CSPAN - Washington Journal Rep. Tim Burchett R-TN
Aired: 2025-10-30
Duration: 08:52


=== Democrats Vote to Keep Government Open (08:52) ===

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[00:01:01]  We are back this morning on the Washington Journal.
[00:01:03]  It's day 30 of the government shutdown.
[00:01:05]  We're an open forum for the remainder of today's program.
[00:01:08]  We're talking to members of Congress from both sides of the aisle this morning while we continue to take your phone calls.
[00:01:15]  Joining us is Congressman Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee.
[00:01:19]  Congressman, let's begin with day 30.
[00:01:24]  What are your expectations of where this is headed as we approach the longest shutdown in U.S. history, which was 35 days?
[00:01:34]  I have very low expectations, ma'am.
[00:01:37]  The House, as I did, voted to keep the government open.
[00:01:40]  We voted for SNAP funding.
[00:01:42]  We voted for WIC, women with infant children, SNAP, of course, is food stamps.
[00:01:47]  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.
[00:01:54]  You know, Senator Schumer said, you know, every day gets better for us.
[00:01:58]  I'm not really sure who it's getting better for.
[00:02:01]  It's sure as heck it is getting better for women with infant children or over 40 million people.
[00:02:07]  I don't think people understand the depth of 40 million people.
[00:02:12]  The state of Tennessee just has 8 million people in it.
[00:02:15]  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.
[00:02:26]  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.
[00:02:35]  But the children are the one that are going to suffer.
[00:02:38]  And it's clearly in the hands of the Democrats.
[00:02:40]  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.
[00:02:53]  And so it's clearly in the lap of Chuck Schumer.
[00:02:56]  Well, the Democrats would respond, Congressman, to say, yeah, you need our votes.
[00:02:59]  So you should be negotiating with us.
[00:03:02]  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.
[00:03:13]  Well, this bill is not the apparatus to do that.
[00:03:16]  In the past, the Democrats have voted 13 times, 13 times to vote for a claimed CR.
[00:03:22]  And the only difference now is Donald Trump's in the White House, ma'am.
[00:03:25]  This has nothing to do with healthcare.
[00:03:27]  It has completely to do with control.
[00:03:29]  Chuck Schumer hears footsteps in the background, and those footsteps are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
[00:03:34]  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.
[00:03:48]  And he sees that as his base, and he doesn't have that base.
[00:03:52]  Chuck Schumer is a liberal, but he's not a communist or a Marxist at that.
[00:03:58]  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.
[00:04:07]  On food stamps, this Saturday, funding will run out for that program.
[00:04:11]  42 million Americans impacted.
[00:04:14]  According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, over 55,000 people in your district rely on snap food benefits.
[00:04:22]  Should the president fund these benefits?
[00:04:26]  Find a way to do it out of the White House rather than a piece of legislation to pass this.
[00:04:33]  Well, there is legislation.
[00:04:35]  I always think legislatively is the best process.
[00:04:37]  As you know, the Democrats fought the president when he found outside funding to fund our military, which is incredibly important.
[00:04:44]  And they fought him on that.
[00:04:46]  So I don't know what's different, ma'am.
[00:04:48]  It's the same thing.
[00:04:49]  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.
[00:04:57]  Now if you include the House and the Senate votes, they voted 13 times now to shut the government down.
[00:05:03]  What's different now?
[00:05:04]  Donald Trump's in the White House and Chuck Schumer sees his power slipping through his fingers.
[00:05:10]  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.
[00:05:25]  He said himself and other Democrats would vote for it.
[00:05:29]  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?
[00:05:37]  Well, that's totally up to the speaker, ma'am, but the bill's already there.
[00:05:40]  All they have to do is vote to open the government.
[00:05:42]  Even negotiating health care, President Trump said, if you open the government, I'll negotiate with you.
[00:05:49]  That's already on the table.
[00:05:50]  The only thing different, again, Donald Trump's in the White House and Chuck Schumer is losing control.
[00:05:56]  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.
[00:06:08]  Now you have folks on the internet, these podcasters, the Benny Show, you just name it, on down the line.
[00:06:15]  They know what's going on.
[00:06:17]  They've read page 57 of Chuck Schumer's bill that provides health care for illegals.
[00:06:22]  The game is up and America knows it.
[00:06:25]  And the major media knows it as well.
[00:06:28]  And the Democrats are having diminishing returns.
[00:06:31]  Everywhere I go in the state of Tennessee, people keep saying the same thing.
[00:06:35]  Stay the course.
[00:06:36]  Stay the course.
[00:06:37]  All the Democrats have to do is vote yes.
[00:06:39]  I voted yes to open the government.
[00:06:41]  I voted to fund it.
[00:06:42]  Every Democrat in the House except for one voted to take SNAP benefits and to take WI benefits away.
[00:06:50]  Every single one of them.
[00:06:52]  And they can't run from that.
[00:06:53]  The bill is already passed to negotiate, ma'am.
[00:06:56]  Those days are gone.
[00:06:57]  They need to come back to the table and vote yes in the Senate.
[00:07:01]  They need to get some guts.
[00:07:02]  They need to get out from behind Chuck Schumer's skirt and vote to open the government.
[00:07:06]  That's the only thing that's going to happen.
[00:07:07]  Congressman, before we let you go, want to talk about the Epstein files.
[00:07:11]  You signed a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the files.
[00:07:15]  Ma'am, I'm having trouble hearing you.
[00:07:17]  Can you speak up, please?
[00:07:18]  Yes.
[00:07:19]  Last question to you, Congressman, is about the Epstein files.
[00:07:22]  What is your expectation when the House does come back on a vote to release the files?
[00:07:30]  I predict we'll vote to open it.
[00:07:32]  That's what we'll do.
[00:07:33]  We'll pass that bill and we'll open the files.
[00:07:37]  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.
[00:07:47]  So she knew what happened to her.
[00:07:48]  She had blacked out during the whole thing.
[00:07:51]  And so I said, so you want the files open?
[00:07:54]  And she said, no, I do not.
[00:07:55]  I don't want them open to the public.
[00:07:57]  I don't want to see what people see what they did to me.
[00:07:59]  So there's several ladies there, and there's innocent people that probably traveled on that dirtbag Epstein's plane.
[00:08:05]  Look, I don't care.
[00:08:06]  I'd send them all to hell if it's my choice.
[00:08:08]  I passed some of the toughest laws in Tennessee dealing that pass the death penalty.
[00:08:12]  It was ruled unconstitutional at the time, and now it's been ruled constitutional.
[00:08:16]  So I have no love for those people, but we have to protect the innocent.
[00:08:21]  And I think that we will if we follow the proper procedure.
[00:08:26]  But I'll vote to open the files, ma'am.
[00:08:28]  All right.
[00:08:29]  Congressman Tim Burchett, thank you very much for your time.
[00:08:32]  Thank you, ma'am.
[00:08:34]  And at that point, we're going to go back up to Capitol Hill.
[00:08:37]  Congressman Paul Tonko, Democrat of New York, is joining us, member of the budget committee, joining us on day 30 of the government shutdown.
[00:08:45]  Congressman, is there an end in sight?
[00:08:48]  Well, good morning, Greta, and it's good to join you.
[00:08:51]  I think there will be an end in sight.