← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The Shutdown’s Final Hours w TSA Chaos, Missed Paychecks & Liberal Political Theater
00:21:30
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- [00:00]
Rodney Williams
This is an iHeart podcast.
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Rodney Williams
I'm Rodney Williams. And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the Wealth Break podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look the same for everyone. I feel like sometimes being broke is.
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Senator Ted Cruz
A cycle and that we might have.
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Rodney Williams
To revisit that and we're not stopping at success stories.
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Travis Holloway
What happens when it doesn't go right? How do you cope with it?
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Rodney Williams
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- [03:10]
Senator Ted Cruz
You have people like Bernie Sanders, you have all the Democrats who are running for president that want to want a spectacle and, and so that if they really decide to be just, just fully obstructionistic, they could drag it as late as Friday.
- [03:25]
Rodney Williams
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
- [03:29]
Ben Ferguson
Good Monday morning. Nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update. And there's just one big story. The government is still shut down, but we're moving closer to getting it back open. Why is it taking so long? Senator Cruz joins me to talk about exactly what's happening on the floor of the Senate as we speak. And Democrats could have opened the government Sunday night. They decided on purpose to drag their feet. How long could this last? How much is it going to affect your life and travel? This week we answer all of those questions. But first, I want to tell you about an amazing opportunity right now that I'm involved in and I cannot wait for you to take advantage of it. I want you to take some incredible courses at Hillsdale College for free. You may not know this, but Hillsdale College has been influencing conservatives like myself for decades. They had a huge impact on Charlie Kirk's life. And even as memorial service, they talked about how Charlie took class after class after class at Hillsdale College. Hillsdale College is now offering for you, the listeners of this show, more than 40 free. I want to say that again. Free online courses. That's right. More than 40 free online courses. You can learn about the works of C.S. lewis, the stories in the book of Genesis, the meaning of the U. S. Constitution, the rise and fall of the Roman republic, or the history of the ancient Christian church, all with Hillsdale College's free online courses. Right now, I'm personally taking the Constitution 101. In this course, you're going to explore the design and the purpose of the Constitution, the challenges it faced during the Civil war and how it has been undermined for more than a century by radical progressives and liberals. This 12 lecture course is self paced. It's Another reason why I love it. So start whenever and wherever in our country. We need more Americans like you and I that understand the Constitution and can defend the freedom of the American people against the left and their increasing encroachments on our God given rights. So start your classes today for free. Start your free Constitution 101 course right now. How do you do it? Go to Hillsdale Edu Morning Update to enroll. And it's no cost. It's easy to get started. You got to use a special website. Hillsdale Edu Morning update. Enroll for free Hillsdale Edu Morning Update. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now.
- [06:19]
Rodney Williams
Story number one.
- [06:20]
Ben Ferguson
All right. So, Senator, there was a lot of excitement earlier Sunday evening. My phone blew up. I'm assuming you were getting the text mess like, oh, great, the government's wide open again. It's. It's gonna go back to normal. I. I wish that was true. You just described it as we've got the votes to move forward.
- [06:38]
Travis Holloway
Forward.
- [06:38]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [06:39]
Ben Ferguson
Explain the process. Because I mean, even on social media it was like, the government's reopened. I'm like, not so fast. That's not how this can work. In fact, it could take almost another week in total to get this thing back to where it needs to be.
