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- [00:00]
Matthew Whitaker
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David Gura
When you choose Express to support your.
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Matthew Whitaker
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Bloomberg Announcer
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- [00:55]
David Gura
I want to go first to Japan, where President Trump is on the second to last leg of his trip in Asia. The Met face to face with Japan's new prime minister, Prime Minister Takaichi in Tokyo. And the two leaders emerged from that meeting talking an awful lot about the relationship between the US And Japan and also lavishing a lot of praise on one another. Let's take a listen.
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Adam Hodge
This woman is a winner. So you know, we've become very close friends all of a sudden because their stock market today and our stock market today hit an all time time high. That means we're doing something right.
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David Gura
You see the thumbs up there from the prime minister there on the USS George Washington, where the president was speaking? I should say there was a gift exchange that took place over the course of the day. The president prepared hats that said Japan is back, black ball caps. He gifted those to the prime minister. She gave him a putter that belonged to Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister who was assassinated. A close friend, the president said of Donald Trump, and also a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. My colleague Tyler Kendall has been burning the midnight oil. She's in Tokyo covering the president's trip. Tyler, get us up to speed here. I mentioned those gifts. I mentioned the obvious familiarity that was developed between these two leaders over the course of the meetings and time they spent together today. What came out of this in tangible terms? Yes, they now have kind of a path forward for talking about real issues when it comes to trade, when it comes to business issues. What do we learn from these two leaders today?
- [02:24]
Tyler Kendall
Well, David, the central theme today here in Tokyo was bolstering the U.S. japan alliance. But the underlying theme appeared to be countering China. Just look at the headlines that we received after that expanded bilateral meeting between President Trump and the new Japan Japanese prime minister. One is that President Trump confirmed that Japan is going to boost its imports of U.S. military supplies. The second is that the country's entered into an agreement on critical minerals. It appears to be some sort of cooperation pact, though. We're still waiting some additional details then there. And then also they signed a memorandum of understanding when it comes to shipbuilding, another industry that we know China really has a grip on. So that was sort of the underlying theme here, trying to bolster up against China. We even saw this in some of those investments that came out of today as President Trump hosted a reception with business leaders at the U.S. ambassador to Japan's residence here in Tokyo. The common theme among all the attendees there tonight, from Apple's Tim Cook to Andrew's Palmer, lucky was that they all represent those industries that the US has deemed absolutely critical when it comes to competition with China. Now, I do want to point out that Japan is actually already the top investor, foreign investor in the United States. Government data shows us that Japan invested more than $750 billion in the US last year alone. Now we know that they're trying to make good on this pledge for this $550 billion investment fund that is, of course, as you well know, part of the deal with the US to receive that more preferential tariff rate of 15%.
- [04:00]
David Gura
Tyler, I'm curious what happens next on this trip, if there's any likelihood that you're going to be stopping in Pyongyang on the way to Seoul or on the way beyond it. The president had teased that he was looking perhaps to meet with the North Korean leader. What do we know what's likely to unfold here on the last leg of this trip?
- [04:17]
Tyler Kendall
Well, it doesn't seem like the latter is going to happen, but you're right, President Trump did allude to it, but then ended up telling reporters that he think he would have time. But he does welcome a meeting with the North Korean leader when the time is right. We are looking ahead, though, to two other critically important meetings. One, of course, is with South Korea's president, as that country is still trying to ink the finalized version of their trade deal, which would also see a mirrored 15% tariff rate, much like Japan. It would also extend to autos, which we know is really critical for that country. President Trump also teasing earlier that he's set to meet with the Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, on the sidelines of the APEC CEO summit that's also happening tomorrow in South Korea. But then we are really just beating the drum ahead to Thursday when we are going to have this highly anticipated sit down between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, I think safe to.
- [05:08]
David Gura
Say Jensen Huang will walk off that stage at the convention center here in Washington, make his way to a plane to get to that meeting in time. Tyler Kendall, thank you very much for the reporting. We look forward to more of it as the president's trip continues. I want to stick with defense spending, if we could here. And as Tyler was mentioning, that's been really the substance of a lot of the conversations the president has been having on this trip to Asia. It's a theme he returned to time and time again when he meets with foreign leaders. It's something that he thinks is incredibly important that foreign nations spend more on their own defense. It is part of my next guest's job to convey that to NATO allies, in particular, my next guest, Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, who joins us now from Brussels, where, of course, the alliance is headquartered. Ambassador Whitaker, let me start by asking you just sort of how there's a common thread between what we're seeing in Asia and again, that message of increased defense spending that you're conveying to European allies. How is this part and parcel of a larger kind of foreign policy perspective that the president has?
