November 10, 2025 • 34 mins
1. 🏛️ Government Shutdown Status
- The government had been shut down for 40 days, the longest in U.S. history.
- A Senate vote secured 60 votes (including 8 Democrats) to begin the reopening process.
- The continuing resolution (CR) will fund the government through January 30, avoiding a holiday-season funding crisis.
2. ⚙️ Reopening Process
- Despite the vote, procedural delays (e.g., Senate rules requiring 60 votes and time gaps between votes) mean the government may not fully reopen until Tuesday or Wednesday.
- Unanimous consent could have expedited the process, but some Democrats (e.g., Bernie Sanders) were accused of obstructing.
3. ✈️ Impact on Travel and Public Services
- TSA agents and air traffic controllers were working without pay, leading to sick-outs and flight delays.
- Even after reopening, normal operations may take several days to resume.
4. 📜 Legislation Introduced
-
Deporting Fraudsters Act of 2025:
- Would make welfare fraud by illegal immigrants a deportable offense.
- Cites statistics on non-citizens receiving SNAP and WIC benefits.
- Claims a 10-year cost of $15 billion due to illegal immigrant access to benefits.
-
Obamacare Subsidies Debate:
- Discussion on expiring subsidies for health insurance companies.
- Republicans agreed to a vote in early December on whether to extend these subsidies.
- Cruz and Trump oppose the subsidies, calling them corporate welfare, and advocate for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) instead.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Verdic with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with
you in This episode will be a dual episode my
show in Center Cruise as well here, because we're trying
to figure out what the hell's going on, just like
every other American when it comes to is the government open?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Is it closed? Center?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
As we are doing this ten o'clock Eastern, we're recording
on Sunday night. You've just left the Senate for so
where the hell are we now? Because there were some
reports like the government's reopened, then it's not reopen. We're
heading towards reopening.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
What is right? What's wrong?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well, we have really good news, which is the government
is in the process of reopening. It's not going to
be reopened on Monday, but we got the votes tonight
that will start the process of reopening it. We're going
to explain exactly what that means, what the deal, what
the deal was, and what the timing is going to
be and how that's likely to impact you, whether it
is going to a national park or going to the
(00:56):
Smithsonian or flying on an airplane, what the timing is
like to likely to be. We're also going to talk
to you about a bill that I introduced this past week,
the Deporting Fraudster's Bill, that is going after illegal immigrants
who are fraudulently getting welfare benefits, and right now, fraudulently
taking welfare benefits is not a statutory ground for deportation.
(01:18):
I'm introducing legislation to change that. We'll explain that all
to you.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
All right, So center, there was a lot of excitement
earlier Sunday evening. My phone blew up. I'm assuming you
were getting the text. It's like, oh great, the government's
wide open again. It's going to go back to normal.
I wish that was true. You just described it as
we've got the votes to move forward. Explain the process,
(01:42):
because I mean even on social media it was like
the Government's reopen.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I'm like, I'm not so fast. That's not how this
can work.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
In fact, they could take almost another week and totally
get this thing back to where it needs to be.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So look, the good news is we finally have a
deal and we got the votes that are necessary to
open the government. So we've had a shutdown, the Schumer
shutdown for forty days, fourteen different times. Fourteen times Republicans
have voted to open the government. Fourteen times Democrats have
voted no, have voted to keep the government shut down. Now,
(02:15):
remember the entire reason that we have a shutdown is
because under the Senate rules, you need sixty votes to
move to proceed to legislation funding the government. We only
have fifty three Republicans. That means we need at least
seven Democrats, and unfortunately ran votes no on all of these,
so we have fifty two Republicans to fund the government.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
So we need eight Democrats.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
The fourteen times we've voted over the last forty 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 ten pm Sunday night, we finally got the
eight Democrats we needed. So the Democrats who voted to
reopen the government are Durban, Hassen, King, Cortes, Masto, Cain, Shaheen, Rosen,
(03:03):
and Fetterman. Those are the eight We got exactly what
we needed. We ended up with sixty votes, not sixty one,
so that not in a sinct every other Democrat voted no.
Keep it shut down. But getting eight is important, and
there was a substantive deal. But the substantive deal has
several pieces. Number one, there's a continuing Resolution that runs
(03:25):
through January thirtieth. 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. Often
government fundings 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
(03:48):
bad bill. So this does not end right before Christmas.
The CR, instead, the Continuing Resolution continues until the end
of January. That was significant. We also included three appropriations
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 thirteen
(04:08):
different appropriation bills that fund different cabinet agencies and different
major programs. Yep, those take sixty votes. That's what's called
regular order. That's the way the system is supposed to work.
And then you could also fund the government through a
continuing resolution also called a CR, that just keeps everything
the way it was before and maintains the status quo.
(04:31):
We ended up doing a combination of both, so in
this deal, we have number one, the ag approach, So
that's the agriculture appropriation that includes the funds that farmers
rely on, but it also importantly includes SNAP. It includes
food stamps. So one of the consequences of the shutdown
was the funding for food stamps went away. With this
(04:54):
appropriation bill, we will fund the food stamps for an
entire year, so that will be taken off the table.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
And by the way, let's be very clear about that.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Republicans tried to make sure that even with the government
shut down, that SNAP benefits were continuing and were not stopped.
Democrats made damn sure that people did not get their
food stamp benefits during the forty day the longest shut
down in American history. They did that because they thought
it was leveraged to hurt the poorest among us in
(05:23):
America and that would then give them leverage to get
more of the port rail things they wanted for the
Democratic programs and initiatives. And they didn't care if you
couldn't feed your kids over the last forty days.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
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,
(05:56):
Republican House. The shutdown is their fault, and that was it.
