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Speaker 2: A lot of news pertaining to one subject in particular,
Speaker 2: and that is the looming ban of TikTok in the
Speaker 2: United States. It's of course supposed to go into effect
Speaker 2: on January nineteenth if they don't divest their US operations.
Speaker 2: This is actually happening because a bipartisan legislation that passed
Speaker 2: through both chambers of Congress and was signed into law
Speaker 2: by President Biden last year. But of course a new
Speaker 2: president is coming in and we learned yesterday that the
Speaker 2: CEO of TikTok, Show Chew, met with Donald Trump, the
Speaker 2: President elect, at mar A Lago. This is after TikTok
Speaker 2: asked the Supreme Court to intervene to stop the ban
Speaker 2: at least for now, and after we heard Trump earlier
Speaker 2: in the day in a news conference at mar A
Speaker 2: Lago talking about his feelings about the platform.
Speaker 3: We'll take a look at TikTok. You know, I have
Speaker 3: a warm spot in my heartfit TikTok because I won
Speaker 3: youth by thirty four points. And there are those that
Speaker 3: say that TikTok has something to do with a TikTok
Speaker 3: had an impact, and so we'll take you to look
Speaker 3: at it now.
Speaker 2: Emerson College is out with some new polling around TikTok
Speaker 2: and that maybe does support the idea of youth wanting
Speaker 2: it to stick. Around half of voters under thirty, according
Speaker 2: to Emerson's data, oppose this ban. So joining me now
Speaker 2: for more is Spencer Kimball. He is the director of
Speaker 2: the Emerson College Polling Center. Thanks for being here on
Speaker 2: Balance of Power, Spencer, I would imagine that there is
Speaker 2: a pretty large student population at Emerson that is on TikTok.
Speaker 4: So what do we need to.
Speaker 2: Know about that the correlation between support of this looming
Speaker 2: ban and age.
Speaker 5: Here, and I think, Kaylee, that's the most important is
Speaker 5: that there is a generational divide that we're seeing on
Speaker 5: this issue in other issues, but particularly when it comes
Speaker 5: to TikTok. That eighteen to twenty nine, and even though
Speaker 5: they're not in our survey, those under eighteen are also
Speaker 5: using TikTok, and they would prefer to keep it. What
Speaker 5: we also find is that the minority population, particularly black
Speaker 5: voters two to one, want to keep TikTok about fifty
Speaker 5: four percent. So it's interesting to see the political wins
Speaker 5: in the dynamics in play here on this issue.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, and this isn't the only issue centered around kind
Speaker 2: of technology adoption and feeling around technology that does have
Speaker 2: these kind of distinctions, not just in terms of age,
Speaker 2: but also the other demographics you were pointing to, like minorities.
Speaker 2: You find kind of similar patterns when it comes to
Speaker 2: crypto for example.
Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly in this survey, as we were looking at
Speaker 5: the data, I was thinking of my students and I'm like, wow,
Speaker 5: the student population here, it's a lot different than the
Speaker 5: rest of us are in our thirties or forties or fifties,
Speaker 5: and then us in our sixties and seventies. We really
Speaker 5: have different attitudes about cryptocurrency. We have different attitudes about TikTok.
Speaker 5: So these eighteen to twenty nine year olds, they're finding
Speaker 5: themselves as in a minority. So even on cryptocurrency, that's
Speaker 5: something that's really popular with about eighteen to forty nine
Speaker 5: year olds eighteen to thirty nine is the sweet spot.
Speaker 5: But up to those forty nine year olds, they're still
Speaker 5: involved in it, but it's the minorities. They're two to
Speaker 5: one more likely to be involved in cryptocurrency than the
Speaker 5: white voter. And so we see here an opportunity in
Speaker 5: the economy for these younger voters that they see crypto
Speaker 5: as kind of their key to success. And that's also
Speaker 5: changing the political realignment of these voters where they were
Speaker 5: really strong Democratic voters, and now fifty seven percent of
Speaker 5: those invested in crypto have a favorable opinion of Donald Trump.
Speaker 5: So what you're seeing is that swing of the vote.
Speaker 5: And we saw that play out in the election as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we certainly did, and not just the presidential one,
Speaker 2: but the ballot as well when we look at some
Speaker 2: of the congressional and Senate races in which there was
Speaker 2: a lot of crypto money at play. You alluded to
Speaker 2: those spencer this notion that for at least some group
Speaker 2: of the population, this is an economic issue, but there
Speaker 2: are also wider economic issues that would affect American consumers
Speaker 2: pretty much across the board at play now in this
Speaker 2: second Trump administration, including that of tariffs, I know you
Speaker 2: did some pulling on that as well. Donald Trump had
Speaker 2: made no secret of his feelings around this and his
Speaker 2: support of more protectionist ideas on the campaign trail, and
Speaker 2: he won. But does the data suggest that really voters
Speaker 2: are feeling that protectionist, that supportive of tariffs.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the voters are leaning on the side that the
Speaker 5: tariffs are going to hurt. About fifty percent think it's
Speaker 5: going to hurt, a little under forty percent think it's
Speaker 5: going to be helpful. It's driven mostly on this by
Speaker 5: political ideology. So Republicans think that the tariffs are going
Speaker 5: to be helpful about fifty five percent. Democrats seventy one
Speaker 5: percent say no, they're going to hurt the economy, and
Speaker 5: the Independents align with the Democrats on this issue, about
Speaker 5: fifty seven percent think it'll also hurt the economy, So
Speaker 5: that one's really being driven by political ideology, while we're
Speaker 5: seeing more of that age and generational divide on those
Speaker 5: other issues of crypto and TikTok.
