Okay.
Senator Baldwin is on a statewide
swing denouncing Republicans
for blocking attempts to extend
Affordable Care Act Enhanced
Subsidies.
For the GOP, put this shut
down vote in the win column.
For his reaction, we turn to
Republican U.S.
Representative Scott Fitzgerald of
the state's 5th Congressional
District, and thanks very much for
being here.
Good to be with you.
Thank you.
So what is your reaction to the
successful vote to end the shutdown?
I mean, I go back to September
when I voted on
the continuing resolution 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 was a message to me that we
were on a different track than what
we had seen before with previous
continuing resolutions.
Um, 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, uh,
hang their head on, and that is
healthcare.
So, uh we all know everyone
in DC knows that the healthcare
markets, uh that the
programs and that,
uh those, uh individual
policies are a complete mess
right now, and this is
going to take, um, a
long, long time to straighten
out,
but like
you said, Senator Baldwin's out
there using it
as a wedge issue right
now, but you're not going to
get anything done with blaming one
part or the other.
We need to come together on that,
but it can't be done
in the environment
created by shutting down
the government. So it was a huge
mistake.
I did predict publicly and
almost three or four days after
that, that there's only one way this
is going to end, and it's going to
be for the U.S.
Senate to capitulate 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 is promised in the Senate?
Uh, I don't know that
we're going to get there.
Um, I think with the two seat
majority and with Speaker Johnson
already sending a message
that, uh, we don't have the
support for that.
Uh, II certainly couldn't
support it right now.
The way it's been framed up.
Uh it's uh, it's just more
money to the health insurance
companies.
Um I think we need to continue
to look at health savings accounts.
Uh 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 take.
But the idea that we're just gonna
keep throwing money at a
COVID era fix
that was dreamed up at the last
second makes absolutely no
sense to me.
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 as a result of that, I'd
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 alternatives
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 two or
three times early
on in their
careers.
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 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
no one's really tapped
into because they haven't had to
because the government keeps
throwing money at these subsidies
and 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 the C.
R. 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
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 shutting down the
government was a good idea.
And I think 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 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
pulled a few rabbits out of his hat
along the way here.
Uh, 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, uh, if we find ourselves back
in this same position again.
We'll see what that looks like then.
Congressman Scott Fitzgerald, thanks
very much.
Thank you so much. Good to be with
you.
Thank you, sir.
Good to see you again.
Yeah, you too.
Well, not in person, but try
and get over to the studio.
That would be great.
That would great. Thank you again so
much. Thank you.
Very good. Thank you.