- 11 months ago
House Democratic leadership held their weekly press briefing on Tuesday.
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00:00Good morning. I'm grateful to be joined by Vice Chair Liu and Dr. Schreier and Representative
00:15Brown joining us here today to talk about the importance of protecting health care and nutrition
00:24across this country. I want to begin by offering our condolences to the victims of deadly
00:29storms in Missouri and Kentucky. We also want to send President Biden and his family our
00:35support as they grapple with the former president's cancer diagnosis. We know that Joe Biden will
00:40approach this fight with the same grace that he's shown throughout his life. We also know
00:46that Joe Biden would be the first to say that every American deserves the same level of health
00:51care that he is being provided. That's why House Democrats are fighting to protect health care
00:57that Donald Trump and House Republicans are attacking. In the dead of night, House Republicans
01:03are working to ram through their agenda to kick millions of Americans off of health insurance
01:10and to take food assistance from families who need it most. As grocery prices rise, they're
01:17going to take food out of the mouths of mothers, children, and veterans while making health care
01:24even more expensive just for the single purpose of providing more tax cuts for billionaires and
01:31corporations who continue to make record profits. Remember, the Republican budget doesn't make
01:38Medicaid or SNAP more efficient or more fair. All this bill does is ensure that billionaires
01:45who have never had to worry about a hospital bill or putting food on the table can continue to pay less
01:52costs and taxes than teachers, firefighters, and nurses. Only Democrats want to make health care more
01:59accessible and more affordable for everyone. Republicans are hell-bent on driving up costs for health
02:07insurance and ending basic need programs. They are willing to inflict pain on millions of Americans just to
02:14make their campaign donors happy. That is wrong. And we will continue to fight back at every step for the
02:21American people so they can have the peace of mind of a good paying job with good benefits.
02:27Next, I turn it over to Vice Chair Ted Lew.
02:33Thank you Chairman Aguilar, and honored to be joined today by Congress Members Kim Schreier and Chantel Brown.
02:39First, I'd like to talk about the charges
02:41against Congresswoman LaMonica MacGyver.
02:44Those charges are baseless and politically motivated.
02:48Three reasons why.
02:49First, Congresswoman MacGyver had a statutory authority
02:53to be at that detention center.
02:55She was conducting her oversight duties.
02:58Second, if what she did was purportedly so awful
03:02that it results in criminal charges,
03:04how is it possible they literally gave her a tour
03:07of the facility afterwards?
03:10They escorted her around and gave her a tour
03:12of that facility while she was conducting oversight.
03:15And third, she was trying to prevent the unlawful arrest
03:18of the mayor of Newark, and guess what?
03:20She was right because the Trump Justice Department
03:24dropped all charges against the mayor of Newark.
03:27So we asked them to also drop charges against LaMonica.
03:30This is a baseless, politically motivated distraction.
03:34And what are they distracting from?
03:36This big, ugly bill that they're gonna have a meeting on
03:39at 1 a.m. in the morning.
03:41I mean, who does that, right?
03:43You do that because you don't want the American public
03:45to know what's in your big, ugly bill.
03:47But we know what's in it.
03:48It has the largest cut to healthcare in U.S. history,
03:53about a trillion dollars.
03:55It then also is gonna kick off approximately 14 million people
03:59off of healthcare.
04:01And why are they doing this?
04:02To impose the largest tax cut for billionaires in U.S. history.
04:06So that's basically what this big, ugly bill does.
04:09And they're trying to move it through in the dead of night
04:11at 1 a.m.
04:13We ask the Republicans to list American people
04:16and work on what Democrats are trying to work on,
04:18which is lowering the costs of rent and groceries
04:22and consumer products.
04:23That's what we should be focused on.
04:26And it's now my honor to introduce the great representative
04:29from the state of Washington, Dr. Kim Schreier.
04:37Well, thank you, Vice Chair Liu.
04:39It's really an honor to be here, but the reason is outrageous.
04:44And I wanna express that outrage on behalf of my constituents,
04:49that the Republicans at this moment are attempting
04:52to make the largest cut ever in Medicaid
04:56and the largest cut ever in SNAP.
