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And we showed you just now
who we're fighting for. And

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we'll continue to fight for.
>> Senator Baldwin is on a

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statewide swing denouncing
Republicans for blocking

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attempts to extend
Affordable Care Act,

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enhanced subsidies for the
GOP put this shutdown vote

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in the win column for his
reaction. We turn to

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Republican U.S.
Representative Scott

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Fitzgerald of the state's
fifth Congressional

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District. And thanks very
much for being here.

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Thank you.
to the successful vote to

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>> I mean, I go back to
September when I voted on

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the continuing resolution
and and actually left for

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the airport. By the time
the jet hit the ground back

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in Wisconsin, the Senate
had already voted it down.

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That that was a message to
me that we were on a

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different track than what
we had seen before, with

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previous continuing
resolutions. But the thing

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that that was confusing to
me is that the Democrats

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picked one of the most
difficult and comprehensive

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issues to kind of hang
their hat on, and that is

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health care. So we all know
everyone in D.C. knows that

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the health care markets,
that the programs and that

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those individual policies
are a complete mess right

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now. And this is going to
take a long, long time to

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kind of straighten out. But,
you know, like you said,

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Senator Baldwin's out there
kind of using it as a wedge

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issue right now, but you're
not going to get anything

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done with blaming one party
or the other. We need to

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come together on that. But
but it can't be done in the

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in the environment created
by shutting down the

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government. So it was a it
was a huge mistake. I did

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predict publicly and almost
3 or 4 days after that,

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that there's only one way
this is going to going to

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end, and it's going to be
for the US Senate to

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capitulate and and cave in.
And ultimately, that's what

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they had to do.
>> Do you support a vote in

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the House on the enhanced
ACA tax credits, as it's

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promised in the Senate?
>> I don't know that we're

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going to get there. I think
with a two seat majority

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and with Speaker Johnson
already sending a message

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that we don't have the
support for that, I

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certainly couldn't support
it right now. The way it's

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been framed up, it's it's
just more money to the

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health insurance companies.
I think we need to continue

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to look at health savings
accounts. Just this week,

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Wall Street Journal
editorialized on something

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that goes back to 2017
where individuals have

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control over their own
health accounts. I think

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that's another pathway we
could we could take. But

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the idea that we're just
going to keep throwing

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that was dreamed up at the
last second makes

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absolutely no sense to me.
And and I couldn't support

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it right now.
>> What is your message to

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your constituents in your
district who may see their

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ACA premiums more than
double when these enhanced

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credits expire?
>> Yeah, I think the first

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thing I do is disagree with
the premise that they're

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going to double. There's a
couple of independent think

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tanks that have done some
analysis since the whole

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shutdown, and there are
some instances where you

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could see a significant
increase, but there's

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others where it will be far
less. And and as a result

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of that, I think, again,
something we don't have a

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handle on, Congress doesn't
have a handle on. And for

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us to somehow dream up some
new policy without doing

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the legwork makes no sense
to me at this point. So

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again, I mean, I take issue
with what Senator Baldwin

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has been saying and
continues to say, because I

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think it's misleading that
there's a simple fix to

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this and it's simply to put
more tax money in.

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>> Would you like to see a
wholesale alternative to

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the ACA, apart from kind of
direct cash payments for

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health savings accounts, a
wholesale alternative to it,

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and if so, what would that
look like?

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>> It has to start with
portability. I mean, this

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isn't something that's new.
This has been around for a

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long time. The idea that
individuals go from

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insurance company to
insurance company to

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insurance company every
time they change jobs or

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every time they get a new
HSA. I joke about it

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because there's a lot of
young adults who have

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switched careers maybe 2 or
3 times early on in their,

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in their careers. And, and
each one has a different

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health plan. So what you
end up with are these

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accounts that have been
created, but yet they never

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grow. And they're never
sizable, sizable enough to

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have an impact. I mean,
that's first and foremost.

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And that goes back to 2017
again, where there were

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some reforms put in place
that, you know, no one's

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really tapped into because
they haven't had to because

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the government keeps
throwing money at these

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subsidies. And it's it's
just unsustainable at this

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point.
>> So you were describing

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how, you know, the issue
that Democrats were kind of

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hanging their hat on was
this very complicated

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health care product. The
continuing resolution runs

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through January. Are we
going to be right back here

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to these same kind of
shutdown talks at that

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point?
>> You know, so let me back

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up a little bit and make a
point on that, which is

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it's another reason many of
us were kind of perplexed

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by the idea that Chuck
Schumer and the Democrats

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in the Senate couldn't come
up with a handshake

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agreement behind closed
doors to just say, listen,

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we'll go out there, we'll
vote for this CR. We won't

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shut down the government
because guess what? We got

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to do it all again. And at
that point we were looking

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at November 21st. So there
was a backstop there. And

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here we go again. There's
another backstop. So I'm

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not sure why they thought
that that shutting down the

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government was a good idea.
And I think if, if they

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attempt that again, if they
go back there again in

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January, there would be
some huge political fallout

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for them. So I think I
think right now their best

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option is to try and sit
down and craft something

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with Senator Thune that can
make it out of the Senate,

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and then the speaker would
see if he could pull the

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votes together. I mean,
he's he's pulled a few

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rabbits out of his hat
along the way here. I'm not

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sure what that would look
like, and I can't even

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commit to supporting it,
but that might be the best

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00:07:01,522 --> 00:07:03,123
option if if we find
ourselves back in the same

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position again.
>> We'll see what that