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It's been two months since Donald Trump signed into law his quote big beautiful bill
And while the cuts to medicated 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
been
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 and 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. 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 and recognizing the impact that those cuts are going to 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 going to 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 health care, etc. This bill that has just passed
Which is predominantly tax legislation benefiting large corporations in 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 dollars a year
Potentially forced 270,000 Wisconsinites off their insurance. How does that happen?
Republicans claim the bill only creates work requirements for 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 care as we know it here in Wisconsin
off the program
These are designed
to
add layers of complexity and 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 going to see happening, but again the affordable care act
Tax credits expire at the end of this year. We're going to see a lot of Wisconsinites losing access to
private insurance through the health care marketplace
Much sooner than the impacts of the Medicaid cuts
Now yesterday we saw the health and human services secretary
Robert Kennedy junior testified for 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 to resign. 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 um 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 in my republican counterparts
many of whom
Got assurances directly from our fk junior that he would not put his own conspiracy theories ahead of rock solid science
Uh as he's doing
Um, and they feel betrayed. I think by uh by our fk junior
And I hope they'll stand up with me calling on him to resign
Speaking of vaccines. We saw florida announced they're moving to eliminate vaccine requirements
We have a measles outbreak in alcanto county in wisconsin
How do you draw the line between?
Vaccine mandates or requirements and personal health care 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
Um, and so, uh, 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 uh nominated as as health and human services secretary
Paddling in these conspiracy theories about vaccines
And so it's very dangerous to have him at the home right now
Switching from health care 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
Um, you know the the national guard are totally unsuited
They sign up for guard duty because of a different mission entirely
And uh, we should be spending those resources helping cities like milwaukee or other
communities
Um have the adequate policing staff that they need
Um, but you know what? I really think the deployment of the national guard whether it be to los angeles or washington dc
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't want the headlines to be about the devastating cuts to medicate 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
um, the mission is to
Uh, be able to have safe communities
And I think the in the united states people agree with the idea that uh violent criminals who are not
Citizens, um should be deported that said
Um, we have seen donald trump go way beyond
Uh, what he said he would do and I think uh as we see
Um, you know rounding up of folks who have been law abiding
Individuals in our communities may be seeking asylum or refugee status
Um, that's not what the public is asking for and I think it should be
Uh, I I think um, 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 what is being done that maybe they aren't seeing or is even more that could be done?
Look, I think that um, we have seen in this president
Somebody who is willing to uh violate the constitution
Uh violate the law
Uh, and uh
Just to remind everyone of the basics of the constitution article one gives congress the power to make law pass laws
um, 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 uh, uh
pass legislation to restore the cuts that he is
Uh, 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, uh, the courts and where the the president is breaking the law and violating the constitution
We're
Bringing this up in court and frankly we're waiting 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
uh, through
uh, through
You know preparing for elections in the ballot box, but also
Uh to stand up as citizens and speak out
Against the uh, overreaches and abuses. All right, senator tammy boulton. Thanks for your time. Thank you
So much for your time. I really appreciate it. Um, I didn't get a chance to throw it in here, but i'm
What are your plans as far as uh, the democratic primary for governor next year?
Are you kind of standing back or do you expect at some point you might endorse?
I I do not particularly think I would endorse in the race. I have um
Uh, uh, been in touch with, uh, all the prospective candidates. Uh, they've reached out
As somebody who's had some experience running statewide and winning races
Uh, and i'm really, uh, i'm really
pleased with the caliber of candidates we have
Uh, and uh, I think it's going to be a healthy primary
So when you, sorry when you first ran for senate, it was the field kind of cleared for you
You were everyone knew with your your name and your chances there
Do you think of 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 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 uh, to win, uh, in the primary
Um, and I think we're going to get to see a field of very talented people
All right, thank you again. I really appreciate it. It looks you get on here
Not at all unlike, uh, the primary