WEBVTT - Republican Senator Ron Johnson Talks Russian Sanctions, Federal Employee Pay

0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.840
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News for.

0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:11.560
<v Speaker 2>Fresh reaction amid these reports this evening on a potential

0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.159
<v Speaker 2>workaround to end the government shutdown. We're joined now by

0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:17.760
<v Speaker 2>Republican Senator of Wisconsin Ron Johnson. He's with us Lie

0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:19.520
<v Speaker 2>from Capitol Hill and Senator, it's great to have you

0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.920
<v Speaker 2>back on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'm looking forward to

0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.200
<v Speaker 2>your thoughts on the shutdown here, but I'd love to

0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.080
<v Speaker 2>ask you about this news that's coming from the White

0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.880
<v Speaker 2>House now and whether the moment has arrived for secondary

0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.000
<v Speaker 2>sanctions to hit the floor. I know that John Thune

0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.040
<v Speaker 2>has said they're on pause right now out of deference

0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:37.400
<v Speaker 2>to the White House, but is it time to.

0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:41.040
<v Speaker 3>Vote well again, I really will that up to the

0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.440
<v Speaker 3>President when he wants that is a backstop to put

0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:44.280
<v Speaker 3>pressure on Putin.

0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:48.960
<v Speaker 4>I think that's room Wilacked understood.

0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.040
<v Speaker 2>Is that something that you feel like we're moving closer

0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.520
<v Speaker 2>to as he prepares to sit down with the Secretary

0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.640
<v Speaker 2>General at NATO. We're just trying to get a sense

0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.040
<v Speaker 2>of which direction the president's leaning in here and how

0:00:58.080 --> 0:00:59.200
<v Speaker 2>to deal with Vladimir Putin.

0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.720
<v Speaker 3>Well, my guess he's getting pretty disgusted with the dealer

0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:07.000
<v Speaker 3>of Vladimir Putin. He's giving him every opportunity to end

0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.240
<v Speaker 3>up with a peaceful solution. Here dangled economic benefits in

0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.080
<v Speaker 3>front of him, obviously threatened sanctions.

0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:16.560
<v Speaker 4>Again, this president wants peace.

0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.959
<v Speaker 3>I think if there's a hallmark to his administration, even

0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.319
<v Speaker 3>his previous administration, he's not a wartime president.

0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:24.800
<v Speaker 4>He wants peace. Now.

0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.800
<v Speaker 3>He used an a cheap piece through strength, but in

0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.440
<v Speaker 3>the end, he wants peace, and he's doggedly pursuing it.

0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.039
<v Speaker 5>And you may have heard Joe just go to the

0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.760
<v Speaker 5>go to truth social posts from the president. He just

0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.080
<v Speaker 5>shot down a Wall Street Journal report that the US

0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:43.440
<v Speaker 5>is allowing Ukraine to use long range missiles in Ukraine.

0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.120
<v Speaker 5>How will that play into what is supposed to be

0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.400
<v Speaker 5>a meeting between President Trump and Vladimir Putin, which is

0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:51.760
<v Speaker 5>now looking much less likely.

0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.440
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I think that meeting is canceled because Vladimir Putin

0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:00.120
<v Speaker 3>keeps lobbing missiles more than lobbying launching missiles into Ukraine.

0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:04.760
<v Speaker 3>I get apparently hit Kindergarten earlier today. Again, the lenmricpoons

0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:05.360
<v Speaker 3>a war criminal.

0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:07.720
<v Speaker 4>There's no reason for him to invade Ukraine.

0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:10.480
<v Speaker 3>The fact matter is he's not going to lose this war, though,

0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.000
<v Speaker 3>you've got to recognize that reality. The only way this

0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.640
<v Speaker 3>war ends us through a negotiated settlement. We're not going

0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:19.800
<v Speaker 3>to like the terms of that, but even like even worse,

0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.200
<v Speaker 3>the bloody stalemate that we're in right now, where we're

0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.560
<v Speaker 3>losing thousands of people on both sides of a week,

0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:26.680
<v Speaker 3>it's just untenable.