And they counting on the dishonest corporate media to tell
that lie what they omitted. And actually I talked about
this just this weekend. I spoke on the Senate Florida.
I said, look, whenever anyone takes an oath to testify
in court, that they put their hand on the Bible
(06:17):
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 sixty
votes and it is the Democrats who force the shut
down because they're the ones that are not voting to
keep the government open. This package, we took three appropriations bills.
(06:40):
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
(07:03):
think that's very important to have more funds to increase
security on both.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Sides of the aisle. So that package.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Those are three appropriation bills that were bipartisan. The Democrats
had a party in that were passed along with the
thirty day CR or not thirty day, the CR to
January thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Right, Henry thirtieth.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, yeah, So all of that is what we got
sixty votes for tonight. Now what does that mean tomorrow morning?
Does that mean the government is opened Monday morning? Unfortunately No.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
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?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
And this is how the sausage is made.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And that's why I think there's some miscommunication on Sunday
night about.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Oh, the government's like open up.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I mean there was major news out it's like government
opening up the 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 with
it at the airport.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
That's also not true. I want to be very clear
about that.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Look, if the Democrats want to be full obstructionist, they
could delay opening the government as late as Friday of
this week because there are a series of votes we
have to take in. Under the Senate rules, they can
delay thing. They have a right to an intervening day
between one voter and another. They can delay things for
thirty hours, and so they could drag it out. Even
(08:27):
though we have the sixty 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
(08:50):
the crazy left he still hates Donald Trump. Now, I
don't think these eight Democrats would have voted yes without
Schumer blessing their voting yes.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
So this was all always going to end this one.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
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 talk about behind the scenes.
You guys, the Republicans have been meeting right behind the scenes.
You have your normal lunches that you have in your
other meetings. And I see you guys on the four
of the Senate talking and you're outside of the Senate.
I mean Democrats are doing the same thing when they
(09:22):
decide who is in the eight to vote yes? Is
that strategic based on who needs cover when they're running
for office?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I mean there's some like Fetterman that clearly were leaders
on this, just saying I think it's wrong to hold
the American be a hostage.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I'm voting to open this thing up.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
How do they decide on the exact eight And is
it literally to the point where they're like, all right,
we're gonna 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.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
How does that work?
Speaker 4 (09:52):
So I don't know for sure.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
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 fifteenth
time to keep the government shut down, you know, George.
(10:17):
By the way, Raphael Warnock, 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 Osoff's calculus was. Warnock will often vote
with Osoff 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
(10:38):
government shut down.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
What is the chances to guys like that 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 at tenth or
is it pretty much ate eight?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
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 were going
to pass three appropriation bills. She played a major hand
in drafting those three appropriation bills. And so for appropriators. Look,
(11:14):
when Chuck Schumer and the Democrats had the majority, do
you know how many appropriation bills they passed into law?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
How many?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Zero?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
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.
(11:47):
Alissa 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 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.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
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.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
How many more votes after tonight?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Again, for people that are listening, we're doing this Sunday
night at ten fifteen right now in DC. How many
people are How many votes will it take starting now
to get the government actually reopen.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
We need to continue to hold sixty, 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 sixty.
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 is retiring, and I mentioned I
(12:54):
always thought this was going to end with retiring Democrats
voting to open the government. Durbin did so. Now, look
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 sixty.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Now.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
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.
But who the heck knows. Now, there's another element to
this deal that's getting some attention online, which is a
(13:34):
commitment to reverse the riffs, the reductions and forces that
happened during the shutdown. Yeah, and there's some folks online saying, oh,
you guys cave, this is terrible. That was an offer
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 made
(13:54):
the decision, Okay, if you guys open the government, we agree,
we'll offer you that will 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, well we'll back up the president.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So you go into Monday, you're gonna have more meetings
throughout the day, or explain to me Monday what that
looks like.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
We're anticipating the first vote probably around noon. And as
I said that, 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 to the other one next,
the other one next, and we'd be done.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Like you can do that.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
You know, 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 fa guys are back to normal, everybody's getting paid,
and they're like, now, screwt, We'll just wait a few
more days. So no one's the flying home, right, I mean,
you're not flying home tonight, are you.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Nope?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Nope, I'm in DC. I 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.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
But it was striking.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
We could have done it tonight, but to do that
you need unanimous consent. That means you don't need sixty,
you need one hundred. That means one person can object
and say, no, drag it out.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I want to burn more time. I want to burn
more time.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
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 just fully obstructionist, they could drag it
as late as Friday.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
All right.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
So one other question is 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 to people traveling. You
and I have traveled a lot. We've started to see
the breakdown of a air traffic control and of having
(16:12):
to cancel flights. I've witnessed it traveling internationally and domestically
over the last couple of days.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You've done it as well.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And so when it opens back up, is that like
an instant fix or is that going to take a
couple of days to cycle through the system as well?
What does travel look like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Look at least travel Monday and Monday and Tuesday, I
would expect still really significant delays and really significant cancelations.
The reason for those delays and those cancelations. We have
roughly fifty thousand TSA agents all across the country.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Many of them are going into work. None of them
are being paid.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
They all missed their last paycheck, didn't get their last paycheck.
