Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound On podcast. Catch us
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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Thursday edition of Bloomberg Sound On. I'm
Speaker 2: Joe Matthew in Washington. Little Friday with a lot yet
Speaker 2: to happen today, as we do expect a vote on
Speaker 2: Israel funding standalone funding in the House of Representatives a
Speaker 2: bit later on today should happen?
Speaker 3: What three four hours from now? Based on what we're
Speaker 3: hearing in the.
Speaker 2: New Speaker of the House held his first news conference
Speaker 2: as Speaker today says it's time to get this done.
Speaker 3: Here's a speaker, Mike Johnson.
Speaker 4: Israel doesn't need a ceasefire. It needs its allies to
Speaker 4: cease what the politics and deliver support now. And that's
Speaker 4: what we're doing. House Republicans plan to do that. We're
Speaker 4: going to do it in short order, and it provides
Speaker 4: Israeli eight. It needs to defend itself, free its hostages
Speaker 4: and eradicate Hamas, which is a mission that must be accomplished.
Speaker 2: But of course it's a far cry from what Joe
Speaker 2: Biden asked for that one hundred and six billion dollars
Speaker 2: supplemental that also includes money for Ukraine. You don't need
Speaker 2: me to go through this whole thing now, if you
Speaker 2: watch this program, you could probably tell me at this point.
Speaker 2: And we also have this scoring problem. Remember the CBO
Speaker 2: yesterday said that this attempt to use IRS money as
Speaker 2: an offset would actually increase the deficit significantly. And so
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer takes to the Senate floor today to say,
Speaker 2: we won't even take up this bill. It's already dead
Speaker 2: on arrival, remembering the President already threatened to veto it.
Speaker 5: The Senate will not be considering this deeply flawed proposal
Speaker 5: from the House GOP, and instead we will work together
Speaker 5: on our own bypart is an emergency aid package that
Speaker 5: includes a to Israel, Ukraine, competition with the Chinese government,
Speaker 5: and humanitarian aid for Gaza, so much needed. Let me
Speaker 5: say that again, the Senate will not take up the
Speaker 5: House's GOP's deeply flawed proposal.
Speaker 3: Then what are we doing here?
Speaker 2: Let's ask Jonathan Tamari from Bloomberg Government, who toils every
Speaker 2: day on Capitol Hill and has been all over this
Speaker 2: writing for it about it, I should say, for the
Speaker 2: Terminal and for Bloomberg dot Com, it's good to see you, Jonathan.
Speaker 2: We're going to do this, I understand round four thirty
Speaker 2: in the afternoon. Whether it passes or not, I guess
Speaker 2: doesn't matter because it's going nowhere.
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 6: That seems to be the indication. But look, it takes
Speaker 6: both sides of Capitol Hill to come up with something.
Speaker 6: You know, the House is going to most likely pass this.
Speaker 6: The Senate's going to say it's not going anywhere. The
Speaker 6: Senate will pass their own version that probably ties together
Speaker 6: Israel Aid, Ukraine Aid, and a few other priorities, and
Speaker 6: the House may very well say, well, we're not taking
Speaker 6: that piece up. So this is the negotiation. This is
Speaker 6: These are the same factors that Kevin McCarthy confronted before
Speaker 6: he was ousted, and then Speaker Johnson replaced him. Ultimately,
Speaker 6: it often ends up being that the House has to
Speaker 6: swallow what the Senate can pass because the Senate accent
Speaker 6: a bipartisan way and the President is a Democrat and
Speaker 6: aligned with the Senate more. But this is kind of
Speaker 6: really his first legislative tests that we're seeing him take
Speaker 6: on as the new speaker.
Speaker 2: True enough, and to your point, Tom Cole, Republican Congressman, says,
Speaker 2: don't send that Senate bill over here here he is
Speaker 2: earlier today.
Speaker 7: What they're proposing on their side is not going to
Speaker 7: pass over here. And so let's to now and work together.
Speaker 7: We have a common objective. We all want to support Israel.
Speaker 1: Let's do that.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure the common objective matters at this point, Jonathan,
Speaker 2: how do we see this ending? Is there a path
Speaker 2: at some point for a standalone bill or a conference
Speaker 2: that puts some of these other items, including Ukraine, into
Speaker 2: one piece of legislation.
Speaker 6: There will certainly be some path, I think on both
Speaker 6: of these items. Exactly what that looks like is unclear,
Speaker 6: but look, pass sending aid to Israel is probably one
Speaker 6: of the most popular things that Congress can do right now,
Speaker 6: the things that would have the most partying support. Whether
Speaker 6: that's tied in with other priorities or if it's standalone
Speaker 6: by itself, it's something virtually every member of Congress wants
Speaker 6: to do. Ukraine is a little more controversial, but there's
Speaker 6: still support in both parties for supporting Ukraine. Senate Minority
Speaker 6: Leader Mitch McConnell has been a big proponent of it,
Speaker 6: So I think in the end, given the number of
Speaker 6: people who want to see this happen, I think they
Speaker 6: do both pass at some point, but it could be
Speaker 6: a rocky road to get there, and it is certainly
Speaker 6: going to test how Johnson negotiates with the Senate, negotiates
Speaker 6: with Chuck Schumer, and how he manages his own conference
Speaker 6: where Ukraine aid is less popular than it is among
Speaker 6: Senate Republicans.
Speaker 2: Well, as you write on the terminal, Jonathan, a great story,
Speaker 2: Mike Johnson quickly facing the same forces that slammed McCarthy.
Speaker 2: We think about how he could be jammed by the Senate.
Speaker 2: We also think about a government shutdown potentially. What are
Speaker 2: we sixteen days away at this point? The new speakers
Speaker 2: talking about a ladder cr Democrats say they don't even know.
Speaker 3: What that is.
Speaker 2: Is a shutdown more likely today? As this conversation continues.
