CSPAN - Washington Journal Rep. Greg Landsman D-OH

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May 13, 2025 12:32-12:52 - CSPAN

19:54

Washington Journal Rep. Greg Landsman D-OH

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pedro echevarria

cspan 02:38

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hakeem jeffries

rep/d 00:07

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pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Representative Greg Landsman joining us, Democrat from Ohio.
		He serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
		He also serves the first district.
		Representative Landsman, welcome.
unidentified		Thanks for having me.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		A big week for the Energy and Commerce Committee.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		What is it going to be like as a Democrat as part of the reconciliation process?
unidentified		I mean, the key for us is to make it clear to the folks in the room and people at home that this is a decision between taking away people's health care and or giving tax cuts to the super wealthy.
		I mean, that's the decision because we all agree that the people who need tax relief should get tax relief in this bill, farmers, small businesses, middle-class families, workers.
		So we agree on that.
		The question then becomes, do you give more tax giveaways to the super wealthy or in their plan, do you cut people's health care?
		We would like and will fight to protect people's health care and say the people at the top should pay all their taxes and that will pay for all of the tax relief for the people who need it.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		As far as the approach the Republicans are taking, it went from initially per capita caps, now more work requirements and everything else.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		What do you think about that softening as it's been described in some of the publications?
unidentified		I think the softening is spin.
		They're still taking away people's health care.
		I mean, millions of people are going to lose their health care.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Then as also then as the week plays out, then what's the specific, what's the plan then as far as the negotiations?
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		I mean, you have a voice, but what happens as far as how to use that voice?
unidentified		We're going to use every procedural mean that we have to keep them in the room and to keep the debate front and center and to force them to answer the hard questions over and over and over again, which is however it is that they want to describe their changes, it is still going to mean people lose their health care.
		There are three buckets, people who lose their health care outright, people whose health care will go up, the cost will go up, and they will ultimately lose their care.
		And then the rest of us, when you pull that much money out of the health care system, access to care begins to diminish for most people, if not all of us, because hospitals will close their doors, doctors' offices will shutter their doors, etc.
		I mean, all of a sudden, what's available becomes less.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		To their approach, frequent eligibility checks, work requirements on beneficiaries, changes to the way states raise their.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		What's wrong with those things per se?
unidentified		So the work requirements is a paperwork thing.
		Everyone on Medicaid who can work is already working.
		They know that.
		They've done this in two states.
		It did not change anything in terms of people working.
		People, again, who are already working are working.
		Those who can't can't.
		All it did was create this paperwork mountain of paperwork and people didn't enroll.
		That's where they save the money, right?
		And so all of a sudden, people lose their health care.
		That will ultimately lead to people dying.
		I mean, this is a life or death situation.
		What was the other gimmick?
		I'm sorry.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		It was the eligibility checks and work requirements.
unidentified		Yeah, so what they're doing is they're creating all of these additional hurdles.
		And they know, based on where they did this in Arkansas and Alabama, that people will just walk away.
		They don't get their health insurance, and it has deadly outcomes.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Our previous guest, one of them, has said, ultimately, this goes to the sustainability of Medicaid.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		When you hear those arguments, what's the response?
unidentified		No.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Is there a sustainability problem?
unidentified		Bush, we need to change Medicaid.
		Thank you.
		Yeah, we need to change Medicaid in that we need to ensure that everyone's covered with all of the coverage they need.
		And you pay for that by, one, making sure that it's the GAO puts out a report every year and they list out all the waste, fraud, and abuse.
		None of that waste, fraud, and abuse is in this bill.
		None of it.
		So, yes, there are opportunities to pursue waste, fraud, and abuse.
		They're not doing that.
		What they're doing is they're trying to save money.
		And this is pretty clear.
		They're trying to save as much money as they can to pay for tax cuts for the super wealthy.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Our guest is with us until 9:35.
		And if you want to ask him questions, 202-748-8000 for Democrats, 202-748-8001 for Republicans, and 202-748-8002 for independents.
		You can text us your thoughts this morning at 202-748-8003.
		Your committee's chair, Brett Guthrie, put out an op-ed on what's going to take place this week.
		And he starts, or at least he says this in part, saying it was the Biden administration responsible for the problem, to having to impose burdensome regulations on Medicaid that jeopardize the program's long-term health.
		The last president stripped away guardrails against fraud by making it more difficult for states to remove ineligible people from Medicaid enrollment and expanding coverage such that capable but unemployed adults could take resources meant for people in need.
		It goes on from there.
