Speaker 1: Now from our nation's capital. This is Bloomberg Sound On. Oh,
Speaker 1: and you should have seen the whaling and names you
Speaker 1: have teeth. What are you gonna do? We don't want
Speaker 1: to be here until Christmas. Following MAGA is like Thelma
Speaker 1: and Louise going over clip important things in here, like
Speaker 1: the Ukraine Aid, like the TikTok fan, like the electoral counts,
Speaker 1: and they never tell you the truth right. A license
Speaker 1: to lie is called being a Congress Bloomberg Sound On Politics,
Speaker 1: Policy and perspective from DC's top names, and how hard
Speaker 1: this time of year can be. That's why sometimes the
Speaker 1: smallest act of kindness it can means so much. Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. They've passed
Speaker 1: the budget, Now the exodus. Welcome to the fastest hour
Speaker 1: in politics, as the House clears a massive government funding
Speaker 1: package just in time for Christmas, sent over the objections
Speaker 1: of many Republicans. Tonight we dare look inside the one
Speaker 1: point seven trillion dollar plan with the help of our
Speaker 1: two experts on the hill, Bloomberg Government's Emily Wilkins and
Speaker 1: Jack Fitzpatrick with us in just a moment and as
Speaker 1: lawmakers head for the hills. Today we look across the
Speaker 1: divide to the next Congress with a Republican lead. House.
Speaker 1: Jim Kessler of Third Way will join us later on
Speaker 1: the new agenda. We'll look back on the stories that
Speaker 1: resonated most with voters this year. Turns out they're different
Speaker 1: for Democrats and Republicans. Will learn more from Eli Yolkley
Speaker 1: of Morning Consults. It was the last piece of business
Speaker 1: for the sevente Congress. Here's the Majority leader, House Majority
Speaker 1: Leader Stenny Hoyer on the floor. We are here today
Speaker 1: to fulfill one of Congress's most basic responsibilities, to fund
Speaker 1: our government and keep it working for the people. And
Speaker 1: they did the one point seven trillion dollar omnibus we've
Speaker 1: been talking about now for days and weeks past the
Speaker 1: House today to to oh one after the Senate passed
Speaker 1: it yesterday, averting a government shutdown at midnight tonight. So
Speaker 1: I feel required to say, nobody was actually threatening that,
Speaker 1: and it didn't come that a little pain. Minority Leader
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy railed against the bill for about half an
Speaker 1: hour a day angry speech, and rank and file Republicans
Speaker 1: took their time for the same Some leadership members did
Speaker 1: as well. Isn't a Texas Congressman Roy chip Oh, and
Speaker 1: you should have seen the whaling and nash you have
Speaker 1: teeth them. Well, what are you gonna do? We don't
Speaker 1: want to be here until Christmas? Why don't you tell
Speaker 1: that to George Washington and the boys crossing the Delaware
Speaker 1: in seventeen seventy six or the boys in bath Stone
Speaker 1: in What were they doing on Christmas? Were they trying
Speaker 1: to fly out of the nation's capital and their jets
Speaker 1: back to their homes around their warm fireplaces so they
Speaker 1: can be with their families after they absolutely just royally
Speaker 1: screwed the country and their kids and grandkids, because that's
Speaker 1: what they just did. Chip Roy, Congressman Chip Roy, easy
Speaker 1: for me to say, forgive my dyslexia, he went, he was,
Speaker 1: and like many of his colleagues when after the way
Speaker 1: the entire process was handled, he was not only talking
Speaker 1: about Democrats either. Listen, hell, we've the Senate makes us
Speaker 1: look like William the Conqueror. They don't even bother to
Speaker 1: do Appropriations committee work. They just scoff and sit at
Speaker 1: their tables and go, well, we'll just do the work
Speaker 1: for him. Yeah, thanks Mitch, Thanks Mitch, and so how
Speaker 1: about we start there with Jack and Emily Bloomberg. Government's
Speaker 1: Jack Fitzpatrick and Emily Wilkins. This is their specialty. This
Speaker 1: budget stuff has them working hard, and we're lucky to
Speaker 1: have him on this busy day. And maybe if you
Speaker 1: guys have a minute, we can stretch out here on this, uh. Emily.
Speaker 1: Congressman Jim mcgovernment made a point to remind House Republicans
Speaker 1: today that as they vote no on the bill, they
Speaker 1: will also happily then take credit for projects that were
Speaker 1: funded in their districts with this budget. That's that's just
Speaker 1: the way it goes, right, That is, I mean, your Republicans,
Speaker 1: they their whole thing has been that they want to
Speaker 1: cut spending, that they want to reduce the depsit they
Speaker 1: are tying it to inflation. And you know, this is
Speaker 1: exactly what we expected to see from Republicans today. We
Speaker 1: did see a handful of Republicans actually go ahead and
Speaker 1: vote for the omnibus. You also saw, of course, that
Speaker 1: bipartisan support in the Senate where it's absolutely required. But
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone was was shocked that Chip Roy
Speaker 1: went to the House for today and said what he said, Uh,
Speaker 1: staying with of course, Kevin McCarthy at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's you know there. Of course, they both have
Speaker 1: their own their own reasons here. Kevin McCarthy, you know,
Speaker 1: was you could argue auditioning for the job. It wasn't
Speaker 1: lost on me, Jack when when Jim McGovern went up
Speaker 1: to the microphone at one point and said, oh, based
Speaker 1: on what I just heard, he doesn't have the votes yet. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, there was a lot of politics on the floor,
Speaker 1: but I think everybody could kind of tell where this
Speaker 1: was going. Uh, it was clear that generally Republicans were
Speaker 1: going to vote against this, but they weren't gonna lose
Speaker 1: Democratic vote. The Democrats still have the majority. Now this
Speaker 1: can all kind of be seen through a lens of
Speaker 1: uh McCarthy positioning himself for an eventual speaker's vote, kind
Speaker 1: of alliging self with some conservatives, your Chip Roy types,
Speaker 1: who are very enthusiastic about saying, look, this process that
Speaker 1: has gone very poorly from their perspective on spending lately
Speaker 1: has to change in our house Republican majority. So this
Speaker 1: vote wasn't some pivotal thing where it looked like it
Speaker 1: was going to fail, But they had to give some
Speaker 1: speeches and get into it because they're not happy about
Speaker 1: the way things have been going. Well, let's get into
Speaker 1: this a little bit here. By the way, we should
Speaker 1: note emily that a lot of these votes were done
Speaker 1: by proxy. Right, there was almost nobody uh in the
Speaker 1: House today. What were those numbers like, Well, there were
Speaker 1: I think about two sixteen people who are actually in
Speaker 1: the sixteen the chamber. Sixteen voted by proxy. Do a
Speaker 1: eighteen is the middle line? So I think that gives
Speaker 1: you a good idea. And I mean, let's proxy voting.