Speaker 6: You know, I think a shutdown is maybe a little
Speaker 6: less likely overall than we feared back in September, when
Speaker 6: I think most people thought there would be a shutdown
Speaker 6: and it ended up being averted. I think Johnson has
Speaker 6: a little more credibility with his right wing to make
Speaker 6: a deal with the Senate. Kevin McCarthy, remember, was never
Speaker 6: trusted by the right wing, so anytime he came back
Speaker 6: with a compromise, they were outraged. Johnson starts with some trust,
Speaker 6: so they might give him a little more leeway to
Speaker 6: make a short term deal. They know they wasted three
Speaker 6: weeks just without a speaker, not even being able to
Speaker 6: advance any kind of spending bills, and I think he
Speaker 6: wants to avoid a shutdown. He doesn't want to shut
Speaker 6: down to be, you know, the first major result that
Speaker 6: he's responsible for as the House speaker. So I think
Speaker 6: ultimately they find a way to kick this into next year,
Speaker 6: but there will be some long, tough negotiations and certainly
Speaker 6: some brainsmanship over the next two weeks.
Speaker 2: Great reporting, Jonathan, find him on the Terminal, as I
Speaker 2: mentioned in Bloomberg dot com, covering this every day on
Speaker 2: the hill for Bloomberg Government. Jonathan Tamori, We thank you
Speaker 2: as we turn to the situation in Israel, and we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about all this coming up with our panel,
Speaker 2: Rick and Genie. The headline on the Terminal, troops encircle
Speaker 2: Gaza City as death toll climbs. Great questions about what
Speaker 2: this next phase is going to look like in the
Speaker 2: coming days that we want to talk about with Michael
Speaker 2: Knights of the Washington Institute, the Jill and Jay Bernstein fellow,
Speaker 2: who specializes in the military and security affairs and has
Speaker 2: spent a career becoming an expert in Iran's proxies around
Speaker 2: the globe. Michael, it's good to see you and thank
Speaker 2: you for your time today. As this ground operation, which
Speaker 2: we'll call it now instead of an invasion I think, continues.
Speaker 2: You see troops circling Gaza City. What is it exactly
Speaker 2: that they are preparing for and what's going to happen
Speaker 2: in the next couple of days.
Speaker 8: The first thing they're doing is what we call isolating
Speaker 8: the battlefield, and that means Israeli has already controlled the
Speaker 8: offshore environment, the coastline. Now they're also driving a corridor
Speaker 8: south of Gaza City so that Gaza City cannot be
Speaker 8: reinforced by Hamas forces in the south of the Gaza Strip. Now,
Speaker 8: let's civilian's doubt, but they won't let military reinforcements in
Speaker 8: for Hamas and then in the other parts of the
Speaker 8: northern Gaza Strip, what Gaza City is. They're also creating
Speaker 8: lodgments there that we call tactical assembly areas, which means
Speaker 8: a cleared area which has been fortified, where you can
Speaker 8: forward base your troops and then when they make sorties
Speaker 8: into Gaza City and come back at night, they have
Speaker 8: a secure base from which to operate.
Speaker 2: Lot says that it's attacking israel barracks, Israeli barracks near
Speaker 2: the Lebanese border, and we keep seeing these headlines about
Speaker 2: skirmishes to the north. Michael, are you more concerned about
Speaker 2: Hamas or Hezbolah when you consider the idea of escalation,
Speaker 2: I'm actually.
Speaker 8: More concerned about who they's in Yemen who are starting
Speaker 8: to throw ballistic missiles and crussols at Israel, and about
Speaker 8: the prospect of the front on the Israeli Syrian border
Speaker 8: called the Golan kicking off. Also, there's that part of
Speaker 8: occupied West Bank in Israel where many of the Postinians there,
Speaker 8: non ha mass Palestinians might start to really serious rioting.
Speaker 8: So in some ways I'm less concerned about the you know,
Speaker 8: the Hezbola right next door or the Iranians getting involved,
Speaker 8: because both of those groups have got a lot to
Speaker 8: lose if they were in a knockdown drug out or
Speaker 8: with Israel. Whereas they're very willing to fight to the
Speaker 8: last Syria, in the last Iraqi, in the last Yemen,
Speaker 8: or indeed the last Palestinian to weaken Israel and damaged
Speaker 8: reputation of Israel in the US.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you that who these as you mentioned
Speaker 2: have have declared war for whatever that is worth or
Speaker 2: what it means against Israel. And we have seen repeated
Speaker 2: strikes from Israel and the US in fact in Syria.
Speaker 2: What is it that we should be looking for? As
Speaker 2: you mentioned the goal on heights and the skirmishes we're
Speaker 2: seeing in Syria, what could that turn into?
Speaker 8: What we're really looking at Amongst all of the rumback
Speaker 8: factions is a way of looking like they're supporting Harms
Speaker 8: and not letting her mass down. But reality is they're
Speaker 8: doing what you would call casualty limiting attacks on the
Speaker 8: United States, in other words, quite carefully calibrated attacks that
Speaker 8: are not into need to actually kill Americans to draw
Speaker 8: heavy retaliation. They're staying away from places like Embassy Baghdad
Speaker 8: in Iraq by mutual agreements between the RAM and the
Speaker 8: United States. So you know, at the present time it
Speaker 8: looks crazy, but it's actually a bit more controlled than
Speaker 8: people think. Even leblisas buller and it's fighting with the
Speaker 8: Israelis on the border has quite well established rules and
Speaker 8: they've been doing this a long time. So yes, rockets
Speaker 8: and missiles flying back and forth, but almost all the
Speaker 8: players seem to be focused on limiting the intensity and
Speaker 8: the geographic broadening of this conflict, whilst not being seen
Speaker 8: to let down their partners. For instance, Hamas, You've.
