12 11 25 We talk with US House Rep (R) Joe Wilson

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Jonathan and Kelly Show. Jonathan Rush. One
of the arguments that I hear is somehow that the
ACA made healthcare more expensive Kelly Nash. Since Obamacare was
fully implemented in twenty fourteen, healthcare premiums have risen one
hundred and twenty nine percent, over three times the rate

(00:20):
of inflation. The Jonathan and Kelly Show. After hearing that
first Democrat house member Miss Hassen and then Jeff Van Buren,
the Republican, after hearing those two house members speak plainly,
we got to be very close to a deal. We're
got to be close to working this out before the
end of January.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
What a mess. I mean, there's when she says somehow,
there's an argument that somehow the Affordable Care Act has
driven up healthcare costs. Are you kidding me, ma'am? This
was by design, and we talked about that back in
twenty eleven and whatnot when Obama was talking about this,
that it was going to force prices up for everybody,
and he was lying. He knew he was lying when

(01:04):
he said it was going to drop health care costs
and it was also going to make health care less efficient, which.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Was not one thing, if you go back and look
at the plans that the Democrats laid out, particularly right
out of Obama's mouth, there was not one thing that
came out of his mouth that ended up standing in
the test of time.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
No, and I think Bernie Sanders is very accurate, which is,
you know that healthcare in America has gotten worse under Obamacare,
and he would say it's because we don't do enough
of it. The reality of it is, though, that when
you socialize medicine, it gets worse for everybody, including the
people on the upper end, unless the people on the

(01:42):
upper end are so rich that they can then afford
to get like a private doctor.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, yesterday when I was watching it, and we're gonna
be talking to Representative Joe Wilson here in a few minutes.
We'll pick up on that and several other issues that
are facing the House as they go back in today.
And yes, they're in a timeline. We got Christmas coming up,
and you get deadline coming up at the end of
January before we go into a government shutdown. Again. Yesterday,
when you were watching, when you first saw the video

(02:08):
of the helicopter hovering over the Venezuelan oil tanker, and
then you heard the description that it was in fact
the Department of Justice and Harmony, Homeland Security, and they
said the Department of War. So there were some soldiers
obviously that were part of the crew that went down.

(02:28):
I thought about the scene out of Hunt for Red October. Wait,
can you imagine being the Department of Justice person who's
told you're going to fly out and be a part
of the landing party on the Venezuela and oil tanker.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
And apparently this is a rather common occurrence according to
some government officials. This is really not. This is like
literally the ninth oil tanker that we've taken charge of
in the last like fifteen years. So this happens on
the regular. If they violate the regulations, then whatever government
there then once they're in international waters, if they're violating

(03:05):
international treaties, which the Venezuelans are, then that tanker is
to be seized and the oil is given to the
people who seized it.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
How do we get there before the Somali pirates? How
do we beat them to that?

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, they thankfully they don't have technology, they don't operate
in this hemisphere, the Somalis, so otherwise they'd have got
it first. But yeah, there's really nothing to see here.
And the Navy does this all the time. It happened
under Obama, it's happened under Clinton. It's it just this
is a regular occurrence.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
We meant Obama did this, and I never saw the
news coverage of it. I ain't see the video of
our troops landing. I didn't see the people obviously that
going in gunpoint, probably throwing the crewmen overseas to die
and slow death drowning.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Well, I don't think that we did all that.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I mean, I didn't read about that. I didn't hear about.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Through a watery grave.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Oh and we are getting to a point now where
it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
And I'll ask our representative Joe Wilson this when we
get to it. But remember back in the day, we
were talking about we're going to repeal and replace Obamacare,
and we had these House members who knew that they
had the perfect answer. And it seems like again we

(04:21):
have to take an outsider to come in because every
politician who's ever looked at this always wanted to do
something political with it, but they had to keep the
government in charge. Now to what degree and how much money,
and YadA YadA and all that stuff. So but Donald
Trump's like, look, just cut to the bottom line. Don't
pay the insurance companies, directly pay the patients, and let
the patients decide which insurance coverage they want. Another lie

(04:44):
of the Obamacare ACA. Remember he was so outraged that
we had something he called a bus policy, meaning if
you're a young person, you don't go to the doctor
much and the only thing you need is coverage in
case something catastrophic happened, like you're stepping out in front
of a bus. He thought that was outrageous that we
allowed the private sector even now for that policy. That's
one of the policies you could buy under the Obamacare ACA.

