CSPAN - Washington Journal 10/30/2025

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Oct. 30, 2025 06:59-10:01 - CSPAN

03:01:57

Washington Journal 10/30/2025

Participants

Main

greta brawner

cspan 39:11

yun sun

10:55

Appearances

chuck schumer

sen/d 02:15

donald j trump

admin 02:24

elizabeth warren

sen/d 01:34

hakeem jeffries

rep/d 00:55

jb pritzker

d 00:55

jd vance

admin 01:17

jerome powell

01:09

john thune

sen/r 01:21

robert f kennedy-jr

admin 02:11

ted cruz

sen/r 01:04

Clips

al green

rep/d 00:04

david rubenstein

00:13

mike johnson

rep/r 00:06

patty murray

sen/d 00:08

sean duffy

admin 00:04

stacy schiff

00:20

tim burchett

rep/r 00:05

Callers

steve in florida

callers 00:06

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Speaker	Time	Text
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		Coming up this morning on Washington Journal, along with your calls and comments live, we'll talk about President Trump's trip to Asia and his meeting with Chinese President Xu with the Stimson Center's Yun Sun.
		And then we'll discuss the government shutdown and each party's priorities.
		First with Tennessee Republican Congressman Tim Burchett, and then with newly appointed Oregon Democratic Congresswoman Janelle Bynum, and later with New York Democratic Congressman Paul Tunko and North Carolina Republican Representative Pat Harrigan, who will also discuss President Trump's military policies.
		Washington Journal is next.
		Join the conversation.
john thune ▲ ● ▼		Shouldn't go without food.
john thune ▲ ● ▼		People should be getting paid in this country.
unidentified		And we've tried to do that 13 times.
unidentified		And you voted no 13 times.
john thune ▲ ● ▼		This isn't a political game.
chuck schumer ▲ ● ▼		So look, right now we're staring down the barrel at two crises at once.
		A health care crisis and a hunger crisis.
		And both are caused by one man, Donald Trump.
unidentified		Good morning, everyone.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Things are heating up in Washington.
		It is Thursday, October 30th, and the government shutdown continues with no end in sight.
		This morning on the Washington Journal, we will continue to get your message to Washington on the shutdown showdown.
		Republicans dial in at 202-748-8001.
		Democrats 202-748-8000.
		Independents 202-748-8002.
		Federal workers, your line this morning, 202-748-8003.
		If you don't want to call, all of you can text at 202-748-8003, include your first name, city, and state.
		You can post on facebook.com slash C-SPAN or on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ.
unidentified		We'll get to your thoughts here in just a minute.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Let's begin with the latest.
		Here are some headlines on the government shutdown from Politico.
		The Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he will engage pretty soon with Democrats about ending the shutdown.
		Semaphore with a similar headline this morning.
		Thaw and shutdown talks raises senators' hopes for a deal next week.
unidentified		And then there is also this from the Washington Post.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		According to a new report, the government shutdown will cost the economy up to $14 billion.
		And from the New York Times this morning, Obamacare prices become public, highlighting big increases.
		The headline continues.
		The government website now shows consumers how much their health insurance costs will increase next year as Congress remains at an impasse over the planned subsidies.
		And then from the Hill newspaper, President Trump pitches working with Democrats on Obamacare alternative.
		Listen to the president traveling to South Korea on Air Force One earlier on Wednesday, floating the idea of working with Democrats on the Affordable Care Act.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Democrats have caused the problem on food stamps.
		Of course, all they have to do is sign.
		And, you know, if they sign, I'll meet with them.
		They're all saying, well, they actually said Trump is doing an amazing job in this trip.
		This trip will bring you back trillions of dollars.
		So it's hard, but they do want to meet with me when I get back.
		But I say get the economy open and we'll meet.
		I'll meet and we'll solve any difficulties.
		We have to fix health care because Obamacare is a disaster.
		I mean, when you see the increases in Obamacare, it never worked.
		It never will work.
		And we can do something with the Democrats much better than Obamacare.
unidentified		Less money and better health care.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		And that's something I think that could come out of this with the Democrats.
		You work with the Democrats.
		Because right now the insurance companies are making too much money.
		And they're making a fortune.
		And the health care, Obamacare is poor.
		And the premiums are ridiculous.
		It's going up a lot.
		I don't want to say the number.
		The number is very substantial.
		But when you hear the number, and it's Obamacare, it never worked.
		It never will work.
		It'll never be good.
		And I think it's a great time for the Republicans and Democrats to get together and make something that will work and let the insurance companies make money.
		They're entitled to that, but not the kind of money that they're making.
unidentified		Would you bring Democrats in to have that discussion?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, I would do that, sure.
unidentified		But now, sir, I'd say open up the government and we'll work it out.
unidentified		I think a lot of good things could happen from it.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		President Trump aboard Air Force One on his way to South Korea on Wednesday.
		You heard him say he's willing to talk to Democrats, but first they have to open up the government.
		Democrats have said all along, we're not going to agree to open up the government until you sit down and talk to us about these affordable care enhanced tax credits.
		Now, the president right now is on his way back to the United States, finishing up his trip to Asia.
		And the news out of South Korea, out of the last stop of this trip, here's BBC's headline.
		President Trump lowers tariffs on China and announces an end to rare earth roadblock after a meeting with the prime with the Chinese president in South Korea.
		We're going to be talking about his meeting with the Chinese president coming up on the Washington Journal in the bottom half here of our first hour.
		This morning, though, government shutdown, day 30.
		This looks like it's heading into next week and could surpass the longest government shutdown of 35 days.
		We'll continue to get your thoughts here this morning on the Washington Journal and your message to both the president and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
		What do you want them to do about the government shutdown?
		Let's go to Crystal, who's in North Dakota, Republican Europe.
		First, Crystal, good morning.
unidentified		Well, good morning.
		What an honor to be first with you, Greta.
		I am standing with the president and standing with the Republicans because we're looking at reducing the cost of our government.
		And because of that, I got a question and I don't know where to go for the answer to this.
		All the tariff money that's coming in, billions and billions and billions, where is that going?
		Is that going into the Treasury?
		Is that helping pay some of the other costs for our government?
		Because I know that we're talking about that.
		Plus, here in North Dakota, we've got soybean farmers.
		And they will be so pleased that the agreement, the trade agreement that President Trump made with soybean sales is going to help our economy.
		And then the last thing is, where does this person who wrote, I think it's on political that you just said, we're talking about, with the cost to our economy of billions.
		Well, how come?
		Where is that?
		Don't they think that all of us who are waiting are going to be spending once this all gets resolved?
		Don't they think maybe some of us are going to start traveling again?
		I think the economy is going to recover when we get all this settled.
		And it's going to be a plus, plus, plus for our country.
		Our economy is going to thrive.
		We're going to go shopping.
		Christmas is coming.
		Thanksgiving is coming.
		There's going to be trips.
		I don't see all the negativity.
		I really don't.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
unidentified		Thank you.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, let me read a little bit from this story.
		This is from the Washington Times.
		It was the Washington Post headline I shared with you.
		But it's also in the Washington Times because it's from the Congressional Budget Office.
		Their analysis shows that it could cost the economy up to $14 billion.
		Not only are federal food benefits set to run out on Saturday, but the U.S. economy could lose up to $14 billion due to the ongoing shutdown.
		The shutdown will have a negative effect on the economy that will mostly, but not entirely, reverse once the shutdown ends.
		This is from the CBO.
		And Crystal, you just said that.
		The analysis looks at three scenarios, a four-week shutdown ending October 29th, a six-week shutdown ending November 12th, and an eight-week shutdown ending November 26th.
unidentified		Thursday today marks the day 30 of the shutdown with Democrats and Republicans still at an impasse on how to fund the government.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		So this is in the papers this morning for you, Crystal, and others.
		The CBO analysis saying it could cost the economy $14 billion.
		And they also note this deadline of Saturday when food aid known as SNAP, funding for that is suspended if we're still in a government shutdown.
		Let's go to the Senate floor yesterday when Senator Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat of New Mexico, tried to get passed by unanimous consent a bill that would fund food stamps.
		And the reaction from the Senate Majority Leader, John Thun.
unidentified		The Trump administration has the authority and the funds to keep SNAP running during this shutdown.
		And don't take my word for it.
		Look at the USDA's own guidance that they removed from their website that justifies this.
		Any failure to do so right now falls squarely on the Trump administration and Republicans.
		We could vote on this today, on this bill or one that Senator Hawley's authored as well that has many Republican colleagues that are co-sponsors to prevent a hunger crisis.
		This pain does not need to happen.
john thune ▲ ● ▼		Reserving the right to object, let me just point out, if I might, that we are 29 days into a Democrat shutdown.
		And the senator from New Mexico was absolutely right.
		SNAP recipients shouldn't go without food.
		People should be getting paid in this country.
unidentified		And we've tried to do that 13 times.
john thune ▲ ● ▼		And you voted no 13 times.
		This isn't a political game.
		These are real people's lives that we're talking about.
		And you all have just figured out, 29 days in, that, oh, there might be some consequences.
		There are people who are running out of money.
		Yeah, we're 29 days in.
		And they've done their best to make sure that a lot of these programs are funded.
		But at some point, the government runs out of money.
		13 times, people over here voted to fund SNAP.
		13 times they voted to fund WIP.
		May Akin back.
unidentified		Finally realize this thing has consequences.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		An angry Republican leader, John Thune, on the floor yesterday responding to Democrats' attempts to pass funding for SNAP benefits.
		The food aid runs out of money on Saturday.
		42 million Americans affected by this lapse in funding for food stamps.
		Your message to Washington on day 30 of the government shutdown, Donald in North Carolina, Independent.
unidentified		Yes, good morning, everybody, America.
		I view the world like a two-sided corn.
		There's two sides to have the issue.
		So I'm not going to be here blaming the Republicans or the Democrats in the House and the Senate.
		But they did know Obamacare was ending at the end of this year.
		And it was the GOP and the DNC's responsibility.
		They should have started a year ago sending out notices that Obamacare was going to end.
		So that's what's happening.
		The shock of the world that Obamacare is ending.
		But we could have started reminding people over a year ago.
		I have three other issues that I'd like to bring up.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Donald, pick one more because we've got folks waiting.
unidentified		Okay, I'm an independent, and I chose to be an independent because I was unhappy with both the Democratic and Independent Party.
		So if you're unhappy with the party you're with, register as an independent voter.
		All right.
		Thank you very much.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, Donald.
		Following up on Donald's comments about the Affordable Care Act and the cost going up from the New York Times, we shared this headline earlier inside their reporting.
		A rise of 30% in 30 states and 17% in others is what is expected.
		Lisa in Alexandria, Virginia, a Republican.
		Hi, Lisa.
unidentified		Hi, good morning.
		I just noticed how you used the word Thune, Senator Thune, angrily, and then the words for Senator Lujan.
		You say he passionately thought.
		Well, Senator Thune.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		I didn't say passionately.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		I didn't say passionately, Lisa.
unidentified		Okay, well, your words were more positive toward him.
		But you didn't talk about how Senator Thune passionately fought for the soldiers to be paid in Lujan and the Democrats just walked away.
		Democrats brought those on themselves, and that is why they are walking away crying because people aren't buying it.
		Thank you.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, Lisa.
		Lots of newspapers, political observers noting that the mild-mannered Republican leader John Thune was angry on the floor yesterday.
		The clip that we showed you, you can find it on our website at c-span.org.
		Ron in Indiana, Democratic caller.
unidentified		Let's hear from you, Ron.
		Hello.
		We're at the big dog and pony show.
		Everybody's, I don't know if they're selling snake oil or BS.
		We got people out there, the lobbyists writing every bill.
		Maybe not everyone, but we have 15, what, 1,500 lobbyists just for the drug companies alone.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And Ron, tie this back to the government shutdown.
unidentified		Oh, the shutdown was a ploy for cutting out the Epstein files, trying to delay matters and look good on both sides, I guess.
		I don't know, looking bad.
		We need some help.
		These people have been, they should have solved the immigrant problem 40, 50 years ago.
		They didn't do that.
		Not necessarily socialized medicine.
		We don't have the best medical system in the world.
		It costs us twice as much for everything.
		I just had open heart surgery here.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, Ron, I'm going to leave it there.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Pasquelli in Arizona, independent.
unidentified		Let's turn to you in Arizona.
unidentified		Hello.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Hello.
		Good morning.
		It's your turn.
unidentified		Yeah, I'm just a lot of questions.
		I don't understand what the Democrats are doing.
		You know, they should be more worried about learning the government instead of having a shutdown working on a part-time basis.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, caller.
		We'll listen to the reporting this morning from Punch Bowl News.
		Today is October 30th.
		That means it's been a month since the fiscal year 2025 ended and federal agencies closed.
		This will become the longest government shutdown in American history by the end of next week, barring some miracle.
		The Senate is heading home this afternoon without doing anything to reopen the government.
		There's been absolutely no movement for weeks now.
		Every potential off-ramp has been closed, with both Republicans and Democrats digging in even deeper.
		Has that definitely changed?
		No.
		But there's been some optimistic talks in the Capitol over the last few days with rank-and-file senators saying they've started, restarted bipartisan negotiations over fiscal year 2026 spending bills.
		Let's be abundantly clear here.
		A bipartisan appropriations package doesn't solve what's at the heart of the shutdown impasse, a fundamental disagreement over the COVID-era enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies.
		Democrats have said they won't vote to reopen the government without a concrete deal on these tax credits.
		And the vast majority of Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, have little to no interest in extending them.
unidentified		Thune raised eyebrows Wednesday after saying he would be meeting pretty soon with Democrats who've been involved in informal bipartisan talks over health care and the shutdown.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		But Thune later said he doesn't have anything to report about a potential meeting and said his position remains the same.
		Open up the government, then we'll talk.
		Kathy in Pennsylvania, Republican, good morning.
unidentified		Good morning, everyone.
		I just have maybe a solution to the shutdown.
		I think what we need to do is start fining these senators.
		Fine them $2,000 a day.
		Let them feel some pain.
		Maybe the shutdown will end.
		Thanks, everyone.
		Have a great day.
		All right.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Matt in New York and Independent.
unidentified		Matt, what do you say?
		Hello.
		Yes.
		First off, they keep saying that it's a Democrat shutdown, but it's not.
		It's the Republicans are not changing what they want.
		So the Democrats aren't agreeing to it.
		So it's not just a Democrat shutdown.
		They say that.
		But don't, please don't cut me off.
		The more important point is, why don't they stop paying both sides of the people that are voting there that are shutting it down, the Democrats and Republicans?
		Other people aren't getting paid in the federal government.
		Why not give these people and not give their paychecks?
		I bet they come back and open up the government very fast if they're not getting their paychecks.
		Seems very weird that everyone else, the federal people, aren't getting their paychecks, but they're still getting their paychecks paid.
		All right.
		That seems a little bit weird.
		And the other thing is, the other thing is the most recent picture of Donald Trump on the plane.
		He's got like a fake ear.
		All right.
		Michael, Florida, Democratic caller.
		Yes, good morning.
		How are you?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Morning.
unidentified		The reason I'm calling about this shutdown is, first of all, I want to thank the Democrats for finally standing up and doing something because there's too many people on their knees for this president.
		They won't stand up and be men and stand up against this guy.
		They won't speak out against this guy because they're scared of him.
		They need to start being men and women and stand up to this gentleman.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		So, Michael, you're here.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Your message to the party is do not cave.
unidentified		That's right.
		Do not cave.
		Stand your ground.
		Do not cave.
		Okay.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Michael there, Democratic caller in Florida.
		What's happening today in Washington?
		We will hear from the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, once again.
		He'll hold a news conference at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, along with other Republican leaders on day 30 of the government shutdown.
		President Trump will arrive at the White House around 3 p.m. Eastern Time, and he will join the First Lady for a Halloween celebration at the White House.
		Look for our coverage of all of that on c-span.org or download our free video mobile app, C-SPAN now.
		The president also on his way back from his first trip to Asia of his second term, and he is in or on his way to Alaska for a brief stop there for refueling before he lands in Washington.
		If he talks to reporters in Alaska, we will bring you live coverage of those remarks.
		June in Virginia, Republican.
unidentified		Hi, June.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Day 30 of the government shutdown.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead.
unidentified		Well, I was calling because I don't think it should, the whole department, everything should be shut down for one simple thing.
		I cannot afford full insurance, so I do go through the Obamacare program.
		Now, my recent experience, it is not worth it.
		It does not help as much as they say it does.
		I had a dentist appointment, and I had to, for one, I had to pay into this program for over a year before they would accept my dental program.
		And then when I did go to the dentist, it cost me more than what it should have.
		They're telling me he's not in my program for one.
		Well, to be in my program, I have to travel 100 miles to a doctor.
		And for two, the charges that they charge when they charged my insurance company, the only thing my insurance company paid was the money that I have put in over the last year.
