'Trump Wants People To Get Riled Up': Andy Kim Responds To Trump Sending Military Troops To L.A.

Forbes Breaking News

On "Forbes Newsroom," Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) discussed the GOP reconciliation bill, GOP-backed cuts to the NIH budget, and President Trump sending military troops to Los Angeles, California, amidst anti-ICE protests.

Transcript

00:00Hi, everyone. I'm Maggie McGrath, senior editor at Forbes. We have a lot of headlines to get to

00:08today, starting with the Republican reconciliation bill is in Senate hands, and it includes major

00:14cuts for Medicaid and other social safety net programs. Speaking of cuts over at the NIH,

00:21the National Institutes of Health have already seen thousands of grants slashed this year

00:26and faces further cuts in 2026. And meanwhile, over in Los Angeles, the city has been rocked by

00:34protests against ICE raids. Joining us to talk about it all is Senator Andy Kim, the freshman

00:41senator from New Jersey. Senator, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me, Maggie.

00:47Let's start with that Senate bill, the budget bill in reconciliation. There are a lot of people who

00:56are upset about the cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programs. What are you hearing?

01:02Well, I'm hearing outrage in New Jersey for this because, first of all, 2 million out of 9 million

01:09New Jerseyans get their health care through Medicaid, including people on disabilities,

01:13including seniors that require long-term care. One out of every three kids in my state is on Medicaid.

01:19And it's not just the Medicaid population that is at risk. I talked to hospital leaders in New Jersey,

01:27and they're saying that if there are major cuts to Medicaid, that their hospitals could very well

01:32close, you know, full-on close, which would affect everybody. So I just hope that people understand it's

01:38not just about whether you're on Medicaid or not. You know, this is something that would be the single

01:42largest cut to our health care in our nation's history. And to ask yourself, why is this happening?

01:49It's not to bring down the deficit. In fact, it's going to balloon the deficit because they want

01:54to give trillions of dollars tax cuts to billionaires and millionaires. You know, that's the problem that

02:00we face right now. And people are outraged by this right now.

02:04Single largest cut to health care. What can Democrats do about this? What are you and your colleagues

02:08discussing at the moment? Well, right now, for instance, in New Jersey, I am trying to raise

02:14as much public awareness about this, especially in the three congressional districts in New Jersey

02:20that are represented by Republicans in the House of Representatives. Because even if this passes in

02:26the Senate, it's going to go back to the House of Representatives. And these three members from New

02:31Jersey are going to have to answer to the people of New Jersey for this. I think about it because

02:35I am somebody that challenged a Republican congressman about his vote in a reconciliation

02:41bill that he took in 2017 to try to gut the Affordable Care Act. This was a deep Republican

02:47congressional district. And I've slipped this. And we see how potent this can be because people

02:53are so worried about their livelihood right now, their health, especially at a time of even greater

03:00concern about high prices than what we saw even just a few years ago.

03:04So that's how we go on offense is put that pressure on. I am engaging with several of my

03:09Republican colleagues in the Senate because the concerns that I hear from hospitals and health

03:14care workers and patients in New Jersey, I'll be honest with you, they are going to be hearing the

03:19exact same thing from their states. You know, these cuts are not just blue states. It's going to be red

03:25states, too. Everyone's going to be affected in this country.

03:28You mentioned raising awareness. Are there legislative maneuvers or deals that can be struck

03:35that you see possible right now?

03:38Well, look, right now, the Republicans control, you know, 53 seats in the Senate. They only need 51

03:46to pass this through the Senate because reconciliation is not something that can be filibustered. So,

03:53you know, right now, the pressure is to be able to, first of all, have the public be aware of and

04:01understand what's at stake and to be able to then put that pressure down on some of these members of

04:06Congress, some of these senators from especially from some of these states that are going to be

04:10vulnerable in the upcoming election and elsewhere. So that's what we're trying to do. Yes, we are

04:16trying to use some of our abilities to add amendments to highlight the dangers of this legislation.