Speaker 2: Well, as we consider political ideology here and the president
Speaker 2: that is coming into the White House being many very
Speaker 2: different in terms of ideology than the president who is
Speaker 2: outgoing Joe Biden there's just what thirty four days left
Speaker 2: of Biden's presidency. Here, he's trying very hard to shape
Speaker 2: his legacy in part on the economy, but everything else
Speaker 2: as well. How are people feeling about him knowing that
Speaker 2: he's about to vacate the office.
Speaker 5: They're kind of at the lowest point and they're feeling
Speaker 5: for Joe Biden. And our polling over the last four years,
Speaker 5: his approval ratings around thirty six percent, disapproval about fifty
Speaker 5: four percent, which are kind of the low and the
Speaker 5: high that we've seen in over this administration. So it's
Speaker 5: right now kind of of a down note. On top
Speaker 5: of it, you know that core constituency of younger voters,
Speaker 5: they're going to be upset with TikTok because he's kind
Speaker 5: of holding the bag. As you mentioned, it's on the
Speaker 5: nineteenth that this goes into effect, but Trump comes in
Speaker 5: on the twentieth, so this could also impact his legacy
Speaker 5: with these younger voters who don't think you know, who
Speaker 5: want to keep TikTok and might blame the president if
Speaker 5: it gets taken away.
Speaker 2: Is part of the reason Spencer, before we let you go,
Speaker 2: that his approval is so low right now because of
Speaker 2: his pardon of his son Hunter.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the pardon was not popular either. Fifty two percent
Speaker 5: said they you shouldn't have done that. About thirty percent
Speaker 5: we're okay with it, So that's not a policy. Some
Speaker 5: of the pardons have kind of piled up on him
Speaker 5: in a more negative way. Also, I think, you know,
Speaker 5: it's the end of the term and what is going
Speaker 5: to be his lasting legacy and we're going to have
Speaker 5: to wait to see, but right now he's in a
Speaker 5: bit of turmoil in this administration. As he's leaving office.
Speaker 2: He certainly is all right. Spencer Kimball of Emerson College
Speaker 2: bringing us the new data from Emerson's Polling Center, where
Speaker 2: he is the director. Thanks for being here.
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Speaker 4: And I want to go now live too. Capital Hill.
Speaker 2: We're joining us from her office is Republican Congressman Nicole
Speaker 2: Mallia Takis of New York thanks for your patients. Congressman,
Speaker 2: welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. If we could
Speaker 2: just begin with this continuing resolution that we haven't got
Speaker 2: eyes on it yet. Should the seventy two hour rule
Speaker 2: be waived in this instance with the midnight Friday deadline.
Speaker 4: Would you be supportive of that?
Speaker 7: I mean, it depends how much time is going to
Speaker 7: be cut from that seventy two hours. I think there's
Speaker 7: a lot of members that, rightfully, so including myself, would
Speaker 7: actually like to have the time to read the text.
Speaker 7: Right this is you know, we said we were done
Speaker 7: with the days of passing legislation to find out what's
Speaker 7: in it, right and obviously, if these bills are hundreds
Speaker 7: if not you know, fifteen hundred pages, that takes time
Speaker 7: to know exactly what we're voting on. Because we do
Speaker 7: need to respond to our constituents. We do need to
Speaker 7: be held accountable by our constituents, and we should be
Speaker 7: We can't do that if we're voting on legislation without
Speaker 7: knowing all the details. And so I think there's a
Speaker 7: lot of questions and a lot of frustration among the
Speaker 7: membership right now because we feel like these negotiations have
Speaker 7: been taking place, and we're sort of left in the dark.
Speaker 7: It has not been a member driven process. It's been
Speaker 7: a process driven by leadership. And unfortunately, you know, we're
Speaker 7: kind of just waiting to see what happens. We shouldn't
Speaker 7: be able, We shouldn't have to find out what's going
Speaker 7: on by searching Twitter. That's the bottom line. We are
Speaker 7: the lawmakers. We all have aspirations here of what we'd
Speaker 7: like to achieve for our constitution wins with this final package.
Speaker 7: I think it's frustrating to a lot of members that
Speaker 7: we're also seeing this negotiation with the Democrats when we're
Speaker 7: in the majority and we should be talking among ourselves
Speaker 7: and figuring.
Speaker 5: This out.