Speaker 2: Been tracking anti US strikes in Iraq and Syria for
Speaker 2: the past couple of weeks. It's important research that you're
Speaker 2: doing as part of the Malicious Spotlight that'll point people
Speaker 2: to at your website Washington Institute dot org. What's the
Speaker 2: trajectory here. Have you seen an increase or is it's
Speaker 2: been kind of a steady drip so far of attacks
Speaker 2: in Syria and Iraq.
Speaker 8: Well, it's been very steady. For the first time since
Speaker 8: twenty twenty one, we've seen, you know, a surge of Syria,
Speaker 8: of attacks against US bases in Iraq and Syria. Key
Speaker 8: trend is that most of the action is moving to
Speaker 8: Syria at the moment because Syria is a sort of
Speaker 8: failed state environment where we don't recognize the sovereignty of
Speaker 8: the Syrian government, so we can all fight freely there.
Speaker 8: The Iranian backed groups can fight freely there. They don't
Speaker 8: have to worry about the sad regime. And we can
Speaker 8: fight freely there because we don't have to worry about
Speaker 8: getting kicked out of the country as we would in
Speaker 8: Iraq if we started dropping bombs there. So you know,
Speaker 8: Syria is really where a lot of it is headed.
Speaker 8: What's really interesting is that last night, for the first time,
Speaker 8: we didn't get any new attacks on US forces in
Speaker 8: Iraq called Syria. And after you know, over a week
Speaker 8: and a half of attacks every day, multiple attacks, four
Speaker 8: or five to get none feels a little bit like
Speaker 8: when the tide recedes right ahead of a tsunami. It
Speaker 8: almost feels like someone's taking breath and might be a
Speaker 8: bit of a rocky weekend ahead.
Speaker 2: Well that's a scary thought, like someone who's taking a breath.
Speaker 2: So put this together for us, Michael Knights, do all
Speaker 2: these attacks, all the proxy groups that we have mentioned
Speaker 2: suggest a de facto declaration of war by Iran?
Speaker 3: Are we missing the ball on this?
Speaker 9: Well?
Speaker 8: It's a de facto declaration of proxy war. And what
Speaker 8: that really means is this, the Iranians have already gained
Speaker 8: a lot of what they want from this conflict. Saudi
Speaker 8: Israel US normalization might be wrecked for a while. Arab
Speaker 8: world's extremely angry in America and Israel, and a heavy
Speaker 8: blow was landed on Israel the military defeat on October
Speaker 8: the seventh, At the moment Hamasku probably disappeared in the
Speaker 8: face of the earth, and Iran will still chalk this
Speaker 8: one up as a wind so they don't need to
Speaker 8: put their own homeland security in Iran or His Bullet
Speaker 8: survival on the line for this one. They just need
Speaker 8: to keep this new story going using all these lower
Speaker 8: level tactics.
Speaker 2: Do we need to put our security on the line
Speaker 2: here in the US?
Speaker 8: I think the movement of the US carry a battle
Speaker 8: groups and the very heavy build up in the Middle
Speaker 8: East has shown the Iranians and His Bullet that they
Speaker 8: can't launch a new blow against Israel, and it probably
Speaker 8: has effectively kept them out of the war. They would
Speaker 8: have been tempted to come in heavier if they had
Speaker 8: not seen US come in so heavy. So I think
Speaker 8: what we've done has been quite effective. From deterring the
Speaker 8: big war, you know, we can't deter the small war
Speaker 8: quite as effectively, these kind of low casualty or no
Speaker 8: casualty strikes on the US that mainly signal defiance.
Speaker 2: Michael, I'm glad you could join us and appreciate your
Speaker 2: sharing your expertise with us. Michael Knights the Washington Institute
Speaker 2: where he works as a fellow, bringing expertise here on
Speaker 2: Iranian proxies and exactly what is happening now on the
Speaker 2: ground in Gaza. We're going to bring this to the
Speaker 2: panel next, as the House of Representatives prepares to vote
Speaker 2: on Israel funding in a maneuver that appears to be
Speaker 2: dead on arrival already in the Senate, the President says
Speaker 2: he'll vet to it. So what is the plan to help?
Speaker 2: I'm Joe, Matthew and Washington. Rick and Jeanie are on
Speaker 2: the way in next. On the fastest show in politics,
Speaker 2: This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound on podcast. Catch the
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Speaker 3: Big day for the new Speaker of the House.
Speaker 2: He's had the job for well all of one week,
Speaker 2: and he's bringing this bill to the floor knowing that
Speaker 2: it's likely not going anywhere if.
Speaker 3: It passes the House. This is Israel.
Speaker 2: We're talking about Speaker Johnson holding his first news conference
Speaker 2: today and he held fourth flank by Republican leadership up
Speaker 2: there in the gallery and let everyone know his plan
Speaker 2: for today.
Speaker 3: Then Democrats take their turn. That's the way this works.
Speaker 2: Everyone clears out, the Minority Party comes in, Pete Aguilar
Speaker 2: not having any of it.
Speaker 10: We're learning a lot about this new speaker this week
Speaker 10: with these first legislative decisions, and this has been a
Speaker 10: complete and total disaster. We look forward to working in
Speaker 10: a bipartisan way to send aid to our allies abroad,
Speaker 10: but this bill today is not that vehicle.
Speaker 2: A complete and total disaster. As we assemble our panel,
Speaker 2: Jeanie Shanzano and Rick Davis.
Speaker 3: Are with us.
Speaker 2: Glad to say Bloomberg Politics contributors. Great to have you
Speaker 2: both here. Jeanie, I spent a little bit of time
Speaker 2: with Nancy Pelosi earlier today. She held a briefing for
Speaker 2: a group of reporters in downtown Washington, and I asked
Speaker 2: her if it was possible for an election denier to
Speaker 2: succeed as Speaker of the House. She took a second,
Speaker 2: and she said, Republicans wanted Donald Trump to be their speaker. Remember,
Speaker 2: well they got him.
