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Oct. 9, 2025 10:43-11:34 - CSPAN

50:47

Washington Journal Open Phones

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mimi geerges

cspan 12:42

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katherine clark

rep/d 01:58

mike johnson

rep/r 02:17

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gwen moore

rep/d 00:08

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Speaker	Time	Text
unidentified		For C-SPAN's TV and radio networks, plus a variety of compelling podcasts.
		The C-SPAN Now app is available at the Apple Store and Google Play.
		Download it for free today.
		C-SPAN, Democracy Unfiltered.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is Jesse calling us from California, Line for Democrats.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Jesse, good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		My comment is that the shutdown is the result of the Republicans.
		They are in charge of everything and they shut it down.
		They will not pay for the workers.
		They want to fire.
		They want a furlough.
		They're spreading the lie about that.
		The people that are Mexican or not Americans are the reason why that they want they're getting money for insurance, and that is a lie.
		There's a law, they are not allowed to be paid for insurance or for anything else like that if they're not United States citizens.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So Jesse, the Republicans.
		The Republicans are saying, like you just heard, give us the votes to reopen the government and then we'll discuss health care.
		What do you think of that's not how I.
unidentified		I think that's a lie and I don't think that's how it works.
		Okay, because they should be working with the Democrats.
		Every time there's been a shutdown, at least twice it's been during the Republicans being in charge and the Democrats bailing them out.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right Jesse, let's talk to Daniela.
		NEW Jersey, Independent LINE.
		Good morning Daniela, are you there?
		No Sarah, in Texas, Independent LINE.
		Good morning Sarah.
unidentified		Hi, good morning.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		I do think that health care doesn't need to be resolved before the government reopens.
		There's more involved with the health care than just increasing the amount of the premiums.
		I found out the other day that virtual visits those, those credits, ended September 30th.
		We didn't know about that.
		A lot of people did know what that about.
		Know about that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		You said virtual visits correct for doctors visits are those you're saying those are no longer being covered by the ACA.
unidentified		Well, I don't know about ACA but Medicare and I think Medicaid too.
		A physician said that they received a letter from CMC saying that the COVID Era virtual visits expired September 30th, so as of October 1st there aren't going to be virtual visits covered.
		Now I don't know, you know, if that's enforced.
		I really don't know.
		That's what I you know, I looked it up and there is stuff online about that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay well, we'll look for that as well Sarah.
		And here's James in Virginia Independent LINE.
		Good morning, James.
unidentified		Good morning coming from Beginner here, I think I'm a caller from an independent line because I'm independent and I have an independent interest.
		The shutdown, and I listened to both leaders in the Senate.
		They are throwing blames for each other.
		The Republicans are blaming the Democrats, the Democrats are blaming the Republicans.
		But after listening to both of them, they both have good and valid points.
		The only thing that I see there is the Republicans are not asking for anything just to open the government.
		And the Democrats are asking for something that has nothing to do with opening the government.
		That is why the impact is as an independent thinking man.
		If I have to lay blame on any of these two parties, I will put it on the Democrats.
		They need to vote on that.
		I don't know whether it's clean or not clean, but that is what the Republicans are saying: that it's clean, no policy writers or anything like that.
		The Democrats have to vote onto that one, open up the government, and then they can deal with their policy differences when it comes to the bills for, I mean, the yearly appropriations that the Democrats are making is the notices for the premium hikes have already gone out.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Open enrollment starts November 1st.
		There's not going to be time to talk about health care later.
		It's got to be now.
		What do you think of that argument?
unidentified		That is why I always blame the politicians or the congressmen and the senators.
		They don't do their job.
		We work as private individuals and then we go to work every day.
		And if you are not productive, you don't get paid.
		They don't do their work.
		They know that by September 30th of the year, they need to have appropriated for the next fiscal year, but they don't do it.
		They know.
		So it's on purpose that they do that.
		So, I mean, I understand that why didn't they do it before it's even get this close to getting expired?
		They should have done that from October 1st, 2024, until September 30th, 2025.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, James.
		And regarding televisits, telehealth for Medicare, at least, this is Medicare.gov.
		And it has information about that.
		However, it says due to the government shutdown, updates to information on this website may be limited or delayed.
		Your Medicare benefits and coverage will continue as before, and you can go to your doctor and access the health care services you need.
		So it's not clear that could have changed, but the website wasn't updated.
		This is Nathaniel in Mississippi, line for Democrats.
		Hi, Nathaniel.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning, Amy.
