Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg's sound on.
Speaker 1: You know, we always say that Democrats are the big spenders.
Speaker 1: Were brought down the deficit. So when you send it
Speaker 1: it's Classiberg. Week I d classified everything Bloomberg sound on politics,
Speaker 1: policy and perspective from DC's top names. Forty six days
Speaker 1: in the mid terms, we need to be crystal clear
Speaker 1: about what we're what's on the ballot. It's their plan,
Speaker 1: but they have no plan to fix all the problems
Speaker 1: they created. Bloomberg sound on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: In one week, lawmakers are either going to be heading
Speaker 1: home to gear up for the mid terms or they
Speaker 1: are going to be stuck in D C scrambling to
Speaker 1: keep the government open. which option is more plausible? What
Speaker 1: needs to be done to get lawmakers to an agreement?
Speaker 1: We're going to get answers today from Massachusetts Democratic Congressman
Speaker 1: Jake Auction Class and Bloomberg Government's Budget Guru, Jack Fitzpatrick. Plus,
Speaker 1: we review what Republicans will be doing if they win
Speaker 1: the house in this November and how it could help
Speaker 1: them or harm them in the mid terms. I'm Emily
Speaker 1: Wilkins in today for Joe Matthew. You know, we Gott
Speaker 1: to just take a minute, take a breath. It is
Speaker 1: Friday afternoon and there's been a lot going on in
Speaker 1: DC right now. We kind of thought that September might
Speaker 1: be a bit of a quiet month. No, that is
Speaker 1: absolutely not happening. Democrats they know they could lose the
Speaker 1: house or the Senate, or both come November, so they're
Speaker 1: trying to get the remaining priorities done. Just this week
Speaker 1: we saw the house past election legislation reforming that electoral
Speaker 1: count process, you know, the one that got interrupted on
Speaker 1: January six by the rioters outside the Capitol, trying to
Speaker 1: make sure that that process is a little bit more
Speaker 1: secure in the future. The House also passed a bill
Speaker 1: giving additional funding too smaller police departments, really trying to
Speaker 1: combat that whole defund the police narrative of as well
Speaker 1: as a number of public safety bills. And next week
Speaker 1: lawmakers might actually take up legislation that could ban lawmakers
Speaker 1: from trading stock. So a lot going on. Will of course,
Speaker 1: they are ramping up for the mid terms. The House
Speaker 1: only has three more legislative days until they're supposed to
Speaker 1: be out. Through all of October out until the election.
Speaker 1: To catch up with all of this, I spoke with
Speaker 1: Congressman Jake Awesome class today. I began by asking him
Speaker 1: how likely a shutdown was. Unlikely. I have confidence that
Speaker 1: we're gonna be able to pass a continuing resolution to
Speaker 1: fund the Government until at least a lame duck session
Speaker 1: of Congress. And if there are breakdowns, I'm equally confident
Speaker 1: that it's going to be coming from the House Freedom
Speaker 1: Caucus on the on the GOP side, they've already been
Speaker 1: telling their leadership that they don't want any deal, and
Speaker 1: that's the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that Americans could expect
Speaker 1: if Kenna McCarthy was going to hold a gavel next term.
Speaker 1: It just puts into clear focus what it could look
Speaker 1: like to have extremist control of the House of Representatives
Speaker 1: next term, and I definitely want to talk about that
Speaker 1: in a minute because I know Republicans are actually rolling
Speaker 1: out their their potential agenda today. But before I get there,
Speaker 1: I do want to just stick on this conversation about
Speaker 1: this continuing to fund the government, because there could be
Speaker 1: a couple additional things that are added to that package.
Speaker 1: I know one of them is aid for Ukraine. They
Speaker 1: want more of that added into this continuing resolution. You
Speaker 1: served in the Marines, you were in Afghanistan, so you
Speaker 1: know a lot about the military and sort of how
Speaker 1: important aid is needed in these situations. How critical is
Speaker 1: it that you aid for Ukraine is in this overall
Speaker 1: funding package? Absolutely essential. I'm in full support of this
Speaker 1: roughly twelve billion dollar requests from the president to provide
Speaker 1: further military and economic support for the Ukrainians. It's important
Speaker 1: for us to zoom out and just put into context
Speaker 1: what's happening right now in Ukraine. President Biden's leadership has
Speaker 1: made clear to the world that the United States is
Speaker 1: gonna work to uphold the post war rules based order
Speaker 1: that has spread peace and prosperity to ever more people,
Speaker 1: and he has kept NATO hanging together, along with our
Speaker 1: East Asian allies during a tremendously challenging six months strength stretch.
