| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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Coming up on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, we'll take your calls and comments live. | |
| Then an update as Congress considers the President's Big Beautiful Bill. | ||
| First, with South Carolina Republican Congressman Ralph Norman, a member of the House Freedom Caucus and Budget Committee. | ||
| And later, notice politics reporter Reese Gorman. | ||
| Also with first-term Maryland Democratic Congressman Johnny Olszewski, a member of the Foreign Affairs and Small Business Committees. | ||
| Washington Journal starts now. | ||
| This is Washington Journal for Wednesday, July 2nd. | ||
| This morning, the House will take up the GOP tax and spending bill after the Senate and Rules Committee both narrowly advanced the legislation yesterday. | ||
| Republican leadership hopes to get the multi-trillion dollar bill over the finish line as early as today, despite doubt from several House conservatives. | ||
| Our topic for this morning is that House vote on the Big Beautiful Bill. | ||
| You can join the conversation by giving us a call. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| You can text your comments to 202-748-8003. | ||
| Be sure to include your name and city. | ||
| You can also post a question or comment on Facebook at facebook.com slash C-SPAN or on X at C-SPANWJ. | ||
| Good morning, and thank you for being with us. | ||
| We'll get to your calls in just a few moments. | ||
| Wanted to show you the headlines on some of the major papers about our topic this morning. | ||
| This from the New York Times, Senators approve Trump policy bill. | ||
| Vance breaks a tie. | ||
| On the front page of USA Today, Senate passes Trump's mega bill. | ||
| And the Washington Post, Senate passes Trump's tax bill. | ||
| Down here, it also notes GOP centerpiece goes to House, faces tough sell to fiscal hawks. | ||
| And the Washington Time, their headline, beautiful bill clears Senate by one vote. | ||
| It also notes House showdown likely to be rocky. | ||
| And finally, the Wall Street Journal, their headline on the front page, Senate passes President's mega bill. | ||
| Also noting that Razor Thin vote on tax Medicaid cuts sends measure back to the GOP-led House. | ||
| That is what will be happening today when the House gavels in at 9 a.m. | ||
| More on those that expected vote today. | ||
| This from ABC, or I'm sorry, CBS. | ||
| It says the House is planning to vote on the Senate-passed version of President Trump's big, beautiful bill as soon as Wednesday morning, though a sizable contingent of Republican critics could still sink the legislation. | ||
| It says the measure narrowly survived the Senate after marathon session ended with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote Tuesday. | ||
| The House Rules Committee was quick to take up the legislation Tuesday afternoon, hoping to teed up for a vote on the House floor by the morning. | ||
| But first, GOP leaders will have to win over Republicans who are opposed to the changes the Senate made to the bill that the House passed in May. | ||
| The Senate's steeper cuts to Medicaid are likely to irritate moderates, while the higher price tag could alienate conservatives. | ||
| The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate bill would add $3.3 trillion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years. | ||
| It was House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican, yesterday on Fox News, speaking about the bill and his optimism that it will be passed by Friday. | ||
| We're at the one-yard line in this game that's been played over a year, really. | ||
| We worked on this for about 14 months to get us to this point. | ||
| We're going to run it right up the middle and score for the American people. | ||
| And I tell you what, everybody is going to benefit from this bill. | ||
| Sean, as you noted, all those features. | ||
| It's the most conservative piece of legislation we've ever worked on. | ||
| You need to mention at the same time that even though we're having historic tax cuts, we also have historic savings. | ||
| We're going to save $1.6 trillion for the American people. | ||
| We're going to cut down the size and scope of government, make it more efficient, make it work better for the people. | ||
|
unidentified
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They demand to deserve that, and the Republicans are delivering. | |
| So this is a vehicle. | ||
| Let's also remember that this is just a step in a sequence of events. | ||
| We are intending to do more reconciliation work. | ||
|
unidentified
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You can do a reconciliation budget for each fiscal year. | |
| So the plan is to do one in the fall for the FY26 budget year. | ||
| And then we can also squeeze in a third one for FY27 before this Congress is up. | ||
| At the same time, we're going to be passing rescissions packages from the White House to save more money and spending less in appropriations. | ||
| We will get the government back to fiscal sanity, and we are the party to do it. | ||
| Another potential challenge is the weather. | ||
| This is a headline from Politico. | ||
| House members scrambled to return to D.C. for a mega bill vote. | ||
| It says that some House members are going to great lengths to make it back to Washington for a vote on the Republican mega bill after severe weather canceled dozens of flights. | ||
| It says President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson are pushing to advance the Senate-approved version of the Republicans Agenda Bill before July 4th, setting up a condensed timeframe for a House vote. | ||
| It says many members had already returned to their districts and are now scrambling to return, but over 200 flights into Reagan National Airport were either canceled or delayed Tuesday. | ||
| That, according to Flight Tracking Service Flight Aware, says members in some cases are opting for a long road trip back into town before 9 a.m. Wednesday. | ||
| The earliest voting is expected. | ||
| It notes that Congressman Christian Morthy, Democrat of Illinois, hosted a virtual town hall at the beginning of what he said was a 14-hour drive from his suburban Chicago home to Washington. | ||
| Quote, we got some gas money, we got some snacks, and away we go, he said in the town hall. | ||
| My GPS says I'm going to be there just in time. | ||
| Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina, said she's planning to drive from Charleston, South Carolina to the Capitol, nearly an eight-hour drive, according to a screenshot of her GPS that she shared on social media. | ||
| And Representative Russell Fry, also a Republican of South Carolina, is planning to drive through the night back to Washington. | ||
| He said in a video posted on X, quote, the moment is too important to sit around and wait at an airport, Fry said while driving from Myrtle Beach, California. | ||
| The House vote expected today is our topic this morning. | ||
| If you would like to call in, you can do so. | ||
| The lines: Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| We will start with Duke in Maine, Line for Independence. | ||
| Good morning, Duke. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yes, good morning, C-SPAN. | |
| Yeah, I'm not very happy about this thing passing yesterday. | ||
| There are the cuts in the Medicare and the Medicaid, especially. | ||
| We've got hospitals and nursing homes here in the state of Maine that are that are already shutting down and are in the process of shutting down. | ||
| And it's a pretty sad, a pretty sad situation here. | ||
| I was very pleased that our Senator Susan Collins voted against this ugly fat bill of Trump's. | ||
| There's nothing beautiful about it as far as I can see. | ||
| But the thing is, it's going to hurt so many people. | ||
| And we are so rural up here. | ||
| And we don't need, you know, to lose what we've got. | ||
| I mean, we need the help and stuff. | ||
| There's a lot of people that are going to suffer up here and everything. | ||
| And I hope and pray to God that the House will totally annihilate this bill, not pass it. | ||
| Trump doesn't deserve to have it passed. | ||
| The only ones that's going to make out on this is the rich. | ||
| And it's on the backs of us regular, ordinary working people and stuff and up there. | ||
| And I hope that the House Representatives thinks this bill comes up with something, Bala. | ||
| I don't know if they can. | ||
| They probably will pass it. | ||
| That usually seems to be the way it ends up in the end. | ||
| But anyway, I hope that it does not go through because, boy, it's going to hurt a lot of people. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| That was Duke in Maine. | ||
| Christine in Massachusetts, line for Democrats. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning, Christine. | |
| I agree with the gentleman before me. | ||
| I think it's a horrendous bill. | ||
| It's just all going towards the rich. | ||
| And there's no one saying what the plan is. | ||
| What's going to happen to these people without coverage? | ||
| They know the hospitals will start closing. | ||
| I mean, what's going to happen to these children who aren't getting food stamps? | ||
| There's just no this whole bill just goes to the benefit of people with more money when they know it's at a time where people who are middle class and poor are struggling the most have ever struggled. | ||
| And then I hear in the bill there's luxury apartments they're giving tax benefits to for luxury apartments and luxury real estate, and we can't even get affordable housing. | ||
| I mean, why do Americans still keep voting for these people that do they think it's okay that the rich keep on getting richer? | ||
| I don't understand my own people in America why they keep voting for this type of stuff. | ||
| There's not one thing in this bill that benefits the middle class of the poor, not one thing. | ||
| I would have preferred they let it ride and let taxes increase. | ||
| I think taxes are okay as long as people know that the taxes are going to benefit everyone in the country. | ||
| That was Christine in Massachusetts. | ||
| Let's hear from Louise in Brooklyn, New York, line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Louise. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning. | |
| Go ahead, Louise. | ||
| You're on. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| First of all, I love C-SPAN. | ||
| I really get a lot of important information from you. | ||
| But I am totally appalled at this big, beautiful bill that was passed because it's going to hurt the majority of the American working people and the poor. | ||
| The rich has enough money. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Everybody has to go to the top 10%. | ||
| That's it. | ||
| That was Louise in New York. | ||
| David in San Francisco, line for independence. | ||
| Good morning, David. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, morning. | |
| The other day, there was footage on TV during this massive heat wave of street buckling in Missouri, and it threw a car as it drove along. | ||
| The heat of the pavement got so hot that it threw the car. | ||
| And so when you look at this big bad bill that doesn't believe that climate change's work is happening or that it's caused by polluters, it ignores that entirely as roads are buckling, as the shorelines are being swamped with rising oceans, as massive rainstorms are decimating sections of America. | ||
| So when you start looking at the fact that the lie is being propounded that climate change is not a problem and it shouldn't have been written into that bill, | ||
| that means that our self-preservation has been ripped apart and that our ability to prepare for these enormous damages is ignored and that the money will be spent on chasing people away from America into even worse conditions. | ||
| So the scientific standards that made America powerful, the fact that we had inventors that were able to fight the Inquisition, come to America and develop inventions that would change the world, and we're going back to a system of ignorance? | ||
| No, it's dangerous. | ||
| We've got to change out the money. | ||
| That was David in San Francisco. | ||
| Let's hear from Robin in Maryland, Line for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Robin. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| So I know the bill's not perfect, but I think it is awfully good. | ||
| I am thrilled about the no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. | ||
| I was a waitress for many years. | ||
| I never paid tips. | ||
| This was 50 years ago. | ||
| I never paid taxes. | ||
| That's in there. | ||
| That doesn't benefit the rich people. | ||
| I've worked overtime for many years, and I can remember saying, my salary, my take-home is less because of the taxes on all my overtime. | ||
| Those are things that are going to help everyday working people. | ||
| It's also going to make our borders stronger. | ||
| I think that's really important. | ||
| I know people are concerned about Medicare. | ||
| I'm on Medicare. | ||
| I certainly don't want to lose anything. | ||