Speaker 1: You know, they're They're kind of two sides to it, right.
Speaker 1: There's certainly the argument that lawmakers need to be here,
Speaker 1: that they need to do their job. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: lawmakers knew the bill was written. They knew that they
Speaker 1: were just pushing through what the Senate has has already
Speaker 1: cranked out. And a lot of them, you know, they
Speaker 1: want to be home, They want to be with their families.
Speaker 1: They too, are frustrated with how long the process has took. Yesterday,
Speaker 1: House Majority outgoing House Majority Leader Study Lawyer was talking
Speaker 1: about his own frustrations with the appropriations process and the
Speaker 1: budget process that we've seen, Uh, and next year, of
Speaker 1: course proxy voting. Kevin McCarthy has made it clear that
Speaker 1: is going to be absolutely eliminated, but I think it
Speaker 1: is worth it just to sort of see how this
Speaker 1: little experiment played out with proxy voting. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: you saw members, you know, missing committee hearings and then
Speaker 1: zooming in while they were on their boats in the
Speaker 1: middle of the water on the beautiful day. But at
Speaker 1: the same point, you had members who this year, um,
Speaker 1: you know, they were taking care of six loved ones,
Speaker 1: they had cancer, they had legitimate reasons for not being
Speaker 1: able to show up to cast a vote. And I
Speaker 1: think it's it's you know, would be interesting to see
Speaker 1: if Congress ever decides to take a look at how
Speaker 1: you provide members leeway while still making sure that they
Speaker 1: actually show up in the chamber. But that will be
Speaker 1: over in the Republican Leadhouse Saily. Yes, yeah, that's at
Speaker 1: least at least for an hour. Something changes, but but
Speaker 1: that's what we can expect on on January three. Let's
Speaker 1: get into the bill a little bit here, Jack, everyone's
Speaker 1: been here in the top line number because it's eye popping, um.
Speaker 1: And we've heard a lot about funding for Ukraine because
Speaker 1: of largely the Zelenski visit this week and some some
Speaker 1: high profile skepticism, but some of the other important components
Speaker 1: include like the funding for the Pentagon. A ten percent
Speaker 1: increase in defense spending. That's a lot more than President
Speaker 1: Biden asked for. How did Mitch McConnell pull that off?
Speaker 1: You know it? It actually started to get obvious that
Speaker 1: Biden was going to have to sign off on way
Speaker 1: more defense spending than he asked for. Remember, they put
Speaker 1: together their budget proposal at the end of March, not
Speaker 1: that long after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and you
Speaker 1: could tell even in June or July, Republicans would start
Speaker 1: offering amendments and markups on the initial bills saying we
Speaker 1: need more for the military, and Democrats were really on
Speaker 1: the defensive, so you knew that was gonna happen. I
Speaker 1: think the X factor the last month or so was,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a tradition, uh that's bipartisan that gets
Speaker 1: everybody on board that if you increase defense by x amount,
Speaker 1: you do the same for non defense and vice versa.
Speaker 1: Republicans wanted a bigger increase for defense than non defense.
Speaker 1: They succeeded in in getting that. It was a bigger
Speaker 1: boost for defense than non defense. Um. But ultimately, you
Speaker 1: know this, this boosted discretionary spending pretty significantly year over year,
Speaker 1: and that's how you get a deal. You get a
Speaker 1: good increase for both sides. Defense gets Republicans on board,
Speaker 1: non defense gets Democrats on board. Uh. And I think
Speaker 1: largely the war in Ukraine and the amount of they
Speaker 1: had to they had they had to send money back
Speaker 1: to the US military that used its draw down authority
Speaker 1: to help. You grand, that really boosted a bipartisan level
Speaker 1: of support for more defense spending in particular. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: that's the win for Republicans, Emily, was there something sweet
Speaker 1: that Democrats got that that they might not have expected?
Speaker 1: I mean, there were a couple of different things in there.
Speaker 1: You definitely saw the Electoral Reform Act, which is something
Speaker 1: that Democrats have been talking about for a while. Are
Speaker 1: really trying to make it difficult for members to do
Speaker 1: what they did on January six raising that threshold Foreign agreement. UM.
