We are on day 23 of the federal government shutdown.
So far the Senate has failed 12 times to pass the House bill that would reopen the government.
So the continuing resolution the House passed would only fund the government through November
21st and at this point we're almost closer to that date than the start of the shutdown.
Do you think Republicans should consider a new CR with maybe a longer date behind it?
Well, I think we should first of all wait a little bit and see if the Democrats will
keep the government open.
I mean, like you just said, the Republicans in the Senate, my own Ron Johnson, the vote
in 12 times keeps the government open.
And it's what is normally automatic.
So you understand we are waiting for a budget for the calendar year, for the fiscal year,
beginning October 1st, 13 times when Joe Biden was president.
The Republicans helped them out by keeping the government open in similar circumstances.
I bet it didn't make the shows, right?
So I think a lot of us still want to believe that the Democrats will do what is power for
the course has been for decades and just vote to keep the government open.
No reason not to.
So the hang up for Democrats in the Senate, according to them, is that this extension
of Affordable Care Act subsidies, they're holding out for that.
What they expire at the end of the year, November 1st is when those subsidies, when
the marketplace opens and people may see what premiums may look like without those subsidies.
Would you vote to extend the subsidies if that was the deciding factor and a deal?
Package.
You got to remember, it's always fine and good to say we're going to vote for the more spending
of every type.
But right now we're borrowing 26% of our budget.
That's why we've got to get the continuing resolution passed because they're may wind
up being a little more for subsidies in there.
But it depends upon what's going on in the other items.
We've got about $1.8 trillion in discretionary spending that we're voting to extend, of which
the Obamacare subsidies are parked.
That is because the Obama pair is flawed.
It would be nice to change the Obamacare works so we don't have to keep dipping further and
further in these subsidies.
But again, we've got to ask the Democrats, 26% of our budget is borrowed.
What do you plan on cutting instead if you do want to put $34 billion in debt, what they're
looking at, into Obamacare subsidies?
So one of the things that people in the public that are receiving these subsidies aren't
as nuanced in the federal government spending as obviously you are.
But when they hear headlines like $20 billion for Argentina to bail out their economy, but
we can't afford subsidies for Americans, how do you explain that discrepancy there?
Well, I think President Trump is in a situation which doesn't monitor Argentina becoming a
new Venezuela, which is even more widely expensive to deal with.
I think that he has had to realize the Obamacare was poorly drawn up.
We are prepared to keep the government open.
And then as far as subsidies are concerned, you know, they've got to ask us where other
parts in the budget are that they don't want to spend as much of it.
The consumer price again, again, the Americans have to get used to the fact that right now
we're borrowing 26% of our budget.
You're talking about Obamacare subsidies.
I'll tell you when I'm in my office, again and again and again, I meet Americans who
want the government to spend more money, can we spend more here, can we spend more
there?
And, you know, I can think of things that can be done to get to $34 billion for the Democrats
who put it in the table.
And in part, they haven't put them on the table because we're not negotiating, we're
not negotiating because we should keep the government open first.
It's just not that difficult of a demand.
It's something that's done automatically.
And if you look at the statements in the journals that are put out in Washington, D.C.,
the Democrats admit that the reason they are not opening the government is they want to
use leverage, not just on Obamacare, but on things like more DEI programs, for example,
which I think are just the most vicious things that wouldn't be good to spend money on if
somebody gave us some money for free.
So the Consumer Price Index was released today and showed inflation was up 3% in September
and they say largely due to tariffs.
Do you continue to support Donald Trump's tariff policy?
I'm not as big a fan as tariffs as some other people, but President Trump is our president.
There's no question.
There should have been no question about the American public that he's a big fan and
tariff, as is his Treasury Secretary.
Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has canceled floor sessions over the past couple of weeks.
Democrats say it's because he doesn't want to swear in a newly elected Democrat from
Arizona, who potentially could be the final vote to discharge Epstein files.
Do you believe that or do you think there's another reason the House hasn't come back
to the floor?
I think the reason he doesn't want Republicans back in Washington is I think he wants to control
the narrative as far as what's going on during shutdown.
And I think he's afraid if you had 200 more Republicans running around in Washington
and the reporters would find somebody to say something that made me Speaker Johnson wouldn't
like.
I was back in Washington this week.
I had been returning to Washington next Monday and if people want to hear me there, they
can hear me there.
I don't have a problem with moving back to Washington.
And today the Trump administration announced they had denied Wisconsin's application for
federal disaster relief for six counties damaged by flooding in August.
Some of those in your your district.
What's your reaction to that?
I was very disappointed.
Obviously we're very broke that maybe it's one of the things that's entering into the
decision.
It's just got out today and I'll be the contact with Trump administration to see the recent
close decisions.
All right.
Congressman Grothman.
Thanks for your time today.
Thank you very much.