(05:08):
Certainly there's three different levels, but let the people make
the decision. And this would also help us finally get
to what is seemingly the veil curtain. We can never
rip open on how much does it cost when you
walk in the door. I have found that since I
started using the HSA account, the Health Savings Account not

(05:29):
spending account with the high deductible plan, that I can
actually shop around the cost for X rays and MRIs
and cat scans and those kind of things, and you
can actually find them in a bidding war and get
a better price. Well, if you give people the availability
of spending their own money, because it's going to go
into their account and HSA will roll over year to

(05:52):
year to year, so you could actually end up either
spending the money wisely on healthcare or having the money
to spend and the government's to put you in control.
This is the outsider approach and how to bring down
the cost because, make no mistake about it, health care
is a business.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Well, and we have to understand that Democrats pushback on that.
Do you think that everybody is mentally capable of shopping
around for prices? They would say no. They would say
that most people don't even have access to multiple hospitals.
Most people have access to one hospital, and so that
hospital will charge whatever they want and there's nothing you
can do about it. And so we need to put

(06:31):
more government regulations on hospitals. We need to control costs
that way, and we also need to help the least
amongst us not have to worry about their health. They
shouldn't have to worry what an MRI cost or what
does it cost? If I have a heart attack. Bernie
Sanders says that something like seventy percent of people who
have cancer diagnosis is are wiped out financially in the

(06:53):
next five to ten years. That shouldn't happen in America.
And so I'm not disagreeing that it shouldn't happen. I'm
saying that the it happens in America is not because
of anything other than the government influence over the actual
cost of medicine. Did you see the TikTok video that

(07:13):
the guy made maybe three or four months ago where
he was in a car accident, needed an ambulance, was
taken in by ambulance, was presented with a bill for
like say, five thousand dollars. He then showed that he
told them I have insurance. They said, well, you know,

(07:33):
I don't want to tell you, but this is the price.
He got home, he sent them the insurance coverage. They
sent him another bill. He then calls, and that's the
TikTok video. It's him calling the hospital saying exactly what
I just said, and then saying, you're saying that my
new bill is my portion of it is now seven thousand,

(07:58):
and they're saying, yes, I think you're confused. I this
is me now showing I have insurance to cover it,
and he says, but you have a seven thousand dollars deductible,
and so the cost went from five thousand, which was
a discount for you because you didn't have insurance. With insurance,
it comes to like twenty two five exactly. So now

(08:20):
he's like, so I owe two thousand more because I
have insurance. He says, yeah, he goes, can you act
like I don't have insurance? It's too late. You shouldn't
have told us that. And so everything is more expensive
because of insurance. It's more expensive because the government got
involved with the insurance. If you could shop around and
not deal with insurance companies, like I mean, I'm fortunate

(08:44):
that I'm in a financial position where I can go
to a doctor and my doctor does not accept insurance.
So guess what he doesn't have about fourteen people working
with insurance companies. So my medical costs are way less now. Unfortunately,
because of where I work, I still have to carry
the insurance here, which still costs me thousands per year
to hang on to that coverage. And I treat it

(09:07):
like a bus problem, right, you know, if I get
hit by a bus, I got some thing, but mine
is a lot better than a bus policy. But I
never use it because I'm only going to my doctor,
where when I have a cold, it costs like seventy
five dollars to go in there and get a prescription
and all those types of things. If I broke my arm,
it would cost me three hundred dollars and he would
reset my arm. I mean, it's so much less expensive

(09:31):
if you can deal with a doctor outside of the
insurance agencies. And was it you talking about the stocks
have gone through the roof.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, they were testifying and Donald Trump even mentioned this
that how much the share of the average insurance company
has gained in capitalization through their stock prices because since
Obamacare took over, so and as you mentioned, that's just
the hospital portion of it. We haven't even talked about.
One of the reasons why it's become so expensive is

(10:01):
because it dictates that the federal government and the hospitals
now put on themselves, so that we've got to make
sure the lawyers are involved, and then you got to
make sure you're doing all the tests that you need
to do in order to check off of those I
got a long story about that, and we'll get into
because I'll see the hotlines ringing. Hold on a second,
Kelly Nash, welcome on the phone. US Congressman Joe Wilson.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
And Jonathan Kelly. Great to be with you, and particularly
in Washington. Of all things, we actually did something really
good yesterday, and that was done passage of the Nets
of Defense Authorization Act. This has much positive implications for
our defense. It really is fulfilling President Trump's wish and

(10:46):
dream and vision of peace through strengths.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Well, let's talk specifically about South Carolina, because we have
so many military installations here and other US defense sites.
Tell me how this affects our state.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
It's really positive for and that it enhances different benefits
for our military members. And as we have the initial
entry facility there for Jackson, this could be very positive.
And then with the Savanna Riversite, I'm the only member
of Congress who's actually worked at the Savanna Riversite, and
I'm very grateful that the Pltonium P two site solution