		It's been a while since I called in.
		Look, this man is not nothing but a dictator.
		They own the House, the Senate, and the President.
		And why are they saying the government is blaming it on the Democrats?
		It's wrong.
		They should stand strong because when Trump gets them to sign this bill, he's not going to do none of them.
		He's going to laugh at them until he got what he wanted.
		That's the way he is.
		He's a dictator.
		He's not a president.
		He's a dictator.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is House Minority Whip Catherine Clark.
		She is commenting on Speaker Johnson's comments on the military during the shutdown.
		Take a look.
katherine clark ▲ ● ▼		Mike Johnson sort of doubled down on this and showed their callous disregard for the Americans involved in their shutdown.
		Because what he said was a vote to give funding to our troops so they don't miss a paycheck while serving our country would be a show vote.
		A show vote?
		I can't imagine anything more disrespectful.
		And it's just insight into how they are viewing this.
		You take the deal we are offering to the American people.
		And the Republican deal is we take your health care away in order to pay for permanent tax breaks for the very wealthiest people.
		And if you don't take that deal, we're going to shut down government.
		And we're not even going to come to work while we are telling hardworking Americans who serve the public, you've got to go to work and not get paid.
		But us, we'll get paid and not show up for work.
		That's how little regard they have for the American people and what they're going through.
		And this entire system and this entire shutdown is based on their allegiance to the very wealthy.
		And American families are not making it.
		And every day they make life harder and more expensive.
		And you can see it in the way they toss aside payment to the troops as a political stunt, some sort of show vote.
		This is something that we have come together in a bipartisan way at the beginning of every shutdown and voted to do.
		That is what we do when we are in these terrible situations of a government shutdown.
		And the fact that they don't do it tells you exactly how they regard our troops and the American people.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is what she was talking about.
		Here's Newsweek.
		Mike Johnson rejects bill for U.S. military pay as shutdown continues.
		It says that House Speaker Mike Johnson is rejecting calls for Congress to hold a separate vote to pay military service members who could miss paychecks next week if the government shutdown continues.
		Johnson said Wednesday the House has already acted by passing a stopgap spending bill that would have kept the government funded through November 21st.
		And just so you know, Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, will be on this program starting at 8.30 a.m. Eastern.
		He will take calls, so be sure to stay with us for that.
		Mary in Ohio, line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Mary.
unidentified		Good morning.
		You know, there's actually two bills.
		There is the bill that is currently in place that the Democrats are voting against.
		And then there is the bill that the Democrats want to replace it with.
		The new bill that the Democrats want to shove down our throats costs an additional $1,400,000,000.
		In the new bill, the Democrat bill, on page 57, number 5741, the Democrats in their bill are going to authorize payments to have medical coverage for illegal aliens.
		They are actually giving, in this new bill of the Democrats, $192 billion of additional American money to services for illegal aliens.
		And to help pay for that, because part of it, they are going to be cutting $50 billion from small community hospitals and everything for medical coverage for Americans.
		They're cutting out $50 billion to hospitals for Americans in order to help pay for Medicare or medical services for illegals.
		They are also in their bill going to authorize more money to be paid to hospitals or medical facilities for illegals versus what they're willing to pay for an American.
		So if you're an American and the hospital treats you, you don't get compensated as much as if the hospital is treating illegal aliens.
		And in addition, even though it's been voted out, voted against, the Democrats are want to have us go ahead and cover, return money to NPR and PBS.
		While I'm on the phone, I would like to have C-SPAN bring up the Watergate issue that's currently going on, where the Democrats have turned around and wiretapped Republicans, senators, eight Republican senators, and put wiretaps and suspicion on 97 Republican programs.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay, and Mary mentioned the bill that was passed by the House.
		This is H.R. 5371.
		Now you can go to congress.gov if you would like to read the text of that.
		So you bring it up.
		You can click on summary and read a summary, or you can read the text.
		You can also find, that's the one that was passed by the House, the Republican version.
		You can also find the version that Mary was talking about passed or suggested by the Democrats for the Senate.
		Anyway, both of those have failed in the Senate.
		Here is Cheryl, Pennsylvania, Line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Cheryl.
unidentified		Good morning.
		There's something nobody's talking about, and it's plain and simple.
		We have to remember who Trump is and what his main goals have been in the last eight months.
		And that's his enemies list.
		He found out he wanted to have Obama indicted and so many other prominent people.
		But Obama especially, I don't think he ever got over the thumbs down by McCain.
