00:04Pleased, as always, to be joined by Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus, Ted Lieu.
00:10Good morning.
00:11Republicans spent the last week lying about their vote to throw 17 million Americans off of health insurance.
00:18They're so terrified of voter backlash that they're charting new frontiers in dishonesty and political chutzpah.
00:23Rob Bresnahan says the big ugly law will be the largest deficit reduction in 30 years when it actually explodes the deficit by $4 trillion.
00:35Gabe Evans, on the other hand, has twisted himself into knots, claiming that there are no Medicaid cuts because technically health care spending will continue to rise.
00:45He's hoping that the one in three voters in Colorado who he represents won't notice losing their health care.
00:52Derek Van Orden wants his voters to believe that somehow he managed to secure more money for badger care, even though he voted for a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, prompting the governor of Wisconsin to call him out for lying.
01:07Here's the truth.
01:09Republicans own the health care crisis that they've created.
01:13People will get sick.
01:15Hospitals will close, like we've seen in places like Curtis, Nebraska, and nursing homes will shut down.
01:21And they're doing all of this so they can give billionaires tax breaks and make private jets fully tax deductible.
01:29They're the same rich and well-connected elites that they're protecting by keeping the Epstein files under lock and key after campaigning to release them.
01:39It's shameful, and House Democrats will make sure that they are held accountable.
01:43Now I'll turn it over to Vice Chair Ted Luke.
01:45Thank you, Chairman Aguilar.
01:48Donald Trump, when he campaigned, promised that on day one he would end inflation and lower costs.
01:56Donald Trump lied to the American people because we now know that inflation has continued to increase under his policies and that of Republicans.
02:04The most recent inflation report shows that inflation increased to 2.7 percent above expectations, and core CPI increased to 2.9 percent.
02:16We call on Trump and Republicans to focus on lowering costs instead of things like the big, ugly bill that are kicking millions of people off health care.
02:27I've also noticed that there has been an uptick in activity around the Epstein files recently.
02:33I just want to remind the American people that in February of this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi acknowledged the existence of Jeffrey Epstein's client list.
02:45In fact, she said that Jeffrey Epstein's client list is, quote, sitting on my desk right now.
02:53Where is that client list?
02:55What is Attorney General Pam Bondi hiding?
02:57She needs to release the Epstein files as soon as possible.
03:01I talked about the Epstein files under the Biden administration.
03:03I'm talking about it under the Trump administration.
03:06This is a case of the powerful protecting the powerful.
03:09We need to have those files released.
03:11I also note that the Epstein files that have already been released show that Trump is all over the files.
03:19He's in multiple pictures with Jeffrey Epstein.
03:22There's multiple videos of Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
03:24There are plane logs of Trump on Epstein's plane.
03:28There are statements by Trump about Epstein.
03:31There are court pleadings of alleged victims of Epstein naming Trump.
03:35So we need to have these Epstein files released.
03:38I also want to talk a little bit about Ukraine.
03:40The only way we get Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table is to defeat Russian troops on the battlefield.
03:47I support President Trump's decision to send patron missiles to Ukraine.
03:52I support President Trump's decision to say that he's going to backfill Europe's military equipment when Europe sends military equipment to Ukraine.
04:00And that is how we're going to get Putin to the negotiating table, by letting Putin know that he cannot win this war.
04:07And with that, I yield back.
04:10Thank you, Vice Chair Liu.
04:11Questions?
04:13Mariana?
04:14So a group of bipartisan Republicans are reintroducing the Dignity Act.
04:22A couple of years ago, apparently it's more narrow and more tailored to what's been happening as of late.
04:29I know the details will be coming out shortly, but is this an opportunity for Democrats to possibly force a discharge petition on an issue?
04:37If it is bipartisan, it seems like there's been some Republicans at least working with the White House to try and get this from the Senate.
04:44You know, when Stephen Miller and I appreciate the question, when Stephen Miller and Tom Homan are running your immigration policy, it's going to be pretty difficult to find common ground.
04:55I appreciate our members' willingness to engage with their Republican colleagues.
05:01And I appreciate anyone who takes that spirit of bipartisanship and wanting to solve an issue that we have let lapse for 30 years without a solution, leaving millions of people in limbo.
