WEBVTT - Senator Jeanne Shaheen Talks Greenland

0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:08.720
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News. Joining us now with

0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.640
<v Speaker 1>her reaction live from Capitol Hill. An important voice when

0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.640
<v Speaker 1>it comes to geopolitics. Democratic Senator Jean Shaheen of New

0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.160
<v Speaker 1>Hampshire is with us, the ranking member on the Senate

0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.560
<v Speaker 1>Foreign Relations Committee, also a member of the Senate Armed

0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.320
<v Speaker 1>Services Committee and Senator. It's great to see you. Welcome

0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:24.400
<v Speaker 1>back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. I hope the year

0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:26.920
<v Speaker 1>is starting out well for you with regard to what

0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.720
<v Speaker 1>the President is talking about here, what Marco Ruby was

0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.720
<v Speaker 1>talking about. I know that you received a very important

0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:38.000
<v Speaker 1>classified briefing earlier today from members of the administration. Were

0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:40.879
<v Speaker 1>you satisfied with what you heard as a basis to

0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:42.159
<v Speaker 1>justify these actions?

0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.560
<v Speaker 2>Well, as your reporter pointed out, there's still a lot

0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.680
<v Speaker 2>of unanswered questions. And as I understand, our ability to

0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:55.640
<v Speaker 2>control that Venezuelan oil depends a lot on the embargo

0:00:55.840 --> 0:01:00.520
<v Speaker 2>and having our ships in the waters off the Venezuelan coast,

0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:05.160
<v Speaker 2>our effort to see ships. Well, I certainly think whatever

0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:08.160
<v Speaker 2>we can do to shut down the shadow fleet that's

0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.280
<v Speaker 2>allowing oil to continue to fuel Russian China and their

0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:16.040
<v Speaker 2>efforts is important. It does put at greater risk our

0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.320
<v Speaker 2>men and women in the military. We now have fifteen

0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:23.679
<v Speaker 2>thousand service members in the Caribbean area of operation, and

0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.360
<v Speaker 2>it's not clear how long they're going to be there,

0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.360
<v Speaker 2>how long the symbargo is going to continue of Venezuela,

0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.360
<v Speaker 2>and ultimately how we're going to see a transition to

0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:37.000
<v Speaker 2>a democratic government there.

0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.399
<v Speaker 3>Well. The US Energy Secretary of Christopher Right earlier today

0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:43.280
<v Speaker 3>at an energy conference put a little bit more of

0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:45.720
<v Speaker 3>a finer point on what you're talking about when it

0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.480
<v Speaker 3>comes to this leverage and using the oil and bargo.

0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:50.840
<v Speaker 3>Take a listen to what he had to say earlier today.

0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.360
<v Speaker 4>If we control the flow of oil, the sales of

0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:56.880
<v Speaker 4>those oil, and the flow of the cast that comes

0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.800
<v Speaker 4>from those sales, we have large leverage. We need to

0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:03.120
<v Speaker 4>have that leverage and that control of those oil sales

0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.080
<v Speaker 4>to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela.

0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.880
<v Speaker 3>There's been talk and reporting that the sale of Venezuelan

0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.720
<v Speaker 3>oil could go on indefinitely. That's the word that we

0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:21.480
<v Speaker 3>keep hearing being used. Our lawmakers prepare to monitor that revenue.

0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.359
<v Speaker 3>Had there been any sorts of conversations on Capitol Hill

0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:29.600
<v Speaker 3>about what that would look like in practice.

0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.200
<v Speaker 2>No real specifics on that, and again the challenge there is,

0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.880
<v Speaker 2>we can only continue to control the oil that's coming

0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:39.639
<v Speaker 2>and going from Venezuela if we have twenty percent of

0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:43.280
<v Speaker 2>our fleet off the coast of Venezuela, if we are

0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.560
<v Speaker 2>able to interdict those ships that are coming and going

0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.480
<v Speaker 2>that are part of the shadow fleet that we want

0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.560
<v Speaker 2>to stop, and that's going to cost a lot of money.

0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.440
<v Speaker 2>It's going to put service members continue to mean service

0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.799
<v Speaker 2>members are going to stay in that Caribbean are operation,

0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.760
<v Speaker 2>and it means that the focus is going to be

0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:08.519
<v Speaker 2>on that as opposed to on healthcare. The millions of

0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.000
<v Speaker 2>people in this country who are losing their health insurance

0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:15.760
<v Speaker 2>because those prices premiums are going up with the expiration

0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:19.560
<v Speaker 2>of the tax credits. It means that the affordability of

0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.080
<v Speaker 2>the cost of living that people are facing is not

0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.160
<v Speaker 2>being addressed. And that's what I'm hearing from my constituents

0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:25.800
<v Speaker 2>as a concern.

0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.080
<v Speaker 1>Well, Senator, there's another matter that I know you were

0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.840
<v Speaker 1>briefed on earlier this week, and that's the matter involving

0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.600
<v Speaker 1>Greenland and the President's designs on taking it over as

0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:40.000
<v Speaker 1>he suggests Stephen Miller the president's advisor has been saying

0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.880
<v Speaker 1>that it is our right, it is our rightful place

0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:47.040
<v Speaker 1>to occupy Greenland, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, from

0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.080
<v Speaker 1>what we understand and his briefing with your Committee with

0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.680
<v Speaker 1>Armed Services, said that President Trump plans to buy Greenland.