		All he's doing is going after Obamacare because he really hates that he lost that time that McCain gave those thumbs down.
		And I believe that's all this is.
		And he's looking to create a mess at least and then come in and act like he's going to clean up his own mess.
		His own mess.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So Cheryl, getting back to the shutdown, your thoughts on that?
unidentified		Well, I think we can't give it up.
unidentified		Too many people are enjoying Obamacare, and he can't take it away just because he hates the man.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And how long do you think that Democrats should hold out on this and keep the government closed?
unidentified		As long as it takes.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And just wanted to clarify something on the text of the CR.
		So if you go to appropriations.senate.gov, you will find the Democratic version that has been proposed.
		And you can, it's a PDF.
		You can go through and read all the text that is in there.
		Let's go to Charles in Maryland, Independent Line.
		Hi, Charles.
unidentified		Hi, how y'all doing?
		This is my first time calling in.
		Maybe I might get a little wrong.
		I have my own opinions.
		I realize that Democrats and Republicans, neither one of them, neither party, leave office broke.
		They all make money.
		Even when there's a shutdown, why are they getting paid when all the rest of the government workers are laid off?
		They should not be collecting a paycheck at the same time when the government is shut down.
		If you're not working, you're not doing anything.
		Why are you making money?
		But I'm sorry.
		That's just my point of view.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
unidentified		Other than that, y'all have a nice day.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here is Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, talking about federal workers and U.S. military pay.
unidentified		Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
		Two questions about federal worker pay.
		One, is it your understanding that federal workers will be repaid after this shutdown as part of current law?
		And two, would you allow a UC, for example, for the military to ensure that they would be paid in the shutdown?
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		Those are two questions.
		Federal workers, it's my understanding that the law is that they would be paid.
		There is some other legal analysis that's floating around.
		I have yet had time to dig into and read that.
		But it has always been the case, that is tradition, and I think it is statutory law, that federal employees be paid, and that's my position.
		I think they should be.
		They should not be subjected to harm and financial dire straits because Chuck Schumer wants to play political games.
		With regard to paying the troops, I want everybody to listen to me very carefully.
		Hakeem Jeffries and the House Democrats, as Leader Scalise said so well, are clamoring to get back here and have another vote because some of them want to get on record and say they're for paying the troops.
		We already had that vote.
		It's called the CR.
		Every Republican and at least one Democrat had the common sense to say, of course, we want the government to stay in operation.
		Of course, we want to pay our troops and our air traffic controllers and our Border Patrol agent, TSA, and everybody else.
		We did have that vote.
		The House, I keep saying the House did its job.
		We did that almost three weeks ago.
		And every Democrat in the House except one voted against it.
		They voted that they did not want the troops to be paid.
		They did not want TSA agents to be paid.
		They did not want air traffic controllers, Border Patrol agents, and all the rest.
		They live with that vote.
		They made that decision.
		The House is done.
		The ball is now in the Senate's court.
		It does us no good to be here dithering on show votes.
		We did it.
		We sent the product over.
		It is clean.
		It is 24 pages in length.
		It's the most bare minimum that's necessary to keep the lights on for the people.
		And Chuck Schumer and 43 of his colleagues, Democrats, continue to do the wrong thing.
		We're not having it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's more information on that from Gov Exec.
		On Tuesday, the Trump administration said furloughed feds were not guaranteed back pay.
		On Wednesday, it sent notices saying they were.
		Just one day after taking a different argument, the Trump administration notes federal law guarantees back pay for employees sent home during a shutdown.
		And Speaker Johnson will be joining us later today at 8.30 to take your calls.
		Be sure to stay with us for that.
		Meanwhile, we will hear from Ron in Illinois, Republican line.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Morning.
		Thanks for taking my call.
		Thank you, Mike, for your work.
		I do like what's going on.
		I got just one basic question.
		When the party has boosted about the money that has came in as trillions of dollars that have come into the country because of the tariffs, where is that being utilized at?
		And why do we have to have this situation if we're bringing in them kind of monies?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Ron, there is actually a story about the tariffs and the shutdown, and this is CNN.
		And it says, White House says it will use tariff revenue to fund federal food aid for mothers and young children.
		So that's the WIC program that is going to be running out of funding this week.
		And we'll ask the, if we get a chance, we'll ask the speaker about his views on that.
		Jerry in Tennessee, Line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Jerry.
unidentified		Yeah, thanks for taking my call.
		You know, I don't know why these Republicans can't get the facts straight on the centers and stuff getting phone tapped and stuff.