Speaker 1: I mean I think for Democrats too, it was just
Speaker 1: getting it passed, getting it done, uh, not carrying this
Speaker 1: over to next year when you're going to see Republicans
Speaker 1: control the House closing the deal. You mentioned the Electoral
Speaker 1: College Act that had bipartisan support, right, Jack, This was
Speaker 1: something actually that that's important that our listeners should know
Speaker 1: about that. You know, this goes beyond the spending plan.
Speaker 1: There were a couple of things attached to it, and
Speaker 1: looting this one following that that last committee hearing of
Speaker 1: the January six committee is a pretty big deal. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The the attachments on this kind of bill we talk
Speaker 1: about it's a government funding bill, but it's also the
Speaker 1: last must pass piece of legislation, so that means they
Speaker 1: attack on other important things. Uh. And you're right, the
Speaker 1: Electoral count Act was bipartisan. That was something Susan Collins
Speaker 1: in the Senate, the Republican was one of the people
Speaker 1: working on to essentially set a higher threshold for challenging
Speaker 1: presidential election results and make it clear that the vice
Speaker 1: president's role in that is a bit of a check
Speaker 1: the box kind of thing. That this this was to
Speaker 1: avoid a twenty January six kind of issue. Um. And
Speaker 1: in addition to that, they added some other uh, non appropriations,
Speaker 1: non funding measures. There's the thing that U bands, once
Speaker 1: it is assigned into law, will ban federal employees from
Speaker 1: having TikTok on a government owned account. There were some
Speaker 1: measures to increase requirements uh for workplaces to make a
Speaker 1: comidations for pregnant employees and breastfeeding employees that were added
Speaker 1: on late. So this you know this they didn't get
Speaker 1: their tax measures. They wanted to get a big tax bill.
Speaker 1: They didn't quite get that. There are other things that
Speaker 1: fell off. There was no covid uh supplemental funding. But
Speaker 1: it's it's a big legislative vehicle. And and those are
Speaker 1: a few of the other things that they kind of
Speaker 1: tack on that the ornaments that they put on the
Speaker 1: Christians tree, all of those were got bipartisan votes, right,
Speaker 1: or they wouldn't have happened to electoral account Act of
Speaker 1: TikTok band uh. If you and and and some of
Speaker 1: the others that you know, for for protecting pregnant women
Speaker 1: in the workplace, uh, you have to to admit that
Speaker 1: there there was This was a bipartisan exercise, despite a
Speaker 1: lot of the very passionate objections we heard from some
Speaker 1: House Republicans to the Emily, Yes, I mean this is
Speaker 1: something that you know Democrats they that they have worked
Speaker 1: a while for on this um. They have you know,
Speaker 1: looked into a number of things. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: if if I can also just sort of say that
Speaker 1: really for Democrats, I mean, it caps off what has
Speaker 1: been a pretty productive hundred seventeenth Congress. I mean, just
Speaker 1: just to pointing out that, you know, you could do
Speaker 1: consider the bills that they passed. Do you consider things
Speaker 1: they got done? I think yeah, you know that that overall,
Speaker 1: like they were able to get, you know what, much
Speaker 1: more done than I think we were expecting them to
Speaker 1: with the very near margins they had. You guys can
Speaker 1: both keep TikTok on your phones just to be clear,
Speaker 1: right when you're walking on the halls of like maybe
Speaker 1: you can show that to the lawmakers if they need
Speaker 1: to know. I'm not on TikTok yet, I Joe, I
Speaker 1: need you to teach me how to get TikTok. You're
Speaker 1: asking the wrong dude. We can learn this together, though, Jack.
Speaker 1: The two old appropriators who you've covered very closely, Senator
Speaker 1: Patrick Lahy Richard Shelby are leaving the building. They both
Speaker 1: played a pretty big role in making this work. Is
Speaker 1: it gonna be more difficult without them? Um? You know,
Speaker 1: this was a good way for them to cross the
Speaker 1: finish line. I don't know if it's necessarily going to
Speaker 1: be more difficult without them. It's going to be more
Speaker 1: difficult to do basic legislating and fund the government with
Speaker 1: a divided Congress and a narrow Republican majority in the House.
Speaker 1: But you know they're looking at the people in line
Speaker 1: are Patty Murray and Susan Collins to be the top
Speaker 1: appropriators in the Senate. Those are two well established lawmakers
Speaker 1: who have a lot of experience doing appropriate nations work.
Speaker 1: Patty Murray was one worked with Paul Ryan on the
Speaker 1: budget deals like ten years ago. Um, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of trust and faith there that it would be notable
Speaker 1: that the the the four corners, as they say, the
Speaker 1: four top appropriations member those two Rosadelaaro and k Granger
Speaker 1: would all be women for the first time. Um, so
Speaker 1: there's there's some lawmakers are kind of looking forward to
Speaker 1: working with them. But this was a nice way to
Speaker 1: cross the finish line for Shelby and Leahy, who themselves
Speaker 1: have a good solid legislative record and it didn't want
Speaker 1: to see this fall apart in their last go around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. Both delivered very touching Uh, farewell addresses, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll be remembered only by both sides of
Speaker 1: the aisle. I mean they've they're part of the woodwork
Speaker 1: up there. Uh, not a mention of Batman that I
Speaker 1: was that I heard, at least in Lady's farewell addressed.
Speaker 1: But it's on the leadership battles now, Emily. And this
Speaker 1: is what's gonna keep keeping you up at night in
Speaker 1: the new year. On January three, this is when we
Speaker 1: find out how difficult life is really going to be
Speaker 1: for Kevin McCarthy, how is this going to work? So basically,
Speaker 1: it's the very first thing that the House does before
Speaker 1: they approve any sort of rules, is they get in
Speaker 1: there and they elect a speaker. And people say that
Speaker 1: to eight team is the magic number. That's pretty much right.