04:59That would be $715 billion out of Medicaid,
05:03which would kick 13.7 million Americans
05:07off of their health insurance.
05:10And let me just reiterate, why are they doing this?
05:12They are doing this to pay for a tax cut
05:15for the wealthiest Americans like Elon Musk.
05:19It is morally bankrupt,
05:21and it is fiscally incredibly irresponsible.
05:25We just spent 26 and a half hours
05:27in the Energy and Commerce Committee last week,
05:31spending the vast majority of that time,
05:33and by the way, starting at about two o'clock
05:35in the morning, talking about these cuts to Medicaid
05:39and how they would devastate our constituents
05:43and also the broader healthcare system.
05:46I wanna be clear, one out of three Washingtonians
05:49depend on Medicaid.
05:51Most of them don't even know they're on Medicaid
05:53because we call it Apple Health,
05:54and I'm trying to make that point
05:56so that people understand how this impacts them personally.
06:00So I think about, as a pediatrician,
06:02I think about my patients on Medicaid or on Apple Health
06:06who will no longer be able to come
06:07to their pediatrician's office for screenings,
06:10for a simple cold, for a cough,
06:11and get treated in a half hour.
06:13Now they're going to go to the emergency room,
06:16the most expensive place to get care.
06:18They're gonna drive up costs,
06:20that costs will be provided for free,
06:22and then everybody pays.
06:25And I think then about my patients who are not on Medicaid
06:30because they're gonna be waiting longer
06:31in the emergency room,
06:33they're gonna be paying more,
06:34premiums are gonna go up if we wanna keep these hospitals
06:36and emergency rooms open.
06:39And that brings us to other parts of my district,
06:41the rural areas, where hospitals may close
06:44because they depend so heavily on Medicaid and Medicare.
06:49I wanna tell you a quick story
06:51of a little four-year-old girl named Isla in my district.
06:55She is the outcome of a normal, uneventful pregnancy.
06:59She was lucky enough to go to our rural hospital
07:03called Kittitas Valley Healthcare.
07:06And they have a labor and delivery department.
07:09She was delivered, there were major complications.
07:11She almost died,
07:12but they had the staff and the expertise to rescue her,
07:16to stabilize her and to life flight her
07:19to Seattle Children's.
07:21And then I have been reflecting,
07:23as have her parents who are insured,
07:26about what would have happened had Medicaid been cut,
07:29had labor and delivery there been cut,
07:31had she not had that opportunity for rescue
07:34and for transport to save her life.
07:36And we all know what the answer would have been.
07:39I've been in hundreds of deliveries.
07:42Some go well, some don't,
07:44and you don't always know until that moment.
07:47So I wanna emphasize,
07:49Medicaid is part of the three-legged stool
07:51that is our healthcare system.
07:54If Medicaid is cut in this dramatic way,
07:58that stool will fall.
08:00It'll mean hospital closures, higher rates for all of us,
08:03emergency room, long waits, a sicker community,
08:06and a poorer community.
08:08And it is reckless and morally reprehensible.
08:13So at this point, I'm gonna turn this over
08:16to Representative Chantel Brown from Ohio
08:18to talk about the terrible cuts
08:21that they are doing to food benefits,
08:22also for our most vulnerable populations.
08:26Congresswoman Chantel Brown, Vice-Ranking Member
08:27of the House Agriculture Committee
08:28and representing Ohio's 11th Congressional District.
08:31I am honored to be here along with Chair Aguilar,
08:32Vice-Chair Liu, and Congresswoman Schreier.
08:35Last week, we saw this legislation up and close
08:38in the Agriculture Committee.
08:39And Ranking Member Craig and my Democratic colleagues
08:41on agriculture fought this legislation for two days.
08:45I didn't just write this legislation
08:47for two days.
08:48I didn't just write this legislation
08:49and write this legislation for two days.
08:52I didn't just write this legislation
08:56to read the bill.
08:57I felt it.
08:58I felt the cruelty.
09:00I felt the callousness.