		You know, if you get your facts straight, you'll know that they want to have waiting on that stuff here and said.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
unidentified		Yes.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Jerry.
		And this is PolitiFact on that.
		Quoting JD Vance on September 28th, saying, Democrats are threatening to shut down the entire government because they want to give hundreds of billions of dollars of health care benefits to illegal aliens.
		It has been rated as false by PolitiFact.
		It says that immigrants in the U.S. illegally are generally ineligible for federally funded health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and subsidized private insurance through the ACA.
		Democrats' funding proposal would restore access to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplace for legal immigrants who will lose access once certain provisions of the Republicans' tax and spending law take effect.
		William in Jackson, Mississippi, Independent, good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you for taking my call once again.
		I want to say, yes, they should leave the government closed until they come to a resolution.
		Republicans were offering a 21-day resolution just to go 21 more days.
		They never governed.
		They stopped governing after George Bush.
		So they don't have no intention on governing.
		You asked a question to a call a couple of calls ago.
		What about they said they was going to do something after the government?
		They always lie.
		Just like the woman you allowed to lie three calls ago, talking about what was in the bill.
		You know it's illegal for them to fund for illegal aliens to have this.
		But you all continue to allow the lie.
		At the end, when people come in with facts, you want to cut them short.
		That's not right, Grubb.
		That's not right.
		It's not right for you to do that.
		You spearing misinformation out here.
		And that's why the orange chief in charge love miseducated.
		He loved people that don't know how to go and research.
		Don't know how to go and don't know civics, period.
		And it's wrong for you to do that.
		You all need to stop doing it unless this country is not going to get back on track.
		You have to stop these lies.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Tom in Raleigh, North Carolina, Republican line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Tom.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I think these elected officials, not a single one should get paid while the government shut down.
		You got these employees going to work every single day, not knowing how they're going to pay their lot bill two weeks from now, their mortgage two weeks from now, and it can affect their credit.
		So when there's a shutdown, I don't think any of these elected officials need to get paid.
		It just infuriates me that they're sitting there getting paid and people going to work with the government and they're not getting paid.
		It makes no sense.
		And they need to pass a law.
		When there's a government shutdown, no Republican, Democrat, or independent gets paid until it's passed.
		So that's all I got to say.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Barnes in Maryland.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		I would like to make my comment without anger or hate, because we do enough of that these days.
		And I'm not speaking anger and hate against President Trump nor the NRC.
		And what I would like to say is that we have to realize, Americans, that this shutdown is hurting all Americans.
		And the fact that we do not have sufficient insurance, this affects all Americans, not just Democrats, but all Americans.
		So be mindful of that.
		And speaking to the immigrants, which we refer to, questionable term, illegal aliens, immigrants have liberty to go to receive emergency service only in hospitals.
		And that's something that was enacted by our president, Republican president some time ago, Reagan, President Reagan.
		And I like President Reagan, by the way.
		But it's just a personal thing.
		And I think we should try to come together and try to think before we speak and try to come together to encourage our Congress and leaders in general without the anger and the hate.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Well, speaking of that, Barnes, this is Fox News reporting.
		A screaming match erupts between Hakeem Jeffries and Mike Lawler as government shutdown chaos continues.
		Take a look at what happened.
unidentified		Let me ask you a question.
		For years, you always hear about how we need to make government over.
		You're making a show of this topic.
		You're embarrassing yourself right now.
		Let me ask your question.
		You have four Democrats on here.
		Let me ask a question.
		Let me ask you a question.
		Let me ask you an answer.
		You voted for the one big result, correct?
		I voted for the largest tax cut to Americans in history.
		I'm voting, by the way, the average New Yorker getting a $4,000 tax cut.
		Are you against that?
		You're embarrassing yourself.
		You want to cut the standard deduction into the city?
		The largest cut to Medicaid in America is now fraud and abuse, by the way.
		We voted.
		Tom Den Atlas, Democrat.
		Let me ask a question.
		Point it out that 1.2%.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That was minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Congressman Mike Lawler, both from New York.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is Mick, who is calling from Demote, Indiana, Independent Line.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Good morning.
		I'm calling.
		I wanted to remind everybody that this negotiation that they say they have to complete began last March.
		And ever since March, the Republicans have had a chance to do something about the Medicaid.
		And all they've done was cut it.
		And they've put like almost a trillion dollars worth of cuts in to the Medicaid program.
		And that's what the Democrats are trying to reverse.
		I don't see what's so hard to understand about that.