- [06:01]
Matthew Whitaker
Yeah, well, first it started with Donald Trump being elected last November and saying early on after his election that all of our allies, especially our NATO allies, needed to boost their spending to 5% of their gross domestic product. And by what we accomplished in June of this year at the NATO summit, we kind of set that as the benchmark. Now worldwide, I'm not sure we fully anticipated that. I'm sure Donald Trump thought about it. But now that is the benchmark, the 5% on defense spending. And, you know, the nice thing about the NATO alliance is it's the 32 countries certainly that are members, but we have partners all over the world, including our Indo Pacific partners, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and they are great on the interoperability, on the standards that we set for munitions and weapons sort of being inculcated across all US Allies. And this is really good news not only for the strength of the United States and our alliances, but it's also good for our, our, our weapons and defense industry. But it's also good for all of our allies because that strength is going to allow all of us to project power and, you know, and obviously address any threats, whether it's, you know, the Chinese threat, whether it's the Russian threat or whether it's other threats that are maybe not as symmetrical.
- [07:23]
David Gura
Mr. Ambassador, at the last meeting of the NATO defense ministers, I heard you flag that some big pledges for Ukraine to purchase U.S. weapons. Can you tell us how much money we can expect to see spent on top of the $2 billion that Ukraine managed to secure by the end of last month? By the end of September?
- [07:38]
Greg Murphy
Yeah.
- [07:38]
Matthew Whitaker
Well, so right now we have set up a system where the commitments kind of are rolling forward. You know, we have probably another $2 billion or more to bring in in the next several months, and we fully expect that that will be done here very soon. We have a foreign ministers meeting at the beginning of December, which will most likely kind of top that off. And then as we get into 2026, the key is sustainment. The key is the 12 or 15 billion dollars that are needed to buy the critical armaments needed by Ukraine to defend themselves and to continue this fight at the front line is going to be raised. It's going to be U.S. weapons. And, you know, I'm confident about that. And I think this is another example of Europe stepping up of our NATO allies here on the continent stepping up in supporting Ukraine in the defense ultimately of the European continent. And it's, you know, we're watching very closely. Secretary Hegseth was very clear about that, that, you know, President Trump is interested in the success of this since he announced it over the summer when I was there with him in the White House. And so it's a good news story. But, you know, our work is never done because this war continues. And that's, I think, the most important thing that President Trump has impressed on all of us, including our allies, is this war needs to end and Russia needs to come to the table and resolve this dispute, resolve this war. They've made no progress in the last three plus years of fighting. They still only control about 20% of Ukraine. And they're not, you know, going to accomplish much more, even if they continue to fight for years. And so the time is now to end this war.
- [09:25]
David Gura
It was a couple of days ago that the Treasury Department announced these new sanctions on Russian oil producers. And we've heard the president say publicly he hopes those sanctions won't be in place for very long. Given that, what can you tell us about how vigorously the US Is going to defend those sanctions?
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Matthew Whitaker
Oh, well, I mean, obviously we have implemented those sanctions. We plan to enforce them. I think the president's point is very clear, is that we expect now with these enormous sanctions that have been placed on Lukoil and Rosnet, that this will maybe be the thing to unlock President Putin coming to the table and ending this war and at least entering into a ceasefire so we can, you know, negotiate a final resolution. But remember, as I've said before, President Trump holds all the cards. This is just one card that he's playing. There are many more. I was just today with CIA Director Ratcliffe here in Brussels, and we talked about a lot of other options that the president has available to him. And, you know, President Trump is going to play those as appropriate. But again, all we want is this war to end and the killing to end and the death and destruction and to again have peace and prosperity. We have a peacemaker as president, and he's going to continue to work on this until he unlocks the right combination of leverage to get Vladimir Putin to agree to end the war.
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David Gura
You mentioned those cards, and I imagine a big one are these Tomahawk missiles. And you'll forgive me, but I just don't know what the state of play is on the US Being willing to give those to Ukraine. Now. What's your sense of how the president plans to deploy those or not?
