Which is why we're just urging a handful of Republicans to join us on behalf of the American people so that Congress gets the message, hands off Medicaid and SNAP.
unidentified
Thank you.
Thanks, guys.
Was it good?
Cool.
Today, the House is considering several bills, including one to permanently rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
The measure would codify President Trump's executive order into law.
Also on the agenda, a bill that bars Department of Homeland Security funds to U.S. colleges with relationships with cultural exchange centers funded by the Chinese government.
And off the floor, House Republicans continue negotiations on their budget reconciliation package.
Watch live coverage of the House when lawmakers return here on C-SPAN.
Well, the Steering Policy Committee is kind of a leadership structure of the U.S. House of Representatives.
We meet, we talk every week about strategy, policy, everything there is.
What the Steering Policy Committee has started to do is to do an on-the-road initiative.
We have had hearings in Washington, roundtables in Washington, but now it's about going out into the community, talking to people.
We were just in Rancho Mirage this past weekend, hearing and having a town hall, hearing from people about what they care about.
We heard about things like Medicaid, concerns about cuts to Medicaid.
We heard from veterans.
We heard from parents about the cuts to Department of Education.
So we're on the road next to Louisiana, the Speaker's home state.
So we will be hearing from people there as well.
I think it's so important that we go out into communities to hear directly from the people, especially at a time when Republicans are refusing to do town halls.
Well, first of all, it's hearing people's stories and sharing people's stories, but it's also using those stories in committee hearings, talking to Republican colleagues about their own constituents and highlighting the importance of the very programs they're trying to cut, like Medicaid.
Well, we hear from a lot of Democrats who are frustrated with this administration.
I think it's reflective of all the terrible disaster, the chaos, the confusion, and the corruption that's happening at the highest levels in the administration right now.
And, you know, asking what more we can do, asking where we go from here.
Now, the Democrats have been working very closely with organizations on doing things in the courts, for example, and litigating.
We have also gone into the communities, part of that's town hall, sharing stories.
And it's just an all-hands-on approach where we need everybody speaking up and speaking out.
And so just today, for example, I would love to hear from some of your callers in places like Kentucky, Louisiana, West Virginia, to hear back about what they think about cuts to Medicaid, because these are the stories that are the most powerful to get us in the committee to share those stories to their members of Congress to hope that they will maybe change their minds or be willing to vote in the interest of their constituents,
I suppose that parallels well with you being on the Energy and Commerce Committee, considering that one of the tasks of that committee is to find Medicaid cuts to pay for the reconciliation bill.
Absolutely.
So, with that information, what do you take to that committee when you eventually meet on these kinds of topics?
Well, one of the things that I've been doing in the committee is when I hear constituent stories from some of my Republican colleagues or even pointing out the number of Medicaid recipients that they have in their districts is talking about it in the committee.
That is something that your colleagues don't like to hear about when you're in a committee and reminding them of how many people are at stake and what's on the table.
And there's nothing right now on the table more than the economy, rising prices, Medicaid cuts.
These are the number one things we're hearing.
And of course, you know, I represent the ports of Los Angeles, and we are seeing a drop, a significant drop, about 30, 35 percent drop in imports.
That's going to mean jobs.
That's going to mean higher prices everywhere.
And pretty soon it's going to mean shortage on the shelves.
So people across this country are going to see less inventory, less things available from shortage, things we haven't really seen since COVID.
And this is the supply chain concern we have.
And what are we voting on this week in the U.S. Congress?
Instead of voting on something to bring down costs, something to help the American people, we're voting on renaming the Gulf of Mexico, which just shows you how out of touch Republicans and this administration are with the American people and their concerns right now.
Well, one of the other terms, at least in a story recently in The Hill, about one of those ideas is a per capita cap saying that key Republicans say that it's not technically a cut to avoid the politically charged label.
Is it the same thing we're talking about as far as a cap is concerned and what states get?
That's exactly the translation is cuts to Medicaid.
So when you hear that, that's exactly what that is.
It means that they're going to limit the amount of money that the federal government will be sending to the states per person, something we don't do right now.
That's going to mean that the states can't make up the difference.
They're going to kick people off Medicaid.
They're going to reduce benefits.
That means basically higher prices.
It all translated into the same thing.
Like I keep saying, it's going to be a word salad.
They're going to call it what they are, but it's going to mean less benefits, less people of Medicaid, which is health care for the most vulnerable.
Well, it just goes to show you: this is an administration, and House Republicans have been following them off the cliff.
It's just more chaos, more confusion.
I know that there are some Republicans that are not comfortable with this because this is their constituents.
And we need those Republicans to speak up, which is why we need constituents in your callers to also speak up, call their members of Congress, share their stories, say why this is so important, what Medicaid means to them, so that they can really put a face on what's happening today.
I do think that you are seeing a postponement, right?
This was supposed to happen originally last month, and then it got moved to this month.
And now we're hearing, oh, it may take longer than that.
That is, I think, an indication of the fact that Republicans, you know, are having a hard time because this is about people's health care that they're taking away.
Well, Gary, this week, House Republicans are renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
So you talk about a party that's doing really nothing to help the American people, that is not doing anything.
