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Speaker 2: You're in Washington, where I am Joe is not Today
Speaker 2: that we heard President Biden speak from the Roosevelt Room
Speaker 2: of the White House before he went on to an
Speaker 2: event at North Carolina or in North Carolina today addressing
Speaker 2: what we're seeing on college campuses and saying, in part, Joe,
Speaker 2: there should be no place on any campus, no place
Speaker 2: in America for anti semitism, and goes on to say,
Speaker 2: no hate place for hate speech. And it was kind
Speaker 2: of these ideas of hate speech and the definition of
Speaker 2: anti semitism that was in question yesterday in the House
Speaker 2: of Representatives where they passed a bill that would get
Speaker 2: to that definition and how the Department of Education specifically
Speaker 2: should be dealing with it.
Speaker 3: That's right, seeking to widen that definition in this case.
Speaker 3: The vote was three twenty to ninety one, Kayley, so
Speaker 3: there was overwhelming support, but a lot of progressive Democrats,
Speaker 3: more than expected, voted against this measure on concerns that
Speaker 3: it was encroaching potentially on First Amendment rights. But you're
Speaker 3: correct here. This would the idea would be essentially to
Speaker 3: set the bar for where one could pull funding federal
Speaker 3: funding from a university here based on some of the
Speaker 3: language and the signage that we have seen, some of
Speaker 3: it very ugly and definitely anti semitic, depending on the
Speaker 3: protest that we're looking at here, and we've been spending
Speaker 3: some time talking about this this hour. Want to bring
Speaker 3: in Congressman Brian's style. The Republican from Wisconsin joins us
Speaker 3: live from Capitol Hill, having voted for this measure. It's
Speaker 3: good to see you, Congressman. How would you answer critics
Speaker 3: of this bill who say that it does encroach on
Speaker 3: First Amendment rights.
Speaker 4: There's always a balance between individual's First Amendment rights in
Speaker 4: areas of speech that cross the line. What we want
Speaker 4: to do is make sure that we're empowering the Department
Speaker 4: of Education to put a backbone into university presidents to
Speaker 4: end the ugly rise of anti semitism that we see
Speaker 4: on campuses. We've seen protests that have breached from First
Speaker 4: Amendment rights clearly into violations of law. We've seen that
Speaker 4: in my home state Wisconsin. We've seen it in campuses
Speaker 4: across the country. Every student has a right to feel
Speaker 4: safe on their campus, in particular Jewish students, and at
Speaker 4: a period of time where we've seen the ugly rise
Speaker 4: of anti Semitism, I think it's important to send the
Speaker 4: message that we're standing with the men and women, in
Speaker 4: particular of the Jewish faith who are under threat across
Speaker 4: the country.
Speaker 2: Well, Congressman, certainly we heard a message from President Biden
Speaker 2: earlier today when he spoke from the White House. He
Speaker 2: will speak again next Tuesday on Capitol Hill about anti Semitism.
Speaker 2: What more would you like to see the President do domestically,
Speaker 2: knowing that in large part these protests were ignited by
Speaker 2: something that is happening abroad geopolitics, rather than domestic politics,
Speaker 2: what exactly is the resolution in your mind here?
Speaker 4: Part of this is standing strong with the men and
Speaker 4: women of law enforcement who are trying to maintain public
Speaker 4: safety on college campuses across the country. Where you have
Speaker 4: protests that correctly use the first Amendment that's allowed, but
Speaker 4: where those protests turn into illegal activities breaching the law. Threats, violence, etc.
Speaker 4: That's playing out on a regular basis on campuses across
Speaker 4: the country right now. I think it's important to make
Speaker 4: a strong statement that we stand with the men and
Speaker 4: women of law enforcement to be able to come in
Speaker 4: and re establish public safety on our college campuses immediately.
Speaker 4: If college campuses like Columbia or in my home state
Speaker 4: and Madison, Wisconsin had done that sooner, we would have
Speaker 4: been better served.
Speaker 3: Is this that the congressman we're told the Senate has
Speaker 3: no plans to even act on this legislation. Is this
Speaker 3: essentially a messaging bill from the House.
Speaker 4: Well, I have a lot of concerns with the inaction
Speaker 4: of the United States Senate number one, as they haven't
Speaker 4: acted on the House's pass border security measure, and so
Speaker 4: Chuck Schumer and the Democrats and the Senate continue to
Speaker 4: stonewall lots of good legislation. I'd love to see the
Speaker 4: Senate take a lot more up or down votes because
Speaker 4: I think we can get a lot more done on
Speaker 4: behalf of the American people.