- [11:02]
Matthew Whitaker
Yeah, well, obviously, that is ultimately President Trump's decision. You know, deep strike capabilities are not just available from the United States. There are other countries that are helping Ukraine that can provide those to be used on the battlefield. And we've already seen Ukraine developing its own. Whether it's long range drones or whether it's their Flamingo missile, there is all sorts of ways that long distance strikes can be brought to the oil and gas infrastructure of Russia and their weapons and armaments manufacturing, no matter how far it may be behind the main line of contact. And so, you know, we're going to obviously keep some of those things close to the vest. President Trump is going to continue to look at whether Tomahawks are necessary or whether there are other opportunities for other countries to provide long range strikes.
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David Gura
We see the European Union struggling to kind of come to an agreement on the use of frozen Russian central bank assets to back a loan to Ukraine. And I wonder sort of what the U.S. s perspective on that is. As you have conversations with European diplomats, is the US Ready to kind of move in tandem with European nations to use those frozen Russian central bank assets to back a loan to Ukraine?
- [12:16]
Matthew Whitaker
Yeah, well, what we really want is our European and NATO allies to move at the same time as the United States. In this case, we'd like the EU to move first. I mean, there's $140 billion that could be used to help Ukraine, whether it's on the battlefield or whether it's with their economy and with other needs that they have as a country. But, you know, this is an opportunity, really, and we've been encouraging the EU to make this move. We were disappointed that they didn't at this last, but there's another meeting coming up in about a month where I think they'll have an opportunity. And they're just my observations from, you know, here in Brussels, it's across, you know, town, but is that they continue to try to make sure that they have all their pieces and parts lined up so that they can feel confident to make this move. Obviously, Belgium, where I'm sitting right now, has some concerns, but I think those will ultimately be resolved. And this would be another opportunity to. To bring Russia to the table to negotiate and to resolve and end this war.
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David Gura
Got about a minute left, and I want to ask you about the news that just broke that Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel has authorized powerful strikes on Gaza and certainly calls into question the integrity of the ceasefire that's been in place there. Of course, this isn't your remit specifically, but it does play into kind of foreign policy and international politics more generally. How are you thinking about the path forward here, the fragility of that ceasefire and what it means for stability in the region?
- [13:45]
Matthew Whitaker
Yeah, well, we obviously were very proud that President Trump was able to make this historic cease fire. Always knew that it was going to be fragile, always knew that Hamas has been a problem and could continue to be a problem. And we'll just have to watch it. You know, I know that one of the things that we were able to do in these negotiations was bring a lot of the Muslim world, a lot of the Middle east and the Gulf countries together to put pressure on Hamas to. To enter into this. We got, you know, all the living hostages were returned home, and that was obviously a very important moment in this dispute and this war. But we'll just have to watch it. I think, you know, the people of Gaza want peace. It's only Hamas that is the problem. And so, you know, Israel has certainly a right to defend itself. And we'll just have to see what additional pressure and additional opportunities the world can bring to make sure that Hamas is not hostile and doesn't continue to, you know, wreak havoc in Gaza Strip.
- [14:55]
David Gura
Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for the time. Really appreciate it. That's Ambassador Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, joining us from Brussels on this Tuesday amid a swirl of international headlines around the world, in Asia, in the Middle east, as well appreciate his time. Of course, he the former acting attorney general of the United States as well. Much more to come here as we chart the path of Hurricane Melissa on Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio.
- [15:21]
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- [15:46]
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- [16:05]
David Gura
David Gura in for Joe Matthew and Kailey Leinz here in Washington, D.C. where on day 28 of this government shutdown we continue to look for signs that there is maybe an off ramp somewhere, some sign that there could be some pathway to resolution. We have Vice President J.D. vance scheduled to be on Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans today. Of course, on November 1st, some 40 million Americans slated to lose their benefits, their snap benefits. That could be a pressure point, perhaps could get Congress to move into action. Megan Scully joins me now on set. She's our congressional editor here at Bloomberg News. And I'm curious, as you look at this terrain, look at the status of this shutdown now in the fifth week, are there any indications that the terrain is shifting in any way?
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Megan Scully
So yesterday when the largest union of federal workers came out and really put pressure on Democrats, urging them to essentially pass something at least resembling the Republican passed, you know, stopgap spending bill, a clean cr. A clean cr. You know, I thought maybe that would budge things a little bit. It did not. As of last night, we saw Senate Democrats really remaining resolute, including Senate Democrats in this area, those who represent Maryland and Virginia who have, you know, some of the largest numbers of federal employees who work in their districts and states.
