| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
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| Sparklight supports C-SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy. | ||
| Here's a look at what's coming up later this evening on C-SPAN. | ||
| Next, Senate Republican and Democratic leaders hold news conferences to discuss the state of the Republican tax and spending bill. | ||
| Then an appeals court hears a case challenging the legality of President Trump's decision to deploy National Guard troops during anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles. | ||
| And later, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce provides an update on the Israel-Iran conflict and other foreign policy developments during a press briefing. | ||
| Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other Republican leaders spoke about the state of the party's tax and spending cuts bill in the chamber. | ||
| During the press conference, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, Dr. Ahmed Oz, also spoke about provisions in the bill related to health care. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| Everybody's over here today. | ||
| Go figure. | ||
| We have received, as you know, from the House, a budget reconciliation bill. | ||
| The Senate Now Finance Committee has completed its portion of it, and it was released. | ||
| The text was last night. | ||
| We believe it leads to a stronger and more prosperous America. | ||
| And so we are excited to get this bill out and on the floor. | ||
| I want to applaud the members of the Senate Finance Committee and particularly Chairman Mike Crapo for the yeoman's work that he did to ensure that this product got out there. | ||
| Everybody's had a chance now to look at it. | ||
| But we're excited about what it does for a number of reasons. | ||
| And it does create permanence in a lot of areas of the tax code. | ||
| It makes permanent the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act rates. | ||
| It makes permanent the expanded child tax credit and increased standard deduction. | ||
| It makes permanent a lot of the business tax deductions, which will lead to growth and expansion in the economy and better paying jobs. | ||
| And of course, it includes many of President Trump's promises on the campaign trail, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and reduced taxes for seniors. | ||
| And on the business side, we believe that making permanent a lot of the business tax provisions will lead to that growth in the economy that will create those better paying jobs and lead to a stronger and a more prosperous country. | ||
| And obviously, if you look at what happens if we don't do this, the alternative isn't a pretty one. | ||
| I don't think it's a universe that anybody wants to live in because it means a $4 trillion tax increase at the end of the year on the American people. | ||
| $2.6 trillion of that tax increase will fall on families making less than $400,000 a year, and $600 billion of that tax increase would hit small businesses. | ||
| That's the alternative if we don't take steps to act. | ||
| It also includes a number of reforms and strengthens Medicaid in a way that makes it stronger and gets it back to what it was designed to do and for the people it was intended to benefit. | ||
| And we had an opportunity today to hear from the CMS administrator, Dr. Oz. | ||
| He talked about some of those provisions in the bill, and I'm going to ask him to come up and speak to that, followed by Senator Barasso, and then we'll be happy to take some of your questions. | ||
| Dr. Oz. | ||
| I'm sorry, there you are. | ||
| Well, thank the Senate for letting me address them today at lunch. | ||
| The President and Vice President, who visited as well, made some comments that were hugely beneficial to explaining the scope of this bill. | ||
| And I want to be very straightforward with a simple comment to start it all off with. | ||
| This is the most ambitious health reform bill ever in our history, and it could not come at a better time. | ||
| We have an unstable market that is causing lots of potential peril to Americans who need our help the most. | ||
| The most vulnerable amongst us were the ones who will suffer the most if we don't get this bill through. | ||
| It is investing $200 billion more money, roughly, over the next decade than what is the current level of spending. | ||
| It is true that it's not going to go to the $1 trillion of spending that would otherwise occur. | ||
| And how is it going to do it? | ||
| Well, it's going to do something very important. | ||
| It's going to curb the growth of Medicaid, which right now has changed 50% in its expense over the last five years by doing a few things, including reduction of fraud, waste, and abuse, an aggressive program to make sure that the right people who are eligible are truly adjudicated to be just that, eligible. | ||
| And the work requirement is part of that equation, ensuring that what is good for the individuals, what's very popular amongst the American people, the idea that you should be trying to work or volunteer or get educated, participate in your community in some way. | ||
| And by doing that, demonstrate that you are trying your hardest to help this country be greater by at least trying to fill some of the jobs that we have open. | ||
| And by doing that, you earn the right to be on Medicaid. | ||
| These programs, we believe we can roll out successfully. | ||
| We have two pilots already using information technology solutions, an app literally on people's phones. | ||
| 91% of Medicaid patients have a smartphone that can use an app of this nature that would help us identify how many hours you've worked, what you got paid, did you try to get an education, did you volunteer, and do that in a seamless fashion. | ||
| We believe we can roll that out in 18 months. | ||
| We already have the head of the USDS, the United States Digital Service, Amy Gleason, creating a center of gravity at CMS to accomplish that goal so we can accomplish it within the 18 months that this bill offers. | ||
| There's lots more to speak about in this bill. | ||
| It is promising in many ways, but at a summary level, it builds a strong framework to allow us to do the right thing for the American people by allowing these systems to align the needs of the federal government and the president with those of governors and states. | ||
| By aligning the needs of the federal government and the states, we can serve the American people most effectively. | ||
| The current system doesn't do that. | ||
| Between state-directed payments, provider taxes, and other types of legalized money laundering, we're hurting the ability of the federal government to work with states to improve the system. | ||
| And we know from having spoken to many of these states, these are the kinds of changes that could be beneficial. | ||
| Thank you again to Senator Thun, to the rest of the Senate that are attending the lunch and to the President and Vice President for letting me speak today. | ||
| Republicans are united and committed to a safer and more prosperous America. | ||
| And to do that, the first thing we need to do is prevent this $4 trillion tax increase. | ||
| We're going to stop that from happening. | ||
| It would be the largest tax increase in the history of our country, and it would hit every hardworking family's paycheck, bottom line, their purse is in their pocketbook. | ||