(11:20):
now is firmly in place, which enhances our nuclear defense
capabilities and also other missions will be implemented.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Congressman Joe Wilson with us this morning, and as we
head into the winter break here and all of a sudden,
twenty twenty six will be upon us. A lot of
Americans concerned about the Obamacare subsidies. We just heard yesterday
that the government, through Mike Johnson, he told us this
story that there was twenty five attempts by government officials

(11:51):
to get Obamacare using what they knew were fraudulent applications
without Social Security numbers and anything, but twenty four of
the twenty five were approved and started receiving Obamacare. So,
I mean, this is just a program that's ripe with fraud.
How are the Republicans going to address this issue? You
think going into twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
You're absolutely right, it's either fraud or misused. And additionally,
to me, when they talk about Obamacare subsidies, what they're
saying is something that they laughed about the Democrats, and
that is Obamacare would not work, and then of course
people didn't sign up, and then they had to come

(12:32):
up during COVID, and COVID was used for so many
initiatives to grow government that now should be reversed, and
this is one of them. And my view is that
the subsidies are in a mission against self interest by
Democrats that the system doesn't work. Now, hey, Jonathan Kell,
we know how they can make the system work. You

(12:53):
just keep throwing more money in, more money, more money,
and then you ultimately, as Bargaret Thatcher said about, you
finally run out of other people's money and the system collapsed.
And so to me, we need to change significantly. There
are initiatives by Mike Johnson, by Center Cassidy of Louisiana

(13:16):
that to actually and we need to replace Obamacare, a
very politically a heavy topic because indeed the whole point
of it, I believe was to make people dependent on government,
and I don't want dependency. I want people to have
a fulfilling life.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
In hindsight now and pollings that have followed since the
government shut down, most Americans agree Republicans stood their ground
on principle, and you actually won over the perception of
who was right or wrong Democrats Republicans. But this time,
if you allow this to shut down with the argument
over Obamacare extensions on the like, you're going to have

(13:53):
people impacted in their daily budget and even people that
aren't on ACA programs because we're hearing from insurance agents
talking to some of their customers, and they're not too
happy with their new premiums. And we've seen the of course,
the increase in healthcare which is driving the increase in
health care insurance expense. So this is a little more
tedious as you go into this conversation by the end

(14:16):
of January, because this could have some real down the
line midterms ramifications for the Republican Party.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
And Jonathan, you're right again except to me. Since Obamacare A,
healthcare costs have gone up late ninety percent, okay, and
so this needs to be adjusted. And another fact that's
really startling is that we spend like three times as
much as any other country on healthcare. There needs, I
truly believe going to a free market where there's competition,

(14:48):
where there's say, disclosure of what the costs of tests
are or treatments are, and then give the individual the
opportunity to choose whether they would like to have a
particular prestiges or not. And then we know what they're
trying to do is get to socialist one system, which

(15:09):
actually should be defined as delay and deny, and with
the government delay and denying services as we see around
the world, and we've got the best healthco system. Gods,
think of the hospitals that we have across the Midlands.
I mean, they're just world class. But I believe that
if we had a free market system, it would ultimately

(15:32):
reduce the cost.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
We're talking with our Congressman Joe Wilson this morning in
Fox News op ed piece is our former governor Nikki
Haley writing a piece basically saying that the left has
become very outspokenly anti Semitic, and she's talking about the
danger that the lies that's being pushed by the left.

(15:54):
She calls out Mamdanni and others, but it's saying that
the more people on the right need to step up
and actually clarify and talk about the truth about what's
happening in the guys of war that was not genocide
and all these other things. Do you find in DC
that the left has become anti Semitic?

Speaker 3 (16:13):
It really has, And they're actually two different factions in
the Republican Party. We have isolationists who work very hard
to forget history and somehow think that any involvement anywhere,
including support of Israel, that it should be skipped and
let people fight it out among themselves, but then on
the Democrat side there is a significantly higher, maybe thirty percent.

(16:37):
On our side, it's fifteen percent of maybe isolations, but
on the Democrat side up to thirty percent, maybe even higher.
Because people who I have high respect for are making
statements that are quote anti Israel, well they're really anti Semitic,
because Israel should have a right to exist, and I
truly believe, and I was grateful to host a exception

(16:58):
two days ago to a knowledge fifty years of the
Dayanism is Racism resolution the United Nations, And the reason
we had this dinner and recognition is to point out
that they've had fifty years to show that Zionism is
not racism, that indeed, Israel is a democratic country. It's
one that includes everyone, including Muslim population, Christian population. It

(17:23):
is that dynamic. Obviously, it's genaemic country. And so the
fifty years could be recognized for what Israel has achieved,
not for the horror of the definition of Zionism as racism.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
You know, the age old adage nothing is ever static
is always true because we're always evolving. We've seen a
lot of conservatives evolve into a Maga movement But the
most fascinating of all has been watching what's happening with
the Democrat Party in this anti Semitic stance that they're taking.
Because previously it has been said, and I believe it
to be true, that Jewish Americans are Democrats first and

(17:56):
Jewish second. So it was a mainstay of the Democrat
Party for so many years, in a protected segment of
that party. But now even Chuck Schumer doesn't stand up
for the Jewish Democrats in New York City or in Israel.
And it's truly fascinating as to how this party has evolved.
And I'm looking to see how the Republicans are going
to be able to step in and feel that void.