Speaker 2: Well, there are still some things that the Senate is
Speaker 2: working on, sir, if not actually Hr two, which I
Speaker 2: think we all knew upon passage when it passed with
Speaker 2: no single Democratic vote in the House, was never probably
Speaker 2: going to make it through the Senate. But they are
Speaker 2: working on the FAA reauthorization up against a deadline of
Speaker 2: May tenth. There's questions around what amendments could look like
Speaker 2: and exactly the timeline here. But we also know some
Speaker 2: things may not be included in that FAA bill, which
Speaker 2: could be a vehicle for other things to get through Congress,
Speaker 2: including stable coin and safe banking legislation, which I know
Speaker 2: you pay attention to as a member of the Financial
Speaker 2: Services Committee. If it doesn't get attached to this piece
Speaker 2: of legislation, congressman, is it going to get done in
Speaker 2: this Congress.
Speaker 4: I always rather see things passes single issue vehicles. That's
Speaker 4: not always the case of how things get done in Washington.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, I think we would
Speaker 4: be well served to pass both of those pieces of legislation,
Speaker 4: in particular to crypto side. I can't tell you how
Speaker 4: many INDI visuals that I know in the innovation space
Speaker 4: as it relates to crypto that are interested in a
Speaker 4: US based legal framework. If we were successful in passing
Speaker 4: the House Committee passed legislation, we would have an opportunity
Speaker 4: to bring a lot of that development work here onshore
Speaker 4: into the United States. This is a huge opportunity for
Speaker 4: the future of finance.
Speaker 3: How about a legal framework for cannabis companies, Congressman, that
Speaker 3: seems to be the same conversation we keep hearing. Is
Speaker 3: it stable coin and safe banking attached potentially to this
Speaker 3: FAA bill? Would you be comfortable with both of those
Speaker 3: hitching a ride?
Speaker 4: The Safe Banking Act, I think is less actually in
Speaker 4: the policy of marijuana, which I'm not a big fan of,
Speaker 4: but I think it's saying we don't want the social
Speaker 4: policy inside bank regulation. We see that time and again
Speaker 4: from both the left and the right, where we see
Speaker 4: individuals trying to place social policy on bank regulators. Bank
Speaker 4: regulators should be focused in on the risk that's existing
Speaker 4: in particular to depositors, and so that vehicle, though, might
Speaker 4: need to find a ride. I'd rather have single issue votes.
Speaker 4: Congress in Washington would be far better served if we
Speaker 4: had more up or down vote on single issue bills. Unfortunately,
Speaker 4: that's not how this place works. So if we can
Speaker 4: figure out a way to get that across the line,
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, I'd be supportive.
Speaker 5: Of it well.
Speaker 2: Speaking of the workings of the place, sir, it has
Speaker 2: been difficult to get anything across the line. Many rule votes,
Speaker 2: just procedural votes have gone down in this Congress. It's
Speaker 2: been very difficult for your Speaker, Mike Johnson. And next week,
Speaker 2: if your colleague Marjorie Taylor Green is to be believed,
Speaker 2: she will be forcing a motion to vacate, which Democrats
Speaker 2: have said that they will vote to table. How weekend,
Speaker 2: How weakend will Johnson be if Democrats step in to
Speaker 2: help him on this.
Speaker 4: Speaker Johnson's done an admirable job and incredibly difficult circumstances.
Speaker 4: I think it would be a mistake to have that
Speaker 4: bill brought forward. If it does, I hopefully we are
Speaker 4: able to table that quickly. It's really functions is a distraction,
Speaker 4: a distraction to the biggest issues of the day. We
Speaker 4: should be far more focused on working to bring inflation
Speaker 4: down and secure the US Mexico border rather than focusing
Speaker 4: in on the internal politics. But as you say, it's
Speaker 4: a narrowly divided Congress. Things are difficult here. But hopefully
Speaker 4: we can dispense with this quickly.
Speaker 3: I know you want to support the speaker and you
Speaker 3: will support the Speaker if this comes to the floor, Congressman,
Speaker 3: But do you worry about the impression that it will
Speaker 3: give your conference if it requires Democrats to save Mike Johnson,
Speaker 3: Does that weaken him in the long term?