Speaker 1: Most importantly, though, of course, has been the will and
Speaker 1: the resolve and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people themselves,
Speaker 1: under the terrific leadership of Presidents Lanski uh they are
Speaker 1: winning right now that war. They have rolled up the
Speaker 1: northern flank of the Russian forces in Ukraine. They are
Speaker 1: proceeding in grinding progress in southern Ukraine and Vladimir Putin
Speaker 1: is back on his heels. Yes, certainly we we've definitely
Speaker 1: seen uh Ukraine really pushed back and we've seen Al
Speaker 1: Boutin has responded to that Um moving on a little
Speaker 1: bit from the continuing resolution, I also wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that we touched on a potential bill to go
Speaker 1: next week that would ban lawmakers from trading stocks. This
Speaker 1: has kind of been a very contentious topic in the
Speaker 1: last year or so. How important is this bill to
Speaker 1: be voted on before the mid term? Since you guys
Speaker 1: only have three days left, the most important thing is
Speaker 1: that we passed it period. I'm a CO sponsor of
Speaker 1: this legislation. Members of Congress should not be trading stocks
Speaker 1: at a time when Americans trust in federal institutions is
Speaker 1: lower than it's ever been in my lifetime. This is
Speaker 1: a concrete measure that we can take to improve Americans
Speaker 1: confidence in their lawmakers. And do you have any sense
Speaker 1: that if this is actually going to be going to
Speaker 1: the floor next week? I know that House leaders were
Speaker 1: saying maybe yesterday. I'm certainly, you know, advocating that it
Speaker 1: gets there, but there's always zigs and zags. But the
Speaker 1: critical thing is that we passed it. Whether it's for
Speaker 1: the mid terms, whether it's the lame duck session, we've
Speaker 1: got the votes to do it. Let's get this to
Speaker 1: the floor and let's make this the law on the land.
Speaker 1: I know that the Republicans are also they're in Pittsburgh today.
Speaker 1: They're rolling out their priorities for what they would do
Speaker 1: if they control the house in I know also majority
Speaker 1: leader stunny Hoyer, for scores headed with the Democratic House Democrats,
Speaker 1: was in Pittsburgh and he was talking about what Democrats
Speaker 1: have done, but less about what they will do. Do
Speaker 1: Democrats need to have more of a forward facing message
Speaker 1: for what they would do if they do hold out
Speaker 1: onto the house next year. Democrats messages that we are
Speaker 1: legislating for the people and for progress, and we have
Speaker 1: demonstrated that in Seventeen Congress came into office facing worst
Speaker 1: pandemics uh since World War One, worst crisis in our
Speaker 1: democracy since the civil war, most complicated economy since World
Speaker 1: War Two, and since then our economy has grown faster
Speaker 1: than China's for the first time in my lifetime and
Speaker 1: we have put the pandemic in the rear view mirror, uh,
Speaker 1: and we are holding trump and his cronies to account,
Speaker 1: both in Congress and through the legal system. We are
Speaker 1: healing country in this economy, and we have done so
Speaker 1: partly with generational investments in infrastructure, in science and engineering
Speaker 1: and domestic manufacturing and mooring healthcare costs. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of things, if you don't mind to interrupting, I mean
Speaker 1: that's a lot of things that Democrats have already done
Speaker 1: this year. You guys have passed a ton of bills.
Speaker 1: I mean, is this a matter of do Democrats just
Speaker 1: need to sort of hit home to Americans all the
Speaker 1: things that they've done? Do the American people still not
Speaker 1: recognize that yet, or do Democrats need to be talking
Speaker 1: about what they would do if they continue to hold
Speaker 1: the House next year? Results matter even more than rhetoric.
Speaker 1: Right now, the GOP has rhetoric. The GOP has rhetoric
Speaker 1: about criminalizing abortion at the federal level. We've seen that
Speaker 1: with Lindsay Graham's bill that basically makes it so that
Speaker 1: women have to consult h Lindsay Graham as well as
Speaker 1: their physician to make decisions about their own reproductive care. Uh.
Speaker 1: The GOP has rhetoric about election denial. The GOP has
Speaker 1: rhetoric about arming teachers. The GOP has no plan. The
Speaker 1: Democrats have passed policy in a hundred eventeen congress to
Speaker 1: meaningfully improve this country in Americans lives, and we are
Speaker 1: going to continue to work to lower healthcare costs and
Speaker 1: to build our infrastructure and our domestic manufacturing base. Uh,
Speaker 1: if Americans reentrust us with the gavel, do you think
Speaker 1: most of your of your constituents, understand everything that Democrats
Speaker 1: have been able to accomplish, because I know that I've
Speaker 1: spoken to some folks when I've been on the campaign
Speaker 1: trail who weren't even aware that the congress passed the
Speaker 1: infrastructure bill, let alone all of the other stuff that
Speaker 1: you've done in recent months. There's no question that it's
Speaker 1: it is always hard to communicate in an ever noisier environment.
Speaker 1: Right the media landscape is fractured. People are consuming news
Speaker 1: and ever more formats and ever more sources of media,
Speaker 1: and so it is it's hard to communicate what the
Speaker 1: results have been. At the end of the day, though,
Speaker 1: people do feel their pocketbook and they do feel the
Speaker 1: decisions they're making into kitchen table, and that's where I
Speaker 1: think Democrats have to continue to deliver, particularly, I want
Speaker 1: to say, on healthcare costs. We just passed the legislation
Speaker 1: for any Medicare beneficiary, they're not gonna pay more than
Speaker 1: thirty five dollars a month for their insulin. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to pay more than two thousand dollars a year
Speaker 1: for their prescription drugs. That is impactful directly to people's
Speaker 1: Day in, day out budgeting. You don't have to see
Speaker 1: that on facebook page. You feel that at the kitchen
Speaker 1: table we're going to continue to work on results like that.
