Head spinning faints and fights in Washington this week, and the Republican House Speaker
cut short, the legislative session, as some congressional members demanded votes on releasing
the Jeffrey Epstein files. Our next guest was among those who got an early recess.
Wisconsin First District Republican U.S. Representative Brian Stal joins us.
And thanks very much for being here.
Thanks for having me on.
So first off, what is your reaction to Tony Evers not running for a third term?
I think what you're going to see is a large number of Democrats get in the race and run to the
left. But what we have to do is get our state back on track, not measuring things like education
by just how much money we're spending, but on how well we're doing, whether or not students are
being taught how to learn not what to know, whether or not we're getting the spending in Wisconsin
under control and money back to hard paying taxpayers. I think you're going to have a robust
debate. I think at the end of the day, we have a great opportunity to have a conservative
governor once again.
Do you have a favored candidate at this point?
No, I'm not running. I'm going to be running for re-election to the House of Representatives.
We'll watch the Republican field play out. But I think we have a large number of great strong
candidates who will, and one of them will ultimately be successful.
So this week's House session was cut short, as we said, by the speaker, attributed to what
the Wall Street Journal called, quote, fuhrer over disclosures from the Epstein investigation.
What's your reaction to the distraction that the whole Jeffrey Epstein file is causing?
Now, the broader media landscape loves to talk about Epstein. They don't want to talk about
the president's success of securing the border about the positive impacts of the tax package
that was just passed. I think it's a lot to do about nothing. I think Eileen on the side
of more disclosure is always a good thing. The sunlight is the best disinfectant.
I think actually we should just move forward with this. Just close what's legally permissible.
It's obviously under a court seal. It's not under the direct control of Congress. And then
get really back and try to draw the attention of the media who loves to be distracted by this
back to the most important issues of the day. Now, a new Marquette Law School national poll
shows that 41% of respondents support the reconciliation bill that President Trump signed
into law while 59% oppose it, of course, with sharp partisan divides. Why did you vote in favor?
Let me look at the underlying provisions inside the bill. Let's talk about what we got done.
Almost every single thing is net popular once the American people understand what's in the bill.
This is about doubling down and making sure that the borders secure wildly popular. The
president's moves to do that and then building to make sure that's permanent a good thing.
Investing in the military at a period of time of dangerous global instability,
making sure the 2017 tax cuts are permanent to build on the economic growth that we saw
leading into the pandemic and then doubling down on that in particular for seniors,
those working over time are those who are earning tips. And then finally,
getting spending under control. And this is where the demagoguery has been probably the most
challenging. Putting in place work requirements for able-bodied childless adults is an 80-20
issue in the state of Wisconsin as indicated by the not so long ago referendum. That's what this
bill does. It actually secures the program for those it was designed for, permanently disabled
adults, children, pregnant women and simply says if you're an able-bodied childless adult of working
age, we're asking you to be looking for work volunteering or working a minimum of 20 hours a
week. And so the provisions of the bill as the American people learn more and more about them,
I think will only become more popular because they're common-sense reforms to get this country
back on track. On this program last week Milwaukee Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Moore
reiterated her position that there's, quote, truly no bottom to this bill now laws cruelty,
saying it will result in 276,000 people in Wisconsin not receiving health care. What's your response
to her? Yeah, that's kind of the dangerous demagoguery that I think really tries to scare people. And
it's unfortunate at a period of time we're trying to get spending under control in Washington. Again,
let's review the bill. In the state of Wisconsin, there are roughly about 130,000 able-bodied
childless adults on Wisconsin's Medicaid Badger Care program. Little over half of those individuals
are already working a minimum of 20 hours a week. There's about 63,000 individuals,
out of the 1.2 million individuals on Medicaid. They're able-bodied, they're of working age,
they don't have young children. We're simply asking them to come to the table and have some
skin in the game, look for a job, be in school, volunteer, or work a minimum of 20 hours a week.
This is, I think, a common-sense reform. The demagoguery that we get by those on the left is
actually, I think, quite disappointing. A period of time where we're working to strengthen the
program for those it's truly designed for. So the Congressional Budget Office did estimate
that this law will cut federal spending on Medicaid and chip benefits by $1 trillion,
due in part the CBO says, to at least $10.5 million being eliminated from the program.
But let's dive into those numbers, right? Because the people are using those numbers to try to
scare people in the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin's had work requirements for many of our welfare
programs and particular SNAP benefits since the 1990s, when Governor Tommy Thompson put them in
place. In Medicaid, we don't have the exact work requirements that the federal government
has, that this law passes. What this law does is simply say, if you're an able-bodied childless
adult, we want you to be looking for work going to school, volunteering, or working 20 hours a week.
This is an 80-20 common-sense issue. If you say, if you dig further into that,
who's the CBO examining? I'm at the positive view that as those people find themselves
with an opportunity to get a job to volunteer, that we won't see folks losing their health
benefits. What we'll see is people getting into a good or a better-paying job with the ultimate goal
of many of these able-bodied childless adults, getting into the workforce and receiving their
health care from their employer, like many hard-working families in the state of Wisconsin do.
What about changes to the Affordable Care Act that I understand, and according to Congress
One More, we'll raise premiums and also impose other restrictions, potentially causing people
to lose that coverage? Give me the details on that. I think what you're taking there
is national analysis on the state of Wisconsin that doesn't apply. Wisconsin didn't expand
Medicaid. Some of the reforms are made in other states apply differently. This is what's really
dangerous about the demagoguery that some individuals want to engage in. They want to
take a national narrative and apply it to Wisconsin. Wisconsin, I think, very thoughtfully,
did not expand Medicaid further into the able-bodied childless working age population.
And so, again, of the 1.2 million individuals in the state of Wisconsin who currently are on
Medicaid, Tony Evers of Point E noted that there's about 163,000 of them that are of the demographic
that we should look at, able-bodied childless adults. Well, over half of those are already
already working 20 hours a week, going to school, volunteering. 63,000 are not or are not documenting
yet. And so, this is about making sure that we're strengthening the program for those
that it's designed for. No changes. And, in fact, in my opinion, strengthening Wisconsin,
after the passage of the state budget, we'll actually receive about a billion dollars a year
more in federal money. We've got to have a whole debate about that, but more money's coming in.
And so, the left is trying really hard to demagogue on this issue as the facts got out.
You saw a quick pivot into Epstein, which was the lead question of your interview.
So, what we need to do is to dive in, get the information out to American people about how
we're strengthening the program. And I think, as the American people learn more and more about this,
it's only going to be more popular. Again, the work requirements in the state of Wisconsin
had a referendum 80, 20 popular. As to the recent recisions package that stripped
appropriation funding from USAID and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Do you expect and support additional recisions as a way to cut costs going forward?
Watching it has a massive spending problem. We're spending almost two trillion dollars a
year more than we're taking in. And the debt is well over 30 trillion dollars.
I think we need to go through the federal budget or the fine tooth comb to remove waste
front abuse. Look at programs that could find either other sources of funding or arms,
necessary. And so, I think it's appropriate to make sure that we're combing through the federal
budget, looking for ways to save taxpayer dollars. And again, in a period of time where every extra
dollar we spend is effectively a dollar borrowed from China. I think it's absolutely appropriate
to dig through the federal budget and look for ways to save funds for hardworking families.
U.S. Representative Brian Stiles. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful weekend. You too.
Thank you.