09:02And let me tell you, I was angry.
09:05I am still angry.
09:07Three hundred billion dollars in cuts.
09:11Let me repeat that.
09:12Three hundred billion dollars in cruel,
09:16calculated cuts to nutrition programs.
09:20And on top of that,
09:22onerous new restrictions and requirements
09:24that are designed to deny people the help they need.
09:29If this bill passes, millions, yes, millions,
09:34of Americans are going to lose nutrition benefits
09:37they desperately need.
09:39And for what?
09:41The biggest cut to food assistance in history,
09:45just to hand millionaires a $68,000 tax break,
09:49and the top 0.1%, a staggering $300,000?
09:55Let me tell you what this means for my community.
09:58One in five.
09:59One in five households in my district
10:01in Northeast Ohio rely on SNAP.
10:03That's not some statistic from somewhere.
10:07That's my neighbors.
10:08That's my family.
10:09Those are my church members.
10:11It is me.
10:13Because growing up, I was one of those households.
10:17And the issue of work requirements
10:19really hits home for me, literally.
10:22I had epilepsy growing up.
10:24I had petite mal seizures.
10:26And my mother, my strong, brave, exhausted mother,
10:31couldn't work.
10:32Not because she didn't want to,
10:34but because she couldn't leave her child,
10:37who might collapse at any moment.
10:39My mom didn't want to be on food stamps.
10:42No parent wants that, but we needed it.
10:46And this bill, this bill would have denied us that lifeline.
10:51We're taking assistance away from people that needed
10:54to give those resources to people that don't.
10:59Make no mistake.
11:01This is not fiscal responsibility.
11:03This is not belt tightening.
11:06This is a giveaway.
11:07People who rely on SNAP, they're not leading easy lives.
11:12They're caregivers.
11:13They have people at home with disabilities
11:16and serious illnesses.
11:17Children.
11:19And these folks are not hard to find.
11:21I had one woman contact me.
11:24Cheryl from Cleveland Heights.
11:26She's retired.
11:28Her husband is disabled.
11:29Her father is 92 years old and he's disabled.
11:33She worked in advertising for 25 years.
11:37Now she's got a house full of people to take care of.
11:40And they rely on SNAP.
11:43This bill punishes Cheryl and people like her.
11:46It takes away the basic benefits they need to survive,
11:50all to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest among us.
11:54And make no mistake, this bill will make us sicker.
11:57This bill will make us poor.
12:00This bill will make us weaker.
12:02So it is my privilege to stand here with my colleagues
12:06and fight this bill.
12:08We cannot let this pass.
12:10And with that, I am honored to yield back
12:14to our chairman, Mr. Aguilar.
12:17Thanks, Chantel.
12:19Questions?
12:21Nick.
12:22I want to ask about the charges
12:23against Congressman McIver.
12:25What options are available to Democratic leadership
12:29to respond to this?
12:32Democratic leadership put a letter out yesterday.
12:34Vice Chair Liu and I signed that letter.
12:38You know, we'll have more to say in the coming days.
12:42But I do think, as the vice chair mentioned,
12:45this is part of a distraction.
12:47One, this is ridiculous that they are trying
12:51to stop a member of Congress from doing her oversight
12:55responsibilities.
12:56But it's not lost on any of us,
12:58the timing of this decision.
13:01They would like to distract from the dark of night attack
13:05on health care and supplemental nutrition.
13:08They want us to be, you know, outraged, and we are.
13:13But they want us to only talk about this.
13:17And we know the importance of the work
13:19that we have in front of us, especially this week,
13:22is to advocate for the millions of people,
13:24as Dr. Schreier mentioned, who are going to get kicked off
13:27of health care if they pass this terrible bill.
13:31So we're going to continue to support and uplift
13:35LaMonica McIver.
13:37We're going to be supportive of her efforts.
13:39We will use tools that we have to be supportive
13:44and also to shine a light on the dysfunction
13:47and then the competence of this administration
13:50when it comes to these specific charges.
13:52But let's be clear.
13:53She did not do anything wrong.
13:55She was doing her job as a member of Congress.
