And we showed you just now who we're fighting for. And
we'll continue to fight for. >> Senator Baldwin is on a
statewide swing denouncing Republicans for blocking
attempts to extend Affordable Care Act,
enhanced subsidies for the GOP put this shutdown vote
in the win column for his reaction. We turn to
Republican U.S. Representative Scott
Fitzgerald of the state's fifth Congressional
District. And thanks very much for being here.
Thank you. to the successful vote to
>> I mean, I go back to September when I voted on
the continuing resolution and and actually left for
the airport. By the time the jet hit the ground back
in Wisconsin, the Senate had already voted it down.
That that was a message to me that we were on a
different track than what we had seen before, with
previous continuing resolutions. But the thing
that that was confusing to me is that the Democrats
picked one of the most difficult and comprehensive
issues to kind of hang their hat on, and that is
health care. So we all know everyone in D.C. knows that
the health care markets, that the programs and that
those individual policies are a complete mess right
now. And this is going to take a long, long time to
kind of straighten out. But, you know, like you said,
Senator Baldwin's out there kind of using it as a wedge
issue right now, but you're not going to get anything
done with blaming one party or the other. We need to
come together on that. But but it can't be done in the
in the environment created by shutting down the
government. So it was a it was a huge mistake. I did
predict publicly and almost 3 or 4 days after that,
that there's only one way this is going to going to
end, and it's going to be for the US Senate to
capitulate and and cave in. And ultimately, that's what
they had to do. >> Do you support a vote in
the House on the enhanced ACA tax credits, as it's
promised in the Senate? >> I don't know that we're
going to get there. I think with a two seat majority
and with Speaker Johnson already sending a message
that we don't have the support for that, I
certainly couldn't support it right now. The way it's
been framed up, it's it's just more money to the
health insurance companies. I think we need to continue
to look at health savings accounts. Just this week,
Wall Street Journal editorialized on something
that goes back to 2017 where individuals have
control over their own health accounts. I think
that's another pathway we could we could take. But
the idea that we're just going to keep throwing
that was dreamed up at the last second makes
absolutely no sense to me. And and I couldn't support
it right now. >> What is your message to
your constituents in your district who may see their
ACA premiums more than double when these enhanced
credits expire? >> Yeah, I think the first
thing I do is disagree with the premise that they're
going to double. There's a couple of independent think
tanks that have done some analysis since the whole
shutdown, and there are some instances where you
could see a significant increase, but there's
others where it will be far less. And and as a result
of that, I think, again, something we don't have a
handle on, Congress doesn't have a handle on. And for
us to somehow dream up some new policy without doing
the legwork makes no sense to me at this point. So
again, I mean, I take issue with what Senator Baldwin
has been saying and continues to say, because I
think it's misleading that there's a simple fix to
this and it's simply to put more tax money in.
>> Would you like to see a wholesale alternative to
the ACA, apart from kind of direct cash payments for
health savings accounts, a wholesale alternative to it,
and if so, what would that look like?
>> It has to start with portability. I mean, this
isn't something that's new. This has been around for a
long time. The idea that individuals go from
insurance company to insurance company to
insurance company every time they change jobs or
every time they get a new HSA. I joke about it
because there's a lot of young adults who have
switched careers maybe 2 or 3 times early on in their,
in their careers. And, and each one has a different
health plan. So what you end up with are these
accounts that have been created, but yet they never
grow. And they're never sizable, sizable enough to
have an impact. I mean, that's first and foremost.
And that goes back to 2017 again, where there were
some reforms put in place that, you know, no one's
really tapped into because they haven't had to because
the government keeps throwing money at these
subsidies. And it's it's just unsustainable at this
point. >> So you were describing
how, you know, the issue that Democrats were kind of
hanging their hat on was this very complicated
health care product. The continuing resolution runs
through January. Are we going to be right back here
to these same kind of shutdown talks at that
point? >> You know, so let me back
up a little bit and make a point on that, which is
it's another reason many of us were kind of perplexed
by the idea that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats
in the Senate couldn't come up with a handshake
agreement behind closed doors to just say, listen,
we'll go out there, we'll vote for this CR. We won't
shut down the government because guess what? We got
to do it all again. And at that point we were looking
at November 21st. So there was a backstop there. And
here we go again. There's another backstop. So I'm
not sure why they thought that that shutting down the
government was a good idea. And I think if, if they
attempt that again, if they go back there again in
January, there would be some huge political fallout
for them. So I think I think right now their best
option is to try and sit down and craft something
with Senator Thune that can make it out of the Senate,
and then the speaker would see if he could pull the
votes together. I mean, he's he's pulled a few
rabbits out of his hat along the way here. I'm not
sure what that would look like, and I can't even
commit to supporting it, but that might be the best
option if if we find ourselves back in the same
position again. >> We'll see what that