Speaker 1: McCarthy nearly needs to get all of his members either
Speaker 1: in line or if he can't get them to vote
Speaker 1: for him, he needs to get them to vote present.
Speaker 1: That's also another thing to keep an eye on because
Speaker 1: that does impact the tally. But at this point, look,
Speaker 1: there are five Republicans who have come out said they
Speaker 1: will not support McCarthy, they will not vote present. They
Speaker 1: are going to be supporting Andy Biggs or another member,
Speaker 1: and that poses a problem for McCart because he he
Speaker 1: needs at least one of them to be able to to,
Speaker 1: you know, agree to be on board. And they five
Speaker 1: have said that there's more than them, that they are
Speaker 1: members who haven't announced yet. And I think at this
Speaker 1: point from the perspective of those members, from your Andi
Speaker 1: Biggses and your Bob Goods, there's no reason for them
Speaker 1: to say that they will vote for McCarthy until the
Speaker 1: second that they do it, because they are trying to
Speaker 1: get concessions in the House rules, things that will give
Speaker 1: them more power to operate in the next two years.
Speaker 1: And I think they're those negotiations are ongoing right now.
Speaker 1: They are still trying to figure out exactly what the
Speaker 1: House rules will be for next year and how that
Speaker 1: balance of power will work. And so at this point,
Speaker 1: I think they're all kind of in this we're all
Speaker 1: in a bit of a holding pattern, trying to see
Speaker 1: what these House rules are going to be. Uh. And
Speaker 1: of course, there there's always the chance that come January three,
Speaker 1: if McCarthy doesn't get it on the first or sepe
Speaker 1: of ballot, that they might look to potentially make some
Speaker 1: rules that that makes it easier for him to be
Speaker 1: able to become speaker and and could make it easier, uh,
Speaker 1: for Kevin McCarthy to be fired. Right, Isn't this kind
Speaker 1: of what they're asking for here? Is this rules changed, Jack,
Speaker 1: that would make it easier easier for one member to
Speaker 1: challenge the speakership. Yes, that is something that has been discussed. Uh.
Speaker 1: My understanding that they're still having some pretty broad, odd
Speaker 1: and a variety of discussions on rules. The issue you're
Speaker 1: talking about is something I've heard brought up UM. But
Speaker 1: to be honest, when I've talked to members and tried
Speaker 1: to get them to say, all right, what's your list
Speaker 1: of demands? Uh, it sounds like they're still having pretty
Speaker 1: broad discussions about that, about UM spending rules to cut
Speaker 1: down on spending and more. Jack Fitzpatrick, Emily Wilkins, Happy
Speaker 1: New Year. Will meet you back here for the rumble
Speaker 1: in the House. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg so
Speaker 1: on with Joe Matthew on blue Bird Radio. So it's
Speaker 1: just us locals left here inside the bubble, give park
Speaker 1: wherever you want, goats eight at whatever restaurant. Members of
Speaker 1: Congress are on the way to Grandma's house here, Chris
Speaker 1: crossing the nation on airplanes as we speak, course many
Speaker 1: we're already home, having voted today by proxy about half
Speaker 1: of them, as we learned from Emily Wilkins. But the
Speaker 1: next time we get the business on Capitol Hill January three, again,
Speaker 1: it's going to be the start of a new Congress
Speaker 1: with a Republican lead House. We're just not sure exactly
Speaker 1: who the speaker is going to be. But everyone is
Speaker 1: still asking the same question, will they get anything done,
Speaker 1: or at least what will they try to get done?
Speaker 1: Senator Chuck Schumer was asked this in his year end
Speaker 1: news briefing with reporters listen following, Maga is like Thelma
Speaker 1: and Louise going over Cliff, and that's what we saw
Speaker 1: in the election. And I intend to reach out both
Speaker 1: on in the Senate and even in the House to
Speaker 1: some of the more mainstream republic Kins and say let's
Speaker 1: work together. There are a whole lot of issues we
Speaker 1: can work together on. I'm not gonna you'll ask me
Speaker 1: which ones I'm not going to delineate, but I believe
Speaker 1: this these two years, the next two years, we had
Speaker 1: a huge We have a huge um uh uh, two
Speaker 1: years to follow. I think it's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: more productive than people think, and not just on appointments
Speaker 1: and judges and things that we in the Senate can
Speaker 1: do on our own. As to the debt ceiling, it's
Speaker 1: got to be done in a bipartisan way. It always
Speaker 1: is a party that tries to hold up the government
Speaker 1: and demand something in return is going to lose. Well,
Speaker 1: it certainly sounds hopeful, but as the Majority leader just suggested,
Speaker 1: not everyone sees it that way. I'm curious to hear
Speaker 1: from Jim Kessler, who knows Senator Chuck Schumer as well
Speaker 1: as anyone, co founder of a Third Way Democratic strategist
Speaker 1: and former legislative policy director for Senator Schumer. He's going
Speaker 1: to be in the majority, of course, Jim, welcome back.