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 2: And you will be in the majority still in the
Speaker 2: next Congress when the next deadline looms March fourteenth. We
Speaker 2: understand we're going to be doing this whole song and
Speaker 2: dance over again. And given the narrowness of the majority
Speaker 2: you will be part of. It is likely that Democratic
Speaker 2: votes are going to be needed to carry funding over
Speaker 2: the finish line. Congressman, so how would you like to
Speaker 2: see Speaker Johnson handle it differently than the situation is
Speaker 2: currently being handled.
Speaker 7: But I think next year, hopefully we'll be in a
Speaker 7: much better situation given that we will have a Republican trifecta.
Speaker 7: And I also think that with President Trump at the helm,
Speaker 7: with his leadership, that he will play a huge role
Speaker 7: in keeping us united and keeping us focused on the agenda,
Speaker 7: which is obviously starts with securing our border, the energy policies,
Speaker 7: the addressing some of the regulatory issues that have stymied
Speaker 7: investment and development and manufacturing in this country, as well
Speaker 7: as what is to me, as a Ways and Means
Speaker 7: member in the House most important in our tax legislation,
Speaker 7: which is, if this expires, it detrimental to our economy,
Speaker 7: to American families, because that single handedly has helped create
Speaker 7: millions of jobs, lifted American wages, brought unemployment employment down
Speaker 7: to record lows, doubled the standard deduction, it lowered the
Speaker 7: corporate rate, the income tax rate, it eliminated the alternative
Speaker 7: minimum facts, and so all that's at stake next year,
Speaker 7: and so we have to focus and prioritize these things
Speaker 7: early on.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: And your Chairman on the Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith,
Speaker 2: has not been shy about saying he thinks if he
Speaker 2: want to get tax reform pack passed. It should be
Speaker 2: included in one big reconciliation package with the border and
Speaker 2: energy and other issues that are high on the incoming
Speaker 2: presidents agenda. Where do you stand on that? How hard
Speaker 2: will it be to get tax reform passed if it
Speaker 2: is a separate package that comes later.
Speaker 7: I agree with the Chairman that we need to prioritize
Speaker 7: tax up front. There's just too much at stake. As
Speaker 7: I just laid out, if these provisions expire, some have
Speaker 7: already begun to sunset or have expired. And I get
Speaker 7: concerned that if we do energy and border security without
Speaker 7: the tax piece, that there will not be cooperation from
Speaker 7: some of the members to focus on the tax piece.
Speaker 7: I think it needs to be done altogether. So you
Speaker 7: have members from border states getting something, you have folks
Speaker 7: that are from energy producing states getting something, and you
Speaker 7: have you know, the fiscal hawks and the ways it means,
Speaker 7: tax experts and tax writing committee members getting something as well.
Speaker 7: So we can help President Trump deliver some of these
Speaker 7: campaign promises with parameters right within reason, but deliver those
Speaker 7: campaign promises. And so we've done a lot of work
Speaker 7: in our committee, laying the groundwork, doing our tax team work,
Speaker 7: round tables, hearings. We have an idea of our options
Speaker 7: that are on the table in terms of different parameters
Speaker 7: that would obviously adjust the costs and the impact, and
Speaker 7: so we need to work now build consensus with our
Speaker 7: colleagues throughout the House.
Speaker 2: Well, what about the salt cap specifically, Bloomberg has reported
Speaker 2: Trump's economic team is looking at doubling it from ten
Speaker 2: thousand to twenty thousand.
Speaker 4: Is that enough for you?
Speaker 7: Well, I think I'm certainly happy that there's something on
Speaker 7: the table because we've been advocating for quite some time
Speaker 7: the New York members to get some sort of tax
Speaker 7: relief in terms of salt. Increasing the standard deduction, doubling
Speaker 7: it for I'm sorry, increasing the salt deduction, doubling it
Speaker 7: for married couples, I think is a great starting point.
Speaker 7: We can work on what figures would be the right
Speaker 7: one may seem a little low for particularly some of
Speaker 7: the New York members. I'm willing to entertain that if
Speaker 7: we are also going to increase the standard deduction, as
Speaker 7: I have had legislation to do. And another important piece
Speaker 7: for me is the Social security, the tax on Social Security.
Speaker 7: I have too many seniors in my district that are
Speaker 7: struggling paycheck to paycheck on Social Security. They have not
Speaker 7: adjusted those thresholds protectable income in forty years, my entire lifetime.
Speaker 7: We need to help protect seniors so they can keep
Speaker 7: more of their hard earned money. So maybe a bonus
Speaker 7: deduction for seniors. We can't adjust the thresholds. And so
Speaker 7: I think there's a lot of things on the table.
Speaker 7: There's a lot of moving parts, and obviously every time
Speaker 7: you move a piece of the puzzle, something happens, right,
Speaker 7: and so it's a matter of figuring what is doable,
Speaker 7: what is reasonable, what is doable, and what could satisfy
Speaker 7: a majority of members to get this thing passed.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you, Congress, about something else I'm
Speaker 2: sure is capturing a lot of attention in your district
Speaker 2: and other districts in New York, New Jersey all throughout
Speaker 2: the Northeast, and that is drones that are high in
Speaker 2: number and pertholating around the sky. It's really unclear exactly
Speaker 2: what is going on and where these things are coming from.
