Grover Norquist On The Brett Winterble Show

Tune in here to this Tuesday's edition of the Brett Winterble Show! 

We’re joined by Grover Norquist from Americans for Tax Reform to talk about the looming government shutdown and the deeper political dynamics unfolding in Washington. Norquist breaks down the current state of play, highlighting the Republican-led House’s push for a two-month continuing resolution to maintain flat spending levels, while Senate Democrats appear poised to block it in pursuit of major increases in spending.

He explains how this political standoff may impact federal funding, especially if Democrats refuse to cooperate without adding $1.5 trillion in new expenditures. Norquist also critiques Democratic leadership for what he sees as a willingness to shut down the government for political leverage. He compares the moment to a chaotic scene from Animal House, where futile actions are embraced. For more on these budget battles and fiscal policy, Norquist encourages listeners to visit ATR.org and follow him on Twitter at @GroverNorquist. It's a fast-moving story with high stakes in D.C.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Do's talk eleven three w et as we are on
what do we call this funding watch? I guess is
what we call it. And I want to welcome to
the program somebody whose work I've admired for a very
long time, Grover Norquiz, who is the founder and president
of Americans for Tax Reform. And it's good to have
you on the program. Thanks so much for joining us at.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Grover, absolutely delighted to join you.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Tell me, tell me something good about what's coming out
of this process with the potential for for for shutting
it down, or tell me something good that's that that
that is going to happen, maybe in the benefit of
the American people. What are we looking at you?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Sure, well, we won't know what happens until tomorrow. But
what appears to happen to be happening is that the
House of Representatives, run by Republicans, voted let's have a
two month continuation, a continuing resolution, so that the budget

(01:08):
just keeps going sort of flat, and then we'll be
doing a budget for next year. Okay, nothing changes. And
then the Senate Republicans, a majority of the Senate, said
we'll do the same thing. And then the President will
sign it, and then we'll start next year's budget. The

(01:28):
Democrats are very unhappy because in their mind they should,
you know, they want to see their senators and congressmen
fighting and bashing and jumping in front of cars to
stop that the Trump administration from doing what it's been

(01:50):
doing is governing. So they want to shut the government down,
and they can. They have the power to do that.
You can fill a buster with forty one votes, because
to pass this legislation, which would just continue the status
quo for two months, that requires fifty one votes in

(02:11):
the House unless somebody says no, no, I call a filibuster,
and then it takes sixty votes. And the Republicans don't
have sixty votes, they would require Democrats to vote with them.
So here the Democrats have basically said, you are about
to pass two more months of status quo. We blow

(02:35):
this up, and if you want us to come and
give you status quote for two months, here's what we
have to one point five trillion dollars trillion tea brillion
dollars in more spending, okay, lots of welfare spending, lots
of other stuff, more funding for Planned parenthood, more funding

(02:57):
for national public radio, the things that people on the
left demand to have. Now they can't pass that through
the House and the Senate because the Republicans voted no,
and the Democrats didn't win the majority in the House
and the Senate, and they didn't win the presidency. But
you may not be aware of this, but if the
Democrats don't win, that is viewed as not democracy Washington,

(03:22):
d c oh no. And democracy is when they win
and they run things. And then when something gets in
the way of that, like the stupid American people don't
vote for them, that's not democracy. And you wonder if
they're kidding when they say this stuff, but they really
appear to be quite earnest when they say this, so

(03:44):
they have to believe this themselves. If we don't win,
it's not democracy. So there's this. You know, what is
the scene second or last scene in Animal House when
they're all about to be expelled and they're get closed
down their wonderful fraternity and somebody gets up and says, boy,

(04:08):
we're really in trouble. Now is the time to do
something futile and stupid, and we're just the people to
do that, And then they run out into the streets
and start doing stupid exit. That's where the Democrats are now.
And this poor guy Schumer, who's the leader of the
Democrats in the Senate. Six months ago, he had said

(04:30):
to the guys, I know this is back in March.
I know you want to shut the government down. But
if we vote, know and we do not help the
Republicans pass a continuing resolution, we will give the Republican administration,
the Office Advancement and Budget, complete control over the budget.

(04:52):
They will decide what bills get paid. Because if Congress
doesn't tell them, they're in charge, right, I mean, Congress
passed Low says, here are the bills you pay. That's
what the continuing resolution to be. But if they don't,
then there's no authorization for many of this. So it's fay.
It wouldn't be legal for the Republicans to hand out

(05:13):
cash if the money is an authorized.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
So he talked them off the cliff in March and
they said, Okay, you're right. We don't like this, but
you're right. Come now, the Democrats are screaming and Schumer
is looking at maybe losing his job as leader. Yes,
they really, really really are mad at him, and there

(05:42):
are primaries out around the country where Democrats are running
for the Senate, and he Schumer had said to people,
you know, leave your job, convince your family that you
should run Senate, and I'll support you. And then several
very left wing people jump up and go, oh, we
don't want that guy. He's with Schumer. AOC comes in

(06:04):
and says, I'm running. I'm gonna be in charge. You're
not him. So he could lose everything, he could end
up not being leader, he could end up losing, you know,
being a smaller minority, and he's not in charge. So
he's turned around and said, I've always thought it was

(06:24):
a good idea to shut down the government. That's I'm
a leader here, and that's what he's doing right now.
The Democrats have decided to run right off the edge
of the cliff, and unless something changes in the next
few hours, the Republicans will be able to say, you
know what, here are some really bad spending proposals. We're

(06:48):
not going to do those right, and we're not going
to do this other stuff. We will fund the military,
we will fund so security, we will care and and
so that's why the Democrats are screaming and being unhappy
and being crumpy.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Great stuff. I'm not great stuff like I'm happy about this,
but great stuff from you, Grover Norquist. So where do
people go to follow you, to catch up with you,
to make sure that they that they are informed down
the road.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, the website is. Our website is hr dot org.
It's Americans for Tax Reform America h r dot org.
And I tweet at Grover Norquist and we put up
stuff every day about what's going on, good good material
on what's where the fight is. I'd love to have
people join us there.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Excellent. I'm happy we got to meet up again, and
I'm looking forward to talking to you down the road.
And thank you so much for spending time with us
here today. Thank you, You're very welcome.