We have roughly fourteen thousand 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
(17:12):
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, say summer,
coming into work. The problem is in New York City
on Halloween Day, roughly eighty percent of the controllers called
(17:34):
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 two and a half to
three hours lined long to get through security because they
were so short staffed on TSA agents they didn't have
enough to move people through security. So even if the
(17:57):
government opens up tomorrow, you're dealing with the independent decisions
of fifty thousand TSA agents and fourteen thousand controllers when
they come back to work. And the reason that the
FAA has mandated ten percent 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.
(18:18):
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
(18:38):
just by flipping a switch.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
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 this 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.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yes, and by the way, they could have agreed to
open it all up to that, 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
(19:18):
open now, but it will take It'll take a few
more days at a minimum.
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Speaker 1 (21:11):
All right, So let's.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Move to another issue in this shutdown, and there's been
some confusion over it. There's been a lot of fighting
over it. It deals with Obamacare. Also knows the Affordable
Care Act Democrats decided and this is some of the
history that I do think we need to now explain
because there's been so much of a political football on
this one. That they purposely designed for the subsidies which
(21:35):
make Obamacare seem cheaper than it is, even though your
tax dollars are paying for the subsidies to subsidize people's
health insurance. They designed it purposely to expire now and
that was something that was done by design. I'm assuming
for this type of fight, is am I wrong? And
explain what's happening with Obamacare now and moving forward?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Well, look, the other thing Democrats talked about and they
claimed they were fighting the shutdown for, was to extend Obamacare,
and in particular during COVID, when the Democrats had control
of the House and the Senate. In the White House,
they passed massive subsidies that went straight to giant insurance
companies went to the didn't go to the people, didn't
(22:18):
go to you, but went to insurance companies, roughly fifty
billion dollars worth of subsidies, just huge corporate welfare. And
that corporate welfare to the insurance companies expires the end
of December. And so part of this deal is Republicans
agreed we will have a vote on those those subsidies
(22:39):
the first week of December. Now, by the way, Republicans
offered them that we would schedule that vote forty days ago,
so they've had that on the table for forty days.
But we said at the beginning, sure, we'll give you
a vote. They're going to lose that vote. They know
they're going to lose that vote, but we said, we'll
give you that vote. And so we agreed to have
that vote. Now, what's the answer. And this is where
(23:01):
I want to take folks a little bit behind the
scenes to some of the sausage making. So most of
the Senate was in DC all weekend. We'd all planned
to be back home and had many people had fundraisers
at political events or family events, and we missed most
of them just staying here. So Friday night I invited
(23:21):
a dozen senators out to dinner. And so we went
to a local restaurant and got a room together and
had had a great dinner, and we're laughing and talking
and strategizing and saying, look, are are the Democrats going
to move? So in that dinner, we decided to call
President Trump. So we called President Trump, got him on
the cell phone, and the President he was in a
(23:42):
good mood, but he was he was expressing his views
emphatically as he always does.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, and by the.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Way, for people I've ever done a phone call, like
if you've never gotten to do this, he does not
ever hold back when you're talking about the phone.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I not a single phone call. You've had a lot
more than I have.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
But when I've had phone phone calls with him, whether
it was in sixteen to twenty or now forward, like,
he does not hold back at all. When you're on
the cell phone on speakerphone as well.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
He does not.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
So one of the things we asked of him Friday night,
we said, listen, in this battle with the Democrats over Obamacare,
Obamacare's failing.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
It's a bad program.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
And if you go back, go back to twenty thirteen,
twenty thirteen, when I did a filibuster against Obamacare. I
said at the time, if you remember, Barack Obama promised
the American people Obamacare would would cut the average families
premiums by twenty five hundred a year.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yep, that was a lie.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
And in fact, they skyrocketed at the time five thousand
a year. They've skyrocketed a lot more than that. Even
the Washington Post has now admitted the editorial page the
Affordable Care Act, which is the misleading name of Obamacare,
did not make health care more affordable. It caused premiums
to skyrocket. So when we had Trump on the phone,
(24:55):
we said, look, it would really help if you made
the case that what Democrats are fighting for is these
massive multi billion dollar corporate welfare payoffs to the health
insurance companies instead of empowering consumers. And look, we want
a lower prices. And so we said, in particular, it
would really help if you would send a truth and
(25:18):
Trump said, great, come up with something. And so I
will tell you what the president sent. I had a
lot of input in this, and here's what he put out.
President Trump said, Democrats claim to be working for quote
the little guy, and driving down your health insurance but
the and the rest of this is in all caps,
(25:38):
Obamacare scam goes straight to their best friends in the
insurance industry. They are making a killing while health coverage
only gets worse. If Democrats get their way again, they're
in for another huge payday at the expense of the
American people. No deal in all caps, Republicans should give
(26:02):
money directly to your personal health savings accounts all in
caps that I expanded in our great, big, beautiful bill.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Now, this
is really important because if you want a really strong,
principled conservative reform to health insurance, expanding health savings accounts
(26:25):
so that you give you the consumer, you the patient,
more control and instead of sending money to the insurance companies,
send it straight to people's health savings accounts, so you
can spend it on premiums, you can spend it on deductibles,
you can spend it on healthcare that expands competition and
empowers patients and at lowers prices. The President leaning in
(26:46):
with this tweet really helps in this political battle we'll
have over the next six weeks because the outcome he's
advocating for is something I've advocated for a long time,
and that was a direct result of that dinner on
Friday night where we got them on the phone.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
You know, there's one interesting thing that's coming out of
this first year of Trump being back in office. It
is really empowering the American people, whether it is the
accounts you's talked about, whether it's the Trump accounts that
are going to be coming in this next year that
you guys pass to give kids the opportunity to save
money and to be able to grow accounts and to
(27:24):
build wealth over their lifetime. Like, there is a lot
of personal growth and personal excitement that it's Trump is
get the government out of your life.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
You can do better without it. We want to help
you do that.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And then the Democrats like no, no, no, no, no, Mandani's
and others usually have no control of your life. We
want to run the whole damn show from from from
birth to death. Just trust the US government to be
your daddy or your mommy are both. And that's exactly
the difference between the Republicans and Democrats right now.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Look at it's a fundamental divide. As you know, did
we passed the Trump accounts? As you know, well, I
wrote that legislation. This has been a major theme that
I've been fighting for since the first day I got
elected to the Senate. And whether you're talking about health
savings accounts, whether you're talking about Trump accounts that are
that are essentially four A one K savings accounts for kids,
(28:19):
or whether you're talking about school choice and getting tax credits,
the unifying theme of all of those is individual choice,
empowering you the individual rather than government competition and giving
you control. That is the fundamental difference between left and right.