		Now, I could have went to my doctor without insurance and asked for a cash discount and paid less money.
		So instead of shutting down everything for one program, they need to just look at that program and fix it first.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Okay, June, you and others may be interested in the New York Times reporting today on the Obamacare costs as they are made public ahead of November 1st, which is when open enrollment begins.
		In a news release, federal officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees the ACA, said that most people seeking coverage would still have access to plans that cost $50 or less a month, even with reduced subsidies.
		They go on to say in the paper this morning, in this article in the New York Times, that a much larger share, about half of the people insured under the ACA, have incomes close to the poverty level.
		Those people have been paying nothing toward their premiums under the existing funding system.
unidentified		And we'll see costs go up about to $25 to $85 a month.
unidentified		What might be considered small increases to some amount to great financial strain for those at lower income levels.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		New York Times this morning with their reporting on Obamacare prices.
		Sean in Florida, an independent.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Grand Risings to you all.
		I wasn't going to call in about this because this honestly is, if it wasn't so sad, it would be funny.
		It was the congresspeople that you had on TV that made me call because it really gave me the analogy of what's really going on here.
		This is really like WWF.
		You have these people up there that go to say, oh, he spoke so passionately and he was this.
		But it's just like the people in the WWF.
		They have a narrative.
		This is a game that these people play.
		They talk about is healthcare, but they're not talking about healthcare.
		They're talking about insurance.
		So follow the money.
		The insurance companies win either way.
		They're not trying to lower the price of anything.
		They're just trying to lower the price of insurance or make us believe they are, but they're not really lowering it because if the insurance company is getting paid the same thing, if the Democratic way goes through, the insurance companies get the money the government just pays for it.
		If the Republican way goes through, the insurance companies get the money the people just pay for it.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		So then, Sean, do you agree with the president on Air Force One yesterday?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We showed you what he said where he said, we need to work together because the insurance companies make too much money.
unidentified		Well, they do make too much money, but that's the problem going back to the WWF scenario.
		You have the one side going against this.
		Let's call one side Coke Hogan.
		Hog Hogan, oh, we got to do this right here.
		Then you got Roddy Piper over here saying, oh, we got to do this.
		And then you got people going, oh, I'm with Hogan.
		And you got other people going, oh, I'm with Roddy.
		But the thing is, they don't realize that they're actors.
		This is getting set up by Vince McMahon.
		And Vince McMahon is running the whole show telling Hulk Hogan what to do and telling Roddy Piper what to do.
		And the people don't realize that the mega interest lobbyists, whatever you want to call them, those are the Vince McMahons in this situation.
		All right.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Sean in Florida with an interesting analogy this morning.
		James, Alabama.
		James, it's your turn in Alabama.
		You ready?
unidentified		Yeah, I'm here.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We're listening to you.
unidentified		Yeah, I'm a federal worker, and I've been 25 years.
		And my wife, she's a federal worker as well.
		And I think that if these people start getting they paychecks, and I think that they'll open up the government.
		And it's already a lot of political violence in this country.
		And, you know, I just hope no nothing happened to none of these congressmen, senators.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Hey, James, let me ask you about how you and your wife have made do over the past month.
unidentified		Have you missed paychecks?
		Well, actually, I'm still getting paid because I work for the Department of War, but she works for the Social Security, so she ain't getting paid right now.
		But, you know, we just making it through savings and just side jobs.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		James Aaron, Alabama, federal worker this morning.
		We want to hear from federal workers.
		You can dial in at 202-748-8003.
		That's the line for federal workers.
		Also, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, as we continue here this morning in our first hour, getting your thoughts on day 30 of the government shutdown.
unidentified		Jim in Texas, independent.
		Yes, ma'am.
		Morning.
		You know, really, I mean, I know there's been a lot of talk going back and forth.
		The bottom line is there's been 13 votes.
		There's going to be a 14 and a 15.
		And the Democrats keep voting.
		And just like John Tunnel said, they keep voting to shut the government down.
		They're the ones stopping the SNAP program.
		They're the ones, the Democrats, are stopping the troops from being paid.
		Now, Donald Trump here of the day, he got some money and moved it over to help pay the troops.
		And he can probably do that again, but sooner or later he's going to run out of money because the Democrats keep voting.
		13 times they voted to shut the government down.
		They keep doing it.
		And I'll tell you something.
		In my opinion, most of them are none but communists.
		Bernie Sanders, Omar, AOC, Madame, Presley, all of them, they're all communists.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, Jim in Texas, an independent.
		And as we said, the Senate is leaving Washington this afternoon.
		Before that, from Politico, the Senate will vote on overturning a Biden-era rule that restricts drilling in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve and on a resolution rejecting the president's global tariffs.
		That'll take place at 11:45 a.m.
		Yesterday, some Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the president's tariffs against Brazil.
		So look for this vote on global tariffs today to see what some Republicans do if they join Democrats and they vote against the president at 1145 a.m. Eastern Time.
		It will then vote to advance Joshua Dunlap to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the first circuit at 1:45 p.m.
		As we told you, Speaker Mike Johnson and House Geopolitic Leaders will be joined by House Homeland Security Chair Andrew Garberino and his fellow New York Republicans, Nick Laloda, Mike Lawler, Claudia Tenney, for a news conference at 10 a.m. on the government shutdown.
		And the Senate Help Committee will have a hearing on Casey Means' nomination to be the Surgeon General at 11 a.m. Eastern Time.
		The wellness influencer and health tech entrepreneur is expected to easily advance out of this committee.
		We will have coverage of this hearing with Casey Means, the president's nominee to serve as Surgeon General at 11 a.m. Eastern Time.
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		Gibson in New Jersey, Democratic Caller.
unidentified		Yeah, hello.
		Good morning.
		This is an attempt to demonize democracy.
		Trump has always been the forefront of ruining people's lives.
		And that's what he's doing to America.
		Thank you.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		That was Gibson in New Jersey.
		We're going to take a short break when we come back.
		Later on in this morning on the Washington Journal, we're going to talk with members of Congress about the government shutdown and Trump administration policies.
		That'll be in the last two hours of this morning's Washington Journal.
		We'll talk to members of Congress.
		But after the break, Stimson Senator's Yoon Sun joins us to discuss President Trump's meeting with the Chinese president.
		be right back.
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greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We are joined this morning by Yoon Sun, who is the Senior Fellow and China Program Director at the Stimson Center, here to talk about President Trump's meeting with the Chinese president earlier in South Korea.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Yoon Sun, before we talk about the details of this meeting, let's first show our viewers what the president had to say aboard Air Force One earlier after he shook hands with the Chinese president.
unidentified		What are the major stumbling blocks that are left now to work through?
		And how soon do you think you could sign a trade deal with China?
		Well, I think pretty soon.
		We have not too many major stumbling blocks.
		We were, we have a deal.
		Now every year we'll renegotiate the deal, but I think the deal will go on for a long time, long beyond the year.
		We'll negotiate at the end of a year.
		But all of the rare earth has been settled.
		And that's for the world.
		I mean, you know, worldwide.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I guess you could really say this was a worldwide situation, not just a U.S. situation.
unidentified		So we continue to produce the rare earths and buy the rare earths and everything else, you know, when you see from other countries.
		But China is that whole situation, that roadblock is gone now.
		There's no roadblock at all on rare earth that will hopefully disappear from our vocabulary for a little while.
		Is that a one-year pause on the policy they announced?
		It's one year.
		It's a one-year agreement, and we'll extend it after a year.
		What will I like to do?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		President Trump aboard Air Force One courtesy of the White House.
		Yoon Sun Respond to the details that you heard there from the president talking to reporters.
		How significant is this?
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Well, this is significant in terms of the two largest economies in the world reaching a temporary, I would say, a trade truce in the escalation of the trade wars that we have seen since the beginning of, well, basically since the beginning of this year.
unidentified		But for the two presidents to meet and also reach a substantive deal of this scale, I would call this meeting a very, very successful one.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Why is that?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What is the significance of the two of them even meeting and doing so in South Korea?
unidentified		I think the significance of the two leaders meeting is that, well, when they meet, it's seen as an indicator of stabilization, maybe not stability, but at least an effort to stabilize a bilateral relationship.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		We know that U.S. and China have been in this great power competition for a number of years before the second Trump administration, and we have seen extreme turbulences between the two countries.
		Some would even call a near war or near conflict state between the two between the two states, which is why this potentially could be the trigger of World War III.
		So that's why the meeting between the two leaders as a stabilizing effort of the bilateral relationship is so important.
		And the importance for the world, of course, does not need elaboration.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Explain further what you mean by a near conflict between these two countries.
unidentified		In terms of the U.S. and China close encounter in the West Pacific, we know that China has always called or regarded Taiwan as a critical issue or the most important of China's national interest.
unidentified		We also know that the U.S. has a legal obligation according to our Taiwan Relations Act to provide for the self-defense of Taiwan.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		The enhancement of cooperation and alignment between U.S. and Taiwan since the first Trump administration has been more than obvious.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		And the Chinese have had major reactions to that, especially in the military domain.
unidentified		And that translated to some of the Chinese unsafe, unprofessional maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait, vis-à-vis U.S. warplanes and also naval warships.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So we have seen those incidents where the two sides, meaning the warplanes and their naval vessels, had come so close to each other that it was a near-collision situation.
unidentified		So if those collisions happened, it would potentially trigger at least a limited scale military conflict.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		You said World War III.
unidentified		Yes, and when there is a military collision between the two, some would say the largest militaries in the world, it could potentially trigger something much bigger.
		And also consider the U.S. support of Taiwan and, for example, the visit of Taiwan by the then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August of 2022.
		The Chinese basically threatened the use of force in that scenario.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		And if the U.S. decided to counter what the Chinese had planned in terms of a temporary, and some would say a partial naval embargo of the naval blockade of the Taiwan Island, then it would lead the two states into a state of war.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Back to this deal that was made that the president talked about aboard Air Force One that roiters with the headline: U.S. gets rare earth reprieve from China, but not a rollback.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What did the U.S. want out of this deal, and what did China want?
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		I think for the U.S., the goal has been relatively clear.
		U.S. wants Chinese purchase of U.S. agricultural products, especially considering the season we're in.
		We're deep into the fall, which means the soybean harvest for American farmers have already come in.
unidentified		So far this year, the Chinese have refrained from purchasing U.S. soybeans, which creates a significant burden or a significant stress for the U.S. soybean farmers.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So I would say the agricultural products is a priority.
unidentified		The other top priority for the Trump administration is China's rare earth export.
		And some would say the export control measures that China had announced earlier in October.
		Because for many of the critical industries in the United States, rare earth is indispensable for the smooth operation of their manufacturing, of their business to their normal business operation.
		So for China to impose a rare earth export restriction is unacceptable for U.S. industries and businesses.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So I would say these are the two U.S. top priorities.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		For the Chinese, the priority is actually quite clear.
unidentified		It's also focused on two issues.
unidentified		The first one is a tariff.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Currently, before today's meeting, U.S. basically imposes a 55% tariff on all Chinese export to the United States.
unidentified		The Chinese have been desperate to bring that down, maybe not completely, but at least ease some of the tariff measures.
unidentified		In particular, we know that the Trump administration has levied a 20% tariff related to China's lack of cooperation on the issue of fentanyl.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		This happened before Diberation Day, before early April.
unidentified		So the Chinese position has been we're willing to cooperate on fentanyl.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		We have been cooperating on fentanyl.
		So this 20% fentanyl-related tariff needs to be eased.
		And this is what we have seen out of the result of the meeting.
		The other Chinese concern or their priority going into the meeting is additional U.S. trade measures, including, for example, the 301 investigation, including the port fees, including sporadic restrictions played on specific Chinese companies.
unidentified		So these new trade measures have always been a cause of pain for the Chinese government and for the Chinese industry.
unidentified		So I would say that's two versus two.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		For the U.S., it's soybeans and rare earths.
unidentified		For China, it's tariff reduction and new U.S. trade measures down the road.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, let's get our viewers involved in the conversation.
		Here's how you can dial in.
		Republicans, 202-748-8001.
		Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		And Independents, 202-748-8002.
		You can text if you don't want to call at 202-748-8003.
		We're taking your questions and your comments about U.S.-China relations and the president's meeting with the Chinese president in South Korea yesterday.
		Ross in Bradford, Pennsylvania, Democratic Caller, Europe first.
		Ross, good morning.
unidentified		Yeah, hi.
steve in florida ▲ ● ▼		I'd just like to say that we all need to get along, you know, and I'm glad Trump is over there doing this.
unidentified		But I think the Senate needs to keep Trump under control.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		In what way, Ross?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		In what way?
unidentified		Well, because of the shutdown and all that, everybody's got to give in, you know, give and take a little bit.
unidentified		But, you know, we just, we can't go on living like this.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
unidentified		You got Russia and you got Ukraine.
		That's terrible.
		All right.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		So Ross, okay, Yun San, Ross believes it's a good thing that we're talking to the Chinese leader.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Well, it's all relative.
unidentified		It depends on what the criteria is, right?
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		In terms of getting along, yes, I think the meeting is very helpful and very positive in terms of U.S. and China finally getting along.
		And look, U.S. consumers are at the front line of the impact of the trade war.
		When we increase tariff on the Chinese product, well, it increases the cost that U.S. consumers have to pay for the Chinese products, right?
unidentified		So there's no doubt that a choose or an ease of the current tariff war is going to be beneficial for the US consumers.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		But I think the critiques will challenge that, well, at what cost?
unidentified		Because China's goal to surpass the United States is determined.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		And the more we buy from China, the more dependence we create on the Chinese consumer products.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		And it will fuel the Chinese national growth.
unidentified		It will fuel the growth of their military modernization.
		And it will eventually fuel their ability to compete with us as a world number one superpower.
		So there's no one correct answer to this particular question.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		In the short term, I would say that yes, it is a good thing.
unidentified		But in the long run, I think it also raises the question, one, does it correct the Chinese unfair trade practice?
		And two, does it, in the long run, put the U.S. at a disadvantage?
		So again, no one straight answer to this.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Different people have different positions coming from different perspectives.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Well, who had the upper hand going into the meeting?
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Well, the fact that both sides have something desperately, they want desperately from the other side indicate that this is a match.
unidentified		That's how they would, that's why they negotiate.
		And that's how the negotiation process has been so strenuous and, well, I would say lengthy between U.S. and China.
		I would say both sides hold some critical leverages over the other, but that means, well, I would say they're pretty even-handed or in terms of their position, they're pretty equal going into the negotiation.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Has the Trump administration taken a different approach to China than the first time around, in the first four years?
unidentified		Oh, absolutely.
		If people recall the narrative of great power competition or China as a pacing threat, it in fact came out of the national security strategy of the first Trump administration in 2018.
		And before that, in the national defense strategy, we were already singling out great powers, especially China and Russia, as the most significant national security challenge for the United States.
		So this time around, for the second Trump administration, two things have been missing from the narrative.
		We have not heard the Trump administration talking about great power competition at all this time around.
