November 3rd, 2026. Head spinning feints 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
Representative Bryan Steil joins us. And thanks very
much for being here. >> Thanks for having me on.
>> So first off, what is your reaction to Toni? 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. And in Wisconsin,
under control and money back to hard paying taxpayers, I
think you're gonna have a robust debate. I think at
the end of the day, we have a great opportunity to have
a conservative governor once again.
candidate at this point? >> No, I'm not running. I'm
going to be running for reelection 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 in one of them will
ultimately be successful. session was cut short, as we
said by the speaker, attributed to what the Wall
Street Journal called, quote, furor over
disclosures from the Epstein investigation. What's your
reaction to the distraction that the whole Jeffrey
Epstein file is causing. >> 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 I lean on the side of more.
Disclosure is always a good thing. The sunlight is the
best disinfectant. And I think actually we should
just move forward with this, disclose 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?
>> Look at the underlying provisions inside the bill.
Let's talk about what we got done. Almost every single
thing is not popular. Once the American people
understand what's in the bill. This is about doubling
down and making sure that the border is 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 overtime or 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 8020 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 it simply says if you're
an able bodied, childless 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 American people learn more and more about
them, I think will only become more popular because
to get this country back on track.
>> 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 numbers to try to scare
people in the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin has had
work requirements for many of our welfare programs, in
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 or 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 over 20 common sense issue.
If you say if you dig further into that, who is
the CBO examining the positive view that as those
people find themselves, find themselves with an
opportunity to get a job, to volunteer, that we won't see
folks losing their, their 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 from their
employer. Like many hardworking, hardworking
families in the state of Wisconsin do.
>> What about changes to the Affordable Care Act that I
understand, and according to Congresswoman Moore, will
raise premiums and also impose other restrictions,
restrictions potentially causing people to lose their
coverage. >> Give me give me the
details on that. I think what what you're taking
there is national analysis on the state of Wisconsin
that doesn't apply. Wisconsin didn't expand
Medicaid. And so some of the reforms are made in other
states apply differently. 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
appointee noted that there's about 163,000 of them that
are 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 it. 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 will actually receive about $1
billion a year more in federal money. We have a
whole debate about that, but more money is 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 the 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 8020, popular.
>> As to the recent Rescissions package that
stripped appropriation funding from USAID and the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Do you expect
and support additional Rescissions as a way to cut
costs going forward? >> Washington has a massive
spending power. We're spending almost $2 trillion
a year more than we're taking in in the debt as
well over $30 trillion. I think we need to go through
the federal budget with a fine tooth comb to remove
waste, fraud and abuse, look at programs that could find
either other sources of funding or aren't 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 hard working
families. >> U.S. Representative Bryan