unidentified		Yeah, so they use a language, they use language, and you heard it there, which was people in need.
		They're trying to distinguish all of the people who have health care now from the people who need it.
		See what they're doing?
		Right?
		Well, these people need it.
		These people do not.
		That's millions of people that they're going to rip health care away from because in their minds they don't need it.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Let's take some calls.
		This is from Gigi.
		Gigi is in Virginia for Representative Greg Landsman.
		Gigi, hello, you're on.
		Go ahead.
unidentified		Hi, Pedro.
		I've been on hold since the last segment, and I wanted to comment on what they were talking about.
		But what I would like to say is that Medicare Advantage is a scam.
		And I want people who are retired over 65 to understand Medicare Advantage is basically taking our wonderful Medicare and privatizing it and turning it into a money-making scheme.
		So please do not choose Medicare Advantage when you are a Medicare recipient who's eligible to receive Medicare.
		Always tell them that you want basic Medicare because the little freebies that they tell you that you're getting, and they do tell you, you know, memberships to local gyms and things like that.
		The reason for that is because they're privatizing Medicare and they are raising the cost on the whole population.
		They're raising the cost on the taxpayer.
		And you're not receiving the benefit that you should be receiving just for basic health care.
		Okay.
		Thank you.
		Thank you, thank you.
		That's all I want to say.
		Thank you.
		Thank you.
		I would love to weigh in.
		And Gigi's 100% right.
		If you're going to pick, you're about to, you're looking at all the Medicare-related options.
		Medicare, the program is the most efficient and it covers the most in terms of doctors, procedures.
		That is the way to go.
		Medicare Advantage should not be called Medicare Advantage because it is not Medicare.
		It's private insurance.
		And so, you know, I don't think that Medicare Advantage should use Medicare.
		They shouldn't be able to use the language unless they're complying with everything that Medicare does.
		The reason why this is important is because if we got serious and we just said, look, we're not going to do Medicare Advantage anymore.
		Everything goes into Medicare.
		We would save so much money.
		And this is where you would think folks would be like, wait, wait, wait, this is an enormous amount of savings because we waste a lot of money and people get less care on Medicare Advantage, where if you just bring it all in-house, you'll save a ton of money.
		And I know this isn't Medicaid, but this is a question.
		Is your intent to save money or is your intent to cover the cost of tax cuts for the super wealthy?
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		From Tom, Tom in New Jersey, Republican line.
unidentified		Hi.
		Yeah, how are you guys doing?
		Listen, I first want to say congratulations to Donald Trump, the greatest president maybe in American history under George Washington.
		If he sees what he's doing, because the news won't say what he's doing for the American people.
		But I have a lot of friends who are on Medicare, and I have a lot of friends on Medicaid.
		And my friends on Medicaid, they're just beating the system.
		So Medicaid can be cut in half.
		And that's what Trump's going to do.
		He's going to cut the people who don't deserve to be on the program.
		It's very simple.
		And that's all I want to say.
		Thank you.
		And the scare tactic Democrat there, your party is not even existence in 15 years.
		Okay.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Tom in New Jersey.
unidentified		Yeah, so Tom is being honest.
		And I hope my Congressional Republican colleagues will be just as honest.
		They're saying there are people who deserve to be on Medicaid, who deserve health care, and people who don't.
		I do not believe that.
		I don't believe that the majority of Americans believe that.
		People need their health care.
		You cannot take health care away from millions and millions of people and think it's going to be okay.
		People will die.
		Hospitals will close their doors.
		Rural hospitals in particular, it's a huge source of revenue when you take that much money out of the system.
		And for what?
		To pay for tax cuts for the super wealthy.
		And so just to be clear, if you pay for all of the tax cuts for the folks who need it, you know, the working people, the middle class, small businesses, farmers, where we all agree, and you let the tax cuts for the top wage earners go from 38 back to 39%.
		I mean, very little.
		And you take the corporate rate back to not even 35%, but say 28%.
		That's it.
		You pay for everything.
		I also think there should be a billionaire minimum tax, which would cover the cost of all of this.
		And you could invest more in Medicaid and people's health care.
		I mean, it's just, this is a question.
		Do you make the folks who are doing so well, the Elon Musks and the Jeff Bezos and the Mark Zuckerberg, they're just sitting on billions and billions and billions of dollars.
		Do you make them pay a little bit more?
		Or do you take people's health care away?
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		You're serving a district which includes the city of Cincinnati.
		From what I'm told, Cincinnati is one of those cities that deals a lot with international trade.
		With that in mind, what do you think about current approaches to trade and tariff policy and the announcement yesterday from the president concerning China?
unidentified		That it's more chaos.
		I mean, confusion.
		Markets, my businesses in our district, they rely on certainty.
		You can't do much in an uncertain market.
		It's just more uncertainty.
		He flipped a little on the tariffs with China.
		It didn't change any of our circumstances.
		All he did was change the number.
		He could change the number back.
		I mean, this is the problem.
		And so everyone is just going to stop investing.
		That's what you're seeing.
		And we are weeks away, months potentially from a recession of his own doing.
		He did this.
		He launched a global trade war without any strategy.
		He just said, I'm going to put tariffs on everybody.
		And instead of doing what most folks would do if they wanted to bring back American manufacturing, you secure investments from Congress to invest in American manufacturing.