		So it raises the question, well, how do we define China now?
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Is this still a pacing threat?
unidentified		Is it still the most significant national security challenge?
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Or is there something else?
unidentified		Or is like what the president has indicated, we're partners, we're friends, we're getting along.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		The other term that has been missing from the narrative this time around is Indo-Pacific strategy.
unidentified		So during the first Trump administration, there was a very clear strategy that we're aligning with countries in the region.
		So Japan, Australia, India, in order to form a broader coalition to manage China or to contain China's rights.
		But this time around, we have seen, well, basically, a fallout in U.S.-India relations and some of the pretty serious criticism the U.S. has launched against Australia.
		So I would say that the second Trump administration's approach to China so far has been very entirely different from the first Trump administration.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Frank is in Delaware, Democratic Caller.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Frank.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'm calling we need to start making products in our country.
		You know, like she was saying, that we buy too much, too many products from China, and it's really helping China become more powerful.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Well, let's take that point, Frank.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		How much does the United States depend on China, Yin Sun?
unidentified		Well, the dependence, well, depending on the industry, if you look at manufacturing good or consumer good, just think about the Christmas trees that we have and that's in the holiday season that's coming up.
unidentified		Think about the summer entertainment goods that we use, like the, for example, the sun umbrella or our swimming suits.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Think about the school products that our kids use during the fall season when the school year is back.
		Almost all these consumer goods are produced in China.
		Which means that when the tariff is up, it means that while U.S. consumers will have to pay more because the Chinese are not going to pay for, they're not going to cut their price with their production cost by 55% in order to match the same price.
unidentified		Eventually, as U.S. consumers have to carry at least a part of that cost.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		This dependence, however, is, well, you could call this an economic vulnerability.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Absolutely correct.
unidentified		It does boost the Chinese ability to compete with us.
unidentified		But here's the question.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Is it economical for us to make these goods?
unidentified		Has the U.S. economy surpassed the stage of manufacturing some of the most basic goods?
unidentified		Given the supply chains that has already been in place, let's say, well, just say making shoes.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Making shoes in China is significantly cheaper, maybe less than 50% of the cost compared to making shoes in the United States, which means that we can still make shoes.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		But it means that shoes that we make here is going to be much more expensive than what we can currently buy on the market.
unidentified		So the answer to the question as for whether we should make it in the United States is not that straightforward.
		Can we do it?
		We can.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		But is it economical?
unidentified		Most likely not.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Are our consumers willing to pay the premium cost in order to make things here in the United States?
unidentified		Most likely not.
unidentified		So this is in a way a catch-22.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Let's go to the Senate floor where the Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, criticized the president's approach to China trade policy.
chuck schumer ▲ ● ▼		On China, Donald Trump's trade negotiations with China have been a failure.
		His actions have decimated soybean farmers.
		He has hurt small businesses.
		And has he revived any of American manufacturing?
unidentified		No.
chuck schumer ▲ ● ▼		China is still floating global markets with subsidized goods, still stealing American technologies to undercut U.S. firms and workers.
		And meanwhile, we have lost tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs.
		This is Trump's MO in foreign policy.
		He creates a giant mess.
		Then he wants everyone to praise him when he tries to clean it up and ignore the damage that he has inflicted.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Yun Sen, respond to the leader there, the Democratic leader, and the arguments that they made.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Are they accurate?
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		I think the criticism of this round of negotiation or meeting is primarily focused on the fact that we have shown China our vulnerability.
unidentified		We are vulnerable in terms of our rare earth dependence on the Chinese production, and now the Chinese know it.
unidentified		And they have been using this weapon quite adeptly against us.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So you could say that, well, without the triggering or without the escalation of the tariff war, we would not have been here.
		I think that part is true.
		I think on the issue of whether the Chinese unfair trade practices and the loss of American jobs that was created by President Trump, I think the answer is less straightforward because this has been the case for decades.
unidentified		And this was also true under the Democratic presidents too.
		So this is not entirely President Trump's policy or his creation.
		But you could say that he didn't fix it.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Well, at the same time, Democrat president didn't fix it either.
unidentified		So this is a long-term challenge that the U.S. needs to counter.
		and we have to come up with smart and strategic response to the challenge that China poses.
		However, another interesting train of thought here is we assume, we have the assumption that China is a challenge and China is a competitor that must be out-competed.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		It doesn't seem clear that President Trump adopts this position.
unidentified		He said we're going to make America great again, but he has also not mentioned whether this making America great again will have to come at China's expense.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So I think that is a critical question we're trying to deliberate here.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So for Trump, making America great again in relation to what?
unidentified		Compared to America itself or compared to other competitors such as China and Russia.
		So it's possible that President Trump has an entirely different paradigm.
		He has entirely different criteria coming to evaluate U.S. relationship with China and how to manage that relationship and also what endgame United States should be seeking.
		So with very different goals, I would say the criteria and evaluation and the assessment will be very different too.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, we'll go to Fernando in Galveston, Texas, a Republican.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		I just wanted to ask her, what is the actual population in China compared to us here in the U.S.?
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		The Chinese population is somewhere around 1.4 billion people, and our population is somewhere around 370 million, if I remember correctly.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So their population is about three to four times bigger ours.
unidentified		And Fernando, your point?
unidentified		Where do you put all them people at?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Well, Yunzan, is there a dynamic there with the growth of China and its impact on its economy and what it means for trading with other countries like the United States?
unidentified		That's a good question.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Well, when you look at such a large population, the first thing that comes to the mind of the Chinese government is jobs.
unidentified		Well, you need to give these people jobs.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		You need to keep them employed, which is why the thing for China, the export-oriented economy or the export-oriented industry and employment has been a key priority for the Chinese economy.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		You look at China's economic story, basically, since 1979, when they first started the reform and opening up, it has been a story of inviting in foreign companies to employ Chinese laborers, which is relatively cheaper compared to our labor.
unidentified		Think about the shoes and the price of making shoes in China being so much cheaper compared to the United States.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		It's primarily because they have a very large, very, very large labor resource.
		And remember, in China, women also work.
		In the U.S., the employment rate of women, especially women after they get married, is much, much lower than in China.
		In China, more than 75% of their women are actually, meaning the age-appropriate women, are in the labor force.
		So with such a large labor force, the Chinese government has very successfully uses this labor force to lay the foundation for China to be the world factory, which is why they have built up this labor-intensive world factory manufacturing businesses, right?
		So coming to the relationship between the Chinese population and the Chinese economy, I would say that is where the Chinese success story has come from.
		The story has been evolving, however.
unidentified		With the one-child policy, the Chinese population, the size of the population is actually growing at a much slower space.
		And also with the cost of education, cost of raising child in China growing.
		So more and more families are opting for less avoided per family.
		So what this means is that we're looking at the Chinese society as an aging society.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		A lot of these previously very active labor force, now they have entered the age of retirement, which means that while the Chinese government has to come up with a way to carry the economy forward with a much smaller labor force, but with also a growing aging society.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So that's why the Chinese have been aiming for what they call the Made in China 2025 or the upgrade of Chinese economy to focus on the high-tech industry so that China can shift away from the labor-intensive economy to a tech intensive economy.
unidentified		And that's basically China's economic development strategy.
		Gary's in Texas, the Democratic caller.
		Morning, Gary.
		Hey, good morning.
		And, you know, I really kind of want to shed some light on this.
		And I'm going to give it a different spin, but I'm also going to tie into a little immigration as well.
		I hope I get a chance to get this out.
		So I'm disagreeing with what the lady is saying here.
		So let's take, I've ordered from Timu, I've ordered from Alibaba, I've ordered from these Chinese oriented companies.
		Generally, the products are horrible.
		They're the wrong sizes.
		The quality is atrocious.
		The United States needs to be more self-sufficient on its own manufacturing.
		I agree with Donald Trump.
		I'm a black American.
		I'm a Democrat.
		I agree with Donald Trump.
		I don't agree with everything he says, but I hope Congress is listening to me right now because I have a business, right?
		And I use a lot of, I stopped using overseas because it was cheaper in the beginning.
		It worked out.
		But the quality is horrible.
		All right, Gary.
		And Gary, let's take your point on that.
		Yin Sun.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		No, I think that's a fair point.
unidentified		I also buy things from Tamu.
unidentified		I find some of the products to be, well, actually quite horrible, like what you have pointed out.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		However, I would point out that if you buy the same things on Amazon, most of them are also made by Chinese producers.
		So it's not just the Chinese app that has this problem.
		So I think it's also curious to find out whether the products that you purchase from Amazon is also of very poor quality.
unidentified		I find the Amazon products to be, what I get from Amazon to be of higher quality, but the price is also higher.
unidentified		So I've talked to many Chinese manufacturers and factory owners about this particular issue.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		This is not just unique to the United States because the products that China export to Southeast Asia, to Africa, they're also, I think the quality is also pretty atrocious.
unidentified		And the Chinese reaction is this, well, it's because they're cheap.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So with good price comes with better quality.
		But when you want a cheap product, there is no way that we can produce the same quality product with 50% of the cost.
		So it's not that they don't have the ability to make a better product.
		I think it's a desire to keep the price low that has also suppressed or made them deliberately depreciate the quality of the product.
		And I absolutely agree with that.
		So eventually it's about what the consumer, what the consumers demand, right?
		If the consumers demand higher quality product, we can also buy the same type of products from, for example, Japanese companies and from Korean companies.
		But the question is, if you look at global economy, I would say the U.S. consumers are at a very advantaged place because most of the world cannot afford our living our lifestyle and afford our method or our style of spending.
unidentified		So I would say the Chinese success story is not just about the U.S. consumer goods, it's about the global consumer goods and especially in global south, and they're extremely popular.
unidentified		And for the United States, I would say the fact that we still run last year is $350 billion of trade deficit vis-à-vis China means that we're still buying a lot from the Chinese.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		New York Times this morning headline for you to respond to Yoon Sun, the 19th century opium war shapes Xi's trade clash with President Trump.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, I read the story.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		I think it comes from two different angles.
unidentified		One is fentanyl.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		We call it fentanyl, the Chinese fentanyl, basically a Chinese opium war vis-a-vis the United States.
		I think it triggers some very emotional response from the Chinese because the opium war was a period where China was weak and China was victimized.
		So I think that analogy has incurred some serious feedback or pushback from the Chinese side.
		But on the other hand, if we look at the inflow of fentanyl from, for example, the producers in Mexico using Chinese fentanyl precursors to make the opioid to export to the American market, there is quite some similarity between these two cases.
		However, I think the essential question that the Chinese have raised now to defend their position is that has American doctors been much more liberal about prescribing opioids?
		And I would say there probably is a significant cultural difference here because in China, it's extremely difficult to get to control the substance, even through doctors' prescriptions, because doctors are watched so closely.
unidentified		And by default, they're not supposed to give people painkillers, especially controlled substance painkillers, unless there is absolute need like cancer.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		So I think the two societies operate with very different ground rules and very different assumptions, which has created this problem that I think in the United States, doctors are indeed much more prone to giving people controlled substance painkillers compared to doctors in other countries.
unidentified		Not to say that this practice is wrong, but it does contribute to the cause.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Yoon Sun is the program director of China Studies and Senior Fellow at the Stimpson Center.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Thank you very much for your insight and conversation this morning.
unidentified		We appreciate it.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, Greta.
unidentified		Thank you for having me.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We're going to take a break.
		After the break, we'll talk with members of Congress about the government's shutdown and Trump administration policies during our open forum.
		And you can start dialing in now.
unidentified		Here are the lines on your screen.
		We'll be right back.
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		This Sunday, with our guest Pulitzer Prize winner, Stacey Schiff, author of biographies, including Ben Franklin, Samuel Adams, and Cleopatra.
		She joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein.
david rubenstein ▲ ● ▼		So writing a second book on Franklin, you must admire him.
david rubenstein ▲ ● ▼		I assume you don't want to write two books on somebody you don't admire, but you do admire him.
stacy schiff ▲ ● ▼		I feel as if he is in always admirable in so many ways.
		Just the essential DNA of America.
		His voice is the voice of America, literally.
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donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I saw you interviewed the other night.
unidentified		I watched it about 2 o'clock in the morning.
unidentified		There was a little thing called C-SPAN, which I don't know how many people were watching.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Don't worry, you were in prime time too, but they happen to have a little re-rub.
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		Do you really think that we don't remember what just happened last week?
patty murray ▲ ● ▼		Thank goodness for C-SPAN, and we all should review the tape.
unidentified		Everyone wonders when they're watching C-SPAN what the conversations are on the floor.
al green ▲ ● ▼		I'm about to read to you something that was published by C-SPAN.
sean duffy ▲ ● ▼		There's a lot of things that Congress fights about, that they disagree on.
unidentified		We can all watch that on C-SPAN.
		Millions of people across the country tuned into C-SPAN.
		That was a make-for-C-SPAN moment.
		If you watch on C-SPAN, you're going to see me physically across the aisle every day, just trying to build relationships and try to understand their perspective and find common ground.
		And welcome aboard to everybody watching at home.
		We know C-SPAN covers this a lot as well.
		We appreciate that.
		And one can only hope that he's able to watch C-SPAN on a black and white television set in his prison cell.
		This is being carried live by C-SPAN.
		It's being watched not only in this country, but it's being watched around the world right now.
		Mike said before I happened to listen to him, he was on C-SPAN 1.
		That's a big upgrade, right?
		Washington Journal continues.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We are back this morning on the Washington Journal.
		It's day 30 of the government shutdown.
		We're an open forum for the remainder of today's program.
		We're talking to members of Congress from both sides of the aisle this morning while we continue to take your phone calls.
		Joining us is Congressman Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee.
		Congressman, let's begin with day 30.
		What are your expectations of where this is headed as we approach the longest shutdown in U.S. history, which was 35 days?
unidentified		I have very low expectations, ma'am.
		The House, as I did, voted to keep the government open.
		We voted for SNAP funding.
		We voted for WIC, women with infant children, SNAP, of course, is food stamps.
		And now, of course, it's in the Senate and the Senate is doing, and the Senate Democrats are doing what the Senate Democrats do.
		You know, Senator Schumer said, you know, every day gets better for us.
		I'm not really sure who it's getting better for.
		It's sure as heck it and getting better for women with infant children or over 40 million people.
		I don't think people understand the depth of 40 million people.
		The state of Tennessee just has 8 million people in it.
		So we're talking about five times the volume, the numbers, over five times the volume of the state of Tennessee of people that could potentially go hungry.
		I'm more worried about the children.
		And that is, you know, everybody wants to rail on the fraud and abuse in there.
		And there is plenty, I'm sure.
		But the children are the one that are going to suffer.
		And it's clearly in the hands of the Democrats.
