Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin was on the Senate floor this week to, in her words,
rail against Republicans repeated attacks on the Affordable Care Act. Senator Baldwin joins
us now. Thanks very much for being here.
It's a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
So you say that. But Congressman Van Orden and 16 other Republicans in that body voted
in favor of extending the enhanced tax credits. Does that represent some movement toward that
in the Senate?
You know, it was, we had a moment in the Senate to take up the bill that was passed in the
House of Representatives that would have extended the tax credits for three years. And my Republican
colleagues blocked it, pure and simple. We have known for well over a year that these
tax credits would expire at the end of 2025. And I have worked tirelessly to try to extend
these tax credits so that working families can afford their health care premiums if they
buy through the Affordable Care Act. But we're seeing the numbers start to come in. Thousands
of Wisconsinites have dropped health care coverage. And we expect it only to get worse
as some who were automatically reenrolled, get their premium bills and figure out that
it's just not in their budget to continue health care. And so while I will never throw
in the towel on fighting for affordable health care for all, I can tell you that for some,
it is too late in this particular year to repair the damage that has been done. And as
to my colleague from Wisconsin and the House, he has railed against the Affordable Care
Act supported repeal of it in its entirety for years now. And this at the last minute
in my mind does not recover, does not, does not make him now a fan of the program.
So we just spoke with Senator Johnson and he is proposing maintaining the tax credits
for people at 400% above poverty. Is that something that you would support?
Look, I believe that there is a lot of room for negotiation on the extension of the Affordable
Care Act tax credits. And there is no reason in my mind that we can't have a reasonable
income cap or to have a provision that says that you can't be expected to pay more than
a certain percentage of your income on health care. I just want to relate a story that I
shared on the Senate floor. I have a constituent who is paying 40% of their income on their
health insurance premium. That's how much it's gone up in the absence of these Affordable
Care Act tax credits. And so I think we have to be reasonable here, capping the percentage
of people's income that should be contributed towards health insurance. But I think we can
look at a reasonable limit for higher wage earners to have that tax credit taper off.
On immigration enforcement, do you think the president invoking the Insurrection Act to
bring in the military helps or hurts what's going on right now in Minneapolis?
You know, when you see this president surge, what is now close to 3000 armed masked ICE
agents into neighborhoods, schools, residential areas, I think that makes our communities
less safe, not more safe. And the chaos that is going on in Minnesota by these unaccountable
actions taken by these ICE agents is the part that is causing tensions to rise. And
I think that the Trump effort to change the narrative and blame residents who are peacefully
protesting this presence is wrongheaded. He's been talking about reckoning and retribution.
That's what I think this is all about. And it is very, very disconcerting to see this
surge that right now ICE agents outnumber local law enforcement three to one.
What do you think about invoking the Insurrection Act?
I think it's entirely wrongheaded and is about the retribution campaign that this president
is on and inappropriate. Do you think this kind of powder keg comes
to Wisconsin? You know, I think we need to be watching and vigilant about what's happening
in our neighboring state of Minnesota and be ready. I think it is very responsible for our
local leaders and state leaders to be talking actively about what this would look like in Wisconsin.
Unformed policy, U.S. threats against Iran, the incursion into Venezuela,
and the play on Greenland. In your mind, where does all this leave the U.S. in the world?
You know, first of all, it's so clear that the president is distracted
and trying to distract the attention of the American public. When he ran for president,
he said, on day one, I will bring costs down. And on day one, I will end our international
conflicts, our endless wars. And instead, he has promoted policies that have increased
prices of everything from groceries and consumer goods to energy, housing. And he has, instead of
bringing an end to conflict, he has proposed or actually engaged in more.
This president is totally distracted from what he promised he would do for the American people.
Because what do you think Wisconsinites care most about right now? Is it the cost of everything
including housing? Including housing, including health care, as we just discussed.
Many are facing these impossible choices and actually dropping something as essential as
health care coverage because they can no longer afford it because of policies that Donald Trump
has promoted. The economy is by far the number one concern that I hear from my constituents.
And the cost of things feels just impossible to them right now. Housing costs have skyrocketed.
And we have seen grocery prices accelerate in terms of inflation in recent months.
And the president's energy policies are going to create a significant price hike for people.
And so again, this president is distracted and he is not focusing on the very things that
Wisconsinites who voted for him would like him to. Are there fixes to this that you may be working
on across the aisle? There are certainly there are fixes to everything. As I said, I won't throw
in the towel on health care costs. I continue to work with my Republican colleagues on ways in
which we can bring down the cost of prescription medication, ways in which we can reform the
health care system, which is terribly broken right now. On housing, I certainly reach out to my
Republican colleagues to join with me and others to make sure that private equity firms and large
corporations aren't gobbling up all the single family homes that make them take them off the market
and make home ownership so much more difficult for first-time home buyers. You know, the average age
of the first home buyer is now 40 years old. Imagine that. And the price in the last decade
or so of housing has nearly doubled in our state. And so we have to squarely focus on these issues
of affordability so that being in the middle class means something, means you're getting ahead.
We leave it there. Senator Tammy Baldwin, thanks very much.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you. All right.
Thanks for having us. All right. Take care. Bye-bye. Take care. Bye-bye.