Speaker 1: It's great to have you. But you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: Republican lead house. How much will that grind things to
Speaker 1: a halt? Yeah, I mean this is gonna be a
Speaker 1: very interesting couple of two years. And I heard Schumer
Speaker 1: saying just what he said on the radio before, like
Speaker 1: he really believes this. Look, the variable is the Republican House,
Speaker 1: because what we're witnessing right now is the fracturing of
Speaker 1: the GOP before our very eyes, and it's playing out
Speaker 1: in the drama about whether McCarthy is going to be
Speaker 1: speaker or not. And look, I'm not so sure he'd
Speaker 1: become speaker here, and if he does, he'll be extraordinarily weak,
Speaker 1: but the weakest speaker of our lifetime. So that's going
Speaker 1: to weigh into the possibilities of whether stuff gets done
Speaker 1: or does not get done. Well, does that give Chuck
Speaker 1: Schumer the upper hand or a reason for Kevin McCarthy
Speaker 1: to not cooperate? Well, I think you're going to see
Speaker 1: two things happen. One that's that we'll all see, which is,
Speaker 1: you know Democrats, you know Republicans, even with a weak
Speaker 1: speaker of the House, they're going to be doing investigations
Speaker 1: of Hunter Biden and trying to show that the January
Speaker 1: six riots were really Nancy Pelosi's fault, not Donald Trump. Underneath,
Speaker 1: you're going to see a lot of bipartisan efforts behind
Speaker 1: closed doors. That gets the blessing of Schumer, gets the
Speaker 1: blessing of Hakim Jeffrey's possibly McConnell on some of these,
Speaker 1: But the situation with McCarthy's he could lose his speakership
Speaker 1: if he has it at any moment, so he will
Speaker 1: be treading very lightly. I expect the first year of
Speaker 1: the new Congress to be very ugly and the second
Speaker 1: year possibly very productive. How much does a presidential campaign,
Speaker 1: whether it's Biden, Trump or something else, impact action on
Speaker 1: Capitol Hill or at least the political mood the climate
Speaker 1: there will impacted on certain things in which the party
Speaker 1: of a party feels that if something gets done, it
Speaker 1: will it could change the direction of the race. So,
Speaker 1: for example, something really needs to get don on immigration,
Speaker 1: but Republicans really feel that if the border is in chaos,
Speaker 1: it gives them an advantage. So while there have been
Speaker 1: efforts to get something done, Republicans have walked out every
Speaker 1: single time. So you know, that might be a higher
Speaker 1: bar than some other things that could get done well.
Speaker 1: So let's have a real talk for a minute. Then.
Speaker 1: Is there a list of of realities that Chuck Schumer
Speaker 1: has in his pocket or are we going to hear
Speaker 1: some familiar ideas like an expanded child tax credit, for instance,
Speaker 1: or maybe the Safe Banking Act comes back around, or
Speaker 1: what he seems to be working on a more sort
Speaker 1: of equitable approach to cannabis legalization. These don't sound like
Speaker 1: things Republicans want to play with, right, And you have
Speaker 1: to remember that we're coming off of a Congress that
Speaker 1: was extraordinarily productive, one of the most productives of the
Speaker 1: last several decades. So a lot has already gotten done.
Speaker 1: But there are certain things that Republicans want, and really
Speaker 1: some Democrats want to. There's research and development tax spreadit there.
Speaker 1: There are priorities out there. There's a there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a debt ceiling vote, and you know, no one wants
Speaker 1: brinkmanship on the debt ceiling. There will be brinksmanship on
Speaker 1: the debt ceiling. So there's potential that that that would
Speaker 1: be a vehicle. And people are already talking about a
Speaker 1: government shutdown in September, for mind the one that we
Speaker 1: just averted today. Right. I mean, look, we should not
Speaker 1: be playing with the debt ceiling whatsoever. This should get done.
Speaker 1: It should get done on the bipartisan basis. But I
Speaker 1: want to have a reality check out there. Republicans have
Speaker 1: gone to the you know, nth degree, to the very
Speaker 1: final second and beyond on the dead ceiling, and Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy's house is going to do it again. I mean
Speaker 1: it could be Steven Scalesa's house too. Well, that's true.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Jim Kessler on Bloomberg Sound on how
Speaker 1: about permitting reform? Jim, will Joe Manchin have the same
Speaker 1: juice in this new Congress? Well, I hope permitting reform
Speaker 1: gets It's something that a lot of Republicans and Democrats
Speaker 1: agree upon. There's potential there. Joe Manin is really working
Speaker 1: on it. You know, this was a promise Chuck Schumer
Speaker 1: mad and he tried to keep that promise. Republicans tanked it. Well,
Speaker 1: this get caught up in politics. It's very possible. But
Speaker 1: you know what we saw this Congress is deals got done,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think there's a possibility on permitting reform.
Speaker 1: Senator Schumer has been giving kirston Cinema pretty wide birth
Speaker 1: since she announced her decision h to to leave their
Speaker 1: Democratic Party and and being independent but also sort of
Speaker 1: tacitly work with the Democratic Caucus. I'm not sure it's
Speaker 1: even been defined yet, Jim, what's that going to look
Speaker 1: like next year? What we just saw kirston Cinema cut
Speaker 1: an immigration deal with fellow Democrat John Tester to save
Speaker 1: the Omnibus bill. You know, kirston Cinema lover her her
Speaker 1: or hater, Democrat or independent. She has been involved in
Speaker 1: nearly every major piece of legislation that has passed in
Speaker 1: the last two years, particularly the bipartisan pieces of legislation.
