Speaker 1: Joining us now from Massachusetts is a member of the
Speaker 1: House of Representatives. Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss is with us.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. Congressman, Happy election Eve.
Speaker 1: It does feel like almost no one is willing to
Speaker 1: say anything with conviction at this point. But how are
Speaker 1: you feeling about becoming a member of the majority confident?
Speaker 2: I think Democrats are going to take back the House.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to be a blowout. Neither
Speaker 2: party would claim that at this point because of how
Speaker 2: polarized the country is right now. But I do think
Speaker 2: that Republicans dysfunction in the one hundred and eighteenth Congress,
Speaker 2: in which they had multiple rounds of infighting over their
Speaker 2: speaker choice, in which they brought the country to the
Speaker 2: verge of a debt default, in which they had to
Speaker 2: be really bullied into funding our allies. I think is
Speaker 2: going to speak to the swing voter in those two
Speaker 2: dozen seats that are going to decide the majority, and
Speaker 2: it's going to give Hakeem Jeffries the gable.
Speaker 3: What do you make of the conventional wisdom in Washington.
Speaker 3: We've been hearing this for months and months. Congressman that
Speaker 3: the House turns democratic and the Senate turns Republican. As
Speaker 3: we talk to the investment community here every day on Bloomberg,
Speaker 3: there's the old Wall Street saying gridlock is good, and
Speaker 3: there does seem to be a preference to have a
Speaker 3: split Congress regardless of who wins the White House. How
Speaker 3: would you respond to those people?
Speaker 2: I think those individuals are under indexing to how deranged
Speaker 2: a second term of Donald Trump would be. Too many
Speaker 2: individuals are assuming that the same antibodies and the buddy
Speaker 2: politic would be there and the second term, as we're
Speaker 2: there in the first term. But those antibodies have been depleted.
Speaker 2: The Republican Party is full on maga and unfortunately, we
Speaker 2: have seen the Supreme Court with its official Immunity ruling.
Speaker 2: We have seen the state parties all supplicate themselves to
Speaker 2: his whims and those individuals who are in the White
Speaker 2: House in term one, people like Jim Mattis, people like
Speaker 2: John Kelly, even someone like John Bolton.
Speaker 4: To be invited back to term two.
Speaker 2: It's going to be Trump and his two sons making
Speaker 2: decisions that are in the interests of their own businesses
Speaker 2: and of their own family fiefdom. Not in the interests
Speaker 2: of the rule of law or the American people. And
Speaker 2: I think too few on Wall Street are understanding how
Speaker 2: bad for their business the degradation of the rule of
Speaker 2: law will be.
Speaker 1: But has Kamala Harris Congressman made enough of an argument
Speaker 1: that she wouldn't be bad for business that she might
Speaker 1: actually be good for it. Because the prevailing thinking on
Speaker 1: Wall Street is Trump means lower taxes and higher profits.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, first of all, that's not true, because Donald
Speaker 2: Trump wants to put in place tariffs that would cost
Speaker 2: the average American family at least four thousand dollars a
Speaker 2: year and would radically increase the cost of inputs for
Speaker 2: most American businesses. Tariff is an anti growth economic agenda
Speaker 2: in the way that he is describing it. Kamala Harris
Speaker 2: and the Democratic Party wants to be driving towards an
Speaker 2: economy that works like legos, not monopoly.
Speaker 4: We want an economy that builds things.
Speaker 2: I'd like this to put forward an audacious agenda for
Speaker 2: ten million units of housing, on thousand nuclear power plants,
Speaker 2: building more ships in the entire Chinese Navy, starting more
Speaker 2: small businesses than the.
Speaker 4: Rest of the world combined.
Speaker 2: We want to be an economy that builds things and
Speaker 2: does things, not an economy of middlemen. And I think
Speaker 2: Wall Street, I think Main Street can get behind that vision,
Speaker 2: whereas Donald Trump is there to cross off names on
Speaker 2: his enemies list.
Speaker 3: Congressman, more than seventy seven million Americans have already voted.
Speaker 3: How do you read into that number? What does it
Speaker 3: mean for tomorrow night?