		You have targeted tariffs.
		You get your global partners.
		And we had so many.
		I think we still have so many.
		But he has turned his back on all of our allies.
		And you work against China and all these other places to invest in American manufacturing, not a chaotic global trade war that creates a level of uncertainty we haven't seen since the pandemic.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Have you heard anything specifically from manufacturers in Cincinnati?
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		What are they saying to you?
unidentified		They're all cutting back.
		I mean, the folks have reached out to us, they say we are cutting back.
		And we have one company who's been doing business in our district for decades.
		It's a family-owned business that they make parts for all kinds of medical devices.
		I mean, they're all over the global economy.
		They have an operation in China, but they do their manufacturing here in the United States.
		But because it's going to be so costly to do it, they are deciding whether or not to leave Cincinnati and go to China.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Joe.
		Joe in Illinois.
		Democrats Lime, you're on with our guest, Representative Greg Lansman.
unidentified		Yes, sir, Representative.
		I got a comment first is, you know, you're talking about Medicaid.
		You know, with the cuts to all the people at cash registers for going to self-check, we're going to have people, they're unemployed, and they're not going to be able to find a job.
		And you also have the big industries coming back that's going to be 90% robotic, so there won't be any good jobs there.
		But besides that, I'm concerned.
		I'm a retired federal employee on disability, and I'm concerned about this bill that they want to give us a voucher to pay for our health insurance.
		And what would that do to me?
		Well, it would just about triple my premium.
		And my wife are on.
		My wife and I are not wealthy.
		We're at about $60,000 a year.
		And I hope that you and your colleagues would look into that portion of this great, big, beautiful so-called bill that the rich Donald Trump, who could give a damn about the working person, all they're concerned about is their wallet.
		So if you could look into that or give me some insight on that, I would certainly appreciate it.
		And I do thank you.
		Thank you so much.
		Bye.
		Yeah, I appreciate it.
		This is a huge concern.
		People around the country, particularly our public employees, are seeing their government turn on them.
		In addition to saying we're going to shrink what you have available to pay for health care, which will mean they lose their health care, we're also going to require, they are going to require a lot of our public employees to pay more of their pension.
		They're taking away or at least diminishing what they could rely on for retirement.
		The point is, they have decided that they are going to put forward a bill that favors the super wealthy at the expense of public employees and working people.
		It is, because it involves health care, morally bankrupt.
		It is also politically suicidal.
		I mean, this is Josh Hawley, who is a very conservative senator, Republican senator, said yesterday, don't do this.
		This is a terrible, terrible approach.
		And you take people's health care away to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.
		That's not going to go well for people.
		And first and foremost, I'm not thinking about the politics.
		I'm literally going into today and into these hearings appreciating that I'm fighting for somebody's life.
		I'm fighting for their kids' lives.
		I mean, I just know so many people who rely on Medicaid for their health insurance, health insurance for their children.
		And when a cutback will mean they cannot take care of themselves or their children with basic health care, and they're either working, sometimes they're working multiple jobs.
		And that's my fight, is to protect their health care because it's a life or death situation.
		However, it is clearly going to be a political mistake, in my opinion.
		And most people agree for them to try to pay for tax cuts, particularly for the super wealthy, on the backs of working people who need their health care.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		The president's currently in Saudi Arabia, currently now participating in a signing ceremony when it comes to business investments.
		You yourself recently traveled overseas with the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, United Kingdom, Denmark, Israel, and Jordan.
		What was the purpose of the trip?
unidentified		To reaffirm our alliances.
		Those are our partners.
		And it doesn't mean that the Saudis and others in the Gulf aren't or shouldn't, can't be our partners.
		But our partners are in Europe and the Middle East, and he flew over them.
		And he's going to get a half a trillion dollar private jet.
		This is the most blatant corruption I've ever seen in my entire life.
		It's also a national security issue.
		I mean, the Qatar is going to give him a plane.
		Like, how safe is this plane?
		I mean, you know, this is, he needs to say, absolutely not.
		And.
		And you also have his sons going around securing business deals for his dad, for their dad, using the office of the presidency.
		I mean, he's getting a private jet, a half a trillion-dollar private jet because he's the president.
		I mean, it is the most grotesque abuse of power and blatant corruption, plus the Trump coin, where it's essentially a Swiss bank account where you can put whatever people are just depositing money.
		We don't know who's doing it.
		He's making billions, billions of dollars.
		And I do think that's what he cares most about is making as much money as humanly possible off this office.
		It is corrupt.
pedro echevarria ▲ ● ▼		Wayne, if you were in Israel, did you have a chance to talk with Israeli leadership about what's going on in Gaza?
unidentified		Yeah, of course.
		Every time I go to Israel, I am as frank and honest as I possibly can.
		I believe deeply that there needs to be peace.
		I'm going to be part of a generation of leaders that helps broker peace between the Palestinians and Israel.
hakeem jeffries ▲ ● ▼		Donald Trump and House Republicans spent all of last year promising to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America.

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