Speaker 4: I don't think it does. I think what people are
Speaker 4: going to look at as the record, we've actually done
Speaker 4: a lot of work here in the House of Representatives,
Speaker 4: despite a lot of the rhetoric questioning whether or not
Speaker 4: we would be able to get bills done. Not only
Speaker 4: did we navigate through the debt ceiling now about a
Speaker 4: year ago, but under the leadership of Speaker Johnson, we
Speaker 4: actually reduce spending year over year for non defense, non
Speaker 4: veteran spending. That's a huge step in the right direction.
Speaker 4: Hasn't been done in Washington in over a year. So again,
Speaker 4: I think there's a long wreck of what Speaker Johnson
Speaker 4: has done very well, and I think at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, if this is ultimately brought forward, it'll
Speaker 4: be dispensed with quickly.
Speaker 2: While we talk about the leader of your chamber, sir,
Speaker 2: i'd like to ask you about the de facto leader
Speaker 2: of your party overall. Because Donald Trump was in your
Speaker 2: home state of Wisconsin yesterday. He actually gave an interview
Speaker 2: to one of your local outlets, the Milwaukee Journal Centennial,
Speaker 2: in which he was asked whether or not he would
Speaker 2: accept the results of the election in November. His answer, sir, was,
Speaker 2: if everything's honest, I'd gladly accept the results. If it's not,
Speaker 2: you have to fight for the right of the country. Congressman,
Speaker 2: would you tell your constituents in Wisconsin that they have
Speaker 2: any reason to believe that our election will not be honest.
Speaker 4: I think we got a great opportunity, not only in
Speaker 4: Wisconsin but across the country to have a safe and
Speaker 4: secure election. I've been working on election integrity legislation here
Speaker 4: in the House that I think could actually garner bipartisan
Speaker 4: support and move us forward. There's opportunity to change the law,
Speaker 4: in particular as it relates to foreign funds that continue
Speaker 4: to find their way into US electoral politics. I think
Speaker 4: there's opportunities to move us forward. Broadly speaking, we have
Speaker 4: a strong election system, and in particular, making sure that
Speaker 4: people take advantage of voting is good for our democracy.
Speaker 4: The more people that vote, the better off we are.
Speaker 4: And encouraging people to come out and vote legally is
Speaker 4: going to be essential this fall.
Speaker 3: Well, Congressman, it's not lost on us that the new
Speaker 3: chair of the Wisconsin Republican Party actually worked for your campaign,
Speaker 3: so your insights are meaningful there. Donald Trump has said
Speaker 3: a couple of things about elections in the past couple
Speaker 3: of days. He also held an interview where he talked
Speaker 3: about election integrity and then posted on truth Social about
Speaker 3: mail in voting. And this really got our attention because
Speaker 3: he has been encouraging Republicans not to use mail in options.
Speaker 3: He writes, absentee voting, early voting, and election day voting
Speaker 3: are all good options. Republicans must make a plan, register
Speaker 3: and vote. Does that mean, Congressman, assuming that you agree here,
Speaker 3: and I'm pretty sure you do, that, we are not
Speaker 3: going to see people filming, for instance, dropboxes when people
Speaker 3: go to vote this November.
Speaker 4: I think we've got a great opportunity here to encourage
Speaker 4: everyone to come out and vote, and in particular for
Speaker 4: Republicans to use all legal tools to make sure that
Speaker 4: we're getting the vote out. Low propensity voters are disproportionately
Speaker 4: likely to favor President Trump, and so at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, encouraging people to take advantage of every
Speaker 4: opportunity to vote favors the president favors Republicans, and we
Speaker 4: need to make sure that we're driving that message home
Speaker 4: that it is safe, that it is legal to vote
Speaker 4: by mail in a state like Wisconsin. We should encourage
Speaker 4: everyone to participate in the upcoming fall election.
Speaker 2: All right, Congressman Brian Style, the Republican from Wisconsin, joining
Speaker 2: us live from Capitol Hill today on Blueberg Television and Radio.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time, sir, We appreciate it.
