During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) asked OMB Director Russell Vought if he identified as a 'Christian nationalist.'
00:00Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Director Vogt, for being here. I think you said
00:04the President supports the big bill that was passed out of the House, correct? I think you
00:08also said the President does not support cutting Medicare? Correct. Okay, so in the bill, there's
00:14a half a trillion dollar cut that gets triggered to Medicare, so I know a number of the people who
00:18voted for the bill are starting to read it now and finding there's parts they don't like. You
00:21might want to take a look at that provision. As you know. That's okay, that's okay. I only have
00:26five minutes. I didn't ask you the question, did I? I'm asking you a question, though.
00:31We didn't have your remarks this morning. I think we got them this afternoon. You mentioned
00:34cultural Marxism. You did it in your comment. Could you please, in two or three sentences,
00:38define cultural Marxism? Sure. It's a political theory that instead
00:43of dividing people on the basis of economic haves or have-nots, that you're dividing people
00:48on the basis of race and identity, and it's an attempt that we've seen, unfortunately, in
00:52this country, culminating in CRT of dividing people on the race and in our agencies and
00:59identity. So your definition, Mr. Director, is different than the definition I'm pulling
01:03up. First thing that pops up on here, it says, cultural Marxism refers to a far-right anti-Semitic
01:08conspiracy theory that misrepresents Western Marxism as being responsible for modern progressive
01:13movements, identity politics, and political correctness. That's the first definition that
01:17pops up here. It actually comes up a couple times on the first page.
01:20On Google? Yeah. You identify yourself as a Christian nationalist, correct?
01:26Look, I'm a Christian. I don't think my faith should be a subject for this.
01:29No, I just asked you a simple question. Do you identify as a Christian nationalist?
01:32No, this is a Christian. My faith is about, is one of an evangelical Christian faith.
01:38That's okay. Not here to debate that. I just, I saw some-
01:40But you brought it up.
01:41Christian nationalist. No, I asked you if you were a Christian nationalist. You said you weren't,
01:44correct? These are debates in the think tank world that we have about what it means to be a
01:49Christian nation. It's not about what I've been asked. I've not been asked to talk about that.
01:54You support the efforts of Doge. You mentioned Steve Davis. And I know we talked about trying
01:57to bring the director of Doge in here, and that would be very helpful. Problem is, I just read,
02:01he's also leaving with Elon Musk. So who's in charge of Doge? If the guy who is taken over after
02:07Elon Musk, who just left, and he's leaving, it sounds like this is a bit of a circus. Who's in charge
02:11of Doge? The cabinet agencies that are in charge of the Doge consultants that work for them are
02:17fundamentally in control of Doge. Oh, that's an answer only a mother could love. All right.
02:22So you support the efforts of Doge, I understand. Is the federal government currently spending less
02:28this year than it did last year? No, it's not.
02:31Right. And part of that is because you've sent us a rescission package worth $9 billion that goes
02:36after Big Bird and Cookie Monster. But you've added $200 billion to defense and homeland security.
02:43You've also, the bill that you just said the White House supports is going to add,
02:46depending who you talk to, $2.4 trillion to $5 trillion to the national debt. It's going to make
02:52somewhere between 11 and 16 million people lose their health care. I know you said on a Sunday
02:57morning show, no one will lose coverage as a result of this bill. Is that still your standing?
03:02Which one of those would you like me to take?
03:04The one I just asked. I'll ask it again. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.
03:08The bill does not lead to less coverage for Medicaid beneficiaries. It has improper payments,
03:13and it leads to the fact that people who are ineligible because they're illegal aliens or
03:17because they're unwilling to work. Illegal aliens do not get federal dollars for Medicaid, correct?
03:21That's not true. They get them in many different states, including California.
03:24Federal dollars? Federal dollars.
03:26They get state dollars. State can provide it. Are there any federal dollars?
03:29How many federal dollars that, since you're the expert, how many federal dollars go to funding
03:34illegal aliens getting Medicaid? Congressman, because of the money laundering-
03:38It's a question. It's a number. It's a question. It's a number. How much, how many dollars go to
03:42illegal aliens, federal dollars for Medicaid? It's a simple question.
03:46It is not actually a simple question because Congress-
03:48How many secretaries have a hard time with simple questions lately? I got to tell you.
03:51Don't pose that simple question.
03:52But you're saying that that's true. So we will, if you can get back to us with that amount, how's that sound? How much federal dollars?
03:58I'm happy to get back to you about how the bill works in getting rid of the money laundering schemes that state use.
04:02So a lot of people disagree with you. The CBO disagrees with your analysis. Yale and Penn said 13.7 million people will lose health insurance.
04:10You also said this won't increase the debt. Is that correct?
04:12It will not increase the debt. It will lead to reduced deficits.
04:17So there, the Cato Institute disagrees with you. Moody's disagrees. The CBO disagrees. Senator Hawley and Senator Rand and Senator Collins disagree.
04:24Elon Musk disagrees. Virtually everyone on this side of the aisle. So you're saying everyone is wrong, but you are the right one that this does not increase the debt?
04:34I'm saying that all the watchdogs, including the Congressional Budget Office, use a skewed vision, a view of what the baseline is.
04:41They were less than a few percent wrong last time on your tax bill, and they predicted it almost dead on.
04:46So you're saying this time there's significant changes, and they don't know what's going on, and only you do. Is that correct?
04:52I'm suggesting, I'm stating that they use a baseline.
04:54Do you disagree with the Cato Institute?
04:56Yes.
04:57And Moody's?
04:57Yes.
04:58And Senator Hawley?
04:59Senator Hawley has a view as to the Medicaid programs that we are working with to articulate why we believe that these reforms do not hurt the beneficiaries that are involved.
05:10I'm over time, but I appreciate it, Mr. Edwards.