		But another thing is what a lot of people too would say, well, we need a businessman in office.
		Well, we've seen what that's bringing us.
		If you ever had to negotiate with the businesses, if you as far as salaries or anything like that go, they always want to cut your salary.
		They always want to cut your benefits.
		You know, they want you to do more for less.
		And that's just, that's just their normal pattern.
		You know, it doesn't always follow through, but that's their pattern.
		And all right, Mick.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk to Mary in New York, Republican.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Mary.
unidentified		Good morning.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Morning.
unidentified		Thanks for taking my call.
		You know what?
		I'm not.
		My parents brought me up as a Democrat.
		We were immigrants, blah, blah, blah.
		There's no such thing as Democrats and Republicans.
		Blah.
		It's all what I'm trying to say is people need to do their due diligence.
		If you go online and you look up these people and what they make, everybody, it's a chess game.
		I mean, Schumer gets tax breaks.
		So does Hakeem.
		They hide their income.
		They're billionaires.
		And they're always talking about the other millionaires.
		They get tax breaks.
		It's like people need to do the due diligence.
		These people are just playing.
		It's just a chess game.
		Who's going to win?
		Has nothing to do with really helping the poor working class.
		They're just bantering to try and get their votes.
		And that's all I have to say.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And this is actually about financial disclosure reports.
		So if you go to the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate will have this as well.
		There is kind of a couple of information here about what are financial disclosure reports and what is public and how you can look at that.
		You can, right here, you can download financial disclosure reports by year.
		So what are they required to disclose?
		Here's for congressional candidates as well.
		And you'll be able to see what's public as far as what Mary was talking about.
		Randy, St. Louis, Missouri, Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Well, good morning.
		I guess I'm concerned that for months as that bill, as the great, wonderful, lousy bill was being prepared, the Republicans said, oh, we're not cutting, we're not touching Medicare or Medicaid under any circumstances.
		And in the if you watch the hearings, at one point, the Democrats made the Republicans do a line item on every line that and forced them to say we're not going to touch that.
		But they went ahead, and that's what they do.
		They're not holding to their word.
		And they have nothing to back it up.
		They have no plan to replace it.
		So you have to shut the government down.
		And it's better.
		No government is better than the Trump government is the bottom line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Randy.
		And this is the Hill.
		Senators Kelly and Gallego confront Speaker Johnson outside his office.
		Take a look at that from yesterday.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		We're happy that she got elected.
		She's filling her father's seat.
		That's fantastic.
		We have a long tradition here and a process of how we administer the oath to a member.
		You know, he served here for a while.
		We're going to do that as soon as we get back to work, but we need the lights turned back on, so we encourage both of you to go open to government.
		So I am anxious to administer the oath to her.
		This is you guys yourself in the government.
unidentified		You don't want to be on Epstein's discharge.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		How much of this is totally absurd?
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		You guys are experts in the middle of the year.
unidentified		She's moving along.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		It has nothing to do with Epstein.
		The House Oversight Committee, the House Oversight Committee is working on the Epstein files right now, releasing 34,000 pages and more on the website.
		Let me finish.
		The House Oversight Committee.
unidentified		This is an excuse so she doesn't sign on to that.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		I know why you're upset.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		I know why you're upset.
unidentified		You're getting a lot of heat because the government's closed down and you guys are actually.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		You waited five times closed.
unidentified		I got it.
		Yes.
		Why don't we do this?
		Why don't you bring back your Republican members so we can have a serious negotiation?
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		We're going to have plenty of negotiations.
unidentified		What the government?
unidentified		What do we mean?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And he was talking about the swearing in of the newest Congresswoman-elect, Adelita Gorhalva.
		That has he has said that that will not happen until the government reopens.
		And you can, of course, hear more about that.
		He also talked about the Epstein files.
		He'll be joining us as a guest on this program at 8:30 Eastern Time.
		Bernice, Detroit, Michigan, Democrat.
		Good morning, Bernice.
unidentified		Hi.
		In the reconciliation bill that the Republicans passed earlier, they cut Medicaid and the Obamacare, which is the ACA.
		They all, in that deal, was so large that it kicked in that Medicare will be cut because you can only do a certain amount of money and it's going to kick in and cut Medicare.
gwen moore ▲ ● ▼		So the Republicans did not want the Democrats because they knew the Democrats was not going to cut the Obamacare.
unidentified		So they did it in their reconciliation bill that they can only do one time a year because if they could do it again, they would pass the CR under it, but they can only do reconciliation once a year.