Speaker 2: As always, we want to continue this conversation now and
Speaker 2: get some reaction with Lincoln Mitchell. He's a political analyst
Speaker 2: and teaches in the Department of Political Science and the
Speaker 2: School of in National and Public Affairs at Columbia University. So, Lincoln,
Speaker 2: we just ended our conversation with the congressman there on
Speaker 2: this question of election integrity, which of course Donald Trump
Speaker 2: has called into a question many many times before. Do
Speaker 2: we have any real reason to believe that whatever the
Speaker 2: result of the election in November is that it will
Speaker 2: be accepted?
Speaker 5: You know, that's a fascinating question, because I think people
Speaker 5: when they hear that question say, you know, is the
Speaker 5: Trump line about election fraud? Have any validity, and the
Speaker 5: answer to that is no, it doesn't. However, there are
Speaker 5: important ways in which our elections here in the United
Speaker 5: States do not meet international standards onto which the United
Speaker 5: States has signed as an agreement for free and fair elections.
Speaker 5: I'll give you a couple of examples that in many
Speaker 5: states there are different obstacles for different people from voting right.
Speaker 5: It is just flat up more difficult if you are
Speaker 5: in an African American county in Georgia than in a
Speaker 5: democratic than a white county. That partisan elected officials make
Speaker 5: election decisions. One of the member Brad Rafinsberger, who refused
Speaker 5: to be intimidated by Donald Trump. But it is notable
Speaker 5: that these are partisan election officials. It's a Republican election
Speaker 5: officials who's much more vulnerable than say, somebody from a
Speaker 5: nonpartisan commission. My concern about election fraud, the potential for
Speaker 5: real election fraud here in the United States, is in
Speaker 5: the form of voter suppression, which Trump has succeeded in
Speaker 5: getting us to stop talking about. So my sense at
Speaker 5: that I'm balanced. American elections are good. They're among the
Speaker 5: very best in the world. The kind of fraud that
Speaker 5: Trump is talking about basically doesn't happen. But if we
Speaker 5: want to make our democracy stronger, we should create barriers
Speaker 5: make it easier for people to vote. I was fascinated
Speaker 5: by your interview with Congressman Styles. First of all, I
Speaker 5: thought he's a very smart guy who made some very
Speaker 5: good points, and I frankly appreciate his concern for Jewish
Speaker 5: students at the University of Wisconsin. My son is graduating
Speaker 5: from there for two weeks and he is a Jewish
Speaker 5: student there. So we have been talking about this. But
Speaker 5: the barriers to vote in Madison and Milwaukee are very substantial.
Speaker 5: Bring down those barriers and then encourage everybody to vote.
Speaker 3: Well, we've been talking a lot about election integrity here
Speaker 3: in the role that Congress might play in it as well. Lincoln,
Speaker 3: I don't know where your head is on this flip
Speaker 3: to mail in voting from Donald Trump, But could that
Speaker 3: mean the beginning is at a crack here, the beginning
Speaker 3: of some reconciliation with the way our elections work.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know the crack will be when Donald
Speaker 5: Trump is no longer at the center of this. Because
Speaker 5: I suspect people like Congressman Styles, people like I don't
Speaker 5: know even even Mitch McConnell, like, they know the elections
Speaker 5: are pretty good, and they kind of just go along
Speaker 5: with this because of Trump. If Trump were to stop
Speaker 5: talking about election fraud, stop seeing elections, there's a for Trump.
Speaker 5: As I said before, there's only two outcomes. I win
Speaker 5: or it's fraudulent, and we have to move past that
Speaker 5: because that's nonsense. And I think any Republican who was
Speaker 5: not just just deeply in the trunk cult knows that.
Speaker 3: All right, Lincoln, Kaylee, we have a lot more to
Speaker 3: talk about from Washington and New York, including the campus
Speaker 3: protests and the anti Semitism bill that passed yesterday. We
Speaker 3: talked to Brian Style about that. A lot of progressive
Speaker 3: Democrats are not too happy about where this is going.
Speaker 2: And it's unclear whether or not that bill will base
Speaker 2: a vote in the Senate, what real difference therefore a
Speaker 2: House past bill might make, But of course it has
Speaker 2: great political weight potentially, as we're seeing the pressure growing
Speaker 2: on President Biden to address this issue, as evidenced by
Speaker 2: the fact that he addressed it from the White House
Speaker 2: the Roosevelt Room earlier today. So we'll have more with
Speaker 2: our Political panel on that next On Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens
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Speaker 3: Great to be here at World Headquarters in New York, Kylee,
Speaker 3: I'm across the desk from Charlie Pellot. It's a rare
Speaker 3: treat and welcome to our listeners and viewers on Bloomberg
Speaker 3: Radio and TV. The news really was coming from Washington
Speaker 3: this morning, Kayley, as the President chose to speak kind
Speaker 3: of a late scheduled deal here, and it really speaks
Speaker 3: to the pressure that he's been facing to get in
Speaker 3: front of and address the pro Palestinian protests that we've
Speaker 3: been seeing on college campuses around the country. The epicenter
Speaker 3: right here in New York on Columbia University.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, although you can see this evidenced all across the country.
