Interview: End of the Filibuster? ACA Tax Credits? What's Next After the End of the Shutdown w/Jon Decker

Interview: End of the Filibuster? ACA Tax Credits? What's Next After the End of the Shutdown w/Jon Decker

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Your new day starts with the Brian mud Show, the
news you need to start your morning in the Palm
Beaches and the Treasure Coast. He is perhaps the most
interesting man in the world, and his thirtieth anniversary as
a White House correspondent is continuing to be recognized around

(00:27):
the world. Our White House correspondent, John Decker, just had
an event held for him the Swedish Embassy. John, I
know we're going to talk about some of the news
going on right now, but I'm dying to here tell
us about that. It's a pretty incredible achievement and recognition
by the country.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well, yeah, that was a remarkable event last night, thanks
for asking. About two hundred of my friends showed up
at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, DC. The Swedish Ambassador
hosted at an event honoring my thirty years of being
a White House correspondent. Not going anywhere, it's just a milestone.
But it was so nice to see everybody and to

(01:08):
be with all the people that meant so much to
me over all those years that I've covered the White House.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, it really is a remarkable thing. Now, speaking of
covering the White House, it's been a very busy week obviously,
and the end of the partial shutdown is here, although
a lot of the government is only funded through January.
I got to walk us through what's happening in Washington
right now with all this.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, we've seen this play out before, you know that
Brian kicking the can down the road. So we're going
to be having this conversation in late January once again
when we face the possibility of another government shutdown. But
you know, certainly it's good that it's reopened. You know,
it's right before Thanksgiving, so all of those furloughed federal
workers get back to work, they get their back pay.

(01:54):
There's obviously a debate that will happen regarding those extended
subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. That debate and vote
will happen on the Senate floor on December the sixteenth,
and that issue, I think is going to be an issue.
That's going to be an issue I'm not saying the
most important issue, but an issue in the midterm elections.

(02:15):
Certainly Democrats want to raise that issue, thinking that will
propel them to taking back the House and taking back
the Senate.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
You meanwhile, have the fight over what is next within
the party Democrats. You have so many that have been
sideways with what Chuck Schumer over the way things went down,
the Democrats that broke What is the mood of the
situation there? Are you hearing anything about Schumer's leadership in

(02:44):
the near term being a jeopardy?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Well, we've heard criticism of Chuck Schumer, but the criticism
has come from the House side, and they don't get
to vote on who the leader for Democrats is in
the US Senate. The Democrats that are in the Senate,
I think they're disappointed with it. The way things worked out.
You had eight senators that caucus with Democrats breaking ranks,

(03:10):
and that's what led ultimately to the end of the
forty three day government shutdown. But no one has said
anything publicly, even those who are very disappointed, like Bernie
Sanders for instance, about Chuck Schumer having to leave his
post or should be leaving his post as the leader
for Democrats in the Senate.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
You also have President Trump still pushing his side to
reevaluate the legislative Philipbuster. Notably, when he signed the continuing
resolution ending the shutdown, he may mention of the Philibuster
needing to go doesn't seem like that's going anywhere with Republicans,
but maybe the President's not going to let go of

(03:51):
it either.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well he's not, but you know, the government reopened without
having to invoke that option, and that is certainly something
that John Soon has mentioned and will mention often to
the president.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
It was pretty remarkable. The President brought every Republican senator
as you call it, recalled, to the White House for
a lunch and the whole sole purpose of the lunch
was to lobby them to change the rules regarding the filibuster.
And despite the lunch, despite the lobbying to fight all
of the pressure, they didn't budge. And you know, that's
the prerogative of the Senate. The President can ask the

(04:30):
leader of the Senate to change some rules, but it's
their prerogative. It's their Senate, it's their rules, and they
simply don't want the shoe on the other foot. You know,
if having Democrats control the Senate without that filibuster, they're
concerned about what that may mean for the institution and
what it may mean for policy as well, policies that
do they do not want to see and acted. If

(04:53):
Democrats somehow recon gain control of the leavers of power
in Washington