That was something that so many of us are hearing about from our constituents.
And what I want people to understand is that in this moment, we have between $5 and $6 billion sitting in a contingency fund that can be released to the states to fill this gap come November 1st to make sure that people are receiving their food assistance benefits.
And it is a choice that is being made right now by the president and to not release those funds.
It has been released in every other shutdown so that people do not go hungry.
And I think what is confusing is for many of us, and I know this is true from my constituents as well, why in this moment is the president willing to give tens of billions of dollars to Argentina and not willing to release funds that are literally going to feed Americans.
And we can have policy disagreements about health care.
We can dig into the details of what this moment looks like around the ACA subsidies.
But I think we can all agree that seniors and veterans and children should not at any point be concerned that they're not going to get their SNAP benefits.
And the states, they don't have the capacity to backfill.
I know Vermont is trying.
Actually, I was just talking with a friend of mine in the Vermont legislature.
They're meeting today with the governor to try to figure out how to fill some of those gaps.
But people are going to go hungry.
And so this is a choice that's being made that doesn't need to be made in this way.
So Republicans are saying that the choice is on Senate Democrats and that they're the ones withholding the votes to reopen the government.
And if you reopen the government, all those people would get their SNAP benefits.
unidentified
Yeah, I understand that.
But the issue right now is we have been promised for 15 years that Republicans would offer a solution to health care costs, that they would introduce legislation that would not just be about repeal and replace, but would be in terms of Obamacare, but actually a plan.
15 years we've been promised this.
Between 70 and 100 votes have been happening to try to repeal and replace Obamacare.
So forgive me if I don't feel a lot of confidence in this moment when they say, yeah, yeah, we're going to get to this issue on Medicare, excuse me, on the ACA subsidies.
This is coming after a nearly $1 trillion cut to Medicaid.
And when I'm home in Vermont, I am hearing from nurses.
I am hearing from doctors.
I am hearing from my rural health care facility saying we are in a health care crisis right now.
And so we have to deal with this now.
The premium prices are coming out November 1st nationwide.
A few states released them earlier.
So the time is now.
It's not about kicking the can down the road.
And it is true that we can do both things at the same time.
We can feed the American people while also having a substantive discussion about what is going to happen on Medicare and Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA subsidies.
If you'd like to join our conversation with Representative Becca Ballant, a Democrat of Vermont, you can start calling in now.
Republicans are on 2028-8001.
Democrats 202-748-8000.
And Independents 202-748-8002.
Federal workers can call us on 202-748-8003.
Congresswoman, will Democrats have any change of strategy?
The strategy that you've had for the last four weeks, nothing's changed, nothing's happened, nothing's even moved closer to a resolution.
unidentified
Well, I think what I want people to understand is there's really a bifurcation of what's happening here.
So like you've got the Senate still showing up to work.
That is a big difference from what's happening in the House.
You essentially had the Speaker say, I'm not getting my way.
I'm taking my marbles.
I'm going home.
Republicans have not been in D.C. for nearly 30 days now.
And there has been no other time during a government shutdown when the House of Representatives has left town and refused to negotiate.
And so in this moment, we are looking to the Senate to see, I understand that there are some backroom conversations happening around the issue of SNAP.
There is an understanding that the ACA subsidies need to be dealt with.
And so I am an optimist.
I am hopeful.
I know those conversations are happening member to member, senator to senator on the Senate side of the building.
I wish we were seeing that in the House.
I wish that the Speaker of the House would be standing up for congressional power right now, because what we see is an activated president who has taken not just the authority within the executive branch, but has taken the authority within the congressional branch.
And he is not the Speaker for the Republican Conference.
He is the Speaker for the entire House of Representatives.
So yes, of course, we are constantly reevaluating as Democrats what the strategy should be.
But when the Speaker shows up at a press conference and says, my work is done, that is a dereliction of duty.
Let's talk to callers and start with Benny, Georgia, Democrat.
Good morning, Benny.
unidentified
Oh, yes.
How you doing?
I just want to just remind a representative that Mike Johnson, you know, like you said, he didn't dismiss, like he dismissed Congress, so they wouldn't have to vote on Epstein files.
That's right.
This is, okay.
And then also, I just want to just say to you personally, like this thing, like you said on the Judiciary Committee, like they have, they go on, you know, with the hearings or whatever about President Biden having dementia.
All right, all right, Benny, let's get a response.
Go ahead, Congresswoman.
unidentified
Benny, there's a lot of really interesting points that you're making.
And yes, you're right.
Congress was dismissed.
Adelita Grahava was elected in Arizona by a wide margin.
She should be seated in Congress.
She is the last signature on something called the discharge petition that would demand the release of all of the Epstein files.