		All the Democrats are saying the money that you took from ACA and Medicaid to give those tax cuts to the rich, put it back in Obamacare and Medicaid.
		They're not asking for added money.
		Just take that money that you've taken for those two programs, put it back in those two programs and give people health care.
		Obamacare is better than no health care.
		Before Obamacare, the American people didn't have any health care.
		So it might not be the best of health care, but people, you have health care.
		So the Republicans need to put back that money that they took out of the reconciliation bill for those two programs and figure out how to give tax cuts to the rich permanently if they want to without that money.
		Thank you, Mimi.
		You should ask Mike Johnson.
		You are pretty good at getting your guests.
		You're pretty good at getting your guests to answer questions.
		And Mike Johnson should tell the truth.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, Bernice.
		And this is KFF.org.
		So if you'd like more information on what Bernice was talking about, the headline is, How will the One Big Beautiful Bill Act affect the ACA, Medicaid, and the uninsured rate?
		And there is information here if you scroll down on Medicaid provisions and then also changes to the ACA marketplaces, including proposed rule codifications.
		So this is in the act that passed the reconciliation bill that passed and was signed by the president.
		And Jay in West Palm Beach, Florida, Independent Line.
		Good morning, Jay.
unidentified		Hi, thanks for taking my call.
		I know you've been covering this news, the shutdown almost every day.
		The biggest news today is there's a big peace deal in Gaza because of President Trump.
		This big thing happened.
		And I was expecting you to cover that instead of covering the same old story every day.
		I think that deserves a little more attention.
		Yep, we will.
		We will.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		I did mention it at the very beginning of the program.
		Jay, we are going to start with that during open forum, and we will take calls on that as well and get you as much news as possible on that.
		Scott in New Jersey, Republican.
		Good morning, Scott.
unidentified		Good morning, I believe that what we're seeing right now with the government shutdown is laughable.
		When it is that you look at the fact that it is that they were willing to pass this 13 times with the exact same CR, but now because it is that the Democrat Party finds themselves floundering, they're looking for any win possible.
		So, what they're trying to do is they're trying to create a headache that doesn't need to be.
		And all of a sudden, they want to say, oh, they're for it.
		When it is that almost every single member of your party votes no, how can you say it's the other side that didn't allow it to happen?
		And one of the things that I wanted to point out, too, is earlier, and I've heard a number of different callers, I hear different groups, and they talk about, oh, well, that doesn't happen.
		And illegal immigrants don't benefit from these different things.
		I don't understand why it is seeing more about this superintendent of schools who was in charge of the largest school district in Iowa at Des Moines, making what $300,000 a year, multiple weapons that were loaded.
		He was a registered voter in the state of Maryland.
		All things that should not be available to an illegal immigrant.
		But we understand the fact that it is that this man was so brazenly participating in this type of behavior.
		It's happening and they're not fearful of the consequence.
		And when it is that we want to talk about, oh, they're cutting from Medicaid and the ACA and things like this, I believe that language is very important.
		And this is something that politicians are all too good at.
		Each one of them, they act like lawyers.
		It comes down to semantics.
		Just like we say, oh, a recount versus an audit or something like this.
		Same thing, cuts.
		If you're going through and you're removing people from roles that never should have been eligible for a service, that's not a cut.
		What that's doing is making sure that the right people are receiving the money.
		So the thing is, if it is that people pay closer attention to the things that are actually going on, maybe they'd have a better understanding.
		And also, this cannot be done with a simple majority.
		They need Democrat support in order to get this through.
		And on top of that, the juxtaposition of what it is that you have President Trump doing in Israel and what it is, the action that he's taking to try and restore safety in cities across this country that has been going on for far too long versus these members of Congress and these senators who are shutting down our government, who want to kick the can down the road.
		And think of this.
		13 times we've had the CR.
		That's not a balanced budget.
		That's just restoring funding at current levels to make sure that things keep running.
		We're still running this nation into debt, and it's absolutely ridiculous to see a man of action who's getting things done so quickly with such little time and to understand that the Democrats are simply trying to delay because they understand that the rules work against him.
		He only has the remainder of his term and he'll be gone.
		And guess what?
		They'll still be there.
		So if they could hold tight, they could try to throw every wrench in there as much as possible.
		They can keep as many of these wasteful programs in place that they like.
		And once it is that he's gone, you're sure going to see these things blow right back up again.
		Because guess what?
		I don't see somebody who's going to be following him up who's going to be fighting as hard and doesn't care because the man is already rich and he doesn't.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Got that.
