July 6, 2025 • 36 mins
Senate passes the Big, Beautiful Bill after a 50-50 vote, Vice President Vance breaks the tie. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson on why he flipped at the last minute on the Big, Beautiful Bill.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Team forty seven with Clay and Buck starts.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
It is big, it is.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Beautiful, and it is now law. The Big Beautiful Bill
has just moments ago passed in the United States Senate. Okay,
I know Trump has to sign it, but you know
it's happening. Trump's gonna sign this big beautiful bill. So
the Big beautiful Bill has gone through. It will be
on the president desk. This is huge.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
It is huge.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We will get into some of the final items that
were in this. We will discuss some of the no votes.
There were some no votes. We'll also talk about how
Elon Musk, formerly of doge Fame, pretty unhappy with the
situation here of the five trillion dollar debt ceiling rays.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I think they're still potentially bucked a little bit of
drama because I think the House will now have to
come back and agree to some of.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The go on the reconciliation side. I got ahead of
myself there too excited, too excited, So.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
There will there will be some drama.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's in reconciling. It's going to go through. The House
has already passed it. It's going to go through. But
thank you for the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So the journey for the nerdy edition where there will
continue to be drama. First, how long is that going
to take? Though? I don't know, I I I just
we have not spent a ton of time on the
minute by minute because we knew that this was going
to pass, and it will pass on some level. Uh,
but they still have some maneuvering. I think Trump wants
(01:31):
it by July fourth, right, is the ideal day that
he would sign it, which is Friday, And so I
imagine that they are hoping that the House will sign
off on the changes made by the Senate at some
point in time in the next several days. But that's
the timeframe. Uh so that is the last drama to
be had before this thing is officially signed an underway,
(01:54):
which is.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Not gonna be It's not gonna be a drama. I
mean they're gonna you know what I mean, Like, come on,
what's the drama gonna be? Clay Someone's really the Republicans
aren't going to actually do the thing that they've already
said they were going to do. I don't I don't
see it, but yes, procedurally speaking, they have to reconcile it. Right,
So the House as the set of the Setate says,
how's that? Okay, So let's get into what is in
(02:15):
the big beautiful bill, which I do believe is its
official is its official name.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I'm just seeing now.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I think it happened so recently, Clay, that all the
news sites live and in real time here are still updating.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Past as we came on the air like that is, yes,
the second absolute latest breaking news.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That's why I got all excited. Okay, so it was.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Happening in real time.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
We got to open the show with ah it has
Pasta said it fifty one fifty, and jd Vance had
to step in to uh write, Jade Vance, I'm reading
this in real time because it just happened. Just you understand,
this wasn't like an hour ago. It happened seconds or
minutes ago. Three Republicans Ran Paul of Kentucky, Tom Tillis
(03:00):
of North Carolina not running next year. Susan Collins of
Maine joined Democrats to vote against the bill. Paul opposed
the legislation's five trillion dollars debtlimit, et cetera. Okay, so
Susan Collins not a surprise. Rand Paul being Rand Paul,
Trump's probably gonna have some truths for him that are
not very nice. And Tom tillis here. Lisa Murkowski was
(03:23):
the final piece. She backed the bill after discussions with Thune.
Twenty four hours of motions and amendments. Senate Republican leaders
altered the bill right up to the final moments. So
this was this was down to the wire, everyone to
get the things they wanted to get in here. Hundreds
of billions for border security national defense, increased budget deficit
(03:48):
by about three point three trillion through twenty twenty thirty four. Yeah,
look it's I'll tell you, the White House is very
excited about this. I think the economy is going to
look really good as a result of this, or rather
there's going to be a lot of good things that happened. Clay,
we knew it would get through. Yeah, tie breaking vote
(04:09):
from JD. Van So it was a close run thing here.
We knew it would get through. It's getting through now. Okay,
the House reconciles it on their end. What are your
thoughts as we sit here and bask in the glow
of MAGA. Another win up on the board.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
So I think the big question is going to be
how fast can the economy grow? So now that this
bill is done, the ability to grow the economy is
how we end up keeping from having to massively increase
the overall debt, and so that is my biggest question.
(04:48):
Can we get this economy moving at three percent growth
doesn't sound outrageous to me, but it is better than
we have been growing the economy over the past day
decade or so fifteen years on average, and so to me,
the biggest question out there is how fast can we
grow the economy? To me, the secondary question on this
(05:10):
is can we get the FED to lower interest rates?
Our interest rates are about two percent above where the
EU is right now at four point two five four
point five. You guys can correct me in the studio
if I get the percentages wrong. I think the numbers
need to be around two and a half frankly where
the EU is. If that were to happen, then mortgage
(05:33):
rates and theory are going to come back. That would
unlock the housing market, which is I think the most
frozen aspect of the American economy right now. So many
of you got the two and a half or three
percent fifteen and thirty year mortgages, congrats, but it's been
several years and we accelerated those so rapidly that lots
(05:53):
of people are unwilling to sell their homes or move
despite changing life circumstances, because the different between a two
and a half and a three and a seven percent
mortgage rate is so massively substantial. If that starts to
get unfrozen, then I think a lot of the other
aspects of the economy will start to fire on all cylinders.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So the House Freedom Caucus, I was asking, who's going
to cause drama here? I was all excited, like, Okay,
this is finally happening. We're looking at a holiday coming
up here, a great holiday weekend. Country's kicking ass. Things
going really well. House Freedom Caucus says, and this is
as of the last twenty four hours. House Budget Framework
was clear. No new deficit spending in the One Big
(06:35):
Beautiful Bill. The senatece version adds six hundred and fifty
one billion to the deficit, and that's before interest costs,
which nearly double the total. That's not fiscal responsibility, that's
not what we agreed to. The Senate must make major
changes and should at least be in the ballpark of
compliance with the House Budget framework. Are they really going
(06:56):
to do this. Are you really going to do this?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I think they're gonna be some drama associated with this,
and I think ultimately everybody, if the drama is just
so they.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Get attention and then they let this go through, they're
just being annoying. I'm just gonna say this because we've
already we've already had this discussion.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I get it. This is the best you're going to get.
And there's people out there who are going to say, Look,
Rand Paul's right about the deficit. I think he is.
Chip chip Roy is right about the deficit. I think
he is. This is the best bill that's going to pass.
And you just saw. I have yet to see anyone
(07:34):
come up with a bill that could get passage in
the Senate and the House and do as much of
this bill does. Politics is the art of the possible.
I get people out there that are upset about the debt,
the deficit. I am Look, the reality is nobody wants
to address the fact that entitlement spending so security and
(07:55):
medicare make it virtually impossible to largely restrict the size
of the federal government. And as soon as you mentioned that,
we get flooded and every politician does with Hey, that
money is mine, I want it back. And so the
structural issues we have at play here, and this is
(08:15):
a challenge, and I don't want to be the want
wonk guy, but the structural issues we have in play
is there are way more older people now than there
are younger people in many advanced countries in the world,
and entitle what programs are predicated on there being way
more younger people than there are older people. And if
you are around our age, the math doesn't add up
(08:38):
for us to get the Social Security dollars back that
we put in. And that's just the reality, without adjusting
based on retirement ages, based on just looking at population tables,
I presume that I'm going to get virtually nothing from
Social Security. That's me. I'm forty six. You know people
can start taking social Security. I think it's sixty, so
(09:01):
I'm not debt far away. Well, I don't think it's
going to be there.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
This is why I find the whole thing frustrating. And
I appreciate that Rand Paul wants to Senator Paul wants
to have his voice heard on this, and mathematically he's right,
but politically he's wrong, because no one's going to do
anything about this right now, and there's no willingness among
the American people, even people who say they want to
tackle the debt to do it. It's like having a
debt ceiling fight. It's a fake fight because we always
(09:26):
raise the debt ceiling and then if they default, they
don't really Rather there's discussion about default, they're not really
going to default. So it just becomes tiresome and you lose.