Speaker 1: I also wanted to ask congressman about something that's a
Speaker 1: little bit closer to to your home. I Know Martha's
Speaker 1: Vineyard isn't in your district, but you're nearby and of
Speaker 1: course it's been in the news a lot this past
Speaker 1: week after Florida Governor Rhonda Santists flew plainfuls of migrants
Speaker 1: to the island. He was trying to make a point,
Speaker 1: of course, about immigration and there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: discussion over about what do santists and others are doing.
Speaker 1: I want to shift the conversation just a little bit.
Speaker 1: The New York Times has reporting that for the first time,
Speaker 1: the arrest of immigrants at the southwest border has exceeded
Speaker 1: two million. Does Congress need to be responding to this
Speaker 1: increase of immigrants coming to our southwest border? Yes, and
Speaker 1: we've been trying to for twenty years and there has
Speaker 1: never been, since the first Bush, excuse me for since
Speaker 1: George W Bush's first term, a good faith Republican response.
Speaker 1: We are willing to pass comprehensive and immigration reform that
Speaker 1: creates a pathway to citizenship for those who have built
Speaker 1: lives in this country, who are contributing to the economy
Speaker 1: right now and who don't have documentation that allows them
Speaker 1: to feel safe and secure in their own communities, as
Speaker 1: well as putting more UH infrastructure and personnel resources at
Speaker 1: the border, because we need a secure border, and investing
Speaker 1: in the triangle countries where poverty and crime are driving
Speaker 1: an exodus. We know what to do and through his
Speaker 1: executive actions, President Biden is doing as much of it
Speaker 1: as he can. Ultimately, this does require Congress to act.
Speaker 1: Democrats have put forward legislation term after term after term,
Speaker 1: and the GOP Freedom Caucus, their right wing, never wants
Speaker 1: to do it and they don't want to do it because, frankly,
Speaker 1: it's easier for them to camp paign on this issue
Speaker 1: than it is to government on this issue. That was
Speaker 1: Congressman Jake Agin Claus joined me a little bit earlier today,
Speaker 1: Democrat from Massachusetts, very much in the mix right now
Speaker 1: with what is going on in Congress and making the
Speaker 1: case there that Democrats do still have a ways to
Speaker 1: go in letting voters know what they have done in
Speaker 1: D c. But Congressman, of course, was confident that if
Speaker 1: Democrats can just focus on that message, on what they delivered,
Speaker 1: they'll have a better shot of winning this November. Republicans
Speaker 1: are taking a different tack. They've been the minority, so
Speaker 1: they can't point to a lot of things they've accomplished,
Speaker 1: but they did roll out a plan this year for
Speaker 1: what they will be doing next year and we're gonna
Speaker 1: dig into that a little bit later in the show,
Speaker 1: but first we got to let you know how to
Speaker 1: watch that big shutdown showdown next week and we'll be
Speaker 1: assembling the panel. There's been so much in the headlines
Speaker 1: about immigrants being bussed to cities through the US. These
Speaker 1: are real people, though there's real policy behind it. We're
Speaker 1: gonna do a deep dive into that one next. I'm
Speaker 1: Emily Wilkins. This is Bloomberg. You're listening to Bloomberg sound
Speaker 1: on with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. In the last
Speaker 1: several elections, Republicans have successfully made immigration a key issue
Speaker 1: and they are doing so again this year with the
Speaker 1: mid terms, and particularly in the last few weeks this
Speaker 1: has been a giant topic of discussion because we've seen
Speaker 1: the bus loads of immigrants and playing loads of immigrants
Speaker 1: heading to cities like New York City, D C Martha's Vineyard,
Speaker 1: and the result is that immigration has really commentto the
Speaker 1: national spotlight again. California Governor Gavin newsome, Democrat, has called
Speaker 1: for a federal investigation into whether his Republicans counterparts have
Speaker 1: violated the law. He spoke with Bloomberg's David Weston earlier
Speaker 1: this week the house. Happened to the Republican Party that
Speaker 1: are mothering and these poor victims that are legally seeking
Speaker 1: a silent and then calling them aliens and using them
Speaker 1: as pause? I mean, it's really it's just a disgrace,
Speaker 1: but I get it because we haven't owned up as
Speaker 1: a country in the past today and it doesn't even
Speaker 1: appear tomorrow. There's a willingness to have the conversation we
Speaker 1: need to have, so let's go ahead and have that conversation.
Speaker 1: I know there's been a lot of discussion this week
Speaker 1: about the morality behind using immigrants. This sort of part
Speaker 1: of this political showmanship about whether this is a valid
Speaker 1: concern or not, but I didn't want to actually dig
Speaker 1: into a little bit of the actual issue and to
Speaker 1: do that bringing in our panel Bloomberg Contributors Jeanne Shehanzano
Speaker 1: and Rick Davis. Thank you both so much for taking
Speaker 1: the time and joining me today, and I just wanted
Speaker 1: to start off by referencing Um what I a bet
Speaker 1: of what I did with with Congressman Augent class, that
Speaker 1: we are seeing in influx in immigrants coming to the border.
