Karen Moscow (2:40)

Well, the White House has come to the table on some of these really critical issues like military pay, pay for the Coast Guard, also finding that supplementary funding for that key federal nutrition assistance program that helps women and children. But, Congressman, we hear from Democrats that they want President Trump to come to the negotiating table when it comes to the policy st at stake here, particularly related to health care. We know he had this luncheon today with Senate Republicans. But do you think President Trump should be getting more involved as this shutdown drags on?

Congressman Brian Steil (3:11)

Well, I think again, the challenge here is we put forward a clean CR now, as you noted weeks ago passed in the House. We're three weeks into a shutdown. We should be three weeks into the cr, utilizing the time that we're burning right now to negotiate those policy priorities. Many of these have year end deadlines, appropriate conversations for us to be having. But we should be doing that in the context of an open and operational government. Again, the House did our job. The Senate is running into filibuster challenges. Senator Fetterman is even calling now and saying maybe we have to overcome that because a minority of United States senators are standing in the way under the leadership of Chuck Schumer from reopening the federal government.

Nathan Hager (3:53)

Hmm. You've seen what's going on with the premiums here, Congressman. And I know that you're careful not to conflate this debate with that of government funding. But we saw a couple of states this morning in Georgia where I know Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been making some noise here. Obamacare premiums could rise as much as four times. They could quadruple in Maine, plans will see premiums up an average of 24%. In Michigan could surpass a 18%. And that's before factoring in the expiration. What would it mean for people looking at their subsidies rise in Wisconsin?

Congressman Brian Steil (4:31)

Well, I think what we see is the data continues to come in that the Affordable Care act was anything but affordable for the American people. The program the Democrats put in place. And again, the Democrats set the sunset date themselves. This was a Democrat decision to sunset it at the end of the year. But what we continue to see is challenges inside the structure of the program. There is plenty of evidence of the waste, fraud and abuse inside this Democrat created program. There's a Treasury report that came out under President Biden that identifies as significant flaws inside these premium credits that go back to insurance companies as to why it's structurally unsound. So at an absolute minimum we would need to make meaningful and substantive reform in the program. But again, these are the conversations and the debates that we should be having right now on Capitol Hill. Instead, we're shut down all because Chuck Schumer and Democrats in the Senate refused to open the government with a clean CR to allow these negotiations and debates to take place.

Karen Moscow (5:31)

Well, Congressman Joe just outlined one of the potential impacts for constituents. Another has to do with economic assistance for farmers. A senior administration official tells me that's currently been delayed because of this ongoing shutdown. I looked up the stats. The USDA estimates Wisconsin farmers produce $1.3 billion worth of soybeans each year. This is, of course, at the center of this issue as China hasn't imported any US Soybeans so far this harvest season. I'm wondering if you're in any discussions with the administration on what this aid package might look like. Are they talking with Congress on this and any update on when it could be rolled out?

Congressman Brian Steil (6:08)

I had a long conversation with two soybean farmers from Wisconsin yesterday talking about this exact challenge. The short term fix may be that type of a subsidy, but the long term fix is getting trade agreements in place and having China once again purchasing US Soy. The US Soy exports are heavily dependent on the Chinese markets. The broader trade negotiations that we're having is causing concern. I'm of the view that we have a huge opportunity here to work with our allies, hold China accountable and then strike the trade deal. I think President Trump's in a position to do that. The short term fix may be providing some level of assistance. The long term fix is striking these trade agreements to the benefit of American workers and farmers.

Nathan Hager (6:50)

Congressman, we appreciate the insights, as always. That's Brian Stile, Republican Congressman from Wisconsin, who chairs the House Admin Committee. And always a pleasure to have the chairman with us as part of our conversation.

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Karen Moscow (7:36)

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Nathan Hager (7:42)

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