Speaker 3: Was she right?
Speaker 11: Yeah, nobody is the original Donald Trump, and many people
Speaker 11: have tried. But she's right to the effect that they
Speaker 11: do have a speaker now who took steps to you know,
Speaker 11: decertify the election, and most prominently in trying to support
Speaker 11: Ken Paxton, the attorney general from Texas, with this very
Speaker 11: bizarre effort to overturn the results from four other states.
Speaker 11: I mean, it's one of the most confounding things. Republicans
Speaker 11: used to be all about states, right, and there they
Speaker 11: go trying to overturn the elections from other states. So
Speaker 11: this is part of who we have as a speaker.
Speaker 11: Many of us were not familiar with Mike Johnson before this.
Speaker 11: Pelosi certainly was, and now we are learning a lot
Speaker 11: more and he is there. But you know, she is
Speaker 11: right to the extent that this is what the Republicans
Speaker 11: could finally agree on. This is who rather they could
Speaker 11: finally agree on somebody who is conservative and he is
Speaker 11: an election denier in twenty twenty. And he's also somebody
Speaker 11: who has taken steps like you know, defund the IRS
Speaker 11: and all of these efforts defund in terms of the
Speaker 11: IRS agent. So you know, this is who he is,
Speaker 11: and they got what they paid for, and he's in
Speaker 11: the same situation that Kevin McCarthy was. None of those
Speaker 11: things have changed.
Speaker 2: So what do you make of this exercise today? Rick
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer says Senate won't take up the House bill.
Speaker 2: Joe Biden says he'll veto it. Is this just a
Speaker 2: matter of the Speaker getting something on the getting a
Speaker 2: win on the board, then we go on and have
Speaker 2: a more serious conversation about working in bicameral fashion here.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 12: Absolutely, I don't think this is anything that's unusual at
Speaker 12: all between the House and the Senate. That's why they
Speaker 12: have this conference process, you know, where confers from the
Speaker 12: House and the Senate hammer out differences in the legislation.
Speaker 12: You know, the Senate sent a incredibly bipartisan I think
Speaker 12: eighty five votes for their bill that they passed last
Speaker 12: night on some of the appropriations material, and that does
Speaker 12: send the signals to the House that you've got this
Speaker 12: big bipartisan margin in the Senate, so you at least
Speaker 12: know that anything you come up with that's got Senate
Speaker 12: support's going to pass widely. And Speaker Johnson reassured the
Speaker 12: Senate say when he met with him that he was
Speaker 12: going to give it an open vote on the Ukraine,
Speaker 12: and we know that if the House is able to
Speaker 12: vote on Ukraine that without just Republican votes, then yeah,
Speaker 12: it's likely to have three hundred vote margin in the House.
Speaker 12: So the reality is, I think we're a lot closer
Speaker 12: getting something done. And you know, you know, like Genie's
Speaker 12: quick to throw Johnson out of the bus. That's the
Speaker 12: new thing for Democrats to do, and makes sense politically
Speaker 12: to do it. But for three weeks all we heard
Speaker 12: was just pick anybody, anybody, and it'll be great. And
Speaker 12: now we got anybody, and he's not good enough. The
Speaker 12: reality is that, you know, nobody saw this one coming,
Speaker 12: but he's making progress and I think he just kind
Speaker 12: of ignore the noise. I mean that the irs deal
Speaker 12: is just noise.
Speaker 2: Just noise, and so let's talk about maybe what else
Speaker 2: could be there as an offset. Tom Cole talked about this, Rick,
Speaker 2: this is of course, well, I guess an elder statesman
Speaker 2: in this House of Representatives, he likes.
Speaker 3: The idea of offsets.
Speaker 2: I know that this is controversial for emergency spending, and
Speaker 2: he's suggesting if you don't like this, irs, they well,
Speaker 2: maybe there's something else out there.
Speaker 3: Here's Tom Cole from early We would.
Speaker 7: Prefer, obviously that we have an offset, and we proposed one.
Speaker 7: There's a variety of potential products, but it makes sense.
Speaker 7: We have lots of unspent money. Why not use that
Speaker 7: and direct it to Israel.
Speaker 3: Support lots of unspent money. Genie.
Speaker 2: He's suggesting there are options here. Should Democrats be having
Speaker 2: this conversation? What would you like to see?
Speaker 11: Absolutely, they should have a conversation about responsible offsets. That's
Speaker 11: absolutely what should be happening. And it has been a
Speaker 11: long term problem in both sides and both sides of
Speaker 11: the Aisle, and in both the House and the Senate.
Speaker 11: I do have to say to my dear friend Rick Davis,
Speaker 11: I was not one of the people saying select anyone
Speaker 11: by any means, nor did I throw Mike Johnson under
Speaker 11: the bus reiterating what somebody has stood for in their
Speaker 11: professional career is not that he was an election denier.
Speaker 11: He still is, and he wants to put as a
Speaker 11: responsible speaker. He wants to do offsets with the irs,
Speaker 11: which everybody agrees is not going to offset anything but
Speaker 11: add to the deficit. So I don't think I'm throwing
Speaker 11: anybody under the bus. Far from it. I think he
Speaker 11: should be very very clear. If he is really intending
Speaker 11: to be fiscally responsible, then he should do that. And
Speaker 11: I absolutely agreed Democrats should be having that conversation. And no, no, no,
Speaker 11: I never said just choose anyone and anything would be great.
Speaker 6: Far from it.