| However, all of you who say don't cut Medicare, don't cut Medicaid, how are we going to save it? | ||
| We're going to run out of money in both of those if we don't do something. | ||
| And I think this bill does as good a job at it as anything else. | ||
| And thank you very much for taking my call. | ||
| That was Robin in Maryland. | ||
| And Robin mentioned the no tax on tips. | ||
| Wanted to show you some of the other provisions in the Senate version of the tax cuts and spending bill. | ||
| It is $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. | ||
| Existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent. | ||
| State and local tax deductions would quadruple from $40,000 for five years. | ||
| It has $350 billion for President Trump's border and national security agenda. | ||
| It has deeper cuts to Medicaid, as well as restrictions on food stamps. | ||
| And as Robin mentioned, no tax on tips, overtime, or car loans. | ||
| It also rolls back, has a rollback of clean energy tax credits and a higher debt ceiling increase of $5 trillion up from $4 trillion in the House bill. | ||
| That is according to the CBO. | ||
| It also says that it would increase the deficit by $3.3 trillion over 10 years. | ||
| It was yesterday that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was asked during a press conference about how Democrats would approach the bill when it comes to the floor. | ||
| Here is his response. | ||
|
unidentified
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Are Democrats planning for anything like procedural motions to adjourn or anything on the floor to try and delay passage at any point of the bill? | |
| We have a leadership conversation at 5.15 today, and then we'll have a caucus meeting at 6. | ||
| All legislative tools and options are on the table. | ||
|
unidentified
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Do you plan on using a magic menu on the floor today? | |
| All procedural and legislative options are on the table. | ||
|
unidentified
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Do you expect the entire caucus to be here this week? | |
| It's my expectation that every single member of the House Democratic caucus will be present, and every single House Democrat is strongly opposed to this GOP tax scam, this disgusting abomination, this one big, ugly, ugly bill that will rip health care away from millions of Americans. | ||
| Back to our calls, hearing from you on the House vote expected today on the big, beautiful bill. | ||
| Let's hear from Alberta in West Virginia, line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Alberta. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you very much for taking my call. | |
| First of all, I don't think the debt ceiling has ever been raised, a trillion. | ||
| And they hit the dose and supposedly saving trillion. | ||
| Why is that money not going to that trillion-dollar debt ceiling? | ||
| You all want this, not Jews per se, but those that wanted this big, beautiful bill is only big and beautiful for the wealthy. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| I have a lot of people that are not in my family wealth. | ||
| I'm blessed. | ||
|
unidentified
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I'm not rich by no means, but I'm blessed to have a home. | |
| Thank you, Jesus. | ||
| But, you know, this trillion-dollar debt ceiling is actually the replacement cost of the poor trillion-dollar cut. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| And, you know, honestly, this cat is dictator damn. | ||
| He said dictator day one, he's going to be that. | ||
| He's monopolizing it well. | ||
| And when he cut men, when he's cutting Medicaid, you know, yeah, Medicaid, you were cutting all the rural hospitals here. | ||
| They are now closing seven hospitals in the state of West Virginia because of this cut. | ||
| That's trifling. | ||
| That's unacceptable. | ||
| We don't have hospitals. | ||
| People that live here in those areas have to travel to that Pacific area for about an hour. | ||
| If they didn't, they'd have to travel two to three hours to get medical. | ||
| Now, I'm sorry. | ||
| And that's unacceptable. | ||
| I think they'd helicopter his behind to the next hospital. | ||
| I'm sorry. | ||
| Again, unacceptable. | ||
| That was Alberta in West Virginia. | ||
| Taking your calls today, this morning, on the House vote expected today on the big, beautiful bill. | ||
| You can join the conversation by giving us a call. | ||
| The Lions Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| Let's hear from Michael in Connecticut, Line for Independence. | ||
| Hi, Michael. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, good morning. | |
| Hey, it kind of turns out that Donald Trump makes Republicans stupid. | ||
| I don't know what they're thinking. | ||
| They all think that they're as rich and powerful as he is, but they're all very, very poor people, and they don't think that well. | ||
| Now they're going to be closing up all these hospitals across the country, these places where they need them, where they don't have them, and they're still going to vote for them. | ||
| They're just undermining themselves to the point where they're going to lose everything. | ||
| Then they're going to start to cry and complain. | ||
| But the guy told you what he was. | ||
| You know, it's like he says, he's a snake. | ||
| Why'd you bite me? | ||
| Because he's a snake. | ||
| The guy's no good crook. | ||
| He's a bum. | ||
| He's a cheat. | ||
| He steals. | ||
| He's a convicted criminal. | ||
| I mean, what more do you want? | ||
| I mean, this is what you people elected. | ||
| And I don't think he won the election because who's really going to vote for this guy? | ||
| He's really downright schmuck. | ||
| That was Michael in Connecticut. | ||
| Let's hear from George in New Jersey, lying for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, George. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| And I am a Republican, even though a lot of people will say I'm not, because I don't support Trump. | ||
| I don't drink to Kool-Aid. | ||
| I don't suck the crystals up through my nose like a lot of these people are doing. | ||
| I'm from New Jersey. | ||
| We've been following Trump for 50 years. | ||
| He's a congman. | ||
| Nothing he does long term works out. | ||
| If anybody wants to check it out, go back in history and look. | ||
| Nothing works out for him long term. | ||
| Everything always blows up. | ||
| Musk is right. | ||
| He's 100% more of a businessman than Trump ever was because Trump is just a Kong man. | ||
| That's all I have to say. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| George, are you still there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| How do you feel about the bill? | ||
| If you want to make cuts to try to decrease the debt, that's fine. | ||
| Why give people who have trillions of dollars or billions of dollars tax cuts? | ||
| They don't need it. | ||
| The poor is going to get like $700 from this. | ||
| From what I understand, like the middle class might get $1,000. | ||
| It ain't really going to help any of them. | ||
| I mean, what's $700 over a whole year? | ||
| It's really nothing. | ||
| And like I said, if you want to make cuts to take care of the debt, we should take care of the debt. | ||
| Do that. | ||
| Don't give the tax cuts. | ||
| It's ridiculous. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| That was George in New Jersey. | ||
| Let's hear from Ted in Hawaii, lying for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Ted. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| It's nice to talk to you. | ||
| I agree with almost everybody you've just talked to over the last 10 minutes. | ||
| And we all know what Trump is. | ||
| Some people try to close their eyes and ignore it, but he is what he is. | ||
| And it was a giant mistake for people to elect him. | ||
| It's very unfortunate. | ||
| But I have, let me say this. | ||
| I have one sister. | ||
| We have four in our family that are in the 70-year-old range. | ||
| And I have one sister who's a retired police officer. | ||
| She has three degrees in psychology, one degree in criminal psychology. | ||
| And I asked her the other day, you have all these degrees in psychology, and you can't tell a criminal when he walks to. | ||
| I could see him coming a mile away. | ||
| And I don't have a degree in psychology, but it doesn't take a degree in psychology to see what this guy is. | ||
| And I'm retired in Hawaii. | ||
| I'm fine. | ||
| But it's just a shame this had to happen to our country. | ||
| I wanted to go to our country this year to drive across North America one last time. | ||
| And I just don't feel like doing it. | ||
| I don't want to see half of our country because they voted this guy in. | ||
| So I'm going to stay here in Hawaii and hope for the best. | ||
| So I wish everybody else the best. | ||
| I'm a retired farmer. | ||
| I grew up on a farm in Washington State. | ||
| I've been a farmer in Hawaii for 40 years. | ||
| Avocados, mostly macadamianets. | ||
| And I never made over $40,000 a year yet. | ||
| I'm fine because I bought a hammer and I know how to build a house. | ||
| So I never had a mortgage. | ||
| I feel lucky in that sense. | ||
| My dad taught me that. | ||
| So good luck to the rest of the country, and I hope they figure it out. | ||
| That was Ted in Hawaii. | ||
| This headline from Politico after the vote yesterday, it says that Johnson on Megabill, I'm not happy with what the Senate did to our product. | ||
| It's now heading back to the House for a vote, possibly early as today for passage. | ||
| Several members of the Senate responding on or posting on Twitter on X yesterday after the vote as well. | ||
| This from Democrat Mark Warner, he says, I'm tired, borderline delirious, and frustrated after 27 chaotic hours. | ||
| It's clear once again that my Republican colleagues are willing to sell out the American people in order to serve Donald Trump's agenda. | ||
| Senator Cortez Masto, Democrat of Nevada, said this morning, Senate Republicans voted to raise costs on working families, rip health care from Nevadans who need it, and kill good-paying jobs across our state to ensure their billionaire friends save on their taxes. | ||
| Make no mistake, Republicans are responsible. | ||
| And Roger Marshall, Senator, he posted, President Donald Trump's bill has passed the Senate and will deliver major wins to every single American. | ||
| American, I look forward to seeing it get through the House and to the President's desk by the 4th of July. | ||
| And one more, this from Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky. | ||
| He says, throughout the vote of Rama, I was working all night to stop Congress from adding to our debt. | ||
| I met with VP and I reiterated my offer to vote for the bill if it included 90% reduction on the debt ceiling. | ||
| No earmarks, no handouts, just real fiscal reform. | ||
| I wasn't looking. | ||
| Rand Paul was Senator Paul, one of the members who voted against the legislature or against the bill yesterday. | ||
| Let's hear from Bob in Springfield, New Jersey, line for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Bob. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I am calling because I first want to say that I think the Democrats are losing their minds. | ||
| We had four years of one of the worst presidencies in our nation's history, and Biden wasn't even running our country, and they're complaining. | ||
| And what I really think is this bill is good short term. | ||
| Long term, it adds to the debt, but tell me one president that hasn't done that. | ||
| I think this helps every single American. | ||
| And Democrats are just angry because they can't get their way, and they always have to cry about it. | ||
| In the meantime, this is going to help me and pretty much everybody I know. | ||
| And I'm just a regular average, everyday working American. | ||
| I am retired. | ||
| I paid it to the system for decades. | ||
| And it's nice to get a tax break, which I think everybody's entitled to. | ||
| And I think it's got to stop overspending down the road, though. | ||
| They got to come to a better solution for long term. | ||
| Short term, it's good. | ||
| Bob, when you say it's going to help you, are you talking about in tax cuts? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, I'm sorry. | |
| Yes, in tax cuts. | ||
| It's going to help me financially. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| It helped me in 2017 the first time. | ||
| And I am retired. | ||
| And I go through everything with my accountants, but it definitely helped me financially. | ||
| And after the last four years, I watched a lot of my costs and goods go up 40 to 50 percent. | ||
| Now we have things stabilized and things are starting to come back to a little more close to normal. | ||
| And I just hope it works for everybody. | ||
| I don't want to see anybody hurt. | ||
| That was Bob in New Jersey. | ||
| Let's hear from Danny in Pennsylvania, line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Danny. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Morning. | |
| I paid it to the system for decades. | ||
| Danny, can you go ahead and turn your television down? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, sorry. | |