And President Trump has been a great partner in this,
(28:41):
and I'll tell you as a part of his tweet,
he sent out a chart, a chart which which which
I had sent him, but I want you to see
the chart. We're gonna put it up on on on
YouTube for anyone that's watching on YouTube. But it goes
through the major UH healthcare companies their stock performance since
(29:02):
Obamacare passed. I'm going to walk through them. Etna Obamacare
March twenty ten is when it passed. Etna's stock stock
price was thirty dollars and fifty cents. Today it's two
hundred and twelve dollars, so it's increased five hundred and
ninety five percent. Since Obamacare passed, senteen its stock has
increased six hundred and four percent, Molina its stock has
(29:26):
increased eight hundred and fifty nine percent, Humana its stock
has increased four hundred and ninety percent, Anthem Elevans Health
Its stock has increased four hundred and fourteen percent, Signa
its stock has increased eight eight hundred and twenty two percent,
and United Health Group. When Obamacare passed, United Health stock
(29:51):
was twenty five dollars and sixty six cents. Today November
twenty twenty five, it is three hundred and twenty seven
dollars and seventy four cents. That is a one and
seventy seven percent increase.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
That's what Obamacare did.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
It massively increased the profits of the health insurance companies.
By the way, those health insurance companies overwhelmingly give to Democrats.
They give to Chuck Schumer, they give to Keem Jefferies
and the Democrats because they recognize when Democrats are in power,
their profits go through the roof and the American people's
premium skyrocket. What are the Democrats say they wanted to
(30:26):
do in this shutdown? Give fifty billion dollars to those
same health insurance companies who profits have skyrocket, and it's
why what the presidents said is so important. No, we're
not going to give money to health insurance companies. Instead,
we're going to expand health savings accounts so you, the individual,
has control over your own healthcare center.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I also want to get a little preview of something
that you're working on. We're going to do a more
expansive show on this, but it's important that people know
that even while the government has been shut down, you
have been working very hard on other things. One of
those things is you've now introduced the quote Deporting Fraudster's
Act of twenty twenty five, and it deals with snap
(31:05):
and public benefits abuses that is costing the American people
millions and millions of dollars. Give us a little preview
of this so people know what's been going on.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
Look, this is a very simple bill.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
It is an astonishing fact that right now welfare fraud
fraudulently taking government assistance benefits is not a deportable offense
under the immigration laws. This law will change that and
make it a deportable offense. Let me give you some
basic statistics. Forty eight percent of households headed by illegal
immigrants received food related welfare benefits forty eight percent, nearly
(31:42):
half specifically SNAP. A CIS analysis found that thirty one
percent of illegal alien households with children draw SNAP benefits,
One in five households getting WICIC Women's infants and Children
or SNAP is headed by an on citizen, and ninety
six percent of the children in those households are US
(32:05):
but born, showing how illegal aliens exploit child based eligibility
to access benefits indirectly. The US Department of Agriculture reports
one point seven six million non citizens on SNAP in
twenty twenty three. That is roughly three hundred and twelve
(32:25):
million dollars in taxpayer funds. In twenty twelve or not
twenty twelve, rather twenty twenty two, it was one point
five million recipients that cost two hundred and twenty two million.
Fraud is rampant. For example, in twenty twenty four, one
hundred and twenty six point eight million dollars was stolen
from EBT cards. In Texas, three point seven million people,
(32:49):
about eleven percent of the state, relies on SNAP. Every
stolen or unlawfully claimed dollar robs a citizen family in
genuine need. And according to the c about two hundred
thousand illegal aliens from the surge of alien asylum seekers
from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four already received snap,
(33:10):
growing to eight hundred thousand by twenty thirty four, assuming
no deportations. A ten year cost. You said this cost millions. Yeah,
the ten year cost is fifteen billion dollars. And so
this bill is to target that and say, if you're
here illegally, you do not have any entitlement to public welfare,
(33:30):
and if you access fraudulently access public welfare, that is
yet another ground to deport you.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Now, Chuck Schummer's a co sponsor this bill, right.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
No, And I feel confident that Schumer is not just
a no, he's a hell no. Because today's Democrat party,
it is all for giant health insurance corporations. It is
all for illegal immigrants, it is all for violent criminals,
it is all for men and women's sports, it's all
for everyone the average American citizen trying to work hard
(34:03):
and provide for his or her family.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
And that's exactly backwards.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Well, as we're doing the show right now at ten
forty at night on Sunday evening. The government's still shut down.