Speaker 1: Is there a sense of what is leading to that
Speaker 1: right now? Well, I think obviously one of the things
Speaker 1: that's driving Um uh so much activity on the border
Speaker 1: is economic opportunity. Uh. These people are all coming, immigrating
Speaker 1: from economies around the region that have been, you know,
Speaker 1: really hard hit by the pandemic uh and for the
Speaker 1: lack of economic economic opportunity being created by the leadership
Speaker 1: and the governance of their countries, and so they're voting
Speaker 1: with their feet, they're getting up and they're moving and
Speaker 1: they're going to the place that, regardless of how you
Speaker 1: look at it, is a better potential economic opportunity for
Speaker 1: them and their families and they have at home. That
Speaker 1: usually is one of the principal drivers. And so u
Speaker 1: the fact that our economy is surviving uh, post covid period,
Speaker 1: and even the inflationary pressures that it's under uh, frankly,
Speaker 1: don't compare to what's happening in other parts of the world,
Speaker 1: especially in our own region, where some of the inflation
Speaker 1: rates are, you know, approaching a hundred percent in some
Speaker 1: countries south of our border. Um, you know, this is
Speaker 1: this is maybe they're one shot at at creating an
Speaker 1: opportunity for their families. Absolutely, and, Jennie, I know that
Speaker 1: Congressman alkinclaus said that Democrats do need to address the
Speaker 1: increasing number of immigrants that we are seeing at the
Speaker 1: southern border. It seems like both Republicans and Democrats think
Speaker 1: this is an issue. Why, at this point, have we
Speaker 1: seen so little done legislatively to address immigration through the
Speaker 1: southern border. I thought you had a really good conversation
Speaker 1: with the congressman and I thought he laid it out beautifully. Um,
Speaker 1: one of the aspects that the Democrats have talked about
Speaker 1: has been this investment in the triangle countries where you're seeing,
Speaker 1: as as rick was just talking about, issues of the economy,
Speaker 1: issues of crime, quite frankly, corruption and poverty all are
Speaker 1: driving these massive waves of immigration. And you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1: The numbers are over, you know well over what we've
Speaker 1: seen in the past. But we have to think back
Speaker 1: that this has been a problem them to your point
Speaker 1: for many, many decades. We've seen several attempts to address
Speaker 1: it and everybody agrees it's a problem. Donald trump campaigned
Speaker 1: on it, George W Bush campaigned on it, Barack Obama campaign.
Speaker 1: The problem has been getting Congress to come together and
Speaker 1: agree on what would be a solid, you know, way
Speaker 1: to approach it. And the politics of this right now
Speaker 1: are that it benefits Republicans to talk about it in
Speaker 1: a midterm year. Um, you know the latest NBC News Poll.
Speaker 1: It's astounding numbers the Republicans. Fifty six percent of Americans
Speaker 1: say that they are the best at dealing with border
Speaker 1: security that's closing in at six out of ten Americans.
Speaker 1: That's the best issue they have. And fourth is dealing
Speaker 1: with immigration more broadly. So it makes sense for them
Speaker 1: to talk about it and Democrats have to come up
Speaker 1: with an answer for that and to show that they
Speaker 1: have a policy. They've not been able to do that
Speaker 1: in recent history. Rick, if the American People Trust Republicans
Speaker 1: more when it comes to handling and agration, is there
Speaker 1: a chance then we we if we see Republicans take
Speaker 1: the house potentially take the Senate, that they might actually
Speaker 1: start working on immigration legislation that could potentially actually be
Speaker 1: signed into law by Biden? Or is that just too
Speaker 1: much to expect for for the current level of partisanship
Speaker 1: we have in D C? Yeah, I mean, you know, look,
Speaker 1: the reality, is genie said, is that they're beloved and
Speaker 1: a lot of people, including Republicans like George W Bush
Speaker 1: and John McCain, who had comprehensive immigration proposes and couldn't
Speaker 1: get them, couldn't get enough support within their own party
Speaker 1: to pass them, and so the likelihood that a congress
Speaker 1: potentially run by Kevin McCarthy would be able to generate
Speaker 1: a comprehensive immigration plan that would accommodate all the challenges
Speaker 1: that we have, not just the border but the over
Speaker 1: eleven million um illegal immigrants that occupy space in our
Speaker 1: economy and our schools and our churches and our in
Speaker 1: our in our health care facilities. Uh, what do we
Speaker 1: do with them? Today, the dreamers and and and and
Speaker 1: correcting some of the legislator of problems associated with that.