		We've got 50 votes in the, you have to, we have 53 votes in the Senate.
		And you need 60 for a bill of this complexity because of Senate rules.
		And so it's clearly in the lap of Chuck Schumer.
		Well, the Democrats would respond, Congressman, to say, yeah, you need our votes.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		So you should be negotiating with us.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And we are saying in order to vote for a continuing resolution to keep the government funding, you need to negotiate with us on health care.
unidentified		Well, this bill is not the apparatus to do that.
		In the past, the Democrats have voted 13 times, 13 times to vote for a claimed CR.
		And the only difference now is Donald Trump's in the White House, ma'am.
		This has nothing to do with healthcare.
		It has completely to do with control.
		Chuck Schumer hears footsteps in the background, and those footsteps are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
		He knows he's got to appeal to that far-left base, which is taking over New York, which we will, which they will probably elect a communist anti-Semitic man for, in my opinion, as the mayor of New York.
		And he sees that as his base, and he doesn't have that base.
		Chuck Schumer is a liberal, but he's not a communist or a Marxist at that.
		And so he sees that base and he sees his power slipping through his fingers and he knows that and he's got to appease that group and he's doing a very poor job of it.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		On food stamps, this Saturday, funding will run out for that program.
		42 million Americans impacted.
		According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, over 55,000 people in your district rely on snap food benefits.
		Should the president fund these benefits, find a way to do it out of the White House rather than a piece of legislation to pass this?
unidentified		Well, there is legislation.
		I always think legislatively is the best process.
		As you know, the Democrats fought the president when he found outside funding to fund our military, which is incredibly important, and they fought him on that.
		So I don't know what's different, ma'am.
		It's the same thing.
		All the Democrats have to do is come to the table and vote to open the government, just as I did, just as they've done 13 times in the past.
		And now if you include the House and the Senate votes, they voted 13 times now to shut the government down.
		What's different now?
		Donald Trump's in the White House and Chuck Schumer sees his power slipping through his fingers.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, yesterday did say that if the Republican leader in the Senate, John Thune, put on the floor a bill by Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, that would fund SNAP benefits.
		He said himself and other Democrats would vote for it.
		So should that vote take place and should the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, bring you all back to vote on that piece of legislation?
unidentified		Well, that's totally up to the speaker, ma'am, but the bill's already there.
		All they have to do is vote to open the government.
		Even negotiating health care, President Trump said, if you open the government, I'll negotiate with you.
		That's already on the table.
		The only thing different, again, Donald Trump's in the White House and Chuck Schumer is losing control.
		And the Democrats don't have the, you know, in the past, ma'am, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the cluckheads over at the View, they would all just regurgitate whatever Schumer said.
		Now you have folks on the internet, these podcasters, the Benny Show, you just name it, on down the line.
		They know what's going on.
		They've read page 57 of Chuck Schumer's bill that provides health care for illegals.
		The game is up and America knows it.
		And the major media knows it as well.
		And the Democrats are having diminishing returns.
		Everywhere I go in the state of Tennessee, people keep saying the same thing: stay the course, stay the course.
		All the Democrats have to do is vote yes.
		I voted yes to open the government.
		I voted to fund it.
		Every Democrat in the House except for one voted to take SNAP benefits and to take WIC benefits away.
		Every single one of them.
tim burchett ▲ ● ▼		And they can't run from that.
unidentified		The bill is already passed to negotiate, ma'am.
		Those days have gone.
		They need to come back to the table and vote yes in the Senate.
		They need to get some guts.
tim burchett ▲ ● ▼		They need to get out from behind Chuck Schumer's skirt and vote to open the government.
unidentified		That's the only thing that's going to happen.
unidentified		Congressman, before we let you go, want to talk about the Epstein files.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		You signed a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the files.
unidentified		Ma'am, I'm having trouble hearing you.
unidentified		Can you speak up, please?
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		Yes.
unidentified		Last question to you, Congressman, is about the Epstein files.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What is your expectation when the House does come back on a vote to release the files?
unidentified		I predict we'll vote to open it.
		That's what we'll do.
		We'll pass that bill and we'll open the files.
		I think the one thing we have to be careful about is when I asked in a closed door meeting of one of the ladies, she said she wanted to read the files, see what was in the files, so she knew what happened to her.
		She had blacked out during the whole thing.
		And so I said, so you want the files open?
		And she said, no, I do not.
		I don't want them open to the public.
		I don't want to see what people see what they did to me.
		So there's several ladies there, and there's innocent people that probably traveled on that dirtbag Epstein's plane.
		Look, I don't care.
		I'd send them all to hell if it's my choice.
		I passed some of the toughest laws in Tennessee dealing with that.
		I passed the death penalty.
		It was ruled unconstitutional at the time, and now it's been ruled constitutional.
		So I have no love for those people, but we have to protect the innocent.
		And I think that I think that we will if we follow the proper procedure.
		But I'll vote to open the files, ma'am.
		All right.
		Congressman Tim Burchett, thank you very much for your time.
		Thank you, ma'am.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We're an open forum here this morning on the Washington Journal.
		You just heard from the congressman, a Republican of Tennessee, and his take on the government shutdown as it continues here in Washington, headed toward the longest government shutdown in U.S. history if it surpasses 35 days.
		We're at day 30 today.
		Steve in Massachusetts, Republican.
		Go ahead, Steve.
		We're an open forum.
unidentified		Hey, good morning.
		Hey, The other day, a caller called in and he was discussing Manchin in 22 how President Biden had to get Joe Manchin to vote for extending the COVID subsidies to ACA.
		So they've already been extended and they were extended by a Democrat that they had to woo a Democrat to vote for him.
		And I'm wondering how the Democrats are possibly thinking that this is a Republican problem.
		I don't understand it.
		And if you look back, and maybe knew all about, I didn't even know about this whole mansion vote until I looked it up.
		And so this has been going on.
		And I don't know how long these subsidies, why did we close the government down for 10% of the people, right?
		10% of the people of ACA.
		So the government's been closed down for 10%.
		And now we're going to close it down for 42 million people doing food stamps, which I saw the other day that over 50% are taken by illegal immigrants.
		So I don't understand how this is possibly a Republican problem.
		I would love for somebody to.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Well, Steve, where did you see that figure of food stamps taken by illegal immigrants?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Where did you see that?
unidentified		I saw it on Will Kane's show the other day.
unidentified		He had a graph showing that more percentage of illegals are on food programs in the United States than Americans.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Steve, you also may be interested in this reporting by the New York Times dealing with these enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits.
		Steve, talking about during the Biden administration, during the COVID pandemic, there was legislation passed by Democrats signed in a law by President Biden to have enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act.
		Those are lapsing.
		Here is the New York Times: a rise of 30% in 30 states and 17% in others.
		In a news release, federal officials from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees ACA and enrollment, said that most people seeking coverage will still have access to plans that cost $50 or less a month.
		So that is from the New York Times this morning, if you're interested in that.
		Jessica, Wichita, Kansas, Democratic caller.
		Hi, Jessica.
unidentified		I'd like to answer Steve's question.
		No, this is not a Democratic shutdown.
		This is the Republican shutdown.
		The Republicans are in control.
		They are the ones that won't release the files.
		And to answer Steve's question regarding food stamps, I am on food stamps.
		I have been born here.
		I am not a legal immigrant.
		My family came from Wales, but yet I have been born here.
		If you guys want to say that food stamps are going to illegals, maybe some of them are, but not all of them.
		And illegals should get a chance for food too.
		The reason why they are illegals in the first place are because they want a better life and it's nearly impossible to get in here legally because of Trump.
		And also, regarding Trump, it's also ridiculous that he decides to destroy our White House for a stupid ballroom, illegally, of course, and have money for that, yet won't buy food stamps, even though there's a program in place to fund food stamps.
		And yet, Trump says that it's illegal to do that.
		And another thing regarding that Republican senator that came on, you say that it's the Republic, sorry, the Democrats that won't release the files.
		Trump has been best friends with Epstein.
		Biden didn't even know Epstein.
		How can you say that's the Democrats' fault about Montreal files when Democrats have voted time and again for recent and all those times?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Jessica, let me ask you about your personal situation.
		Money for food stamps runs out on Saturday.
		What will you do?
unidentified		I honestly don't know.
		I'm scared.
		I'm on, I have autism, and I'm worried that my health care will run out away from front things.
		I can barely get by as does my father, who was also disabled because of an accident at work.
		He and many others like me are scared because of Trump's ruining this country.
		And it's ridiculous how he's able to scroll us over and yet fund ICE for millions of dollars and missiles, guiding missiles.
		It's utterly ridiculous.
		And they're saying he bailed out Argentina.
		I agree that, yes, they had trouble.
		And I agree we should help our allies in times of need.
		But yet, at the same time, we need more money right now more than ever.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Jessica, there in Kansas, I will leave it at that point and share with you and others a map here from Newsweek.
		Here are SNAP recipients by states.
		The darker red indicates a larger amount of participants who rely on SNAP in states like California, Texas, Florida, as well as New York State and others.
		Let's go to Mark, who's in Colorado Springs, an independent.
		Mark, we're an open forum.
		What's on your mind?
unidentified		Hi.
		I used to be a Republican.
		I'm an Independent now.
		And there are numerous reasons for that.
		I did not vote for Obama, but Obamacare was passed, the Affordable Care Act, which was neither affordable nor provided the appropriate care, in my opinion.
		However, I am now an independent, and I worry more about some of the things happening in the power structure of the United States and in violation of the Constitution of the separation of powers.
		Now, the current shutdown, I am, for several reasons, in favor of the Democrats holding the line.
		We cannot afford for so many that are on food stamps, including women and children.
		We cannot afford for those on Medicaid that really need it and cannot work.
		And by the way, I am a pastor by calling, but I have a job as a caretaker that's a full-time job for making my money.
		And the person that I care for has an S and cannot work and could lose or have greatly reduced both his Medicaid and his food stamps.
		And some of these situations are untenable.
		When the Republicans become more compassionate, I might be a Republican again.
		But right now, for the sake of our democracy and for the sake of our country and for compassionate care to people, I would rather not see the Democrats give in.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		That's Mark in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Independent, talking about both health care and the SNAP benefits, which are set to expire on Saturday.
		Funding is expected to lapse.
		Politico with headlines: SNAP benefits set for first ever lapse, with Senate set to reject funding patches.
		This is what happened yesterday on the Senate floor.
		A bill to fund SNAP was rejected.
		Here's Senate Majority Leader John Thune, followed by the Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer.
unidentified		Democrats have apparently woken up to the fact that in three days, in three days, they're going to be responsible for SNAP recipients starting to go without food stamps.
		So, what are Democrats doing?
		Are they making plans to end their shutdown and reopen the government?
		Nope.
		They're going to propose a bill to fund food stamps during their shutdown.
		That's right.
john thune ▲ ● ▼		Democrats don't want the bad press of hungry Americans.
john thune ▲ ● ▼		But they're also apparently unwilling to even contemplate ending their month-long shutdown.
unidentified		So they're trying to insulate themselves with this bill.
		Mr. President, do you know what's not in this bill?
		Paychecks for our troops.
		Paychecks for law enforcement officers and federal firefighters.
		Paychecks for air traffic controllers.
		Paychecks for other government workers.
chuck schumer ▲ ● ▼		Democrats will not stand by while Trump manufactures a hunger crisis.
		We're ready to work in whatever way to solve this issue.
		There's a bill right now from Senator Hawley, a Republican, a conservative Republican, that could ensure SNAP is funded.
		It has Republican and Democratic support.
		It's a bill I'd happily support and vote for.
		And as soon as Thune would let Hawley put it on the House floor, it will pass.
		Plain and simple.
		But that's not the only option, of course.
		This week, Senate Democrats, led by my friend Senator Benre Lujan of New Mexico, will introduce legislation to fully fund SNAP and WIC and WIC, going better than Hawley's bill to protect hungry kids, pregnant women, veterans, working parents.
		The bill is simple, it's moral, it's urgent.
		And ask John Thune why he won't put it on the floor.
		He decries the fact that SNAP benefits are cut off.
		He knows the money is available.
		He knows there's broad Republican support for it, and he doesn't put it on the floor.
		He's afraid of Trump.
		That's it.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		The two leaders of the Senate there, Democratic and Republican leaders on this debate over food stamps.
		We're an open forum this morning on the Washington Journal, day 30 of the government shutdown.
		Kennon, Florida, Republican, you're next.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		Morning.
		Shutdown, basically, the Democrats saying no to Trump gutting the health care system of the country, not just the Obamacare, but the entire health system.
		And it's gotten bigger than that.
		I think it's where the Democrats are now saying no to the entire corrupt and lawless Trump and MAGA agenda.
		And don't get me started on ICE or the tariffs or some of the Trump family deals around the world.
		But the big red line for me was blowing these boats out of the water and just killing people arbitrarily.
		Obviously, the Congress is not going to say no to Trump because of the MAGA people in the Republican Party in Congress.
		And the Supreme Court is not going to say no to Trump because of the MAGA members on the Supreme Court.
		What really disappoints me is that the military has not said no to Trump as far as blowing boats out of the water and killing people.
		Nobody elected Trump to be the judge, the jury, and the executioner with no rule of law, no due process.
		That is lunacy.
		Thank God the Democrats are standing up and saying no.
		Somebody has got to say no somewhere.
		The longer the shutdown goes on, it's going to amplify how corrupt and how lawless this entire Trump administration is.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, Ken, I'm going to jump in at that point, Share Headline, with you this morning from CNN.
		Confirmation hearing is delayed for Trump's Surgeon General nominee as she goes into labor with her first child.
		Dr. Casey Means was set to testify at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, and we were going to cover that confirmation hearing here on C-SPAN.
		She was going to appear virtually because she is this far along, pregnant with her first child, and CNN reporting this morning that this confirmation hearing now delayed because she went into labor.
		Michelle in Texas, Democratic caller.
		Hi, Michelle.
		Michelle in Texas, Democratic caller, you are next here for Open Forum.
		All right, I'm going to move on.
		There you are, Michelle.
unidentified		Hello?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Yep, we're listening to you.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Hello?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Michelle, it's your turn.
unidentified		Oh, okay.
		Okay.
		So I just wanted to say, you know, I grew up in Dallas, and I don't agree with everything the president is doing, but I am agreeing that it should be a clear, clean CR.
		I'm an HR director at a hospital, and I can tell you that there are so many jobs open where people are either they don't come to work or they apply, they don't show up.
		So all of this where people are saying that they can't find work and all of this, you don't have to be on SNAP if you find a job.
		So I'm agreeing with the Republicans on the shutdown.
		I just am.
		I'm a Democrat, and I believe that they're doing the right thing.
		We do have to clean up the employment system.
		There's just too many illegals.
		They come through my office all the time, all the time.
		They act legal.
		They look legal.
		A lot of them have fake documentation.
		This needs to be cleaned up.
		So the SNAP thing, whether it ends on Saturday or not, I think needs to be done.
		Look, my brother married a Colobian.
		I'm so glad that the president passed that Colombian thing where he was banning Columbia because my brother married a Colombian and she took him for everything he had after 20 years of marriage.
		All his money, his bank accounts, and he can't get USCIS or the Republicans, the Democrats.
		She hasn't paid her taxes in three years.
		This person has not been picked up yet.
		But so as far as this clean CR, it needs to be passed.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Understood.
		Michelle there in Texas.
		Roy, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Republican.
		Roy, you're next.
unidentified		Wow, sounds like that Democrat's waking up.
		She'll be voting for Trump in 2028.
		Hey, I wonder if you'd bring up, and I'm sure you wouldn't until somebody like me called in, the fact that all these Democrats with what, Arctic Frost, which is they used January 6th, which the Democrat Party set up, to open up all this spying on what, 400, over 400 Republicans, very, very illegally,
		all the way up to your biggest fan or the guy you love most, Barack Hussein Obama.
		I mean, these people and the pipe bombs, too.
		You remember the pipe bombs, Greta?
		You remember the story about the pipe bombs at Jan 6 that nobody wants to talk about for some reason?
		You remember that?
		That's coming back around now.
		So it's not, and it's not the Democrats' voters' fault that they think that Jan 6 is like some crazy Republicans trying to take over government.
		It was a planned set up by the CIA, FBI, and Democrats.
		And I think that's what half of this bill is that.
		I'll jump in.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		I'll jump in because here at C-SPAN, we did cover.
unidentified		You want to correct me.
		Come on, Goretta, correct me.
		Not going to correct you.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Just going to let you know that we did cover the news conference held by Senator Ted Cruz and other Republicans about this so-called Arctic Frost probe.
		And for you and others who want to listen to it in its entirety, reporters asking them questions as well.
		You can find it on our website at c-span.org.
unidentified		But let me just play a little bit of it.
		Here's Senator Ted Cruz.
		Arctic Frost is Joe Biden's Watergate.
