Speaker 1: We're continuing to get headlines updates on everything related to
Speaker 1: trade as the US does get toward that July ninth
Speaker 1: deadline that is set to be extended to August. First,
Speaker 1: for tariffs, some headlines that we're just getting in the
Speaker 1: last few minutes. The US will impose twenty five percent
Speaker 1: tariff on imports from Kazakhstan, forty percent tariffs on Laos imports.
Speaker 1: Malaysia will see twenty five percent tariffs on Malaysian products.
Speaker 1: South Africa thirty percent tariffs on their products. This comes
Speaker 1: after earlier this afternoon we heard from the President who
Speaker 1: said that the US will impose the twenty five percent
Speaker 1: tariff on goods from Japan and a twenty five percent
Speaker 1: tariff on South Korean goods effective August. First, I want
Speaker 1: to bring in Representative Kathy Caster. She's a Democrat who
Speaker 1: represents the fourteenth District of Florida. It includes Tampa and
Speaker 1: parts of Hillsboro County. Representative, it's good to have you
Speaker 1: with us. Thanks so much for joining us. While we
Speaker 1: had you on, we had you booked to talk about
Speaker 1: what Democrats have is their path forward after the passage
Speaker 1: of what President Trump refers to as the one big
Speaker 1: beauty bill. We'll get to that in a few minutes.
Speaker 1: But because of your work with commerce, and because of
Speaker 1: your work on manufacturing, we got to start with tariffs.
Speaker 1: And what we're hearing from the White House right now
Speaker 1: are tariff's the right way in your view to bring
Speaker 1: manufacturing back to the United States.
Speaker 2: Tariffs can play a very important role when they're targeted
Speaker 2: and strategic. The problem is that the president is all
Speaker 2: over the map. This is chaotic. Businesses do not know
Speaker 2: how to grapple with them and respond. And these recent
Speaker 2: tariffs announced today against our allies Japan and South Korea
Speaker 2: and other Asian nations.
Speaker 3: You know, we were.
Speaker 2: Trying to build a wall to counter China and everything
Speaker 2: all of their malign activities when it comes to trade.
Speaker 3: So I really this is a head scratcher.
Speaker 2: Why you build up these tensions with our best trading
Speaker 2: partners and allies and business owners here cross the state
Speaker 2: of Florida are wondering that as well.
Speaker 3: Why are they facing higher.
Speaker 2: Costs at a time when now with the big ugly bill,
Speaker 2: you're adding almost four trillion dollars to the national debt.
Speaker 3: That's also sure to fuel inflation.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about the bill in just a minute. One
Speaker 1: more on tariffs, though, I want to also say the
Speaker 1: S and PF i've been down about one point one percent.
Speaker 1: It did fall a little more than that just after
Speaker 1: we heard from the President via truth Social and the
Speaker 1: announcement of those additional tariffs or those tariffs, the clarification
Speaker 1: of those tariffs on those countries that I just mentioned.
Speaker 1: You did say that if tariffs are targeted, they can
Speaker 1: play a role in bringing manufacturing back to the United States.
Speaker 1: Of the tariffs that the President has implemented or that
Speaker 1: are implemented right now, which ones do you agree with?
Speaker 1: Which ones are the right way to bring manufacturing back
Speaker 1: to the US.
Speaker 3: I can't really point to some.
Speaker 2: I mean, a few years ago, we had targeted solar
Speaker 2: modules because we know that the Chinese has been dumping
Speaker 2: solar panels and all of those kind of and that
Speaker 2: was one strategic way to at a time when we're
Speaker 2: trying to reshore all of the clean energy elements to
Speaker 2: build up our own supply chains that we used.
Speaker 3: To own in America.
Speaker 2: By the way, you know, a targeted effort like that
Speaker 2: could be very smart as part of a broad based strategy.