Speaker 2: Here in Washington, it's at GW not too far from
Speaker 2: the White House on the West Coast. We all saw
Speaker 2: what happened at the wee hours of this morning at UCLA,
Speaker 2: and that is why perhaps you finally saw the President
Speaker 2: addressing this issue from the Roosevelt Room, in part in
Speaker 2: prepared remarks in which he said things like there's a
Speaker 2: right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos.
Speaker 2: And he also answered a few questions. Take a listen,
Speaker 2: and the protest forced you to be consider the policies
Speaker 2: from arch to the region. Oh, do you think the
Speaker 2: National Guard should intervene? A no on both counts. Let's
Speaker 2: go back now to Lincoln Mitchell, a political analyst who
Speaker 2: also teaches at Columbia University in the Department of Political
Speaker 2: Science in the School of International and Public Affairs. So, Lincoln,
Speaker 2: we heard the President saying no to the National Guard,
Speaker 2: but perhaps more telling also saying no. This has not
Speaker 2: made him rethink his policy toward Israel. Not the protest,
Speaker 2: perhaps not what we're seeing in Gaza either. Is the
Speaker 2: only way that the President can get him out of
Speaker 2: this very difficult political situation domestically, to start talking differently
Speaker 2: about that policy, to maybe consider changing.
Speaker 5: It to a substantial extent. He has already changed his
Speaker 5: policy on Israel. If you go back to November December
Speaker 5: of lat year, October he was completely embracing a net
Speaker 5: N Yahu, the right wing government in Israel, and completely uncritical.
Speaker 5: And Chuck Schumer made a speech in March on the
Speaker 5: Florida the United States Senate, and since then we saw
Speaker 5: Biden beginning to put a lot more pressure on Israel. Frankly,
Speaker 5: pressure that should have been there all along. So Biden
Speaker 5: is has to get brokeer some kind of by the administration,
Speaker 5: has to broker some kind of a ceasefire agreement here.
Speaker 5: It's going to be extremely difficult. But we should also
Speaker 5: note that ever since October seventh, the cost of not
Speaker 5: supporting Israel politically and again I assume listeners will have
Speaker 5: a range of opinions on this from a human or
Speaker 5: a moral perspective, but politically would have been a terrible mistake.
Speaker 5: So walking away from Israel for Biden, first of all,
Speaker 5: I think it's something he just cares deeply about on
Speaker 5: a personal level. But it also means walking away from
Speaker 5: a second term. And he is smart enough and has
Speaker 5: been around long enough to know that is true the protest,
Speaker 5: which is not to say the protests don't have a
Speaker 5: lot of support. They do, and that's the dilemma. He
Speaker 5: may be walking away from a second term anyway because
Speaker 5: of the protests. But I think the protests are not
Speaker 5: going to move him. Events on the ground will.
Speaker 3: He may be walking away from a second term just
Speaker 3: because of the protest Lincoln.
Speaker 5: I'm I'm deeply afraid of that, and I'm going to
Speaker 5: tell you the scenario that in my one of my
Speaker 5: WhatsApp groups, which is of which I am one of
Speaker 5: several Jewish educa Jews who are in the higher education
Speaker 5: business are talking about, which is this, here's our nightmare
Speaker 5: scenario in my community. The Muslim American vote either doesn't
Speaker 5: turn out or votes for you know, Cornell West or
Speaker 5: probably Cornell West. Similarly, with younger votes, younger voters who
Speaker 5: are more radical, the events on college campuses push more
Speaker 5: voters who are wavering back to Trump because they're concerned
Speaker 5: about security and stability, which of course Trump is an
Speaker 5: agent defensability. We can talk about that later. And then
Speaker 5: what happens is Trump wins and who gets blamed in
Speaker 5: that scenario the Jews. That's the scenario I'm most afraid of,
Speaker 5: because this rise of anti Semitism on the left but
Speaker 5: also on the right is very real and this could
Speaker 5: get even uglater.