Speaker 2: And I wonder what you have heard, as a lawmaker
Speaker 2: and a member of Congress from authorities about this.
Speaker 7: Well, unfortunately, we haven't heard much and that is part
Speaker 7: of the frustration, and it seems that the federal agencies
Speaker 7: stories seem to change. First they were trying to convince
Speaker 7: us that these were just small manned aircrafts and that
Speaker 7: we were misidentifying them as drones. Then they try to
Speaker 7: convince us, well, yes, now they're commercial drones and recreational drones.
Speaker 7: And now they're even trying to tell us that these
Speaker 7: are stars in some cases that we're seeing and we're
Speaker 7: misidentifying for drones. It is ridiculous that the American people,
Speaker 7: and particularly members of Congress, who have a responsibility not
Speaker 7: just protect our constituency but have a say in matters
Speaker 7: of national security, cannot get this information, cannot get a
Speaker 7: classified briefing. We're going to be offered a briefing today
Speaker 7: by the White House and Department of Homeland Security at
Speaker 7: two thirty today, but it's not a classified briefing, and
Speaker 7: so I'm sure the information we're going to be receiving
Speaker 7: is the same stuff we've been seeing on Twitter, which
Speaker 7: is ludicrous, and so I'm very frustrated by this process. Personally,
Speaker 7: I believe that these are government operated drones. I don't
Speaker 7: know whether they're doing some type of counter terrorism activity
Speaker 7: or exercises, or maybe testing some new equipment or our
Speaker 7: law enforcement or military. But the bottom line is they
Speaker 7: should be honest with the American people. If it's classified,
Speaker 7: they don't need to give us the details to the public.
Speaker 7: They should give it to the members of Congress, but
Speaker 7: at least say what it is in terms of that
Speaker 7: it is military exercises that I think would be satisfactory
Speaker 7: to most people to not think that we're somehow being
Speaker 7: invaded by another country or another planet.
Speaker 2: Of course, Limberg can't confirm whether that is the cases.
Speaker 2: We don't have that information either. Just quickly, though, Congresswomen
Speaker 2: in the interim while everyone's trying to figure out what's
Speaker 2: going on, do you believe police in New York other
Speaker 2: authorities should have the authority to shoot these things down?
Speaker 2: Or does that present its own kind of danger?
Speaker 7: Well, I think in a densely populated area like New York,
Speaker 7: where we've seen these drones flying over military installations, residential communities,
Speaker 7: over buildings, over you know, critical infrastructure like the Arizonto Bridge,
Speaker 7: obviously shooting them down is a concern. But where they're
Speaker 7: coming over the water shoreline, as we've heard happening in
Speaker 7: New Jersey, then they should be they should be shot down.
Speaker 7: And if you know, there needs to be better communication
Speaker 7: between these agencies. Like if it is, indeed, we find
Speaker 7: out that it is a federal agency that's operating these drones,
Speaker 7: wouldn't it be if our local law enforcement actually knew
Speaker 7: about it, if our local military installation knew about it.
Speaker 7: As far as I'm concerned in that my conversations with them,
Speaker 7: they know nothing. They have no idea wear these drones,
Speaker 7: who's operating these drones and for what purpose. So there
Speaker 7: definitely is a lack of communication between the federal agencies
Speaker 7: and also with the different levels of government. Federal government
Speaker 7: doesn't seem to be keeping the state or the city informed,
Speaker 7: and that is I think very problematic.
Speaker 2: All Right, Republican Congressman Nicole mally Takis of New York,
Speaker 2: thanks for joining us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Speaker 4: Happy holidays.
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Speaker 2: We of course are wrapping up the one hundred and
Speaker 2: eighteenth Congress this week and looking ahead to the one
Speaker 2: hundred and nineteenth, which of course will bring with it
Speaker 2: Republican control of both the Senate and the House, leaving
Speaker 2: Democrats once again in the House minority. But that minority,
Speaker 2: as it begins to take shape, who will be having
Speaker 2: key roles in it is starting to look generationally a
Speaker 2: little bit different. This is something we've talked about for
Speaker 2: weeks now, this notion that older members of the Democratic
Speaker 2: Caucus are kind of being pushed aside for younger members
Speaker 2: of it. At least, this is a pattern we had
Speaker 2: been seeing when you look to Judiciary, for example, and
Speaker 2: Jerry Nadler having to bow out in favor of Jamie Raskin,
Speaker 2: and that led a question over who would be the
Speaker 2: ranking member on the Oversight Committee, And we saw this
Speaker 2: battle taking place between a very young member of Congress,
Speaker 2: Congressman Alexandria Acossio Cortes, who's thirty five, and Jerry Connolly,
Speaker 2: who's seventy four. And it turns out in both the
Speaker 2: Steering Committee last night and in the general Caucus today,
Speaker 2: Democrats opted for Connolly over AOC.