You're still being held hostage. We're moving in the right direction.
Democrats could drag this out even till Friday just to
hurt you. If you're traveling this week, you're not alone,
Senator Cruz and I are traveling with you. It's gonna suck.
That's just the best way I can describe it. But
at least hope we will be safe while doing it.
(34:29):
Senator and I will see you back here when the
government hopefully reopens. So we'll be doing a show on Wednesday,
So hit that subscriber auto download button and grab my podcast,
the Ben Ferguson Podcasts on those in between days. I
will keep you up to date with whatever is happening.
I can promise you that, and we'll see you back
here in a couple of days.
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Verdic with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with
you in This episode will be a dual episode my
show in Center Cruise as well here, because we're trying
to figure out what the hell's going on, just like
every other American when it comes to is the government open?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Is it closed? Center?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
As we are doing this ten o'clock Eastern, we're recording
on Sunday night. You've just left the Senate for so
where the hell are we now? Because there were some
reports like the government's reopened, then it's not reopen. We're
heading towards reopening.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
What is right? What's wrong?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well, we have really good news, which is the government
is in the process of reopening. It's not going to
be reopened on Monday, but we got the votes tonight
that will start the process of reopening it. We're going
to explain exactly what that means, what the deal, what
the deal was, and what the timing is going to
be and how that's likely to impact you, whether it
is going to a national park or going to the
(00:56):
Smithsonian or flying on an airplane, what the timing is
like to likely to be. We're also going to talk
to you about a bill that I introduced this past week,
the Deporting Fraudster's Bill, that is going after illegal immigrants
who are fraudulently getting welfare benefits, and right now, fraudulently
taking welfare benefits is not a statutory ground for deportation.
(01:18):
I'm introducing legislation to change that. We'll explain that all
to you.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
All right, So center, there was a lot of excitement
earlier Sunday evening. My phone blew up. I'm assuming you
were getting the text. It's like, oh great, the government's
wide open again. It's going to go back to normal.
I wish that was true. You just described it as
we've got the votes to move forward. Explain the process,
(01:42):
because I mean even on social media it was like
the Government's reopen.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I'm like, I'm not so fast. That's not how this
can work.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
In fact, they could take almost another week and totally
get this thing back to where it needs to be.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
So look, the good news is we finally have a
deal and we got the votes that are necessary to
open the government. So we've had a shutdown, the Schumer
shutdown for forty days, fourteen different times. Fourteen times Republicans
have voted to open the government. Fourteen times Democrats have
voted no, have voted to keep the government shut down. Now,
(02:15):
remember the entire reason that we have a shutdown is
because under the Senate rules, you need sixty votes to
move to proceed to legislation funding the government. We only
have fifty three Republicans. That means we need at least
seven Democrats, and unfortunately ran votes no on all of these,
so we have fifty two Republicans to fund the government.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
So we need eight Democrats.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
The fourteen times we've voted over the last forty 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 ten pm Sunday night, we finally got the
eight Democrats we needed. So the Democrats who voted to
reopen the government are Durban, Hassen, King, Cortes, Masto, Cain, Shaheen, Rosen,
(03:03):
and Fetterman. Those are the eight We got exactly what
we needed. We ended up with sixty votes, not sixty one,
so that not in a sinct every other Democrat voted no.
Keep it shut down. But getting eight is important, and
there was a substantive deal. But the substantive deal has
several pieces. Number one, there's a continuing Resolution that runs
(03:25):
through January thirtieth. 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. Often
government fundings 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
(03:48):
bad bill. So this does not end right before Christmas.
The CR, instead, the Continuing Resolution continues until the end
of January. That was significant. We also included three appropriations
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 thirteen
(04:08):
different appropriation bills that fund different cabinet agencies and different
major programs. Yep, those take sixty votes. That's what's called
regular order. That's the way the system is supposed to work.
And then you could also fund the government through a
continuing resolution also called a CR, that just keeps everything
the way it was before and maintains the status quo.
(04:31):
We ended up doing a combination of both, so in
this deal, we have number one, the ag approach, So
that's the agriculture appropriation that includes the funds that farmers
rely on, but it also importantly includes SNAP. It includes
food stamps. So one of the consequences of the shutdown
was the funding for food stamps went away. With this
(04:54):
appropriation bill, we will fund the food stamps for an
entire year, so that will be taken off the table.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
And by the way, let's be very clear about that.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Republicans tried to make sure that even with the government
shut down, that SNAP benefits were continuing and were not stopped.
Democrats made damn sure that people did not get their
food stamp benefits during the forty day the longest shut
down in American history. They did that because they thought
it was leveraged to hurt the poorest among us in
(05:23):
America and that would then give them leverage to get
more of the port rail things they wanted for the
Democratic programs and initiatives. And they didn't care if you
couldn't feed your kids over the last forty days.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
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,
(05:56):
Republican House. The shutdown is their fault, and that was it.
And they counting on the dishonest corporate media to tell
that lie what they omitted. And actually I talked about
this just this weekend. I spoke on the Senate Florida.
I said, look, whenever anyone takes an oath to testify
in court, that they put their hand on the Bible
(06:17):
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 sixty
votes and it is the Democrats who force the shut
down because they're the ones that are not voting to
keep the government open. This package, we took three appropriations bills.