0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:55.040
<v Speaker 1>Is that how this ends?

0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.800
<v Speaker 2>Well, I think that's a crazy idea. Greenland is an

0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:05.960
<v Speaker 2>important place, and the fact is our ally Denmark has

0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:11.320
<v Speaker 2>Greenland as a protectorate of Denmark, and Denmark has been

0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.600
<v Speaker 2>very clear that they're willing to partner with us on

0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:16.720
<v Speaker 2>anything we want to do in that area. So the

0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:20.240
<v Speaker 2>fact that the President and his advisors would be talking

0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:32.360
<v Speaker 2>about undermining the Transatlantic Alliance NATO over his notion that

0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.359
<v Speaker 2>Greenland needs to be part of the United States makes

0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.560
<v Speaker 2>no sense at all. It's a crazy notion and it

0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:41.080
<v Speaker 2>needs to be stopped. Now.

0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.000
<v Speaker 1>You're going to be meeting with the Danish ambassador tomorrow, Senator,

0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.720
<v Speaker 1>what will be your message.

0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.599
<v Speaker 2>It will be a bipartisan meeting, and I think we

0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.800
<v Speaker 2>are going to try and reassure the Danish ambassador that

0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.359
<v Speaker 2>we think this is a crazy notion, that it doesn't

0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.719
<v Speaker 2>make any sense, and that we are very appreciative of

0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:03.200
<v Speaker 2>the work that we have done with our allied Denmark.

0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.320
<v Speaker 2>It's been one of historically one of our strongest allies.

0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:08.960
<v Speaker 2>It's been a strong member of NATO, and it makes

0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:13.359
<v Speaker 2>no sense for the President to alienate our ally Denmark,

0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:17.400
<v Speaker 2>as well as other allies in Europe, undermine NATO, the

0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:23.960
<v Speaker 2>strongest security agreement in history, because he wants to be

0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.680
<v Speaker 2>a strong man and thump his chest and talk about

0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.039
<v Speaker 2>how he's going to take control of Greenland.

0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.040
<v Speaker 3>Are there any active discussions about what a US Denmark

0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.359
<v Speaker 3>bolstered alliance would look like. Are there talks about economic

0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:42.479
<v Speaker 3>cooperation deals, critical minerals, maybe the US moving more forces

0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:46.520
<v Speaker 3>into the region in order to avoid the escalation that's

0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:47.440
<v Speaker 3>been put on the table.

0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.960
<v Speaker 2>Well, the Danish Prime Minister has suggested that Denmark is

0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.600
<v Speaker 2>willing to work with the United States and Greenland are

0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.560
<v Speaker 2>willing to work with the United States in a variety

0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.599
<v Speaker 2>of areas that we may be interested in partnering with.

0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.680
<v Speaker 2>So I think yes, there is a willingness to do that,

0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.839
<v Speaker 2>and what we've heard, we haven't heard anything from the

0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.320
<v Speaker 2>White House in terms of their willingness to talk to

0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:16.680
<v Speaker 2>our partner Denmark about how to move forward in a

0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:21.320
<v Speaker 2>way that works cooperatively instead of trying to take over Greenland.

0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:24.560
<v Speaker 1>Senator, we'd be remiss if we didn't ask you about

0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:27.240
<v Speaker 1>a domestic policy for a moment, because there's an important

0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.479
<v Speaker 1>vote in the House today on extending Obamacare subsidies. A

0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.599
<v Speaker 1>floor vote following the procedural is set for tomorrow, and

0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.960
<v Speaker 1>there are big questions about whether this is going anywhere

0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.159
<v Speaker 1>in the United States Senate. The President said something pretty

0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:45.680
<v Speaker 1>interesting here asking Republicans yesterday for flexibility around Hyde, and

0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.120
<v Speaker 1>I'm wondering what you're hearing from your Republican colleagues if

0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:50.400
<v Speaker 1>a deal might be at hand.

0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:55.279
<v Speaker 2>Well. I think the President's comments on Hyde were helpful.

0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.000
<v Speaker 2>What I hope is that the House is going to

0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.200
<v Speaker 2>give a strong vote on those extension of the premium

0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.720
<v Speaker 2>tax credits that will send the bill over to the Senate.

0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.880
<v Speaker 2>A group, a bipartisan group, has been working on trying

0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:12.040
<v Speaker 2>to come up with a compromise on addressing the extension

0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.040
<v Speaker 2>of the premium tax credits. I think we've made a

0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.360
<v Speaker 2>lot of progress. Hopefully we'll get that House bill and

0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.560
<v Speaker 2>have a vehicle that we can then pass out of

0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.600
<v Speaker 2>the Senate and send it back to the House. And

0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:26.240
<v Speaker 2>I hope the President will finally get engaged on this

0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:28.280
<v Speaker 2>issue in a way that will allow us to make

0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.760
<v Speaker 2>progress and get this done, because we have thousands of

0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.200
<v Speaker 2>people in my home state of New Hampshire that are

0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:36.520
<v Speaker 2>going to lose their health insurance, that are already seeing

0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:38.960
<v Speaker 2>their premium spike in a way that they can't afford,

0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.160
<v Speaker 2>millions of people across the country.

0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.040
<v Speaker 3>All right, Democratic Senator Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire, thank

0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:47.280
<v Speaker 3>you so much for joining us.