- [06:53]
Senator Ted Cruz
So, look, the good news is we finally have a deal. And we got the votes that are necessary to reopen the government. So we've had a shutdown, the schumer Shutdown, for 40 days. Yeah, 14 different times. 14 times Republicans have voted to open the government. 14 times Democrats have voted no. Have voted to keep the government shut down. Now, remember, the entire reason that we have a shutdown is because under the Senate rules, you need 60 votes to move to proceed to legislation funding the government. We only have 53 Republicans. That means we need at least seven Democrats. And unfortunately, Rand votes no on all of these. So we have 52 Republicans to fund the government. So we need eight Democrats. The 14 times we voted over the last 40 days, over and over and over again, we've gotten at most two or three Democrats tonight, Sunday. It's just a few minutes after 10pm Sunday night, we finally got the eight Democrats we needed. So the Democrats who voted to reopen the government are Durbin, Hassan, King, Cortez, Masto, Cain, Shaheen, Rosen, and Fetterman. Those are the eight. We got exactly what we needed. We ended up with 60 votes, not 61. So that not. Not in a sink. Every other Democrat voted no, Keep it shut down. But getting eight is important. And there was a substantive deal, but, but the substantive deal has several pieces. Number one, there's a continuing resolution that runs through January 30th. So one thing that was really important to me and to a lot of conservatives was that we not have government funding expire right before Christmas. Yeah, often government funding expires right before Christmas. And they use the desire everyone has to go home to their families for the holidays to twist their arms into passing a really bad bill. So this does not end right before Christmas. The cr. Instead, the continuing resolution continues until the end of the of January. That was significant. We also included three appropriation bills in the deals. Now these are appropriation bills. There are two ways you can fund the government. You can fund the government through an appropriation bill. There are 13 different appropriation bills that fund different cabinet agencies and different major programs. Yep, those take 60 votes. That's, that's what's called regular order. That's the way the system is supposed to work. And then you can also fund the government through a continuing resolution, also called a criminal, that just keeps everything the way it was before and maintains the status quo. We ended up doing a combination of both. So in this deal we have, number one, the ag approach. So that's, that's the agriculture appropriation that includes the funds that, that farmers rely on, but it also importantly includes snap. It includes food, food stamps. So yeah, one of the consequences of the shutdown was the funding for, for food stamps went away. With this appropriation bill, we will fund the food stamps for an entire year. So that will be taken off the table.
- [09:58]
Ben Ferguson
And by the way, let's be very clear about that. Republicans tried to make sure that even with the government shutdown that SNAP benefits were continuing and were not stopped. Democrats made damn sure that people did not get their food stamp benefits during the 40 day longest shutdown in American history. They did that because they thought it was leverage to hurt the poorest among us in America. And that would then give them leverage to get more of the port barrel things they wanted for the Democratic programs and initiatives. And they didn't care if you couldn't feed your kids over the last 40 days.
- [10:34]
Senator Ted Cruz
So understand that was the entire Democrat strategy is maximize the pain on the American people because the more pain that they could inflict, they were counting on the media to be dishonest and blame it all on Trump. And so repeatedly this past week I went back and forth with Democrats repeatedly, and their talking points were very simple. They would say, well, you have a Republican president, Republican Senate, Republican House, the shutdown is their fault and that was it. And they were counting on the dishonest corporate media to tell that lie, what they omitted. And actually, I talked about this just this weekend. I spoke when the Senate floored. I said, look, whenever anyone takes an oath to testify in court that they put their hand on the Bible and they pledge to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Well, the Democrats saying that they're failing part number two, the whole truth, because it is true. We have a Republican president, House and Senate. What they're ignoring is the fact that it requires 60 votes and it is the Democrats who force the shutdown because they're the ones that are not voting to keep the government open. This package we took three appropriations bills. The ag appropriation bill, which is farmers, ranchers and food stamps, the military construction and the VA bill so that funds, funds our veterans and also gives funds for military construction projects across the country. And then the legislature bill, which, among other things, we increase the funding for security for members of Congress. Given the political violence we see, I think that's very important to have more funds to increase security on both sides of the aisle. So that package, those are three appropriation bills that were bipartisan, the Democrats had a part in, that were passed along with the 30 day CR or not 30 day, the CR to January 30th.
- [12:22]
Ben Ferguson
January 30th, yeah, yeah.