Speaker 1: I don't see a Republican initiative. Certainly wasn't in Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy's plan for his commitment to America. Today I think
Speaker 1: the only talking point we have is we need to
Speaker 1: close a border, and the reality is we did that
Speaker 1: under Donald Trump and it did not, uh, significantly stem
Speaker 1: the flow of immigration in the United States. And we
Speaker 1: still need, guess, workers, we still need the kind of
Speaker 1: Um labor force that immigration can produce for us. So
Speaker 1: I unfortunately don't see the potential for a real solution
Speaker 1: to this in the near term. Well, Rick, Rick Geenie,
Speaker 1: thank you, guys both so much. We'll we'll convene a
Speaker 1: little bit later, but first we're gonna go back to
Speaker 1: talking about the critical role of funding the government. Jack
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick is going to be joining US walking us through
Speaker 1: what to be watching next week and whether energy permitting
Speaker 1: reform will get enough votes to become law. This is Bloomberg. Well,
Speaker 1: if you are a sound on regular listener, you know
Speaker 1: him as your favorite guest host. If you are an
Speaker 1: avid follower of federal spending, you know him as the
Speaker 1: author of Bloomberg Government's budget briefing. And if you have
Speaker 1: never heard of Jack Fitzpatrick, I am so sorry. We're
Speaker 1: going to fix that right now. Jack Fitzpatrick joins us
Speaker 1: in the DC studio. Hey Jack, happy Friday. Happy Friday.
Speaker 1: I only have one job right now and it is
Speaker 1: to answer your questions about the continuing resolution, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure you are going to do a fabulous job at it.
Speaker 1: Really there are very few people, I think, in DC
Speaker 1: who followed this process as closely as Jack does. So Jack,
Speaker 1: just give us the basic overview right now. Where do
Speaker 1: we stand in terms of the getting the government funded
Speaker 1: by next Friday, September? I don't think there's going to
Speaker 1: be a shut down, but they are going to do
Speaker 1: this pretty last minute, it seems. Keep in mind Rasha
Speaker 1: Shana is coming up. So the procedural vote that they
Speaker 1: have to have in the Senate is going to be
Speaker 1: late Tuesday. So between a holiday at the beginning of
Speaker 1: next week, as well as the debate over whether to
Speaker 1: a hatch Joe Mansion's energy permitting bill, to this stop
Speaker 1: gap uh, it seems that the Senate is taking their time.
Speaker 1: They are going to get around to this Tuesday, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: Thursday ish next week and then send it to the
Speaker 1: House and the House is going to have to act
Speaker 1: as fast as possible and hopefully nothing goes very, very
Speaker 1: wrong when they do this last minute. There's always the
Speaker 1: chance that, you know, they rely on unanimous consent for
Speaker 1: a quick vote in the Senate. If Rand Paul or
Speaker 1: somebody individually wants to shut the government down, they would
Speaker 1: probably be able to. But I haven't heard of anybody saying,
Speaker 1: you know, threatening a shutdown and it sounds like they're
Speaker 1: going to get moving. But it is going to be
Speaker 1: a last minute kind of series of procedures in both chambers.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like Rand Paul might stand down this
Speaker 1: time allow everyone to actually get the government funded. We
Speaker 1: we never know for sure. It could you know, I
Speaker 1: say Rand Paul because he often demands an amendment vote
Speaker 1: on this or that in exchange for allowing a quick
Speaker 1: vote in the Senate. There was a brief shut down
Speaker 1: or a brief lapse of appropriations a few years ago
Speaker 1: solely because of him, but it could be anybody. So
Speaker 1: we will have to see. Last minute, does anybody raise
Speaker 1: their hand and say, actually, I object to doing this
Speaker 1: quickly because I want a vote on, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: a holiday named after myself or whatever you want? That's
Speaker 1: the way the Senate works. Is We are at the
Speaker 1: point where one person could hold it up and shut
Speaker 1: the government down if they wanted to. But again, no
Speaker 1: one has threatened that, so it's not looking like we're
Speaker 1: in disaster mode here. So let's get back to talking,
Speaker 1: because you mentioned this Senator Joe Mansion's bill to expedite
Speaker 1: the energy permitting process. UH, majority leader in the Senate,
Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer, is on board with it. Nancy Pelosi Speaker
Speaker 1: in the house, and said she supports the measure. So
Speaker 1: are we all clear? Are We all good? What's happening
Speaker 1: with that? No, I think it seems they are leaning
Speaker 1: away from actually getting this done. They need sixty votes
Speaker 1: in the Senate. Uh, and Senate Republicans appear to be
Speaker 1: pretty opposed now he got Shelley Moore capital on board,
Speaker 1: which is important because she had provided the alternate bill
Speaker 1: and said here's the Republican bill on energy permitting and
Speaker 1: she ultimately said, you know what, mansions is close enough.
Speaker 1: I like this, I'm going to support it. But we
Speaker 1: had already heard from Mitch McConnell, UH and other people
Speaker 1: close to leadership. I've talked to Richard Shelby, the top
Speaker 1: appropriator who negotiates these funding bills in the Senate a
Speaker 1: number of times and they are pretty opposed. UH So,
Speaker 1: if they're going to need at least ten Republicans, and
Speaker 1: mansion himself has said probably more like twenty because there
Speaker 1: is some democratic opposition, then we need to hear Republicans
Speaker 1: speaking up and saying yes, I support this. And so
Speaker 1: far it's only one. It's a senator capital. So, uh,
Speaker 1: they may have a failed vote which makes this all
Speaker 1: more last minute, and then they pull it out. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's not destined to fail, but we have not
Speaker 1: seen the support crystallized yet for Mansions Bill. Okay, so
Speaker 1: energy permitting on the rocks, but there are a couple
Speaker 1: of other things that could be going with this bill right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the one sure thing is the Ukraine bill.