Speaker 1: I think she's going to be in on deals, not
Speaker 1: out of deals, in the next two years, in on
Speaker 1: deals and help to the Democratic leadership. Yes, how about
Speaker 1: Joe Mansion then? Does that does this sort of reframe
Speaker 1: his position and his level of influence in the Senate
Speaker 1: or is it much the same if she's not going
Speaker 1: to be a Democrat? I think um so. On a
Speaker 1: lot of things. She acts like a Democrat. She she
Speaker 1: is the fifty first vote, the way Angus King, who
Speaker 1: is also independent from Maine, is you know, as an independent,
Speaker 1: but behaves in most places like a Democrat. I think
Speaker 1: Joe Mansion is relieved that he's not the fiftieth vote there,
Speaker 1: and it gives democrats some lee white p actually on
Speaker 1: things like judges and appointments where you don't need to
Speaker 1: get fifty of fifty, you can get fifty of fifty one.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked a lot about whether Senator Schumer
Speaker 1: can get along with a potential speaker, Kevin McCarthy. What
Speaker 1: is Mitch McConnell's relationship going to be like if McCarthy
Speaker 1: has the gabble, Well, Mitch McCarthy, Mitch McConnell and Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy don't really have a great relationship right now. And
Speaker 1: you know he McCarthy uses McConnell as a foil um,
Speaker 1: just like Trump uses McConnell as a foil And what
Speaker 1: you're going to be seen in the next two years
Speaker 1: is the fracturing of the Republican Party play out in
Speaker 1: a nomination process that I still believe Donald Trump will
Speaker 1: win and I in you know, fights, proxy fights that
Speaker 1: are going to go on in the House and the Senate.
Speaker 1: And and so McCarthy has to stand up to McConnell,
Speaker 1: which is a weird thing for to do to to
Speaker 1: hold on to his leadership position if he gets that
Speaker 1: speakership goal in his relationship with Donald Trump isn't helping,
Speaker 1: is it. Well, the McConnell relationship with Donald Trump is
Speaker 1: is awful, thankfully, and the McCarthy relationship with Donald Trump
Speaker 1: is obsequious. Woit. We're in for some very interesting months here, Jim,
Speaker 1: is Joe Biden going to announce a run for president
Speaker 1: next month? I don't know if it's next month, but
Speaker 1: I think by March she will announce that he's running
Speaker 1: for president. So he's in, and you see Trump as
Speaker 1: the nominee. We're doing this over again. It's scary movie too.
Speaker 1: It's the sequel, okay, And this is the one thing
Speaker 1: that you know about horror movie sequels. The villain never
Speaker 1: dies until the last scene of the last sequel, which
Speaker 1: hopefully will be soon. God right, that hand is coming
Speaker 1: out of the water. Jim, thank you. I'm really glad
Speaker 1: you could join us tonight. I know there's it's a
Speaker 1: busy time and everyone's trying to get to their families
Speaker 1: and so forth. But thanks for all your insights this year,
Speaker 1: and we do look forward to talking with you in God,
Speaker 1: I'm not to get used to say in that Happy
Speaker 1: New Year. Jim Kessler, co founder Third Way and former
Speaker 1: legislative policy director for Senator Schumer, who's in a pretty
Speaker 1: good mood because he makes his way back to New York.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg So Long with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 1: It's always fascinating to see what bubbles to the top
Speaker 1: in our splintered media world. Since so many people get
Speaker 1: their news in so many places, not everyone's lucky enough
Speaker 1: to have a terminal, and in a year like we
Speaker 1: just had, it's useful to look back on what drove
Speaker 1: people's view of the country and the world, particularly in
Speaker 1: an election year. What was it that was defining the
Speaker 1: world around them. Morning Consult has been doing this research
Speaker 1: now for several years, an annual study, building a huge
Speaker 1: amount of data so far on the stories that, as
Speaker 1: they say, we're seeing read and heard by American voters.
Speaker 1: And we're joined by Eli Yoakley, senior reporter at Morning Consult,
Speaker 1: with more on this. Eli, welcome back to Bloomberg. Hey anytime,
Speaker 1: all this and you as well. Your headline this year
Speaker 1: mid terms, Mara Lago, malaise, the news that broke through
Speaker 1: in two But the fact is, Eli, mid terms in
Speaker 1: Mara Lago didn't actually even rank in the top five
Speaker 1: most salient news events by your ranking. The baby formula
Speaker 1: shortage was even higher on the list. What do you
Speaker 1: make of that? It's been quite a year. There's been
Speaker 1: a lot on Americans. You know, this is the fifth
Speaker 1: year we've done this project we call Seeing Red Heard.
Speaker 1: We based it on hundreds of surveys we conduct throughout
Speaker 1: the year, eaching public openion on a range of issues.
Speaker 1: And you know, we do do these surveys to ask
Speaker 1: about what's happening with President Biden or what Congress is
Speaker 1: doing and how voters feel matter. But a big part
Speaker 1: of that is understanding, well, what's actually breaking through the
Speaker 1: American people. And so this year, um, we were watching
Speaker 1: the mid term if we're watching everything happening with legislative
Speaker 1: action on Capitol Hill. But one thing that been true
Speaker 1: for the last five years of this project, as the
Speaker 1: events of the of the moment stand out. I mean,
Speaker 1: this year, the biggest news event in its time was
Speaker 1: the shooting in the Bald, Texas of Mi Elementary School,
Speaker 1: and that was followed by the fall of Roe v.