		Merrick Garland was a fundamentally corrupt attorney general.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		Jack Smith was a fundamentally corrupt prosecutor.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		This was a political enemies list from the beginning.
unidentified		197 subpoenas for 430 Republican entities and individuals.
ted cruz ▲ ● ▼		That is an absolute and egregious abuse of power.
		The Biden Justice Department signed off on issuing subpoenas for the phone records of at least nine U.S. Senators.
		20% of the Republicans in the United States Senate were the target of this fishing expedition.
		They did so in complete contravention of the Constitution, of separation of powers, of the speech and debate clause, of free speech, of basic rights of privacy.
		This is an executive who believes it is justified spying on their opponents in the legislature because they convince themselves the ends justify the means.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, at a news conference held yesterday on the so-called Arctic Freeze investigation.
		You can find that news conference on our website at c-span.org.
		We're in an open forum this morning talking to lawmakers throughout today's Washington Journal.
		Joining us from Capitol Hill is Janelle Bynum, who is Democrat from Oregon, represents the 5th District there.
unidentified		Congresswoman, let's begin with SNAP benefits.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Funding runs out on Saturday.
unidentified		Should Democrats pass a standalone bill to fund SNAP benefits?
		Good morning.
		Well, let's be clear.
		Republicans run the House.
		They run the Senate.
		They have the White House.
		They have the control to make sure that Americans get what they need.
		And I'm here standing up to make sure that we put forth front and center the American needs so no child goes hungry.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Is that a yes then, that there should be a vote on the standalone legislation?
unidentified		I'm here.
		My Republican colleagues are on vacation.
		We want to make sure that we stand up for American people.
		Speaker Johnson has the right and the control of the House so that we can have a vote.
		That's not in my control.
		If he did, would you vote yes?
		Put a bill on the table and we can look at it.
		We talked earlier to Congressman Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		He was on the program and he made the argument that Democrats in previous situations avoided government shutdowns by voting 13 times for so-called clean continuing resolutions that would fund the government at the previous year's funding levels.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Why not agree now?
unidentified		Well, look, I just got here.
		I don't play politics.
		I want a clean bill that focuses on the American people, that makes sure kids have a full belly and, you know, all of the clean this, clean that.
		Americans don't understand that.
		They know if they have their benefits or not.
		So put a bill on the table, make sure it's very pure and clean, as they like to say, and it doesn't have a whole lot of fluff in it.
		I'm not here for games.
		I just want to make sure kids get fed.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		They did have a clean CR vote on September 19th in the House.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Did you vote for it?
unidentified		I disagree with your characterization and want to make sure that we're very clear about what Republicans have been doing.
		Any bill that they've put forth, they've always had some extra stuff to it.
		There's always been a poison pill to it.
		So I disagree with your characterization.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What were the poison pills of the clean CR or the continuing resolution, you say it's not clean, that was voted on in the House in mid-September?
unidentified		Here's what's important.
		I think what you're trying to do is shift the responsibility to Democrats.
		Speaker Johnson controls the House.
		He should come back, pull Republicans off of vacation, and make sure that we have discussions on what the country needs.
		We know children need to be fed.
		Anything else is passing the buck and is playing politics.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What have you heard from your constituents about Obamacare premiums and without these enhanced tax credits, what are they learning about the cost of health care?
unidentified		We've had 21 town halls.
		People are very concerned about their access to health care.
		What's really important to know is that even if your premiums aren't going up, even if you are not one of the people affected by changes to Medicare reimbursements or things like that, when you lose medical providers in an area because they can't afford to stay in business, everybody loses.
		So we lose access to pediatricians.
		We lose access to specialty providers.
		We lose access to our hospitals.
		The infrastructure of the American health care system is going to crumble if we don't have health care that everyone can access.
		Another question for you, Congresswoman, switching gears, is about the deployment of National Guard to the Portland area.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What are you seeing in your district?
unidentified		Well, my district houses Camp Withacombe, which is where one part of the National Guard is stationed.
		And I went and talked with them.
		I went and, you know, just checked out to see what was happening over there.
		What is very clear to me is that our American soldiers don't want to be there doing political jobs.
		And the president is attempting to use the National Guard as his toy soldiers.
		We didn't ask for this.
		We don't need this.
		I went to the ICE facility to see if it was a war zone, as President Trump claimed.
		And I saw with my own two eyes it was not that.
		It was peaceful protests.
		And I think the American people have been seeing that consistently.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Janelle Bynum represents the 5th District of Oregon, a Democrat there.
unidentified		Thank you very much for your time this morning.
unidentified		My pleasure.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And as we said, we are in open forum here this morning on the Washington Journal, day 30 of the government shutdown.
		We'll continue to talk to members of Congress from both sides of the aisle throughout today's program.
		Back to calls.
		Mike in Woodbridge, Virginia, an independent.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		Just listening to some of the callers, you know, it's kind of like some of them are really all over the place with conspiracy theories and whatnot.
		But my point, reason for calling is that the National Guard that's all over these different cities attempting to capture or whatever they're attempting to do, they need to, those same National Guard could really do a whole lot in Jamaica right now with what's going on in Jamaica.
		They need everything.
		They need sustenance, food, help.
		They need everything.
		That's where they should be.
		Another thing that I'm looking at, and it's just kind of boggles in my mind, is that how can congressmen who receive $14,533 a month from us, how can they sleep at night with them receiving their check since they make $175,000 per year?
		And tomorrow, within the next 48 hours, 40 million people will not have their food stamps and their sustenance.
		16 million of those are children.
		How can these people sleep?
		I don't care who they're afraid of, Frankenstein, Drama, Trump, it doesn't matter.
		They need to fix this because this would be the first time ever in my history, and I'm 66 years old, that I have seen the government apparatus decide that they're not going to get in a room and figure this out so that the people who are struggling can have a meal.
		Thank you very much.
		Mike's thoughts there.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		In Virginia, an independent.
		Rick is a Democrat in Hardin, Kentucky.
		We'll hear from you next.
		Rick?
unidentified		Yeah, I'm a mega blue dog Democrat, and I do not know what you're referring to as a Democratic.
		But anyway, I was wanting to talk to Representative Burchis, and I agree with the caller from North Carolina and Colorado.
		You said we were going to be able to ask questions to representatives, and they have not allowed one person to ask the question.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Not this morning.
		Yeah, not this morning, Rick.
		We're going to talk to the members of Congress for five minutes or so and then continue taking open forum.
		So not this morning.
unidentified		The way you said the, it was starting up, you said the representative is going to be coming on and we'd be able to call and ask them questions.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		I don't think I said that, but if I did, apologies for the misunderstanding.
unidentified		Well, you know, if the American people want to ask questions, we don't want to hear from what questions you want answered.
		But anyway, Obamacare is unconstitutional.
		I don't care what anybody says.
		Like I said, I agree with the caller from North Carolina and Colorado.
		So the government has turned into a giant Ponzi scheme.
		So that's really all I got to say.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, Tinies in Texas, a Republican.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Good morning to you.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		How are you this morning?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Doing well.
unidentified		Yes.
		I agree with what the Republicans are doing.
		You know, they want to separate so to get the people to food stand, but they don't want to pay our troops and pay the National Guards and ICE.
		They want to take one piece out of the bill and vote on it because they know they're doing wrong.
		And everybody, oh, they have the House.
		They have the Senate.
		They have this.
		You know, it takes 60 votes in the Senate.
		Can't you add?
		I mean, it makes no sense when you only need five Democrats to pass it.
		All right.
		Daniel Brown.
		Tiny there in Texas, a Republican caller.
		Tom's in Coca, Florida, Democratic caller.
		Hi, Tom.
		Good morning.
		Hey, good morning.
		How are you doing?
		Doing well, Tom.
		What's your thoughts this morning as we're in open forum?
		Well, I'm thinking this.
		I'm thinking, forget the politicians.
		I want to talk to the American people about the shutdown.
		Here's how we can solve it: stop buying everything except necessary things and buy a limited amount of that.
		So when business starts whining that they're not making the profits, then the politicians will follow suit.
		All right, Tom.
		All right, Tom there in Florida with his thoughts.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Happening yesterday in Washington, in case you missed it, the Federal Reserve Board met and the chair, Jerome Powell, held his news conference that he typically does after the board meeting.
unidentified		And he spoke to reporters about cutting rates by a quarter percentage point.
jerome powell ▲ ● ▼		Here's what he had to say: In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside.
		A challenging situation.
		There is no risk-free path for policy as we navigate this tension between our employment and inflation goals.
		Our framework calls for us to take a balanced approach in promoting both sides of our dual mandate.
		With downside risks to employment having increased in recent months, the balance of risks has shifted.
		Accordingly, we judged it appropriate at this meeting to take another step toward a more neutral policy stance.
		With today's decision, we remain well positioned to respond in a timely way to potential economic developments.
		We will continue to determine the appropriate stance of monetary policy based on the incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.
unidentified		We continue to face two-sided risks.
jerome powell ▲ ● ▼		In the committee's discussions at this meeting, there were strongly differing views about how to proceed in December.
		A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion.
		Far from it.
		Policy is not on a preset course.
unidentified		The Federal Reserve Chair yesterday, after cutting interest rates, a quarter percentage point, if you want to listen to his entire news conference, go to our website, c-span.org.
unidentified		Jackie in Torrington, Connecticut, Independent.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		I really wanted to get on while the congressman from Tennessee was on.
		I've heard him on your show before.
		And a gentleman called in.
		He wasn't very articulate, but he did ask the congressman a question.
		And he asked him, was there anything or any constitutional violations that the president was making?
		And the congressman said no.
		I've been listening to C-SPAN since, oh, about 1981.
		And I have seen and heard the tone and the decorum of the show reduced every year, or every decade, should I say, to the point where we are now.
		And what I would like to suggest to C-SPAN is the service that you're providing right now to the public is worthwhile and noteworthy.
		However, having people call in to place their opinions, especially at a time where misinformation and disinformation is taking over our media consumption, that C-SPAN might want to consider choosing another alternative.
		And having the relevance that you do have in the nation, I think taking on more of an educational role in this particular segment of your programming for C-SPAN would go miles in helping the public to understand civics,
		to understand how our Congress works, to understand that a lot of the things that are taking place right now are so outside the bounds of normalcy that we have to do institutional reforms.
		When you have a situation in place where you have media outlets that are beholden to special interests instead of their constitutionally mandated role to do checks and balances with our government,
		then you will have a public that is not only misinformed, but they also lack the skills of political decorum.
		And the worst part about it is that we see that coming down from our congressmen and our leaders.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
unidentified		Caller, I have to jump in at that point.
unidentified		We're going to go back up to Capitol Hill.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Congressman Paul Tonko, Democrat of New York, is joining us, member of the budget committee, joining us on day 30 of the government shutdown.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Congressman, is there an end in sight?
unidentified		Well, good morning, Greta, and it's good to join you.
		I think there will be an end in sight.
		I think when the sticker shock of increased premiums for health care insurance sake hit the constituencies, they're going to speak out and speak boldly.
		Many are suggesting there might be as many as doubling or tripling of what people will have to pay.
		And I think that will be that reality shock that will get things moving.
		We have been saying all along we need to incorporate the Affordable Care Act tax situation, the incentives that were provided to hold down the costs and address them before the beginning of the next calendar year so as to make that change available to the market as the premiums are established by the market.
		And they have dragged their feet.
		They deny that we need to do that.
		And I would suggest that otherwise we need to.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Congressman, listen to our previous guest, Republican of Tennessee, Tim Burchett, your colleague up on Capitol Hill.
unidentified		Sure.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		He joined us, and this is what he had to say.
unidentified		I always think legislatively is the best process.
		As you know, the Democrats fought the president when he found outside funding to fund our military, which is incredibly important.
		And they fought him on that.
		So I don't know what's different, ma'am.
		It's the same thing.
		All the Democrats have to do is come to the table and vote to open the government, just as I did, just as they've done 13 times in the past.
		Now they, if you include the House and the Senate votes, they voted 13 times now to shut the government down.
		What's different now?
		Donald Trump's in the White House and Chuck Schumer sees his power slipping through his fingers.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Congressman Paul Tonko, the Congressman makes the argument, you've voted in the past for clean continuing resolutions.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What's different now?
unidentified		Number one, this isn't clean.
		There were rescions made to the earlier budget.
		There are deep cuts, draconian cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.
		Again, the tax situation as it relates to the Affordable Care Act holders was not addressed, is not being addressed.
		And there are huge deep cuts to nutrition programs.
		So, you know, these are things that we need to battle out at the negotiating table.
		All four corners need to be at that table.
		And I think the president should exercise his role from the executive branch to bring everyone to the table and resolve this because already we're getting concerns about the premium hikes being a reality.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Switching to the food stamps, as you said, money runs out on Saturday.
		We've been discussing that with our viewers all morning.
		42 million Americans impacted.
unidentified		Should if the Speaker of the House were to put a standalone bill on the floor to fund SNAP benefits, would Democrats vote for it?
		Look, the Democrats supported a situation of going forward with the exact same budget for the nutrition programs to be able to feed our children, our families, our veterans and our seniors.
		We didn't propose the cut of $186 billion that they supported.
		So this began way at the early end of the process.
		And we need to have all these issues negotiated at the table.
		Are there bipartisan talks happening in the House?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		There are reports this morning that there is a bipartisan group of senators that are working on appropriations bills and that perhaps there could be a breakthrough with that group.
unidentified		Is the same happening on the House?
		Regrettably, I don't think so.
		I don't hear of any.
		I don't know of any.
		But again, the Speaker has constantly punted to the Senate saying they can get the business done.
		It's the ball's in their court when in fact we know that you just simply don't pass a budget that you know is probably going to be rejected by the Senate or they can't get the votes for that measure in the Senate and just leave town.
		They have been gone for five, six weeks here where we should have been negotiating.
		And it's not simply passing your bill and kicking it over to the Senate, but all parties together, bipartisanly, bicamerally, coming together in agreement on what that budget should look like.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Democrats are saying if you want our votes in the Senate, you need to negotiate on these enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What have you heard from your constituents about what their premiums look like without these enhanced tax credits?
unidentified		Well, I'll tell you, people are very concerned because the enhanced tax credits have made a difference for so many working families.
		Now, this budget is a cruel budget as it relates to those in the moderate income strata, the poor, and working families.
		Who won here were billionaires who got the tax cut at the expense of health care, at the expense of nutrition, at the expense of growing the economy.
		We had an emerging economy from the days of COVID.
		We were leading the world as an industrialized nation with a comeback to our economy.
		That has been wrecked by this president, his decisions in these budget presentations that they made, and in the tariffs that he has placed onto so many produce and products.
		And so that is really having its toll felt.
		And we need to do better.
		We have to go forward and get this economy back on a strong Stretch and also provide for those issues and concepts that really feed the everyday needs of America's families.
		Harmon, we've also heard from a couple of viewers today saying that members of Congress should be fined while there is a government shutdown.
		And another caller said members of Congress should not be receiving pay.
		How do you respond?
		Well, you know, in responding to that, I have ordered the desk at the House to hold my check until this process is done.
		If we're not paying our federal employees, I should follow suit.
		Paul Tonko, Democrat of New York.
		Thank you, sir, for your time from Capitol Hill.
		My pleasure, Greta.
		Back to calls with all of you.
		We'll go to Mark, who's in New York, Democratic Caller.
		Good morning, Mark.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		You're an open forum.
unidentified		Yes, I'm actually an independent, and you labeled me wrong.
		But my point here is real simple: we have a government shutdown.
		One side votes no, one side votes yes.
		The side voting no is shut the government down.
		On health care, how about us Marines that served on camp in June June and were poisoned by the water?
		The Democrats keep stopping and putting lawsuits to stop us from being compensated.
		When did the end we actually value the American citizens and our veterans over the illegal invaders?