0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.320
<v Speaker 2>I want to ask you about what's happening with the

0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.240
<v Speaker 2>shutdown here, Senator. I spoke earlier with the chairman of

0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.440
<v Speaker 2>the House Ways and Means Committee, who kind of stopped

0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.760
<v Speaker 2>us in our tracks when he suggested that he might

0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:42.000
<v Speaker 2>be behind a full year cr in fact one that

0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.919
<v Speaker 2>would get us through December of twenty twenty six whant

0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.040
<v Speaker 2>I need to hear what he said earlier on Bloomberg.

0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:48.600
<v Speaker 4>Let's listen.

0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:52.720
<v Speaker 1>December twenty first, twenty twenty sixth is what I've been

0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.760
<v Speaker 1>hearing up here as a suggestion as an opportunity of

0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:01.440
<v Speaker 1>a continued resolutions. As we know we're operating under a

0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:03.239
<v Speaker 1>year long resolution.

0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:03.639
<v Speaker 4>From last year.

0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.919
<v Speaker 1>We're looking at what was appropriated when Biden was president.

0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.360
<v Speaker 2>That was a Congressman Jason Smith earlier on Bloomberg, Senator,

0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.080
<v Speaker 2>is this what it's come to and would you support

0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.480
<v Speaker 2>a full year continuing resolution.

0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.440
<v Speaker 3>What would be a much better idea would be just

0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.520
<v Speaker 3>passed my eliminate shutdowns at But that doesn't sets up

0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.959
<v Speaker 3>automatic rolling fourteen day continuing appropriations for whatever department of

0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.400
<v Speaker 3>all government that hasn't been appropriated for. That would give

0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.560
<v Speaker 3>the appropriators time to find areas of agreement, pass the

0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.920
<v Speaker 3>bills that can pass the ones that don't. You just

0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.760
<v Speaker 3>continue to fund at last year's levels. That'd be a

0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.840
<v Speaker 3>far more common sense approach than a one year continuing

0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:46.280
<v Speaker 3>resolution for all of government.

0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:48.560
<v Speaker 4>Give the appropriate appropriators time.

0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.400
<v Speaker 3>The appropriators some of the Republicans even vote against the

0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:55.120
<v Speaker 3>limit a shutdown Act they said would undermine the appropriations process. Well,

0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.920
<v Speaker 3>here's the alternative, a CI that goes into December twenty

0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:02.240
<v Speaker 3>twenty six. So hopefully people will come to their senses

0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:06.720
<v Speaker 3>and realize Eliminate Shutdowns Act is the solution to our

0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.240
<v Speaker 3>current fix CENTAER.

0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:11.880
<v Speaker 5>It doesn't seem that that bill has gone very far yet.

0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.680
<v Speaker 5>Are you sensing you will get some more support for this?

0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.479
<v Speaker 3>Well, the good news is a leader of thutent switches

0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:21.440
<v Speaker 3>vote to no swinging brand for reconsideration. Again, I was

0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.159
<v Speaker 3>very disappointed Republican appropriates voting no.

0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:25.440
<v Speaker 4>They said it would.

0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.520
<v Speaker 3>Undercut the appropriation process. But let me describe that appropriation

0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:32.960
<v Speaker 3>process it supposedly underminds. I've been here fifteen years. That

0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:35.600
<v Speaker 3>means we should have passed one hundred and eighty appropriation

0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.160
<v Speaker 3>bills before the start of the fiscal year you're funding.

0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:39.640
<v Speaker 4>We've passed six.

0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:44.880
<v Speaker 3>So this vaunted appropriation process, which is clearly broken, fails

0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.440
<v Speaker 3>ninety six point subset of the time. The Eliminated Shutdown

0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.400
<v Speaker 3>Act does not undermine that process.

0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:52.320
<v Speaker 4>It just gives us all the time.

0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.240
<v Speaker 3>We wouldn't be sitting here the fourth week, going to

0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.360
<v Speaker 3>the fourth week of a shutdown doing nothing. We could

0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.680
<v Speaker 3>have been on appropriation bills. We could have been working

0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:04.839
<v Speaker 3>with each other, we could have been negotiating. But instead

0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.479
<v Speaker 3>we've got this shutdown show in showdown with literally no

0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:12.040
<v Speaker 3>end in sight. Hopefully tomorrow, but hopefully today the Democrats

0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:13.719
<v Speaker 3>are actually vote for the continued resolution.