Speaker 4: We want to have more on.
Speaker 2: What exactly this might be mean for this general shift
Speaker 2: generational shift we've been talking so much about, and turn
Speaker 2: to our political panel. Genie Schanzeno is with me, democratic
Speaker 2: analyst and senior Democracy Fellow at the Center for the
Speaker 2: Study of the Presidency in Congress, alongside John Seaton, Republican
Speaker 2: strategist and founder and CEO of Echo Canyon Consulting. Genie
Speaker 2: is the Democrat. I will come to you on this first.
Speaker 2: What does this say that Connolly triumphed over AOC.
Speaker 8: I think it says that this is going to be
Speaker 8: a struggle for the Democrats to fully realize this generational shift.
Speaker 8: We saw some of it, as you just mentioned. Nadler
Speaker 8: was a perfect example to Raskin, but it didn't go
Speaker 8: so well for AOC, and I have to tell you, Kayley,
Speaker 8: I think it is a big mistake on the part
Speaker 8: of the Democrats. The most important committee for the Democrats
Speaker 8: in the House this year is going to be Oversight.
Speaker 8: They have completely lost Washington d C in the last election,
Speaker 8: and we constantly hear talk about the fact that the
Speaker 8: Democrats weren't on message in the campaign, and there's truth
Speaker 8: to that, but the reality is it wasn't only that
Speaker 8: they weren't on message. They are not adept at using
Speaker 8: the new media that they need to use to reach
Speaker 8: these voters that they're losing. And nobody is better at
Speaker 8: that in the House than AOC. And of course we
Speaker 8: need her there to make these cases. She is so
Speaker 8: adept at it. I'm sure you know you saw this, Kelly.
Speaker 8: After the election, she took to Instagram and asked people
Speaker 8: in our district why did you vote for me? And
Speaker 8: Donald Trump? And she got back fascinating responses about authenticity
Speaker 8: and posted all of those. This is the kind of
Speaker 8: conversation Democrats need, and you know, God loved Jerry. Now
Speaker 8: commonly it's not going to happen in that way, and
Speaker 8: so Democrats, I think, have made a mistake by going
Speaker 8: in that direction and heeding this notion of seniority.
Speaker 2: So, John, is this good news for Republicans that it
Speaker 2: won't be AOC providing the direct counter to Jim Comer.
Speaker 9: You know, I'm not so sure. I think it's an
Speaker 9: interesting question.
Speaker 10: And she obviously does represent a much you know, younger
Speaker 10: version of the Democratic Party. She also represents a much
Speaker 10: more extreme version of the Democratic Party. And you only
Speaker 10: need to look to last month when she made some
Speaker 10: extremely inflammatory comments about Apak the American Israel relationship. She
Speaker 10: has definitely been on the left fringe of the party.
Speaker 10: There's a reason that, reportedly, anyway, former Speaker Pelosi was
Speaker 10: making phone calls and working hard against her ascension because
Speaker 10: she would really put a lot of Democrats I think
Speaker 10: in very, very uncomfortable positions. So Democrats did go with
Speaker 10: the safer option. It remains to be seen whether that
Speaker 10: was the wisest choice.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you as well about something happening
Speaker 2: in the Republican Conference, John, because separately, yesterday we learned
Speaker 2: Republican Congresswoman in Victoria's Sparts announced that she's going to
Speaker 2: opt out of serving on any committees next year and
Speaker 2: will no longer be taking place in Republican Conference meetings.
Speaker 2: She says, though she will be staying a registered Republican.
Speaker 2: But given that we know Republicans will be working with
Speaker 2: an incredibly tight majority, potentially only affording to lose one
Speaker 2: vote in the early days of the one hundred and nineteenth Congress,
Speaker 2: is this going to be potentially a big problem, certainly
Speaker 2: an any threat to getting to two hundred and eighteen
Speaker 2: votes could be a concern.
Speaker 9: I think Speaker Johnson has done.
Speaker 10: A remarkably good job and keeping the caucus together as
Speaker 10: bestie can. It's a caucus with a lot of you know,
Speaker 10: of strong personalities, and so this will this will be
Speaker 10: one more challenge for him to make sure that he
Speaker 10: can count to two eighteen when he brings legislation to
Speaker 10: the floor. I was a little surprised when I saw that,
Speaker 10: and I'm interested to see what it looks like in
Speaker 10: terms of fundraising. A lot of fundraising can be determined
Speaker 10: by which committees you sit on. And we'll see if
Speaker 10: she does remain a loyal Republican vote. Otherwise it will
Speaker 10: be that much more difficult to pass legislation, especially with
Speaker 10: so many vacancies due to appointment into the Trump cabinet.