04:23So amendments that we're working on that would highlight what these cuts to Medicaid would be,

04:28that it would be going after caregivers, for instance, and my father is somebody who is

04:34struggling with cognitive decline. He is somebody that requires a caregiver, a medical professional

04:40to be helped. Those types of people and families are going to be affected. It's about personalizing

04:46this, having people understand this is not just some line itemism budget. It isn't about dollar sign.

04:52It's about people's lives, about whether or not they and their families are going to be able to

04:57get the care that they need. As you talk about it not being a line item, it's people's lives. I'd

05:04love to move to the cuts to NIH. The National Institutes of Health have already faced a slashing of

05:10thousands of grants this year and faces further budget cuts in 2026. Can you contextualize exactly what

05:17this means for American public health that the NIH is undergoing what it is undergoing right now?

05:24Yeah, well, let me just contextualize first the budget challenges they face. The Trump proposed budget

05:29for next year came out about $18 billion cut in NIH funding, over 40% cut from where we're at. Now, you know,

05:37this is something that, for instance, we saw we see in there nearly a $3 billion cut for cancer research.

05:44That's about a third of the cancer research that our country funds right now. I mean, I don't know

05:50about you, but my family's lost loved ones with cancer. I mean, I think every family in America has

05:57been touched by this in some way. How in the world is the richest, most powerful country in the world

06:02cutting back on our cancer research where this is becoming a greater problem? As I told you, my father,

06:07someone who's struggling with dementia, Alzheimer's, that is a lot of families that are struggling right

06:13now. Right now, we are trying to lead the charge on finding a cure, finding ways to be able to help

06:17treat these problems. This is what we're going to be sending back. And it's not just sending us back

06:23a year or two. This is going to be sending us back potentially a decade or two. And that's what I find

06:28so ridiculous. And then at the time when my Republican colleagues were talking about concern about

06:34global competition, in particular with China, they are the ones that are going to benefit the most.

06:39China is going to benefit the most from the United States in decreasing our investment.

06:44I already just heard from a top-notch medical researcher who is potentially going to lose

06:51their funding in the United States. They have already been contacted by China as well as other

06:55nations to move their research abroad. That's what we're going to be finding ourselves. We're going

07:01to be finding ourselves as no longer the epicenter, no longer the place that is driving innovation

07:08and winning Nobel Prizes and coming up with cures and seeing the benefit to our companies that are

07:14manufacturing these cures and the medicine and making tremendous amounts of money injecting into

07:18our economy. We would lose that and jeopardize this if this continues.

07:23Now, those are the stakes. Let's talk about the potential outcomes. I spoke with one of your

07:27colleagues, Senator Tammy Baldwin, last week, and she indicated some optimism that these cuts will not

07:34hold. Do you share that optimism? Do you see a path forward where some of this funding or all of it

07:39could be restored?

07:42I struggle to see where all of it could be restored. I'm hoping that we can minimize some of the cut

07:48because some of my colleagues are finding out that their own research institutes and colleges and

07:54universities in their states, of which there are many in every single state, that they find themselves

07:59very much on the chopping block. So I'm hopeful. I do hope that we can stop it. But I'll be honest,

08:08I'm somebody that generally hopes for the best but plans for the worst. You know, I'm somebody that is,

08:14you know, my job is to try to make sure that, you know, I am not having oversight over things that

08:21we're not anticipating. I need to make sure that we are thinking about what could happen if the worst

08:28this happens. And right now, when I look at what's happened, for instance, my very first job in the

08:33federal government was at USAID, you know, about trying to support our federal government and supporting

08:39our foreign assistance. We've seen that draw down close to zero in terms of what we can be continuing

08:46to do in development assistance. So, you know, I don't think this is a moment where I'm overreacting. I think that

08:53there is a lot on the line. And we've seen very aggressive attacks by this administration on so

08:58many important parts of our healthcare infrastructure. Practically speaking, just quickly, what does that

09:05mean to prepare for the worst when it comes to these NIH cuts? Well, a couple of things. One is that,

09:11you know, I want to make sure that we're sounding the alarm with my colleagues here, helping them

09:16understand what the true impacts would be if we were to lose this funding. I am also engaged with my

09:21state in New Jersey to think through how we can offset some of these cuts that could be devastating

09:26to our colleges and our universities. We want to make sure we're not losing, you know, researchers.