Speaker 1: Wade and then the death of the Queen. You know,
Speaker 1: all these stories that make the top three. Less Hurricane
Speaker 1: ends up there too, as well as the Russian invasion
Speaker 1: of of Ukraine. All these stories in the top list
Speaker 1: are like made for TV moments, and we remember wall
Speaker 1: to wall coverage earlier this year of the Russian invasion
Speaker 1: of the two weeks of coverage or more of the
Speaker 1: of the queen's death. Um, the one that stands out
Speaker 1: in terms of how we think about the mid terms
Speaker 1: is probably Row and this was a decisive moment in
Speaker 1: the minds of the married people. Was a fifty year
Speaker 1: precedent change. It had big weight in terms of just
Speaker 1: news value, but then it also weighed on a lot
Speaker 1: of voters and understanding. Talking to you from Kansas City
Speaker 1: right now over in Overland Park, Kansas is sort of
Speaker 1: the heart of the abortion debate this year. That's where
Speaker 1: we saw a lot of people respond pretty discerally in
Speaker 1: quite a red state and voting to put the abortion
Speaker 1: rights in the constitution in cases. Um, that was that
Speaker 1: was a big bullet for the American people. That stood
Speaker 1: out in a pretty big way at the moment. Row
Speaker 1: falls as a story is number two behind the Uvaldi
Speaker 1: shooting on on this list. Voters and your your words,
Speaker 1: saw read or heard a lot about it, and one
Speaker 1: could argue eli that it was the overriding issue in
Speaker 1: the midterm elections. So maybe there's some cross over there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean, you know, I remember having a
Speaker 1: lot of conversations and people this year about how the
Speaker 1: economy weigh on the American gable when it came to
Speaker 1: their votes this year, and clearly it did. But in Washington,
Speaker 1: it was all the wall coverage. Um, you know, all
Speaker 1: the all the political folks, we're talking about the latest
Speaker 1: inflation report, and those just weren't working through the American
Speaker 1: people in the way that they were to you know,
Speaker 1: policy elites who watched these things very closely. I think
Speaker 1: folks knew their gas prices were rising. I think that
Speaker 1: was pretty obvious as they drive next to the store
Speaker 1: or on their way to work in the mornings. But
Speaker 1: these these piecemeal moments did not break through the big way.
Speaker 1: One thing that did say that to us was the
Speaker 1: fact that, you know, they did break through the Republicans
Speaker 1: bigger when they did the Democrats. Um. It was the
Speaker 1: same with some of the stories about immigration numbers. Order. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, Republicans generally hear less about the mainstream news
Speaker 1: stories that we're thinking about, but they did hear more
Speaker 1: than Democrats about some of these economic numbers. On the
Speaker 1: other side of that, you know a lot of Democrats
Speaker 1: were more likely to hear about some of the negative
Speaker 1: Trump stories. So clearly, I think the American people consistently
Speaker 1: in our tracking of this stuff. Uh, news bubbles do exist,
Speaker 1: and it's something that I think on how they think
Speaker 1: about what's happening in Washington. The campaign season itself was
Speaker 1: ranked eighth here behind Mara Lago, even though you can't
Speaker 1: really have the campaign without the role ruling. I guess
Speaker 1: that's also to a certain extent, comes down to semantics. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. You know, the thing that stuff got to
Speaker 1: me about the Morrow Lago raid um was the fact
Speaker 1: that that was a had about the same level of
Speaker 1: salience among Democrats and Republicans and independence for that matter.
Speaker 1: That wasn't the divisive issue in terms of how voters
Speaker 1: said that they consumed it um. And on one side
Speaker 1: of that, I remember watching the Democratic enthusiasm where they
Speaker 1: were thinking about the mad term elections increased, But so
Speaker 1: did Republicans. I mean, Republicans are not afraid to talk
Speaker 1: about the Morrow of the Raid. It was the framing
Speaker 1: of it. If you remember that it was a you know,
Speaker 1: it was this it was this bad investigations, political investigation
Speaker 1: gone broke, and it broke through to a lot of Republicans,
Speaker 1: and I think it's something that definitely energized I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: Donald Truck got some of his best numbers of the
Speaker 1: year after that, right about Republicans voters, and so some
Speaker 1: of this is even about about framing as much as
Speaker 1: it is about aware that we're talking with Eli Yoakley,
Speaker 1: Senior Quarter at Morning consult about their annual ranking. Here
Speaker 1: of the stories the news that broke through in if
Speaker 1: you go to Morning Consules website and check out the
Speaker 1: scene red herd presentation here on the main page, and
Speaker 1: you'll see Eli Oakley's name, they're sharing the byline with
Speaker 1: Cameron easily. You can actually filter these stories by party. Democrat,
Speaker 1: all voters, Republican are the three choices here, and some
Speaker 1: of these might surprise you to your point, Eli, In
Speaker 1: some cases it's across the board level of interest, almost
Speaker 1: no difference. In other cases, based on your political beliefs,
Speaker 1: you notice a story more than someone else. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think one of the more like funny moments in
Speaker 1: this in this analysis was we were going through the
Speaker 1: divides between where Republicans heard more about something that Democrats did,
Speaker 1: and it reminded me of a story that I had
Speaker 1: totally forgotten about it that was back in January. Would
Speaker 1: Joe item was kind of a hot mike using an
Speaker 1: expletive or a sort of introduced you have Fox News,
Speaker 1: Republicans were almost twice as likely to hear about that.
Speaker 1: Forty one percent of Republican voters said they heard a
Speaker 1: lot about Joe Biden's offhand comment about a Fox News reporter.
Speaker 1: I think that tells you a lot about um where
Speaker 1: some of these folks service. I'm watching Fox News that
Speaker 1: they it was like the queen had died in January
Speaker 1: in terms of how that was, how that was covered,
Speaker 1: they gave a lot of attention to that. I think
Speaker 1: that I think that's a pretty clean picture of it.