Speaker 2: Well, she said the reason that she was opting out
Speaker 2: of all of this was because she quote doesn't need
Speaker 2: to be involved in circuses. Genie, what do you make
Speaker 2: of this?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it is a precursor of what is
Speaker 8: to come in the in the two hundred and nineteenth Congress,
Speaker 8: you know, or one hundred and nineteenth. Sorry, that would
Speaker 8: be a long way one hundred nineteenth, given how tight
Speaker 8: it is. And you know, just one member who feels
Speaker 8: put out on the Republican side, who feels frustrated for
Speaker 8: any reason to stand up and say they are going
Speaker 8: to step away in this way from committees. That's one thing.
Speaker 8: But imagine if they say they aren't going to vote
Speaker 8: with the Republicans. What does that mean for Mike Johnson.
Speaker 8: It means for everything from funding the government to immigration
Speaker 8: to crypto. I mean, the list just goes on and on.
Speaker 8: He has to deal with Democrats and there's nothing that's
Speaker 8: going to frustrate Republicans more than that. And so this
Speaker 8: is the space that Mike Johnson finds himself in. I mean,
Speaker 8: he is just walking a tightrope. And you know when
Speaker 8: I heard this, I said, Wow, if she can do this,
Speaker 8: and we haven't even got into the one hundred and nineteen,
Speaker 8: imagine what's in store for us just in a few
Speaker 8: weeks from now when they take government.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we all have so much to look forward to
Speaker 2: in the early days, including, of course, what we understand
Speaker 2: will be pretty quick quick action that they're at least
Speaker 2: going to try to take on reconciliation. John We know
Speaker 2: that the Senate incoming majority leader John Thune is advocating
Speaker 2: for two budget reconciliation package is the first one dealing
Speaker 2: with border and energy, then dealing.
Speaker 4: With a tax package later on.
Speaker 2: Members of the House, including Nicole Maley Takis, who I
Speaker 2: just talked to, is on the Ways and Means Committee
Speaker 2: would rather see it all done at once.
Speaker 4: Where do you come down on this?
Speaker 2: If they have success in getting one package through, does
Speaker 2: that make it that much harder to get the second
Speaker 2: one through or pave an easier path?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 10: So my only experience with this comes in two thousand
Speaker 10: and five after President Bush's reelection, and even he said
Speaker 10: that he probably should have done immigration before social Security.
Speaker 10: You want to do the easier thing first, is when
Speaker 10: you have the most political capital, as we have the
Speaker 10: most people who want to see those first hundred days
Speaker 10: be a success.
Speaker 9: So I thought that was a fascinating interview.
Speaker 10: I thought it was really really interesting to kind of
Speaker 10: hear what the internal machinations are within the conference. I
Speaker 10: would expect they might want to do taxes first, but yeah,
Speaker 10: it remains to be seen.
Speaker 6: It.
Speaker 9: It will be a very interesting time.
Speaker 10: And again informed by what I saw after President Bush's reelection,
Speaker 10: I know that they need to be very careful and
Speaker 10: deliberate in what they do first, because it's not going
Speaker 10: to be easier.
Speaker 9: It's not going to get any easier after those first
Speaker 9: hundred days.
Speaker 2: Well sure, and when we consider some of the thorny
Speaker 2: issues like the salt cap Genie, which you know very
Speaker 2: well being a New York resident, I would imagine that
Speaker 2: that's going to be tricky because there are a lot
Speaker 2: of Republican members who have expressed the fact that they
Speaker 2: will not be interested in voting for a tax package
Speaker 2: that doesn't materially lift that cap or do away with
Speaker 2: it all together.
Speaker 8: God bless him, Kaylee. That's what I say. You know,
Speaker 8: it has been an issue that is just you know,
Speaker 8: frustrated so many of us here in New York and
Speaker 8: elsewhere and this East coast. But you know that said,
Speaker 8: I think that the president incoming president is going to
Speaker 8: be frustrated unless in that first hundred days Congress moves
Speaker 8: with the speed in which he has been trying to
Speaker 8: move in this transition. I mean, he has talked, you know,
Speaker 8: down to the minute almost what he plans to do
Speaker 8: day one. And you know, now we know or we
Speaker 8: think that if they do get a cr that's March fourteenth.
Speaker 8: That is a huge, huge challenge for the president in
Speaker 8: that first hundred days, because you're going to have a
Speaker 8: government funding fight on last year's funding. You're gonna have immigration,
Speaker 8: You're gonna have taxes, You're gonna have crypto. I mean,
Speaker 8: the list just goes on and on, and all of
Speaker 8: these you mentioned, you know, this issue that so many
Speaker 8: of us care about here and soul. All of these
Speaker 8: issues with such a narrow margin in the House make
Speaker 8: it very easy for one or two members to make
Speaker 8: Johnson and Trump's life difficult. So I think it makes
Speaker 8: the most sense to get a win. I agree completely.
Speaker 8: It makes most sense to got a win where you
Speaker 8: can get it. And since there is a lot of
Speaker 8: energy now behind immigration, that looks like a good place
Speaker 8: to start. That said, historically immigration reform has been a bear,
Speaker 8: so I can't believe I'm saying optimistically that they should
Speaker 8: try to move fast on that. I don't know if
Speaker 8: historically it's going to be able to be realized.