It does nothing to bring down the cost of living.
I hear people talk about the cost of rent and groceries and how even gasoline.
So we are hearing that, and we've seen no action from Republicans.
I hope that you're right about the Social Security and Medicaid.
But if you just take a look at the actions, you'll see that there have already been cuts in Social Security.
Offices have been closed.
People have been fired.
That is meaning that people can't even get a hold of somebody on the phone to ask about their Social Security benefits.
That is a lack of awareness of the importance of Social Security and the services.
It also means people's checks could be delayed down the line, and it could mean benefits are at risk.
And there is, by the way, no way to get to getting $880 billion in cuts without touching Medicaid.
So you will see it.
You may not believe it now, but you will see it happening when this goes into effect.
And we'll know shortly when the Energy and Commerce Committee has its hearing in a couple of weeks of how they want to slice it and how they want to call it.
But there's no way to do it without touching Medicaid.
What you're talking about is a big bill that's going to have lots of cuts, including cuts to taxes for the top 1% and the rich at the expense of the most vulnerable, which is going to be cuts to things like SNAP benefits and food snap SNAP, which is a food benefits and a food assistance program for the most vulnerable and low-income folks.
It's cuts to Medicaid.
That is something my constituents do not support and do not want.
Those programs that you're talking about that would cut taxes on things like overtime are going to be put into a much larger bill that is going to take away Medicaid.
And that's something that I will not do.
Separately, I'm happy to look at no taxes on things like overtime.
But when you combine it with something like cutting health care to millions of people and throwing them off their health care and making the rich richer, that's something I can't support.
Well, in the past, the parliamentarian has said that immigration is not a viable thing to be changing in reconciliation.
And when that happened under Democrats, we said, okay, my biggest concern is that the Senate Republicans are going to do something that they said they would not do.
And that is basically originally they would say they would abide by the parliamentarian, that they won't do it.
They're going to do whatever they want, just like this president has done whatever they want.
We know that this administration is just totally out of line, totally disregarding the law, disregarding the Supreme Court and what they're doing on immigration and due process so that people don't have the ability to be heard in court.
This is something even you'll see even that you've seen conservatives say is against the Constitution, against American values.
And that is my concern is that they're going to go along with this erosion of our due process.
Let's go to Roger Roger in Nebraska, Independent Line.
You're on with our guest, Representative Nanette Berrigan, Democrat from California.
Hello.
unidentified
Yeah, good morning.
Yeah, I wonder where this lady was the previous four years when the Biden administration completely destroyed the country, basically, with $5 gas and 9% inflation.
Amazed at Due Process Claims00:02:14
unidentified
But she's talking about due process for illegal immigrants.
Where was she at when they let, what, 10, 15, 20 million people into this country with no due process?
You talk about giving each one of these illegal a court date, a due process to have their case presented in court.
You know, that would take three, four, 500 years to have that done.
You know, it's just ridiculous to listen to the Democrats now when I look back on the previous four years.
And so, like, say, I'm just amazed at what she says.
I stand with the Constitution, and even Justice Anthony Scalia believed in due process under the Constitution for people, whether they were undocumented or whether they're your citizens.
There's a real danger here if we don't believe in due process, and that is that somebody can easily accuse you, anybody out there, a citizen, of something, and you wouldn't have your day in court to be able to present evidence.
That's wrong.
It's against the Constitution.
It's the most fundamental basic principles that we have.
It's due process, it's the ability to be heard in court.
As far as the last four years, I'm proud of the Biden administration and what House Democrats were able to do in passing an infrastructure bill, something this current president wanted to do, never could get it done.
It's reinvesting in our country in roads and bridges and infrastructure.
It's investing in things and getting things done like the Chips and Science Bill, which is investing in America and manufacturing of the semiconductors right here in America and so much more.
We also had reopened schools and put money into the economy.
We've been having immigration problem since I was born in 1960.
And we have each president that talks about that they're going to do something about immigration.
I remember when Reagan did the 11,000 amnesty, and a lot of people weren't happy then, but we thought that would be a solution to our immigration problem.
Boarding Care Challenges00:01:59
unidentified
Well, once we get further down, then you have all of these businesses that actually are not following the law.
They are primary one of the problems, too.
And also, us as America, we need to make sure that people are coming in the correct way and going to be vested.
I would like to go work in other countries, but I know I have to be vested and I'm not going to be able to lean on their system.
However, we are America and we're a little bit more friendly to help a lot of other people.
What comes to my question now is: I work in the mental health field.
I am a social worker.
I am starting to see our clients that are on Medicaid, their Social Security benefits are being cut.
And I'm going to tell you how they're doing it.
They're having, like, when our clients want to go to work at some of the places for them to become independent or still kind of be independent as everyone else.
They're not getting paid the same amount, but they're giving them a low amount that they couldn't go over the Social Security benefits.
So now we're coming into when we get to sub-minimum wage and bumping everyone up.
Now, these clients are getting kicked off of Social Security or the benefits are being reduced.
And a lot of our clients are in boarding care.
Boarding care in California is $1,420.
So I just want to know what our government is doing about our mental health population for when those benefits cut, where are they going to live?