Speaker 2: All right, this is not going to help everyone get
Speaker 2: along here because I've got to talk about impeachment. Mike Johnson,
Speaker 2: of course, was asked about this. Surely in his first
Speaker 2: news conference, he would be knowing that this impeachment inquiry
Speaker 2: could turn into a real, full blown impeachment trial. We
Speaker 2: don't know about that. But last evening, I don't know
Speaker 2: if you guys saw this. Speaker Johnson hosted Sean Hannity,
Speaker 2: apparently the mascot of the House, and they had, like
Speaker 2: the entire conference on Fox. At one point Hannity asked
Speaker 2: all of them, how many see this impeachment procedinging forward
Speaker 2: and would support that? Almost every hand went up, if
Speaker 2: not every hand. Johnson spoke to that today with reporters.
Speaker 3: Serious.
Speaker 4: What you're seeing right now is a deliberate constitutional process
Speaker 4: that was envisioned by the founders, the framers of the Constitution.
Speaker 4: This is how they envisioned this to go, not the
Speaker 4: way the Democrats did it. Snap impeachments, sham impeachments, and
Speaker 4: all the rest. So I know that I know that
Speaker 4: people are anxious about it, but I will say Chairman Comber,
Speaker 4: Chairman Jordan, and Judiciary Chairman Smith in ways and means
Speaker 4: they've done an extraordinary job, very methodically, and I would
Speaker 4: say outside the scope of politics, that's.
Speaker 2: Not exactly what we heard after the one hearing that
Speaker 2: was held by the Oversight Committee. Rick, do you think
Speaker 2: that this impeachment inquiry actually turns into an impeachment?
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean it has the potential to do that.
Speaker 12: I mean, you know, just to correct the speaker, maybe
Speaker 12: he wasn't in the chamber at the time, but it
Speaker 12: was a snap impeachment decision by then Speaker McCarthy who
Speaker 12: said he would never do it and that would open
Speaker 12: it up to the floor for a vote, and he
Speaker 12: didn't do that. So there is a bit of a
Speaker 12: history here that needs to be pointed out. Not much
Speaker 12: different than frankly, what Nancy Pelosi did. So you know,
Speaker 12: that's a little bit of baggage to carry into this process.
Speaker 12: No question that it was all put on the back burner,
Speaker 12: you know when Jim Jordan launched his career to be
Speaker 12: a Speaker of the House, and maybe if he had
Speaker 12: become speaker would have all gone away, because I'm not
Speaker 12: sure who the chairman of the Juiciary Committee would have
Speaker 12: been then. But look, they've got an enormous amount of
Speaker 12: work to be done, and I think Speaker Johnson is
Speaker 12: owing to the political realities of his caucuses sewn by
Speaker 12: the you know, everybody raising their hand with Hannity asking
Speaker 12: the question. The reality is they just don't have time
Speaker 12: to do it between now and the end of the
Speaker 12: year unless they decide that they're just going to bail
Speaker 12: on everything else they're doing. And frankly, they don't have
Speaker 12: that option either. So I would be I would be
Speaker 12: amazed if they're able to get anything done before the
Speaker 12: end of this session.
Speaker 3: I wish I had more time on this, genie.
Speaker 2: But what does a speaker Johnson meant for an impeachment
Speaker 2: against Joe Biden?
Speaker 11: You know, I don't think it makes that much of
Speaker 11: a difference. I do think they could potentially have the
Speaker 11: votes to impeach. I think the sad reality is is impeachment,
Speaker 11: which was seldom used as we know throughout American history
Speaker 11: on both sides of the Aisle, has now become a tool,
Speaker 11: you know, and they're using it to attack each other,
Speaker 11: and that is shameful and it's not the way it
Speaker 11: should be. I oppose the first impeachment of Trump, and
Speaker 11: unless they have evidence against Joe Biden. If they do,
Speaker 11: I would support it, but they got to bring it forward.
Speaker 11: But vote wise, they might have the votes to do this,
Speaker 11: and I think Republicans would rue the day because it's
Speaker 11: not going to go very far in the Senate, but
Speaker 11: waste an awful lot of time.
Speaker 2: We turn our attention to the coach coming up next.
Speaker 2: It was a late night and probably not a very
Speaker 2: fun one for Tommy Tuberville. It was less fun for
Speaker 2: his Republican colleagues on the Senate floor.
Speaker 3: They've had it.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Sound on podcast five weekdays
Speaker 1: at one Eastern, Bloomberg dot Com, the iHeartRadio app, and
Speaker 1: the Bloomberg Business app where there's non demand, wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: With breaking news from the Senate today, ninety five to
Speaker 2: one the vote to confirm Admiral Lisa Francetti to be
Speaker 2: the next Chief of Naval Operations, the first woman to
Speaker 2: be a US military service chief. It actually happened today
Speaker 2: amid a temporary break from the Tommy Tubberville blockade. And
Speaker 2: this is what had Republicans in a lather last night
Speaker 2: on the Senate floor. Imagine this went on for five hours.
Speaker 2: They decided at last to dare Tommy Tuberville to do
Speaker 2: what he said he would actually allow and let these
Speaker 2: promotions come to the floor one by one. It just
Speaker 2: didn't work out that way. Listen to Maggie Hassen presiding
Speaker 2: over the Senate with an objection from the senator from Alabama,
Speaker 2: remembering he's blocking these promotions in protest of the Pentagon's
Speaker 2: abortion travel policy.
Speaker 3: Let's go to the Senate.
Speaker 6: Is there objection?
Speaker 3: I'm President. This senator from Alabama object objection is heard.
Speaker 13: From Alaska.
Speaker 14: Thank you, amount of President. And just for people who
Speaker 14: are watching, that last nominee fifth fleet commander. So you
Speaker 14: may have heard there's two carrier strike groups in the
Speaker 14: Middle East. That's the naval officer who would be in
Speaker 14: charge of all of them right there. We could have
Speaker 14: put him in charge. Pretty important to have fifth fleet
Speaker 14: commander ready to go and just objected to I'm not
Speaker 14: sure why again we're bringing these up one by one.
Speaker 1: Which is what I thought.
Speaker 14: My colleague from Alabama said he was good to go with.