Speaker 1: President Biden requested about twelve billion dollars in aid for Ukraine.
Speaker 1: I've talked to a handful of people who are are
Speaker 1: close in the negotiations on this kind of issue who
Speaker 1: have said it will be at least that number. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is one of the few areas where there's so
Speaker 1: much bipartisan support for a certain issue that they may
Speaker 1: actually give the president more money than he requested to
Speaker 1: send to Ukraine, especially on the defense side. He requested
Speaker 1: a combination of military aid and some state and US
Speaker 1: aid funds. UH, definitely a lot of support for defense
Speaker 1: aid to Ukraine. Uh. Other things have fallen off the table.
Speaker 1: He asked for covid funds. That appears very clear that
Speaker 1: it's not going on there. Uh. There was a request
Speaker 1: for disaster aid. We thought that could happen because you
Speaker 1: know some of that would go to Eastern Kentucky, Mitch
Speaker 1: McConnell's home state. They had very bad flooding. Sounds like
Speaker 1: they're gonna wait until December to address that. FEMA has
Speaker 1: a pretty good amount of money now, but the Ukraine
Speaker 1: one is really a case study in yes, lawmakers can
Speaker 1: agree on things in a bipartisan way sometimes. So that's
Speaker 1: going on there. So is this it for covid funding?
Speaker 1: Then no more covid funding from the government. It raises
Speaker 1: really big questions about how we switch from emergency pandemic
Speaker 1: mode to endemic virus mode. Um. There you know, the
Speaker 1: government is not entirely hands off on responding to the pandemic.
Speaker 1: They're doing things like launching H is a number. It
Speaker 1: would take a whole book to tell you everything the
Speaker 1: government is still doing regarding uh, covid. But the support
Speaker 1: is not there anymore for emergency funding, even for Vaccines Therapeutics. Uh.
Speaker 1: If that were to happen, the Republicans would force a
Speaker 1: conversation about pulling money back, probably from state and local
Speaker 1: governments potentially. Really, to be honest, they haven't even gotten
Speaker 1: into the weeds of this because there's just so much
Speaker 1: room between Biden and the Senate Republicans who have said, uh,
Speaker 1: they don't like his approach on on covid funding request.
Speaker 1: We keep reminding our listeners that this is just a
Speaker 1: temporary bill to fund the government. Usually these things go
Speaker 1: till about mid December. I think you've reported around December six. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's getting really close to Christmas. It is also getting
Speaker 1: very close to my birthday, which is on December eighteen. Um,
Speaker 1: are we gonna are are they going to have some
Speaker 1: sort of agreement here, or is Congress going to ruin
Speaker 1: my birthday and Christmas and one fell swoop? It could
Speaker 1: be difficult. Yes, the date I've heard the most is
Speaker 1: December sixteen. A lot of the time the functional deadline
Speaker 1: for them to fund the government and do a big
Speaker 1: bill on that kind of thing is right before Christmas.
Speaker 1: So it'll be a hectic time. A lot of conservatives
Speaker 1: are a no and want to kick this into next year,
Speaker 1: but there there still is some will to get a
Speaker 1: real funding deal in December. Congress is just keeping up
Speaker 1: with the drama, keeping up with the suspense. Jack Fitzpatrick, Bloomberg,
Speaker 1: government's budget girl. Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Coming up next, we reassemble the panel. This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg sound on with Joe Matthew on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. This is Emily Wilkins. I'm filling in today
Speaker 1: for Joe in. There was the contract with America. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and two. We have the commitment to America
Speaker 1: House Republicans again rolling out their plan for how they
Speaker 1: would govern in a potential Republican majority next year. House
Speaker 1: Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who soon could be speaker, Kevin McCarthy,
Speaker 1: if if everything goes his way, traveled to the suburbs
Speaker 1: of Pittsburgh today to make his pitch. They control the House,
Speaker 1: the Senate, the White House, they control the committees, they
Speaker 1: control the agencies. It's their plan, but they have no
Speaker 1: plan to fix all the problems they created, contrasting their Democrats,
Speaker 1: who currently control the government, with, of course, the own
Speaker 1: plan that he that he and other Republicans have been
Speaker 1: working on now, really for more than a year. The
Speaker 1: plans got about four broad top lines to it, but
Speaker 1: Republicans say there are many, many more details underneath, that
Speaker 1: they are a plenty of bills that they're ready to go. Uh,
Speaker 1: to discuss this a little bit more. We're gonna reassemble
Speaker 1: that panel. Jennie Chian Zano and Rick Davis. Rick, I
Speaker 1: feel like every couple of years, when you see the
Speaker 1: minority get ready to go into the majority, you have
Speaker 1: these plans roll out. How effective are they really? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, most of the time the party out of power,
Speaker 1: Republicans in this case, and both Senate in the house. UH,
Speaker 1: they see their job is stopping bad things from happening. So,
Speaker 1: most notably Mitch mcconnald sort of talks about that a lot.
