| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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| C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered. | ||
| Welcome to today's Washington Journal. | ||
| Before we get to your calls, we're going to check in and get an update with a congressional reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Siobhan Hughes. | ||
| Welcome to the program. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good to be here. | |
| So there was a meeting yesterday at the White House. | ||
| What got accomplished? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Nothing got accomplished. | |
| It was a lot of posturing. | ||
| Both sides were pretty dug into their positions, at least when it comes to the Hill. | ||
| The Republicans saying, look, this is a seven-week CR. | ||
| We need the Democrats to get on board. | ||
| The Democrats saying, we have this alternative proposal. | ||
| From their perspective, the interesting thing that happened was they say they saw daylight between President Trump and Republicans. | ||
| Their perspective is that President Trump was not aware of the timing of the expiration of these ACA subsidies. | ||
| And at least according to Chuck Schumer, the path forward is for Donald Trump to step in and say something has to be done on that front. | ||
| All right, so let's outline what the two positions are and explain the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are going to expire and win. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, so the position of the Republicans is let's extend government funding through November 21st, about seven weeks, to buy us a little bit of time to finalize work on our appropriations bills. | |
| There are three that have already cleared both chambers that are ready for a conference. | ||
| You're getting roughly a dozen or so that they think they might be able to get done. | ||
| And they say we can talk later about these ACA subsidies. | ||
| This will find us a little time to work that through. | ||
| The Democrats say, number one, we don't trust you. | ||
| Your word is not good on the ACA subsidies. | ||
| And number two, here is what we would like. | ||
| Our demand is to reverse the Medicaid cuts. | ||
| Our demand is to permanently extend these enhanced ACA subsidies. | ||
| And furthermore, we would like you to undo these rescissions we've seen coming out of the White House. | ||
| Now, that carries a price tag of well over a trillion dollars. | ||
| And Republicans say that's simply an unreasonable ask and is not going to happen. | ||
| So why do the Democrats not trust the Republicans on the ACA subsidy extension? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Because nothing has happened so far, because it's very, very easy to say you're going to do an extension, but the devil is in the details. | |
| There are a lot of curbs and limits Republicans would like to put on the subsidies in terms of maybe setting things like income limits, other technicalities. | ||
| And there is a history in this Congress of having deals blow up on the particulars, on the details. | ||
| And so it is sort of understandable that Democrats would say we don't trust you. | ||
| The Senate is in today. | ||
| The House is not. | ||
| The House was supposed to be in today. | ||
| So what happened? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The House is jamming the Senate. | |
| The House decided to play some power politics here. | ||
| The House said, we have passed our bill. | ||
| You need to take it or leave it. | ||
| And we suggest that you take it. | ||
| There was some talk about a one-week extension just to keep the government open and then let's keep talking. | ||
| What happened with that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, whatever happened with it, it's pretty clear that a lot of progressives would not like that. | |
| And Chuck Schumer pretty clearly snuffed that idea out yesterday when he stood up at the mics, was asked about this one-week extension, and said, nope, we're not doing it. | ||
| So the blame game has started a long time ago. | ||
| Who, I mean, who do you think is going to get blamed for this? | ||
|
unidentified
|
So that is the big question, and each party would like the other side to get blamed. | |
| The history here is that the political party that is demanding, is trying to set a condition on government funding is the one that loses. | ||
| So for example, in 2013, when Ted Cruz said we want to block the Affordable Care Act as a condition of funding, he was pretty much blamed for that. | ||
| Back in 2018, when President Trump said we want border wall money as a condition of reopening portions of the government, he ended up taking the blame for that. | ||
| So the history is you do not emerge a winner if you place a demand on government funding. | ||
| So what's the off-ramp? | ||
| I mean, assuming that the government does shut down, how do we get it reopened? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, so that is the big discussion right now. | |
| What is the exit from all of this? | ||
| There are two primary ones. | ||
| One is that Democrats fold, you know, again, the history of the way these things work and accepts the seven-week CR. | ||
| Another is that Republicans offer some type of credible meet-in-the-middle. | ||
| For example, a one-year extension of these ACA subsidies, possibly combined with some reforms. | ||
| There is this thought out there, and this is not something I've heard on the table, but we do need to be aware of the history. | ||
| President Trump in the past has gotten very frustrated when some of his legislative priorities can't get through, and he has pressured Republican leaders to nuke the filibuster, nuke the legislative filibuster, and just pass bills on a party line. | ||
| And there is this latent conversation about, ooh, is he going to ask for that again? | ||
| So that could be the way out of this, that the Republicans just pass it on their own. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, you can't rule it out. | |
| I am not saying it is the most likely scenario by any stretch, but I'm saying, hey, look at this option. | ||
| There's the Rust Vote memo from OMB about we're going to lay off everybody that doesn't go to work starting tomorrow from the federal workforce. | ||
| What are you hearing about that? | ||
| And is there support for that from President Trump? | ||
|
unidentified
|
So, yes, we are hearing that that is Rust Vote's plan. | |
| You are hearing Donald Trump talk very tough and basically say jobs are going to be lost. | ||
| But what you're hearing Democrats say is, you know, it's not really clear that that would stand up in a court of law. | ||
| And don't forget, many federal workers who have been riffed, as they say, subject to these reductions in force and who've challenged that in court, are still on the government payroll. | ||
| They're not going to work, but they are still getting paid. | ||
| And so there's a real question mark about what would happen. | ||
| There was that first, the fork in the road thing where you could resign or whatever it's called and get paid through September 30th. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's today. | |
| That is today. | ||
| And so now there are a whole lot of federal workers, soon to be former federal workers, who really have a lot of angst and anxiety about their decision to accept that offer when they watch colleagues who maybe filed legal challenges and are now still getting paid. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And there's always a lot of talk about, you know, Congress shouldn't get paid if there's a government shutdown and Congress shouldn't get their salary if they don't do their job of passing a budget. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And somebody always tries to introduce a bill to say we will go without our pay if the rest of the government is shut down. | |
| But for now, they're getting paid. | ||
| All right. | ||
| That's Siobhan Hughes, Congressional Reporter for the Wall Street Journal. | ||
| You can see her work at WSJ.com. | ||
| Thanks so much. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good to be here. | |
| And we will go to your calls, taking your calls about what you think about the potential government shutdown happening in under 17 hours. | ||
| The lines are on your screens. | ||
| Democrats are on 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans, 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| We also have a line for federal workers. | ||
| That's 202-748-8003. | ||
| Would love to get your perspective on this as well. | ||
| Go to the calls now to Joe in Ellergy, Georgia, Republican. | ||
| Good morning, Joe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mimi, love C-SPAN. | |
| Been calling your great network for 30 years. | ||
| Mimi, I'm not a bit worried about a government shutdown. | ||
| I think Donald Trump, I'm a big stock market guy. | ||
| I think Trump's the best leader in world history. | ||
| We got the best stock market. | ||
| So we down here in Georgia, we're fired up about Trump and energized, not worried about a shutdown. | ||
| I think the economy is the best in history with Trump, the best stock market. | ||
| So I'm so fired up, I'm having a hard time sleeping because the stock market is breaking every record, Mimi. | ||
| Joe, this is what I want to ask you. | ||
| Do you think that a government shutdown, if it's prolonged, would affect the stock market? | ||
| What do you think of that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't think that would happen, but no, I think there's so much optimism. | |
| As you know, the stock market for the past few months has been breaking records every single day. | ||
| So I don't think nothing can stop the Trump momentum. | ||
| And I think, like I say, I think he's the best leader in history. | ||
| Stock markets breaking all records. | ||
| So I don't think anything can stop the momentum of the great Trump administration. | ||
| So I'm fired up and energized and love C-SPAN. | ||
| Y'all do an incredible job for the taxpayers. | ||
| All right, Joe. | ||
| And here's Ray in Aurora, Colorado. | ||
|
unidentified
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You're a federal employee, Ray? | |
| I am. | ||
| Can you tell us what you do or what agency you work for? | ||
|
unidentified
|
DHS. | |
| Okay. | ||
| What do you think? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I work for a particular section of DHS that is supported by filing fees. | |
| So as far as what may happen or not happen in D.C., it actually isn't going to directly affect me because we are supported by fees. | ||
| So even if I'm considered non-essential, I would still have to report to work. | ||
| But, you know, that means I wouldn't really have to be too concerned about not getting paid, for example, because we're a self-sustaining part of DHS. | ||
| I will say I do remember the two prior shutdowns in my federal career. | ||
| First, 2013, I was considered non-essential at the time. | ||
| And of course, I had to stay home. | ||
| And then in 2018, I was considered essential that period. | ||
| So I had to show up for five weeks without getting any pay from the government. | ||
| And how did that go, Ray? | ||
| Were you able, did you have enough savings to hold over until you got paid eventually? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I had enough savings, but I also had a very good, I also have a very good credit union where I'm a member. | |
| So they were able to help with zero interest loans for the time being. | ||
| And by the time the funding passed and the government reopened, I essentially paid it all back and then got the back pay. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And Ray mentioned the previous government shutdowns. | ||
| We'll put those on the screen for you. | ||
| You can take a look going back to 1990 under the first President Bush. | ||
| That was three days. | ||
| The longest was the last one. | ||
| And that was under President Trump's first term. | ||
| That was 35 days. | ||
| That was over 2018 to 2019. | ||
| That was the last time the government shut down. | ||
| And that was also the longest in history. | ||
| Here's Linda in Texas, Democrat. | ||
| Hi, Linda. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I'm really tired of these people dinking around with our livelihoods. | ||
| I've got two checks that come from the government, and one that comes on the first, and my mortgage payment is due on the first. | ||
| So it really messes with my life when they do stuff like this. | ||
| Check, are you afraid about, are you talking about Social Security, Linda? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, my Social Security and my VA pension. | |
| Yes, so I think those will continue to go out. | ||
| The only issue with Social Security is if you need help or if you need to call into customer service, that might get delayed or that you might not find help on that. | ||
| But the checks, we're told. | ||
| The VA, I got to check on that. | ||
| I actually don't know. | ||
| But let's check on that for the VA. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, thank you. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Clifford, Hudson, Florida, Independent. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I think what the people have to realize here is you got three actual voting blocks. | ||
| The way last time it was spoken about, it was 30% Republican, 30% Democrat, and then 40% in the middle. | ||
| The middle is going to drive this. | ||
| And as far as the lady was worried about her VA pension, it probably will be funded by management of Office of Management and Budget, but because the pensions come out of what they call mill strip, not mill strip. | ||
| Comes out of a residual fund of off of when people go off active duty or go off civil service, there's always that money. | ||
| So I think it was yesterday the Office of Management and Budget Director said that there should be enough money to cover 30 days. | ||
| But after the 30 days, then it would probably be the worst case scenario. | ||
| Okay, we'll look that up, Clifford. | ||
| But when you were talking about the people in the middle, were you talking about voters for the midterms or were you talking about in Congress? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Actually, I was talking about registration. | |
| Registration. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Registration of independence has jumped quite a bit. | |
| I'm an independent going way back to the John Birch Society days. | ||
| I'm 80 years old, and I was a John Bircher back then after high school. | ||
| So independents are really the growing voice because they're considered middle-middle. | ||
| The problem with everybody else, you either have to be middle-right or middle-left. | ||
| All right, Clifford. | ||
| And this is House Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday talking about why Republicans are supporting a short-term funding bill. | ||
| Here he is. | ||
| The House is getting back to the way the regular appropriations process is supposed to work. | ||
| 12 separate appropriations bills passed through the House Appropriations Committee, three off the floor. | ||
| The Senate doing their work as well. | ||
| All this in bipartisan fashion, by the way. | ||
| They passed three bills in the Senate. | ||
| Those bills don't match up exactly. | ||
| So for the first time in years, since 2019, you have a conference committee that is being constituted between the House and the Senate. | ||
| This is the way a bill becomes a law. | ||
| They work out the differences. | ||
| All this is happening in bipartisan fashion. | ||
| The problem is we've run out of clock. | ||
| September 30th is the end of the fiscal year, so we need a little more time. | ||
| So what we did in the Republican majority is the right, responsible, simple thing. | ||
| A clean, continuing resolution, a short-term, non-partisan continuing resolution. | ||
| It's only 24 pages in length. | ||
| Leader Thune has a copy if you want to see the exhibit. | ||
| There's nothing partisan in here. | ||
| No policy riders, none of our big party preferences, because we want to do the right thing by the American people and allow more time for negotiation. | ||
| Now, there's a reason that Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have come out here to stomp the feed, saying that they can't go along with this. | ||
| They're trying to bring in extraneous issues. | ||
| They issued a counterproposal. | ||
| You should go take a look at what they requested. | ||
| $1.5 trillion in new spending that is unrelated to the ongoing appropriations process. | ||
| They wanted to, as you said, restore taxpayer-funded benefits, okay? | ||
| Hardworking taxpayers in America. | ||
| They want to take your funds and give that for benefits to illegal aliens. | ||
| They want to restore that because we got rid of it. | ||
| They want to prop up left-leaning media outlets. | ||
| $500 million they threw in on top of that. | ||
| $1.5 trillion on a seven-week stopgap funding measure. | ||
| We're not going to do that. | ||
| That was Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday outside the White House after his meeting. | ||
| We're taking your calls this morning on a potential government shutdown that happens just after midnight tonight if there is no deal between Congress, Congress, the White House. | ||
| These are the numbers. | ||
| Democrats are on 202748-8000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202748-8002. | ||
| Our line set aside for federal workers is 202-748-8003. | ||
| You can also text or post to social media. | ||
| Here is Michael in Seaverville, Tennessee, Republican. | ||
| Good morning, Michael. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Yes, I just think the Democrats should come together with Republicans and try to pay something. | ||
| I believe they've got too much waste, the Democrats. | ||
| That's pretty much been their way, and I just don't agree with them. | ||
| All right, Michael. | ||
| And regarding the VA pension checks during a government shutdown, here's what we're able to find. | ||
| This is from the Department of the VA, and it says that it would not be impacted by the shutdown. | ||
| So you'd still have your medical centers, your outpatient clinics, and centers will be open as usual, providing all services. | ||
| Now, VA benefits will continue to be processed and delivered, including compensation, pension, education, and housing benefits. | ||
| Burials will continue at VA National Cemeteries, etc. | ||
| What will be impacted at the VA? | ||
| It says VA will cease providing transition program assistance and career counseling. | ||
| The call centers and the hotlines will be closed. | ||
| VA benefits regional offices will be closed. | ||
| Public affairs outreach to veterans will cease, including social media, etc. | ||
| No grounds maintenance or placement of permanent headstones at VA cemeteries. | ||
| There's more. | ||
| If you'd like to read what will be impacted by the VA, that's department.va.gov. | ||
| You can see that. | ||
| And this is George in Chicago, line for Democrats. | ||
| Hi, George. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Don't worry about the shutdown. | ||
| We Democrats will save the democracy one more time. | ||
| We play the same song every year. | ||
| Democracy is in trouble. | ||
| Thank God for our Democrats to save it. | ||
| You know what I'm talking about? | ||
| How do you feel that Democrats will save democracy, George? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, that's what they're telling us, are they? | |
| Isn't Schumer and everybody else telling us they're saving a democracy? | ||
| Come on now. | ||
| We are the only ones. | ||
| Got it. | ||
| And some posts on X for you. | ||
| Here is Leader John Schoon. | ||
| Thun, sorry, we're just one Senate roll call away from keeping the government's lights on. | ||
| If Democrats would only agree, we can pass the bill at any time and spare the American people all the problems that come with a government shutdown. | ||
| This is Senator Marcia Blackburn. | ||
| Last year, Senator Schumer said the American people want to see, quote, both sides working together and for no chaos, no spectacle, no shutdown. | ||
| Now that he's no longer in power, his tune has conveniently changed. | ||
| And this is Sheldon Whitehouse who says, Thune says Republicans are ready to reach a bipartisan funding agreement right now. | ||
| We'll see today, won't we? | ||
| Trump and Vogt are slavering for a shutdown and spines of foam Republicans do as told, so we'll see. | ||
| Here's Representative Ken Calvert. | ||
| If Chuck Schumer continues to oppose the clean short-term funding bill approved by the House, our government will shut down on October 1st and our troops will not be paid. | ||
| That's inexcusable. | ||
| Our troops deserve better. | ||
| Let's keep the government open. | ||
| And this is Senator Patty Murray has a quote from Donald Trump in 2011 where he says, I actually think the president would be blamed. | ||
| If there is a shutdown, he's the one that has to get people together. | ||
| And she says, this, Trump is absolutely right. | ||
| He will own a Republican shutdown. | ||
| Right now, Republicans are willing to shut down the government rather than solve the health care crisis they created. | ||
| They want families to go bankrupt paying for health care. | ||
| And then she says, Republican shutdown. | ||
| Here's Michael in Florida, line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think the Democrats should hold the ground and let's have the shutdown. | |
| It's time someone got off their knees and stood on their feet in Washington. | ||
| There's too many people on their knees in Washington. | ||
| It's time to stand up and be men and be leaders. | ||
| This is the time. | ||
| It is now. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And Michael, would you, are you still there, Michael? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Would you say that to keep the government closed until the Democrats get what they want? | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's correct. | |
| That's correct. | ||
| Hold their ground. | ||
| This is the time. | ||
| This is the moment. | ||
| It's time to do it. | ||
| No more talking, no more negotiating. | ||
| Stand up. | ||
| Get on your feet and stand up. | ||
| Be men. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And let's hear from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who was talking about the need for Republicans to address health care costs. | ||
| Here it is. | ||
| We also made clear in the meeting that any bipartisan agreement by necessity has to have something in the legislation that makes clear to the American people that what we agree upon actually takes place. | ||
| If there's a bipartisan agreement to meet the needs of the American people, it can't be subject to Republicans then undermining that agreement in ways that actually hurt everyday Americans. | ||
| We pointed out that as a result of the Republican one big ugly bill, hospitals are closing, nursing homes are closing, community-based health clinics are closing right now, all across the country, including in rural America. | ||
| And there's an urgency to dealing with that issue right now. | ||
| And so it was a frank discussion. | ||
| It's important that it occurred, and Democrats remain ready, willing, and able to find a bipartisan path forward, address the Republican health care crisis, and avoid a Republican-caused government shutdown. | ||
| We're getting your calls on the potential for a shutdown. | ||
| Here's Brian in Maryland, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Brian. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, how are you? | |
| Good. | ||
| Brian, I just wanted to call and say that, you know, I'm a first-time caller. | ||
| And, you know, elections have consequences, and we're overspending. | ||
| And we need to cut spending, not keep just throwing money out there and reduce our budget, our deficit. | ||
| That's about all I got to say. | ||
| And, you know, Democrats need to get on board. | ||
| So, Brian, about the affordable care subsidies, what Democrats are saying is a lot of Americans are going to see their health care bills, their premiums go way up. | ||
| A lot of them are not going to be able to afford it anymore. |