Speaker 2: Well and Lincoln. I was reading one of your recent
Speaker 2: posts on substack, where you talk about how a movement
Speaker 2: that really started anti war in Gaza has started to
Speaker 2: morph more toward anti Israel, Antizioni anti Semitic, as we've
Speaker 2: seen in recent days. Congress is attempting to address that.
Speaker 2: They passed a bill just last night, massive bipartisan margin
Speaker 2: on the using a specific, broader definition of anti Semitism,
Speaker 2: especially in the Department of Education. There was a lot
Speaker 2: of concern though about how that could potentially run into
Speaker 2: conflict with First Amendment rights to free speech. How do
Speaker 2: you think about that?
Speaker 5: I'm really troubled by this, im. I don't believe you
Speaker 5: can legislate away anti semitism. If we could have, we
Speaker 5: would have maybe, And I'll tell you what something very
Speaker 5: specifically that troubles me. As recently as I believe today,
Speaker 5: Tom Cotton has tweeted about sorrows backed judges. That is
Speaker 5: anti semitism. That is suggesting that a shady Jewish billionaire,
Speaker 5: which is how they portrayed him, is behind some movement.
Speaker 5: This dovetails with anti Semitic tropes that have been around
Speaker 5: for millennium, and this bill doesn't cover that. The thing
Speaker 5: about anti Semitism is that it's extremely complicated, and both
Speaker 5: parties have a problem with it, and neither party is
Speaker 5: looking sufficiently within their own party, and we saw that
Speaker 5: in the hearings, and we saw that with this bill.
Speaker 5: I thought Jerry Nadler's speech was very important. Jerry Nadler
Speaker 5: is the longest serving Jewish member of Congress but has
Speaker 5: a very strong record on Israel issues and on Jewish issues.
Speaker 5: I know very few Jews who are enthusiastic about this bill,
Speaker 5: unless they're already on the right. So the anti Semitism
Speaker 5: is real, We're going to have to either figure something
Speaker 5: out to do about it, or the lived experience of
Speaker 5: Jewish Americans will change dramatically in the coming years. But
Speaker 5: I don't think this bill does that. What this bill
Speaker 5: does is it allows for those on the left, and
Speaker 5: I'm including people in the Free Palestine movement, to simply
Speaker 5: think of anti Semitism as some kind of a right
Speaker 5: wing talking point rather than something real, so that they
Speaker 5: don't examine their own activities. Because let me tell you,
Speaker 5: I've talked to a lot of these students. Many of
Speaker 5: them are wrestling with this. Many of them aren't processing
Speaker 5: how this is as anti semitism Semitic always, but they're
Speaker 5: open to hearing it, and this gets their backup. So
Speaker 5: I don't think this helps. I think this may help
Speaker 5: someone get re elected. This may help somebody get more
Speaker 5: support among right wing Jews. It doesn't help the Jews.
Speaker 3: You mentioned Jerry Nadler. He had quite a statement after
Speaker 3: the anti semitism bill passed the House as a deeply
Speaker 3: omitted Zionists, urging colleagues to reject the bill. He characterized
Speaker 3: it Lincoln is misguided, threatening to chill constitutionally protected speech.
Speaker 3: Nadler's actually co sponsored other bills that were aimed against
Speaker 3: anti semitism. Should this have been a different piece of legislation?
Speaker 5: Yes, I mean the First Amendment issues here are real.
Speaker 5: And what Nadler you know, unlike a lot of these
Speaker 5: people now there's Jewish And I would submit that if
Speaker 5: an African American person stood up and spoke about racism
Speaker 5: on the floor of the United States Representatives, many white
Speaker 5: people might think, Hm, he has perspective that we should
Speaker 5: listen to. And I think that's true here with Nadler.
Speaker 5: What he sees is not just that this is a
Speaker 5: First Amendment problem. But the perception that Jews are aligning
Speaker 5: with the right wing to stop limit First Amendment rights
Speaker 5: is very dangerous, and it's very dangerous for Jewish people.
Speaker 5: And I think Nadler gets that because that's the perspective
Speaker 5: he's coming from. And I'm not saying that all of
Speaker 5: these right all of these Republicans have voted for this bill,
Speaker 5: are antisemitic. I'm not saying that. I think Tom Cotton,
Speaker 5: for example, has dabbled way too much in anti Semitic code.