Speaker 2: It's what we did think. Senator Joni aren't the same
Speaker 2: looking right at Tommy Tarberthville.
Speaker 13: It is really unfortunate that tonight these men and women
Speaker 13: have been denied their promotions. We have done the best
Speaker 13: that we can to honor the request of a fellow
Speaker 13: senator that these nominations be brought to the floor and
Speaker 13: voted on individually. And I really respect men of their word.
Speaker 13: I do not respect men who do not honor their word.
Speaker 2: Wow, So we assemble the panel. Rick Davis and Genie Shanzeno.
Speaker 2: Rick Lindsay Graham says, I've been trying to work with
Speaker 2: his times, speaking directly at Tommy Turberville sitting in the chamber,
Speaker 2: trying to work with you for months on this, but
Speaker 2: you're actually impacting readiness and some of these promotions that
Speaker 2: are stalled will actually lead service members to leave the
Speaker 2: military because at a certain point, if they're not served,
Speaker 2: that'll be the option. Was this a breakthrough last night?
Speaker 2: We actually he saw someone confirmed today. What happens next?
Speaker 12: Well, I think that Comrad Tubberville, China's favorite senator, is
Speaker 12: finally starting to quote feel the heat. He said last
Speaker 12: week that he's going to continue to block these nominations
Speaker 12: because he doesn't feel the heat. And I think that
Speaker 12: was a good message to the Senate, saying, unless you
Speaker 12: turn up the gas, the temperature in the Senate's not
Speaker 12: going to be enough to get me to cave. He
Speaker 12: did go back on his word. He has been telling
Speaker 12: people as part of his sort of spin that if
Speaker 12: you want to take him up one by one, I'm
Speaker 12: happy to do it. And they did that and he
Speaker 12: didn't do it. I would remind him too that these
Speaker 12: are all people that you mentioned, Sullivan, Jony Ernst, Lindsey
Speaker 12: Graham who throughout their career in the Senate have also
Speaker 12: served in the reserve forces of our military, people who
Speaker 12: have actually given time out of their Senate career to
Speaker 12: support the military, and they would have better unders standing
Speaker 12: and the need and readiness of the military of these
Speaker 12: confirmations and anybody else standing in the well of the
Speaker 12: Senate that night, and they vociferously argued against Comrade Tubberville.
Speaker 3: So didn't seem to be any break.
Speaker 12: If it was gonna cave a Comrade Tubberville wild have
Speaker 12: caved last night. But I think that Republicans and said
Speaker 12: are going to have to find other means to do this,
Speaker 12: and the practicality of doing it by one by one
Speaker 12: like they did with the new Chief of Naval Operations
Speaker 12: last night, just isn't practical at a time when we
Speaker 12: have to pass important legislation to support our allies around
Speaker 12: the world and fund our government.
Speaker 2: Well once snuck through Genie Democrats want to bring them
Speaker 2: in one big block to the floor, is that the
Speaker 2: way this ends because they need Republican help.
Speaker 3: To do that.
Speaker 11: They do, and when we got this proposal out by
Speaker 11: Reid and Cinema, and it makes sense that they would
Speaker 11: essentially be able to vote them on Blanc. I mean,
Speaker 11: to Rick's point, it is just not feasible that now
Speaker 11: and I believe over three hundred of these promotions that
Speaker 11: have been just languishing now for nine months, that you
Speaker 11: could go through this one at a time. I mean,
Speaker 11: it is a good sign that this vote happened today
Speaker 11: and they were able to get one person through. But
Speaker 11: you imagine repeating that, and if you try to go
Speaker 11: the way they did last night, Tupperville is going to
Speaker 11: stand up and he is going to object. You know,
Speaker 11: I think one of the most stunning things he said
Speaker 11: last night was this you know, fiasco that he's created
Speaker 11: has not impacted military readiness, and the reality from everybody
Speaker 11: in the military is quite the contrary. And you know,
Speaker 11: you look at one of the things that seemed to
Speaker 11: spark the Republican group from Collins to Joni Ernst and
Speaker 11: Mitt Romney and Todd Young and all the others to
Speaker 11: join and really do something you see more in the
Speaker 11: House than he was doing the Senate, which is to
Speaker 11: this sort of intra party, you know, a Republican on
Speaker 11: Republican attack. Was because of what happened to this Marine
Speaker 11: commandant who because the promotions have been stalled was working
Speaker 11: two jobs and suffered a heart attack. And you know,
Speaker 11: this is just happened recently. It's been widely discussed and
Speaker 11: it's widely used as an example of this is one
Speaker 11: case of many of what this holding up of these
Speaker 11: promotions are doing. And of course the reality is, and
Speaker 11: I think it was Lindsey Graham who said this, but
Speaker 11: the argument they were making yesterday was you were holding
Speaker 11: up the careers and lives of people who had nothing
Speaker 11: to do with this policy. All the people standing their
Speaker 11: last week are opposed to abortion, but this is not
Speaker 11: the way to do it, and you're doing it at
Speaker 11: a time when we have chaos around the world. We
Speaker 11: have troops now spread out all over the world. They
Speaker 11: are needed, and you can't continue without people receiving their
Speaker 11: proper promotions. So it's well beyond time that Coach Tupperville
Speaker 11: has stopped in this one man crusade.
Speaker 2: Genni referring to General Eric Smith and paring cardiac arrest
Speaker 2: on Sunday. Does that light a fire here?
Speaker 3: Rick?
Speaker 2: We're out of time. But does this create a new
Speaker 2: sense of urgency?
Speaker 13: H for sure.
Speaker 12: I think all of these things are bringing to bear
Speaker 12: a emergency that exists within a Department of Defense that
Speaker 12: needs to be alleviated.
