It's been two months since Donald
Trump signed into law his, quote,
big, beautiful bill.
And while the cuts to Medicaid
included in the bill don't take
effect until 2027,
Democrats are already sounding the
alarm on the overall impact.
Joining us now is U.S.
Senator Tammy Baldwin.
And thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
So you've been touring the state to
talk with providers and patients
about these cuts.
What are you hearing?
Well, I've been visiting critical
access hospitals in rural
areas of the state.
Their margins were
thin to
begin with before the passage
of this.
Now they're looking at
heartbreaking decisions about
perhaps closing
off certain departments
because they are
not profitable and
to help them stay afloat.
Bye. Some we know in Wisconsin
will be looking at shutting their
doors.
Particularly troublesome is the
decision some hospitals have made to
stop having obstetrics
delivery,
meaning that there are places in
Wisconsin where women
have to travel literally
hours to get the services
they need.
And it's harming the health and
well-being of Wisconsin, and it's
not just one small example.
You know, there were big nutrition
cuts in the
bill, and so
visiting food pantries and those who
are focused on food security,
and recognizing the impact that
those cuts are gonna have.
And we also deal with an issue
of the
premium tax credits for
Affordable Care Act, health
coverage.
Those will end at the end of
this year, And we're going to see
those impacts.
Almost immediately,
all of us are gonna pay more.
And what's so ironic, you know, this
is Trump's signature legislation.
He came into office vowing
to lower costs on everything,
right, groceries, but healthcare,
et cetera.
This bill that has just passed,
which is predominantly tax
legislation benefiting large
corporations and the very richest.
It's going to bring costs up
for everyone, and especially health
care costs.
So the administration of Governor
Tony Evers put out a study
estimating the legislation would
cost Wisconsin $140 million
a year, potentially force 270,000
Wisconsinites off their insurance.
How does that happen?
When Republicans claim the bill only
creates work requirements from
Medicaid, it doesn't push anybody
off.
Well, first of all, the red
tape that has been added to
already existing
complex application
processes will actually
end up pushing people who
are fully eligible for
Medicaid or Badger as
we know it here in Wisconsin,
off the program.
These are designed
to add
layers of complexity to make it
really difficult for somebody who's
perhaps juggling two, three jobs
to maintain
their eligibility.
And it's disappointing,
but we know it's going to have those
impacts. You can't cut
a trillion dollars out
of Medicaid over 10
years without kicking people
off who are eligible.
And that's what we're gonna see
happening.
But again, the Affordable Care Act
tax credits
expire at the end of this year.
We're gonna a lot of Wisconsinites
losing access to
private insurance through the
healthcare marketplace
much sooner than the impacts
of the Medicaid cuts.
Now, yesterday we saw the Health and
Human Services Secretary Robert
Kennedy Jr.
Testify before a Senate committee
about his decision to fire
the CDC director, among other things
that he's done.
There's a growing list of Democrats
and organizations calling for him to
be fired or resigned.
Are you on that list?
I am among them.
I call on him to resign." Look,
between his massive layoffs,
mass firings,
and his refusal
to administer grants
that he's required to by
law, and the cutting off of
biomedical research,
and his
choice to put his
own personal politics on
vaccines above science.
Is literally endangering
the health of Wisconsinites, who I
represent.
And I would not only call on him to
resign, but I call on my Republican
counterparts, many
of whom got assurances
directly from RFK Junior that
he would not put his own
conspiracy theories ahead of
rock solid science as
he's doing.
And they feel betrayed, I
think, by RFK
Jr. And I hope they'll stand up
with me calling on him to resign.
Speaking of vaccines, we saw Florida
announce they're moving to eliminate
vaccine requirements.
We have a measles outbreak in Oconto
County in Wisconsin.
How do you draw the line between
vaccine mandates or requirements
and personal healthcare choices
that some people make of whether or
not to vaccinate themselves or their
children?
Well, first of all, I feel
that it would be incredibly
unwise to start having
a patchwork quilt of state
regulations on these.
We need to follow the science.
And there is rock-solid
science that, like the measles
vaccine, work.
And they prevent outbreaks, like
we've seen not only in
Wisconsin, but in Texas,
where two children have died
unnecessarily.