| Yeah, I think this what Bob is saying is completely false. | ||
| It's going to hurt me and it's going to hurt a lot of people in my state. | ||
| Danny, how is it? | ||
| Yep. | ||
| Tell me how it's going to hurt people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Because I live in Hawley, okay? | |
| And a lot of old people are at senior centers, some rest house for people to live in. | ||
| If they cut it, all that's going to be gone. | ||
| And there's going to be a lot of people on the street. | ||
| That was Danny in Pennsylvania. | ||
| Let's hear from Steve in Illinois, line for independence. | ||
| Good morning, Steve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I live in Illinois in the really rural area. | ||
| To get to a hospital, it's 30 miles one way. | ||
| To get to a store, it's 30 miles one way. | ||
| And it's really going to hurt me because if they cut Medicaid out, I had a heart attack two years ago, and they had to cut off half my right leg. | ||
| They had to open up my stomach and do procedures on my stomach and my left hip. | ||
| For some odd reason, a doctor took over nitrate stick to my left side hip. | ||
| Now I'm having a wound bath done and I'm having nursing care come to my house three times a week. | ||
| Yes, Illinois provides me with a caregiver, somebody to help out 30 hours a week around the house to cook for me because I can't stand and help me bathe and things like that. | ||
| And this is really going to hurt me. | ||
| Yes, I voted for Donald Trump. | ||
| Biggest mistake I made. | ||
| I didn't know he was going to go this far with all the cuts like this. | ||
| No, he said that it's just going to be illegal immigrants that are no longer going to have this. | ||
| But now it's starting to hurt the people that actually voted for him. | ||
| And it's sad. | ||
| That's all I have to say. | ||
| That was Steve in Illinois. | ||
| Let's hear from Miguel in Georgia, line for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Miguel. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I'd like to remind your callers and your viewers that it took us 233 years to get to $11 trillion in federal deficit. | ||
| 203 years. | ||
| And in eight years, the Democrats doubled the deficit that took 43 administrations before Barack Obama to accumulate. | ||
| The only problem that I have with the bill is that it does not do enough for veterans. | ||
| And the other question that I have, and everybody should just check the net worth of every congressional leader and senator, and you'll be appalled at how much money these people have. | ||
| Mary Gay Scallon out of Pennsylvania is worth $10 million, and she's saying this bill is for the rich. | ||
| Donald Trump, who I voted for, gave up fame and wealth to serve us. | ||
| So I support him. | ||
| And this bill, because I like less taxes, and I think that's the way it should be. | ||
| In the origin, the original tax rate was 3% on federal taxes implemented by Abraham Lincoln in order to pay for the Civil War. | ||
| That means if you made $800, you were only paying $24 on $800. | ||
| And these politicians, all of them, have raised all kinds of taxes on us. | ||
| And if you add all the taxes from sales and state taxes and federal taxes, Americans are not making much per dollar. | ||
| If they make more than 20 cents on the dollar, it's a lot. | ||
| And people don't even think about that. | ||
| Donald Trump is not the problem. | ||
| The legislators are. | ||
| They're all filthy rich. | ||
| And how about billionaires? | ||
| Let's talk about them. | ||
| Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire, supports the Democrats. | ||
| Oprah Winter, billionaire, supports the Democrats. | ||
| Warren Buffett, who recently retired, supports the Democrats, billionaire. | ||
| Bill Gates, billionaire, supports the Democrats. | ||
| And Fisker out of Illinois, another billionaire, supports the Democrats. | ||
| So people should do some fact-finding of themselves, especially start looking at the network of their legislators to see how they got so rich on just a few years of service. | ||
| That was Miguel in Georgia. | ||
| Our topic for today's program, the House expected to vote today on the big, beautiful bill. | ||
| Joining us now from Capitol Hill is a member of the House, South Carolina Republican, Congressman Ralph Norman. | ||
| Congressman Norman, thank you for being with us. | ||
| Great to be with you. | ||
| We'll start, we'll get started right off the bat here. | ||
| You are a member of the budget committee as well as the Freedom Caucus. | ||
| Yesterday on X, you posted after the Senate passed their version of the bill. | ||
| You said, but let's be honest, the spending provisions in this thing are massive and will blow up the deficit. | ||
| We can't keep mortgaging our future. | ||
| How are you planning to vote today? | ||
| Well, first of all, you know, during reconciliation, we have one chance, one moment to curb the spending that has plagued this country and is a cancer that's going to take this country down if we don't get it under control. | ||
| The House bill that we sent over did just sound. | ||
| Our baseline cut was $1.6 trillion with an optimum of $2 trillion. | ||
| We met the $1.6, and the Senate basically violated what we sent over in the House. | ||
| For every dollar, every dollar we had that spent, we had to cut a dollar. | ||
| And it just didn't do that. | ||
| Secondly, a lot of the key reforms, like with the Inflation Reduction Act, the Green New scam, was put back in place. | ||
| And, you know, I don't know how long we can continue to do this. | ||
| So our position was to send it back, to vote it down, send it back to the Senate with some key changes that we agreed to in the House. | ||
| And, you know, we'll see how it plays out today. | ||
| I voted against it in the rules committee yesterday. | ||
| Of course, it passed. | ||
| But we'll be on the floor today, and we'll see exactly what's coming from it. | ||
| But what I see right now, I don't like. | ||
| And you said there were proposed changes. | ||
| Tell us about some of the further cuts that you support or want to see in the bill. | ||
| Does that include changes to tax provisions? | ||
| Well, yeah, the tax provisions, but there are other things like sex Funding for sex surgeries was put back in. | ||
| On the IRA credits, they had foreign entity exclusions where China could, you know, we had to jump through hoops before they allowed, we're allowed to get a paycheck from the American people. | ||
| That was put back in. | ||
| Funding for illegals and Medicaid, you know, we fought hard for that, as well as able-bodied men. | ||
| That was put back in with the Senate bill. | ||
| It makes no sense. | ||
| And so that's why we're taking the stand that we are. | ||
| And we want to pass what President Trump wants. | ||
| I mean, he was for taking all the IRA green scam deals out. | ||
| And instead of getting them out, we're pretty much cementing them in for years to come. | ||
| Funding for Planned Parenthood. | ||
| We had it for, had banned for a decade. | ||
| They put it only banned for a year. | ||
| Why a year? | ||
| If it's wrong for a year, why not wrong for 10 years? | ||
| These things like that, that to me are benchmarks that we have to follow and renegotiate with the Senate. | ||
| Now, I know the Senate's on a short number of people that they can lose, and it's the same thing in the House. | ||
| But when are we going to face this problem of overspending? | ||
| And that's probably the major thing, along with the other provisions that just, again, spin this country into oblivion. | ||
| You are a member of the Freedom Caucus. | ||
| Have you talked to your fellow caucus members and how are they feeling about the bill? | ||
| Have any of them expressed optimism for the bill? | ||
| Are they going to be supporting it? | ||
| You know, we'll see. | ||
| We've got a meeting after this interview. | ||
| We'll be meeting with our Freedom Caucus, but others as well that had issues with it and wanted to know why we didn't get the House bill, which I had to swallow hard to support it because did it have the meaningful cuts that we thought? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No. | |
| The Senate initially promised that instead of the $1.6 trillion and the $2 trillion optimum, they were going to cut $5 trillion. | ||
| Well, that vanished in mid-air. | ||
| So I guess it's our time to deliver for the American people, and it's just not happening. | ||
| Now, we'll see what happens and see the debate and see what, you know, if any changes at this last minute would be made. | ||
| But I doubt it, and we'll see if it passes. | ||
| You represent South Carolina's fifth district. | ||
| A portion of that district is rural. | ||
| One of the cuts is to rural hospitals. | ||
| What can you tell us about that provision and how it could impact your constituents? | ||
| Well, the left keeps saying it's cuts. | ||
| It's not. | ||
| It's giving money to those who deserve it. | ||
| And the Provider Bill, which allows states to basically pay a dollar and get $9 from the federal government, that's all borrowed money. | ||
| And again, the illegals were put back in, 1.3 million illegals, supposedly across this country. | ||
| That was a Biden era addition, along with the Green New Deal. | ||
| We call them the Green New Scams. | ||
| But there are no Medicaid cuts. | ||
| It's just making sure that those who really need it, those who are illegal, should not get a paycheck. | ||
| Those able-bodied Americans who could go to work but choose not to should not get a paycheck. | ||
| Those were all watered down and really put back in the Senate bill, which we're getting a lot of people that are receiving those funds that are upset. | ||
| But it can't keep going the way that it has been going. | ||
| Again, this is on borrowed money that the federal government's having to borrow in addition to this 37 trillion debt we've already had now. | ||
| President Trump has called out Republicans who have opposed the legislation and threatened primaries in some cases. | ||
| Your reaction to that. | ||
| President Trump is a tremendous ally. | ||
| You will never hear me criticize him about anything. | ||
| This means a lot to him. | ||
| We're actually meeting with him at 11 o'clock, a group of us. | ||
| But I don't criticize him for that. | ||
| I mean, he feels strongly about it. | ||
| And, you know, we're trying to go back to the well and renegotiate something that he wanted anyway. | ||
| And so, you know, that's the case we'll be making to him. | ||
| And again, on the subsidies, the giveaways, the $7,500 for electric cars, and the wind and solar dollars that go to that, we can't keep sustaining that and paying for that. | ||
| He's for abolishing all of them. | ||
| That's what we're trying to do. | ||
| And that's the reason that we raise the issue about not taking what the Senate has, but go back to work. | ||
| And I realize it may run past the July 4th deadline. | ||
| But I think getting this right the first time, we'll not have a second bite at the apple. | ||
| We do right now. | ||
| Congressman Norman, Republican of South Carolina. | ||
| Thank you so much for your time this morning. | ||
| My pleasure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Back to your calls. | ||
| Ask our topic for today's program. | ||
| Is the House expected to vote later today on the big, beautiful bill, the Lions, Democrats, 202-748-8,000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| Let's talk with Charlie in New York, Line for Democrats. | ||
| Hi, Charlie. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| Hello? | ||
| Hi, Charlie. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Look, I'm not for this big, beautiful bill at all. | |
| I think the only one who's going to benefit by this is these oligarchs and the billionaires. | ||
| And as far as President Trump, you idiots that put him in there, shame on you. | ||
| You're going to put 15 million Americans out on the street. | ||
| And I don't agree with that at all. | ||
| Look, Trump's under this country. | ||
| The first time he was in, how many millions with the COVID? | ||
| I'm tired of them blaming President Biden and the Democrats. | ||
| Both sides have problems, but this president is a thug and a bully as far as I'm concerned. | ||
| And the Republicans that think he's doing a great job, he's the president of the United States. | ||
| He's selling products for his empire. | ||
| He's a thug and a bully. | ||
| Look what he's doing to Ukraine. | ||
| Nothing. | ||
| They got a trillion dollars. | ||
| They said, give them the money and let them fight the war over there. | ||
| They're fighting and dying for what we have in this country. | ||
| And our military is the strongest in the world as far as I'm concerned. | ||
| But they work up through the ranks. | ||
| And for this guy to call people, our military people, suckers and losers, shame on him. | ||
| That was Charlie. | ||
| Let's hear from Maxine in Maryland, Line for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Maxine. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I do not agree on the big, beautiful bill. | ||
| First of all, it's a shame, and I agree with this. | ||
| The gentleman just had a call. | ||
