
Speaker 11: difficult to break through all the noise that we all hear.
Speaker 11: And you can watch two channels and get the exact
Speaker 11: opposite take on what is happening, and misinformation disinformation spreads broadly,
Speaker 11: and I think it speaks to a reality, and I
Speaker 11: wish the Biden administration, to Rick's point, would talk about this.
Speaker 11: This is why leadership matters so much. It is very,
Speaker 11: very difficult to police all this misinformation and disinformation, and
Speaker 11: that's why we've got to be able to trust the
Speaker 11: people we choose to lead us, to lead us in
Speaker 11: an honest way. And that is where what's happening today
Speaker 11: on Capitol Hill is so frustrating, because there is not
Speaker 11: a sentilla of evidence that anybody in the FBI was
Speaker 11: behind January sixth, and yet you have elected leaders up
Speaker 11: there on the hill asking the question. And so I think,
Speaker 11: you know, in a way, it's all of our responsibility
Speaker 11: as Americans when we go to the ballot box to
Speaker 11: remember that we have to choose people who we feel
Speaker 11: some modicum of trust in to tell us what is
Speaker 11: the truth, because this is where we are in this country,
Speaker 11: in this media environment. So no, you know, I don't
Speaker 11: think it's all at Joe Biden or the Biden Administration's feet.
Speaker 11: He can use the bully pulpit as best as he can,
Speaker 11: but this is a problem that every president in the
Speaker 11: modern era is going to face from now as long
Speaker 11: as our media environment remains the way it is, and
Speaker 11: so it's much bigger than Joe Biden.
Speaker 2: Suggesting it may become more difficult, not get easier.
Speaker 5: It's a great panel.
Speaker 2: Thanks to both of you as always for showing grace
Speaker 2: with complex issues. Jeanie Shanzano and Rick Davis, Bloomberg Politics contributors.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make
Speaker 2: sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify,
Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find
Speaker 2: us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern
Speaker 2: at Bloomberg dot com.