- [17:18]
David Gura
What is the quality of conversation so much as there is a conversation? You mentioned the Senate Democrats. Are they talking to House Democrats? Is there any kind of inter party communication happening on Capitol Hill right now?
- [17:28]
Megan Scully
So there is some intra party communication happening, but it is at a lower level. It is certainly not involving the president or congressional leaders. Yesterday, Senator Murkowski, a moderate Republican from Alaska, went to the floor and demanded higher level bipartisan talks to end the shutdown. But those have not happened. And remember, the House isn't even in session. So they are not in Washington, aside from some leaders and some Democrats have been sticking around, but they're not in the chamber. They're not taking votes.
- [18:00]
David Gura
Lastly, what is your assessment of how seismic an impact that's going to be when these SNAP benefits are no longer funded? As I mentioned, more than 40 million Americans rely on them. How are lawmakers thinking about the effect that will have. Yes. On their constituents, but on this kind of political narrative that's taken hold here in Washington?
- [18:15]
Megan Scully
Well, it's certainly a huge forcing function and one that Democrats say that the administration can move funds to cover these bills. And there's certainly a fight over that right now. They say that this is not necessary, that even if the shutdown persists past Saturday, which is the day that the SNAP benefits, the federal benefits are expected to be cut, that there is money to pay for these. Certainly the Trump administration did move money around in mid October to pay for the military personnel. It's unclear whether they'll do that again on November 1st. So that's another big date. And then the other big issue we're keeping an eye on certainly is air traffic this afternoon or this morning. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy talked about air traffic controllers, TSA going without paychecks and the havoc that could wreak on air travel. That was the issue that sort of that forced the last shutdown to end. And certainly as we're heading into holiday season, the pressure becomes higher and higher in that regard.
- [19:17]
David Gura
Megan, thank you very much for the update. We'll get more to come. I know Megan Scully, who leads our congressional team here at Bloomberg, joining me on set. And Megan mentioned just a moment ago the pressure that this is putting on federal workers. More than 700,000 of them received paychecks for $0 at the end of last week. There are, of course, many who are furloughed and not being paid as well in this area. In the greater Washington, D.C. area, we have a lot of workers looking to find food through other ways, going to food pantries. Here are some who went to a World Central kitchen food pantry in search of food just a couple days ago.
- [19:47]
Tyler Kendall
It's a little challenging being a federal.
- [19:49]
David Gura
Employee right now, not knowing when we'll head back to work. It's starting to get real. You know, we just missed, we just missed a paycheck. So definitely moving money around, playing money games. And, you know, you can't sustain this for much longer. I mean, at some point you're just going to dry out your savings and all that.
- [20:06]
Lauren Rosenthal
It's just tough that people who are.
- [20:09]
Greta
Supposed to be supporting us and showing up for us aren't showing up for us.
- [20:16]
David Gura
Our political panel joins us now. Adam Hodge, Democratic strategist, managing partner at Bully Pulpit International. I should say a Bloomberg Politics contributor as well. And Greg joins policy director at Brownstein. Hi. At Farber Schreck and a Republican strategist with me here in Washington. Adam, let me turn to you. As we talk about pressure points, you listen to those federal workers talking about the pressure that they're feeling brought to bear on their shoulders in this moment. How do you think lawmakers are listening to that, seeing that, reacting to what they're hearing now increasingly from workers who have either been paid $0, as I said, or who have been furloughed now for four weeks time? Yeah.
- [20:50]
Adam Hodge
Look, David, it's not just federal employees here in Washington, federal employees around the country who are concerned that, you know, they're going without a paycheck. And I think the key thing that everybody understands if you just unpack these issues, is that the way to get out of this shutdown is do a deal on health care that extends the ACA tax credits and that coverage and also reopening the government. That that is just the math in the Senate, and that is the reality on the ground. I think the political reality is also that the health care issue has truly become the salient issue of this, this shutdown fight. And you see Republicans on a bit of the defensive trying to explain what their alternative would be, and it's coming back to bite them. And the polls I've seen repeatedly over the last few weeks have shown that the majority of Americans, the majority of Democrats, independents and even some Republicans are blaming the Republican Party for the shutdown. So I think that's where we get to getting a deal that gets the ACA issue resolved and reopening the government.