0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:14.799
<v Speaker 4>Doesn't sound that they will.

0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:17.720
<v Speaker 3>The next best step is, let's at least pay the

0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.920
<v Speaker 3>federal workers were forcing to work. That's the Shutdown Fairness

0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:23.960
<v Speaker 3>Act that I've offered that will be voting on tomorrow.

0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:26.720
<v Speaker 2>I want to ask you about that. I know you're

0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.440
<v Speaker 2>reintroducing this. To your point, there's a vote tomorrow. Do

0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:34.720
<v Speaker 2>you worry that this makes shutdowns easier, that it removes

0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.920
<v Speaker 2>a pain point that might actually compel lawmakers to end

0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.760
<v Speaker 2>this saga?

0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:45.360
<v Speaker 3>Clearly, the current system is utterly broken. Right now, we

0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.560
<v Speaker 3>just cross thirty eight trillion dollars in debt and the

0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.880
<v Speaker 3>definition in Sandy's doing the same thing over and over

0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:52.440
<v Speaker 3>again expecting different results.

0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:54.440
<v Speaker 4>So again we're in this this function.

0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:57.719
<v Speaker 3>Let's not make federal workers who are being forced to

0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:00.720
<v Speaker 3>pay pay for our dysfunction.

0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:02.880
<v Speaker 4>So again, this makes perfect sense.

0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:08.280
<v Speaker 3>Even the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Associations generally

0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:10.800
<v Speaker 3>not an association of that agree with the Republican bill.

0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.479
<v Speaker 3>Completely supports this peace of legislation. So at a minimum,

0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.479
<v Speaker 3>we ought to pass the Shutdown Fairness Act and pay

0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.120
<v Speaker 3>the people we are forcing to work, military, federal law enforcement,

0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.240
<v Speaker 3>air traffic control, people who write our Social Security checks.

0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.360
<v Speaker 4>These people deserve their paycheck. They're working. By the way,

0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:28.599
<v Speaker 4>they're gonna get paid anyway.

0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.000
<v Speaker 3>We have a lot that can to provide back pay,

0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.400
<v Speaker 3>So pay them, you know, in time, so they don't

0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:34.800
<v Speaker 3>have to go to food banks. They don't have to

0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.080
<v Speaker 3>drive door dash to pay for their daughter's tuition. We're

0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.479
<v Speaker 3>hearing stories that's what federal employees are being forced to do.

0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:41.800
<v Speaker 3>That's unconscionable.

0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.479
<v Speaker 5>You know you mentioned you mentioned Argentina. Are you concerned

0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:51.839
<v Speaker 5>the attention to that is is making problems with Wisconsin

0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:53.760
<v Speaker 5>farmers when you're dealing with a shutdown.

0:06:55.400 --> 0:07:00.960
<v Speaker 3>I don't remember mentioning Argentina. Maybe I wasn't articulating something. Listen,

0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.440
<v Speaker 3>we've got a problem right now. From a standpoint, the

0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:09.600
<v Speaker 3>government is shut down, things aren't moving forward. There's a

0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.120
<v Speaker 3>common sense solution here. Either just pass the Continuing Your

0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:17.000
<v Speaker 3>Appropriation or the Eliminate Shutdown Act. Simple solutions, common sense.

0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.240
<v Speaker 3>I think the vast majority of Americans would agree with that.

0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.120
<v Speaker 3>Right now, we're being held hostage by quite hostly the

0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:28.520
<v Speaker 3>UNI party appropriators. This seems dysfunctional. It is dysfunctional, this

0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.600
<v Speaker 3>very well honed process. I've seen a time time again.

0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.640
<v Speaker 3>I've been here fifteen years. You use these shutdowns to

0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.400
<v Speaker 3>back us up against a deadline like Thanksgiving, you Christmas,

0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.920
<v Speaker 3>drop a multi thousand page appropriation bill in or desk,

0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:42.440
<v Speaker 3>say take it, to leave it, or you're not going

0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:44.920
<v Speaker 3>to see Christmas that has to end here.

0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.040
<v Speaker 2>We appreciate it, Senator, and we appreciate your time, Senator

0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:49.800
<v Speaker 2>Ron Johnson.