Speaker 2: And I just don't see a broad based strategic strategy
Speaker 2: right now when it comes to manufacturing. As a matter
Speaker 2: of fact, the Big A Bill just throws a branch
Speaker 2: into the manufacturing boom we had underway in the US.
Speaker 4: Well, let's talk about that bill, Trump's big beautiful Bill
Speaker 4: that you have publicly called the Big Ugly Bill. You've
Speaker 4: also said that it's fiscally irresponsible and morally wrong and
Speaker 4: an abdominal transfer of wealth from the working class to
Speaker 4: the wealthy. What specific provisions in the bill that has
Speaker 4: now become a lot do you find most troubling.
Speaker 2: Well, never before have we adopted a piece of legislation
Speaker 2: that gives tex cuts to the wealthiest Americans while at
Speaker 2: the same time you are cutting healthcare for seventeen million Americans,
Speaker 2: You're taking away food assistance from seniors and veterans and children,
Speaker 2: You're cutting pelgrants and student loans. So this is completely
Speaker 2: out of whack, and it's going to be very costly
Speaker 2: ultimately for many American businesses and definitely American consumers and families.
Speaker 1: You know, the bill, though at this point, has become law.
Speaker 1: So it's essentially what we're talking about is water under
Speaker 1: the bridge and we'll get to the idea of whether
Speaker 1: or not democratic leadership did enough to stop this from
Speaker 1: becoming law. But where do you go? Now? What are
Speaker 1: you going to do about this?
Speaker 2: It will be very important for American businesses and families
Speaker 2: to understand the impact.
Speaker 3: The one one piece of.
Speaker 2: It that has not gotten a lot of attention are
Speaker 2: the energy provisions. You remember, the President ran on a
Speaker 2: promise that he's going to lower electricity bills. But all
Speaker 2: of the analysis now say that when you yank back
Speaker 2: all of the clean energy tax credits, it's a recipe
Speaker 2: for higher electric costs. All of the analysis coming in
Speaker 2: say higher electric bills for businesses and consumers alike.
Speaker 3: They're throwing a.
Speaker 2: Wrench in this manufacturing boom that we had underway due
Speaker 2: to our climate and clean energy law. We had seen
Speaker 2: over one thousand factories open across the country, over four
Speaker 2: hundred thousand jobs created. Now what we're hearing our business
Speaker 2: cancelations all across the EV battery supply chain. And again,
Speaker 2: this is not smart because it's a gift to China.
Speaker 3: China wants to.
Speaker 2: Own, they want the competitive edge on all clean tech manufacturing,
Speaker 2: and we were just starting to build up our supply
Speaker 2: chains are manufacturing so that we can work with allies
Speaker 2: to dominate the clean energy sector. And Republicans and the
Speaker 2: President now have thrown that all away at a time
Speaker 2: when we're also grappling with the higher costs and impacts
Speaker 2: of the climate crisis.
Speaker 3: What a tragic situation. In Texas.
Speaker 2: My community is still rebuilding from Hurricanes Helena and Milton
Speaker 2: that was supercharged by hotter Gulf waters. And that you know,
Speaker 2: climate isn't just about the weather, it's about your wallet.
Speaker 2: And now they have pretty much said we're not going
Speaker 2: to be a leader. We're going to see that to
Speaker 2: China and our Americans are going to have to grapple
Speaker 2: with rising costs over time. It's really a sabotaging, a
Speaker 2: self sabotage of this big, ugly bill.
Speaker 4: Continuing on the subject of climate here, do you think
Speaker 4: that the last minute changes that remove the XI tax
Speaker 4: on wind and solar by that industry, those industries any
Speaker 4: breathing room.
Speaker 3: It helped, but it just wasn't as harmful.
Speaker 2: So you would have seen just a complete death knell
Speaker 2: for clean tech right now if that excise tax had passed.