		And as far as the illegal invaders go, Trump hasn't gone far enough.
		Under the Constitution, Article 4, Section 4, Clause 2 calls on the federal government to use all means and resources necessary to remove these people.
		Me being a working person that works in construction, the more illegals go, the better job opportunities I have, and the better for my financial ends.
		And it's constitutionally correct, which I serve for, to remove them.
		All right, Mark in New York, who's a Democrat or independent.
		Sorry.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		John is an independent in Wisconsin.
unidentified		Hi, John.
		Good morning, Greta.
		Good morning.
		I've got quite a few bones to pick.
		The first Democrat representative, you asked her about the poison bill and what it was.
		And typical, dodged the question because there was no poison pill in this clean CR that has been passed by the House.
		And the last Democrat you had on, Mr. Tonko, piled in the nutrition with the big beautiful bill, which it was separate from.
		That was a legally passed bill that went through Congress and was signed July 4th of this year.
		Getting back to the other question with SNAP, I personally know people who are on Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP programs, and I'm going to do everything I can to assist them, however small it may be, because I'm not a millionaire by any means, but I can afford to help someone if they need it.
		And that's what our government and this country was founded upon: helping out the people that need to be helped.
		And there are numerous non-governmental organizations out there that get funding from the government that can also chip in and help during this time.
		But I don't think I think the Republicans should stand firm and don't piecemeal out, you know, a funding bill here for SNAP, a funding bill here for this, for that, separating everything.
		The Democrats that are voting no and the Senate need to vote yes.
		It's bipartisan right now.
		52 Republicans in the Senate and three Democrats, so that's bipartisan, are voting to reopen the government.
		The rest of the Democrats are just obstructionists, like Mr. Burchett said.
		They're just anti-Trump, and they just, their heads explode every time.
		I can't imagine what they're feeling like today after he was given a golden crown in Japan yesterday.
		They must be going bonkers out of their minds.
		In South Korea, yeah.
		Yeah, I'm sorry.
		Thanks for correcting me on that.
		No problem.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		John talking about the president's trip to Asia, his first of his second term, and I'll share a headline with you on the front page of the Washington Times.
unidentified		Trump Lee tout $350 billion trade pact.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		This is what the South Korean government U.S. affirms sole request for nuclear submarines.
		And you can see there the picture of the president and the South Korean president presenting Mr. Trump with a gift of a gold crown and an award of the Grand Order during a high honor welcome ceremony.
		If you missed any of the president's trip, you can find it on our website in our video library at c-span.org.
		We'll go to Zhuwao in Manchester, Connecticut, Republican.
unidentified		I think you mispronounced my name, Duval.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Okay, what is it?
unidentified		Zhuow.
		Zhuow.
		Okay, thank you.
		Go ahead.
		Okay, don't worry about my name.
		Okay, before I address the health care mess, a call by a Democrat a few calls back tells me that it tells the whole nation that the Democrats' actions are all motivated by the hatred of Donald Trump.
		Whatever he does or fails to do is fodder for hate calls, you know.
		That caller said that the Republicans were, or Trump was destroying the health care system.
		That's just not true.
		That's another big lie, you know.
		Medicare hasn't been touched.
		Social Security hasn't been touched.
		And the Medicaid, the cuts that have been made are making sure that that money doesn't go to illegal aliens, goes to Americans.
		As to the dire consequences of those cuts, well, we haven't seen them yet.
		It's all hypothetical.
		He also said that the Republican Party is lawless.
		No, please.
		You know, the only lawless I see is from Democrat cities being sanctuary for criminals and for Democrat forces of Antifa and Black Lives Matter attacking federal troops that are enforcing the law.
		The law says that anybody who is in this country illegally is subject to deportation, period.
		It doesn't say anything about how long they've been here, how they have behaved, or anything like that.
		All right.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Caller there from Manchester, Connecticut.
		We're going to continue taking your calls this morning.
		We're in open forum until the end of today's Washington Journal, 10 a.m. Eastern Time.
		So keep dialing in any public policy or political issue that's on your mind.
		Speaking of politics, it's election night next week, Tuesday, November 4th, the 2025 elections, and there are some key races that are happening on Tuesday.
		We'll begin our coverage of election night at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, and it'll include a conversation with all of you, as well as reporters here in Washington, to dig into these races and the results.
		And we'll talk to reporters in these states where there are elections being held as well.
		All the results, unfiltered, right here on C-SPAN, 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
		At the end of a news conference Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader and New York Democrat Chuck Schumer was asked if he would vote for the Democratic candidate in the New York City Merrill race, Zorhan Mamdani.
		Here's what the Democratic leader had to say.
chuck schumer ▲ ● ▼		Look, the bottom line is very simple.
chuck schumer ▲ ● ▼		I have a good relationship with him, and we're continuing to talk.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, not saying that he would endorse Zilron Mamdani.
		There's a headline to share with you on this in the Washington Post this morning.
		Democrats worry Mamdani may become a boogeyman for the GOP.
		Moderate lawmakers distance themselves from the Democratic socialists poised to be New York mayor, calling his policies unrealistic or out of step.
		There's also this front page of the USA Today focusing on the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, featuring these two ladies.
		Democrats look to two candidates in two key states for a way forward.
unidentified		The test is if they both win by at least a reasonable margin.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Then it does send a signal that having a national security candidate who is moderate on a range of issues, including some of the hot button social issues, can be a winning formula.
unidentified		And the two ladies featured here are Abigail Spanberger on the left and Mickey Cheryl of Mikey Cheryl of New Jersey there on the right.
unidentified		So front page of USA today.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We'll be talking about the New York Mayor Race and these governors' races on election night Tuesday, 6 p.m. Eastern Time, right here on C-SPAN.
unidentified		We'll also talk about the California redistricting battle.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Proposition 50 is on the ballot in California.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		In Texas, Democratic caller, is it Leanne?
unidentified		Morning.
		Good morning.
		We're in open forum.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead.
unidentified		Hi.
		I am, I hate to say this, but a senior citizen.
		And I have been listening to most of the callers, Republicans who are also senior citizens, who are not looking at the president has destroyed the East Wing.
		That's the East Wing where the First Lady reside.
		Well, all First Ladies had done their business in the East Wing.
		And he has destroyed it with $30 million.
		And also, he's going to accept a jet from the Middle East.
		And also, all of his family members are raking up the dollars so that they can have generational wealth.
		Why don't mine talking about Republicans don't understand why we American people who are here are not receiving our SNAP benefits?
		I looked at, I called my SNAP number and it said it's active, but you have zero dollars in it.
		Okay.
		And then all the Republicans' wives, how can they sleep that night knowing that they can put food on their table and us and Republicans and Democrats and Independents, they are not going to be able to enjoy their Thanksgiving.
		Okay.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Leanne there, a Democrat in Texas.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Barbara's a Republican in Georgia.
unidentified		Oh, we lost Barbara.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Okay, we'll go to Clyde, who's in Queens, Independent.
unidentified		Clyde?
unidentified		Good morning.
yun sun ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		I'm trying to make sense that it is.
		Here it is with the CR bill that's not being passed because of health care.
		And here it is.
		We have the money to offset the SNAP benefits, but the president refuses to pay it.
		But yet and still, he can give the rich $2 trillion, turn around and give Argentina $40 billion, and he spends $85 million on his golf trips.
		This is what you call fleecing of America.
		They're trying to get rid of the New Deal.
		That's what it's all about.
		And it's never been about right and left.
		It's about up and down.
		The rich have gotten tired.
		And since the days of Reagan, when he got rid of the middle class, here it is.
		We're going back to the days of the Robber Barons.
		And they want their, if they can't make you pay for even air, they don't want it.
		And so this is the dilemma that we're at in America.
		This guy, Trump, he is the worst thing that could ever happen to America.
		And the thing is, MEGA doesn't even realize it because here it is.
		Look at what's happening with the farmers.
		Produce, soybeans, the beef.
		He's eliminating them altogether.
		A few things to share with you you might find of interest.
		Front page of the Wall Street Journal, there's this headline.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		NVIDIA rockets to a new milestone, becoming the first $5 trillion company in this country.
		That's front page of the Wall Street Journal this morning.
		On the flip side of that is a headline in the Wall Street Journal.
		U.S. leads the world in billionaires with a collective $13.4 trillion.
		Again, that's the Wall Street Journal reporting, if you're interested.
		To C-SPAN's coverage, yesterday on Capitol Hill, our cameras were in the hearing room when the president's chief agriculture negotiator was testifying at a confirmation hearing.
		Take a look at this exchange between Senator Elizabeth Warren, grilling the nominee over the impact of President Trump's tariffs on the U.S. agriculture sector and the administration's deal with Argentina.
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		Dr. Callahan, you're being nominated to serve as America's chief agricultural negotiator.
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		Do you agree that bailing out Argentina while our own farmers are struggling is a betrayal of the American soybean farmer?
unidentified		Thank you, Senator Warren.
unidentified		In our negotiations for agreements on reciprocal trade, soy is a top commodity that we are negotiating around the world to ensure that countries around the world have access to high-quality U.S. soybeans.
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		I appreciate that.
		I don't mean to interrupt, but we're going to be limited on our time here.
		It's an easy question.
		I'm asking you if you agree with American soybean farmers themselves whose interests you are supposed to represent in this job, and they are ringing the alarm about their own economic livelihoods.
		Surging farm bankruptcies, soybean farmers losing access to key markets when we prop up these competitors.
		So I just don't understand.
		If you can't acknowledge that there is a problem here, how do you represent American soybean farmers?
unidentified		Thank you, Senator Warren.
unidentified		And in my role as the assistant USTR for agriculture, and if confirmed as the chief agricultural negotiator, I will have the interests of U.S. farmers and ranchers.
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		Can you acknowledge that there is a serious problem right now for those soybean farmers?
unidentified		Our current negotiations are making good on the promise to U.S. farmers and ranchers to reset our trade relationships.
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		So I'm sorry, you can't even acknowledge that our American soybean farmers are having trouble right now.
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		Is that what you're telling me?
unidentified		You're just going to sit there and say, nope, we're working.
unidentified		China's weaponization of agriculture has absolutely harmed U.S. soybean farmers.
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		And farmers are in trouble because China quit buying from them.
unidentified		Because who is China buying from right now?
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		What's that country?
unidentified		China is purchasing.
unidentified		What country is China buying soybeans from right now?
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		What's the name of that country?
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		Dr. Telling him many country China is buying soybeans from right now.
unidentified		China is purchasing Latin American soybeans this morning.
unidentified		What is the name of the US?
elizabeth warren ▲ ● ▼		If you can't answer that question, I don't see how you can represent American soybean farmers.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		C-SPAN cameras in the room yesterday during that hearing.
		If you want to watch more, go to our website, c-span.org.
		We also covered a news conference with Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signing an executive order declaring an agricultural export crisis in Illinois.
		Here's what he had to say.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		This sure as hell shouldn't be a Republican or a Democratic issue.
unidentified		It's an American issue.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		But it appears the Republicans in Congress won't do a damn thing about stopping Trump's destruction of American farming.
unidentified		It's just not right.
unidentified		Our farmers have held up their end of the bargain.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		It's time for Congress to hold up their end.
		In each of my trade missions, I've talked with my foreign counterparts about doing more business with our state's farmers.
		And I can tell you they want to do more business with us.
unidentified		But Trump has made that harder for those countries and harder for our farmers.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		Farm states like Illinois need the federal government to stand with us and not against us.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		But until Washington restores sanity to our nation's trade policies, farmers are being held hostage.
unidentified		That's why today I'll be signing an executive order declaring an agricultural trade crisis in the state of Illinois.
unidentified		This order directs our state agencies to take immediate action, promoting domestic markets for agricultural commodities and expanding health resources for our rural communities.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		We're going to continue to use every tool at our disposal to support our farmers.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		While Washington stands with Argentina and with Brazil, Illinois stands with you.
unidentified		We will look to create and open markets wherever we can, continuing to advocate for a change in U.S. national policy and fight every single day to ensure that Illinois agriculture survives this crisis and emerges stronger.
unidentified		Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker yesterday from the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, the editorial board, the Senate stirs against tariffs.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Five Republicans yesterday joined Democrats to repeal the president's 50% border tax on Brazil.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		The editorial board writes, the cost of tariffs and the uncertainty of Mr. Trump's trade policy are causing real problems for industries and communities across the country.
unidentified		Rising coffee prices are an acute pain point for consumers and small shop owners.
		The Supreme Court next week will hear a challenge to Mr. Trump's use of emergency powers.
		If the justices block his tariffs, Mr. Trump may prog Congress to give him the same authority.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		The Senate vote is a welcome signal that he won't get it.
unidentified		Now, today, the Senate is going to vote again on the president's tariff policies.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Tune into our gabble-to-gavel coverage of the Senate.
unidentified		Over on C-SPAN 2, that vote will be taking place today, another vote on the president's tariff policies.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And again, we'll see if five Republicans break with the president and join Democrats to repeal the president's tariffs.
unidentified		We're going to have live coverage of that Supreme Court oral argument, Trump's tariff policies.
		That will take place on Wednesday, November 5th.
		The oral argument begins at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We'll bring you the audio of that oral argument as cameras are not allowed in the Supreme Court.
		Our coverage, though, begins at 8 a.m. Eastern Time right here in the Washington Journal.
		We will get legal insight from SCOTUS Blog reporters as well as other legal scholars about the case so that you have some understanding of the legal arguments and the questioning by the justices before it begins.
		Our coverage will continue after the oral argument finishes.
		We expect that to be around two to three hours, and we will open up the phone lines and get your reaction to what you heard from the lawyers and the justices.
		We may also have the president for the first time ever sitting in on an oral argument.
		He said that he may do that for this case that happens on Wednesday, November 5th.
		Tune in to C-SPAN's coverage beginning at 8 a.m. Eastern Time.
unidentified		Sean in Pennsylvania, Republican.
		Good morning.
		Morning.
		How are you doing?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We're in open forum.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Sean, what's on your mind?
unidentified		Well, I have a problem with Chuck Schumer.
unidentified		He seems like he's trying to blackmail the American people in order to pay for health care for illegal aliens.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		In what way, Sean?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		By the shutdown?
unidentified		Yeah, the shutdown.
unidentified		They're demanding $1.5 trillion for health care for illegal aliens and money to be sent overseas.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		So the $1.5 trillion, Sean, for what Democrats have said is to have to undo the rescissions by the Trump White House for Medicaid and increase funding for health care.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		They're looking at $350 billion for these enhanced ACA tax credits.
unidentified		Right.
unidentified		But the problem is with Obamacare, ever since it was put out, the cost of Obamacare keeps on going up.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Sean, in case you and others missed it yesterday here in Washington, the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy was joined by other Trump administration officials to announce new actions that they're taking to lower the cost of prescription drugs, that one part of the cost of health care in this country.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Take a listen.
robert f kennedy-jr ▲ ● ▼		Today, the FDA is taking bold, decisive action to break down these barriers and open the markets for real competition.
		The agency will release new draft guidance for companies developing biosimilars, guidance that reflects modern science and common sense.
		Under this new framework, companies may not always need to conduct large, expensive human trials when advanced testing can already prove that biosimilars work just as effectively and just as safely as the original drug.
		The FDA will also consolidate several outdated guidance documents into one streamlined rulebook.
		We're cutting unnecessary red tape, reducing uncertainty, and making it easier for innovators to bring the safe, affordable biosimilars to the market.
		These changes will also help ensure that more biosimilars are considered interchangeable, allowing pharmacists to substitute them just like they do with traditional generic drugs.
		The result will be more competition, lower prices, and faster access to life-saving medicines.
		And we know this approach works.
		Since 2015, biosimilars have already saved Americans over $56 billion, $20 billion in 2024 alone.
