Lots happening out of Washington.
Between Elon Musk's cost
cutting moves, eliminating positions
and taking aim at whole agencies,
and now Republican budget provisions
that extend tax cuts while at
the same time looking for
massive spending reductions to
offset them.
Wisconsin Democratic U.S.
Senator Tammy Baldwin joins us
now. Thanks very much for being
here.
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate it.
So just to lay this out, the House
Republican budget resolution calls
for $4.5 trillion
in tax cuts, while at the same time
offsetting that with what could
be more than $800 billion
in cuts to Medicaid and food
programs.
The Senate version, as you know,
spends on border security and the
military with these tax cuts to
come. What is your reaction
to these proposals?
Well, I was watching
closely as the House
deliberated on the budget.
At first it didn't look like they
had the votes even within the
Republican ranks to get it passed.
It did pass.
And these
cuts, primarily
targeting Medicaid
are draconian.
And I can tell you that my
phones have been ringing off the
hook with people very
concerned about the impact
it would have.
Nationwide, over 72
million people rely
on Medicaid in some fashion.
People who are in long term care.
Our seniors oftentimes
have Medicaid as
the primary payer for
their care.
A third of all children are on
Medicaid.
Many pregnancies
and deliveries are funded
through Medicaid and
people with disabilities.
Disproportionately in their adult
lives rely on
Medicaid.
And the calls we're getting.
For example, Rene
from Milwaukee, who has
stage four metastatic breast
cancer, is terrified
about the possibility of losing
Medicaid, which pays for
her treatments right now.
Without it, she and her husband with
either faith based bankruptcy
or a death
much earlier than otherwise
if she could continue her
her Medicaid.
This is devastating.
The idea that Elon Musk
and his billionaire friends,
Donald Trump and others,
are trying to fund
their tax breaks
by taking away your health
care is just outrageous,
and we've got to organize and stand
up against.
And yet Republicans say that
what you're talking about is simply
fearmongering.
That the word Medicaid appears
nowhere in this Republican
House resolution.
You know what?
The budget resolution
directs various committees
of the House to find
these deep cuts,
and the committees that they have
directed to find these deep
cuts are the ones with jurisdiction
over Medicaid and
jurisdiction over these
nutrition programs,
for example,
low income children.
So they may run
from
taking responsibility
for their actions.
But it is very clear
that they cannot achieve
the type of deep cuts that
they're talking about to fund
tax breaks for the top 5%
of Americans.
They can't hide from the fact that
Medicaid is the biggest
target.
They also speak to
waste, fraud and abuse
at significant levels in Medicaid.
What about that?
So I am absolutely
for rooting out waste,
fraud and abuse.
And I think I speak for all of my
Democratic colleagues and certainly
all my Republican colleagues.
This is something that we are
unified on.
If President Trump was serious
about rooting out fraud,
waste and abuse, he would
not have fired 17
inspector generals whose
job it is to root
out fraud, waste and abuse.
These inspector general's are
non nonpartisan,
impartial
overseers of agencies
that spend people's taxpayer
dollars.
But yet President Trump
fired without cause.
The very people whose job
it is to do that.
Now we have this new
so-called Department of
Government Efficiency,
which is not a department
of government. It hasn't been set
up by Congress.
It hasn't been empowered by
Congress.
It's headed by the richest
man on earth, Elon Musk,
who is not a government employee,
has not been confirmed by the
Senate, who has not run for
office and won.
And they aren't looking
at efficiency, waste
or abuse.
They are just taking a
sledgehammer to
these agencies, hiring
all or firing
all probationary employees.
These are people who have been there
a year or less now,
demanding
that the departments
all Create
plans to sever
massive numbers of their
employees.
The funding freezes that we've seen.
These are all overreaches
of authority that
Doge and Elon Musk don't
have.
And we've really got to
differentiate from the very
important responsibility to
go after fraud, waste
and abuse and what they're
doing, which is just, again,
taking a sledgehammer
to these agencies.
House hack how head
spinning is what's happening right
now with all of that.
It it is what
they warned us they would do.
Steve Bannon, Steve Miller,
other top advisers
to Trump, told the American
public, we are going to flood the
zone.
And boy, does it feel like that's
exactly what they're doing,
You know, announcement after
announcement many times, a
major announcement happening on a
Friday evening or over the weekend
when it's much harder to get
the word out and respond.
But you know what?
We had
an experience with the Trump
presidency before,
and we had
an experience with
an attempt to take away your health
care about that.
And the American people rose
up.
They realized that the Affordable
Care Act had created
the opportunity for millions
who previously couldn't get coverage
because they had a preexisting
condition or some other
disqualifying
event in their lives, and
they now have access to health
insurance. And they fought back.
We fought back.
And we're going to have to do that
around Medicaid and a number
of other issues that are under
attack by this administration
and have to work together to do
that.
Because with budget reconciliation,
allowing Republicans to pass
their budget without the support of
Democrats.
What can your side of the aisle do
about the budget or
the chainsaw being taken
to government operations?
Well, I'm going to focus
particularly on the latter.
We have to remember our U.S.
Constitution.
Congress makes the laws,
and it is the administration
that is to implement and administer
those laws.
And while reconciliation
and the budget can pass on a simple
majority vote
in the Senate, all other
legislation requires bipartisan
majorities.
And so
we have already passed a set
of laws that are being defied by
Joe, by Elon Musk, and by
the Trump administration.
Some of that's going to be fought
out in court.
I'm kind of thinking of the three
C's as how we fight back the
courts, the Congress
and our constituents.
That is how we are
going to hold folks to account.
We still have a Constitution.
We still have laws that have been
passed by this Congress
in the previous Congresses,
and they need to be fully
and faithfully implemented
by this administration.
And if not, we need to stand up
and fight for the people
of this country and Wisconsin.
Senator Tammy Baldwin, thanks very
much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Have a great show. The rest of you.
Thank you.
Bye.