- [21:53]
David Gura
And Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina warning Republicans that this could have an impact on their election prospects in the midterms? Gret, I want to kind of go to you on what Adam was bringing up, and that is we've heard from the Senate majority leader, John Thune. Look, if Democrats agree to open the government, he is more than willing to have a conversation about these health care benefits. What is your sense of your understanding of what Republicans are willing to do if that comes to pass? In other words, what is the Republican plan when it comes to health care in this, in this vein of talking about subsidies, these Obamacare subsidies and Medicare?
- [22:24]
Greta
Well, I think it's really important for Republicans to really dig down deep and find out why the Affordable Care act is actually so unaffordable. You know, these subsidies, these additional subsidies were part of COVID funding. And if we are in a position where we are beyond Covid, the subsidies have to continue to exist in perpetuity. And Democrats just want to rubber stamp that without really asking anyone questions as to why the promises that were made when the Affordable Care act were not met and ultimately what the Democrats plan to do about it other than simply increase subsidies in perpetuity. There is really no concrete way to have that discussion while being held hostage with a closed government. Unfortunately, Democrats seem to be willing to sacrifice SNAP recipients and air traffic controllers and the American people hostage until they get what they want, which is just putting more money into the system without trying to reform it.
- [23:25]
David Gura
But Greta, what you're proposing sounds like kind of a broader philosophical conversation that we've had many times in Washington about the role that the government should play in healthcare benefits. Why would a person who's worried about his or her benefits going up so expensively feel confident in the fact that they're going to be able to get through that broad philosophical conversation, find some way to give that person some relief?
- [23:45]
Greta
Well, I think it's because the two Democratic leaders in Congress have already turned down a year long opportunity to extend the subsidies. So they just want it done in perpetuity. And ultimately that is not realistic. It is an unfortunate situation that Chuck Schumer and Leader Jeffries are willing to hold the American people hostage in order to achieve this. But I think it's about time that we ask some harder questions as to why they don't want to have those conversations about why the Affordable Care act has been a failure.
- [24:17]
David Gura
Adam, the president of the United States, as we've talked about over the course of the hour, is quite far away from Washington, 7,000 miles away in Asia, holding these meetings, going to South Korea next. He's not here. I was on Capitol Hill last week, spoke with Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader, and he really stressed there's no opportunity for progress here without the president in town either giving his blessing to conversations that would take place between Republicans and Democrats or participating in them himself. I wonder if you agree with that and sort of what absent that could catalyze these two parties talking with one another and trying to find some resolution to this.
- [24:49]
Adam Hodge
I agree, but I think it's simple just to take the president's words himself. I mean, he said that he's the speaker of the House. He said that he's in addition to being president of the United States. And in practical reality he is. And so any deal that is going to get done has to have the president's push and the president's blessing. And I think what I've also heard that really stood out to me, the president understands the potential damage to Republicans if they don't get a deal on health care. I think you've heard from everybody from Marjorie Taylor Greene on the extreme right to more moderate members in the middle who recognize the political salience of this issue because it's the right thing to do. I mean, you've got people who are already getting premium increases and there's a real question about whether they're going to be able to afford their health care in the long term. Those subsidies, yes, they were part of COVID and they added helped add 10 million people to the roles and more people with health care help stabilize the market. That just kind of economics basics. And so I think that is why I think you get a permanent extension of this, of the Obamacare credits, you provide some certainty to the market and you get a political deal that quite frankly is in the Republicans own best interests.
- [26:03]
David Gura
Adam, I'm going to give you the last word this hour. I gave it to Greta last hour. Just as you see as you look ahead here, what you think that the catalyst is going to be, is it going to be a calendar based catalyst? Is it going to be the Veterans Day holiday, for instance? Is it likely to be this November 1st pressure point in the minute we have left? Where do you see sort of any opportunity for movement here?
- [26:20]
Adam Hodge
Look, I think you're starting to see it already with people showing up at the town halls for Republican members of Congress and they're talking about the premium increase that they're already getting. I mean, that is real pressure for their constituents. I think you get to November 1st and people miss a paycheck. That is certainly painful. And again, we can get out of this deal. If there was a little bit more trust between Republicans and Democrats, they would actually be real negotiation. I think you'd get there and that rebuilding that trust is going to be key. Somehow, some way.
- [26:50]
David Gura
Somehow, some way. Adam Hodge, managing partner at Bully Pulpit International, joins policy director Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shrek joining me here on Bloomberg's BALANCE of Power. We continue our coverage of focusing more on the shutdown when we come back after a short break. This is Bloomberg.