- [12:24]
Senator Ted Cruz
So all of that is what we got 60 votes for tonight. Now, what does that mean tomorrow morning? Does that mean the government is open Monday morning? Unfortunately, no.
- [12:34]
Ben Ferguson
And by the way, people are frustrated because they think, well, you guys shut it down quickly, then why can't you just reopen it quickly? And this is how the sausage is made. And that's why I think there's some miscommunication on Sunday night about, oh, the government's like, open up. I mean, there was major news outlets like government opening up votes to have it. And they're thinking, all right, well if I'm flying out Monday or Monday afternoon or Tuesday, yeah, there should be no problems at the, at the airport. That's also not true. I want to be very clear about that.
- [13:03]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, if the Democrats want to be full obstructionist, they could delay opening the government as late as Friday of this week. Really, there are a series of votes. We have to take it under the Senate rules, they can delay thing. They have a right to an intervening day between one vote and another. They can delay things for 30 hours. And so they could drag it out. Even though we have the 60 votes, they could drag it out as late as Friday. My guess is they'll drag it out till Monday or Tuesday. My best guess is the government will open up Tuesday or Wednesday. But we really are dealing with, look, the Bernie Sanders is of the world. By the way, Chuck Schumer voted no because the whole point of this was for him to tell the crazy left he still hates Donald Trump. Now, I don't, I don't think these eight Democrats would have voted yes without Schumer blessing their voting yes. So this was always going to end this.
- [14:00]
Ben Ferguson
I was going to ask you. So getting to the perfect number of eight. And again, this is how the sausage is made. So let's, let's talk about behind the scenes, you guys. The Republicans have been meeting right behind the scenes. You have your normal lunches that you have and your other meetings, and I see you guys on the floor of the Senate talking and you're outside the Senate. I mean, Democrats are doing the same thing when they decide who is in the eight to vote yes. Is that strategic based on who needs cover when they're running for office? Does that mean there's some, like Fetterman, that clearly were leaders on this? Just saying, I think it's wrong to hold the American people hostage. I'm voting to open this thing up. How do they decide on the exact eight and is it literally to the point where they're like, all right, we're going to only give eight and you got to make your argument to us why you should be in the, in the eight and we'll give you that blessing. How does that work?
- [14:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
So I don't know for sure. I will say there were a number of Republicans who were surprised we did not get more than eight. So there were other Democrats who were telling Republicans privately they were going to vote yes to open the government. People like John Ossoff, who's got, he's the most vulnerable Democrat running for reelection in Georgia. He just voted the 15th time to keep the government shut down. You know, Georgia interesting. By the way, Raphael Wardock, the other Georgia senator, did as well. We actually thought there was a real possibility they would both vote tonight to open the government. I don't know what Ossoff's calculus was. Warnock will often vote with Ossoff to give him some political coverage. So we figured that they would go. They would go either both yes or both no. They both voted to keep the government shut down.
- [15:38]
Ben Ferguson
What is the chances two guys like that on, on Tuesday, Wednesday vote yes after they say, all right, well, Fine, we're already going to be there. Does that change, you think that eight number, could that change a 10, 12 or is it pretty much eight is eight?
- [15:51]
Senator Ted Cruz
No. I could easily see on a subsequent vote some additional Democrats, Patty Murray, who is the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, a number of Republicans believe she was going to vote yes. I mentioned we just, we're going to pass three appropriation bills. She played a major hand in drafting those three appropriation bills. And so, so for appropriators, look, when Chuck Schumer and the Democrats had the majority, do you know how many appropriation bills they passed into law?
- [16:19]
Ben Ferguson
How many?
- [16:20]
Senator Ted Cruz
Zero.
- [16:21]
Ben Ferguson
Wow.