| When he got into office, he said he's going to do this and do that. | ||
| Only thing I see him is concerned with stuff overseas and blah, blah, blah, blah. | ||
| But we got people here in the United States need help and whatnot. | ||
| We don't need all that mess. | ||
| We just leave it alone. | ||
| So my thing is by him being a president, he couldn't sit down with all the staff he got and come up with a better bill than he opposing right now. | ||
| Because I know a lot of his staff don't agree with him. | ||
| And they are just like Flankers. | ||
| They agree with everything he said. | ||
| And nine times out of ten, they don't agree with some of the stuff. | ||
| And they need to speak up and say like this gentleman that was Republican under him. | ||
| So I didn't vote for him because I knew when he was president before, he didn't do nothing. | ||
| So he ain't going to do nothing now. | ||
| And also I agree with the caller to just come home. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Bye-bye. | ||
| That was John and Mae, or that was a caller in Maryland. | ||
| Let's hear from John Amae in Charlotte, North Carolina, line for independence. | ||
| Good morning, Johnny May. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| This is Johnny Mae Crawford. | ||
| I appreciate you taking my call. | ||
| I'm an 87-year-old great-grandmother, and I just wanted to say just a few things. | ||
| First of all, he never should have been the president then. | ||
| Second of all, it's going to be murderous to do what he's doing with people who need health care. | ||
| I've been working all night since I was 19 years old. | ||
| I don't need that help right now, but the Lenin people do. | ||
| Many people are going to die. | ||
| It won't be that many people for them to serve and give any kind of breaks because they'll be dead by the time he gets around. | ||
| The Bible preaches sometimes says you, you know, you need to do unto others as you have them do for you. | ||
| When he wants them to do his family that way, when he has a choice of not doing it, just because they want to have more money, that's plain stupid. | ||
| It's cruel, and people will die. | ||
| And it is murderous. | ||
| That's all I got to say. | ||
| Johnny Mae Crawford of Charlotte, North Carolina, thank you so much for listening to me. | ||
| That was John and Mae in North Carolina. | ||
| Gary in Birmingham, Alabama, line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Gary. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, how you doing this morning? | |
| Thank you for taking my phone call. | ||
| This bill isn't helping anyone but the rich. | ||
| We all can get on here and talk about Donald Trump. | ||
| We already know what type of person he is. | ||
| So it surprises me about these senators. | ||
| We put them in office to try to, you know, to help us, help the American people. | ||
| But it seems like the only people that they are helping are themselves. | ||
| And it's amazing how one man has hundreds of men, I mean, scared of him. | ||
| And, you know, that they're doing everything that they want him to do. | ||
| And, I mean, we talk about helping the kids. | ||
| If you take away food stamps, if you take away the SNAP benefits from families, you're killing is like hundreds of kids are going to go hungry. | ||
| And all these, you know, you talk about stopping, trying to stop thieves and all this stuff, but it's not going to, the, the, the theft rate is going to go up because folks are going to start stealing out of stores, this, that, and the other. | ||
| So, I mean, this big, beautiful bill is nothing but a dump. | ||
| And I'm so tired of hearing all these people calling in, talking about, you know, you know, they're complaining. | ||
| But at the same time, this is what you asked for. | ||
| You voted for Donald Trump, so you're getting what you asked for. | ||
| That was Carrie in Alabama. | ||
| This headline in today's Washington Post, AI rules, moratorium dies, says Senate kills 10-year freeze on state-level industry regulations. | ||
| The article says that the U.S. Senate voted 99 to 1 in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday to strip from the sprawling tax and immigration bill, a provision that would have blocked states from regulating artificial intelligence for the next decade. | ||
| The provisions resounding defeat came after Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, backed out of a compromise she had previously struck with Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, that would have reduced the pause to five years from the original 10 and exempted some categories of AI regulation. | ||
| Cruz, who had championed the moratorium, ended up joining Blackburn and voting against it, along with all of their colleagues, except for Senator Tom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina. | ||
| The vote on the AI moratorium came after 4 a.m. Tuesday as part of a marathon vote of Rama on a slew of proposed changes to the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which carries much of President Donald Trump's domestic agenda. | ||
| It notes the measure, which would have rolled back dozens of laws in states across the country and left the industry essentially unregulated, drew intense pushback from Democratic leaders, advocates, and state lawmakers from both parties. | ||
| Back to your calls, hearing your thoughts on the House expecting to vote today on the Big Beautiful Bill. | ||
| Let's talk with John in Virginia, line for Republicans. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, John. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Well, two things real quick. | ||
| About a half hour ago, one of the callers, a lady, said there's not one thing in the bill for the middle-class people. | ||
| And from what I understand, the no taxes on tips and Social Security, wouldn't that have pertained to middle-class people? | ||
| I don't think the real rich worry about the tips and all that. | ||
| The other thing I was going to suggest is that you someday do a segment, maybe have a couple psychiatrists on Trump derangement syndrome, and maybe have people call in and explain how they got healed of it because it's really getting out of sight now. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, I thank you. | |
| Bye. | ||
| That was John in Virginia. | ||
| Dorothy, Fayetteville, North Carolina, line for independence. | ||
| Good morning, Dorothy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I want to talk about the no tax on tips and overtime. | ||
| People need to realize that these are federal tax that are not going to be taken, that they don't have to report. | ||
| Now, if you live in a state where you have to report these taxes, these states are going to get those taxes from those tax, from those tips and overtime. | ||
| So people need to realize that this, whatever they tried to pass, it's not going to benefit a lot of people. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| That was Dorothy in North Carolina. | ||
| Robert in Arkansas, line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Robert. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for taking my call. | |
| Six months before the Affordable Health Care Act came in, I'm an independent business person, raise cattle. | ||
| I get nothing from the government except what we earn and self-employed, and neither party seems to understand our problems. | ||
| But six months before the act came in, here in Arkansas, I kicked my cow, broke my jaw, $28,000. | ||
| I sold cows, savings. | ||
| We paid it. | ||
| By doing that, I saved $2,000. | ||
|
unidentified
|
When the affordable health care came out, I qualified for it under BB. | |
| My wife and I got a Blue Cross Blue Shield silver plan for $152 a month with $500 deductible. | ||
| A few months later, she developed some cancer and everything was paid. | ||
| I mean, I could not believe the relief that had come over for me. | ||
| No matter what the other states were talking about, the affordable health care, Arkansas did something, and none of our senators or congressmen would recognize it. | ||
| Then we changed administrations, and Republicans took over our state, and they added another thing. | ||
| They wanted to repeal it, but they couldn't, so they called it Arkansas Works. | ||
| But they did one thing. | ||
| My $152 was not paying the total cost of my expense. | ||
| So I got what was called a $1095 form that said that I owed I had been given $7,000 extra, which would go to my income taxes. | ||
| And federal government didn't charge tax on it. | ||
| The state did. | ||
| That made me start thinking. | ||
| All these people out here with defined benefits, especially my senators, they talk about their income. | ||
| They need to have, and I've asked Congressman Crawford, they need to explain to us how much their 1095 form would be on their insurance, their retirement, and all these benefits they're getting that they're not paying for, but it's coming to them and even this thing up. | ||
| You know, I voted for Ross Perot. | ||
| I heard the sucking sound, and it was free market, free enterprise capitalism that brought in, they made China most favored nation stations, and I refuse to take responsibility for what they're saying about we've sent all of our jobs overseas. | ||
| You ask which Republican or Democrat senator believed in free market, free enterprise capitalism, and there you will find what took our jobs away. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| I appreciate each man, and I hope our Arkansas congressmen will wake up to the fact we do not need to hurry this bill through. | ||
| That was Robert in Arkansas. | ||
| Andy in Greenville, South Carolina, line for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Andy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, good morning. | |
| I'm just struck with how many folks here don't appreciate that this is regular order. | ||
| Everything budgetary-wise for the last since Pelosi put that bill out a few years back at, what was it, like five minutes before midnight, and then they had to vote on it by proxy voting a few hours later. | ||
| Nobody got to read the bill. | ||
| All these continuing spending resolutions for the last four or five years here have been off of that particular bill. | ||
| So here we are. | ||
| We actually have a budget bill. | ||
| It's been read into the record by the Senate. | ||
| And it's just regular business. | ||
| This is how it's supposed to be every year. | ||
| And for Ralph Norman a few minutes ago to say, and here he wants to be governor of South Carolina, for him to say he's not okay with reducing the spending on solar for one year, and so he's going to vote against the bill is just ridiculous because we're supposed to be going to regular business and doing this every spending bill and budgetary bill. | ||
| Again, I appreciate Mike Johnson and John Thune as they're using parliamentary procedure negotiating bills. | ||
| And this may not be the best bill, but it's a good starting point. | ||
| Does that make sense? | ||
| I mean, isn't this just regular business from your perspective? | ||
| That was Andy in South Carolina. | ||
| John in North Carolina, line for independence. | ||
| Good morning, John. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Thank you for taking the call. | ||
| You know, if this would have been a Democrat bill, these Democrats would have been appraising it. | ||
| I mean, it's amazing how they don't want something for good. | ||
| They make like every time anything comes up like this, they always say it's for the millionaire, billionaires. | ||
| They act like they ain't no billionaires in the Democrat Party, but I know better than that. | ||
| And they don't know what Biden has cost this United States of America by letting all these eagles in. | ||
| They don't say anything about that. | ||
| I mean, billions and billions and billions of dollars that he cost us. | ||
| One of the worst presidents I ever know of. | ||
| I'll never vote for another Democrat. | ||
| I'm an independent, but the way they think and go on and letting people have abortion, killing babies, it's awful. | ||
| But they'll have to stand in front of God one day and answer just like I will. | ||
| And I hope we can do better. | ||
| And I support Trump. | ||
| Thank you for everything he's done. | ||
| And you have a good day, ma'am. | ||
| That was John in North Carolina. | ||
| Teresa in Chicago, Illinois. | ||
| Line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Teresa. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I'd like to say that the Republican congressman from the Carolinas said he wants to eliminate benefits to disabled people who receive Medicaid but don't deserve it. | ||
| But he's okay giving a trillion dollars to billionaires in the form of millions of dollars every year. | ||
| And you tell me why they need that money. | ||
| That is a drop in the bucket for them. | ||
| And you are going to send people driving hours and hours to get care in hospitals. | ||
| Further, the felon in office is violently kidnapping hardworking, taxpaying people from our international communities and destroying their families. | ||
| And the rumors have it now they're throwing them out of planes, which may or may not be true, but we know that people are dying every day. | ||