- [27:05]
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- [27:32]
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- [27:49]
David Gura
David Gura in for Joe Matthew on this Tuesday on the 28th day of this federal government shutdown. And all throughout, we've been talking to lawmakers. We're going back and forth to their districts, states coming back to Washington, bringing us news of how their constituents are thinking about this shutdown as it stretches onward and onward. Please note that Congressman Greg Murphy joins us. He represents the 3rd congressional district in North Carolina, my home state. And I might invoke my anchor's prerogative here in just a couple of moments to talk about the geography and maybe the political terrain in that district as well. But great to have you with us here. Thank you, Washington. Let me start with that question of sort of what you're hearing as you go back home about how long this has dragged on and how there doesn't seem to be, at least at this moment, any clear off ramp to this.
- [28:28]
Greg Murphy
Yeah, no, I think the Democrats have sewn themselves into a corner. I really, it's really true. I'm hearing, hey, stay, stay firm, hold the line. Because it's just an asinine, ridiculous amount of requests in something that shouldn't have any requests in it. This is a clean bill to continue funding a month ago on a Wednesday, just like we did on a Tuesday. And so people are understanding that, and I think they're sensing some of the desperation of the other side.
- [28:54]
David Gura
I was up on Capitol Hill last week and I sat down with Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader. And just feet away, the House speaker was doing a news conference. And I said, the minority leader, you know, you're so close to one another. Do you speak with one another? Are these conversations happening? I was also struck by how quiet the place was. But is that happening? Are you talking to Democrats? Is there any kind of conversation happening at the number one?
- [29:14]
Greg Murphy
Well, the conversation, you know, it reminds me of Seinfeld a little bit, was a show about nothing. This is the shutdown about nothing. Because we literally just wanted to fund the government. Let's just Be very clear, David. Let's make. Let's just tell it what it is. This is because AOC scared Schumer and the progressive left scared Schumer because he did the exact same thing in funding the government in March, period. Let's just distill it down to what it is. And so they've now put $1.5 trillion in demands, basically reversing everything that the 2024 election said to do because they say they don't like it. And so I think the American people understand that. Look, you had the Federal Credit union yesterday, federal employees say yesterday say, look, two thirds of us are saying, enough of this. Vote for the clean cr, Let us get back to work, let us get funded. So I think the cracks are starting to occur. We know that some moderate Senate Democrats who spoke on the condition of anonymity last week said, look, we'd vote to fund the government, but our guillotines would kill us. Our far left would kill us.
- [30:09]
David Gura
So you are a medical doctor by training. You're a urologist, I believe the Democrats say this is about health care and the rising cost of health care. I wonder if you have any sympathy for that. Maybe stepping back, not talking about the subsidy specifically, but just the weight that health care costs are bringing to bear on Americans, including those in your district.
- [30:26]
Greg Murphy
Yeah. Go back and look at 2014 with Obamacare. This was a ticking time bomb that was going to explode at some point. And then look at all the different variables. Look at why things cost so much today. Yes, we're living longer. Yes, care is more expensive. We're doing great, great new therapies. You know this from Chapel Hill. But sadly enough, we have grown since 2014, since Obamacare has exploded. The middlemen in society, the insurance agencies, the pharmacy benefit managers, these are a great, as Ross Perot would say, the great sucking sound of medicine. We need to destroy the huge monolith that's ha. That's occurred in the middlemen and get back to making health care affordable. They want these subsidies. These subsidies are basically subsidizing insurance company profit. Sorry, not going for it.
- [31:12]
David Gura
I will put the question to you here. What do Republicans propose to do if you don't extend these subsidies? How do Republicans bring those costs down?
- [31:18]
Greg Murphy
Well, I think there are a lot of things. If you look at Medicare Advantage, UnitedHealthcare is really the worst offender with this and all the upcoding of things that they do. If you look at pharmacy benefit managers, where they're taking the middlemen out, squeezing our independent pharmacies and causing drug prices to be high because they get paid more because of that. Looking at efficiencies, look at what Trump Rx has done. They're saying we're going to go straight from the pharmaceutical company to the patient. We can cut a lot of costs with this. There are many, many different ways we can do this. Inherently, we're living longer, we're living healthier, and those things do cost more. But there are a whole lot of efficiencies that can be obtained that present day bureaucracy is not allowing us to do.