		On average, biosimilars cost 50% less than their brand name counterparts.
		And their entry into the market drives down brand name prices by another 25%.
		That's real relief for patients, families, and for the American taxpayer.
		But America still lags far behind Europe and other nations.
		In Europe, for example, regulators have approved more than twice as many biosimilars as the United States.
		And patients there are paying far less for many of these treatments.
		These reforms reflect President Trump's directive to restore competition, to empower patients, and lower drug costs for every American.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Health Secretary Robert Kennedy yesterday announced the initiative by the Trump administration to help lower the cost of prescription drugs.
		We're an open forum.
		You can talk about any public policy, including the cost of health care, our political issue as well.
		There are the lines on your screen.
		Let's hear from Joe, who's in Pennsylvania.
		Democratic caller.
unidentified		Good morning, Greta.
unidentified		How are you today?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Morning, Joe.
unidentified		Good morning, Greta.
unidentified		How are you today?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		I'm doing well.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What are your thoughts this morning?
unidentified		I'm a registered Democrat, but I'm not sure how much longer I will be.
		But here's my suggestion to the Senate Democrats: either get off your vote about the SNAP benefits, especially children, and sit down, open the government, and negotiate about health care, Social Security, and Medicare and Medicaid.
		Either do that or donate your salaries to help the SNAPS program or donate them to some, you know, some open groups that support that and not take the salary until you get this resolved.
		Because I know half of the, at least half of the senators, are multi-millionaires, so they have enough money.
		Donate your salaries or get back to work.
		That's my suggestion.
		Okay, Joe there, a Democratic caller in Pennsylvania.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Joseph is an independent in Florida.
unidentified		Welcome, Joseph, to the conversation.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Oh, Joseph, we're having a hard time hearing you.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Are you there?
unidentified		Yes.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
unidentified		Sorry, Joseph.
		Difficult to hear you breaking up.
		Maybe you can call back on a better line.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Carolyn in Ohio, Democratic Caller.
unidentified		Yes, I just want to thank you for having Mr. Burns and Miss Bolstein on yesterday.
		I tried so hard.
		I wanted to talk to her.
		I had many questions because I'm a female history buff, senior citizen, and all that.
		But the real thing I wanted to say, I disagree totally with that gentleman that said he wanted to change how C-SPAN does everything with this.
		And I just want to say, you don't know how much I look forward to calling my once a month.
		I have it on my calendar.
		I love giving my opinion, and I don't mind other people giving their opinions.
		I had five biological brothers, and they would give me their opinion, so I'm used to it.
		But please stay the same.
		I'm a newbie.
		I'm not like him.
		He said he had been watching you all for, I don't know, since 19-something, and I'm a newbie, but I love it.
		So continue the work and good job on having Mr. Burns and Miss Bolstein yesterday.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Caroline, well, thank you so much for watching and continuing to watch the Washington Journal.
		We have a conversation every morning here from 7 to 10 a.m. Eastern Time, and we hope you continue to watch and call in.
		And thank you for respecting the 30-day rule.
		We appreciate that as well.
unidentified		We did have Ken Burns, the documentarian, on yesterday on the Washington Journal.
unidentified		Here's the Hill with the headline about his documentary.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		He said it's the American Revolution Doc could help U.S. with divisions of today.
		If you missed our conversation, you can find it on our website, cspan.org.
		Go into our video library and type in Ken Burns, and you can find that conversation there.
		JD in Oklahoma, an independent.
		Hi, JD.
unidentified		Hi, Greta.
		I was just wondering why we keep having these continuing resolutions.
		It just shows me the incompetence of our representatives to pass bills that they can both negotiate on and have them out in time.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		You're talking about the 13 appropriations bills, passing them individually for each part of the government, pass them individually on the floor rather than these continuing resolutions that just keep the funding at the same level as the previous year.
unidentified		Yeah, but if you never pass a bill, you never get together with the other representatives and make progress.
		You just keep doing the same thing over and over.
		All right.
		Marsha in Florida, Republican.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Marsha, what do you say this morning?
unidentified		Well, I've got two subjects.
		One is, as far as the Affordable Care Act goes, 12 years ago, I had to get on it.
		I was paying my own insurance, about $300 a month.
		And year after year, it kept doubling.
		Right now, if I didn't get a subsidy through the stupid Obamacare, I'd be paying $900 a month for individual insurance.
		Obamacare never worked.
		That doesn't work.
		It did everything, everything.
		The second thing I just want to say is Democrats keep acting like it's all about snap and all that.
		Senator Kennedy said the Democrats are demanding the return of spending items that the Republicans already stripped out in the last bill.
		They still have, they're demanding $4 million for LGBTQ projects in the Balkans and Uganda, $3.6 million for cooking and dance workshops for male sex workers in Haiti.
		They're doing it for $6 million to subsidize Palestinian media outlets, $300,000 to sponsor a pride parade in La Seta.
		I mean, there's a bunch of things.
		$3 million for circumcision in Zambia.
		Social media programs in Serbia, $900,000.
		They still are insisting on all this wasteful spending to be included.
		And that's what they're fighting for.
		They pretend it's SNAP, but people need to look at what they're really trying to subsidize.
		It's crazy.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Marcia, before you go, what is your health care with, how much does it cost you a month with these Affordable Care Act subsidies?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What do you have to pay?
unidentified		50 bucks a month.
		And if I didn't have the subsidies, I'd be paying $900.
		I'm a Republican.
		I hate that I was forced to be on that.
		But I was paying $300 a month.
		And then it went to $600.
		Then it went to $750.
		And I got priced out.
		I had to take the subsidy.
		It is a destructive program.
		But I don't want to be on any dark government assistance, but their program forced it.
		They met.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Marsha there, a Floridian Republican.
unidentified		We'll go to Bonnie next, who's in Alexandria, Minnesota.
unidentified		Democratic caller.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Bonnie.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I have a complaint.
		First of all, there was a fellow named Jim that called this morning.
		He has called eight times in the last month.
		He goes by Jim, Frank, Stan.
		And I think he should be banned for half a year myself.
		Okay, Bonnie, we'll look into it.
		Thank you for pointing that out.
		Any comments about public policy or politics?
		Yeah, with the health care.
		You know, that big, beautiful bill, the way I understand it, it's going to affect everybody's health care.
		You know, people that buy their health care.
		I know in Minnesota, they say it's going to go up from 7 to 27%.
		You know, and I got young people in my family, and I mean, one, she's got diabetes, so she works her hind end off, just trying to pay for her insurance, her drugs.
		I mean, it's just a nightmare for her.
		And I don't know how much more these young people can afford to pay.
		And not only that, I mean, they cut a trillion out of Medicaid and half a trillion out of Medicare, and then all this other stuff, you know, with the Affordable Care Act.
		I don't know much about that, but it don't sound good.
		And then with the SNAP program, I don't know a whole lot about that either, except the way I understand it is that they've cut so much out of that.
		Is it worth fighting for?
		I mean, the way I've read about it, you know, people were allowed six bucks a day to eat.
		All right.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Bonnie, we've been reporting this morning from the newspapers and other outlets: the funding for food stamps will lapse on Saturday, impacting 42 million Americans.
unidentified		We're in open forum.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We'll continue until the end of today's program.
unidentified		In case you missed it, from President Trump on his way to South Korea, talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, conceded he would not be eligible to run again for a third term.
		Take a listen.
		Sir, Speaker Johnson says that he told you that there's no time to amend the Constitution to allow you to serve a third term.
		Is that an accurate representation of the country?
		I don't know.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I don't want to even talk about that because, you know, the sad thing is I have my highest numbers that I've ever had.
		As I said, I ended eight wars, and we have the greatest economy in history.
		And by the way, energy prices are way down.
		Everything's way down.
		Beef is a little bit high.
		We're going to get beef down too.
		But prices are down and the economy's up.
		The only thing that's not down is the stock prices.
		And 401ks are through the roof.
		Everyone's 401k is hitting records.
		So we have the greatest economy we've ever had.
		I have my highest ball numbers that I've ever had.
unidentified		And, you know, based on what I read, I guess I'm not allowed to run.
unidentified		So we'll see what happens.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Well, I don't think he said that.
unidentified		I don't think he'd use that term, but it's a very interesting thing.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I have the best numbers for any president in many years, any president.
unidentified		And I would say that if you read it, it's pretty clear.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I'm not allowed to run Stu Ben.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		I mean, we have a lot of great people.
unidentified		President Trump on Air Force One on his way to South Korea yesterday saying that he is not allowed to run for a third term.
		Roy in Woodstock, Georgia, a Republican.
		We're an open forum.
		Roy, good morning.
		Good morning.
		You know, we're often talking about health care, but my contention is that anything that the government subsidizes, the price increase because the providers know that they can increase the price and the government will pay it.
		So instead of controlling the cost, they raise their prices for everybody.
		And something, two other things, tariff.
		When I was in Germany, a German citizen could buy a brand new Italian car for 33,000 DMARCs.
		The same person who could buy an American car was 80,000 American Capri Chevrolet Capri would cost 82,000 DMARCs.
		And the Chevy Corvette was 93,000 DMARC.
		So they could buy three Italian cars for what we were paying, but they paid for one American car.
		And so we're talking about tariff.
		We've been paying tariffs for a very long time.
		And then this time of year, it's about Medicare Advantage.
		The government has paid over $500 billion to insurers for premiums on Medicare Advantage.
		That's where all the money is going.
		They're paying the private insurer $500 billion, and that money is coming out of, say it or not, out of Social Security Trust Fund.
		That's why it's running dry.
		And so I'm seriously seriously consider changing Medicare to include some of the benefits under Medicare Advantage or just going to a standard Medicare plan, to the basic Medicare plan, because so much money is going to these private insured that the system is drying up.
		One last thing.
		I go to the doctor once, if I go to the doctor once a year, Medicare pays for my service.
		Under Medicare Advantage, 12 months out of a year, money is being paid to the private insurer.
		12 months out of a year, they're paying premiums to the insurer.
		Okay.
		Roy, I'm going to leave it there.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Roy in Georgia, Republican caller.
unidentified		More of your calls coming up here in open forum, but first let's go back up to Capitol Hill.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Congressman Pat Harrigan, Republican of North Carolina, member of the Armed Services Committee representing the 10th District joining us this morning.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Sir, thank you for your time.
unidentified		Let's talk about the government shutdown.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		We're in day 30 here, sir.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		What are you hearing from your constituents about both their health care costs?
unidentified		What are they seeing?
		And food stamps.
		Yeah, look, this shutdown has caused real harm to real people.
		And I think that there's been a ton of finger pointing over who's responsible for the shutdown.
		Clearly, we understand that Democrats are responsible for the shutdown, but really it's not about who's responsible.
		The reality is that the only thing that's assured during a shutdown is that the American people lose.
		We've got real policy debates that need to happen.
		I think everybody understands that health care is unaffordable in our country.
		The Affordable Care Act is anything but affordable.
		The presence and necessity of subsidies from the Democratic side, I think, admits that by fact, by default.
		And so we've got work to do, but we've got to do that work while the government is open.
		Otherwise, our troops aren't getting paid.
		Our air traffic controllers aren't getting paid.
		Our TSA agents aren't getting paid.
		750,000 government employees aren't getting paid.
		That's not right.
		That's not the way that this should have happened.
		Republicans voted for a clean CR back on September 19th.
		We've done our job.
		It is now time for Democrats to do their jobs and end this madness.
		Congressman, you're repeating what Republican leaders have said, which is we will talk about these policy issues once you agree to reopen the government.
		Then we'll sit down and talk.
		Listen to Congressman Paul Tonko, Democrat of New York, on our program earlier.
		This is what he had to say about these negotiations or the impasse over the government funding.
		The Speaker has constantly punted to the Senate saying they can get the business done.
		It's the balls in their court when in fact we know that you just simply don't pass a budget that you know is probably going to be rejected by the Senate or they can't get the votes for that measure in the Senate and just leave town.
		They have been gone for five, six weeks here where we should have been negotiating and it's not simply passing your bill and kicking it over to the Senate, but all parties together bipartisanly, bicamerally, coming together in agreement on what that budget should look like.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Congressman Harrigan, your response.
unidentified		Yeah, look, facts matter.
		And the reality is, is Republicans voted for a clean CR six weeks ago.
		I mean, this is absolutely ludicrous that we're even having these discussions at this point in time.
		We've got to understand that Republicans, again, back in September, we voted to pay our troops.
		We voted to have SNAP benefits go out to 43 million Americans.
		We voted to fully open and continue our government open.
		Back in September, Democrats have now voted 13 times in the Senate.
		And look, I understand what he's saying.
		They don't have the votes.
		Yes, that's a Democratic problem that they don't have the votes.
		And I want to take you back through the recent history here during the Biden administration where Republicans, when President Biden was in power, voted for a clean, continuing resolution 12 times.
		That's the respect that the Republican Party showed to the Democrats during President Biden's tenure in office.
		That exact same respect is not being reciprocated today.
		So we have to understand, look, shutdowns are not good for America.
		Nobody wins.
		America loses.
		That is why we've got to get past this and we cannot allow the government to be held hostage.
		We have to understand that with what the Democrats have chosen to do with shutting down the government, they are holding the American government and the American people hostage.
		You cannot negotiate with hostage takers.
		We have to get the Democrats to vote for a clean CR.
		That's the only way that we don't have problems moving forward every three months in our government.
		Clean CRs are the answer to impasse.
		We can then have policy discussions while the government is open.
		Senate Democrats argue that you need their votes, that it's the Republicans who don't have the votes in the Senate.
		Republicans control the chamber, but you have 53.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And so you need Democrats.
unidentified		If you need Democrats, then you should sit down and negotiate with them on policy.
		In this case, they're saying health care and the Affordable Care Act enhance tax credits.
		Coming back to, look, Democrats just simply need to vote for a clean CR.
		This is not difficult.
		This is really very, very simple.
		And coming back to the respect that I talked about that Republicans showed to Democrats while President Biden is in office, was in office, is not being reciprocated today.
		There is got to be some, there has to be some sort of understanding between the two parties that we're not going to hold each other hostage over these votes in the Senate.
		Republicans didn't do it to Democrats when President Biden was in office.
		Why is that happening against President Trump right now?
		Simply because Democrats are bending the knee to the radical side of the party.
		These aren't just talking points.
		These are very real facts.
		Go look at the Democrats' continuing resolution proposal, and it is full of a Democratic wish list of absolutely crazy demands for the future of our country that Republicans cannot agree to at all.
		We can have these policy discussions again, and sounding like a broken record, but the reality is that we are going to be a broken record until Democrats pass a clean continuing resolution.
		What's your response then to your Republican colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has said Republicans don't have a plan on the Affordable Care Act premiums and that she thinks that the Speaker should bring you all back and deal with this issue that she's seeing, you know, the prices of premiums go up in her state.
		Yeah, look, I've got great respect for Marjorie.
		She's a colleague of mine.
		We talk often, but I disagree with her on this fact.
		And I'll tell you, look, you see behind me, I'm in Washington.
		I've been in Washington almost every single week of the shutdown.
		Most of my Republican colleagues have too, because we have priorities that we've got to get across the finish line.
		We just had a teletown hall with my constituents less than two weeks ago.
		We had almost 16,000 people on that teletown hall.
		And the reality is, again, a government shutdown causes real harm to real people.
		That includes people in my district that my office has been working, by the way, without pay, in order to try to help them, to guide them to resources that are available outside of the government to withstand this government shutdown that the Democrats have caused.
		But look, Marjorie's not wrong about health care being unaffordable.
		And coming back to what I said earlier, the Affordable Care Act is simply not affordable.
		Work's got to get done on that.
		But it's not in the form of emergency subsidies that were designed by Democrats to get the American people through the craziest time of COVID.
		They actually set a lapse date and expiration date of 2025 for a reason.
		This is not supposed to be a permanent government program.
		We cannot just continue to give money permanently out of our government.
		We're $2.2 trillion in debt, but we have very real health care issues that we've got to get a hold of.
		And so she is right about that.
		But look, all of these discussions need to happen while the government is open.
		If we just come up here and go back and forth with the Democrats, we effectively do a disservice to the American people because we set a precedent that hostage takers during a shutdown can actually prevail.
		That can't happen.
		Republicans have been responsible for this in the past.
		We should not be doing it in the future.
		We're not doing it in this circumstance.
		The clean CR is the only answer here.