05:17And I've been a part of efforts both in the Democratic Caucus as well as in the Congress in order to support pathways for DREAMers particularly.
05:26But it's a little hard to believe our House Republican colleagues, who wrote a lot of letters saying that they didn't want the Latino population impacted by Medicaid cuts,
05:40and then they vote for that same bill that attacks Medicaid and will cut Medicaid for millions of Latinos across the country.
05:49So it's a little difficult, and right now we want to see the details of the bill.
05:57I understand that it has narrowed, though, and that's unfortunate when a vast majority of Americans, including recent polling that came out in the last week,
06:06show that Americans, including Republicans, believe in broadening path to citizenship, a path to citizenship for people who play by the rules,
06:16who pass a background check, who are working in this country, who pass a background check, who are working in this country, that's what we need to do.
06:21So we don't need to come backwards on pathways to citizenship.
06:26We need to expand those.
06:27And so that would be my concern.
06:29And Democratic Caucus efforts will include pathways to citizenship for people who are playing by the rules, living here, paying taxes,
06:39and trying to provide the American dream and want to be part of the fabric of this country.
06:44Michael?
06:46Thank you, Mr. Chair.
06:47A lot of your members have criticized the Reconciliation Act for backloading a lot of the SNAP cuts, the Medicaid cuts,
06:57until after the midterms.
06:59I'm curious, as you all go into your districts, as you all try to message against this bill,
07:03does the way that the bill is constructed pose any challenges to House Democrats
07:08and how you're talking about the harmful impact of the bill when folks may not feel it until after the next election?
07:15Yeah, I think it's a fair question.
07:17And this is an honest conversation that we need to have back home.
07:20I had a town hall last night virtually where we talked about this.
07:25I met with constituents last week where we talked about this as well.
07:27We just need to be clear-eyed and tell our constituents what the impacts will be.
07:33But we also are joined by validators.
07:36We're joined by local hospitals and the national hospital associations and nursing homes
07:41and those folks who are going to be impacted by this.
07:44So this isn't just us as members of Congress saying danger is coming.
07:50There's a lot of folks standing with us saying, yes, danger is coming.
07:54This is how they're going to do it.
07:56This is how they're going to unwind Medicaid for 17 million people,
08:01impacting 17 million people and their health insurance coverage.
08:04So we need to be honest and clear about what the bill does.
08:08But we're also going to be very mindful of outside pressures.
08:13There will be private health insurance that will have to set rates
08:17and those rate structures will likely have to increase.
08:21And so this is something that's going to affect folks not just on Medicaid
08:25but on private health insurance.
08:27And that could be before the implementation, the full implementation of the bill,
08:32which you mentioned, starting in October on the Medicaid side,
08:36October of next year and continuing into 27.
08:39So Republicans might think that they're being cute by half.
08:43We have to be clear-eyed and honest and have the community validators there to say,
08:47no, they're lying to you, the cuts are coming, and this is what's happening in our communities.
08:54Sure.
08:56Republicans voted for a law that's going to implement these automatic cuts.
09:02And the only way to possibly stop that is if a different person gets elected who can say,
09:09no, no, no, we're not going to let this law get implemented with these automatic cuts.
09:13So that is actually a pretty compelling message because the person that voted for these cuts
09:19is not going to be a person that's going to stop the cuts.
09:21You're going to need a new person in there that then could, with a different makeup on Congress,
09:26stop the cuts from actually happening.
09:30Zora Mamdani is going to be here in Washington tomorrow.
09:34And Republicans have been saying that Mamdani is going to be a liability for Democrats next year.
09:39I know that you guys are trying to focus on the issues and this bill and Medicaid cuts,
09:45but they're saying that he's going to be the issue for you in elections next year.
09:49Are they wrong?
09:49What I'm more concerned about, when you're talking about elections coming up,
09:55I'm concerned about, I'm looking at Virginia and New Jersey more than I'm looking at the city of New York, New York City.
10:03So that's what I'm interested in looking at.
10:06Medicaid will be on the ballot in those gubernatorial elections, and that's what we'll be looking at.
10:11But broadly, what Assemblymember Mamdani has talked about are the rising costs that people face.
10:17I think there's a lesson to be learned there.
