John Thune, Senate Republican Leaders Hold Press Briefing After Trump Warns Iran

Forbes Breaking News

7 months ago

Senate Republican leaders hold their weekly press briefing.

Transcript

00:00good afternoon everyone everybody's over here today go figure we have received as

00:18you know from the house budget reconciliation bill the Senate now

00:21Finance Committee has completed its portion of it and it was released the

00:26text was last night we believe it leads to a stronger and more prosperous America

00:33and so we are excited to get this bill out and on the floor I want to applaud the

00:40members of the Senate Finance Committee and particularly Chairman Mike Krapel

00:44for the yeoman's work that he did to ensure that this this product got out

00:50there everybody's had a chance now to look at it but we're excited about what

00:54it does for a number of reasons and it does create permanence in a lot of areas

00:59the tax code it makes permanent the 2017 tax cuts and Jobs Act rates it makes

01:05permanent the expanded child tax credit and increased standard deduction it makes

01:11permanent a lot of the business tax deductions which will lead to growth and

01:15expansion economy and better paying jobs and of course it includes many of

01:20President Trump's promises on the campaign trail including including no tax on tips

01:26no tax on overtime and reduced taxes for seniors and on the business side we

01:31believe that making permanent a lot of the business tax provisions will lead to

01:36that growth in the economy that will create those better paying jobs and and lead to a

01:41stronger and a more prosperous country and obviously if you look at what happens if we

01:48don't do this the alternative isn't a pretty one I don't think it's a universe that anybody wants

01:53to live in because it means a four trillion dollar tax increase at the end of the year on the American

02:00people 2.6 trillion of that tax increase will fall on families making less than four hundred thousand

02:06dollars a year and six hundred billion dollars of that tax increase would hit small businesses

02:12that's the alternative if we don't take steps to act it also includes a number of reforms and

02:18strengthens Medicaid in a way that makes it stronger and and and gets it back to what it was designed to

02:25do and for the people it was intended to benefit and we had an opportunity today to hear from the CMS

02:31administrator Dr. Ross he talked about some of those provisions in the bill and I'm going to ask him to come

02:36up and speak to that followed by Senator Brasso and then we'd be happy to take some of your questions

02:41Dr. Ross sorry there you are the fact this thank the Senate for letting me address them today at lunch

02:50the president vice president who visited as well made some comments that were hugely beneficial to

02:56explaining the scope of this bill and I want to be very straightforward with a simple comment to start

03:01it all off with this is the most ambitious health reform bill ever in our history and it could not

03:06come at a better time we have an unstable market that is causing lots of potential peril to Americans who

03:13need our help the most the most vulnerable amongst us were the ones who will suffer the most if we don't

03:17get this bill through it is investing two hundred billion dollars more money roughly over the next decade

03:24than it what is the current level of spending it is true that it's not going to go to the one

03:30trillion dollars of spending that would otherwise occur and how is it going to do it well it's going

03:34to do something very important it's going to curb the growth of Medicaid which is right now it has

03:39changed 50 percent in its expense over the last five years by doing a few things including reduction of fraud

03:45waste and abuse an aggressive program to make sure that the right people who are eligible are truly

03:51adjudicated to be just that eligible and the work requirement is part of that equation ensuring that that what is good for the

03:58individuals what's very popular amongst the American people the idea that you should be uh trying to work

04:04or volunteer uh or get educated participate in your community in some way and by doing that demonstrate

04:10that you are trying your hardest to help this country be greater by at least trying to fill some

04:14of the jobs that we have open by doing that you earn the right to be on Medicaid uh these programs we believe

04:20we can uh roll out successfully we have two pilots already using uh information technology solutions

04:27an app literally on people's phones 91 percent of Medicaid patients have a smartphone that can use

04:31an app of this nature that would help us identify how many hours you've worked what you got paid did

04:35you try to get an education did you volunteer and do that in a seamless fashion we believe we can roll

04:40that out in 18 months we already have uh the head of the usds united states digital service amy gleason

04:46creating a center of gravity at cms to accomplish that goal so we can accomplish it within the 18 months that

04:51this bill offers uh there's lots more to speak about in this bill it is promising in many ways but at a

04:56summary level it builds a strong framework to allow us to do the right thing for the american people

05:02by allowing these systems to align the needs of the federal government and the president with those of

05:07governors and states by aligning the needs of the federal government and the states we can serve the

05:11american people most effectively the current system doesn't do that between state uh directed payments

05:17provider taxes other types of legalized money laundering we're hurting the ability of the federal

05:22government to work with states to improve the system and we know from having spoken to many

05:26of these states these are the kinds of changes that could be beneficial thank you again to

05:30senator thune the rest of the senate attending the lunch and to the president and vice president

05:34for letting me speak today republicans are united and committed to a safer and more prosperous america

05:43and to do that the first thing we need to do is prevent this four trillion dollar tax

05:48increase we're going to stop that from happening it would be the largest tax increase in the history

05:53of our country and it would hit every hard-working family's paycheck bottom line their purse is in