Speaker 2: Well, Genie, you're always good at keeping the historical perspective,
Speaker 2: including what you've been reminding us throughout the questions we
Speaker 2: have around the confirmation of Trump's nominees that historically, if
Speaker 2: they get through the hearing, almost always they end up
Speaker 2: getting confirmed by the Senate. But John, as we see
Speaker 2: some of the more controversial nominees on the Hill this week,
Speaker 2: including HHS Designate Secretary Designate RFK Junior, what is your
Speaker 2: degree of confidence that he Pete, Hegseth and Tulci Gabbard,
Speaker 2: the three we've really been watching, are all going to
Speaker 2: make it through.
Speaker 10: As we said here now, I think all three are
Speaker 10: likely to be confirmed. I do think that their hearings
Speaker 10: will be important. I think that Democrats will have will
Speaker 10: be exercising their advice and consent responsibilities under the Constitution.
Speaker 10: But as of right now, despite some pretty tough press
Speaker 10: on all three of them, they still have the votes.
Speaker 10: As we said here now, at least there's not four
Speaker 10: Republicans who have indicated that they're going to vote no.
Speaker 10: So while I do think it will be a there's
Speaker 10: still a long way to go and it will be
Speaker 10: an arduous process from here to there.
Speaker 9: I expect all three to ultimately be confirmed.
Speaker 2: And Genie, just quickly, we have a minute left here,
Speaker 2: But could any of these three not only get confirmed
Speaker 2: at all, but do so with Democratic votes getting them
Speaker 2: over the finish line.
Speaker 8: We may see a few because of course Tulsi Gabbard
Speaker 8: RFK Junior were formerly Democrats and they do, particularly Tulsei Gabbert,
Speaker 8: have relationships with members of the Senate. That said, I
Speaker 8: think it's going to depend an awful lot on what
Speaker 8: happens with these FBI checks. And then, of course, as
Speaker 8: John mentioned, the hearings, they're going to be fascinating. With RK,
Speaker 8: We're going to get some of the really, really difficult questions.
Speaker 8: We're also going to get questions about bears in Central Park,
Speaker 8: questions about worms on the brain. I mean, the list
Speaker 8: just goes on and on, So it's going to be
Speaker 8: nothing else.
Speaker 2: Indeed, just like Balance of Power is Chenie Schanzano and
Speaker 2: John Seaton here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us our political panel.
Speaker 4: Today.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens
Speaker 1: just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and enroud
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Speaker 6: You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our
Speaker 6: flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa, playing Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Speaker 2: As we discuss what President Trump was saying yesterday in
Speaker 2: mar A Lago. Yes, in part his remarks did pertain
Speaker 2: to the conflict in Ukraine, but he touched a lot
Speaker 2: of other different subjects as well, including having to mount
Speaker 2: a defense for his Health and Human Services Secretary nominee
Speaker 2: RFK Junior, who, of course is making the rounds in
Speaker 2: the Senate this week trying to plead his own case
Speaker 2: to senators. But Donald Trump was making the case for
Speaker 2: him as well. When I asked a question by a
Speaker 2: journalist about RFK yesterday, this was his response.
Speaker 11: I think he's going to be much less radical than
Speaker 11: you would think. I think he's got a very open mind,
Speaker 11: or I wouldn't have put him there. He's going to
Speaker 11: be very much less radical.
Speaker 3: But there are problems.
Speaker 11: I mean, we don't do as well as a lot
Speaker 11: of other nations, and those nations use nothing.
Speaker 2: So we want to get more on RFK Junior now
Speaker 2: as we consider the idea that he could lead the
Speaker 2: Health and Human Services Department. In turn to doctor Leslie Canter,
Speaker 2: she is chair of the Department of Urban Global Public
Speaker 2: Health at Rutgers University and is joining us now here
Speaker 2: on Bloomberg TV and radio. Doctor Canter, thank you for
Speaker 2: your time. When we consider RFK Junior and the many
Speaker 2: ideas around public health around vaccines he has put forward,
Speaker 2: what gives you greatest pause.
Speaker 12: Well, let's start with the fact that we know that
Speaker 12: vaccines are safe and effective, and that over the past
Speaker 12: fifty years, more than one hundred and fifty million lives
Speaker 12: have been saved around the world because of vaccines. Our
Speaker 12: biggest problem right now is that there is too much
Speaker 12: misinformation about vaccines and that is making some parents unnecessarily
Speaker 12: frightened about vaccinating their children.
Speaker 8: We have a tremendous amount.
Speaker 12: Of data that shows that the vaccines that are recommended
Speaker 12: by the American Academy Pediatrics in this country are going
Speaker 12: to keep your kids from getting what could be very
Speaker 12: serious diseases.