(06:40):
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
(07:03):
think that's very important to have more funds to increase
security on both.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Sides of the aisle. So that package.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Those are three appropriation bills that were bipartisan. The Democrats
had a party in that were passed along with the
thirty day CR or not thirty day, the CR to
January thirtieth.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Right, Henry thirtieth.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, yeah, So all of that is what we got
sixty votes for tonight. Now what does that mean tomorrow morning?
Does that mean the government is opened Monday morning? Unfortunately No.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
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?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
And this is how the sausage is made.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And that's why I think there's some miscommunication on Sunday
night about.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Oh, the government's like open up.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I mean there was major news out it's like government
opening up the 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 with
it at the airport.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
That's also not true. I want to be very clear
about that.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Look, if the Democrats want to be full obstructionist, they
could delay opening the government as late as Friday of
this week because there are a series of votes we
have to take in. Under the Senate rules, they can
delay thing. They have a right to an intervening day
between one voter and another. They can delay things for
thirty hours, and so they could drag it out. Even
(08:27):
though we have the sixty 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
(08:50):
the crazy left he still hates Donald Trump. Now, I
don't think these eight Democrats would have voted yes without
Schumer blessing their voting yes.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
So this was all always going to end this one.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
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 talk about behind the scenes.
You guys, the Republicans have been meeting right behind the scenes.
You have your normal lunches that you have in your
other meetings. And I see you guys on the four
of the Senate talking and you're outside of the Senate.
I mean Democrats are doing the same thing when they
(09:22):
decide who is in the eight to vote yes? Is
that strategic based on who needs cover when they're running
for office?
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I mean there's some like Fetterman that clearly were leaders
on this, just saying I think it's wrong to hold
the American be a hostage.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I'm voting to open this thing up.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
How do they decide on the exact eight And is
it literally to the point where they're like, all right,
we're gonna 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.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
How does that work?
Speaker 4 (09:52):
So I don't know for sure.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
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 fifteenth
time to keep the government shut down, you know, George.
(10:17):
By the way, Raphael Warnock, 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 Osoff's calculus was. Warnock will often vote
with Osoff 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
(10:38):
government shut down.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
What is the chances to guys like that 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 at tenth or
is it pretty much ate eight?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
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 were going
to pass three appropriation bills. She played a major hand
in drafting those three appropriation bills. And so for appropriators. Look,
(11:14):
when Chuck Schumer and the Democrats had the majority, do
you know how many appropriation bills they passed into law?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
How many?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Zero?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
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.
(11:47):
Alissa 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 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.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
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.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
How many more votes after tonight?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Again, for people that are listening, we're doing this Sunday
night at ten fifteen right now in DC. How many
people are How many votes will it take starting now
to get the government actually reopen.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
We need to continue to hold sixty, 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 sixty.
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 is retiring, and I mentioned I
(12:54):
always thought this was going to end with retiring Democrats
voting to open the government. Durbin did so. Now, look
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 sixty.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Now.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
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.
But who the heck knows. Now, there's another element to
this deal that's getting some attention online, which is a
(13:34):
commitment to reverse the riffs, the reductions and forces that
happened during the shutdown. Yeah, and there's some folks online saying, oh,
you guys cave, this is terrible. That was an offer
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 made
(13:54):
the decision, Okay, if you guys open the government, we agree,
we'll offer you that will 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, well we'll back up the president.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So you go into Monday, you're gonna have more meetings
throughout the day, or explain to me Monday what that
looks like.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
We're anticipating the first vote probably around noon. And as
I said that, 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 to the other one next,
the other one next, and we'd be done.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Like you can do that.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
You know, 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 fa guys are back to normal, everybody's getting paid,
and they're like, now, screwt, We'll just wait a few
more days. So no one's the flying home, right, I mean,
you're not flying home tonight, are you.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Nope?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Nope, I'm in DC. I 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.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
But it was striking.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
We could have done it tonight, but to do that
you need unanimous consent. That means you don't need sixty,
you need one hundred. That means one person can object
and say, no, drag it out.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I want to burn more time. I want to burn
more time.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
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 just fully obstructionist, they could drag it
as late as Friday.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
All right.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
So one other question is 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 to people traveling. You
and I have traveled a lot. We've started to see
the breakdown of a air traffic control and of having
(16:12):
to cancel flights. I've witnessed it traveling internationally and domestically
over the last couple of days.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
You've done it as well.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And so when it opens back up, is that like
an instant fix or is that going to take a
couple of days to cycle through the system as well?
What does travel look like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Look at least travel Monday and Monday and Tuesday, I
would expect still really significant delays and really significant cancelations.
The reason for those delays and those cancelations. We have
roughly fifty thousand TSA agents all across the country.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Many of them are going into work. None of them
are being paid.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
They all missed their last paycheck, didn't get their last paycheck.
We have roughly fourteen thousand 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
(17:12):
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, say summer,
coming into work. The problem is in New York City
on Halloween Day, roughly eighty percent of the controllers called
(17:34):
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 two and a half to
three hours lined long to get through security because they
were so short staffed on TSA agents they didn't have
enough to move people through security. So even if the
(17:57):
government opens up tomorrow, you're dealing with the independent decisions
of fifty thousand TSA agents and fourteen thousand controllers when
they come back to work. And the reason that the
FAA has mandated ten percent 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.
(18:18):
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
(18:38):
just by flipping a switch.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
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 this 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.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yes, and by the way, they could have agreed to
open it all up to that, 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
(19:18):
open now, but it will take It'll take a few
more days at a minimum.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
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Speaker 1 (21:11):
All right, So let's.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Move to another issue in this shutdown, and there's been
some confusion over it. There's been a lot of fighting
over it. It deals with Obamacare. Also knows the Affordable
Care Act Democrats decided and this is some of the
history that I do think we need to now explain
because there's been so much of a political football on
this one. That they purposely designed for the subsidies which
(21:35):
make Obamacare seem cheaper than it is, even though your
tax dollars are paying for the subsidies to subsidize people's
health insurance. They designed it purposely to expire now and
that was something that was done by design. I'm assuming
for this type of fight, is am I wrong? And
explain what's happening with Obamacare now and moving forward?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Well, look, the other thing Democrats talked about and they
claimed they were fighting the shutdown for, was to extend Obamacare,
and in particular during COVID, when the Democrats had control
of the House and the Senate. In the White House,
they passed massive subsidies that went straight to giant insurance
companies went to the didn't go to the people, didn't
(22:18):
go to you, but went to insurance companies, roughly fifty
billion dollars worth of subsidies, just huge corporate welfare. And
that corporate welfare to the insurance companies expires the end
of December. And so part of this deal is Republicans
agreed we will have a vote on those those subsidies
(22:39):
the first week of December. Now, by the way, Republicans
offered them that we would schedule that vote forty days ago,
so they've had that on the table for forty days.
But we said at the beginning, sure, we'll give you
a vote. They're going to lose that vote. They know
they're going to lose that vote, but we said, we'll
give you that vote. And so we agreed to have
that vote. Now, what's the answer. And this is where
(23:01):
I want to take folks a little bit behind the
scenes to some of the sausage making. So most of
the Senate was in DC all weekend. We'd all planned
to be back home and had many people had fundraisers
at political events or family events, and we missed most
of them just staying here. So Friday night I invited
(23:21):
a dozen senators out to dinner. And so we went
to a local restaurant and got a room together and
had had a great dinner, and we're laughing and talking
and strategizing and saying, look, are are the Democrats going
to move? So in that dinner, we decided to call
President Trump. So we called President Trump, got him on
the cell phone, and the President he was in a
(23:42):
good mood, but he was he was expressing his views
emphatically as he always does.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Yeah, and by the.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Way, for people I've ever done a phone call, like
if you've never gotten to do this, he does not
ever hold back when you're talking about the phone.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I not a single phone call. You've had a lot
more than I have.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
But when I've had phone phone calls with him, whether
it was in sixteen to twenty or now forward, like,
he does not hold back at all. When you're on
the cell phone on speakerphone as well.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
He does not.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
So one of the things we asked of him Friday night,
we said, listen, in this battle with the Democrats over Obamacare,
Obamacare's failing.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
It's a bad program.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
And if you go back, go back to twenty thirteen,
twenty thirteen, when I did a filibuster against Obamacare. I
said at the time, if you remember, Barack Obama promised
the American people Obamacare would would cut the average families
premiums by twenty five hundred a year.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yep, that was a lie.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
And in fact, they skyrocketed at the time five thousand
a year. They've skyrocketed a lot more than that. Even
the Washington Post has now admitted the editorial page the
Affordable Care Act, which is the misleading name of Obamacare,
did not make health care more affordable. It caused premiums
to skyrocket. So when we had Trump on the phone,
(24:55):
we said, look, it would really help if you made
the case that what Democrats are fighting for is these
massive multi billion dollar corporate welfare payoffs to the health
insurance companies instead of empowering consumers. And look, we want
a lower prices. And so we said, in particular, it
would really help if you would send a truth and
(25:18):
Trump said, great, come up with something. And so I
will tell you what the president sent. I had a
lot of input in this, and here's what he put out.
President Trump said, Democrats claim to be working for quote
the little guy, and driving down your health insurance but
the and the rest of this is in all caps,
(25:38):
Obamacare scam goes straight to their best friends in the
insurance industry. They are making a killing while health coverage
only gets worse. If Democrats get their way again, they're
in for another huge payday at the expense of the
American people. No deal in all caps, Republicans should give
(26:02):
money directly to your personal health savings accounts all in
caps that I expanded in our great, big, beautiful bill.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Now, this
is really important because if you want a really strong,
principled conservative reform to health insurance, expanding health savings accounts
(26:25):
so that you give you the consumer, you the patient,
more control and instead of sending money to the insurance companies,
send it straight to people's health savings accounts, so you
can spend it on premiums, you can spend it on deductibles,
you can spend it on healthcare that expands competition and
empowers patients and at lowers prices. The President leaning in
(26:46):
with this tweet really helps in this political battle we'll
have over the next six weeks because the outcome he's
advocating for is something I've advocated for a long time,
and that was a direct result of that dinner on
Friday night where we got them on the phone.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
You know, there's one interesting thing that's coming out of
this first year of Trump being back in office. It
is really empowering the American people, whether it is the
accounts you's talked about, whether it's the Trump accounts that
are going to be coming in this next year that
you guys pass to give kids the opportunity to save
money and to be able to grow accounts and to
(27:24):
build wealth over their lifetime. Like, there is a lot
of personal growth and personal excitement that it's Trump is
get the government out of your life.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
You can do better without it. We want to help
you do that.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And then the Democrats like no, no, no, no, no, Mandani's
and others usually have no control of your life. We
want to run the whole damn show from from from
birth to death. Just trust the US government to be
your daddy or your mommy are both. And that's exactly
the difference between the Republicans and Democrats right now.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Look at it's a fundamental divide. As you know, did
we passed the Trump accounts? As you know, well, I
wrote that legislation. This has been a major theme that
I've been fighting for since the first day I got
elected to the Senate. And whether you're talking about health
savings accounts, whether you're talking about Trump accounts that are
that are essentially four A one K savings accounts for kids,
(28:19):
or whether you're talking about school choice and getting tax credits,
the unifying theme of all of those is individual choice,
empowering you the individual rather than government competition and giving
you control. That is the fundamental difference between left and right.
And President Trump has been a great partner in this,
(28:41):
and I'll tell you as a part of his tweet,
he sent out a chart, a chart which which which
I had sent him, but I want you to see
the chart. We're gonna put it up on on on
YouTube for anyone that's watching on YouTube. But it goes
through the major UH healthcare companies their stock performance since
(29:02):
Obamacare passed. I'm going to walk through them. Etna Obamacare
March twenty ten is when it passed. Etna's stock stock
price was thirty dollars and fifty cents. Today it's two
hundred and twelve dollars, so it's increased five hundred and
ninety five percent. Since Obamacare passed, senteen its stock has
increased six hundred and four percent, Molina its stock has
(29:26):
increased eight hundred and fifty nine percent, Humana its stock
has increased four hundred and ninety percent, Anthem Elevans Health
Its stock has increased four hundred and fourteen percent, Signa
its stock has increased eight eight hundred and twenty two percent,
and United Health Group. When Obamacare passed, United Health stock
(29:51):
was twenty five dollars and sixty six cents. Today November
twenty twenty five, it is three hundred and twenty seven
dollars and seventy four cents. That is a one and
seventy seven percent increase.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
That's what Obamacare did.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
It massively increased the profits of the health insurance companies.
By the way, those health insurance companies overwhelmingly give to Democrats.
They give to Chuck Schumer, they give to Keem Jefferies
and the Democrats because they recognize when Democrats are in power,
their profits go through the roof and the American people's
premium skyrocket. What are the Democrats say they wanted to
(30:26):
do in this shutdown? Give fifty billion dollars to those
same health insurance companies who profits have skyrocket, and it's
why what the presidents said is so important. No, we're
not going to give money to health insurance companies. Instead,
we're going to expand health savings accounts so you, the individual,
has control over your own healthcare center.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I also want to get a little preview of something
that you're working on. We're going to do a more
expansive show on this, but it's important that people know
that even while the government has been shut down, you
have been working very hard on other things. One of
those things is you've now introduced the quote Deporting Fraudster's
Act of twenty twenty five, and it deals with snap
(31:05):
and public benefits abuses that is costing the American people
millions and millions of dollars. Give us a little preview
of this so people know what's been going on.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
Look, this is a very simple bill.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
It is an astonishing fact that right now welfare fraud
fraudulently taking government assistance benefits is not a deportable offense
under the immigration laws. This law will change that and
make it a deportable offense. Let me give you some
basic statistics. Forty eight percent of households headed by illegal
immigrants received food related welfare benefits forty eight percent, nearly
(31:42):
half specifically SNAP. A CIS analysis found that thirty one
percent of illegal alien households with children draw SNAP benefits,
One in five households getting WICIC Women's infants and Children
or SNAP is headed by an on citizen, and ninety
six percent of the children in those households are US
(32:05):
but born, showing how illegal aliens exploit child based eligibility
to access benefits indirectly. The US Department of Agriculture reports
one point seven six million non citizens on SNAP in
twenty twenty three. That is roughly three hundred and twelve
(32:25):
million dollars in taxpayer funds. In twenty twelve or not
twenty twelve, rather twenty twenty two, it was one point
five million recipients that cost two hundred and twenty two million.
Fraud is rampant. For example, in twenty twenty four, one
hundred and twenty six point eight million dollars was stolen
from EBT cards. In Texas, three point seven million people,
(32:49):
about eleven percent of the state, relies on SNAP. Every
stolen or unlawfully claimed dollar robs a citizen family in
genuine need. And according to the c about two hundred
thousand illegal aliens from the surge of alien asylum seekers
from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four already received snap,
(33:10):
growing to eight hundred thousand by twenty thirty four, assuming
no deportations. A ten year cost. You said this cost millions. Yeah,
the ten year cost is fifteen billion dollars. And so
this bill is to target that and say, if you're
here illegally, you do not have any entitlement to public welfare,
(33:30):
and if you access fraudulently access public welfare, that is
yet another ground to deport you.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Now, Chuck Schummer's a co sponsor this bill, right.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
No, And I feel confident that Schumer is not just
a no, he's a hell no. Because today's Democrat party,
it is all for giant health insurance corporations. It is
all for illegal immigrants, it is all for violent criminals,
it is all for men and women's sports, it's all
for everyone the average American citizen trying to work hard
(34:03):
and provide for his or her family.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
And that's exactly backwards.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
It's incredible.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Well, as we're doing the show right now at ten
forty at night on Sunday evening. The government's still shut down.
You're still being held hostage. We're moving in the right direction.
Democrats could drag this out even till Friday just to
hurt you. If you're traveling this week, you're not alone,
Senator Cruz and I are traveling with you. It's gonna suck.
That's just the best way I can describe it. But
at least hope we will be safe while doing it.
(34:29):
Senator and I will see you back here when the
government hopefully reopens. So we'll be doing a show on Wednesday,
So hit that subscriber auto download button and grab my podcast,
the Ben Ferguson Podcasts on those in between days. I
will keep you up to date with whatever is happening.
I can promise you that, and we'll see you back
here in a couple of days.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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