Republicans Float Idea of Using Long-Term Stopgap Bill to End Shutdown

Bloomberg

Watch Republicans Float Idea of Using Long-Term Stopgap Bill to End Shutdown - Bloomberg on Dailymotion

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00:00Is a November 21st stopgap still viable at this point?

00:04Well, it's hard to predict the actions of the Democrats because right now they've been stalling

00:10a very basic, clean continuation of funding. What we need to see in the House of Representatives

00:16for the Senate to send us some kind of funding bill. They need to figure out what they can pass

00:22in that side of the building. Unfortunately, because of the filibuster, you have Democrats

00:28that's preventing a vote. If they would just allow a vote on the continuing resolution

00:34that they have voted for numerous times in the past, we would be able to open government.

00:39We'd be able to fund government. Chuck Schumer voted for a continuing resolution just like this

00:4513 times when Biden was president. In fact, as recent as this past March.

00:52Well, I know that you've been very consistent in your views on this, Mr. Chairman, and it's good

00:57to have you back on Bloomberg. You probably heard the conversation we were just having,

01:02and it's causing some heads to explode here in Washington. The idea of a full year CR being

01:08the only way out of this. Is that a non-starter for you? And what does it tell us about where

01:13we stand on Capitol Hill?

01:15So I've been hearing this conversation from senators, from House members, that a CR not just

01:22for a year, but to December 1st of next year. This has been conversations that I've been hearing

01:28in Washington, D.C. And we just need to make sure that government is open and serving the American

01:34people. And we need to make sure that government is not at risk of political games, which we're seeing

01:41played right now by the House and Senate Democrats.

01:45So just for clarity, Congressman, is that something that's really on the table? Would you

01:51be, where do you fall on this, this idea of a longer term government funding bill?

01:57I strongly support a longer, longer term continued resolution. I would support that until December

02:041st. I think that that would allow more stability for our economy, stability for the American people.

02:11The fact that we had the whip of the House Democrats just recently say on TV that, yes,

02:19people are hurting in the shutdown, but this is our leverage. It is unfortunate that people believe

02:24making the American folks hurt as leverage. That's unacceptable. That is why I would support a

02:30longer term continuing resolution.

02:34Are we talking December 1st weeks from now or December 1st, 2026, Mr. Chairman?

02:38December 21st, 2026 is what I've been hearing up here as a suggestion, as an opportunity of

02:46of a continuing resolution. As we know, we're operating under a year long resolution from last

02:53year. We're looking at what was appropriated when Biden was president.

02:58Yeah, that's and which is one of the ironies of this whole debate that now Republicans are urging

03:03Democrats to vote for for Joe Biden's budget plan. Would that still allow for a debate over Obamacare

03:10subsidies? Is that something that you're interested in for your constituents as open enrollment is set to

03:16begin?

03:18Well, first, let me let me just respond to the fact that Republicans, if they completely had their way,

03:25they would actually want to reduce the amount of funding from Biden levels. But that's not how it's able to

03:32work up here with no rule over in the United States Senate. And so that was our issue in regards to

03:38the subsidies for insurance companies. This is something that we've been willing to discuss

03:44throughout this whole time. And it's something that needs a lot of discussion because access

03:48to health care is essential for Americans. We need to make sure that we're talking about access

03:55for all Americans, not just 24 million Americans, but 347 million Americans.

04:04Well, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has floated that there could be an up and down vote once the government

04:10reopens on a one year extension of these expiring Affordable Care Act premium subsidies. But Democrats say that

04:16they don't want to get on board with that because there's no guarantee that such a vote would happen in the

04:21House. Do you think that this is something that House Speaker Mike Johnson should bring to the

04:26floor so there is at least this debate on perhaps structural changes or some sort of extension down

04:31the road? I would not be support of a one year extension period without reforms. There has to be

04:39reforms. The corruption that's within the program, there's 24 million people that are on the Obamacare

04:46exchanges. Half of them last year, that's 12 million didn't even file a claim. Why did those 12 million

04:54not file a claim? I'm sure it's because they didn't even know that they were on the exchanges. But guess

04:58what? Those insurance companies, they received the subsidized premiums for it, even though they didn't

05:04even provide the health care for it. These are the simple kind of reforms that need to be addressed and need

05:10to be explained. We also shouldn't be subsidizing premiums for people who make more than 400 percent

05:17of the federal poverty level, people who make $600,000 a year. I don't think Americans are good

05:23with that. Well, I'll tell you what, I appreciate this conversation because it's more detailed than just

05:28about any that we've heard. It's time to start getting down to this debate. Congressman, I'm wondering

05:33what should be the timeline. Do you want to go down the road of permanently extending subsidies with

05:40those callers on them as Democrats have suggested make it permanent? Or should these be sunset after a year

05:47or more? You know, everything has to be looked at and has to be on the table. I don't want to set any

05:53limits, pros and cons and negotiate an agreement in the press. But what we need to do is have Republicans

05:59and Democrats come together and figure out what is best to creating more access to health care

06:06for all Americans, not just people on exchanges, but all Americans. There's 174 million Americans

06:14that are in employee health insurance, but that employee health insurance is quite expensive. So we

06:20need to look at all different ways to help lower the cost of health care.

06:24Congressman, I also want to ask you about something else that the government shutdown has

06:29impacted, which is economic aid for farmers. Now, the Trump administration says that it is planning

06:34to unveil $3 billion worth of such economic assistance tomorrow. Actually, I've learned that

06:41Missouri, your state is one of the top three soybean producing states in the country. I'm wondering how

06:47you are looking ahead to this meeting between potential meeting between President Trump and Chinese

06:53President Xi Jinping. What's going to happen if China does not agree to purchase agreements for our

06:58U.S. farmers, particularly related to soybeans? Let me tell you what the Chinese have done to U.S.

07:05soybean farmers alone has been atrocious. Typically, in in the average year, China purchases somewhere

07:13between 12 to 15 billion dollars worth of soybeans a year from the United States. They have not purchased

07:21one dollar this year. And so that better be on the table. That has to be something that's being discussed,

07:28because that is drastically affecting the commodity prices here in the United States. I represent

07:35Southeast Missouri. We have more soybean farmers in Southeast Missouri than the entire state of

07:41Missouri. And these folks are facing some dire, dire situations. I'm glad that the president

07:48has said that he's going to take care of the farmers. It's extremely important that he does

07:53that. But we need to make sure that China opens up their markets if they want us to purchase their

07:58products. It does seem punitive at this point, Congressman. We only have 30 seconds left. Is that

08:05how you see it? Well, what the Chinese have done is clearly punitive. It was for a punitive measure,

08:12much like how they've been restricting critical minerals and rare earth to try to be punitive to the

08:17world. That is unstable. That's why there's so many concerns about trading with the Chinese.

08:25Hopefully, they'll be able to get to a common ground in their meeting.

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