Speaker 2: Well, something else we heard from the President elect yesterday
Speaker 2: was that he does not like vaccine mandates, which obviously
Speaker 2: we think about a lot when it comes to the
Speaker 2: required vaccines for children to attend school. What would happen
Speaker 2: if those were to go away.
Speaker 12: Well, we can already see in many states that we
Speaker 12: are getting below what we would consider community immunity. We
Speaker 12: used to call it herd immunity, but we're trying to
Speaker 12: call it community immunity, for example, which is extremely contagious,
Speaker 12: extremely deadly. You need ninety five percent of people in
Speaker 12: a community to be vaccinated to make sure that no
Speaker 12: spread can get going, and we already see in many
Speaker 12: states that we are a little bit below that ninety
Speaker 12: five percent mark. We're at more like ninety percent nationwide.
Speaker 12: So school mandates are one way to have a place
Speaker 12: where we make sure that children are vaccinated and that
Speaker 12: other children are not put at risk because they're unvaccinated
Speaker 12: kids going to school with them well.
Speaker 2: And one vaccine we've heard a lot about in particular
Speaker 2: is the polio vaccine. RFK Junior on the Hill yesterday
Speaker 2: seemed to suggest that he is supportive of it. Donald
Speaker 2: Trump says, we're not going to lose it. How important
Speaker 2: is it that that is true that people continue to
Speaker 2: be vaccinated against polio?
Speaker 12: You know, I think for anybody who was alive and
Speaker 12: terrified when polio was around, my father is among those people,
Speaker 12: and he can't believe, and I don't think most of
Speaker 12: people that age can believe that we would ever for
Speaker 12: a second let up on the polio vaccine. One reason
Speaker 12: that you don't see any of the terrible outcomes of
Speaker 12: polio is because we are all vaccinated these days.
Speaker 2: Well, of course, when we consider what could fall under
Speaker 2: RFK Junior's remit if he were to lead the Department
Speaker 2: of Health and Human Services, it's not just about vaccinations.
Speaker 2: There's obviously a number of other issues that pertain to
Speaker 2: public health, and Donald Trump has talked about some of
Speaker 2: the good ideas he sees RFK having in other arenas, including,
Speaker 2: for example, thoughts around food and nutrition.
Speaker 4: And additives in our food.
Speaker 2: Can you weigh in on some of these other ideas
Speaker 2: that RFK has put forward and whether any of them,
Speaker 2: in your mind, do have a merit in terms of
Speaker 2: thinking about better public health.
Speaker 8: Sure?
Speaker 12: Well, to be clear, I am not a net trihist,
Speaker 12: but I am familiar with some of the concerns about
Speaker 12: ultraprocessed foods. I think that an examination of our food
Speaker 12: supply trying to make people educated about what is important
Speaker 12: for nutrition. I mean, it is kind of stunning that's
Speaker 12: seventy percent of our food supply now is considered having
Speaker 12: at least some ingredients associated with ultraprocessed food. So I
Speaker 12: think that is something that I think many public health
Speaker 12: and health professionals could get behind. But there's certainly a
Speaker 12: lot of concern about any misinformation spreading about things like
Speaker 12: vaccines or things like fluoride. I mean, if you look
Speaker 12: at any list of what the big public health accomplishments
Speaker 12: were between nineteen hundred and nineteen ninety nine, when life
Speaker 12: expectancy went up so much in this country, you're going
Speaker 12: to see vaccines at the top, and then you're also
Speaker 12: going to see fluoride. And by the way, you also
Speaker 12: see family planning, which is something I've spent a lot
Speaker 12: of my career working on.
Speaker 2: Well, and in our final two minutes here, I do
Speaker 2: want to talk to you about that because OURFK Junior
Speaker 2: has actually faced backlash in some conservative circles for his
Speaker 2: more reproductive.
Speaker 4: Rights views that he has held in the past.
Speaker 2: Just quickly here, what is the relationship between reproductive health
Speaker 2: access and public health more widely?
Speaker 12: Well, we know that when women can make decisions about
Speaker 12: their methods of birth control, that's absolutely essential to health,
Speaker 12: and of course access to abortion is important for wanted
Speaker 12: pregnancies as well. The only way we can have maternal
Speaker 12: health in this country is to have access to the
Speaker 12: full range of reproductive health care.
Speaker 2: And do you believe that the pivot we have seen
Speaker 2: from RFK Junior after he has become the nominee talking
Speaker 2: less about abortion rights might translate into actual more restrictions
Speaker 2: on reproductive health.
Speaker 12: I hope not, but I know that we do have
Speaker 12: an administration where a lot of people have very concerning
Speaker 12: attitudes towards abortion and also towards contraception.
Speaker 2: All right, Doctor Leslie Canter, chair of the Department of
Speaker 2: Urban Global Public Health at Rutgers University, Thanks for being
Speaker 2: here on Balance of Power and stay close. I'm sure
Speaker 2: we're going to have much more reason to discuss many
Speaker 2: of these issues as we see the actual confirmation hearings
Speaker 2: and more of the process getting underway.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast.
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