Speaker 2: But right now we're going to be grappling with rising
Speaker 2: cost and closure of factories. And when you're comparing the
Speaker 2: impacts of tariffs, if tariffs are intended to boost domestic
Speaker 2: manufacturing in the US, then why in the world would
Speaker 2: you throw a wrench into our manufacturing boom that we
Speaker 2: had underway in this country.
Speaker 3: Hopefully many of those businesses.
Speaker 2: Will hang on, but still China will continue to try
Speaker 2: to eat away at a competitive advantage. And while we
Speaker 2: are imposing tariffs on our allies and friends and other
Speaker 2: countries around the world, China is going to move in
Speaker 2: and try to develop those partnerships. It's just it's a
Speaker 2: crazy way to do business, and I'm afraid it's going
Speaker 2: to cost us a lot.
Speaker 1: The Congressman, I want to shift gears and talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about medicaid and the health aspect of this.
Speaker 1: Our producer, Elizabeth Cedrin crunch some numbers here and found
Speaker 1: some really interesting stuff. If you're watching on YouTuber, Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Television or Bloomberg Originals, you can see here. The yellow
Speaker 1: is Hillsborough County, Florida. A portion of that which falls
Speaker 1: which falls into your district. Additionally, other counties as well
Speaker 1: are in your district. But if you look at this,
Speaker 1: a higher portion of folks in this county versus the
Speaker 1: statewide total are actually on annual Medicaid and CHIP enrollment
Speaker 1: in the year of twenty twenty four, more than twenty
Speaker 1: percent versus the statewide of eighteen point seven percent. So
Speaker 1: clearly a lot of people in your district are going
Speaker 1: to be affected by this. How do you plan to
Speaker 1: counter these rollbacks?
Speaker 3: This is going to be very difficult.
Speaker 2: Hospitals, doctors, nurses, the American Cancer Society, you name it.
Speaker 2: They oppose these draconian cuts to people's healthcare because it's
Speaker 2: going to cost lives. The other major impact besides Medicaid,
Speaker 2: especially here in the state of Florida, that people will
Speaker 2: feel by the end of the year, is the end
Speaker 2: to the tax credits for policies offered through the exchange
Speaker 2: through the Healthcare dot gov marketplace under Obamacare, the Affordable
Speaker 2: Care Act. There are four million Floridians that rely on
Speaker 2: those tax credits that help make their premiums and copays affordable.
Speaker 2: We have a lot of small business owners, we have
Speaker 2: a lot of entrepreneurs, many in hospitality, and that has
Speaker 2: been the go to place for affordable, high quality health insurance.
Speaker 2: So while the Republicans sneakily said the Medicaid cuts will
Speaker 2: happen maybe in a couple of years. What we're going
Speaker 2: to see in Florida is a real roll back in
Speaker 2: the ability of folks to afford health insurance for their families.
Speaker 2: That mean small business owners will have to grapple with that,
Speaker 2: and our healthcare providers too, who have been waving red
Speaker 2: flags and saying danger, danger.
Speaker 3: This is going to cost lives and it's going to
Speaker 3: cost money.
Speaker 4: We only have about thirty seconds left, but I want
Speaker 4: to get your take on whether you think Democratic leadership
Speaker 4: did enough to stop this bill from becoming a.
Speaker 2: Law because of the dire consequences. I would say we
Speaker 2: have not done enough. But this is very unpopular. Everywhere
Speaker 2: I go. People are very angry. They're saying, we are
Speaker 2: suffering through an affordability squeeze, and how dare the President
Speaker 2: and the Congress try to pull one over on us
Speaker 2: and make our lives more expensive at a time when
Speaker 2: we really need help in our pocketbooks.
Speaker 1: Congress women, really appreciate you taking the time and joining us.
Speaker 1: Kathy Caster, Representative, a Democrat who represents the fourteenth District
Speaker 1: of Florida. It includes Tampa parts of Hillsboro County. She
Speaker 1: voted against the bill, joining us once again from Tampa Congresswoman,
Speaker 1: Thanks so much much