- [31:56]
David Gura
I said I was going to wax reminiscent. I'm going to do that now. You represent a territory that has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I'd say objectively, I spent a lot of time on Emerald Island, Carteret county, of course, went to Ocracoke as well. One of the most beautiful and isolated places in the world. You're in a strange predicament right now. The Republican legislature in the state of North Carolina has redrawn the maps. How are you thinking about the consequences of that at this point in time and what that means for your kind of electoral fortunes going forward?
- [32:24]
Greg Murphy
Well, they took away my beaches. I've always had a coastal district and frankly, I'm not too happy about that. But that said, you know, I'm always going to represent to my fullest extent the people that are in within my district. You know, if you look around the country, look at Illinois, look at California, look up in the Northeast. It's always been, regardless of any Republican people there, it's always been gerrymandered against Republicans. And it's really interesting that now we're playing the same, same hand that they've played against us. I don't know that this nuclear war is a good thing for the country.
- [32:54]
Lauren Rosenthal
Country.
- [32:54]
Greg Murphy
But it's just literally trying to turn the tide back, which has been put against Republicans before.
- [32:59]
David Gura
How do you see all this playing out? So you bring up that slippery slope and turning back that tide, is it going to happen? How do you see this ratcheting up even more?
- [33:06]
Greg Murphy
Yeah. You mean in North Carolina?
- [33:08]
David Gura
Well, just in the United States more broadly, where this is happening. Indiana is another one.
- [33:11]
Greg Murphy
Yeah. And I heard Virginia was going to try to do it too. I don't know. You know, I think history will tell us whether this was a good thing or not for the country or whether it was a partisan initiative that's in reaction to a previous partisan initiative. I don't know. Time will tell. We're going to have to let the dust settle on this one. Before making any real judgments, I think.
- [33:31]
David Gura
Of you and your relationship with Don Davis, the gentleman from Snow Hill and Greene County. And you've gotten along, I think, reasonably well. And we talked at the top just about the level of comedy among Democrats and Republicans or the lack thereof. How does this stand to strain that even more if this process continues and you see again, these maps being redrawn and more strains being placed?
- [33:48]
Greg Murphy
Well, Don knows that I'm not directing this. I'm literally, you know, I'm running in the district where I'm the incumbent. We have worked together on a lot of issues. We worked back when I was in the state legislature on the issues. But, you know, this is a team sport and it's one team against another team. And push comes to shove, regardless of what happens in the future, this is the hard part of politics.
- [34:09]
David Gura
In the time we have left, let's just go back to the Hill and think about the state of play here. I imagine you'll have meetings among your caucus. You'll hear from your leadership. What are you looking forward to here in the days to come? We have the president who's still overseas. Does he need to be back in town for there to be real action here?
- [34:24]
Greg Murphy
No, not at all. I mean, look at the wins that he's having overseas. My God, look at all the trade initiatives and all the trade deals that he's doing. The Biden administration, during the entire four years I was on the Trade subcommittee for Ways and Means, we did absolutely nothing. And the president has win after win after winning. No, this is a Senate Democrat problem, period. And when the cracks appear in that, which are going to have to happen sooner than later, we'll get this resolved and we can actually go ahead with government.
- [34:49]
David Gura
Bit unfair here, but a headline crossing the terminal. A federal judge plans to block Trump shutdown, layoffs. This is a unique shutdown in so many ways. We have Russ Vogt, who's running the Office of Budget, trying to move things around, keep some people paid, keep some programs running. When you hear a headline like that, how do you react? Just kind of the limbo that a lot of these federal workers have right now.
- [35:08]
Greg Murphy
It's so funny that you say that, because last time when the Democrats were saying, well, I'm going to vote to keep the government funded, but I don't, because they didn't want to give the power to the president to do certain things. And now that they've shut down the government, guess what's happening? The president has the power to do these things, whether this is a rogue judge or what, I don't know specifically about that. But you know, actions have consequences and the Democrats have now going to have the consequences of their actions.
- [35:36]
David Gura
Congressman, thank you very much. Appreciate it, Carson. Greg Murphy, North Carolina. I'll second that. Joining me here in the studio in Washington, D.C. as we continue to watch a number of events around the world. I want to return to the Caribbean here. In the last few minutes that we have left, Hurricane Melissa making landfall in Jamaica. And my colleague Lauren Rosenthal, who covers weather for us here at Bloomberg News, has been tracking that. And Lauren, I wonder what the latest is on the impact of that storm on Jamaica, what we've seen in these last 30, 45 minutes.