| And I just find this whole bill to be disgusting. | ||
| And anyone who votes for it will be voted out if we ever get the chance to vote again. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| That was Teresa in Illinois. | ||
| Teresa mentioning Medicaid and undocumented immigrants, those in the international community. | ||
| It was after the Senate passed the GOP tax and spending bill yesterday that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, responded to a question on that topic. | ||
| Here's that clip. | ||
| Republicans are lying about Medicaid being used to provide health care using federal funds to undocumented immigrants. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Federal law prohibits Medicaid from being used with federal dollars to provide any health care to undocumented immigrants. | ||
| And I haven't heard a single Democrat say anything about opposing that law or doing anything to change it. | ||
| I support the law as it currently exists. | ||
| What Republicans are doing is taking health care away from American citizens, from children, from seniors, from families, from everyday Americans with disabilities. | ||
| That's what this bill does and has been confirmed by independent organization after independent organization. | ||
| Donald Trump claimed that Republicans were going to love and cherish Medicaid. | ||
| You're lying to the American people, just like you lied to the American people that costs were going to go down on day one. | ||
| And lied to the American people that the war in Ukraine was going to end on day one. | ||
| And lied to the American people that the hostages would be released on day one. | ||
| I mean, this is one lie that was told to the American people after another. | ||
| And we're going to expose the truth to the American people because the American people deserve the truth. | ||
| This is the largest assault on health care in American history. | ||
| It's an assault on Medicaid, on Medicare, and on the Affordable Care Act, which will result in millions of people who currently get health care coverage from the Affordable Care Act losing access to their health care. | ||
| It's the largest assault on nutritional assistance in American history. | ||
| It's the largest transfer of wealth from everyday Americans to billionaires in American history. | ||
| Shame on Republicans for trying to jam this bill down the throats of the American people. | ||
| Our topic this morning is the House expecting to vote today on President Trump's big, beautiful bill. | ||
| We will return to that discussion in just a few minutes, but joining us now to discuss the America 250 kickoff is Ambassador Monica Crowley, Chief of Protocol for the United States. | ||
| Ambassador Crowley, thank you so much for being with us. | ||
| Thank you for having me, Tim, and good morning. | ||
| We're excited for this kickoff. | ||
| Remind our viewers what the mission of America 250 is and the ultimate goal. | ||
| Well, what a gift it is to have America 250 celebrated over the next year. | ||
| We're kicking it off tomorrow while President Trump is in office because this means so much to him personally and he's very excited about the next year of landmark celebrations to mark America's 250th birthday. | ||
| So we're kicking it off tomorrow. | ||
| It is going to be a huge event held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa. | ||
| The president is coming and I will be with him. | ||
| He is going to be our headline act for this event tomorrow giving very special remarks at about 7.30 Central Time. | ||
| I'll be speaking right before him, but we anticipate that he is going to kick off 250 years of American leadership, patriotism, strength, and pride. | ||
| And we look forward to a full year of celebration and events, not just nationally here in Washington, but in all 50 states and U.S. territories. | ||
| You mentioned that you'll be with President Trump tomorrow. | ||
| You'll also be speaking. | ||
| Explain your specific role. | ||
| So the president last December, right after the election, he called me and offered me the position of Chief of Protocol of the United States, which comes with ambassador ranks. | ||
| So I'm very proud to say, Tammy, that I am America's ambassador, which I wear with pride. | ||
| And in addition to those protocol duties, he also asked me to serve as the administration representative for America 250, the FIFA World Cup, which is also taking place next year. | ||
| Next year, it's going to be a huge year for America. | ||
| And the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, which President Trump heroically brought to the United States. | ||
| So I am working with the administration, but particularly on this with America 250 and the commission that's overseeing America's birthday to make sure that we celebrate in a way that all Americans can enjoy and in a way that really unites the country through patriotism, shared values, and this renewed sense of civic pride. | ||
| You mentioned the kickoff is tomorrow in Des Moines, Iowa. | ||
| Why that location? | ||
| The Iowa State Fair, it's quintessentially American. | ||
| It's Americana and it's also the American heartland. | ||
| So as much as we all love Washington, D.C., I think we're all looking forward to getting out of the swamp and heading into the America heartland to really kick off this event. | ||
| It's literally the central point of the United States of America. | ||
| And as I said, the whole next year of celebrations, Tammy, is really about bringing the country together. | ||
| We've had a lot of polarization. | ||
| We all have political differences. | ||
| But I think we can all unite around celebrating America's 250th birthday. | ||
| Your organization is partnering with several groups. | ||
| Explain some of those and also the role Congress has in this. | ||
| Yes, so about 10 years ago, Congress created the America 250 Commission. | ||
| So it is congressionally constituted and it's bipartisan. | ||
| And it has been working over the last decade to really begin to come up with ideas for programming. | ||
| And America 250, the Commission, has really interesting programming around charitable giving, America gives, around the American flag with America waves. | ||
| They have incredibly important things that they have planned over the next year. | ||
| And also, every state has their own commission. | ||
| So the America250.org website, Tammy, is the central place for all Americans to go and visit for details about tomorrow's big event in Iowa, the state fairgrounds. | ||
| If you want to RSVP and come out, we'd love to see you, America250.org. | ||
| But it's also a central location for information about what the Commission is doing, what the Presidential Task Force, which has been merged with the Commission, what we have planned as well. | ||
| And you can find out just not just national events, but also what's happening in your neck of the woods, your community, your state, because we're going to have things planned all across the country. | ||
| You mentioned Congress established the Commission in 2016. | ||
| It's the U.S. semi-quincentennial commission. | ||
| It rolls right off the tongue. | ||
| It's quite a mouthful. | ||
| Get used to hearing and saying that. | ||
| You mentioned some of what we'll be seeing over the next year. | ||
| What are some of the key initiatives? | ||
| Right. | ||
| So obviously we're starting tomorrow in Iowa, July 4th here in Washington, D.C. | ||
| The next day we will have the massive fireworks display and the president will be presiding over that as well. | ||
| We are also going to have a very special moment on July 4th because the president is bringing in the pilots that conducted the raid on Iran about a week or so ago. | ||
| It was very successful. | ||
| So those pilots are going to be at the White House. | ||
| And we're also going to have a very special flyover on July 4th of B-2s, F-22s, and F-35s, the planes that actually conducted this raid. | ||
| So a huge sense of patriotism on July 4th to kick off the year as well. | ||
| And then going into the year, we're going to be celebrating Navy 250. | ||
| We just celebrated Army 250, Navy 250, the Marine Corps. | ||
| We have so many events planned. | ||
| And then going into next year, into July 4th, which is the 10th Pole Day, obviously. | ||
| All of the eastern seaborne cities that played such a central role in the American Revolution, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and then, of course, Mount Vernon, that we have a whole network of the presidential libraries are getting involved. | ||
| Every state is getting involved. | ||
| And one particular event, Tammy, that I want to draw the audience's attention to, next July 4th, we are going to do a very similar thing to what was done on July 4th, 1976, for the bicentennial in New York Harbor, which is a very deep harbor and can accommodate the world's tall ships. | ||
| So we're going to do a spectacular tall ship parade. | ||
| We have about 40 nations already that have committed a tall ship. | ||
| They will be going up the Hudson River, along with the fireworks, of course, New York City. | ||
| But every state is going to have their own planning around America 250. | ||
| And I encourage everybody to go to the website, America250.org, find out what's being planned and where you can celebrate in your community. | ||
| There's going to be a lot going on, definitely a lot of family-friendly events, but something that's going to be happening this fall is America's Field Trip Contest. | ||
| Explain what that is and who can participate. | ||
| Yes, so America250.org, you can go and register. | ||
| And we have so many schools and communities around the country that are being involved in America's field trip. | ||
| And it is a contest. | ||
| So we're encouraging America's school children to write essays about what America means to them. | ||
| And those essays will be judged. | ||
| And then we will have a final group of students that we're going to send around the country to see America's premier landmarks. | ||
| America 250, the FIFA World Cup, the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. | ||
| I hope you hate free time because you're not going to have me for the next couple of years. | ||
| Is there an event you're most excited about? | ||
| Oh, I'm excited about all of it, Tammy, because this is, it really is such a gift and it's such a pivotal moment for our country. | ||
| So I'm looking forward to all of the events. | ||
| I was with the president for the Army 250 parade here in Washington, D.C. | ||
| We are going to have so many fantastic events like that as well, culminating on July 4th. | ||
| But remember, next year is a full year. | ||
| So while July 4th today is the 10th poll day, we're going to be celebrating all year long. | ||
| Ambassador Monica Crowley is the Chief of Protocol for the United States here talking about the kickoff for America 250. | ||
| You can find more information about it at america250.org. | ||
| Ambassador Crowley, thank you so much for being with us. | ||
| Such a pleasure, Tammy. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| We are returning to your calls on the House expected to vote today on President Trump's big beautiful bill. | ||
| We will hear from Nancy in Katy, Texas, Line for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Nancy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| Hi, Nancy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Hi, good morning. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| So, you know, I just have to say this. | ||
| Under Biden, our country was invaded by somewhere around 24 million. | ||
| Illegal is people that cross your border without applying, being accepted, who we can check their backgrounds and find out who they are. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I do believe that most of them are from illegal gangs, illegal activity in other countries, who have brought that here because I was at Something like that by trusting someone and giving them money to do a job and then was ripped off. | |
| So I have a little knowledge on that subject. | ||
| You know, they, our social security numbers, you know, when we go to these places that hire these people who are illegal, they have our birth dates. | ||
| They have access to things that they should not have access to because they come here illegally and then people hire them. | ||
| We are at risk as a nation to have that kind of stuff exposed. | ||
| You know, you hide your stuff and your information for years and then all of a sudden it's exposed. | ||
| The number two, 24 million people. | ||
| Think about the impact of 24 million people on an economy. | ||
| They are soaking our social services. | ||
| And anyone that thinks that they're here, they come over, they abandon all their stuff at the border, and that we're not paying for them really is in a delusion. | ||
| And, you know, no country in the world can absorb 24 million people. | ||
| Everyone knows that. | ||
| I mean, where else would you go that would take 24 million people in and say, okay, here's a $400 a night room. | ||
| Here's everything that you need when the citizens that have just lived through COVID have suffered. | ||
| And yeah, it's great to give to people because we are a giving country. | ||