- [16:21]
Senator Ted Cruz
Like the process was broken. They didn't do appropriations. It's our hope to actually go through the process to have amendments to negotiate it. And that's what these three bills are doing. And yet the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee voted no. Chris Coons, who is widely seen as one of the more moderate Democrats, he voted to keep the government shut down. Alyssa Slotkin from Michigan. Look, Michigan's a purple state. She voted to keep the government shut down. Gary Peters, also from Michigan, retiring. He voted to keep the government to shut down. So there were another half dozen or so that a lot of folks thought we would have a chance at getting their votes, and we did not.
- [17:05]
Ben Ferguson
So when you don't get those votes, we move forward. You said this thing could end up to Friday. You're guessing probably Tuesday. Wednesday the government reopens. How many more votes after tonight? Again, for people that are listening, we're doing this Sunday night at 10:15 right now in D.C. how many people are, how many votes will it take to starting now to get the government actually reopen?
- [17:30]
Senator Ted Cruz
We need to continue to hold 60. But, but we're going to. The underlying terms of the deal have been cut. So I don't expect any of the eight who just voted yes to flip. So I think we've got our 60. But the remaining Democrats can just drag things out and make it painful. I hope they don't. I actually pulled Dick Durbin aside. Durbin. Durbin is retiring. And I mentioned, I always thought this was going to end with retiring Democrats voting to open the government. Durbin did so now look, he's, he's the number two in leadership among the Democrats. He's Chuck Schumer's right hand buddy's retiring. I told Dick tonight, I said, look, we've got 60 now. It sure would be nice if, like you guys didn't drag this out unnecessarily till Friday and just the identical outcome will happen, and it just is more painful for everybody. I think there are a lot of Democrats who feel that way. It's why I think we'll end Tuesday or Wednesday.
- [18:26]
Ben Ferguson
But.
- [18:27]
Senator Ted Cruz
But who the heck knows? Now, there's another element of this deal that's getting some attention online, which is a commitment to reverse the rifts, the reductions in forces that happened during the shutdown.
- [18:39]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah.
- [18:39]
Senator Ted Cruz
And, and there's some folks online saying, oh, you guys cave. This is terrible. That was. Was an offer that, that President Trump made, I think, like, two weeks ago to the Democrats that has been on the table for them a long, long time. And the White House mate made the decision, okay, if you guys open the government, we agree. We'll offer you that we'll reverse those rifts. So that was in the deal, but it was a deal that came from the White House that we just agreed. Okay, if that's. If those are the terms that the President wants to cut, we'll back up the president.
- [19:09]
Ben Ferguson
So you go into Monday, you're going to have more meetings throughout the day or explain to me Monday what that looks like.
- [19:16]
Senator Ted Cruz
We're anticipating the first vote probably around noon. And as I said, there could be. We could have done it all tonight if the Democrats had agreed to. In the Senate, you can do anything by unanimous consent. And so if they wanted to open the government tonight, they could have just consented to do one vote and then do the other one next. Do the other one next, the other one next, and we'd be done. Like, you can do that. You don't.
- [19:38]
Ben Ferguson
Literally, instead of us recording right now, you guys could actually be voting. And this could have all been Monday morning. The government is open for business. All the FAA guys are back to normal. Everybody's getting paid, and they're like, now screw it, we'll just wait a few more days.
- [19:54]
Senator Ted Cruz
So no one's flying home, right?
- [19:55]
Ben Ferguson
I mean, you're not flying home tonight, are you?
- [19:57]
Senator Ted Cruz
Nope, Nope. I'm in D.C. i didn't see my family this weekend. I would have loved to have seen my kids. I didn't. I spent most of the time just sitting here waiting for Democrats to finally agree to cut a deal. But it was striking. We could have done it tonight. But to do that, you need unanimous consent. That means you don't need 60, you need 100. That means one person can object and say, no, drag it out. I want to burn more time. I want to burn more time. And you have people like Bernie Sanders, you have all the Democrats who are running for president that want to want a spectacle. And so that if they really decide to be just fully obstructionist, they could drag it as late as Friday.
