Rep. Sherman: Shutdown Layoffs 'An Act of Vandalism'

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00:00Russ Vogt says the rifts have begun. Bloomberg News is reporting that they are in the thousands.

00:06Are you hearing anything more specific? And what will this do to negotiations if they ever happen

00:12or the standoff in this government shutdown? Look, there's no reason to do rifts now. They

00:20could have done them two months ago. They could do them two months from now. They're doing them

00:25as an act of vandalism against the federal government, as if that will take revenge on

00:33the Democratic Party for not completely ceding all power. I mean, if it was up to Trump, there

00:40wouldn't be a Congress. So few dictators want a parliament messing up their lives, except in a

00:46North Korea style, to gather and cheer. And in fact, that's what Speaker Johnson has agreed to. He

00:53has sent Congress home. Not only are we not opening up the government, we're not doing any

00:58of the other business we're supposed to be doing, and much of it that we're very, very far behind in

01:03doing. Congressman, I want to ask you, given your years in Congress, decades watching these sorts of

01:10spats go on, where do you put this into context? It certainly feels like this is an escalated

01:16tensions on the Hill right now. I'm reminded of your late colleague, Senator John McCain,

01:21joking that, you know, if we try real hard, we'll get into the single digits on congressional approval

01:26in rough times then, two decades ago. Where does this fall? Are we at a new low in decorum on the

01:33Hill? We're as low as we've been since the 1860s, and I wasn't around then. You can compare this to

01:42other shutdowns. But the level of division in the country and, you know, Donald Trump's personality and

01:53personal approach is throwing kerosene on the fire. Well, you know, we saw what happened with Mike Lawler

02:00getting into a shouting match with the Democratic leader. We saw Democratic senators standing in front of the

02:06Speaker's office making noise about Jeffrey Epstein. I don't know if you guys are going to start caning

02:12each other like we used to in the old days. But Congressman, to Michelle's point, you've been up on

02:19the Hill for a minute. How do you get around this? Or should we assume that when the cameras turn off,

02:25you're having a beer with your Republican colleagues?

02:27We're not out drinking. We get along reasonably well, perhaps as well as you get along with the

02:34people where you work. But we are responding to our constituents who are divided. And so many

02:43Republicans are not only loyal to their constituents, they're loyal to the president, whatever

02:48he says. And not only technically, but emotionally, that's what they feel. And it's divided.

02:56Does that mean that if I'm walking into the floor of the House that a Republican sticking out is like

03:03to trip me so I fall on my face? No, that's not happening.

03:08Well, Congressman, you mentioned Trump's approach is pouring kerosene on the fire. I want to ask you

03:13about something else today that's kind of in your lane in the foreign affairs lane, his true social

03:19message on China. How do you think this, you know, changes the game in the overall U.S.-China

03:25negotiations? How worried are you about not getting some sort of deal with China? And what are your

03:30constituents saying?

03:33Well, I haven't responded to this tweet. It's so strange because for so many years I was here

03:39and diplomacy was handled carefully. And now it's an emotional tirade, sometimes at three in the

03:48morning directly from the president. That's not the way to conduct foreign policy. It's not the way any

03:54other president has conducted foreign policy. And we see China uses its control over rare earth

04:03elements. And America has done nothing over the last several years to weaken that control.

04:10We should have strategic reserves of all those rare earth elements. And we should have alternative

04:16supply. It is not true that all of the ore from for those elements is in China. It's just they're the

04:23ones who have created the big industrial apparatus necessary to extract and refine them. That could

04:30be done elsewhere. But that's just one of the many things that Congress should have been focused on

04:36and should be focused on today. Except here we are here in the building and there are no Republicans.

04:42I said you were in California. Forgive me. I, by the way, it matters right now when members are here

04:47in Washington. When's everybody else coming back? The Senate apparently is going to be here next week

04:52now. But the the vibe we're getting from any lawmaker, D or R, a congressman is that this will

04:59be protracted. We're nowhere near an off ramp, even as John Thune suggests privately that he may

05:06offer Democrats an up or down vote on extending Obamacare subsidies. Where are we? What inning are we in

05:13this shutdown? Well, and offering a vote if you know you're going to lose is symbolic and perhaps

05:20nice, but not all that important. This is going to last a long time. Both sides are digging in.

05:29The base of each party isn't saying, how do you put this together? They're saying, stand up for our

05:35position. And I think as long as the focus is on health care, and that is where we have put the focus,

05:41that the people will be with us. What should happen, of course, is a negotiation. We may not

05:49get everything we want on health care. But the current position of the Republicans is give us

05:55what we want. And we'll talk to you about whether we do anything that you want. That's not the way to

06:02treat a party that got 49 percent of the vote. And keep in mind, Republicans wouldn't talk to us in

06:07January, February, March, April, May, June, et cetera, about this health care cliff that we're

06:14about to fall over, where 22 million people will see their premiums more than double. And the letters

06:21are going out now. People have to decide whether to sign up for health care coverage. And as far as

06:26they know, it's at double the premium. They can't afford that. Well, Congressman, there's certainly no

06:32shortage of big stories to ask you about today, but we'd be remiss if we didn't ask you about the Middle

06:37East and the president's forthcoming trip to the region. How are you feeling about this tentative peace

06:43deal? Are there reasons to be optimistic, bright signs here, even though it feels like we've kind of been

06:48close to this before, only to see a setback?

06:51Hopeful. Optimistic may be too strong a word. But if the hostages are released and Hamas is no longer

07:03in control of Gaza, then we can move forward. And it looks like that's what the settlement calls for.

07:12We'll see whether Hamas disarms and whether their leadership departs the region.

07:22But phase one is the release of the hostages. And that day can't come too soon.

07:29Just got about a minute left, Congressman. If this does hold,

07:33should Donald Trump get the Nobel Peace Prize? He didn't make it today.

07:40Look, you'd have to evaluate Donald Trump's actions on the world stage in total. And

07:50I don't think they're quite Nobel Prize winning material. But look,

07:59Hamas has been pushed into a small corner of Gaza. They realize that Israel can take that corner as well.

08:10And I think that it's not so much what the president has said. The deal that he has offered is very

08:20similar to what the Israeli negotiating position has been all along. Free the hostages and free the

08:26people of Gaza, two million of them, from oppression from Hamas.

08:30Now he's on his way to be there on Monday, apparently. Congressman, great to have you back.

08:36Brad Sherman, Democrat from California. Thank you.

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