Johnson, we'll leave it there. Thanks very much for
your time. >> Have a good day.
>> 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 it. 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 expected
only to get worse, as some who were automatically
enrolled 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 in
the House, he has railed against the Affordable Care
Act, supported repeal of it in its entirety for 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 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 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 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. Right now, Ice
agents outnumber local law enforcement 3 to 1.
>> 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. >> On foreign policy, US
threats against Iran, the incursion into Venezuela
and the play on Greenland. In your mind, where does
all this leave the US 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 making 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 it's, you know, 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 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
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 homeownership so more, so much more
difficult for first time homebuyers. You know, the
average age of the first homebuyer is now 40 years
old. Imagine that. And the price in the last decade or
so of 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. >> We leave it there.