09:32We want to make sure we're not losing the next generation of young talent coming up. I've also been

09:37talking to different companies, whether pharmaceutical companies or other research companies, to try to

09:45think through how they might be able to adjust with research and development, R&D, in terms of their own

09:50funding. How long can they be able to sort of supplement to be able to offset some of the cuts

09:55that are expected? So that's what I'm trying to do is both try to stop these cuts from happening at

10:01the federal level, as well as trying to see if there are mitigating plans that we can do at the state,

10:07at the local level, with colleges and universities, with the private sector that can try to make sure we

10:13are not just losing and cratering our innovation in this country. So those are some of the things that

10:19I'm trying to do from a contingency standpoint. Now, turning our attention to the protests in LA

10:25against the ICE raids, we know that President Trump has sent the Marines to Los Angeles in addition

10:32to deploying the National Guard. I want to start by asking, Senator, what is your reaction to this

10:37development? You know, I'm saddened by this. You know, I worked at the Pentagon. I was a civilian

10:44embedded with the military in Afghanistan. I worked alongside Marines and other service members to

10:52be able to protect our country. I believe so deeply that our military is a sacred trust.

11:00And it is supposed to be the beacon that Americans feel safe around, that they feel that the military

11:06is there to protect them. And for Trump to move forward and deploy 700 Marines to LA against the

11:16orders and the wishes of the governor and local law enforcement for something that we should have

11:24been trying to see if there are other means to be able to contain, especially using, you know,

11:28law enforcement within local law enforcement. To take this kind of measure, it's only going to escalate

11:35things. And in particular, it's going to send signals that the military is being used for

11:39partisan political purposes, that it's being used for a show. And like, you know, we're thinking

11:46about this on the same week that Trump is putting forward a $45 million military parade on his birthday

11:54in Washington, D.C. So of course, it's being seen as politicization, as well as theatrics when it

12:02comes to our military, when that's happening on one side of the country. And on the other side of

12:06the country is deploying 700 Marines for something that should be done by local law enforcement. So

12:12I just I'm appalled by this. I find it to be a deep overreach of power and abuse of power

12:19and something that's only going to further escalate the problems that are out there as people getting

12:25riled up and angry that our military is being abused in this way.

12:28And of course, there have been ICE issues in New Jersey. If mass protests were to come to New

12:34Jersey, what could you do? How would you react?

12:39Yeah. You know, when we saw some of the challenges that we face in New Jersey a couple weeks back with

12:45the arrest of the mayor of Newark and and some of the aftermath that I did again, you know, again,

12:53in that sort of hope for the best plan for the worst. I did, you know, try to think through what

12:58would happen if this got out of control, if there was an escalation by the Trump administration,

13:03because Stephen Miller at the time was talking about what happened in Newark as a rebellion,

13:08as an invasion. He's using the same languages that they're using when it comes to L.A.

13:13These are this is the language of them trying to set the stage to be able to suspend habeas corpus if

13:19they choose to move down that angle. So, you know, what I'm seeing in L.A., you know, I think what's

13:24important for the American people to understand is that the order that Trump gave activating the

13:29National Guard, the military, it doesn't have a geographic containment there. It is anywhere in the

13:34country. His order is that he can deploy anywhere in the country, not just L.A. And so, you know, we have

13:41to be very careful at this moment. What I would say is, look, you know, let's make sure we're shining a

13:46light on what's happening, that we're getting as much detail about what is happening to civilians on the

13:53ground, trying to make sure we have the right appropriate level of legal representation there for those that

13:59need it, that we can have access for journalists to be able to go and be able to tell their story about what

14:05they're seeing, as well as, you know, making sure that that the the public there is safe, that they try not to

14:13escalate this. And because that would only give in to Trump. Trump wants people to get riled up. He wants

14:20them to get unruly so that he can, you know, further justify what he's trying to do when he's the one that's

14:27inflaming the situation at two other levels. And, you know, that's something that needs to be exposed.

14:34Senator Andy Kim from New Jersey, thank you so much for sitting down with Forbes on a very busy

14:39news day. We really appreciate your time. Thanks for having me.

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