06:00their pocketbook additionally this bill includes things that are very popular no tax on tips no tax on

06:05overtime no tax on social security in terms of safety of the american people this secures the border

06:11gives border patrol on our ice agents what they need to keep our country safe and following four

06:18years of american weakness abroad this rebuilds the military to bring back america's strength

06:23republicans are committed to continuing fulfilling the promise of lower costs higher wages and

06:30bringing jobs back to america questions for dr oz yes dr oz is the administration willing to consider

06:41changes to the provider tax particularly the concerns that are being raised by people like

06:46senator joshua believes that what's in the senate going to lead to the closure of rural hospitals

06:52we do not believe that addressing the provider tax uh effort is going to influence the ability of

06:58hospitals to save viable in fact the provider tax and the state-directed payments are often used

07:05to pay institutions that have the best connections to the government of the state not necessarily the

07:09hospitals that need the help the most it is important that we clean up this system these programs have

07:14grown dramatically the provider tax now which has dramatically increased once it became apparent that

07:20you could game the system is not becoming a dominant part of financing our states it's not where the

07:25money should be going the money should be spent wisely in a very transparent way there are better ways of

07:30addressing these needs and the state-directed payments are another part of that equation that

07:34likewise complicate issues unnecessarily people who need the money to get the best care possible

07:39because they're offering quality should be rewarded and they're there in ways that cms and the federal

07:44government can do that more effectively for the american people change that language you won't change that

07:48language in the bill well the details of the language are up to the leadership but uh the specifics the

07:53framework of addressing the legalized money laundering with state-directed payments and provider taxes

07:59must be in this bill it should be in this bill and i believe it will be in the bill

08:03dr ross what do you say about the analysis from the congressional budget office and other non-partisan

08:11observers that more than 10 million people will go without health coverage uh under the house cast version of the bill

08:19uh we actually did it effectively uh an experiment over the last two years uh where we began to reverse

08:28some of the rules under uh the biden administration around medicaid and that uh that unraveling of that

08:36system had 15 million americans leave medicaid so when you're trying to analyze what happens to people

08:44leaving medicaid it's not an economic analysis as much as it's behavioral analysis what will someone

08:49do what will an american do if they're given the option of trying to get a job or an education or

08:54volunteering in their community having some engagement or losing their medicaid insurance

08:59coverage i have more confidence in the american people uh than is being given to them by some of

09:04these analyzing organizations but more importantly we know from what happened in the last two years that

09:09of the 15 million people who disenrolled from medicaid the incidence of unemployment went up about

09:1610 percent so it wasn't 50 percent most americans thoughtfully wisely re-engage life go back to work

09:23find other solutions got onto the exchanges or commercial insurance but they did not end up without

09:28insurance and that's why i believe that's what will happen in this case as well i have the confidence

09:33that the american people will make that decision wisely you already have two no's in your caucus

09:43ran paul ron johnson are you open to changing the medicaid work requirement language in the bill

09:49or the health care provider tax language in the bill to address the concerns raised specifically by

09:54mr martowski susan collins of josh well we are in conversations with all of our members including the

10:02ones you just mentioned and as you heard dr oz say the provider tax state directed payments are

10:09important reforms and we think they rebalance the program in a way that provides the right incentives

10:15to cover the people who are supposed to be covered by medicaid and but we continue to hear from our

10:21members specifically on components or pieces of the bill that they would like to see modified or changed

10:28or have concerns about and we're working through that but at the end i mean the goal is you

10:32all know is to get 51 here in the united states senate and 218 in the house and so ultimately

10:37that's the math that um that i'm working with that we're all working with we want to get a bill out

10:43of the senate through the house and on the president's desk does the trump administration need to seek

10:49authorization from congress if they choose to strike iran well i mean i think right now the president's

10:55our administration has um a lot of instructions within his authorities uh he obviously has a a lot

11:00of authority as commander-in-chief to respond to incidents that happen around the world um obviously we

11:07have a lot of military installations bases military personnel uh in the region right now and so um i think he's

11:15perfectly within his right to to do what he's done so far and obviously i think they're giving analysis to what

11:21may happen next in that theater but we want to ensure that there is a good

11:26outcome there hopefully a peaceful outcome and I think the president's made

11:29it abundantly clear to the Iranians that he would like to be part of helping

11:33negotiate a deal that would end their nuclear program one way or the other

11:37they've got to end their nuclear program that's that's the end state of what

11:40happens with this and I think the president is very committed to that

11:43objective I think right now I think we're getting the cart ahead of the

12:02horse here this is a this is something that's happened the last few days I

12:05think the president is perfectly within his authority in the steps that he has

12:09taken you know clearly if this thing were to extend for some period of time

12:13there could be a more fulsome discussion about what the role of Congress should

12:17be and and and whether or not we need to take action but I think right now let's

12:22hope and pray for the best outcome the best solution and in my view that would

12:26be Iran coming to the to the negotiating table and agreeing to end their nuclear

12:31program thank you

John Thune, Senate Republican Leaders Hold Press Briefing After Trump Warns Iran

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