| We've proven that throughout history that we give to other nations. | ||
| We've been supporting most nations the whole time I've been alive and I'm well into my 60s. | ||
| So I don't understand this idea that we can just absorb that many people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Our schools are overrun. | |
| I mean, it's not that we're not nice people. | ||
| We are nice people. | ||
| We've proven it throughout history. | ||
| I'll say that again. | ||
| We're nice people. | ||
| We can't give to the point of where you don't have anything yourself. | ||
| For instance, if you were sitting at your house and a thousand people showed up at your door, they didn't have any clothes. | ||
| They didn't have any food to eat. | ||
| And they're just standing there saying, I'm hungry and I need some clothes and I need a roof over my head. | ||
| Got your point. | ||
| That was Nancy in Texas. | ||
| Our topic this morning, the House expecting to vote today on the big, beautiful bill that comes after the Senate passed it yesterday, as well as the House Rules Committee. | ||
| Some members of the House reacting to the passage in the Senate yesterday, this from Representative Ted Liu, a Democrat, says the Senate just passed the big, ugly bill. | ||
| Now it's heading back to the House for another vote. | ||
| House Democrats are going to fight this with everything we've got. | ||
| Representative Melanie Stansbury says, while you were sleeping, Senate Republicans worked through the night cutting deals to buy votes on the floor. | ||
| The deal got health care for 20 million Americans, got food assistance to 16 million, tank thousands of American homegrown jobs and explode the debt. | ||
| Steve Scalese, Republican of Louisiana, said, The Senate just passed the one big, beautiful bill. | ||
| Now it heads back to the House. | ||
| The job's not done yet, but we're almost there. | ||
| Let's finish strong and get it to President Trump's desk. | ||
| And one more, it's Tom Emmer, the GOP, Majority WEP, says, breaking at, it says, POTUS, one big, beautiful bill just passed the Senate. | ||
| Now it's up to the House GOP to unite as a team and get it across the finish line. | ||
| Failure is not an option. | ||
| The House expecting to come in at 9 o'clock this morning and take up that legislation. | ||
| Joining us now to discuss the latest on the bill is Rhys Gorman. | ||
| He's a politics reporter with Notice. | ||
| Reese, thank you for being with us this morning. | ||
| Thank you for having me on. | ||
| Now you've had a long couple days. | ||
| We appreciate your time. | ||
| We'll start by having you explain what happened in the Senate yesterday. | ||
| Yeah, so the Senate, basically, what happened was the House had their version of the reconciliation bill. | ||
| They passed it. | ||
| They sent it over to the Senate. | ||
| The Senate believed that they could not pass what the House sent over themselves. | ||
| They had to make some changes. | ||
| And so that's what they did. | ||
| They made some changes, which when they amend the bill, they then have to send it back over the House. | ||
| Basically, late last night, they're trying to get the votes to pass it. | ||
| They had a lot of defections going into the night last night, or I guess two nights ago, rather at this point. | ||
| They were able to cut a deal with Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, where they were now able to get her to vote for it. | ||
| JD Vance, the vice president, broke the tie as he is the president of the Senate, and they sent that bill back over to the House. | ||
| But the issue is that they made so many changes to the bill in the Senate that the House just does not like it. | ||
| They did this thing where, I mean, I was talking to Speaker Mike Johnson basically, who was like, I mean, when the House, when the bill went over, everyone voted, basically everyone voted for it, minus two people. | ||
| And then the Senate found a way to make it too conservative for the moderates, but not conservative enough for the conservatives. | ||
| And so now both sides hate it. | ||
| And there's just a wide kind of spectrum of members of Congress in the Republican Conference that do not like this bill. | ||
| And it's going to be very difficult for Speaker Mike Johnson to muscle this through later today if, in fact, he actually does try to muscle it through. | ||
| It was Vice President JD Vance who had to break the tie in the Senate yesterday. | ||
| It also barely made it through the House Rules Committee yesterday. | ||
| Explain what support and opposition look like, and does that tell us anything about what we could see today and possibly in the coming days? | ||
| Yes, so you have, so let's start with conservatives. | ||
| So let's start with the support because that's the quickest part because there is support to it, but it's just more your rank of file members. | ||
| It's the members who are really going to vote with leadership just about all the time. | ||
| They don't necessarily come out against anything for the vast majority, but the opposition is great. | ||
| You have the conservatives, the fiscal hardliners who believe that this bill raises the deficit, that they bring it up, and that it didn't cut enough. | ||
| They believe the House bill cut significantly more. | ||
| And then the Senate kind of took a lot of those cuts out and raised the spending levels within the bill. | ||
| And so you have those people, which is Chip Roy, Ralph Norman, who both voted no in the Rules Committee yesterday. | ||
| And now they have also, I mean, Ralph Norman, to his part, has pledged that he will be a no on every single bill that comes to, and every single vote rather, that comes to the floor for this bill, whether it be the rule vote that's supposed to happen later today, whether it be final passage, what have you, he is voting no on that. | ||
| He has pledged. | ||
| And now they can only lose three votes. | ||
| It still passed the bill. | ||
| They already have Thomas Massey, who is just assumed to be a no on everything. | ||
| You have Warren Davidson, who already voted no on the original version of the bill last month, I believe. | ||
| I guess now it's April or May when they passed it two months ago rather. | ||
| And so you have two no's right there. | ||
| If you have Ralph Norman chime in there voting no, then you can't lose another vote. | ||
| And we already know, just from the public knows, that there's significantly more people who plan to vote no, which would inevitably tank this bill. | ||
| And that's just the conservatives. | ||
| You have the moderates over here, such as David Valadeo, Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan, etc., who are not necessarily, Valadeo has been a public no on Twitter. | ||
| He posted it. | ||
| The rest of them are kind of keeping cards close to their chest. | ||
| They have expressed displeasure with it. | ||
| There's a group of moderates that signed a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, a Senate Majority Leader John Thune, late last month, where they said that basically if the Senate kept these Medicaid provisions in the bill that they were currently considering, that they would not be able to vote for it. | ||
| They would not be able to support it. | ||
| A lot of those provisions remain in the bill currently. | ||
| And so if that letter holds true and they stand by that letter that they sign, then they likely will not vote for the bill. | ||
| And that would be an issue for Mike Johnson because that's just more defections that he has. | ||
| But in the grand scheme of things, the vast majority of these, there's a wide sparks in the conference that don't like the bill for different reasons. | ||
| And another issue is if you fix one person's issues, it's going to make more people on the other side not like it because they have such opposite oppositions. | ||
| Yesterday after the vote, it was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaking to members of the press. | ||
| He said that all legislative tools and options are on the table. | ||
| What could that mean? | ||
| What could we see today? | ||
| Yeah, we kind of saw a little bit of that last night in the Rules Committee where they introduced a bunch of different amendments to the bill that kind of just stretched it out in the rules committee for a little bit. | ||
| We went a little later. | ||
| Theoretically also, now this is something that, I mean, we could happen just from talking to people, this is kind of thought to be maybe the case that the minority leader Hakeem Jeffries could do what's called a quote magic minute where he just speaks for as he is a leader, the leader of the respective parties in the House have the ability to speak for as long as they want on the House floor. | ||
| And a former speaker, then minority leader Kevin McCarthy, spoke for just a little over eight hours. | ||
| He currently holds the longest record for the longest magic minute back when Democrats were trying to pass their reconciliation bill to try to delay it. | ||
| So there is theoretically the opportunity for Jeffries to do that. | ||
| And he has not come out and said that he would necessarily do that, but there's a possibility. | ||
| And so that's basically just how they could pull up kind of what they did at the first time when the House tried to pass the bill. | ||
| They had a little motion to adjourn. | ||
| They just pulled a lot of late-night votes, kind of procedural measures that required everyone to come back and vote. | ||
| It delayed consideration of the bill. | ||
| The bill did ultimately pass. | ||
| There's nothing that Democrats can necessarily do, though, to tank the bill. | ||
| If there is enough Republican support, right now there is not. | ||
| But there is enough Republican support. | ||
| There's nothing that the Democrats can do to actually tank and prevent passions of the bill, but there is just stuff they could do to delay and kind of toy around with Republicans to ensure that maybe it doesn't get, maybe it just, they have to stay up all night. | ||
| Maybe they have to not go home for July 4th because they're here trying to pass the bill. | ||
| There's stuff that they could delay. | ||
| There's not necessarily anything they could do to prevent the bill from passing. | ||
| And with so much up in the air, you just mentioned it could be a long night, maybe a long weekend. | ||
| But is there timing, a possible vote timing for that final vote? | ||
| And are the expectations that they could hit the July 4th deadline? | ||
| Right now it's all kind of up in the air, right? | ||
| I mean, there was a notice sent out over the weekend saying that members, asking members to be back in town by 9.30 today. | ||
| There's not a vote scheduled necessarily for this time yet. | ||
| They're still in flux trying to get things working. | ||
| They might have scheduled a vote this morning since I've been on. | ||
| Don't really haven't really checked my phone in about 15 minutes or so. | ||
| But currently, there's not necessarily a hard vote time set at the moment. | ||
| There's also struggle with members getting into DC because of the storms last night. | ||
| There's quite a handful of members who got stranded just due to all the storms, a lot of airport closures coming here. | ||
| I mean, there are some members who actually drove into D.C. late last night because they couldn't fly, but there's still a handful of members who aren't, it's not possible to drive just based on how far they are from D.C. | ||
| And so there's an attendance issue that leadership is currently dealing with that they're trying to figure out just how many members are missing at this point. | ||
| And that will also play into when the vote total happens. | ||
| Is there an expectation that this passes by July 4th? | ||
| Obviously, Trump seems to still think that it can pass by July 4th. | ||
| Obviously, there's a reporting yesterday from ABC that said that basically that Trump said that he would still like it to be July 4th, but he understands it has to take a little bit after. | ||
| Mike Johnson yesterday when I was talking to him, he told me that he was upset with what the Senate did to the bill. | ||
| And then when I asked him, is July 4th still a realistic deadline for the bill to pass? | ||
| He basically said, we'll see what transpires the last 24 hours. | ||
| That's a big kind of digression of confidence from where he was previously when they were so adamant that this bill would pass by July 4th. | ||
| And so there is skepticism, especially from my source that I've talked to as well, that this would be able to pass by July 4th, just because of the broad spectrum of opposition and how big it is. | ||
| But obviously they're going to keep kind of looking at confidence, kind of exposing confidence, looking at what it is, and they're going to try their best to get these members on board. | ||
| But from who I'm talking to in leadership and just in the GOP conference in general, there's very little confidence at the moment that this passes by July 4th. | ||
| Reese Gorman is a politics reporter for Notice. | ||
| You can find his work online at notice.org. | ||
| Reese, thank you so much for your time this morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for having me. | |
| Back to your calls. | ||