		Congressman, before we let you go, we've had viewers this morning say members of Congress should be fined while they're in a government shutdown.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Maybe that would force folks to the table.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And also another caller saying that they should not receive pay.
unidentified		Your response.
		I think a very reasonable approach here is actually Dusty Johnson's proposition, which is if Republicans and Democrats can't come to a resolution to fund the government, then there's an automatic, clean, continuing resolution that gets executed in two-week increments to allow those negotiations to happen, but effectively for no hostages to get taken.
		Because keep in mind, we've got at least a million and a half Americans being taken hostage here.
		Being forced to work without pay in many circumstances, that's wrong.
		That should never happen.
		It's actually, it's unethical, in my opinion.
		That would never fly in the private sector.
		Employers would get sued.
		That shouldn't be happening in the public sector here in government, particularly in America.
		We can do a lot better than this.
		And so I'd be very much in favor of a proposal like Dusty Johnson's to have an automatic continuing resolution.
		I think that's a great resolution to the problem we have today and preventing it in the future.
		Congressman Pat Harrigan, Republican of North Carolina, thank you for your time this morning.
		Hey, thanks for having me.
		Always good to be with you.
		We are in open forum this morning on day 30 of the government shutdown.
		You can talk about the shutdown showdown here in Washington and any other public policy issue.
		Jim in Georgetown, Delaware, a Democratic caller.
		Hi, Jim.
		Good morning, Greta.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		Thank you for C-SPAN.
		Congressman Harrigan probably won't be hearing this, but facts do matter.
		The fact is, they're paid to present a budget every year, and they haven't done that in a while.
		They're not paid to do these continuing resolutions.
		That's not what I called about, though.
		Was for 10 years, Donald Trump, the Roomba-in-Chief, has been promising a health care plan to repeal and replace.
		How many times has he gone before the public and said it's on the way?
		About two more weeks, and we'll have it.
		And we don't have it.
		Just another one of the many lies that he's told.
		Two things that he has said in the last month that are true, which people have not paid enough attention to.
		Number one, he told Fox and fans he couldn't care less about uniting the country.
		Number two, he said to a group of his people, smart people don't like me.
		That's the most accurate thing he's ever said.
		All right.
		Jim, there, a Democrat in Delaware.
		We'll hear from Willie, who's a Republican in Katie, Texas.
		Hi, Willie.
		I was going to talk about October Frost, but I want to switch.
		The young lady, the congresswoman that you had on earlier, what's her name and where's she from again?
		Janelle Bynum.
		She's from Oregon.
		Yeah, Oregon.
		That's right.
		Right.
		Okay.
		You asked her some pretty very, very good questions.
		I mean, she was clearly guarded.
		And I want to address it to the Democrats who are listening to this.
		This lady, the congresswoman, was asked three questions.
		One was about subsidies.
		The other one was about whether, oh, the Queen CR, you asked her about those.
		And then you asked her, is she going to vote?
		And every single one of those questions, which were, to me, very, very simple questions, she remained guarded upon.
		And that's the demon right there is exactly what the Democrats are doing.
		Okay.
		They listen to Hakeem Jeffries, and when the question is asked, you know, he either pushes away or he goes on another rant about something that doesn't matter.
		We're talking specifically about the clean CR.
		He knows it.
		She should know it.
		And I address the Democrat constituents because if she doesn't know it, Greta, if she doesn't know whether she's going to vote, and if she's going to remain guarded upon that, then those folks who are Democrats should really take a lesson.
		All right, Willie.
		Willie, there, Republican in Texas.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Terry, an independent, Altoona, Pennsylvania.
unidentified		Hi, Terry.
		Hello.
		I just have to say I agree with the guy from Florida earlier who said about maybe there should be a national boycott day.
		Everybody just stay home, don't go shopping, don't buy anything if you can, even maybe stay home from work because that was maybe cut back on the taxes and stuff for the treasury and all that kind of stuff.
		Secondly, on health care, maybe they should call it health, no-care, or health.
		We really don't care.
		So maybe that fits it better.
		And the third thing I think for fun would be if all Democrats switch the registration to Republican and then all Republicans switch to registration to Democrats, you know, back and forth, just to mess around with them.
		Don't give any donations, just see what kind of reaction that would cause.
		So that's all I have for you today.
		Thank you.
		Terry there in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
		In case you missed it, yesterday, the Vice President JD Vance traveled to Ole Miss, took questions from the audience at a turning point USA event with students asking him questions on immigration, religion, and more.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Here's a portion.
unidentified		My question to you is: what is your view on legal immigration?
		Personally, I have a girlfriend who's studying in America off a visa.
		Our hope is eventually getting a green card.
		So, what is your view on legal immigration?
		Should we reduce it?
		Also, what is your plan for a merit-based system?
		Yes, sir.
		Well, I appreciate the question.
jd vance ▲ ● ▼		And look, my honest view is that right now, America, thanks in part to the Biden border invasion, but also thanks in part to a lot of bad immigration policy.
jd vance ▲ ● ▼		Right now, we have let in too many immigrants into the United States of America.
unidentified		That is just a fundamental reality.
jd vance ▲ ● ▼		Now, look, legal immigration is complicated because we let in about a million legal immigrants into the United States of America every single year.
unidentified		And I think the evidence is pretty clear that a lot of those immigrants are actually undercutting the wages of American workers.
unidentified		It's one of the reasons why the President of the United States, it's one of the reasons why the President of the United States and a lot of us in the administration have encouraged H-1B reform.
jd vance ▲ ● ▼		Because if you look at the H-1B visa, what it's supposed to be, what it's supposed to be, is that you have a super genius who's studying at an American university, who's working at a great company.
		You want that super genius to stay in the United States of America and not go somewhere else.
		What it's actually used to do is hire an accountant at a 50% discount to an American citizen.
unidentified		I don't think that we should be hiring accountants from foreign countries when we've got accountants right here in the United States that would love to work for a good wage.
		Now, you asked about, I think, your girlfriend, you said, and I obviously don't know the full details about your situation, but my view is, look, there are people who want to come to the United States of America, and some of them, I'm sure, can enrich the United States of America by coming here, but we have got to get our overall numbers way, way down.
		Too many people have come into the United States of America.
jd vance ▲ ● ▼		I am married to the daughter of immigrants who came to the United States in the 1980s.
jd vance ▲ ● ▼		I do believe that some immigrants, many immigrants, do in fact enrich the United States of America.
unidentified		But here's the problem: we have got, we don't even know how many illegal aliens we have.
unidentified		We don't even know.
jd vance ▲ ● ▼		The best guess is probably 25, 30 million people.
		I've heard estimates as high as 50 million.
		When something like that happens, you've got to allow your own society to cohere a little bit, to build a sense of common identity for all the newcomers to assimilate, the ones who are going to stay, to assimilate into American culture.
unidentified		Until you do that, you've got to be careful about any additional immigration, in my view.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		JD Vance, the vice president at Old Miss, yesterday for a turning point USA event, the widow of Charlie Kirk, Erica Kirk, was also there.
		If you missed it, you can find it on our website at c-span.org.
		Mary Ann in Meriden, Connecticut, Democratic Caller.
		We're an open forum, Mary Ann.
		What's on your mind?
unidentified		So, one thing, a couple of things.
		People that are on SNAP, what they're neglecting to remember, these are kids.
		These are babies, mothers, elderly, people that can't even go to a food pantry to get, they might have an illness.
		Personally, I had a Gabby food pantry because my other half, he had cancer at the time, and he got fired.
		But the point is, when I went to these pantries, it was like four or three months, three to four months.
		That was literally no good, the cans that they were given to people.
		So the food was like literally no good.
		But yet, I called the food chair and they said, no, it's perfectly fine to eat.
		Well, why don't you go ahead and eat the food that was three to four months old in there?
		That's one thing.
		And then they're talking about we're in the deficit.
		Then how come the president, if you want to call him that, is giving away money to all these countries?
		That doesn't make sense.
		And it doesn't make sense also how he's tearing down our history for the White House.
		This is history.
		And it doesn't, we just need, never mind Republicans, Democrats, Independents, we need to have one person to be in charge and then whoever comes in second as a vice president, then to have them come in.
		This is getting ridiculous.
		Everyone down there and Senate and blaming this one and that one.
		It just doesn't make sense.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right, Mary Ann's thoughts there in Connecticut.
unidentified		Chuck in Kimberly, Alabama, Republican.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Your turn.
unidentified		Yeah, I'd just like to say that my life has gotten no different since the shutdown happened.
		Stocks are up.
		My holdings are doing outstanding.
		I just got through paying off my house.
		And the longer they stay out of our lives, the better off we are.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Well, Chuck, what about the 42 million Americans on food stamps?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		The money dries up on Saturday.
unidentified		Well, you know what?
		Just like that able-bodied woman called earlier and talked about how she didn't have any money in her food stamp account, wouldn't you be embarrassed to be an able-bodied person and be on food stamps?
		How did this country get to this point where all these people are on food stamps?
		This is ridiculous.
		I have never taken any kind of handout my whole life.
		I mean, I've been giving hand up.
		But in recent, I'm not any more fortunate than anybody else.
		I just worked hard and saved my money.
		We've got so many people that just will not work.
		And they won't work because they know that their food stamp allowance is going to go down.
		All right.
		Chuck's thoughts there, Republican in Alabama.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Here are the latest headlines on the government shutdown.
		We're in day 30 here in Washington.
		No end in sight from punch from Politico.
		This morning, John Thune says he will engage pretty soon with Democrats about ending the shutdown.
		He also told reporters, though, there's nothing scheduled.
		And then 7-4 with a similar headline, Thaw and Shutdown Talks raises senators' hopes for a deal next week, that there are some bipartisan talks happening on the Senate.
		And the Washington Post, along with other papers reporting on the CBO's numbers, that's the Congressional Budget Office.
		Government shutdown will cost or could cost the economy up to $14 billion.
unidentified		And then there is also the New York Times with their piece about Obamacare prices become public, highlighting big increases.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		The government website now shows you how much health care premium costs will increase next year as Congress remains at an impasse over the plans, enhanced subsidies.
		And then the Hill newspaper notes this, that the president pitches working with Democrats on Obamacare alternative.
		He made those comments aboard Air Force One.
		He did say, though, at the end, not until the government is opened back up.
		Listen to the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries on the floor yesterday, and he says, is to blame for the shutdown.
unidentified		Have there been any early conversations with the White House this week about sending anything off to the president after he dispatched from Asia next week with you guys?
		There haven't been any conversations from the White House.
		Lita Schumer and I made it clear last week we wanted to meet with the president before he jetted off to Asia.
		And he's found time in Asia to meet with a wide variety of folks pretending to fix problems related to the tariffs that he has created.
		And he'll be back in the next day or so.
hakeem jeffries ▲ ● ▼		He needs to sit down with Democrats.
		Like for 29 days, understand, Donald Trump has spent more time talking to Hamas and the Chinese Communist Party than he has in talking to Democrats on Capitol Hill to end the Trump shutdown, reopen the government, find a bipartisan path toward a spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people and address the health care crisis that Republicans have created.
		That's an unacceptable thing to the overwhelming majority of Americans that this American president in the middle of a shutdown that he's created while refusing to address the Republican health care crisis can find the time to talk to Hamas and the Chinese Communist Party, but can't talk to people who represent half the country.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies in the House yesterday talking about the negotiations, potential negotiations between the White House and Democrat lawmakers on Capitol Hill as the shutdown continues.
		We expect to hear from the Speaker of the House, excuse me, Mike Johnson at 10 a.m. Eastern Time here coming up on C-SPAN.
		We'll bring you live coverage of his daily news conference.
		He's held one every single day, as have the Democrats during the shutdown.
		Day 30 of the shutdown showdown, and it continues here in Washington, likely into next week.
		Charlie White-Salem, Washington, Independent.
unidentified		Hi.
		I want to talk about two things very quickly and cogently.
		40 years ago, I opened the Washington Bureau for Investors Daily Newspaper, which became Investors Business Daily and then got sold to the Wall Street Journal.
		I spent 90% of my time on Capitol Hill.
		And for those five years that I was there, they got things done.
		And I would tell people, there are two parties in Washington, not Republicans and Democrats.
		There is the Smart Party and the Stupid Party.
		Right now, as I look, the Stupid Party is in charge, and they're not getting anything done.
		Charlie, who would you put in the Smart Party?
		Who would I put in the Smart Party now?
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		I mean, what members of Congress are there any right now that you would put in the Smart Party?
unidentified		I'm not there, okay?
		You know, so I could walk around, talk to people, and then I would know today, you know, you're watching on TV, and I'm not seeing it, okay?
		And I'm not seeing it in people in charge.
		The people in charge are in the stupid party in both parties.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And Charlie, when you were up on Capitol Hill, give us some names of folks that from both sides of the aisle sounds like a child.
unidentified		There was a guy from Minnesota, Frenzel, who was a Republican, who I really respected a lot.
		Bill Frenzel.
		He was a very intelligent man.
		Bill Frenzel, yeah.
		He was one of my favorites.
		And another one on the Democratic side, Bill Bradley from New Jersey.
		Okay, and Bradley was one of the guys who was a force behind the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
		I wore out two pairs of soles in my shoes walking throughout Capitol Hill.
		I knew all the secret passageways way down underground.
		And I covered all the hearings.
		And these were smart people.
		Packwood did a great job, too.
		Really good job.
		Another Republican from Oregon.
		I mean, these were very, very smart people back then.
		Okay.
		I'm looking now.
		And I covered a hearing where Chuck Schumer almost got thrown out because he was a congressman at the time.
		He almost got thrown out because they were just joking around and disrupting the hearing.
		I couldn't believe it.
		But I wanted to say one other thing.
		Okay, real quick.
		Where I live, you can get a snap card for 50 cents on the dollar.
		Okay.
		And the rogues, okay, we'll do that.
		And then they'll put the money into methamphetamine.
		Okay.
		You can solve that easily by just putting a name on the card and having requiring Shoto ID to use it.
		Okay.
		All that fraud will go away.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		All right.
unidentified		Charlie there in Washington State.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Deborah, Pennsylvania, Democratic caller.
unidentified		Hi.
		I just had a couple things I wanted to say.
		I watched something that was really good on C-SPAN.
		I believe it was last week with Mark Cuban and a few people in the medical field.
		And it was the most intelligent conversation that I've heard in a long time about the problems with healthcare.
		And one of the things discussed was the lobbyists in D.C. that caused the pharmaceutical reps and things like that.
		And I think it's wrong that they're all there, and that's why the drug prices are so high.
		That's what I learned from that.
		Okay.
		But I had.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And for our viewers who, Deborah, real quick, for our viewers who missed that conversation with Mark Cuban, they can find it on our website, c-span.org in our video library.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Just go to the search engine at the top and put in Mark Cuban's name.
unidentified		It was really good.
		It was very good.
		But anyway, there were several times in my life that healthcare was very important to me.
		And when I was 62, I had to leave my job to care for my sister who had pancreatic cancer.
		And I went on the Affordable Care Act, which was a lifesaver because I wasn't old enough to get on Medicare.
		And my husband is self-employed, so I've always taken care of his insurance.
		So another time was that a Democrat helped me was for the Family Medical Leave Act back in the eight, I believe it was in the 90s when my dad was sick.
		I went back to work after that.
		But these times were very important to me.
		And the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, whatever you want to call it, saved me.
		It saved the country money because we took care of my sister, even though she was in the hospital a lot.
		But we were her caretakers.
		So I just wanted to say that.
		Okay, Deborah there.
		We'll go to Arthur, Illinois.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		Gene is a Republican.
unidentified		Yes.
		The biggest problem we're having now, and we had it with Obamacare when it started.
		And if I recall correctly, there was only one Republican that voted for Obamacare.
		I went to a tea party, had an insurance agent from Bloomington come down, talk to us about it, and he told us exactly what was going to happen.
		The insurance companies are not, we don't have the same kind of insurance supplements.
		They're terrible.
		A vantage plans.
		And a lot of these people in Obamacare don't even pay a premium.
		And now look what's happening.
		Now they can't pay the premiums.
		And the only reason they wanted Obamacare, the Democrats wanted it in there, was because they wanted to go to universal health care.
		What are we talking about now with AOC and Bernie and this Mandami or whatever his name is in New York?
		He's running for mayor.
		We're headed for a communist country.
		Zoe Ron Mamdani And Arthur, Illinois.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		By the way, that election for New York City mayor is Tuesday coming up next week, November 4th, and our coverage of the mayor's race, as well as two governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia, and Proposition 50, that's their redistricting proposal in California.
unidentified		All of those election night results will be happening here on C-SPAN, along with calls from you.
greta brawner ▲ ● ▼		And we'll talk to reporters as well to get insight.
unidentified		We're going to go up to Capitol Hill.
unidentified		Speaker Mike Johnson at the podium, live coverage here on C-SPAN.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		Well, good morning, everyone.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		We are now beginning day 30 of the Democrat shutdown.

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