Speaker 2: Everyone's got a plan until something like this happens. Rick
Speaker 2: Davis and Genie Shanzano. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to
Speaker 2: the Bloomberg Sound On podcast. Catch the program live weekdays
Speaker 2: at one Eastern.
Speaker 1: On Bloomberg Radio, the tune in app, Bloomberg dot Com,
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Speaker 2: Welcome to our two of Bloomberg Sound On. I'm Joe,
Speaker 2: Matthew and Washington, joined now by Kaylee Lines. Just hours
Speaker 2: away from a vote on the House floor on Israel funding,
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about this right now. Kaylee, welcome
Speaker 2: back to the conversation with the gentlewoman from Florida. We
Speaker 2: go to Capitol Hill now to have a conversation with
Speaker 2: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Speaker 3: It's great to see you, Congresswoman.
Speaker 2: Is we get the view from Democrats here and your
Speaker 2: new Speaker of the House and what's about to happen.
Speaker 2: I know this is not what you were looking for.
Speaker 2: Chuck Schumer says it's not going to fly in the Senate.
Speaker 2: Joe Biden says he's going to veto it. Will you
Speaker 2: vote for standalone Israel funding today?
Speaker 9: You know, I am gravely concerned that Speaker Johnson has
Speaker 9: decided for the first time ever, even though I'm sure
Speaker 9: that he's sat across his desk from pro Israel supporters
Speaker 9: in his community and committed to them that he would
Speaker 9: never vote to condition aid to Israel, And yet that's
Speaker 9: exactly what he's putting on the floor today. It's unprecedented
Speaker 9: and dangerous. He is actually putting a quote pay for
Speaker 9: on the bill that doesn't actually pay for anything, blows
Speaker 9: up the deficit and jeopardizes Israel and the future of
Speaker 9: Israel's security.
Speaker 15: But be that as it may, Congresswoman, it still would
Speaker 15: provide funding for Israel. What is a moment of need?
Speaker 15: So is that a no, you wouldn't vote for this.
Speaker 9: I believe it's essential that we put on the floor
Speaker 9: the President's entire Emergency Supplemental Security Package, which ensures that
Speaker 9: we fully fund Israel's needs in the worst crisis that
Speaker 9: any Jews have faced since the Holocaust, that we make
Speaker 9: sure that we're standing strongly in support of Ukraine and
Speaker 9: not allowing either terrorists like Hamas or tyrants like Putin
Speaker 9: to win, and certainly to make sure that we keep
Speaker 9: China at bay by providing security to Taiwan. And then
Speaker 9: you know, we've got to also think about the disasters
Speaker 9: that have occurred across the country, whether it's hurricanes in
Speaker 9: Florida or wildfires in Hawaii in California. So we have
Speaker 9: a lot more to do, and it's shortsighted to just
Speaker 9: put this bill on the floor with a deficit busting
Speaker 9: provision that is jeopardizing it israel security. So I support
Speaker 9: strongly making sure that Israel has what it needs to
Speaker 9: defend itself. And I'm sure I'm going to have an
Speaker 9: opportunity to vote for that at some point.
Speaker 2: So it sounds like a know on this one today
Speaker 2: you might have heard earlier from Tom Cole. He says,
Speaker 2: the Senate bill, the one that you're describing, and we've
Speaker 2: talked a lot about it here on the program with
Speaker 2: regard to Ukraine, Taiwan and border security. Congresswoman, and he
Speaker 2: says that bill won't pass the House, So what's the
Speaker 2: pathway here to get all this done?
Speaker 9: That bill will passed the House if it comes to
Speaker 9: the floor of the House. The only way it doesn't
Speaker 9: pass the House, because there is a majority of the
Speaker 9: House of Representatives that supports funding for Ukraine, is if
Speaker 9: Speaker Johnson makes a decision to put a bill that
Speaker 9: has the entire package from the President, fights Putin and
Speaker 9: Hamas and keeps China at bay, and takes care of
Speaker 9: the natural disasters that dozens of our communities across the
Speaker 9: country desperately need relief from, puts it on the floor
Speaker 9: and allows a majority of the House of Representatives to
Speaker 9: say that they support it, then going to go to
Speaker 9: President's Biden deskin, He'll sign it into law. That's how
Speaker 9: we can do that. That's how the democratic process works.
Speaker 15: And we are just hearing from the White House National
Speaker 15: Security spokesperson Admiral Kirby again reiterating that Biden would veto
Speaker 15: a bill that only funds Israel. It just becomes a
Speaker 15: question though congresswomen of expediency. There has been a lot
Speaker 15: of hiccups in the House in recent weeks, partially because
Speaker 15: there was no speaker. There is now and he clearly
Speaker 15: wants to do this in a single bill. So is
Speaker 15: there a point at which it just becomes too urgent
Speaker 15: to get this funding to Israel, as that is a live,
Speaker 15: hot conflict ongoing right now where things would change for you.
Speaker 9: This is very simple. Even if Speaker Johnson wanted to
Speaker 9: do it as a single bill, Why is he conditioning eid?
Speaker 9: Why is he adding IRS cuts? I mean that's like
Speaker 9: having a restaurant.
Speaker 15: Okay, if I could just clarify, that's not your issue.
Speaker 15: Primarily is the pay for not taking these as single subjects.
Speaker 15: If it was a single subject for Israel.
Speaker 9: I don't think it should be a single subject. I
Speaker 9: think the whole package should come. But it certainly makes
Speaker 9: it deeply problematic to put it on the floor when
Speaker 9: he has a bit a pay for that blows up
Speaker 9: the deficit, that sets a dangerous precedent. And uh and
Speaker 9: that is grossly irresponsible.
Speaker 3: Congressman.
Speaker 2: Earlier today on the floor, Sure Pete Aguilar said that
Speaker 2: that the new speaker is a total disaster.
Speaker 3: Are Democrats are going to give him a chance?
Speaker 2: Or is this is already not working, Congresswoman, based on
Speaker 2: what you're hearing from Mike.