| We're talking about the House expected to vote today on the one big, beautiful bill. | ||
| Democrats, you can give us a call at 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans, 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| Let's hear from Nick in Kansas City, Missouri, line for Independence. | ||
| Hi, Nick. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, hello. | |
| I was originally a Blue Dog Democrat and voted for John Kerry and Barack Obama. | ||
| And Obama, I believe, famously said elections have consequences. | ||
| And Democrats are acting highly hypocritical right now. | ||
| Republicans are basically acting like Democrats have for decades. | ||
| And they're finally getting a taste of their own medicine. | ||
| And it's unpleasant. | ||
| Nancy Pelosi said, you'll find out what's in the bill when you pass it with Obamacare. | ||
| And that's exactly what's going to happen with this bill. | ||
| States are going to have to pay if they want to give certain groups of people government benefits without any requirements or any proof of means. | ||
| And these CPO numbers can say whatever they want. | ||
| They can make them say whatever they want them to say. | ||
| People are tired of hearing legalese and lawyers' speeches coming from Democrats. | ||
| These people do not care about small rural America. | ||
| At least with Trump, you get his honest opinion on things sometimes. | ||
| People are tired of hearing well-rehearsed, politically correct rhetoric from our politicians. | ||
| We want to hear what real people have to say instead of lawyers and politicians. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And it's just, I think people have just had enough. | |
| And Trump got elected and he's going to push his agenda. | ||
| And he has the right to. | ||
| And thank you for taking my call. | ||
| That was Nick in Missouri. | ||
| Let's hear from Joe in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Joe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| Hi. | ||
| Thanks so much for having me on. | ||
| I want to clean up a little bit of the disinformation. | ||
| You know, you heard the border was wide open. | ||
| That's just an absolute lie. | ||
| But I want to start with a little bit of factual information that a lot of your viewers that are listening to AM Radio or One American News, Fox News, that they don't understand. | ||
| All of the major independent economic math-based entities that have looked at these numbers say it's going to drive up our debt and deficits. | ||
| So if you're really looking for a debt reduction, it's not there. | ||
| Now, how can we prove this? | ||
| In the Senate bill, they have a $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. | ||
| If this was going to save America money, why would they have a $5 trillion increase in how much money we can print? | ||
| Because that part's a lie. | ||
| Now, here's the bigger point. | ||
| If you're on Medicare and you're sitting back there and you don't care as long as you're doing okay, that some very poor people are getting really killed by this bill. | ||
| Let me explain something to you. | ||
| Because their numbers are a lie, when it goes into effect, this will trigger the PAYGO rules. | ||
| I encourage all of your people to look up sequester PAYGO, right? | ||
| Sequester PAYGO. | ||
| Look up PAYGO. | ||
| What happens is, is if the deficit goes up too much, it automatically triggers cuts. | ||
| And guess where some of those cuts are going to go to? | ||
| Your Medicare that you think you're going to do okay, even those important people that are trying to struggle, maybe they're in their 20s, are getting hammered by this thing because now they have a 90-day get a job or lose food requirement. | ||
| So if you're on Medicare and you're thinking, oh, I'm all great, that is not the case. | ||
| When the real numbers hit, since Republicans are lying about the numbers nonstop, with the big debt increase, when that hits, your Medicare is going to get harmed. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because it triggers a $500 billion to $900 billion hit to what's spent on Medicare, not even Medicaid. | ||
| Another way I know this is true, Scott Besson, who runs Trump's Treasury, right, he said on national TV just a few weeks back when he was on national TV, they were pressing him on, are you really going to save money with this? | ||
| And he said, yeah, as soon as the automatic cuts kick in, hello. | ||
| You know what that automatic cut is? | ||
| Your Medicare. | ||
| Wake up. | ||
| Trump's a con man, and the billionaires are going to party if this thing passes. | ||
| That was Joe in Oklahoma. | ||
| We are taking your calls talking about the House expecting to vote today on the big, beautiful bill. | ||
| We will get to your calls in just, get back to your calls in just a few minutes. | ||
| But first, joining us from Capitol Hill is Congressman Johnny Olszewski, a Democrat of Maryland. | ||
| Congressman, thank you so much for being with us this morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure, thank you. | |
| Good morning, Tammy. | ||
| Wanted to start with something you posted yesterday on X. Just after the Senate passed the bill, you said, people will suffer. | ||
| I stand ready to defeat this bill as it heads back to the House for a vote. | ||
| Explain what you and other Democrats can do to defeat the bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, people will suffer if this bill passes, and that's why Democrats are united in opposing this bill, and Democrats are united in asking the question. | |
| The question we should all be asking is why anyone would vote for this legislation. | ||
| It's legislation that represents the largest cut to health care for Americans. | ||
| 16 million Americans will lose their health coverage under this, and costs will go up for those who manage to keep their health care. | ||
| We're going to see millions of families, including 20,000 families in my district, lose food benefits, families who are struggling to keep food on the table. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And for what? | |
| In the process, we're going to line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy. | ||
| Billionaires are going to see massive tax cuts. | ||
| Working families are going to see little to no relief. | ||
| The poorest of our families are going to see tax increases. | ||
| They're going to pay more. | ||
| And we're going to balloon this deficit by up to $4 trillion. | ||
| I think what we saw in the Senate with the action just yesterday, that there was a carve-out on just the SNAP and work provisions for SNAP, as well as state share that ended up disproportionately benefiting two states, the Murkowski carve-out for Alaska and Hawaii. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And if this bill is so bad, we have to ask ourselves, why was there a carve-out for just a few states? | |
| So we know this is a problem. | ||
| Republicans know this bill is a problem. | ||
| That's why they're pushing it through again for an artificial timeline. | ||
| But again, we stand united. to defeat this legislation and we're encouraging Americans to lift their voices so that those Republicans who are concerned about the deficit, concerned about rural hospitals closing, that they lift their voices and also join us in opposing this measure today. | ||
| If when the bill passes, how do you expect, how and when do you expect Americans to first feel the impact and what could the long-term impact be? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, I think the concern with this is when hospitals close, it's not like a switch. | |
| So rural hospitals will close, I think, pretty quickly as this bill takes effect. | ||
| And we don't, we know how hard it is to get hospitals open. | ||
| We can't flip a switch and reopen them. | ||
| We know that states are already struggling. | ||
| In my home state of Maryland, my governor just announced hiring freezes across all of government to save $120 million. | ||
| So our state cannot bear the burden of these snap cuts, for example. | ||
| And I was just in a library in Baltimore County where we were doing a summer meal program, building on the work I did as Baltimore County executive, where we have universal meals for breakfast and lunch during the school year. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We expanded summer snap. | |
| But those programs are all at risk because SNAP really was the undergirding. | ||
| It was the foundation of all the work that we did. | ||
| And so we will see hospitals close, I think, quickly within a year or two of this legislation passing. | ||
| We will immediately start seeing food programs that are feeding hungry kids go away and we will see people lose their health care. | ||
| We will see premiums go up with the next open enrollment cycle by up to thousands of dollars. | ||
| And just on the food point, you know, 80% of all SNAP recipients are either a child, a senior, a disabled person, or a veteran. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So I would encourage my Republican colleagues to let that sink in. | |
| Let's think about who we are taking these benefits from. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And again, all to the benefit of the ultra-wealthy in this country while ballooning our deficit. | |
| Our deficit spending is really a concern. | ||
| It's getting a little out of control. | ||
| As a new member of Congress, it's certainly concerning to me, especially as we are also lining the pockets of billionaires and taking away these vital lifelines for hardworking Americans. | ||
| You've talked about your opposition to the bill. | ||
| Is there anything that you can get behind as it currently stands? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Absolutely, and I really appreciate you asking that question. | |
| There are many provisions in this legislation that I and I know many of my Democratic colleagues would support. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We could support the no tax on tips provisions. | |
| I would support ending taxation on Social Security. | ||
| I would support looking at ending no tax on overtime. | ||
| These are all provisions that are overwhelmingly supported by the American people. | ||
| And Republicans, unfortunately, though, are using those provisions as an excuse to jam through these other awful, cruel, terrible provisions in this bill. | ||
| We know that the U.S. Senate has already taken up no tax on tips. | ||
| It was passed via unanimous consent. | ||
| We could take up that legislation in the House today. | ||
| Instead of fighting over reconciliation, we could have an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in favor of ending taxation on tips. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm all for lowering taxes for working families. | |
| It was the number one reason that Americans and people in my district sent me to Washington to lower costs. | ||
| But unfortunately, we're now almost 200 days into this Congress and there's been no action taken to lower costs. | ||
| Instead, we're seeing bills like this big, ugly bill pushing forward that for most Americans is going to do the opposite. | ||
| It's actually going to drive up costs in health care, in food supports, in energy, all the while taking away taxes on things like silencers for guns. | ||
|
unidentified
|
If we're really concerned about the deficit, that's one provision that is unnecessarily going to drive up our deficit while keeping our communities less safe. | |
| You've mentioned nutrition benefits during the interview. | ||
| You are introducing an amendment that is related to SNAP. | ||
| Can you tell us about that? | ||
|
unidentified
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Sure. | |
| Yeah, I was before the Rules Committee just yesterday and introduced an amendment that basically mirrored the work of the U.S. Senate and would offer the same exemption to work requirements and state match that will be provided and afforded to just a few states, to all states in the country, because fair is fair. | ||
| And if we're going to pass this legislation, we should provide that same delayed implementation to all states. | ||
| You know, interestingly enough, when the Senate passed these exemptions, primarily again for Alaska and Hawaii, what we know is that it actually incentivizes states to have a higher error rate. | ||
|
unidentified
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So it sort of really underlines just how ridiculous this whole bill is and how this whole process has been. | |
| So states that have higher error rates will be the states that get exemptions for things like work requirements and state match. | ||
|
unidentified
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It will delay when the states have to do that. | |
| So really a perverse, reverse incentive. | ||
| So my amendment that I introduced to rules, which I think should be ruled in order, if they're going to advance the bill anyways, with basically an amendment already attached to it that provides those exemptions for a few states, we should apply that to all states. | ||
|
unidentified
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So we'll see what my colleagues on the Rules Committee decide to do there. | |