And I can tell you that voters across the country, both parties, want to see accountability.
They want these files to see the light of day.
And the fact that that Arizona district right now does not have representation is utterly outrageous.
The Speaker has sworn in other Republicans that have come in on special elections.
There is no excuse for her not being seated.
And you're right.
Why is it that we have a Speaker of the House right now who is actively protecting those people in the files that abused girls and young women?
Why is that?
And so Adelita Rehava deserves to be seated.
Arizona needs to have that representation.
And what you say about hearings in the Judiciary Committee about the fitness for office around this president is spot on.
Unfortunately, we are not having any judiciary hearings right now at all.
So there is not an opportunity.
Though I was out in Chicago at the end of last week for a shadow hearing that Democrats are doing.
Just the other thing I want people to understand.
Democrats are still working every single day.
And you're right.
There seems to be a double standard around fitness for office when it comes to former President Biden and when we look at some of the actions of the president.
And I know a lot of people like the way Gavin Newson is showing up.
I would love to ask the Congresswoman A yes, and the answer must be a yes or no answer.
Why We Don't Support Illegal Immigration00:03:00
unidentified
That's two little words that politicians very, very rarely use.
So my question is to the Congresswoman is that in the next, if the Democratic Party was in power, got back into power, would she vote yes or no to illegal immigration?
To vote for illegal immigration, that's the question.
unidentified
Okay, it's an interesting question.
I do not support illegal immigration.
And what has been very difficult for people to understand is that immigration violations are civil penalties.
And we can't have a discussion about illegal immigration without talking about the employers across this country that knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
We would not have an ag industry in Vermont or any other state without the work of people who are undocumented.
That is the cold hard truth.
And you would not have a building industry, a landscape industry, without people who are undocumented doing that work.
So we need to come together as Democrats and Republicans to make a legal pathway for people to come here to work.
And what has been shocking to me is the deafening silence of employers.
They will talk privately on Capitol Hill.
This is the thing I want people to understand.
They will talk privately to their Republican colleagues and say, you know, this is killing us.
We're losing all of our roofers.
We're losing all of the people that are picking our food.
It's killing our industry.
Why won't you come to the table to really cobble out an agreement on immigration?
And that's where we should be headed right now.
And I can tell you, and I just have to say this because I was so moved by what I saw in Chicago last week when I was there.
We are being told a big lie about who ICE and Border Patrol is going after right now.
Government Shutdown Impact00:15:19
unidentified
What I saw in Chicago is not them going after the so-called worst of the worst or violent criminals.
We all agree.
There is no place for them here.
But who they're terrorizing are the landscapers showing up at Home Depot to buy lumber and supplies to do work.
The woman who runs the Tamale stand on the corner who's been here for 20 years.
We were told that ICE would be concentrating on making sure that we were deporting the worst of the worst.
And I'm telling you, there may be a few of those, but the terror that we're seeing is not directed at those people.
I've been furloughed since the October 1st funding deadline, which hasn't been reached and the government's been shut down.
The Office of Personnel Management has a policy that rifts or automatic reductions in force are automatically triggered after 30 days of furlough.
Will the Democrats and the congressmen specifically end the charade to reopen the government to get the government out of invading my wallet on an annual basis?
Annual basis, they continue year after year to fail to do their job and have an open government.
12 bills they have to pass, 12 bills, and every year they continue to fail.
Right now, it's the Democrats that are holding up the charade to not fund in pass what has been a clean CR.
I just want the federal government out of my day-to-day life and most importantly, they're impacting my wallet.
I know I've been speaking with a lot of my federal workers in Vermont, and I know it's an incredibly challenging time.
And we are very concerned, not just about the level of anxiety that this is causing, but also the real dollars and cents issues around not getting paid.
And please believe me when I say I do not take that lightly at all.
I was actually speaking with my air traffic controllers last week in Vermont.
I know it's incredibly challenging.
I will take issue with the word charade.
It's not a charade.
What has happened since President Trump was sworn in has been an outright assault on federal workers.
Illegal firings, illegal furloughs, and those issues are now being adjudicated in court.
And we continue to have wins in court that this president has exceeded his authority.
You have a director of the Office of Budget and Management who essentially has said on the record, my goal is to make this as uncomfortable as possible for federal workers so that they all quit.
The goal is to shrink the size, dramatically decrease the size of the federal workforce.
That is the landscape in which we're operating.
I am, you know, it is a fair point that you're making about a clean CR.
I understand why you're making it.
What I want people to understand in this moment with this president, there is no such thing as a clean CR.
Because what happens is we allocate money through the House of Representatives, through Congress.
And time and time again with this president is he does an end-round end run around Congress and does not let us spend the money that we authorized.
So again, I want to end where I started.
I know this is not easy for you.