Speaker 1: His job is to not allow to Biden administration, or
Speaker 1: the Obama Administration in that case, Um, you know, get
Speaker 1: their agenda through. It's always hard to campaign on the negative,
Speaker 1: and so, especially like in the House of represents, where
Speaker 1: there is an expectation that there could be a good outcome,
Speaker 1: for we can take control, they feel the need, uh,
Speaker 1: and probably rightly so, to produce an agenda that they
Speaker 1: can go out and say, if we're elected, these are
Speaker 1: the things that we're going to do, this is what
Speaker 1: we're going to stand for. It helps inoculate the voters
Speaker 1: to the Democratic Um attack that usually comes and has
Speaker 1: been coming, that says, oh, they see, they don't really
Speaker 1: stand for anything, they just the party and know. So
Speaker 1: this gives them a little bit more impetus or Um,
Speaker 1: you know, getting on the balls of their feet for
Speaker 1: the last, you know, sixty days the campaign and Um.
Speaker 1: And so this, as you say, emily, pretty typical right,
Speaker 1: according to script. Yeah, they even had a former House speaker,
Speaker 1: new Gingrich, of course the architect behind contract with America,
Speaker 1: come speak with Republicans yesterday. He has been involved in
Speaker 1: the process. I actually did get to briefly speak with
Speaker 1: a former speaker, ging rich, yesterday, and I asked him
Speaker 1: kind of you know, is it better for Republicans to
Speaker 1: campaign on what they are going to do or to
Speaker 1: really contrast themselves with Biden? And he said, for independence
Speaker 1: in particular, which of course Republicans need to win, that
Speaker 1: this plan that they have rollout is going to be
Speaker 1: one of the things that really resounds with those types
Speaker 1: of voters. But, Jennie, I want to turn to you
Speaker 1: for a minute here, because we've already seen Democrats begin
Speaker 1: to attack this plan and attack things that Republicans are
Speaker 1: are proposing. How might we see Democrats trying use this
Speaker 1: plan to their advantage? Well, yeah, and it's like back
Speaker 1: to the future. And I was so fascinated to hear
Speaker 1: your conversation with new Gingrich yesterday and I was struck
Speaker 1: by how positive he was about this Um. Not that
Speaker 1: I'm surprised, but he seemed to suggest it may not
Speaker 1: even be more effective than his contract with America. He
Speaker 1: called it more sophisticated. Yeah, I thought that was, you know,
Speaker 1: just a studying revelation. But Um, you know, I think
Speaker 1: we're starting to hear, as you mentioned, Um, how the president,
Speaker 1: how Democrats are going to be responding to this. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, Joe Biden is calling it series of policy
Speaker 1: goals with little or no detail. Um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, the Republicans, as he keeps saying,
Speaker 1: as Maga Republicans, and he's trying to focus on things
Speaker 1: like the fact that they don't mention specifically Medicare, they
Speaker 1: don't mention social security. Um, you know, the the idea
Speaker 1: that they want to uh, you know, sort of follow
Speaker 1: this path of taking those away from from Middle America
Speaker 1: and from people who need them. In in we we
Speaker 1: heard a little about a bit of this in in
Speaker 1: the Senator Scott's plans. So, you know, they keep harkening
Speaker 1: back to that. I think he's going to use it
Speaker 1: in that way. These are really talking points for the Republicans.
Speaker 1: My big question is is, you know, if we see
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy become speaker, is he going to have an
Speaker 1: easier time keeping this very raucous Republican caucus together? Than say,
Speaker 1: John Bayner or Paul Ryan or or even Dennis Haster,
Speaker 1: who had a really tough time doing that. You know, Jenny,
Speaker 1: you bring up such a good point there, because one
Speaker 1: of the things that Kevin McCarthy really did for this
Speaker 1: is that he created all these task forces to come
Speaker 1: up with the plan and he made sure that members
Speaker 1: across the conservative ideological spectrum were on each of those caucuses.
Speaker 1: So folks like Marjorie Taylor ring got input. Well, more
Speaker 1: moderate members of the Republican caucus got input into this
Speaker 1: overall plan. Rick, you you really know the Republican Party well. So.
Speaker 1: So I want to ask you how much of a
Speaker 1: problem is a possible future speaker, Kevin McCarthy, going to
Speaker 1: have with the different fractions of his conference? Oh, it comes,
Speaker 1: just like you know, spring comes. Uh, it's it's always
Speaker 1: going to be a problem around the big institutional things like, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, the budget, just what we were talking about
Speaker 1: a minute ago. As far as passing the annual budget,
Speaker 1: the debt ceiling, there's always a big fight, especially with
Speaker 1: the conserve elements within the Freedom Caucus, on the debt ceiling.
Speaker 1: So these big institutional things are very much opposed by
Speaker 1: the sort of ultra right wing of the Republican House Caucus.
Speaker 1: And and yet they're sort of mandatory requirements for leadership, right.
Speaker 1: I mean that's what the American people expect you to do.