| I'm not holding my breath, but again, I think it underscores the hypocrisy of this bill and the cruelty of this bill. | ||
| You'll be starting work on this bill with your colleagues just momentarily in the next 30 minutes or so. | ||
| What are you hearing about the bill's prospects at the House in the House? | ||
| We know, and I hear from conversations directly with Republican colleagues, I hear it from whispers around the halls of Congress, that Republican members of Congress are deeply concerned about, A, what this bill will do to their districts, but also they're concerned about what this means politically. | ||
|
unidentified
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This bill is toxic. | |
| It is underwater. | ||
| Even a Fox News poll said that this legislation is deeply flawed. | ||
| The American people do not support it. | ||
| As they learn more about the legislation, they oppose it even more, and for good reason. | ||
| And so it's my hope that my Republican colleagues in particular, especially those who've already said that they will be voting against this legislation, don't do what they did last time and folded in the hopes that or the stated claims that this legislation would get better. | ||
|
unidentified
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It's gotten worse in the Senate. | |
| This is really the last stand. | ||
| And so if Republicans who said they have concerns about this bill for any number of reasons mean it, now is the time to stand strong. | ||
| I was encouraged to see two members of the Rules Committee vote against the rule advancing last night. | ||
| Hopefully those two Republican members stand strong on the rule and the underlying legislation today. | ||
| Just a few more and we can bring this back to the table. | ||
| And again, as we were mentioning with the provisions that I do support, there's a real roadmap here where Democrats and Republicans can and should work together. | ||
| I stand ready to come to the table to really provide that tax relief for hardworking Americans, pass those common sense measures, but doing so in a way that doesn't represent a huge giveaway to big corporations and to billionaires that doesn't do so in a way that balloons our deficit unnecessarily. | ||
| Representative Johnny Oshewski Olszzewski is a Democrat of Maryland and a freshman member of Congress. | ||
| Congressman, thank you so much for your time this morning. | ||
|
unidentified
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My pleasure. | |
| Thanks. | ||
| The House, expecting to gavel in in just about 20 minutes, wanted to share a couple other programming notes for you today at 10 a.m. | ||
| This morning, a discussion on the rule of law and how the Trump administration's use of executive orders and other actions are affecting the judicial branch. | ||
| You'll be able to watch that live from Georgetown University Law School at 10 a.m. Eastern. | ||
| That'll be on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| Then at 11, the discussion continues with the review of the Supreme Court's most recent term, which included decisions on nationwide court injunctions, parental rights, and access to health care services. | ||
| That will also be live on C-SPAN 2 as well. | ||
| At C-SPAN Now, that's our free mobile app and online at c-span.org. | ||
| Later in the day at 12:30 p.m. today, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, will outline his infrastructure priorities for the FCC and other policy goals at an event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. | ||
| You'll be able to watch that live at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 2, as well as our free mobile app. | ||
| You'll also be able to find it online at c-span.org. | ||
| I mentioned just about 20 minutes left until the House gavels in. | ||
| Let's hear from Keith in Ohio, line for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Keith. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yes, good morning. | |
| Go ahead, Keith. | ||
|
unidentified
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You're on. | |
| Pardon? | ||
| You're on, Keith. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, I'm an old man, about 90 years old, and I'm kind of disappointed in the Republican Party that they cannot control the president. | |
| The president is not in fault, although I've known him since back in the 1960s. | ||
| But he is running wild, and the Republican Party has the authority to control him. | ||
| He works for us. | ||
| He doesn't pay his salary. | ||
| So we should have control over what he does. | ||
| Well, I know all the government workers don't have to worry about their insurance or their salary, but that's people that's old. | ||
|
unidentified
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At one time, I had enough money to retire, but due to the hospital bills and funeral bills, I don't. | |
| I'm on Social Security. | ||
| I get Social Security on the first day of the month. | ||
| By the third week, I don't have five cents. | ||
| And if it wasn't for Medicare, Medicaid, and some of the food programs, I would go hungry. | ||
| But it's not Trump because I know that he's a crook, he's a liar, so I don't have to worry about him, but it's the people that controls him. | ||
| I studied American history a long time ago, and it says in that you cannot run for a federal job with the charges that he's got against him. | ||
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unidentified
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He had 34 felony charges, and he was convicted with a jury, which is the normal way for the United States to operate, but he was never convicted and never served any penalties. | |
| So that the Republican Party is running wild. | ||
| Got your point, Keith. | ||
| That was Keith in Ohio. | ||
| Let's hear from Greg in Florida, line for independence. | ||
| Good morning, Greg. | ||
|
unidentified
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Hi, good morning, Cammy. | |
| I wanted to make a suggestion. | ||
| I know that everybody that calls in usually just tells you what they think. | ||
| And I had an idea that I thought would be good for C-SPAN, for the viewers of C-SPAN. | ||
| The deficit is so high right now at, I believe, $37 trillion, that it's almost uncontrolled. | ||
| And what I'd like to see is if C-SPAN would consider putting the national deficit numbers up on the screen at the bottom of the screen for everybody to see every time they watch the show so they realize where they were and where they're going. | ||
| It's been uncontrolled now for 25 years. | ||
| And I think at this point, they need to see it every single day. | ||
| And being an unbiased network as you are, I thought it would be a great place for C-SPAN to be able to promote that and let people know that this deficit is going to continue to rise. | ||
| And at one point, it's just going to explode. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Greg, it sounds like you're watching things like the national debt, the deficit. | ||
| Does that mean you're opposed to the bill? | ||
|
unidentified
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I'm opposed to the bill, and actually, I'm opposed to both the Democrats and the Republicans who've made it what it is. | |
| And unfortunately, the ones who are all going to lose are most of the people in this country. | ||
| So I'm an independent voter, and I believe both parties have done us wrong. | ||
| Greg, do you know what the current deficit is? | ||
|
unidentified
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It's $37 trillion. | |
| How often do you check? | ||
|
unidentified
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I probably check every month. | |
| So I remember when it was $24 trillion, and I realize Donald Trump had an $8 trillion deficit that he added in his first four years, which was the largest of any president. | ||
| And I understand that with everything going on between the pandemic and prior to that, the Great Recession, there have been things that have caused the deficit to go up, but they're uncontrolled spending. | ||
| And I have to think that one of the ways both parties should be looking at this is we have to cut the defense budget. | ||
| I just think that's completely out of hand, and nobody really wants to attack that problem. | ||
| They'd rather attack all the other things. | ||
| So I think that both parties are really guilty and letting the American people down. | ||
| That was Greg in Florida. | ||
| Robert in Indiana, line for Republicans. | ||
| Good morning, Robert. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Morning. | |
| Well, the way I see it, I don't think the Democrats want to vote on anything. | ||
|
unidentified
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They had four years to straighten this country out. | |
| And look at all the turmoil. | ||
| Trump this, Trump that. | ||
| One guy does not run this country. | ||
|
unidentified
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The people do. | |
| And they voted for Trump. | ||
| He's doing his job. | ||
| If you people would sit down and get what our country stands for, my dad thought in the Pacific, he went through hell. | ||
| My alcrafed, and he went through hell. | ||
| And I tell you, if people don't see that we're on the verge of the Battle of Armageddon right now, because it's all around Israel. | ||
| Israel, and God says, Christ says, you'll be persecuted for my namesake if you support Israel. | ||
|
unidentified
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And look what we've got. | |
| Biden was not in charge of our country. | ||
| Robert, our topic this morning, we're talking about the House that's expected to take up the big, beautiful bill in just about 15 minutes or so. | ||
| What are your thoughts on that? | ||
|
unidentified
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Because Biden put us in a hell of a shape. | |
| That people, these Democrats, I never heard such stupid stuff as they come up with. | ||
|
unidentified
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And polosing them. | |
| They're billionaires, and they think they could tell us how to live our life. | ||
| People, wake up. | ||
| Get right with God and love your country. | ||
| That was Robert in Indiana. | ||
| Annie in Fayetteville, North Carolina, line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning, Annie. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I'm sorry, is it Ann or Annie? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Annie. | |
| Okay, good morning, Annie. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I was trying to figure out what's going on with the big, beautiful, ugly deal. | ||
| I look at it as a mock-up because a lot of people don't understand big members, small numbers, because I always deal with small numbers when it came to money. | ||
| But so I'm going to deal with small numbers. | ||
| And I believe that the Republicans have a set price that they are pushing for. | ||
| And I'm going to say anywhere between $30 and $20. | ||
| So the Republican House voted on a $25 mock-up. | ||
| Sent it to the Senate. | ||
| The Senate marked it up even higher, $30. | ||
| The Senate sent it back to the House. | ||
| The House is going to mark it down because they don't so-called like it because it went up a little bit. | ||
| They're going to bring it back down $24. | ||
| It's called a Ponzi scheme. | ||
| If anyone is familiar with a Ponzi scheme, we should be. | ||
| That's what the president deals with nowadays. | ||
| Our governor yesterday on News, WRAL, came out and said North Carolina is not going to have food stamps. | ||
| Food stamps are going to end in North Carolina. | ||
| So you people that were flatted out, you still turn around and voted for your Democrat president. | ||
| Don't look for food. | ||
| You don't have land. | ||
| You don't have housing. | ||
| You don't have anything. | ||
| Your president really don't want to have you. | ||
| And I wish someone would tell your president, get a physical, because he's doing a whole lot of sweating. | ||
| He's not even 80-year-old yet. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Y'all have a God blessed day. | ||
| That was Annie in North Carolina. | ||
| And Annie talking about some of the provisions. | ||
| Wanted to show you some of the differences that the Senate made to the House tax cuts and spending bill. | ||
| It makes the Senate version makes permanent some business tax breaks. | ||
| The House had only extended those temporarily. | ||
| There are deeper cuts to Medicaid. | ||
| That is done by establishing strict work requirements and restricting state-level fees on health care providers. | ||
| The Senate bill also includes a $50 billion fund to help rural hospitals. | ||
| State bill also includes state and local tax deductions. | ||
| It goes from $10,000 to $40,000 for married couples up to $500,000. | ||
| That is set to expire in 2028. | ||
| The House bill does not phase out. | ||
| Senate bill also has a higher debt ceiling increase of $5 trillion versus $4 trillion. | ||
| That was in the House bill. | ||
| And the Senate bill also eliminated provisions that would have blocked states from regulating artificial intelligence for the next decade. |