- [20:47]
Ben Ferguson
All right, so one other question as this is unfolding, when the government opens back up, and let's just use a hypothetical of Wednesday, all right, Wednesday, the government opens up, does that mean that instantly the system is going to go back to normal? I'm saying this, people traveling, you and I have traveled a lot. We've started to see the breakdown of, of, of air traffic control and of having to cancel flights. I've witnessed it traveling internationally and domestically over the last couple of days. You've done it as well. And so when it opens back up, is that like an instant fix or is that going to take a couple days to cycle through the system as well? What does travel look like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?
- [21:31]
Senator Ted Cruz
Look, at least travel Monday and Monday and Tuesday. I would expect still really significant delays and really significant cancellations. The reason for those delays and those cancellations, we have roughly 50,000 TSA agents all across the country. Many of them are going into work. None of them are being paid. They all missed their last paycheck. Didn't get their last paycheck. We have roughly 14,000 air traffic controllers. Many of them are going into work. None of them are getting paid. They all missed their last paycheck. Listen, if you're a TSA agent, if you're an air traffic controller, typical TSA agent or air traffic controller doesn't have a deep reservoir of savings. I mean, they're under real stress right now. How do I pay my mortgage? How do I pay my rent? How do I pay my bills? And so what is happening with both TSA agents and controllers? They're calling in sick. They're just not showing up. I say say summer coming into work. The problem is in New York City on Halloween Day, roughly 80% of the controllers called in sick and didn't show up to work. That's Chuck Schumer's hometown, by the way. And so we're seeing with tsa, you had Monday, a week ago, the lines in the Houston bush Airport were 2 1/2 to 3 hours line long to get through security because they were, they were so short staffed on TSA agents, they didn't have enough to move people through security. So even if the government opens up tomorrow, you're dealing with the independent decisions of 50,000 TSA agents and 14,000 controllers when they come back to work. And the reason that the FAA has mandated 10% of flights be canceled is they're looking at the data and seeing that these short staffed air traffic controllers, there's an increased risk to safety. So they're saying, all right, if we don't have full staffing, we got to reduce the number of flights. So in a week, do I expect things to go back to normal? Yes, a week after things open up. But it could easily take several days for people to say, okay, I'm going to come back into work. Now, that doesn't happen automatically just by flipping a switch.
- [23:39]
Ben Ferguson
So what you're basically telling me is this week when I'm flying and when you're flying and so many others that listen to the show are flying, we're going to be dealing with this type of chaos because the Democrats decided not to do their job even while doing their job on Sunday night. Right now.
- [23:55]
Senator Ted Cruz
Yes. And by the way, they could have agreed to open it all up tonight. They could have given consent, said, okay, you've got a deal, let's move ahead. And it's now just the obstructionist who, you know, if your flight is canceled tomorrow, you can thank Chuck Schumer and every Democrat senator running for president who's trying to show off to the crazy left. But we will get it open now, but it will take, it'll take a few more days at a minimum.
- [24:22]
Rodney Williams
Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow. I'm Rodney Williams. And I'm Travis Holloway. Welcome to the Wealth Break Podcast, a real conversation about finance. Let's be honest, building wealth doesn't look the same for everyone. I feel like sometimes being broke is.
- [24:53]
Senator Ted Cruz
A cycle and that we might have.
- [24:55]
Rodney Williams
To revisit that and we're not stopping at success stores.
- [24:59]
Travis Holloway
What happens when it doesn't go right? How do you cope with it?
- [25:02]
Rodney Williams
Because wealth isn't just about money. It's about creating a life where you thrive and help others do the same. Listen to the Wealth Break podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
- [25:15]
Senator Ted Cruz
Forget everything you had planned for this.
- [25:17]
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Senator Ted Cruz
This is Jim. Hello.
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Rodney Williams
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Senator Ted Cruz
And this is Sarah.
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Ben Ferguson
Hi.
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Rodney Williams
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