| Additionally, this bill includes things that are very popular. | ||
| No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. | ||
| In terms of safety of the American people, this secures the border, gives Border Patrol and our ICE agents what they need to keep our country safe. | ||
| And following four years of American weakness abroad, this rebuilds the military to bring back America's strength. | ||
| Republicans are committed to continuing fulfilling the promise of lower costs, higher wages, and bringing jobs back to America. | ||
| Questions for Dr. Oz. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Dr. Oz. Is the administration going to consider changes to the provider tax, particularly the concerns that are being raised by people like Senator Josh High, who believe that what's in the Senate though will lead to the closure of hospitals? | |
| We do not believe that addressing the provider tax effort is going to influence the ability of hospitals to stay viable. | ||
| In fact, the provider tax and the state-directed payments are often used to pay institutions that have the best connections to the government of the state, not necessarily the hospitals that need the help the most. | ||
| It is important that we clean up this system. | ||
| These programs have grown dramatically. | ||
| The provider tax now, which has dramatically increased once it became apparent that you could game the system, is now becoming a dominant part of financing our states. | ||
| It's not where the money should be going. | ||
| The money should be spent wisely in a very transparent way. | ||
| There are better ways of addressing these needs. | ||
| And the state-directed payments are another part of that equation that likewise complicate issues unnecessarily. | ||
| People who need the money to get the best care possible because their offering quality should be rewarded in ways that CMS and the federal government can do that more effectively for the American people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Don't change that language. | |
| You won't change that language in the bill. | ||
| Well, the details of the language are up to the leadership, but the specifics, the framework of addressing the legalized money laundering with state-directed payments and provider taxes must be in this bill. | ||
| It should be in this bill, and I believe it will be in the bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Dr. Oz, what do you say about the analysis from the Congressional Budget Office and other nonpartisan observers that more than 10 million people will go without health coverage under the House pass version of the bill? | |
| We actually did effectively an experiment over the last two years where we began to reverse some of the rules under the Biden administration around Medicaid. | ||
| And that unraveling of that system had 15 million Americans leave Medicaid. | ||
| So when you're trying to analyze what happens to people leaving Medicaid, it's not an economic analysis as much as it's behavioral analysis. | ||
| What will someone do, what will an American do, if they're given the option of trying to get a job or an education or volunteering in their community, having some engagement, or losing their Medicaid insurance coverage? | ||
| I have more confidence in the American people than is being given to them by some of these analyzing organizations. | ||
| But more importantly, we know from what happened in the last two years that of the 15 million people who disenrolled from Medicaid, the incidence of unemployment went up about 10%. | ||
| So it wasn't 50%. | ||
| Most Americans thoughtfully, wisely re-engaged life, go back to work, find other solutions, got onto the exchanges or commercial insurance, but they did not end up without insurance. | ||
| And that's why I believe that's what will happen in this case as well. | ||
| I have the confidence that the American people will make that decision wisely. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You already have two no's in your caucus, Rand Paul, Ron, Johnson. | |
| Are you open to changing the Medicaid work requirement language in the bill or the health care provider tax language in the bill to address the concerns raised specifically by Mr. Murkowski, Susan Collins, Josh Holland? | ||
| Well, we are in conversations with all of our members, including the ones you just mentioned. | ||
| And as you heard Dr. Oz say, the provider tax state-directed payments are important reforms. | ||
| And we think they rebalance the program in a way that provides the right incentives to cover the people who are supposed to be covered by Medicaid. | ||
| But we continue to hear from our members specifically on components or pieces of the bill that they would like to see modified or changed or have concerns about. | ||
| And we're working through that. | ||
| But at the end, I mean, the goal, as you all know, is to get 51 here in the United States Senate and 218 in the House. | ||
| And so ultimately, that's the math that I'm working with, that we're all working with. | ||
| We want to get a bill out of the Senate, through the House, and on the President's desk. | ||
| Does the Trump administration need to seek authorization from Congress if they choose to strike Iran? | ||
| Well, I mean, I think right now the President's within his authorities, he obviously has a lot of authority as commander-in-chief to respond to incidents that happen around the world. | ||
| Obviously, we have a lot of military installations, bases, military personnel in the region right now. | ||
| And so I think he's perfectly within his right to do what he's done so far. | ||
| And obviously, I think they're giving analysis to what may happen next in that theater. | ||
| But we want to ensure that there is a good outcome there, hopefully a peaceful outcome. | ||
| And I think the president's made it abundantly clear to the Iranians that he would like to be part of helping negotiate a deal that would end their nuclear program. | ||
| One way or the other, they've got to end their nuclear program. | ||
| That's the end state of what happens with this. | ||
| And I think the president is very committed to that objective. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Would you allow, under those circumstances, would you then allow a war powers resolution to come to the floor so that Congress would have the authority if a strike were to occur if the administration went that done? | |
| I think right now, I think we're getting the cart ahead of the horse here. | ||
| This is something that's happened the last few days. | ||
| I think the president is perfectly within his authority and the steps that he has taken. | ||
| You know, clearly, if this thing were to extend for some period of time, there could be a more fulsome discussion about what the role of Congress should be and whether or not we need to take action. | ||
| But I think right now, let's hope and pray for the best outcome, the best solution. | ||
| And in my view, that would be Iran coming to the negotiating table and agreeing to end their nuclear program. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What about security, sir? | |
| Can you just talk about the three things that are there today? | ||
| Senate Democratic leaders also addressed reporters on Capitol Hill, highlighting their disagreements with the Republican tax and spending cuts bill. |