13:58Anybody saying, you know, otherwise is telling a lie.
14:02But that's not anything new for this administration,
14:07an administration that wants to talk about law and order,
14:10yet they pardon folks on day one who tried
14:14to carry out the insurrection here in this dome,
14:19one member of which was recently just arrested again.
14:24Some person who got a full and complete pardon
14:27from Donald Trump was arrested for robbery
14:32and home invasion, I believe.
14:35That's the type of individual that Donald Trump wants to support.
14:39So we're not letting the Trump administration lecture us
14:43on public safety when they put all of us at risk,
14:46every American at risk, when they let these individuals out.
14:50Yes?
14:51Follow up on that.
14:52You've seen the video with Congressman McIver
14:54and the other members of Congress from there and the mayor.
14:57There is a moment where she is, I think,
14:59protecting Congressman Iman Coleman,
15:02and she's pushing at a member of law enforcement ICE agent.
15:06You can see her elbows here pushing.
15:08I hear you saying she did nothing wrong,
15:09but I want you to respond specifically to that moment
15:12when she's pushing back at a member of law enforcement
15:15and how you think that is not anything wrong.
15:17I'm not trying to catch judgment,
15:18but that is the moment that's at the center,
15:20I think, of this issue.
15:21Yeah, I understand.
15:23I've seen the videos as well
15:24where these masked ICE agents are themselves, I think,
15:31trying to impede members of Congress
15:33from carrying out their duties.
15:35If I accept the premise of what you're saying,
15:40why would they allow three representatives
15:44to spend an hour on a tour after this?
15:47If they felt that there was something done
15:51that was wrong and untoward,
15:53why on earth would they open up the gates
15:55and to say, come on in, we'd like to give you your tour now?
15:58Nobody there felt intimidated.
16:01Their goal of these agents
16:03was to intimidate members of Congress
16:06and to intimidate people who were gathered there.
16:09But Representative MacGyver and the House Democrats
16:13are not going to be intimidated from doing our jobs.
16:16I understand what they are saying.
16:23I understand that the administration is saying
16:27in this charging document
16:30that Representative MacGyver put her hands on an official,
16:35but nothing that they have indicated
16:39says that in that day, in that moment,
16:42any of those officers felt threatened or concerned.
16:46This is political charges based after the fact
16:50to distract us and to take attention away
16:53from the work that we're doing
16:55to protect health care from people.
16:58And we're going to continue to have Representative MacGyver's
17:01back and support her in these trumped-up charges,
17:06and we're not going to take a backseat
17:07to lectures on public safety from Donald Trump,
17:11his former personal attorney or the Trump administration
17:13and other corrupt DOJ.
17:17Michael.
17:18Mr. Chair, Representative Jared Goldman
17:21announced this morning that he would forego a Senate bid
17:23and run for a re-election in the House yesterday.
17:27Lauren Underwood announced that she would be running for a re-election.
17:29Those are two members that I know you hold in high regard.
17:32Can you just speak to the American people
17:34about how important those members' re-elections will be
17:37as well as the majority next year?
17:40These are members who are making, in Lauren's case,
17:43she sits at the leadership table.
17:45These are members who are making lasting contributions
17:48for their states, you know, here, doing work.
17:51And they know the importance of fighting for health care
17:54in rural communities.
17:55Both of these representatives have spent time
17:59and served rural communities,
18:00and they know what's at stake with these terrible cuts
18:03that Donald Trump and House Republicans are proposing.
18:06We appreciate their commitment and their service to this caucus.
18:10We look forward to working with them in the years ahead.
18:13But I think this speaks more to the issues of the day
18:16that they feel, you know, compelled to be a voice on.
18:20This is still the House of Representatives.
18:22We have colleagues who we love and support,
18:24who are going to run for other jobs and other positions.
18:27We wish them well.
18:29But the importance of Lauren and Jared stepping up
18:33and staying where they're at isn't lost on any of us,
18:37and we look forward to working with them in the years to come.
18:39Thanks.
18:42I think, well, one, I think that Alina Haba
18:55is doing everything she can in her own right
18:57to sabotage her own future as a U.S. attorney.