Speaker 5: I think Donald Trump has used anti Semitic imagery throughout
Speaker 5: his campaigns. I think he has surrounded himself known anti Semites.
Speaker 5: And I've never heard a word of this about this
Speaker 5: from Mike Johnson or Mike Lawler or Elsie Stephanic. And
Speaker 5: I'm saying this, and I will also say I have
Speaker 5: many gentile friends on the left who have told me
Speaker 5: over and over how confident they are that there's no
Speaker 5: anti Semitism in what's going on in college campuses, and
Speaker 5: that is not true at all. So this is not
Speaker 5: making a partisan point here except to say that both
Speaker 5: parties need to look inward if they want to solve
Speaker 5: this problem. And not make it a way just to
Speaker 5: deepen the partisan divide at the expense of Jewish Americans.
Speaker 3: I'm really glad you could join us today. Lincoln Mitchell
Speaker 3: political analysts and again teaches in the Department of Political Science,
Speaker 3: School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He
Speaker 3: speaks to this issue firsthand, and it's great to have
Speaker 3: you back. Lincoln. Thank you for joining us. We'd like
Speaker 3: to keep this conversation going as we bring in Laura Davison,
Speaker 3: of course covers our political coverage, leads our political coverage,
Speaker 3: i should say, in Washington, and is with us now
Speaker 3: in our Washington bureau, Laura. The stakes here are certainly
Speaker 3: high for Joe Biden. Lincoln just outlined a scenario in
Speaker 3: which he could lose the election on this campus protest
Speaker 3: issue alone. Does the campaign have that same worry?
Speaker 6: The campaign publicly is not expressing worry. They said, look,
Speaker 6: you know, voters are focused on the economy, but privately,
Speaker 6: there is more worry that you know that this is
Speaker 6: becoming a much bigger issue. This has been all over
Speaker 6: the news now for you know, going on two weeks
Speaker 6: and sort of with the the backlash you know of
Speaker 6: the police clearing these encampments and some of these things.
Speaker 6: There is more sympathy on the side of the protesters here. However,
Speaker 6: in the remarks we saw from the President today, he
Speaker 6: said he went out these unscheduled came and said, look,
Speaker 6: students have a right to protest if it's peaceful. When
Speaker 6: it veers into vandalism, into going into buildings, into you know,
Speaker 6: hate speech, things like antisemitic remarks, that's where it's a problem.
Speaker 6: So that really tells you where the campaign is. They think,
Speaker 6: Look that the majority of the American people are behind
Speaker 6: you know, sort of law and order and not having
Speaker 6: you know, protests are rough across college campuses.
Speaker 2: So that's what he's trying to do to address the
Speaker 2: domestic situation. In the meantime, members of his administration, like
Speaker 2: Secretary of State Antony Blincoln, have been in the Middle
Speaker 2: East this week, still trying to effort a ceasefire, albeit
Speaker 2: a temporary one, between Israel and Hamas is the ceasefire
Speaker 2: really the only thing that Biden can do to solve
Speaker 2: not just problems abroad, but these problems here at home,
Speaker 2: and that's not entirely in his control.
Speaker 6: It isn't but a ceasefire. You know, we heard it
Speaker 6: from from Blincoln earlier this week. When asked you what
Speaker 6: if this doesn't come together, he just said it just
Speaker 6: has to. So that's where you really see the administration
Speaker 6: is pinning all their hopes and dreams on this. And
Speaker 6: I think there's also a realization too that you know,
Speaker 6: school is about to be let out for the summer.
Speaker 6: You know, if there's a ceasefire, that this issue really
Speaker 6: calms down, students go home for the summer and then
Speaker 6: it's not as much of a problem, you know, when
Speaker 6: they're back in the fall. You know, if this were happening,
Speaker 6: you know what's been happening the past two weeks in October,
Speaker 6: it would be a much bigger problem for the administration
Speaker 6: and for Biden's reelection. Right now, they're betting that this
Speaker 6: will be, you know, a memory of the distant past,
Speaker 6: you know, in a couple months. All right, Bloomberg Politics
Speaker 6: Editor Laura Davison, thank you so much, and Joe, as
Speaker 6: we talk about the summer months, does call to mind.