Speaker 1: That's really incredible stuff. That's why this is becoming more
Speaker 1: valuable each year you do it. The more data, the
Speaker 1: more interesting the takeaways. Here, Eli, thanks for joining us
Speaker 1: again this year. I'm just gonna throw out there presidential
Speaker 1: campaign top story next year, I would imagine it's gonna
Speaker 1: be this is a long campaign, Donald Trump, Donald Trusts
Speaker 1: all ready to go, and he's winning. He's winning right now,
Speaker 1: He's still winning. Whatever it is, it will probably include
Speaker 1: his name. Eli Yoakley, Senior reporter at Morning Consult, Happy Holidays,
Speaker 1: Happy New Year, come back and see us. There were
Speaker 1: several others that we didn't mention on the list. By
Speaker 1: the way, you Valdi as we mention was the number
Speaker 1: one story. Seventy of voters saw read or heard a
Speaker 1: lot about it. But there were two other shootings on
Speaker 1: this top fifteen list that they put out here. Buffalo
Speaker 1: and Highland Park are both right around the fifty mark.
Speaker 1: Three shootings, three mass shootings in one year. Here that
Speaker 1: makes the list. I'll tell you what though, for better
Speaker 1: or worse, ranking just above the Buffalo shooting, the death
Speaker 1: of Bob Saggett fifty right there, Democrats and Republicans. It
Speaker 1: puts the world in perspective when you dig through this data.
Speaker 1: I've got a special Christmas message for you on the
Speaker 1: way on. What is my final sound on of two.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg with
Speaker 1: Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. Bloomberg Sound On is brought
Speaker 1: to you by Innovation Refunds. That small business is impacted
Speaker 1: by the COVID nineteenth pandemic may qualify for the Employee
Speaker 1: Retention Credit. Let Innovation Refunds. Do the work fight out now.
Speaker 1: If your organization qualifies for e r C assistance. They've
Speaker 1: already helped businesses claim over two billion dollars in payroll
Speaker 1: tax refunds. Learn more at get refunds dot com. I'm Joe,
Speaker 1: Matthew and Washington. Welcome to the final moments of sound
Speaker 1: on here at the threshold of the weekend. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be unpacking everything that happened this past week for some time. Huh.
Speaker 1: I mean it was really something. The final hearing of
Speaker 1: the January six Committee, the referral of criminal charges of
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. We had the surprise visit of Voladimir Zelenski.
Speaker 1: His meeting with the President. Has addressed to Congress the
Speaker 1: big budget, from the deal in the Senate to final
Speaker 1: passage in the House, the end of the hundred seventeen Congress,
Speaker 1: all that in the last five days. It's a good
Speaker 1: reason to drop the knives here, step away from the politics,
Speaker 1: and reflect on a year that we're going to be
Speaker 1: feeling the impact of for some time. That's what I'll
Speaker 1: be doing this weekend to close out a very challenging
Speaker 1: year for a lot of people. President Biden spoke about
Speaker 1: the light of the season in a Christmas address from
Speaker 1: the White House you know, and I believe Christmas as
Speaker 1: a season of hope, and throughout the life of this
Speaker 1: country has been during the weeks of December, even in
Speaker 1: the midst of some of our toughest days, that some
Speaker 1: of the best chapters of our story have been written.
Speaker 1: It was during these weeks and back into at President
Speaker 1: Lincoln prepared the Emancipation Proclamation, which he issued on New
Speaker 1: Year's Day. At Christmas, and the week out weeks after,
Speaker 1: Pearl Harbor, Franklin Down and Roseld hosted Winston Churchill in
Speaker 1: this White House. Together they planned the Allies strategy to
Speaker 1: defeat fascism and autocracy. And it was that the most
Speaker 1: terrible year of years, the year of assassination and ride
Speaker 1: of war and chaos. At the astronauts of Apollo eight
Speaker 1: circle the moon and spoke to us here on Earth
Speaker 1: from the silence of space on a silent night on
Speaker 1: a Christmas Eve, they read the story of Christmas Creation
Speaker 1: from the King James Bible. In the beginning, God c
Speaker 1: then and the earth and the earth with about form
Speaker 1: and void, and darted with upon the bin of Adam,
Speaker 1: and then the bearing of God and monk, upon the
Speaker 1: pain of the water, and God mad let there be light,
Speaker 1: and they all was light, and God all the light
Speaker 1: they could divided, the light from the Doctor. That light
Speaker 1: still with us, illuminating the way forward as Americans and
Speaker 1: the scissors of the world, A light that burned in
Speaker 1: the beginning, and at Bethlett, the light that shines still
Speaker 1: today in our own time, our own lives as we sing,
Speaker 1: Oh Holy Night. His law is love and as Gospel
Speaker 1: as peace. I wish you and for you and foreign
Speaker 1: nation now and always is that we will live in
Speaker 1: the light, the light of liberty and hope, of love,
Speaker 1: and generosity, of kindness and compassion, of dignity and decency.
Speaker 1: So from the Biden family, wish you and your family peace, joy,
Speaker 1: health and happiness. Merry Christmas, happy Holidays, and all the
Speaker 1: best of the year. That's more like it. With apologies
Speaker 1: to Argyle. Merry Christmas, everybody. It's almost time to queue up,
Speaker 1: die hard and curl up with the family here. Merry
Speaker 1: Christmas and happy Hontkats to our producers. Christy in Viata
Speaker 1: and Matt Shirley are technicians. Justin Miller, Sebastian Escobar and Sarah,
Speaker 1: and be good to each other. I'll see you back
Speaker 1: here in a week, Happy New Year, back in twenty three.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg, twelve o'clock at so
Speaker 1: I turned my head and singing, and the man going
Speaker 1: better back down on the loss. I picked the wallet
Speaker 1: and then I took a point down the listening to
Speaker 1: co sett Santa Claus a million dollars in the call,
Speaker 1: run into Jee. I know the back to call, but
Speaker 1: I never feel the st right to tell of going
Speaker 1: on the matter back to him that night. But when
Speaker 1: I got hold, come on the tree from Santa and
Speaker 1: do