| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
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 was my choice. | ||
| I passed some of the toughest laws in Tennessee dealing that 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 we will if we follow the proper procedure. | ||
| But I'll vote to open the files, ma'am. | ||
| All right. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Congressman Tim Burchett, thank you very much for your time. | |
| Thank you, ma'am. | ||
| We're going to go back up to Capitol Hill. | ||
| Congressman Paul Tonko, Democrat of New York, is joining us, member of the budget committee, joining us on day 30 of the government shutdown. | ||
| 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. | ||
| Congressman, listen to our previous guest, Republican of Tennessee, Tim Burchett, your colleague up on Capitol Hill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure. | |
| He joined us, and this is what he had to say. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I always think legislatively it's 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. | ||
| Congressman Paul Tonko, the Congressman makes the argument, you've voted in the past for clean continuing resolutions. | ||
| What's different now? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Number one, this isn't clean. | |
| There were rescissions 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. | ||
| Switching to the food stamps, as you said, money runs out on Saturday. | ||
|
unidentified
|
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? | ||
| 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. | ||
| Is the same happening on the House? | ||
|
unidentified
|
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 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| Congress, we've also heard from a couple of viewers today saying that members of Congress should be fined while there is a government shutdown. | ||
|
unidentified
|
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. | ||
| More of your calls coming up here in open forum, but first, let's go back up to Capitol Hill. | ||
| Congressman Pat Harrigan, Republican of North Carolina, member of the Armed Services Committee representing the 10th District. |