Speaker 6: We have conventions coming up, including a Democratic convention in Chicago,
Speaker 6: and a lot of people have been mentioning nineteen sixty
Speaker 6: eight in the same sentence as convention. Lateley, it's something
Speaker 6: to consider.
Speaker 3: Well, it's something to consider, and you better believe that
Speaker 3: those planning security for both conventions are well aware of
Speaker 3: that conversation. And we'll be talking a lot more about
Speaker 3: the preparations getting closer. We'll have more ahead on Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast weekdays
Speaker 1: at noon Eastern on fo CarPlay and then roud Otto
Speaker 1: with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you
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Speaker 3: We now bring you to the Senate. This is a conversation, Kaylie,
Speaker 3: that we've been looking forward to. Senator Tammy Duckworth of
Speaker 3: Illinois joins us as we see motion here on this
Speaker 3: bill to reauthorize the FAA. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 3: it cleared its first Senate procedural hurdle just yesterday, and
Speaker 3: Senator I want to welcome you back to Bloomberg. Will
Speaker 3: this work get done before expiration?
Speaker 7: Yes, it will. I'm very excited. We're going to have
Speaker 7: the vote on them and the motion to proceed today
Speaker 7: and then we'll vote on some amendments and final passage
Speaker 7: by the end of next week, which will be just
Speaker 7: in time for the May tenth deadline.
Speaker 2: So Senator, just to be clear, you don't expect that
Speaker 2: you will need some kind of short term reauthorization to
Speaker 2: allow that amendment process to play out.
Speaker 7: No, I don't expect it. This is a very bypart
Speaker 7: of bill, and I know there's some amendments, but even
Speaker 7: the amendments are not too egregious. We have some that
Speaker 7: are you know, that are going to be highly contested,
Speaker 7: but I think they'll move along fairly quickly. But this
Speaker 7: is a really good bill we work very hard on
Speaker 7: in a bipartisan by camera way, and it is truly
Speaker 7: needed for the safety of our aviation system.
Speaker 3: Well, speak to our listeners and viewers about that, Senator,
Speaker 3: because I just want people to understand what it is
Speaker 3: you're reauthorizing and what the risks would be to not
Speaker 3: meet that deadline. Because people are waking up every day
Speaker 3: to wild stories about airlines, about close calls on tarmacx
Speaker 3: wheels falling off, planes, going off runways. To what extent
Speaker 3: could this help to shore up safety in our aviation system?
Speaker 7: Well, significantly, we increase by seven foot the funding available
Speaker 7: for training pilots, mechanics, maintenance workers and air traffic controllers.
Speaker 7: And in fact, for the first time in well over
Speaker 7: a decade, we are funding the FAA to uh failed
Speaker 7: their Air Traffic Controller Academy, so every seat that's available
Speaker 7: is going to be filled. We have a shortage of
Speaker 7: air traffic controllers right now, and that's part of the
Speaker 7: problem as well. And then also we are funding the
Speaker 7: FAA to an extent that it can actually hire new
Speaker 7: people to provide those safety inspections of those manufacturers to
Speaker 7: make sure that they are living up to the highest standards.
Speaker 7: And so what has been happening over the years is
Speaker 7: that the FAA funding has been held steady or has
Speaker 7: been falling over time when you compare it to inflation,
Speaker 7: and we've lost a lot of experienced people, both with
Speaker 7: the buyouts wanted by the airlines during COVID and also retirements.
Speaker 7: Even within the FAA, we can hire replacements, and now
Speaker 7: we're getting to a place where we're hitting the reset button.
Speaker 7: We're going to fund the training programs are both on
Speaker 7: the commercial side but also the governmental side, to make
Speaker 7: sure that we have the best trained people to help
Speaker 7: keep our aviation system safe.
Speaker 2: All right, Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, the Democrat, thank
Speaker 2: you so much for being with us. I wish we
Speaker 2: had more time with you today on Bloomberg Television and radio,
Speaker 2: but we sincerely appreciate you joining us, and just for
Speaker 2: our DC listeners and viewers. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia
Speaker 2: Joe tweeting DCA already extremely overcrowded. He will fight tooth
Speaker 2: and nail to cram more to stop cramming more flights
Speaker 2: onto the runway, but that's included in this bill.
Speaker 3: All I know is my rafters are shaken.
Speaker 1: Kaylie s.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make
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