10:20He's talked about rising grocery costs that people face, bus fares, those types of things.
10:27He's not campaigning on impeaching Donald Trump.
10:30He's campaigning on reducing costs that people face.
10:33And I think there's a lesson for us there, too.
10:36Cassie?
10:37So I just came back from the House press conference where I pressed Speaker Mike Johnson about disaster relief
10:44and the fact that obviously Congress is going to have to take up some sort of package over the next several weeks,
10:49whether it be Texas, Carolinas, California, and so on.
10:52And I asked him if he could guarantee whether or not California would be included in a package
10:56if the president doesn't ask for it, since he's inclined not to, since he has some public beef with the governor.
11:04And the speaker wouldn't commit to that.
11:07So are Democrats, as a caucus, prepared to potentially face a vote where California is not in any package?
11:14And will they reject that and say, you know, disaster relief has always been a five-person effort here in Congress?
11:21Yeah.
11:21I mean, that's our underlying message is it shouldn't matter whether you live in a blue state or a red state.
11:27If you experience a natural disaster and you need help from the federal government, we should be there to help.
11:33That's it.
11:34That's the bottom line.
11:36Not red states get faster attention and blue states don't.
11:41Or we don't send help to one and the other.
11:44If this speaker wants to be the first speaker in American history to politicize disaster recovery and assistance
11:52and to penalize states from another political party of his own, then that might be the legacy he wants to leave,
12:00in addition to the legacy of kicking people off of health care.
12:04That would be unfortunate.
12:06But we'll see what happens.
12:09But we are committed, and I'll defer to the vice chair as a member of the California delegation as well.
12:16We are committed to hold Republicans accountable to this.
12:19This is a very simple solution.
12:21This isn't about Texas or California or North Carolina or New Mexico.
12:26The funds that Congress puts dollars into need to be replenished.
12:34There's a series of them, from SBA to FEMA.
12:38All of these funds are going to be strapped for cash because of the claims that will be filed.
12:44We just need to replenish those funds, irrespective of the claims and where they're coming from.
12:50That's it.
12:50That's the solution.
12:52Replenish the disaster relief fund and the associated counts that respond to disasters.
12:59It doesn't matter where people apply.
13:02If they meet the qualifications and come from a state that has experienced a disaster, they will apply.
13:09And so let's keep the states out of it and just replenish the funds.
13:12That's our message to our Republican colleagues.
13:15I hope that cooler heads prevail, and I hope that people who pride themselves on supporting this place as an institution meet that moment.
13:25I'm concerned that Donald Trump leading this and leading them poses a risk to that.
13:32But I hold out hope that they will push back and work with us in a bipartisan way.
13:37Vice Chair Liu.
13:38There are more Republicans living in Southern California than a number of red states.
13:44So why would Trump and Republicans want to punish Republicans who happen to live in Southern California?
13:50It makes no sense.
13:51It's un-American.
13:52It's unpatriotic to do disaster relief based on party registration or ideology.
13:58I also note that Trump and Republicans are making drastic cuts to organizations like the National Weather Service, that in a time like this, when you're seeing more and more extreme weather events, we actually need more people at National Weather Service, not less.
14:14And I ask Trump and Republicans to reverse those devastating cuts.
14:18Last question.
14:19Question.
14:20With the Arizona special election today, there's three seats obviously vacant.
14:24Why is it detrimental for Democrats to fill those three seats with such a small majority?
14:27It's important for those seats to be filled because the people who live in those communities deserve representation.
14:35And we shouldn't play politics about those special elections and the deadlines like the governor of Texas has done in leaving that seat open vacant while the governor of Arizona fulfills the requirement to call that election.
14:51It's important for these constituents.
14:53This isn't about Democrats and Republicans.
14:55We'd say the same thing if it came to filling a Republican vacancy.
14:59People deserve to be heard.
15:00They deserve to have a representative in Congress who's exercising their votes, who's exercising a vote on their behalf.
15:07We obviously believe having full strength as we fight against House Republicans and Donald Trump on the reconciliation bill and the appropriations bills around the corner and the government funding deadlines that are looming.
15:20We think it's important that we are at full strength and so we will be comfortable and we will feel better when we have full representation within the Democratic caucus.