		And this is what Scott was talking about earlier in his call about the superintendent of the Des Moines School was arrested by ICE.
		He is the superintendent of Iowa's largest school district by the ICE officials.
		He was arrested.
		It became a high-profile case.
		His name is Ian Roberts.
		He's 54 years old, was the superintendent for over two years before his resignation on September 30th, days after his arrest.
		He had previously held leadership positions in school districts across the U.S. for two decades.
		It says in the days since he was taken into custody, Roberts has been federally charged for alleged firearms offenses, and lawsuits and state investigations are being pursued over his hiring.
		And it goes on to talk about the timeline of his arrest.
		If you want more information at ABC News.
		Jimmy in Georgia, Independent Line.
		Hi, Jimmy.
unidentified		Good morning, Mimi.
		That was an interesting story about the guy in Iowa.
		I had not seen that yet.
		Earlier, a caller had said that this shutdown affects all Americans.
		And my immediate response was, no, it's not going to affect me.
		I'm immune from that.
		But it actually has.
		I'm not going to be flying next week because I'm scared of the air traffic controller situation.
		And it made me think that there's some guy in the government somewhere who decides who's going to stay open and who's going to not work during these government shutdowns.
		And I'm trying to imagine why this guy or whoever it is decided, oh, we're going to leave ICE open, but we're going to shut down the air traffic controllers because they're not really important, but ICE, keeping us safe from this school, keeping us safe from this school superintendent.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Jimmy, air traffic controllers are still required to go to work.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		They're just not getting paid.
unidentified		Oh, okay.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yes.
unidentified		They're just not getting paid.
		So many of them, I mean, some of them are not showing up.
		I've heard that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That's right.
unidentified		And so that's the reason I'm not flying anyway, because I don't feel safe because of that.
		Because they're not getting paid.
		Now, the ICE employees are getting paid.
		And it just doesn't seem to make sense to me that, or even better, the one I'd like to see shut down would be the Supreme Court.
		Why don't they just shut that down?
		Why are they getting paid?
		They're federal employees.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Wait, are ICE agents getting paid, Jimmy?
unidentified		Yes.
unidentified		Well, they're not going to work.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's look that up.
		Yeah, they are going to work.
		That is true.
		They are going to work, but they might be working without pay as others.
unidentified		I'm not sure about that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, yeah.
		So here's what's happening on air traffic control.
		NBC News delays reported at airports for third day as government shutdown drags on.
		It says the FAA said one of the hubs hits by staffing shortages was Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
		This is the, it says the agency has ordered a reduction in the number of flights in and out of Orlando, Newark, and one of three major, which is one of three major airports in New York area.
		It says when air traffic controllers, staffing shortages began Monday when air traffic controllers started working without pay because of the shutdown.
		Lloyd in Virginia, line for Democrats.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		I guess with all the negativity going on left and right at the time, we thought, see if we can get together in some kind of way.
		The countries are looking at us, the young people looking at us and seeing how we're acting.
		And all this negative information, the negative stuff just going left and right and not happening to anybody.
		Can we get together with all the smart minds or do they put a man on the moon?
		We can't sit around and try to get this stuff straight.
		Let's get this country back together and get everything open and stop pointing the thing.
		They're not doing anything at all, pointing fingers left and right.
		Everybody's all invited.
		It don't seem to be the United States of America, just 50-something states now.
		So we need to get back together, see if we can work together as a people.
		Thank you for taking my call.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And just wanted to confirm that ICE is not being paid.
		This is the Columbus Dispatch.
		Military members, ICE must work, won't get paid if government shutdown hits October 15th.
		That would be the first paycheck that they would miss is October 15th.
		And here is Patrick in California, Republican line.
		Good morning, Patrick.
unidentified		Good morning.
		It's a thank you for taking my call.
		This is all the Democrats.
		If they don't want to negotiate, they want to blame Donald Trump.
		I'm glad you're having Mike Johnson on today.
		I think he's a God-fearing man, and I think he's a great leader.
		And I hope this thing gets resolved very quickly.
		It's a thank you for taking my call.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Patrick.
		Here is Clayton in Indiana.
		Clayton, you're a federal worker.
unidentified		Yes, I am.
		I work for, I'm not going to say the department because we really don't have a union anywhere because of Trump, but that's besides the point.
		If Break wouldn't have violated the unions and let us strike, there would be no government shutdown.
		We'd be able to strike and we'd be able to end this right now.