It's the boy who cried wolf. You lose public interest.
And I think that yeah, until people want to talk
about entitlements just to keep spending the money we have
to spend to achieve the priorities of the Republican Party.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
If we don't have a secure border and.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
We don't deal with the illegal immigration issue, we Medicare
and social security in thirty years is going to be
the least of our problems because we're not going to
have a country anymore. So the hundreds of billions of
dollars that are going toward border security and the deportation
efforts of the illegals piled and under Biden, it's absolutely essential.
A lot of the things that are covered in the
(10:06):
big beautiful Bill are going to be. I believe rocket
fuel for the economy. Growth is also really important. Remember
nobody's factoring in that Trump wasn't I should say, factoring
in Trump's tariffs into financial and physical matters for the country.
It's already one hundred and twenty billion dollars and it's
just getting going. So you know, there are other pathways
(10:26):
maybe that could be considered here that might make the
situation better. Now that I did, I'll say, I know
that Trump had to sign it, sol I've forgotten, and
now the House has to reconcile on their side for
a second, and I think they're just gonna do what
they did. We're gonna get a bunch of windy speeches
about the debt, the debt, the debt, and then they're
gonna and then they're gonna vote for it. I don't
understand what's we We all get it. We all understand.
(10:47):
There's nothing else to be said until until you want
to deal with entitlements. Everybody you don't want to deal
with the debt. End of story, full full stop, end
of conversation, and nobody wants to deal with entitlements. So
let's just do what we can to achieve the agenda
we've got while Trump's run things.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I think that there's going to be a recognition that
entitlement spending is out of control and everybody's going to
have to get their benefits cut. And we should have
we should have a real conversation about Social Security and
the fact that it's actually not a very good deal
(11:23):
and most Americans just don't really look into it because
it's been established for a long time. The government takes
your money, they give you a three percent return roughly
on it, and if you die, this.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Is all I'll ever get it. You know that this
is all falling on deaf ears. People love their people
love social Security. And you know what the problem is, Clay,
the lunatic communists who are certainly right now sitting around
a lot of them praising the Mom Dannie wing of
the Democrat Party. They're not going to get into what
you're talking about. They're just gonna tell people they're taking
your social Security and then you lose, and then the
(11:57):
communists are in charge and then they ruin everything. So
this is this is the political reality of America right now,
and Trump sees it, and I that's why I have
my patience for this thing. And my patients even for beyond. Yeah,
of course, hear it out. Make the case, tell everybody
the numbers. But standing in the way of the Trump
agenda because you say that you're not getting the cuts
you want. You're not getting the cuts. Okay, it's not happening.
(12:18):
You're not You're not You're not actually gonna deal with
the dead. It's thirty seven trillion dollars not happening.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
How many people do you think even understands so security?
What percentage of the American population?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I mean, they know that they get money when they're
when they're older, and they needed I mean, that's all
they care to know.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
But the fact that it's an awful deal. And if
you got to keep your own money and you just
put it in index funds, you would.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
People don't trust themselves. People don't They would spend it.
People would spend it on a jet ski and then
they'd say, oh, but I need help now. And you know,
this is the this is the problem.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
People want.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Everybody wants somebody else to pay for their stuff, not
realizing that they're the ones paying for the stuff they
think is coming from other people.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I think the biggest challenge is it's so embedded now
that most people don't even examine the underlying concept, which
is basically a big pyramid scheme, and it's predicated on
there always being way more young people than there are
old people. And we're not in that era anymore.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Clay, the average person pays in to medicare less than
half of what they take out of Medicare in terms
of the actual cost of their care. But if you
tell anybody that you're going to change medicare, you know
what they say, I paid for that. It's not welfare,
it's an entitlement. I've paid for it. I deserve it. Okay, Well,
if I give you money for one ice cream cone,
but you keep giving me two ice cream cones, you're
(13:38):
going to run out of ice cream cones. Nobody wants
to hear it. And honestly, I'm excited about the border.
I'm excited about saving the country. I'm excited about the
Trump agenda being funded. You know, I'm with Steven Miller
on this stuff. Man, Like, we got to save the
country now and we'll figure out the debt later. When
people want to have big boy conversations about it, they don't. Actually,
the American people also want to have the conversation.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
The answer then becomes, the growth rate is everything, yep,
because the growth rate of the country is what can
turn this into a net positive bill. So if you
are optimistic on AI, if you want to unleash individual
American meritocracy, if we ever got the country growing at
four percent again, all of these issues vanish basically, right
(14:24):
a four percent a year, four percent a year, four
percent a year. We're growing at like one point five
percent a year, one point eight percent a year. The
overall growth rate of the American economy is the key.
If overall spending is not going to be addressed, and
there doesn't seem to be a political will, unfortunately, as
you and I believe there should be. If you look
(14:45):
at just the basic books, the political will isn't there
to address the spending, and so we live in match.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You have to understand, wait, if dercent, it's not convincing
Republicans to tackle the debt, it's dealing with the fact
that Democrats will call you heartless, you know, ruthless, throwing
old ladies off their Medicare and taking away social Security
from hardworking Americans so they can seize power and act
like communist maniacs. That's the problem. So this is it's
(15:14):
not just like we're having to talk on our side.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And also the concept of cut, which the media I
think does a poor job of slowing the rate of growth,
is not a cut. It's still a growth. But they
have managed to create this idea, well, we're going to
dial back to growth of the of the of the
overall spending, and that is seen as a cut. Oh
you're cutting spinning. No, spinning, still growing, it's just not
(15:37):
growing at the same rate. And honestly, I think a
lot of this is just communication failure. I don't think
people know the details. I think a lot of people
don't care to know the details.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Spoiler alert. It's going to pass, and Trump's gonna end
up signing it, and everyone who's chirping about this from
the Congress in the meantime is going to go along
with what's basically there just throwing it out there for everybody.
This is Team forty seven with Clay and the big
news of the day at the top of the show,
just to recap. Right as we came on air, I mean,
within moments, the Senate had passed on a fifty one
(16:09):
to fifty vote, the Big Beautiful Bill. Jd Vance had
to be the tie break on that one. Tom Tillis,
Rand Paul who was the third, somebody else didn't get
Oh Collins didn't vote for it. So yep, that was
what happened there. Now, thank you Clay for the catch.
It goes back to the House side before it goes
(16:32):
to the President's desk for signature. The House is gonna
there's gonna be some squawking from the Freedom Caucus about it.
I don't think they're going to sabotage the Trump agenda
at this late moment on the Big Beautiful Bill, but
they're gonna be. They're gonna, you know, look, they're allowed
to have their say on it, and they will. So
(16:53):
that will be a thing that occurs in the next
few days and we're probably gonna get to a signature
before the holiday. Hopefully us how this will go. So
that's the big news. And then we had the most
interesting visit of the day was Donald Trump going down
to Alligator Alcatraz, which is in o Choppie o Choppy, Florida,
(17:18):
which is near Everglades City, which I can tell you
is not really much of a city. It is really
middle of Nowheresville. I think o Choppy, uh is it
has one hundred people something like that lives and lives
in the in the It is unincorporated territory, so it's
(17:38):
not even I think a township per se. It's quite small.
But that was the one, if you're wondering, it wasn't
Lake Okeachobee. I know Lake okachobe O Choppy was the
new place. So that's where they have this airstrip that
is a place to put illegal migrants, illegal aliens before
(17:59):
they are deported. And Trump is saying, if you try
to run from the gators or swim from the gators,
it's gonna be a bad day for you. So there's
all that going on, and then he got into Kami, Mom, Donnie,
do you have anything in the alligator Alcatraz. The team
is saying that all you have to do is be
able to not zigzag but outrun the nearest person to you,
(18:19):
which is that is always true, and that is mean.
That's very mean. Clay would Clay would not leave me
behind to get eaten by gators, right, Clay?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Probably correct? Yes, I would be Again, I've said on
this program before, I am prepared to save anyone from
an alligator attack. If you see me near a swamp,
I've got your back, so uh, just don't go in
the water. But if they come out of the water,
like in Crocodile Dundee, I know that's crocodile versus an alligator,
(18:52):
then I'll be like Mick Dundee right there to protect you.
By the way, that movie also still a lot of
fun if you've got kids and you want to watch
some movies during the July fourth holiday, whether it's not great,
maybe you're sitting around. We've been watching all the Harry
Potter movies in the Travis household and they're still really good.
(19:12):
So props JK. Rowling. I think she may have a
future in this creative industry space. But that alligator Alcatraz thing,
and I think I know we said it last hour,
but I do think it's so important. Trump and DeSantis
are a whale of a team, and I know Ron
DeSantis only has whatever it is, a year and a
(19:32):
half left basically as the governor of Florida, but I
would not be surprised if DeSantis ends up in some
form or fashion as a part of Trump two point
oh cabinet and What I mean by that is there's
constant doing these jobs takes a lot. So so far
(19:55):
we have had pretty great stability in Trump two point
oh cabinet universe. But at some point some of these guys,
probably after en gals after the mid terms, are going
to start to say, hey, I want to do something different.
I'm burned out two years of going full speed doing X,
Y or Z. There's something else that I want to do.
It wouldn't shock me if Trump comes back to DeSantis.
(20:18):
Remember there was some talk about DeSantis potentially being the
Secretary of Defense when it was uncertain about whether heg
Seth was going to be confirmed. And that's another example
of jd Vance breaking a tie fifty to fifty in
the Senate. Jd Vance gets the vote to get heg
Seth then, and Pete has done a very very good job.
Since this is also an example in the big Beautiful Bill,
(20:41):
you've got jd Vance breaking the tie. This is why
having a little bit of a buffer in the Senate
fifty three forty seven, man, it would be great to
be up to fifty four or fifty five or fifty six.
As it pertains to where we're headed on next but
(21:02):
the Trump DeSantis relationship very strong, and I think it's
important to point out that by and large, most of
you out there who voted Trump, I really can't hardly
point to anything in the first six months and say, hey,
I think Trump could have done a better job on this.
Politics the art of the possible. So I understand that
(21:22):
people are saying, oh, this is my number one issue,
and this hasn't been addressed completely to the ability that
I would like. You can't make people do what there
is not the political will for them to do. So
you and Ibuck we talked about this some earlier, were
very troubled by the national debt. When the Tea Party
got its start, national debt was ten trillion dollars. National
(21:44):
debt is soon going to be forty trillion dollars. That's untenable.
But until there is a political will to address it,
and you can't solve it by increasing tax rates, that
doesn't work. Ultimately, I think you're gonna have to dial
back spending. This is inevitable, but that political will is
(22:05):
not there yet. So in the meantime, you have two options.
You can either whine and complain, and some people are
choosing that because it's not kick your legs, scream like
a child, have a temper tantrum, or you can do
what you and I are talking about. Now, Hey, this
bill is going to pass, and now it's time to
(22:25):
try to figure out how do we grow the economy
as rapidly as we possibly can to help to lead
to a surplus through growth as opposed to a surplus
through cuts. That is the new hope. And to me,
if we can get it to three four percent growth,
everything changes. Yes.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So that's the case for optimism, and I agree with
you on that. The case for optimism is not that
everyone's going to see the wisdom iron sorry ran Paul's
math and make massive changes to the biggest spending programs
and priorities of the United States government now and for
the last well all of our lifetimes. So yeah, that's
(23:10):
not gonna happen. So hopefully Trump just has the economy
so juiced and so in fuego that some very good
things can happen. What will make things a lot worse
is if the commedi Mamdani is able to take control.
Trump spoke about this. There's a marine one noise in
the background. But we wanted you to hear this. This
(23:30):
has cut seven. This is look even President Trump's win
and we all see this. This is concerning when somebody
gets the wind that is back in some someplace as
important as New York City play it.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
I think he's Sarah Brook. He's a communist. The last
thing who we need is a communists. I said there
will never be socialism in the United States. Show he's
a communists. So I think he's said too. And I
think we're gonna have a lot of fun with it
him watching him because.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yes, sticking up right to get his money and so
where he's not going to run away with anything.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
I think he's a Frankly, I've heard he's your total
met job. I think the people in the New York
are crazy because they go this route. I think they're crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
We will have a communist in the for the first time,
really a pure true communist. He wants to operate the grocery.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Stores, the department stores. What about the people are there.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I think it's crazy, Yeah, Clay, it is crazy. And
I understand that there's this sense that it's limited to
New York. But AOC and Bernie Sanders they co sign
really all of this stuff and They're the Democrats that
have the most currency with the base. And it is
(24:49):
a Democrat party that came within a few hundred thousand
votes of Trump, even after lying about Biden's dementia and
putting forward the worst candidate in our lifetime in Kamala Harris.
So I mean I would argue even worse than the dementia.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Guy, which tells you a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
So we have to take this seriously. People ask how
does a Democratic party come back? It's not hard. They
were close even in this election, and aggregate numbers when
you really look at it, there are a lot of
people who are voting Democrat no matter who they put forward,
no matter how crazy the idea is. And Mom Donni,
I think is just a symptom of that larger malady.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
And again I'm gonna keep hammering it. If there is
not a coalition that arises to all come together to
oppose Mamdanni. If you have Eric Adams running as an
independent Andrew Cuomo running as an independent, uh, and you
have a situation where Curtis Sliwa is the Republican that
(25:47):
trio is going to assure that Mamdanni wins. So the
only way New York city rejects Mamdanni and has some
form of sanity in terms of who it's selecting as
its next mayor. Is if there's a understanding that they
cannot all run and there is a coalition of opposition
that comes together to try and defeat Mom Donnie. My
(26:09):
concern is everybody's going to look out for their best interest,
meaning we're going to get more attention if you stay
in the race and everybody else loses, and there isn't
a coalition brought together to come against him. And I
think what Trump is talking about in general is the
opposition that he sees from all these sanctuary cities as
(26:30):
the process is underway to deport so many different people
is a direct opposition to the federal government and should
not be acceptable. And at some point I think there's
going to have to be a test case of someone,
probably a mayor that is one of these sanctuary cities
that is directly defying federal law, and we're going to
(26:54):
have to have the court's rule about whether or not
that is permissible or appropriate, because I don't understand we
made this argument, and the Supreme Court has said it
quite clearly. The President of the United States is in
charge of border related policies, immigration, all of those things.
How can we allow all of these individual cities and
certainly governors of states, but it's really being driven more
(27:16):
by mayors of cities that have decided that they are sanctuaries.
How can we allow them to directly defy federal law?
At some point that conflict is going to have to
be resolved in some way by the larger court system.
It feels inevitable to me Team forty seven with Clay
and Buck. We head up to Washington, d C. Now
where Senator Ron Johnson, I imagine a lot of people are
(27:38):
heading to the lakes up north in Wisconsin for this
time of year when it is spectacular. But you are working, Senator,
and we had you in studio a couple of weeks
ago breaking down the Big Beautiful Bill, and you changed
your vote at the last minute or signed on with
the bill at the last minute. What is the late
(28:00):
Just what can you tell us about where we are
compared to when we talked about talked with you on
air last.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Okays, Yeah, I should be trolling for Walleye right now,
but we're here working on the Big Beautiful Billain as
far as the primary components of this bill. I'm fully
supportive of right, We're gonna make sure that we don't
have a massive automatic tax increase. That's about that's about
four trillion dollars of the score. By the way, nobody
wants that. Nobody wants to default to our death. Unfortunately,
(28:30):
Democrats left these enormous messes the open border, so we
have to provide funding for border, the wars, we have
to provide funding for the defense. Massive four year average
just in to one point nine trillions. The seven years
before the pandemic, our death at average six hundred and
sixty billion. Four years afterwards under Biden Democrats one point
nine trillions. So again it is true the House provided
(28:54):
us with the spending reduction about historic spending reduction about
one point four trillion. Actually is about one point six.
Our difference in our scores is we make sure that
the business expensing provisions are permanent versus a short term.
So that's the main difference between the House and the Senate.
Now we're hearing from the House, they're not real happy,
(29:14):
and we're short from their math somewhere around six hundred
billion dollars. Rick Scott has an excellent amendment, which was
not including the base bill, and that was really the
sticking point on the motion proceed We got the commitment
of the leadership to now we offer amendment, vote, but
whip it and try and make sure this thing gets passed.
(29:35):
I'm hoping President Trump helps us get this thing passed
because that pay on the date. So here's what the
amendment does. It doesn't kick anybody off of Medicaid. What
it does is it stops enrollment into the Obama Care
addition to Medicaid, which threatens traditional Medicaid for disabled children,
(29:55):
for example. So at some point in time in the
future we're debating that it just don't allows states to
enroll them under the nine dollars to one dollar match.
I mean, I think you guys realize that, right for
a disabled child, for every dollar the state puts into Medicaid,
the federal government matches it for a dollar thirty three.
But for the Obamacare single working age able body, childless adults,
(30:17):
for every dollar state puts in, federal government kicks in nine.
That's a huge incentive for states to gain the system.
Provider taxes, provider fees which aren't healthcare, by the way,
but they get reimbursed nine dollars for every dollar the
States kicks in there, So against it's a financing scam.
We're trying to end that because it's causing the outflow
(30:37):
of tunsred billions of dollars out of the federal government.
We don't have the money. So that alone could fill
about five hundred billion dollars of that gap if we
give states until the first part of twenty twenty nine,
and the scam I mean, very reasonable proposal most Republicans support.
In the Senate, we've got some holdouts and that's where
we need leadership for pressure people. You know, there are
(31:00):
other things in the bills, some extraneous task credits that
you know, one word, thirty seven jillion dollars in debt.
Do we really have to add task credits for this,
that and the other thing. So again, I think this
is entirely doable. It's going to take the President weigh in,
it's going to take repuggnant leadership to make sure that
we can satisfy the House requirements. And then when all
said and done, this would be a huge achievement repealing
(31:23):
at least the most damaging part of Obamacare, which was
the addition to Medicaid, which puts it risk the Medicaid
for disabled children. Mean, do you think it's fair that
for a disabled child the phedograph kicks in a Dallas
thirty three but three working age person that should be
working getting health care from their employer, we provide nine
dollars for everyone.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
It's just out of whack, Senator Johnson. People are reading
about I think many of them, if not for the
first time, it's certainly a helpful reminder about the Senate
Parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough, who has been in this role since
twenty two. Well, this is not an elected office, this
is a It's pretty fascinating actually, right, this started sometime
(32:07):
around what the nineteen twenties, nineteen thirty, so it's about
one hundred years ago. There's somebody who helps with the
administrative procedures rules within the Senate. I guess, like when
you guys are allowed to have bathroom breaks or I
don't know, whatever it is. And now there's somebody who
is stripping out parts of the bill like the NFA
National Firearms Act and silencers no longer being an NFA
(32:29):
item because the parliamentarian what is going on here? And
by the way, talk to me about that NFA silencers
or suppressors issue.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Well, I believe that was included. So this is incredibly complex.
I mean, this all has to do with the Budget
Act sets up this reconciliation process where we can reduce
mandatory spending or we cut taxes or increased taxes with
a simple majority vote. Because of that process, the Sanator
(32:59):
Robert Bird had rules in terms of what would qualify
for that what wouldn't qualify. From my standpoint, the parliamentarian
has been pretty even handed. When Democrats wanted to include
things were more policy than budget, she didn't allow it.
She's done the same thing here by the way, we
modify things that she wasn't going to kick out. We
listened to her instructions, we got it back in. So
(33:20):
I realized that ends up being kind of a bonus contention.
What we don't want to do is eliminate the philibuster.
I know a lot of people want us to, but
the filibuster has protected us from all kinds of massive
Democrats spending programs because in the minority, Republics had the
right to block some of that stuff. So, I mean,
I realized at the moment it's like, get rid of
that so we can get everything we want. That would
(33:41):
be pretty short sighted thinking. But again, we've got a
way to do this. You know, Rich Scott knows healthcare
like nobody else. Hey, brilliant proposal. Doesn't kick anybody off Medicaid,
just ends the Medicaid scam a few years in the future,
gives states, gives providers a chance to just how they're budgeting. Basically,
(34:02):
states and providers are based in their budget off of
this financing scam that has to end. We simply can't
afford it.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Where are we stand now. I know that Chuck Schumer
made the entire bill be read aloud in the Senate chamber,
and that took a long time. There's talk that Trump
wants to get this thing signed on July fourth. You're
in the Senate right now. What does the timeframe look
like for everybody out there? And where do we go
from here?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
We were in the voter amas, so it's unlimited amendments,
so I can't predict how long it'll go. Again, we're
in very close conversation with conservatives in the House. They're
telling us this product right now is dead on arrival.
I actually take them seriously, you know, we kind of
ignored their formula, their math. They looked at this differently
than we did. We're I think about six hundred and
(34:52):
fifty billion dollars short. Now from my standpoint, I'm I'm
fine satisfying their requirement again, use Rick Scott's MA and
enrollment for new Obamacare nine dollars to one match. Those
guys can go too standard Medicaid, get get reversed, same
things as a sable child. Okay, do that start at
(35:12):
twenty twenty nine. That says this is about five hundred
billion dollars. Get rid of some of these extraneous measures,
some of these new task credits that just some some
Republican standard thought, Oh this is an important thing. Now
just get work. Thirty seven tillion dollars a death. This
is not a time for additional task credits, for jumping
up our task going further. So I would have no
problem taking look this, going look at this and say, okay, no,
(35:34):
we can reduce the deaths at by six hundred and
fifty billion. Not a problem. Again. Politically, you've got constituencies,
You've got people that apparently like to spend money, like
to offer new tax credits. Refuse to do what they
promised to do, you know, repeal Obamacare, rip it out
by the root and branch. This is just one route
that is probably the most damaging aspect of Obamacare, and
we've got Republicans now that aren't willing to do it.
(35:56):
Just where we need presidential leadership, say honor your promise,
get that additional deficit relief, get this past to the Senate,
get this past the House, and then we really will
end up with one big, beautiful bill.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Outstanding stuff. Senator Ron Johnson, We appreciate all the work
you're doing and keep us updated. You can hop on anytime.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Have great day.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Thanks for listening to Team forty seven with Clay and Buck.
Team forty seven with Clay and Buck starts.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
It is big, it is.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Beautiful, and it is now law. The Big Beautiful Bill
has just moments ago passed in the United States Senate. Okay,
I know Trump has to sign it, but you know
it's happening. Trump's gonna sign this big beautiful bill. So
the Big beautiful Bill has gone through. It will be
on the president desk. This is huge.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
It is huge.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We will get into some of the final items that
were in this. We will discuss some of the no votes.
There were some no votes. We'll also talk about how
Elon Musk, formerly of doge Fame, pretty unhappy with the
situation here of the five trillion dollar debt ceiling rays.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I think they're still potentially bucked a little bit of
drama because I think the House will now have to
come back and agree to some of.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The go on the reconciliation side. I got ahead of
myself there too excited, too excited, So.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
There will there will be some drama.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's in reconciling. It's going to go through. The House
has already passed it. It's going to go through. But
thank you for the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
So the journey for the nerdy edition where there will
continue to be drama. First, how long is that going
to take? Though? I don't know, I I I just
we have not spent a ton of time on the
minute by minute because we knew that this was going
to pass, and it will pass on some level. Uh,
but they still have some maneuvering. I think Trump wants
(01:31):
it by July fourth, right, is the ideal day that
he would sign it, which is Friday, And so I
imagine that they are hoping that the House will sign
off on the changes made by the Senate at some
point in time in the next several days. But that's
the timeframe. Uh so that is the last drama to
be had before this thing is officially signed an underway,
(01:54):
which is.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Not gonna be It's not gonna be a drama. I
mean they're gonna you know what I mean, Like, come on,
what's the drama gonna be? Clay Someone's really the Republicans
aren't going to actually do the thing that they've already
said they were going to do. I don't I don't
see it, but yes, procedurally speaking, they have to reconcile it. Right,
So the House as the set of the Setate says,
how's that? Okay, So let's get into what is in
(02:15):
the big beautiful bill, which I do believe is its
official is its official name.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I'm just seeing now.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I think it happened so recently, Clay, that all the
news sites live and in real time here are still updating.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Past as we came on the air like that is, yes,
the second absolute latest breaking news.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That's why I got all excited. Okay, so it was.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Happening in real time.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
We got to open the show with ah it has
Pasta said it fifty one fifty, and jd Vance had
to step in to uh write, Jade Vance, I'm reading
this in real time because it just happened. Just you understand,
this wasn't like an hour ago. It happened seconds or
minutes ago. Three Republicans Ran Paul of Kentucky, Tom Tillis
(03:00):
of North Carolina not running next year. Susan Collins of
Maine joined Democrats to vote against the bill. Paul opposed
the legislation's five trillion dollars debtlimit, et cetera. Okay, so
Susan Collins not a surprise. Rand Paul being Rand Paul,
Trump's probably gonna have some truths for him that are
not very nice. And Tom tillis here. Lisa Murkowski was
(03:23):
the final piece. She backed the bill after discussions with Thune.
Twenty four hours of motions and amendments. Senate Republican leaders
altered the bill right up to the final moments. So
this was this was down to the wire, everyone to
get the things they wanted to get in here. Hundreds
of billions for border security national defense, increased budget deficit
(03:48):
by about three point three trillion through twenty twenty thirty four. Yeah,
look it's I'll tell you, the White House is very
excited about this. I think the economy is going to
look really good as a result of this, or rather
there's going to be a lot of good things that happened. Clay,
we knew it would get through. Yeah, tie breaking vote
(04:09):
from JD. Van So it was a close run thing here.
We knew it would get through. It's getting through now. Okay,
the House reconciles it on their end. What are your
thoughts as we sit here and bask in the glow
of MAGA. Another win up on the board.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
So I think the big question is going to be
how fast can the economy grow? So now that this
bill is done, the ability to grow the economy is
how we end up keeping from having to massively increase
the overall debt, and so that is my biggest question.
(04:48):
Can we get this economy moving at three percent growth
doesn't sound outrageous to me, but it is better than
we have been growing the economy over the past day
decade or so fifteen years on average, and so to me,
the biggest question out there is how fast can we
grow the economy? To me, the secondary question on this
(05:10):
is can we get the FED to lower interest rates?
Our interest rates are about two percent above where the
EU is right now at four point two five four
point five. You guys can correct me in the studio
if I get the percentages wrong. I think the numbers
need to be around two and a half frankly where
the EU is. If that were to happen, then mortgage
(05:33):
rates and theory are going to come back. That would
unlock the housing market, which is I think the most
frozen aspect of the American economy right now. So many
of you got the two and a half or three
percent fifteen and thirty year mortgages, congrats, but it's been
several years and we accelerated those so rapidly that lots
(05:53):
of people are unwilling to sell their homes or move
despite changing life circumstances, because the different between a two
and a half and a three and a seven percent
mortgage rate is so massively substantial. If that starts to
get unfrozen, then I think a lot of the other
aspects of the economy will start to fire on all cylinders.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So the House Freedom Caucus, I was asking, who's going
to cause drama here? I was all excited, like, Okay,
this is finally happening. We're looking at a holiday coming
up here, a great holiday weekend. Country's kicking ass. Things
going really well. House Freedom Caucus says, and this is
as of the last twenty four hours. House Budget Framework
was clear. No new deficit spending in the One Big
(06:35):
Beautiful Bill. The senatece version adds six hundred and fifty
one billion to the deficit, and that's before interest costs,
which nearly double the total. That's not fiscal responsibility, that's
not what we agreed to. The Senate must make major
changes and should at least be in the ballpark of
compliance with the House Budget framework. Are they really going
(06:56):
to do this. Are you really going to do this?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I think they're gonna be some drama associated with this,
and I think ultimately everybody, if the drama is just
so they.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Get attention and then they let this go through, they're
just being annoying. I'm just gonna say this because we've
already we've already had this discussion.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I get it. This is the best you're going to get.
And there's people out there who are going to say, Look,
Rand Paul's right about the deficit. I think he is.
Chip chip Roy is right about the deficit. I think
he is. This is the best bill that's going to pass.
And you just saw. I have yet to see anyone
(07:34):
come up with a bill that could get passage in
the Senate and the House and do as much of
this bill does. Politics is the art of the possible.
I get people out there that are upset about the debt,
the deficit. I am Look, the reality is nobody wants
to address the fact that entitlement spending so security and
(07:55):
medicare make it virtually impossible to largely restrict the size
of the federal government. And as soon as you mentioned that,
we get flooded and every politician does with Hey, that
money is mine, I want it back. And so the
structural issues we have at play here, and this is
(08:15):
a challenge, and I don't want to be the want
wonk guy, but the structural issues we have in play
is there are way more older people now than there
are younger people in many advanced countries in the world,
and entitle what programs are predicated on there being way
more younger people than there are older people. And if
you are around our age, the math doesn't add up
(08:38):
for us to get the Social Security dollars back that
we put in. And that's just the reality, without adjusting
based on retirement ages, based on just looking at population tables,
I presume that I'm going to get virtually nothing from
Social Security. That's me. I'm forty six. You know people
can start taking social Security. I think it's sixty, so
(09:01):
I'm not debt far away. Well, I don't think it's
going to be there.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
This is why I find the whole thing frustrating. And
I appreciate that Rand Paul wants to Senator Paul wants
to have his voice heard on this, and mathematically he's right,
but politically he's wrong, because no one's going to do
anything about this right now, and there's no willingness among
the American people, even people who say they want to
tackle the debt to do it. It's like having a
debt ceiling fight. It's a fake fight because we always
(09:26):
raise the debt ceiling and then if they default, they
don't really Rather there's discussion about default, they're not really
going to default. So it just becomes tiresome and you lose.
It's the boy who cried wolf. You lose public interest.
And I think that yeah, until people want to talk
about entitlements just to keep spending the money we have
to spend to achieve the priorities of the Republican Party.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
If we don't have a secure border and.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
We don't deal with the illegal immigration issue, we Medicare
and social security in thirty years is going to be
the least of our problems because we're not going to
have a country anymore. So the hundreds of billions of
dollars that are going toward border security and the deportation
efforts of the illegals piled and under Biden, it's absolutely essential.
A lot of the things that are covered in the
(10:06):
big beautiful Bill are going to be. I believe rocket
fuel for the economy. Growth is also really important. Remember
nobody's factoring in that Trump wasn't I should say, factoring
in Trump's tariffs into financial and physical matters for the country.
It's already one hundred and twenty billion dollars and it's
just getting going. So you know, there are other pathways
(10:26):
maybe that could be considered here that might make the
situation better. Now that I did, I'll say, I know
that Trump had to sign it, sol I've forgotten, and
now the House has to reconcile on their side for
a second, and I think they're just gonna do what
they did. We're gonna get a bunch of windy speeches
about the debt, the debt, the debt, and then they're
gonna and then they're gonna vote for it. I don't
understand what's we We all get it. We all understand.
(10:47):
There's nothing else to be said until until you want
to deal with entitlements. Everybody you don't want to deal
with the debt. End of story, full full stop, end
of conversation, and nobody wants to deal with entitlements. So
let's just do what we can to achieve the agenda
we've got while Trump's run things.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I think that there's going to be a recognition that
entitlement spending is out of control and everybody's going to
have to get their benefits cut. And we should have
we should have a real conversation about Social Security and
the fact that it's actually not a very good deal
(11:23):
and most Americans just don't really look into it because
it's been established for a long time. The government takes
your money, they give you a three percent return roughly
on it, and if you die, this.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Is all I'll ever get it. You know that this
is all falling on deaf ears. People love their people
love social Security. And you know what the problem is, Clay,
the lunatic communists who are certainly right now sitting around
a lot of them praising the Mom Dannie wing of
the Democrat Party. They're not going to get into what
you're talking about. They're just gonna tell people they're taking
your social Security and then you lose, and then the
(11:57):
communists are in charge and then they ruin everything. So
this is this is the political reality of America right now,
and Trump sees it, and I that's why I have
my patience for this thing. And my patients even for beyond. Yeah,
of course, hear it out. Make the case, tell everybody
the numbers. But standing in the way of the Trump
agenda because you say that you're not getting the cuts
you want. You're not getting the cuts. Okay, it's not happening.
(12:18):
You're not You're not You're not actually gonna deal with
the dead. It's thirty seven trillion dollars not happening.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
How many people do you think even understands so security?
What percentage of the American population?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I mean, they know that they get money when they're
when they're older, and they needed I mean, that's all
they care to know.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
But the fact that it's an awful deal. And if
you got to keep your own money and you just
put it in index funds, you would.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
People don't trust themselves. People don't They would spend it.
People would spend it on a jet ski and then
they'd say, oh, but I need help now. And you know,
this is the this is the problem.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
People want.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Everybody wants somebody else to pay for their stuff, not
realizing that they're the ones paying for the stuff they
think is coming from other people.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
I think the biggest challenge is it's so embedded now
that most people don't even examine the underlying concept, which
is basically a big pyramid scheme, and it's predicated on
there always being way more young people than there are
old people. And we're not in that era anymore.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Clay, the average person pays in to medicare less than
half of what they take out of Medicare in terms
of the actual cost of their care. But if you
tell anybody that you're going to change medicare, you know
what they say, I paid for that. It's not welfare,
it's an entitlement. I've paid for it. I deserve it. Okay, Well,
if I give you money for one ice cream cone,
but you keep giving me two ice cream cones, you're
(13:38):
going to run out of ice cream cones. Nobody wants
to hear it. And honestly, I'm excited about the border.
I'm excited about saving the country. I'm excited about the
Trump agenda being funded. You know, I'm with Steven Miller
on this stuff. Man, Like, we got to save the
country now and we'll figure out the debt later. When
people want to have big boy conversations about it, they don't. Actually,
the American people also want to have the conversation.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
The answer then becomes, the growth rate is everything, yep,
because the growth rate of the country is what can
turn this into a net positive bill. So if you
are optimistic on AI, if you want to unleash individual
American meritocracy, if we ever got the country growing at
four percent again, all of these issues vanish basically, right
(14:24):
a four percent a year, four percent a year, four
percent a year. We're growing at like one point five
percent a year, one point eight percent a year. The
overall growth rate of the American economy is the key.
If overall spending is not going to be addressed, and
there doesn't seem to be a political will, unfortunately, as
you and I believe there should be. If you look
(14:45):
at just the basic books, the political will isn't there
to address the spending, and so we live in match.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You have to understand, wait, if dercent, it's not convincing
Republicans to tackle the debt, it's dealing with the fact
that Democrats will call you heartless, you know, ruthless, throwing
old ladies off their Medicare and taking away social Security
from hardworking Americans so they can seize power and act
like communist maniacs. That's the problem. So this is it's
(15:14):
not just like we're having to talk on our side.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And also the concept of cut, which the media I
think does a poor job of slowing the rate of growth,
is not a cut. It's still a growth. But they
have managed to create this idea, well, we're going to
dial back to growth of the of the of the
overall spending, and that is seen as a cut. Oh
you're cutting spinning. No, spinning, still growing, it's just not
(15:37):
growing at the same rate. And honestly, I think a
lot of this is just communication failure. I don't think
people know the details. I think a lot of people
don't care to know the details.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Spoiler alert. It's going to pass, and Trump's gonna end
up signing it, and everyone who's chirping about this from
the Congress in the meantime is going to go along
with what's basically there just throwing it out there for everybody.
This is Team forty seven with Clay and the big
news of the day at the top of the show,
just to recap. Right as we came on air, I mean,
within moments, the Senate had passed on a fifty one
(16:09):
to fifty vote, the Big Beautiful Bill. Jd Vance had
to be the tie break on that one. Tom Tillis,
Rand Paul who was the third, somebody else didn't get
Oh Collins didn't vote for it. So yep, that was
what happened there. Now, thank you Clay for the catch.
It goes back to the House side before it goes
(16:32):
to the President's desk for signature. The House is gonna
there's gonna be some squawking from the Freedom Caucus about it.
I don't think they're going to sabotage the Trump agenda
at this late moment on the Big Beautiful Bill, but
they're gonna be. They're gonna, you know, look, they're allowed
to have their say on it, and they will. So
(16:53):
that will be a thing that occurs in the next
few days and we're probably gonna get to a signature
before the holiday. Hopefully us how this will go. So
that's the big news. And then we had the most
interesting visit of the day was Donald Trump going down
to Alligator Alcatraz, which is in o Choppie o Choppy, Florida,
(17:18):
which is near Everglades City, which I can tell you
is not really much of a city. It is really
middle of Nowheresville. I think o Choppy, uh is it
has one hundred people something like that lives and lives
in the in the It is unincorporated territory, so it's
(17:38):
not even I think a township per se. It's quite small.
But that was the one, if you're wondering, it wasn't
Lake Okeachobee. I know Lake okachobe O Choppy was the
new place. So that's where they have this airstrip that
is a place to put illegal migrants, illegal aliens before
(17:59):
they are deported. And Trump is saying, if you try
to run from the gators or swim from the gators,
it's gonna be a bad day for you. So there's
all that going on, and then he got into Kami, Mom, Donnie,
do you have anything in the alligator Alcatraz. The team
is saying that all you have to do is be
able to not zigzag but outrun the nearest person to you,
(18:19):
which is that is always true, and that is mean.
That's very mean. Clay would Clay would not leave me
behind to get eaten by gators, right, Clay?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Probably correct? Yes, I would be Again, I've said on
this program before, I am prepared to save anyone from
an alligator attack. If you see me near a swamp,
I've got your back, so uh, just don't go in
the water. But if they come out of the water,
like in Crocodile Dundee, I know that's crocodile versus an alligator,
(18:52):
then I'll be like Mick Dundee right there to protect you.
By the way, that movie also still a lot of
fun if you've got kids and you want to watch
some movies during the July fourth holiday, whether it's not great,
maybe you're sitting around. We've been watching all the Harry
Potter movies in the Travis household and they're still really good.
(19:12):
So props JK. Rowling. I think she may have a
future in this creative industry space. But that alligator Alcatraz thing,
and I think I know we said it last hour,
but I do think it's so important. Trump and DeSantis
are a whale of a team, and I know Ron
DeSantis only has whatever it is, a year and a
(19:32):
half left basically as the governor of Florida, but I
would not be surprised if DeSantis ends up in some
form or fashion as a part of Trump two point
oh cabinet and What I mean by that is there's
constant doing these jobs takes a lot. So so far
(19:55):
we have had pretty great stability in Trump two point
oh cabinet universe. But at some point some of these guys,
probably after en gals after the mid terms, are going
to start to say, hey, I want to do something different.
I'm burned out two years of going full speed doing X,
Y or Z. There's something else that I want to do.
It wouldn't shock me if Trump comes back to DeSantis.
(20:18):
Remember there was some talk about DeSantis potentially being the
Secretary of Defense when it was uncertain about whether heg
Seth was going to be confirmed. And that's another example
of jd Vance breaking a tie fifty to fifty in
the Senate. Jd Vance gets the vote to get heg
Seth then, and Pete has done a very very good job.
Since this is also an example in the big Beautiful Bill,
(20:41):
you've got jd Vance breaking the tie. This is why
having a little bit of a buffer in the Senate
fifty three forty seven, man, it would be great to
be up to fifty four or fifty five or fifty six.
As it pertains to where we're headed on next but
(21:02):
the Trump DeSantis relationship very strong, and I think it's
important to point out that by and large, most of
you out there who voted Trump, I really can't hardly
point to anything in the first six months and say, hey,
I think Trump could have done a better job on this.
Politics the art of the possible. So I understand that
(21:22):
people are saying, oh, this is my number one issue,
and this hasn't been addressed completely to the ability that
I would like. You can't make people do what there
is not the political will for them to do. So
you and Ibuck we talked about this some earlier, were
very troubled by the national debt. When the Tea Party
got its start, national debt was ten trillion dollars. National
(21:44):
debt is soon going to be forty trillion dollars. That's untenable.
But until there is a political will to address it,
and you can't solve it by increasing tax rates, that
doesn't work. Ultimately, I think you're gonna have to dial
back spending. This is inevitable, but that political will is
(22:05):
not there yet. So in the meantime, you have two options.
You can either whine and complain, and some people are
choosing that because it's not kick your legs, scream like
a child, have a temper tantrum, or you can do
what you and I are talking about. Now, Hey, this
bill is going to pass, and now it's time to
(22:25):
try to figure out how do we grow the economy
as rapidly as we possibly can to help to lead
to a surplus through growth as opposed to a surplus
through cuts. That is the new hope. And to me,
if we can get it to three four percent growth,
everything changes. Yes.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So that's the case for optimism, and I agree with
you on that. The case for optimism is not that
everyone's going to see the wisdom iron sorry ran Paul's
math and make massive changes to the biggest spending programs
and priorities of the United States government now and for
the last well all of our lifetimes. So yeah, that's
(23:10):
not gonna happen. So hopefully Trump just has the economy
so juiced and so in fuego that some very good
things can happen. What will make things a lot worse
is if the commedi Mamdani is able to take control.
Trump spoke about this. There's a marine one noise in
the background. But we wanted you to hear this. This
(23:30):
has cut seven. This is look even President Trump's win
and we all see this. This is concerning when somebody
gets the wind that is back in some someplace as
important as New York City play it.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
I think he's Sarah Brook. He's a communist. The last
thing who we need is a communists. I said there
will never be socialism in the United States. Show he's
a communists. So I think he's said too. And I
think we're gonna have a lot of fun with it
him watching him because.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yes, sticking up right to get his money and so
where he's not going to run away with anything.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
I think he's a Frankly, I've heard he's your total
met job. I think the people in the New York
are crazy because they go this route. I think they're crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
We will have a communist in the for the first time,
really a pure true communist. He wants to operate the grocery.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Stores, the department stores. What about the people are there.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I think it's crazy, Yeah, Clay, it is crazy. And
I understand that there's this sense that it's limited to
New York. But AOC and Bernie Sanders they co sign
really all of this stuff and They're the Democrats that
have the most currency with the base. And it is
(24:49):
a Democrat party that came within a few hundred thousand
votes of Trump, even after lying about Biden's dementia and
putting forward the worst candidate in our lifetime in Kamala Harris.
So I mean I would argue even worse than the dementia.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Guy, which tells you a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
So we have to take this seriously. People ask how
does a Democratic party come back? It's not hard. They
were close even in this election, and aggregate numbers when
you really look at it, there are a lot of
people who are voting Democrat no matter who they put forward,
no matter how crazy the idea is. And Mom Donni,
I think is just a symptom of that larger malady.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
And again I'm gonna keep hammering it. If there is
not a coalition that arises to all come together to
oppose Mamdanni. If you have Eric Adams running as an
independent Andrew Cuomo running as an independent, uh, and you
have a situation where Curtis Sliwa is the Republican that
(25:47):
trio is going to assure that Mamdanni wins. So the
only way New York city rejects Mamdanni and has some
form of sanity in terms of who it's selecting as
its next mayor. Is if there's a understanding that they
cannot all run and there is a coalition of opposition
that comes together to try and defeat Mom Donnie. My
(26:09):
concern is everybody's going to look out for their best interest,
meaning we're going to get more attention if you stay
in the race and everybody else loses, and there isn't
a coalition brought together to come against him. And I
think what Trump is talking about in general is the
opposition that he sees from all these sanctuary cities as
(26:30):
the process is underway to deport so many different people
is a direct opposition to the federal government and should
not be acceptable. And at some point I think there's
going to have to be a test case of someone,
probably a mayor that is one of these sanctuary cities
that is directly defying federal law, and we're going to
(26:54):
have to have the court's rule about whether or not
that is permissible or appropriate, because I don't understand we
made this argument, and the Supreme Court has said it
quite clearly. The President of the United States is in
charge of border related policies, immigration, all of those things.
How can we allow all of these individual cities and
certainly governors of states, but it's really being driven more
(27:16):
by mayors of cities that have decided that they are sanctuaries.
How can we allow them to directly defy federal law?
At some point that conflict is going to have to
be resolved in some way by the larger court system.
It feels inevitable to me Team forty seven with Clay
and Buck. We head up to Washington, d C. Now
where Senator Ron Johnson, I imagine a lot of people are
(27:38):
heading to the lakes up north in Wisconsin for this
time of year when it is spectacular. But you are working, Senator,
and we had you in studio a couple of weeks
ago breaking down the Big Beautiful Bill, and you changed
your vote at the last minute or signed on with
the bill at the last minute. What is the late
(28:00):
Just what can you tell us about where we are
compared to when we talked about talked with you on
air last.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Okays, Yeah, I should be trolling for Walleye right now,
but we're here working on the Big Beautiful Billain as
far as the primary components of this bill. I'm fully
supportive of right, We're gonna make sure that we don't
have a massive automatic tax increase. That's about that's about
four trillion dollars of the score. By the way, nobody
wants that. Nobody wants to default to our death. Unfortunately,
(28:30):
Democrats left these enormous messes the open border, so we
have to provide funding for border, the wars, we have
to provide funding for the defense. Massive four year average
just in to one point nine trillions. The seven years
before the pandemic, our death at average six hundred and
sixty billion. Four years afterwards under Biden Democrats one point
nine trillions. So again it is true the House provided
(28:54):
us with the spending reduction about historic spending reduction about
one point four trillion. Actually is about one point six.
Our difference in our scores is we make sure that
the business expensing provisions are permanent versus a short term.
So that's the main difference between the House and the Senate.
Now we're hearing from the House, they're not real happy,
(29:14):
and we're short from their math somewhere around six hundred
billion dollars. Rick Scott has an excellent amendment, which was
not including the base bill, and that was really the
sticking point on the motion proceed We got the commitment
of the leadership to now we offer amendment, vote, but
whip it and try and make sure this thing gets passed.
(29:35):
I'm hoping President Trump helps us get this thing passed
because that pay on the date. So here's what the
amendment does. It doesn't kick anybody off of Medicaid. What
it does is it stops enrollment into the Obama Care
addition to Medicaid, which threatens traditional Medicaid for disabled children,
(29:55):
for example. So at some point in time in the
future we're debating that it just don't allows states to
enroll them under the nine dollars to one dollar match.
I mean, I think you guys realize that, right for
a disabled child, for every dollar the state puts into Medicaid,
the federal government matches it for a dollar thirty three.
But for the Obamacare single working age able body, childless adults,
(30:17):
for every dollar state puts in, federal government kicks in nine.
That's a huge incentive for states to gain the system.
Provider taxes, provider fees which aren't healthcare, by the way,
but they get reimbursed nine dollars for every dollar the
States kicks in there, So against it's a financing scam.
We're trying to end that because it's causing the outflow
(30:37):
of tunsred billions of dollars out of the federal government.
We don't have the money. So that alone could fill
about five hundred billion dollars of that gap if we
give states until the first part of twenty twenty nine,
and the scam I mean, very reasonable proposal most Republicans support.
In the Senate, we've got some holdouts and that's where
we need leadership for pressure people. You know, there are
(31:00):
other things in the bills, some extraneous task credits that
you know, one word, thirty seven jillion dollars in debt.
Do we really have to add task credits for this,
that and the other thing. So again, I think this
is entirely doable. It's going to take the President weigh in,
it's going to take repuggnant leadership to make sure that
we can satisfy the House requirements. And then when all
said and done, this would be a huge achievement repealing
(31:23):
at least the most damaging part of Obamacare, which was
the addition to Medicaid, which puts it risk the Medicaid
for disabled children. Mean, do you think it's fair that
for a disabled child the phedograph kicks in a Dallas
thirty three but three working age person that should be
working getting health care from their employer, we provide nine
dollars for everyone.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
It's just out of whack, Senator Johnson. People are reading
about I think many of them, if not for the
first time, it's certainly a helpful reminder about the Senate
Parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough, who has been in this role since
twenty two. Well, this is not an elected office, this
is a It's pretty fascinating actually, right, this started sometime
(32:07):
around what the nineteen twenties, nineteen thirty, so it's about
one hundred years ago. There's somebody who helps with the
administrative procedures rules within the Senate. I guess, like when
you guys are allowed to have bathroom breaks or I
don't know, whatever it is. And now there's somebody who
is stripping out parts of the bill like the NFA
National Firearms Act and silencers no longer being an NFA
(32:29):
item because the parliamentarian what is going on here? And
by the way, talk to me about that NFA silencers
or suppressors issue.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Well, I believe that was included. So this is incredibly complex.
I mean, this all has to do with the Budget
Act sets up this reconciliation process where we can reduce
mandatory spending or we cut taxes or increased taxes with
a simple majority vote. Because of that process, the Sanator
(32:59):
Robert Bird had rules in terms of what would qualify
for that what wouldn't qualify. From my standpoint, the parliamentarian
has been pretty even handed. When Democrats wanted to include
things were more policy than budget, she didn't allow it.
She's done the same thing here by the way, we
modify things that she wasn't going to kick out. We
listened to her instructions, we got it back in. So
(33:20):
I realized that ends up being kind of a bonus contention.
What we don't want to do is eliminate the philibuster.
I know a lot of people want us to, but
the filibuster has protected us from all kinds of massive
Democrats spending programs because in the minority, Republics had the
right to block some of that stuff. So, I mean,
I realized at the moment it's like, get rid of
that so we can get everything we want. That would
(33:41):
be pretty short sighted thinking. But again, we've got a
way to do this. You know, Rich Scott knows healthcare
like nobody else. Hey, brilliant proposal. Doesn't kick anybody off Medicaid,
just ends the Medicaid scam a few years in the future,
gives states, gives providers a chance to just how they're budgeting. Basically,
(34:02):
states and providers are based in their budget off of
this financing scam that has to end. We simply can't
afford it.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Where are we stand now. I know that Chuck Schumer
made the entire bill be read aloud in the Senate chamber,
and that took a long time. There's talk that Trump
wants to get this thing signed on July fourth. You're
in the Senate right now. What does the timeframe look
like for everybody out there? And where do we go
from here?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
We were in the voter amas, so it's unlimited amendments,
so I can't predict how long it'll go. Again, we're
in very close conversation with conservatives in the House. They're
telling us this product right now is dead on arrival.
I actually take them seriously, you know, we kind of
ignored their formula, their math. They looked at this differently
than we did. We're I think about six hundred and
(34:52):
fifty billion dollars short. Now from my standpoint, I'm I'm
fine satisfying their requirement again, use Rick Scott's MA and
enrollment for new Obamacare nine dollars to one match. Those
guys can go too standard Medicaid, get get reversed, same
things as a sable child. Okay, do that start at
(35:12):
twenty twenty nine. That says this is about five hundred
billion dollars. Get rid of some of these extraneous measures,
some of these new task credits that just some some
Republican standard thought, Oh this is an important thing. Now
just get work. Thirty seven tillion dollars a death. This
is not a time for additional task credits, for jumping
up our task going further. So I would have no
problem taking look this, going look at this and say, okay, no,
(35:34):
we can reduce the deaths at by six hundred and
fifty billion. Not a problem. Again. Politically, you've got constituencies,
You've got people that apparently like to spend money, like
to offer new tax credits. Refuse to do what they
promised to do, you know, repeal Obamacare, rip it out
by the root and branch. This is just one route
that is probably the most damaging aspect of Obamacare, and
we've got Republicans now that aren't willing to do it.
(35:56):
Just where we need presidential leadership, say honor your promise,
get that additional deficit relief, get this past to the Senate,
get this past the House, and then we really will
end up with one big, beautiful bill.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Outstanding stuff. Senator Ron Johnson, We appreciate all the work
you're doing and keep us updated. You can hop on anytime.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Have great day.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Thanks for listening to Team forty seven with Clay and Buck.
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