I know it feels, I imagine, like you're a political football in this.
And we have to be able to make the case that Congress, Congress has the power of the purse.
It is not up to a unitary executive.
We don't have kings here.
And I hope that we will get to a quick resolution because I know a lot of people are hurting.
Roland, I really appreciate your passion and your fierceness, because that's how I feel too.
That the heart of the issue is, as you said, the Republicans, again, I'm going to go where I started at the top of this interview.
15 years, they have been telling us they have a better plan for health care.
They have denigrated the Affordable Care Act.
They have had between 70 and 100 votes to take it away from people.
They have attacked Medicaid.
They have triggered a reduction in Medicare.
You have now this onslaught against the ACA subsidies.
And you're right.
You're absolutely right that this is the crux of it.
Show us the plan.
You have never had a plan.
And look, we can have a policy discussion.
I am someone who believes there should be some version of Medicare for all.
I believe that we should not be making money off the backs of sick people in this country.
So I believe there is a better solution than the Affordable Care Act.
But in this moment, this is the battle we have to have right now.
And you said something that is absolutely spot on, Roland.
The majority of people who benefit from the ACA subsidies are in so-called red districts.
That is the truth of it.
Every single major map that has shown you where the people are that are taking advantage of these are in the red districts.
And that is why Marjorie Taylor Greene, someone I never thought that I would find common cause with, has been incredibly outspoken about this because she knows her voters are going to get hurt.
Respond to the accusation that, you know, what Democrats have been asking for is going to cost about $1.5 trillion.
And we do not have that kind of money given our national debt.
So how are Democrats adding another $1.5 trillion to the debt with all these things when we're in this situation?
unidentified
So look, what is getting lost in this, because I'm on the budget committee, so I'm going to go back to all of my conversations in the budget committee.
My Republican colleagues increased the deficit by several trillion dollars with their so-called big, beautiful bill, which I call the big brutal bill.
They had the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.
They had the largest cut to SNAP benefits in American history.
And they were delivering a massive tax break to the people at the top, to corporations at the top.
And so, again, forgive me if I'm incredulous when they, these so-called deficit hawks, for years have said we can't increase the deficit, we can't increase the deficit.
They are the same Republicans that in the end fell in line and voted for a massive increase to the national debt in that bill.
But all I really want to say is, Democrats, you do have the ability to open up this country for our people.
Now, this is going to be your platform.
Think ahead.
Use this platform.
Throw up your hand and say, okay, give it to the people, open it up, but use the platform that you're on about this health care and let Trump grovel in his own swell.
If something happens and it goes bad, that's going to be better for you in November.
So let him do his thing, but for God's sakes, open up the government so we can live.
Thank you so much.
Fred, I really appreciate your call.
And I want to go to the heart of what you're saying here.
I ran for office to alleviate suffering.
That's why I ran.
I was a teacher before this in public schools, saw firsthand the struggles of so many of the families and the students in my classrooms, then was in the state senate, and now in Congress.
And I know that so much of the take on politics right now is who is scoring the political points or who is up, who is down in the polls.
I can tell you that in this moment, the eyes of the nation are on health care because people are about to get their premium increases if they haven't gotten them yet.
And frankly, we can't wait to have this conversation.
And we have been burned over and over by this Speaker of the House and this President when we have made agreements.
That's the piece I want folks to understand.
We have, I've been in office only three years, we have made agreements, they go back with rescues, they take away money we've already agreed to.
And so in this moment, why would we operate?
from a place of trusting them because we've been burned every time.
We need an agreement on health care.
I can only speak, I think you were calling from, actually, I'm not sure where you're calling from.
Carol, we're standing by for the speakers, so if you could be brief.
unidentified
Yeah, I'm just wondering, I've been waiting 15 years to find my doctor that came up missing after I was told that the Affordable Care Act I could afford my doctor.
So he went missing, and my premiums have, they go up every year.
And then, and I've been on Social Security, but I get a COLA increase every year.
Locking Parties in a Room00:01:23
unidentified
Well, guess what happens?
I get a COLA increase, my insurance premiums goes up.
So both parties, as far as I'm concerned, they'll get on TV and they'll point fingers.
So what they really need to do is both parties need to put up their big panties and pants on, get into a room and lock themselves and do what needs to be done.
I really, I literally said that this morning, actually.
I didn't say panties, I said pants, but I think we're on the same page here.
I also serve on the Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, so going after monopolies.
And what you say is true.
People continue to see their health care premiums go up.
You have for-profit health care monopolies that are controlling not just your access, but how much you have to cost for a procedure and also your pharmaceutical prices are going up.
So part of this is, yes, we got to get in the room and be real about getting to a solution.
And also, we got to go after the health care industry.