Speaker 9: Johnson, I mean he certainly does. It hasn't started out
Speaker 9: with a responsible step foot forward, we could have had
Speaker 9: a four hundred plus member vote in support of aid
Speaker 9: to Israel in her hour of need, and instead he's
Speaker 9: playing political games and using Israel as a political wedge.
Speaker 9: Not a very good telegraph of things to come. We'll
Speaker 9: see what happens, but we've got a looming government shutdown.
Speaker 9: Let's hope that we can come together and ensure that
Speaker 9: we don't plunge our economy into disaster by doing something
Speaker 9: like that.
Speaker 15: So congressom an aside from the question of providing funding
Speaker 15: for Israel, they're also are just questions surrounding the conflict
Speaker 15: Israel is currently engaged in. There is reporting today that
Speaker 15: Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln, when he makes a trip
Speaker 15: there tomorrow, is going to be pushing the Israeli government
Speaker 15: to essentially make a series of pauses in their strikes
Speaker 15: to allow humanitarian aid in and to allow hostages to
Speaker 15: get out. Do you think at that point, at this point,
Speaker 15: that is an appropriate strategy. Should Israel be taking any
Speaker 15: pauses here?
Speaker 9: Israel is a sovereign nation and they need to be
Speaker 9: able to make sure that they can defend themselves and
Speaker 9: make their own decisions about how best to do that.
Speaker 9: The goal here must be to eradicate Hamas. You have
Speaker 9: only to look at the video that the Hamas spokesperson
Speaker 9: did with a news interview in which he said the
Speaker 9: Hamas attacks from ten to seven were the first time,
Speaker 9: but there will be a second, and a third and
Speaker 9: a thousandth time, because they will go after Israelis and
Speaker 9: try to eradicate Israel and kill Jews until we're all
Speaker 9: dead and until Israel is gone. So this is not
Speaker 9: something that we just you know, shrug our shoulders and
Speaker 9: it's one and done. They are telling us what they're
Speaker 9: going to do, and Israel has to be able to
Speaker 9: eradicate Hamas, and certainly we need to make sure we
Speaker 9: protect innocent Palestinian lives. We need to free Gaza from Hamas,
Speaker 9: and we need to make sure that we can get
Speaker 9: humanitarian aid in there, as long as it's not going
Speaker 9: to strengthen Hamas instead of weaken it.
Speaker 2: There have been some questions about some of the rhetoric
Speaker 2: that we've heard about the Israelis from some progressive Democrats,
Speaker 2: including Rashida to leave, and I know that the House
Speaker 2: chose to reject an effort to censure her. I wonder
Speaker 2: your thoughts on that vote, congress Woman, where you came
Speaker 2: down on it, and how concerned you are about what
Speaker 2: appears to be an alarming level of anti Semitism growing
Speaker 2: in this country.
Speaker 9: The alarming level of anti Semitism is something that is
Speaker 9: causing Jews across this country to clutch our hearts in fear.
Speaker 9: We have and I have two Jewish college students on
Speaker 9: a college campus myself. I have a son and a
Speaker 9: daughter in college, and it is so frightening to see
Speaker 9: the videos that you have Jewish students attending college who
Speaker 9: are being surrounded by pro Palestinian protesters who are shouting
Speaker 9: from the river to the sea, which essentially means that
Speaker 9: Israel should be eradicated. The dangerous anti Semitism that is
Speaker 9: spread and propagated online through TikTok and the algorithms of
Speaker 9: the social media companies has to be stopped. And thankfully
Speaker 9: we have a president who put forth a national strategy
Speaker 9: to combat anti sis Semitism. But we need all of
Speaker 9: our colleagues to dial down the rhetoric and not fan
Speaker 9: the flames to make things worse. We have to come
Speaker 9: together and really sit down and demonstrate that we're all
Speaker 9: for peace, that we all want to make sure that
Speaker 9: we condemn terrorism and that we fight either to terrorism
Speaker 9: and the tyrant in Russia, and ensure that we can
Speaker 9: promote democracy here and around the world. That should be
Speaker 9: all of our priorities.
Speaker 15: Well, congresswomen, as you do, try to prioritize those issues
Speaker 15: in Congress. There are also a number of maybe distractions,
Speaker 15: if you will, that your body has been dealing with,
Speaker 15: including last night dealing with the expulsion resolution for Republican
Speaker 15: Congressman George Santos. Do you have any idea why thirty
Speaker 15: one of your colleagues decided against voting for that.
Speaker 9: You know, I did speak to a number of my
Speaker 9: colleagues and there were some that were concerned about the
Speaker 9: precedent that would set to vote to expel a member
Speaker 9: who had not actually been convicted. The majority of us
Speaker 9: did vote to expel him, but it takes two thirds,
Speaker 9: and you know, I can understand the intellectual argument. I
Speaker 9: voted to expel him, and I voted to expel him
Speaker 9: because I felt that he was elected on entirely false pretenses.
Speaker 9: He his voters were forced to basically vote for a fabrication,
Speaker 9: not for who George Santos really is, which is clearly
Speaker 9: a fraud and a cheat and a criminal. So I
Speaker 9: had some colleagues on both sides of the aisle that
Speaker 9: I think felt that explosion was only warranted, like the
Speaker 9: two other times that it has been done in the history,
Speaker 9: when someone is convicted.
Speaker 2: Obviously, when it's good to see you, I know you
Speaker 2: have to run for votes. So we'll let you do
Speaker 2: that now. W Wasserman Schelt's Democrat from Florida with us
Speaker 2: here on Bloomberg. I'm Jill Matthew in Washington alongside Kaylee Lines.
Speaker 2: And so there's there's a no yeah on this bill
Speaker 2: today that that may not be able to pass the House,
Speaker 2: never mind vote anywhere beyond the House.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the Sound On podcast.
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