And so I
think that these decisions do
have to be made by parents in
consultation with their doctors,
but science needs to
be in the lead here.
And RFK Junior has spent his
career prior to getting
nominated as
Health and Human Services Secretary,
peddling in these conspiracy
theories about vaccines.
And so it's very dangerous to
have him at the helm right now.
Switching from healthcare, earlier
this week, the president of the
Milwaukee Police Union said he'd be
okay with Donald Trump deploying
National Guard troops to Milwaukee.
Two Republicans running for governor
of Wisconsin have joined that call.
Would you support troops in
Milwaukee?
Look, what I support is safety and
cracking down on crime.
And I think that
the National
Guard are totally unsuited.
They sign up for guard
duty because of a different
mission entirely.
And we should be spending
those resources helping cities
like Milwaukee or other
communities have
the adequate policing staff
that they need.
But you know what, I really
think the deployment of the National
Guard, whether it be to Los Angeles
or Washington D.C.
Or wherever, Donald Trump plans to
send them next, is a distraction.
He doesn't want the headlines to
be about the Epstein files.
He doesn' want the headline to be
the devastating cuts to
Medicaid and the Affordable
Care Act.
He wants to change the subject,
and that's what he's doing.
Continuing with law enforcement,
should local agencies be forced to
cooperate with ICE as they continue
Donald Trump's policy of mass
deportations?
Because we do have a patchwork quilt
of which counties
and communities cooperate and how
they cooperate.
Look, we always want law enforcement
to be cooperating with
one another.
The mission is to
be able to have
safe communities.
And I think in the
United States, people agree with the
idea that violent criminals
who are not citizens
should be deported.
That said,
we have seen Donald Trump go
way beyond what
he said he would do.
And I think...
As we see,
you know, rounding up of
folks who have been law-abiding
individuals in our communities,
maybe seeking asylum or
refugee status, that's
not what the public is asking for.
And I think it should be,
I think we
need to hold this administration
accountable to what they said they
were going to do and not the
overreach that we're seeing now.
There are a lot of Democratic voters
around the state that are frustrated
with Democrats in Washington saying
they haven't done enough to stand up
to Donald Trump.
What would you tell them?
What is being done that maybe they
aren't seeing, or is even more that
could be done?
Look, I think that we have
seen in this president somebody
who is willing to
violate the Constitution,
violate the law, and
just to
remind everyone of the basics of the
Constitution.
Article 1 gives Congress the
power to make law,
pass laws, and
fund agencies.
And it's the president's
responsibility and his
administration's responsibility to
administer those laws.
And to implement those budgets.
He's defying that.
And so where Congress and Democrats
in Congress standing up
is to pass
legislation to restore
the cuts that he is making.
But you know, there's three
components to this.
There's the Congress and democrats
in Congress fighting back.
There's also the courts.
And where the president is
breaking the law and violating
the constitution,
we're bringing this up in court.
And frankly, we're winning a lot of
those cases. The justice system is
working in many of these instances.
And then lastly, it's us
standing with our constituents and
fighting back through
preparing
for elections in the ballot box, but
also. To stand
up as citizens and speak out
against the overreaches
and abuses.
All right, Senator Tammy Baldwin,
thanks for your time.
Thank you.
Thank you for your time. My pleasure.
I really appreciate it.
I didn't get a chance to throw it in
here, but what are your
plans as far as the Democratic
primary for governor next year?
You kind of staying back or do you
expect at some point you might
endorse?
I do not
particularly think I would endorse
in the race.
I have been
in touch with all
the prospective candidates.
They've reached out as
somebody who's had some experience
running statewide and winning races.
And I'm really
pleased with the
caliber of candidates we have.
And I think it's
going to be a healthy primary.
So when you, sorry, when you first
ran for Senate, the field kind
of cleared for you. You were,
everyone knew your name and your
chances there. Do you think a robust
primary is healthy or is there kind
of a silent primary of like, who has
the best chance?
Let's not have them spend all their
money in the primary.
I think it will be a robust primary.
I think all the candidates that I've
spoken to want to be governor
and are going to do everything they
can to win
in the primary.
I think we're going to get to see a
field of very talented people.
All right, thank you again.
I really appreciate it.
We'll let you get on here next time.
Not at all.
The primary.