Speaker 4: I don't read into that number at all.
Speaker 2: Actually, I think any prognostication based on the early voting
Speaker 2: is very subject.
Speaker 4: To confirmation bias.
Speaker 2: The only takeaway I have from that is that, thankfully,
Speaker 2: most Americans have ignored Donald Trump's lies about early voting
Speaker 2: from twenty twenty, and they have recognized that our election system,
Speaker 2: when it's not being interfered with by MAGA election deniers,
Speaker 2: is robust, is free.
Speaker 4: And is fair.
Speaker 1: Congressman, I'd like to ask you as well about what
Speaker 1: we've heard from the current Speaker of the House within
Speaker 1: the last week two suggestions about repealing legislation, at first
Speaker 1: the Affordable Care Act Obamacare, and then just days ago,
Speaker 1: a suggestion that the Chips Act passed during this administration
Speaker 1: would be repealed. He then clarified that he didn't understand
Speaker 1: the question he was asked. Instead, what he wants to
Speaker 1: do is streamline the legislation, and I wonder if you
Speaker 1: buy that clarification or if you really think that might
Speaker 1: be on the agenda.
Speaker 2: I think digging into specific policy details is missing the
Speaker 2: forest for the trees, because the core agenda of the
Speaker 2: House Republican Party is not actually any specific policy outcome
Speaker 2: and healthcare and semiconductor manufacturing and education.
Speaker 4: It's nihilistic.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, Speaker Johnson is subject to the whims of about
Speaker 2: a dozen members of his conference who simply don't want
Speaker 2: to govern at all. He's got a conference like the
Speaker 2: Joker from the Dark Knight. They just want to watch
Speaker 2: the world burn. And again, I think too many in
Speaker 2: Wall Street are thinking, oh, that means gridlock, and that
Speaker 2: means that there won't be any threats to our short
Speaker 2: term business interests. It's just a very myopic way of
Speaker 2: looking at Washington. What they should be seeking our guardrails
Speaker 2: to protect the rule of law and a positive governing
Speaker 2: philosophy that actually wants to build out the productive capability
Speaker 2: of our economy rather than bringing us to the edge
Speaker 2: of a debt default every single cycle.
Speaker 3: Hayley mentioned taxes, And of course we're going to have,
Speaker 3: no matter who wins, a grand debate about what to
Speaker 3: do with the expiration of the Trump era tax cuts,
Speaker 3: the twenty seventeen tax cuts. If it is Donald Trump,
Speaker 3: what would a Democratic led House do on that front?
Speaker 3: Would get out of the Ways and Means Committee? How
Speaker 3: do you see that playing out? Because a decision will
Speaker 3: need to be made next year.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to speak for Richie and Neal other
Speaker 4: Ways and Means Committee.
Speaker 2: I will say that the first order of business, should
Speaker 2: the worst happen if Donald Trump be elected, is going
Speaker 2: to be to protect the Constitution of the United States,
Speaker 2: because he will not Speaker Johnson will not.
Speaker 4: Republicans in general will not.
Speaker 2: So before we even talk about taxes, we're going to
Speaker 2: be talking about the institutions of our democracy and how
Speaker 2: we safeguard them. But in general, we have seen some
Speaker 2: indications of where there is bipartisan consensus on taxes. I'll
Speaker 2: give you two examples. One is the child tax credit.
Speaker 2: You know Mitt Romney has put forward ideas. Obviously, Democrats
Speaker 2: are galvanized behind making fully refundable and expanding the child
Speaker 2: tax credit. That puts money directing in the pockets of
Speaker 2: working families. And then number two is fixing the R
Speaker 2: and D tax credit issue from the Trump Bill in
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen and allowing businesses to amortize those R and
Speaker 2: D tax credits over five years.
Speaker 4: At least, that's a pro growth policy.
Speaker 2: I think both parties can get behind it, especially if
Speaker 2: pair with the child tax credit.
Speaker 3: Harm's been Thank you for the time Jake Auchincloss joining
Speaker 3: us from his state of Massachusetts. It's good to see you,
Speaker 3: and welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio.