Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
He always great to be on. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm pretty good. You know. I had a couple of
bets with people, not that we should be betting on
this stuff, but you know, just friendly wagers as to
how long this government shutdown was going to end up lasting,
and I picked basically the over on everything. And we're
here on the fifteenth, We're halfway through this month, and
I don't know if we're any closer to getting this
(00:23):
completed from the first time we talked when this happened
a couple of weeks ago. So Ryan, how much closer,
if any closer, are we to trying to end this
government shutdown?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Doesn't seem like we're that much closer. No, not really. Uh,
you know, it's been a kind of a da javoos
feeling where, you know, it seems like for the most part,
they're going through the motions now and nobody's shown any
signs of cracking, and so that's kind of what we're
dealing with.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah. I also, you know, I talked to a few
different people who are in the legislature and especially the
House of Representatives. They basically just have to sit on
their hands and wait for something to get done. They're
making the media rounds. Most of these people are not
taking pay. I don't know if that's that big of
a deal right now. Is there a thing that you
(01:15):
think could happen that could get them back to the
negotiating table one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's kind of hard to know. I think it depends
on what Democrats or either sides willing to accept. Because
you know, if eight Republicans or eight Democrats were to
join all but one Republican in the Senate and vote
to break the filibuster, thus reopen the government, there could
be some people who come to the table and ultimately
(01:42):
decide that on the Republican side and decide to negotiate
an extension of these Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.
But it just seems like a lot of the senators,
you know, believe that, or at least the Democrats, believe
this is something that needs to be done now and
can't be done later. But if they're willing to do
that later, I mean, that could change things. But you know,
(02:04):
in terms of anything being negotiated, that that would give
you hope that there's things ending anytimes too. I haven't
seen anything on the table just yet.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
We're speaking with Ryan Schmell as a reporter in Washington,
d C. I suppose the natural question would be, you know,
the Republicans do have a majority control, but it is
very difficult to you know, get to the sixty votes
necessary considering the current climate of politics in America right now.
(02:33):
And these for better or worse, and I'm not saying
they're all bad people, but they don't really know what
it's like to live our lives, you know, like the
normal people in America, or the people who are in
our military, or the people that are working TSA and
not sure they're going to get paid, or air traffic controllers.
I just wonder, you know, as the clock ticks, and
(02:56):
I know that we had a thirty five day shut
down sixty years ago, but is there has there been
any sort of urgency from one side or the other
that you've seen over the last few days. As it
feels like the urgency might pick up a little bit,
understanding the pressure from some of those other people that
(03:16):
are having to you know, go without a paycheck or
have uncertainty about their paychecks moving.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Forward, of course, I mean that's what that's what got it,
that's what ended the shutdown. Last time essentially is that
people just got tired of it, and you know, people
were missing paychecks. A lot of people were starting to
miss paychecks, and air traffic was backed up because TS
agents were calling out out of work. So that's definitely
going to be. Yeah, the big thing that probably gets
you know, a breaking point at some point, President Trump was,
(03:45):
as we should point out, able to move some funding
around to be able to pay military members for this
round of paychecks. But of course, you know that's something
that might not happen next time around. We don't know
how long that can be sustained. So there are a
lot of of of of of breaking points that are
kind of coming up that that that could change change things.
(04:05):
But you know, just as of right now, no side
has been willing to crack. And even President Trump's you know,
uh warning to Democrats about government layoffs and permanent layoffs
and and revoking a funding, none of those things have
have really moved the needle for anybody just yet.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Uh. One thing that I would guess we are a
little bit confused on is just what they're doing. So
like it's not like they're sitting at a big round
table and they're talking to each other. It's mostly going
through media channels. I mean, Mike Johnson is standing up
there by himself, you know, kind of talking about wanting
to get everything going even though his chamber is kind
of powerless at this point. What is the timeline? What
(04:47):
when do they vote, how do they vote, and how
do they even like kind of negotiate. Do they have
big debates in you know, behind closed doors between a
small committee to try to win over a vote or two.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
There is no negotiation going on that we know of.
You know, there could be conversations that some of them
have to try to convince, you know, a couple of
Democrats to help them break the filibuster. But from what
we understand, I mean, I don't know if any of
those talks are happening right now. And none of those
Democrats that we thought were the ones we needed to
watch for have have budged yet either. So that's one thing.
(05:24):
The Speaker. Johnson's strategy has pretty much been past their bill,
leave town, and he said he's not coming back until
they have a vote on the or until the Senate
reopens the government. And the Senate strategy has been pretty
much Feleira Thune will just put this thing on the
floor over and over again. You'll force Democrats to publicly
(05:46):
vote against reopening the government and eventually say to them,
you know, hey, one or five, you're just going to
jump on board and take this deal. And none of
that has been successful so far.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
It's frustrating. I'm sure it's frustrating for you. You're you're
a reporter and watching in DC. Is there anything else
that you can even do right now? I mean, it's
kind of affecting your job to Ryan can shut down
every day.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, I mean, there are stories that that that come
from this. I mean, like there could be some movement
on the actual funding of the government, the long term
build that they want to work on down the road.
There's a little bit of developments there, you know. Well,
you know, there was an incident yesterday that that I
think kind of brought new news out where you had
(06:31):
this army of Democrats try to march to the Speaker's
office late at night and demand Adelito Grijalva be sworn
into Congress. She's the congresswoman elect from Arizona, got elected
during a special election at philler father's deat. She has
not been sworn in yet. So that was kind of
one of the moments that was kind of eye opening
watching that happen, And I mean, that's kind of a
(06:53):
new story that comes out of it. And we've got
some video of a dem congresswoman appearing to beret a
police officer during this whole ordeal, So you know, we've
got some things to follow up on now that are
not shut down related.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, there you go. And as far as that goes,
this is just a practical question. I guess does it
matter to get her sworn in right now? It's not
like they're voting on anything.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
You know, the government's closed or Speaker Johnson's not bringing
back the government right now. So yeah, I mean, like
the hell, there wouldn't be much for her to do
because Speaker Johnson's keeping her keeping the house out. But
she would be the final signature on a discharge petition
that would force a vote on the release of the
Epstein files. So there will at least be some type
of development there at least that would out loose the
(07:38):
needle on something.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, yeah, there you go. Wait, well, at least it's
something for you to chew on it. And I'm sure
we'll get a chance to talk about something other than
government shut down related things sometime in the very near future.
Hopefully fingers crossed Ryan Schmells in Washington, d C. For Foxing.
He's ready. Ryan has always a pleasure. Thanks so much
for the info today.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Thank you. I have ay goone
He always great to be on. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm pretty good. You know. I had a couple of
bets with people, not that we should be betting on
this stuff, but you know, just friendly wagers as to
how long this government shutdown was going to end up lasting,
and I picked basically the over on everything. And we're
here on the fifteenth, We're halfway through this month, and
I don't know if we're any closer to getting this
(00:23):
completed from the first time we talked when this happened
a couple of weeks ago. So Ryan, how much closer,
if any closer, are we to trying to end this
government shutdown?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Doesn't seem like we're that much closer. No, not really. Uh,
you know, it's been a kind of a da javoos
feeling where, you know, it seems like for the most part,
they're going through the motions now and nobody's shown any
signs of cracking, and so that's kind of what we're
dealing with.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah. I also, you know, I talked to a few
different people who are in the legislature and especially the
House of Representatives. They basically just have to sit on
their hands and wait for something to get done. They're
making the media rounds. Most of these people are not
taking pay. I don't know if that's that big of
a deal right now. Is there a thing that you
(01:15):
think could happen that could get them back to the
negotiating table one way or the other.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's kind of hard to know. I think it depends
on what Democrats or either sides willing to accept. Because
you know, if eight Republicans or eight Democrats were to
join all but one Republican in the Senate and vote
to break the filibuster, thus reopen the government, there could
be some people who come to the table and ultimately
(01:42):
decide that on the Republican side and decide to negotiate
an extension of these Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.
But it just seems like a lot of the senators,
you know, believe that, or at least the Democrats, believe
this is something that needs to be done now and
can't be done later. But if they're willing to do
that later, I mean, that could change things. But you know,
(02:04):
in terms of anything being negotiated, that that would give
you hope that there's things ending anytimes too. I haven't
seen anything on the table just yet.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
We're speaking with Ryan Schmell as a reporter in Washington,
d C. I suppose the natural question would be, you know,
the Republicans do have a majority control, but it is
very difficult to you know, get to the sixty votes
necessary considering the current climate of politics in America right now.
(02:33):
And these for better or worse, and I'm not saying
they're all bad people, but they don't really know what
it's like to live our lives, you know, like the
normal people in America, or the people who are in
our military, or the people that are working TSA and
not sure they're going to get paid, or air traffic controllers.
I just wonder, you know, as the clock ticks, and
(02:56):
I know that we had a thirty five day shut
down sixty years ago, but is there has there been
any sort of urgency from one side or the other
that you've seen over the last few days. As it
feels like the urgency might pick up a little bit,
understanding the pressure from some of those other people that
(03:16):
are having to you know, go without a paycheck or
have uncertainty about their paychecks moving.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Forward, of course, I mean that's what that's what got it,
that's what ended the shutdown. Last time essentially is that
people just got tired of it, and you know, people
were missing paychecks. A lot of people were starting to
miss paychecks, and air traffic was backed up because TS
agents were calling out out of work. So that's definitely
going to be. Yeah, the big thing that probably gets
you know, a breaking point at some point, President Trump was,
(03:45):
as we should point out, able to move some funding
around to be able to pay military members for this
round of paychecks. But of course, you know that's something
that might not happen next time around. We don't know
how long that can be sustained. So there are a
lot of of of of of breaking points that are
kind of coming up that that that could change change things.
(04:05):
But you know, just as of right now, no side
has been willing to crack. And even President Trump's you know,
uh warning to Democrats about government layoffs and permanent layoffs
and and revoking a funding, none of those things have
have really moved the needle for anybody just yet.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Uh. One thing that I would guess we are a
little bit confused on is just what they're doing. So
like it's not like they're sitting at a big round
table and they're talking to each other. It's mostly going
through media channels. I mean, Mike Johnson is standing up
there by himself, you know, kind of talking about wanting
to get everything going even though his chamber is kind
of powerless at this point. What is the timeline? What
(04:47):
when do they vote, how do they vote, and how
do they even like kind of negotiate. Do they have
big debates in you know, behind closed doors between a
small committee to try to win over a vote or two.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
There is no negotiation going on that we know of.
You know, there could be conversations that some of them
have to try to convince, you know, a couple of
Democrats to help them break the filibuster. But from what
we understand, I mean, I don't know if any of
those talks are happening right now. And none of those
Democrats that we thought were the ones we needed to
watch for have have budged yet either. So that's one thing.
(05:24):
The Speaker. Johnson's strategy has pretty much been past their bill,
leave town, and he said he's not coming back until
they have a vote on the or until the Senate
reopens the government. And the Senate strategy has been pretty
much Feleira Thune will just put this thing on the
floor over and over again. You'll force Democrats to publicly
(05:46):
vote against reopening the government and eventually say to them,
you know, hey, one or five, you're just going to
jump on board and take this deal. And none of
that has been successful so far.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
It's frustrating. I'm sure it's frustrating for you. You're you're
a reporter and watching in DC. Is there anything else
that you can even do right now? I mean, it's
kind of affecting your job to Ryan can shut down
every day.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, I mean, there are stories that that that come
from this. I mean, like there could be some movement
on the actual funding of the government, the long term
build that they want to work on down the road.
There's a little bit of developments there, you know. Well,
you know, there was an incident yesterday that that I
think kind of brought new news out where you had
(06:31):
this army of Democrats try to march to the Speaker's
office late at night and demand Adelito Grijalva be sworn
into Congress. She's the congresswoman elect from Arizona, got elected
during a special election at philler father's deat. She has
not been sworn in yet. So that was kind of
one of the moments that was kind of eye opening
watching that happen, And I mean, that's kind of a
(06:53):
new story that comes out of it. And we've got
some video of a dem congresswoman appearing to beret a
police officer during this whole ordeal, So you know, we've
got some things to follow up on now that are
not shut down related.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah, there you go. And as far as that goes,
this is just a practical question. I guess does it
matter to get her sworn in right now? It's not
like they're voting on anything.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
You know, the government's closed or Speaker Johnson's not bringing
back the government right now. So yeah, I mean, like
the hell, there wouldn't be much for her to do
because Speaker Johnson's keeping her keeping the house out. But
she would be the final signature on a discharge petition
that would force a vote on the release of the
Epstein files. So there will at least be some type
of development there at least that would out loose the
(07:38):
needle on something.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, yeah, there you go. Wait, well, at least it's
something for you to chew on it. And I'm sure
we'll get a chance to talk about something other than
government shut down related things sometime in the very near future.
Hopefully fingers crossed Ryan Schmells in Washington, d C. For Foxing.
He's ready. Ryan has always a pleasure. Thanks so much
for the info today.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Thank you. I have ay goone
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