19:03Clearly, Donald Trump is very comfortable appointing people
19:08who can't get confirmed to those positions.
19:12We see, you know, Ed Martin being one of them.
19:15I'll leave the Senate senators to discuss their process for approval.
19:21But I think it's clear anybody who wants to take an oath
19:24to protect the people should actually do that rather than work
19:28on trumped-up charges that have no basis in fact.
19:33On Medicaid, one way Republicans cut spending,
19:37cut people off Medicaid is cutting the reimbursement rate
19:41to states where state Medicaid programs include non-citizens.
19:46In California, Governor Newsom, it's not cutting off all non-citizens,
19:49but it's capping that.
19:50I wonder, if you're in California, one, if you support that,
19:53two, if states governing for this bill should be reducing the number
19:57of non-citizens, preparing for what Republicans might do here,
20:02who were eligible for Medicaid.
20:03I know they're going for SNAP, too, but just on the Medicaid part.
20:06Yeah, let's be very clear.
20:07I want the vice chair to speak, and actually Dr. Schreier as well.
20:11But let's be very clear.
20:12No federal Medicaid dollars are going to provide health care
20:16to individuals who are undocumented.
20:18I think you'll accept that, and that is a current fact.
20:21Some states have chosen.
20:23Some states have said, including Washington
20:26and the state of California, have chosen to provide health care
20:30to everyone because, mind you, people will get health care.
20:34We can help choose, and our state leaders have said,
20:37we would prefer you have health care than you show up
20:40to an emergency room and provide the most expensive way
20:44to provide care through that process.
20:47And so our state leaders have independently made that decision.
20:51Now through the Trump administration and House Republicans
20:54are choosing to penalize those states by reducing their FMAP funding,
21:00their health care funding, what that is going to do is it's going
21:04to hurt the entire system, including mostly rural health care
21:08in California and Washington and in other states.
21:12Hospitals will close because of that lowered FMAP contribution.
21:17So if that's the ultimate goal of what House Republicans want
21:20is they want less access to care, they want people less healthy,
21:24they want people to drive in rural America to drive further
21:26for their health care options, then they should be very clear
21:30about that, and maybe they are being clear.
21:32By having a 10 p.m. budget hearing, a 27-hour markup,
21:36by the way, where health care started at 2 a.m., 3 a.m.,
21:40and having the rules committee start at 1 a.m.,
21:42it sure seems to me that they don't want to talk
21:45about taking health care from people.
21:47So maybe that's the broader point here.
21:50The state of California and the legislature will make decisions
21:54under their purview, and we wish them well.
21:59They don't consult us when they do these,
22:02when they make these decisions.
22:04But I applaud their ability to say,
22:07let's try to provide health care in a more efficient way,
22:10using state funds to do that, rather than clock up
22:14or emergency rooms, that impacts everybody.
22:19Chairman Aguilar is right.
22:20None of the federal Medicaid dollars
22:22are going to undocumented aliens.
22:25And then looking at Donald Trump's comments
22:27to the Republican conference this morning, as reported,
22:30I don't think the president has read the bill.
22:32He specifically said, don't F around with Medicaid.
22:36The bulk of their bill messes around with Medicaid.
22:40It's going to basically have this massive cut to Medicaid.
22:43So I don't know exactly what the president is thinking.
22:47The entire bill, with a lot of it,
22:49is just messing with Medicaid.
22:51So I urge the president to actually read the bill.
22:58I will reiterate these points.
23:00Not a single federal tax dollar is spent on Medicaid
23:05for people here without documentation.
23:08From a purely pragmatic standpoint,
23:12we all just talked about the fact that care
23:14is going to be given somewhere.
23:16And if it's given in the emergency room,
23:18it's most expensive.
23:19We all pay for it.
23:21We pay for it with our economy.
23:24We pay for it with a sick population.
23:27And we pay for it when those emergency rooms
23:30or labor and delivery or the hospitals themselves close.
23:34There's a pragmatic answer.
23:39Thank you. Have a good day.
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