- [36:00]
Lauren Rosenthal
Sure. So Melissa has officially made landfall in Jamaica, packing winds of 185 miles an hour. This is the most powerful storm in record keeping going back to the 1850s to strike Jamaica, which is no stranger to hurricanes. And it is also tied for the strongest storm ever to make landfall in the Atlantic Ocean basin. So really an extraordinarily strong and dangerous storm currently making its way across the island.
- [36:32]
David Gura
Lauren, as you look at this storm, obviously incredibly fast wind, the process for a lot of rain, what in the end will do the most damage in all likelihood to Jamaica? Is it the rain or the winds?
- [36:42]
Lauren Rosenthal
I mean, the winds are extraordinary. The island's prime minister has said there are no structures that are capable of withstanding winds, winds this strong, you know, in Jamaica or, or likely in most countries that that could see a storm like this. But we know from, from history that storm surge and flooding is typically the most dangerous part of any storm. Melissa was predicted to bring more than 13 foot, 13ft of storm surge ashore, which is, you know, a story and a half tall of water being pushed onto land just given how how powerful the storm is. And then up to 40 inches of rain coming could fall over Jamaica in the coming days.
- [37:23]
David Gura
You mentioned the kind of unique devastation that Jamaica faces here. If you kind of look for analogs, are there other storms? Have there been other storms like this in the past in the Caribbean or elsewhere? Kind of. How does this compare to some of the bigger hurricanes that we've experienced and seen?
- [37:35]
Lauren Rosenthal
This is really interesting. You know, I've talked with experts who said in the same way that Hurricane Helene, which sort of threw an unbelievable amount of rainfall at the Appalachian Mountain Mountains in North Carolina, causing just sort of unbelievable devastation there because the storm is moving so slowly and folks may not recognize how mountainous and rugged Jamaica's terrain really is. We could see substantial flooding and, you know, communities and settlements being washed away over the next few days.
- [38:09]
David Gura
I'm curious what you're going to be watching for. So this is going to kind of linger over Jamaica for a time, but over the next next couple of hours, what are you going to be watching for, sort of. How does this develop?
- [38:18]
Lauren Rosenthal
Yeah, we're, we'll be watching to see, you know, reports of damage. We know that the island's largest airports both sit on the coast to the north and the south. They're incredibly vulnerable to storm surge and to flooding. The island has invested in coastal defenses, you know, with the understanding that as sea level rises due to climate change, a lot of, a lot of that property is at risk. So we'll be seeing, you know, how those defenses have held up, but really waiting for news of potential loss of life and injuries from the winds and.
- [38:49]
David Gura
The flooding, as you may have heard, we were just having a conversation I with the congressman here in D.C. about the federal government shutdown. And I'm curious if that's had any impact on how much of an understanding we have of this storm. Obviously, a lot of federal workers who are furloughed or not working or not receiving paychecks, has that diminished our ability to track and forecast the path of this storm?
- [39:11]
Lauren Rosenthal
You know, I will say this was a difficult storm to pin down in the early days, like over the past week, just because it wasn't very well organized, as we call it, that made it hard to forecast where it was going. You know, our sources have told us that the US National Hurricane center was accepted from the shutdown. So folks are working their long hours to, to predict the path of the storm and give updated reports and as you said, are not on a list of, of workers who will, who will receive pay.
- [39:44]
David Gura
And for those in the US Maybe in coastal areas watching all of this unfold, does this pose any threat, the storm pose any threat to them?
- [39:50]
Lauren Rosenthal
Yeah. The storm is not predicted to make landfall to pass directly over communities in the US but eastern beaches will see rough surf, unusually heavy wave action as the storm makes its way back across the Atlantic toward Europe.
- [40:06]
David Gura
Lauren, thank you very much for the reporting. That's Lauren Rosenthal. She covers weather for us here at Bloomberg News as Hurricane Melissa, that Category 5 storm, making landfall in Jamaica. Just a massive storm, as she described. Those winds of 185 miles per hour. I saw reporting they could get up to 200 miles per hour. So really promising to wreak some severe damage on the island nation of Jamaica. And we'll continue to follow that for you here on Bloomberg Television.
- [40:28]
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- [40:31]
David Gura
Make sure to subscribe if you haven't.
- [40:32]
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- [40:42]
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