		That's the main problem with it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So Clayton, explain that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		If you were to strike, which means you wouldn't go to work, which is what you're not doing right now.
unidentified		I'm being forced to work.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Oh, I see.
		So you're talking about the exempted employees who still have to work without pay, not going to work.
		Yeah, got it.
unidentified		Yeah, if we all stood together, I stopped getting paid, if I'm not mistaken, my last paycheck is going to be tomorrow.
		If we were allowed to strike, there would be no government shutdown because we'd all stand together and we'd force the government to say, hey, we need to get paid.
		And also, like somebody said a while ago, if we don't get paid, then Senate and Congress shouldn't get paid either.
		That's pretty much all I have to say.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Clayton, your paycheck tomorrow will not be a complete paycheck because the shutdown happened in the middle of a pay period.
		So just so you know, in case the government doesn't open by tomorrow.
		Jonathan in New York, line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Jonathan.
unidentified		Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
		Just got a comment in reference to the speaker in the Affordable Care Act.
		It's been three administrations since the Affordable Care Act was established.
		And Mike Johnson says it takes time to negotiate.
		But it's been three administrations, and Republicans have not brought anything to the table.
		And so the only thing they want to do is end it instead of presenting something new.
		I just think it's insane that three administrations have gone by.
		They have not been able to show the American people something better.
		Thank you for taking my call.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Nina in New York, a Republican.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Nina.
unidentified		Hi, how are you?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good.
unidentified		Thank you for taking my call.
		It's really a comment to the speaker.
		I wish that the government needs to work for the people, not political agendas.
		Please, I'm begging both Democratic and Republican Republicans, make the country first.
		You know, we've had such a divide.
		I came here in 1967 from a communist country.
		This is ridiculous what we're going through here in the United States.
		People don't realize what it is to be a communist and not have and not have your freedoms.
		This is the best country in the world, and we're taking it away from our people, from our citizens this way, by the politicians fighting all the time about things that really don't matter for the American citizens.
		They have to put the American citizens first.
		That's my comment.
		Thank you very much.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And Wayne is an independent in Pennsylvania.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Morning.
unidentified		How are you doing today?
		Good.
		The Democrats and Republicans, right, they have their talking points, right?
		But I'm going with the Democrats because Johnson is a God-fearing man.
		How would he take Medicaid from poor people and immigrants, kids, mothers, and wives?
		And another thing, right?
		Quick, another thing about the Democrats fighting ISIS for coming into the inner city.
		The inner city needs him.
		And this is another quick point for you.
		Listen, do not let Mike Johnson keep running off at the mouth and let the people talk to him.
		Do you hear me?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yes, I will do my best, Wayne, on that note.
		Eileen in New Hampshire, Line for Democrats.
		Hi, Eileen.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this whole thing.
		You know, it's pretty simple.
		We're supposed to help each other out, and we've become a country that it's a me-me thing.
		I just want us to get back to some semblance of order where people are kind to one another.
		I'm seeing the Republicans just throwing dirt, slinging it any which way they can.
		It's not making us better, it's making us worse.
		And I'd like to know where all this money is going.
		I'm assuming it's going to the rich.
		All this money that has been collected from shutting down all these programs, how much, how much money have they collected?
		And really, truly, where is it going?
		Yeah, I think we need to come together as a country.
		I don't see it happening, and it's frightening.
		It's just frightening.
		In my 72 years, I have never, ever seen it this bad, nor would I have thought that it would even happen.
		So, you know, that's my take on things.
		We just, we need to come together.
		And I hate to see hate.
		Hate is not going to make us great.
		And that's what we're seeing from the other side.
		And I'm tired of them blaming the left.
		I'm tired of it.
		You know, we are one people.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Eileen.
		Jay, a Republican in Maryland.
		Jay, you're on the air.
unidentified		Good morning.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		So it seems like there's a vein of all the Democrats, Republicans, some of the independents that are calling in.
		And that vein being that everybody's sort of on the same page.
		Nobody wants to see this happen.
		The confusion is that we've got people in office who feel like, no, we've got constituents who do want to see this happen.
		As for somebody a few calls ago, Saul My Thunder, in terms of health care, we've had Obamacare for over a decade.
		Republicans have, and it's terrible.
		It's terrible.
		It's a terrible system.
		It's awful.
		But it's far better than nothing.
		And that's exactly what, as a Republican, Republicans have put together.
		Nothing.
		To say it's bad is one thing, but to not have an alternative to bring to the table is something quite different.

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