Speaker 1: Is The minimum basic, uh level of competence is to
Speaker 1: make sure the government is funded and UH and it
Speaker 1: continues to run. So this is where this that you
Speaker 1: always run into trouble with the groups like the Freedom
Speaker 1: Caucus and and I have absolute confidence that the thirty
Speaker 1: members they have now will probably increase in number and
Speaker 1: make make that kind of decision making for the leadership
Speaker 1: of the House even more complicated. Absolutely. I mean we
Speaker 1: definitely have seen a number of candidates who seem like prime,
Speaker 1: prime individuals to be joining that caucus if they win
Speaker 1: their elections in November. One thing that also strikes me
Speaker 1: is that McCarthy is really pitching this plan. One of
Speaker 1: the big factors, of course, is fighting inflation, but economists
Speaker 1: are continuing to warn that we're headed toward a recession.
Speaker 1: The market has had a brutal week. Stocks continue to
Speaker 1: fall today. Rick is the Republican Plan? Is it address
Speaker 1: at all, or could it work at all if we
Speaker 1: are in a recession, when Republicans potentially take power. Well,
Speaker 1: I think some of the elements that Kevin McCarthy and
Speaker 1: the commitment for America laid out today, especially on government
Speaker 1: funding and trying to reduce deficits, do have a positive
Speaker 1: impact on the potential uh management through a recession. So
Speaker 1: but like when he then talks about things like fighting crime,
Speaker 1: that sounds like a spending program right, and when you
Speaker 1: talk about border security, sounds like money is going to
Speaker 1: go into that. So that that's going to be the trick, right,
Speaker 1: is to how to balance those demands. But again, you
Speaker 1: know that's the classic debate between monetary and Fiscal Policy
Speaker 1: and how much, you know, is the monetary policy really
Speaker 1: going to drive that? And so you have Republicans in
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh today who are really kind of drying to draw
Speaker 1: the distinction now between themselves and their plan and Biden
Speaker 1: and his plan. And of course this is a critique
Speaker 1: of what the president has done. But was also talking
Speaker 1: in DC on Friday and he responded to critics who
Speaker 1: have attacked his fiscal policies. Donald Trump and Republicans had
Speaker 1: no problem, had no problem and acting in his four
Speaker 1: years a two trillion dollar tax cut that overwhelmingly benefit
Speaker 1: of the top one percent and they didn't pay for
Speaker 1: penty of it and a massively increased the federal deficit. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: you know, we always say that Democrats are the big spenders.
Speaker 1: Were brought down the deficit. Genie. I just want to
Speaker 1: get your take on this because, you know, Democrats now,
Speaker 1: I think, are some of them, are trying to position
Speaker 1: themselves as being more fiscally conservative, but at the same
Speaker 1: point they've passed all these big spending bills. WHO's Biden
Speaker 1: trying to reach here with this message? Oh, you know,
Speaker 1: I think he's trying to hold Democrats and reach into
Speaker 1: those suburbs where those moderates are that are, you know,
Speaker 1: on the brink and and everybody is sort of vying
Speaker 1: for their supportive possible. It a tough time for him
Speaker 1: to be making this case. And you know, as you
Speaker 1: and Jack were talking about, what's going to happen in
Speaker 1: Congress in the next few days or weeks in regards
Speaker 1: to the CR right after that Um, right after, you know,
Speaker 1: the election, we're going to have the fight over the
Speaker 1: omnibus bill and I think there's going to be a
Speaker 1: big fight there between the Republicans, particularly if they take
Speaker 1: over the house and or senate and the President and
Speaker 1: the administration in terms of how much they're gonna want
Speaker 1: to fund the government. And a lot of that is
Speaker 1: going to have to do with these issues of the
Speaker 1: economic impact of that and where we are visa of
Speaker 1: the inflation, which most econmists say is not going to
Speaker 1: be very good in mid to late November. Rick, I
Speaker 1: also wanted to get your thoughts on this. Kind of
Speaker 1: flipped the question. Can Republicans still hold claim that they
Speaker 1: are the party of being fiscally conservative when in the past,
Speaker 1: some of the things that that they have approved, I'm
Speaker 1: thinking the seen tax policy, have found up contributing to
Speaker 1: the deficit? Oh yeah, now well, it's a real challenge
Speaker 1: in the sense that can secutive Republican administrations, George Bush's
Speaker 1: and Donald Trump's were really big spenders. I mean, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: George Bush with his massive increase in Medicare, and Donald
Speaker 1: Trump uh uh, never saw a program that didn't want
Speaker 1: to throw money at to solve so uh, it's it's
Speaker 1: a bit uh, it's a bit chaotic when it comes
Speaker 1: to having a consistent message, but nonetheless it sounds like
Speaker 1: they're starting to get back on that horse, so we'll
Speaker 1: see if they can stay on it. Rick Genie, thank
Speaker 1: you both so much for joining us today. That is
Speaker 1: Rick Davis, genie, she and Zano, two of our ace
Speaker 1: Bloomberg correspondents. If you missed any of the show or
Speaker 1: just want to hear our beautiful voices again, you can
Speaker 1: listen to the sound on podcast. I'm Emily Wilkins. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg.