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Oct. 3, 2025 15:33-15:42 - CSPAN
08:58
Washington Journal Rep. Chuck Fleischmann R-TN
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo Source
Participants
Appearances
m
mimi geerges
cspan 01:40
Clips
dasha burns
politico 00:04
susan cole
00:22

Speaker Time Text
Government Shutdown Debate 00:08:58
susan cole ▲ ● ▼
D.C., October 3rd, 2025.
I hereby designate the period from Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 through Monday, October 13th, 2025, as a district work period under clause 13 of Rule 1.
Signed sincerely, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
unidentified
Pursuant to Clause 13 of Rule 1, the House stands adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday, October 6, 2025.
dasha burns ▲ ● ▼
I'm Dasha Burns, host of Ceasefire, bridging the divide in American politics.
unidentified
Ceasefire, Premieres October 10th.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We're joined by Representative Chuck Fleischman.
He's a Republican of Tennessee's 3rd District and also a member of the Appropriations and the Science, Space, and Technology Committees.
Representative, thanks for joining us.
Welcome to the program.
unidentified
Good morning.
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼
I wanted to get your thoughts on the government shutdown.
It's the third day now and bring to your attention the poll that the Washington Post did of asking who they think is most to blame.
And it came out 47% blaming President Trump and Republicans in Congress as compared to 30% Democrats in Congress.
What are your thoughts on that?
unidentified
I've been in Congress now 15 years.
This is my eighth term.
I'm a chairman on the Appropriations Committee, as you properly allude to.
I chair the Energy and Water Subcommittee.
But I never lie to the American people and I never lie to my constituents.
So I'm going to be abundantly clear to Republicans, to Democrats, to Independents, to the people of this country.
I am outraged at the Democratic Party for the farce, the lies that they have done in this government shutdown.
And there's something when you serve.
The truth about what is going on and the process to me is so critically, critically important.
This is why we have such an erosion in public confidence.
People get out and literally spread myth-screws.
I've listened to some of the calls that you've gotten this morning.
So today, I'm going to be absolutely straightforward, lay out the process with you, take any phone calls, but I will not lie about this.
So we've got the truth.
You've got policy.
There's a time to be partisan.
But let me be clear.
The Democrats shut the government down.
It's clear.
It is factual.
The House of Representatives passed a relatively clean continuing resolution.
I'm glad to go into that.
The fiscal year ended on September 30th.
Long before that, we passed a continuing resolution to November 20th, which in effect allows us to continue to negotiate on appropriation bills.
Some of your earlier callers are talking about Obamacare, this and that.
This is appropriations.
Most of the Affordable Care Act, 85% of it, is on the mandatory side.
It's not even affected by appropriations.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼
Well, Congressman, let's focus on the truth.
Sure.
Let's talk about Obamacare and talk specifically about the extensions of those subsidies.
And as you know, KFF is estimating that premiums, out-of-pocket premiums will go up by 75% if those subsidies aren't extended.
Where do you stand on that point specifically?
unidentified
The way I stand on that point is extraneous, has nothing to do with this.
This is the farce put on by the Democratic Party to the American people.
These are appropriation bills.
These are the 12 bills that we pass every year or not if we fail and get into a shutdown or a continuing resolution.
Any other extraneous things are irrelevant to this.
The Democrats went out, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
They've hurt their credibility, not only with the American people.
This is going to linger on.
I have to stress this after this, because even though I'm a very forgiving person, I cannot sit back and lie.
When the Republicans shut the government down, please listen to me.
In 2013, we were wrong.
We should have never done that.
We should have never shut the government down.
What was that about?
You said Obamacare, 85% of it was under mandatory spending.
I remember sitting with my hands in my head saying, why did we do this?
It hurt the country then.
It was wrong then.
Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries had a clean, continuing resolution that Democrats, three Democrats in the Senate have joined.
They will have to cave.
You talk about polls and you talk about these other subsidies.
We can sit down and talk through these things, negotiate through these things, but they are extraneous, completely outside the appropriations process.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼
And Congressman Orange.
You say it's extraneous, but the Democrats are saying that they have tried to get these extended.
Republicans have refused, that this is the only chance they have to get them extended before open enrollment starts November 1st.
What do you think of that?
And if this came to a vote, would you vote to extend Obamacare subsidies?
unidentified
I will vote for a clean, continuing resolution.
I'm an appropriator.
That is my job.
I chair the Energy and Water Subcommittee.
I'm America's Energy Member of Congress.
I work with Republicans, Democrats, Independents, members of the House, members of all administrations.
I've worked with the Obama, Trump, Biden, and now Trump administrations on energy.
That's what I do on appropriations.
The saddest thing about all this, if I can impart something to your listeners, whether they're Democrats, Republicans, or Independents, I'm going to stand on the truth.
You've got to keep it clean and simple and on point.
We've got to keep the government open.
It's never a good idea to shut the government down.
This is costing the American taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars a day.
It put federal workers, it puts our troops in a very difficult position.
By the way, guess who gets paid under the Constitution?
Members of Congress.
That's outrageous.
That's why I stopped my pay.
But in reality, we go through this farce.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼
So, Congressman, I guess we should take that as a no, that you would be against extending subsidies on Obamacare if you had to vote on that right now.
unidentified
I will take a look at what is proposed at that time.
But once again, the Democrats needed an issue to bring into the argument that was extraneous and it's farcial.
One thing I respect, I respect partisan politics.
I respect debates over policy, where you stand, but I do not respect lying to the American people.
That's what the Democrats have done, plain and simple on this.
And Mimi, I've got to say this.
You never play fast and loose with the American Republic.
You keep the government open.
Think about it this way.
All across America, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, partisans, and nonpartisans go to work every day.
They pay their taxes.
They get around the water cooler.
They may argue about their favorite sports teams or their favorite or not favorite president, but they get their job done.
They don't shut down the business and then say, let's reopen it and let's hurt it.
That's what the Democrats have done.
They're proud of this shutdown.
This is Chuck Schumer, who basically has been on record, time untold, he was right the last time.
He kept it open.
You keep it open and you talk.
Doesn't mean that I'm right all the time or my party's right all the time, but you keep talking and working through these things.
And we look at the big beautiful bill.
I've got to talk about this one last thing.
Two things you never want to do is shut the government down or, God forbid, default on the national debt.
Now, in the big beautiful bill, we raised the national debt.
The Democrats voted against that, so it could be difficult and say, well, they voted to default on our national debt.
But candidly, I'm going to be honest, I get as many calls from Republicans that say, well, just shut it down.
That is irresponsible to the American people.
We've got to keep the full faith and credit of the United States strong, and we owe it to the American people, to the American Republic.
It's a higher calling.
It's beyond just being partisan or being a representative of your district.
You've got to keep Mimi, the government open.
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