(18:18):
I don't see you guys really doing enough. What are
you thinking? How can you make sure that you pick
up the portion of the Democrat Party that the Democrats
are actually turning their backs on.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Glad you brought that up, because I actually flew to
Los Angeles on Monday to meet with Jewish leaders, and
in the meantime, I flew back that same night. It's
a one day trip there and back and so over
and over again. I'm very grateful as the coachair of
the Israel Caucus. And I always like to remind people

(18:49):
why would Joe Wilson, why would people in South Carolina
be so appreciative of Israel. It's because at the time
of the American Revolution, the largest Jewish population in the
New World was in Charlstan first provincial constitution to recognized
Judaism was the Provincial Constitution of South Carolina. The first
Jewis American elected to public office was the Provincial Assembly

(19:10):
of South Carolina. And the first Jewish American killed and
revolution was in Charleston, South Carolina. And that being my birthplace,
and that's where I grew up. And it was always
a total assimilation of the Jewish community in South Carolina.
And so we are really an island of positivity. But
we're not alone. Indeed, across the South and as we

(19:35):
see where anti Semitism is and it was identified the
fourteen universities that were the worst anti Semitic, all were
in the northeast or far west.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
We're talking with Congressman Joe Wilson, your friend James Comer,
the House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairperson, yesterday talked about
Tim Walls and how serious the fraud in minnesot Is.
How does this play out in your mind? I'm not
saying this is what's going to happen. Does Tim Walls ever?

(20:09):
I mean, does he end up in front is he
going to get a subpoena? Is he going to end
up in front of a committee? Is he going to
end up in jail? What do you think? And what's
going to happen with ilhan Omar? Is she going to
be censured? Is she going to be in some sort
of legal troubles? Where do you see this going?

Speaker 3 (20:22):
Indeed, term and Comber is a persistent individual, as we've seen,
and to bring out the truth. I really think that
the hearings will be sufficient to raise a very significant issue, Kelly,
and that is that in so many of the Democrat
states there is no oversight at all to the different

(20:43):
welfare programs. And it's inconceivable to me that in Los
Angeles that there are over a million people on food Stamp.
That's inconceivable because with housing costs beginning at five hundred
thousand dollars or whatever, if you can make house payment,
my gosh, you should be able to buy food. But
the bottom line is, we want people to have jobs,

(21:05):
we want to create jobs. We want to have people
have opportunity. But the indeed, people who believe in big government,
they want the most people dependent on government to vote
for bigger government. And those of us are Republicans who
want limited government, expanded freedom. We want people to on

(21:25):
their own enjoy life, have meaningful life, and not be
dependent on government programs and have the spectacle that's coming
up soon of banning the ability and I appreciate Governor
mc mass for doing this, of banning the sale of
snickers with food stamps, which is symbolic again where there

(21:49):
should be accountability, and hey, we want people, we want
to help people with n eutition, not really promote again
of permanent dependency.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, the next time you have an opportunity to talk
with US Representative James Comber, I hope that you reiterate
that here's one voice that is becoming what I believe
to be an echo and a never ending crescendo of
cries for James Comer, who always comes out with great
headlines and talks about the Biden Biden family and Hunter
Biden's influence in foreign business deals and under the table

(22:21):
cash it's being passed. And then James Comber and the like.
But he always promises we're going to hold people accountable,
but he's yet to hold anybody accountable. So I'm hoping
that at least with this issue, we're able to hold
Walls or whoever else in the state of Minnesota is
throwing out federal money that ends up actually supporting terrorism.
And I think the American people, at least people like me,

(22:43):
get a little frustrated that we keep talking about we're
going to hold these people accountable, but we never do well.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Den Jonathan, I thank you for raising that, because indeed
I will raise that to him, and you're right that
where there should be and hey, indeed, with President Trump
and US attorneys being appointed by him, there will be
efforts and the same thing we've already seen when people
were indicted for clearly illegal conduct, you have the liberal

(23:11):
judges step in and block it, and so it's just opened.
The deep state is really existent, and President Trump is
fighting it, the Republicans are fighting it, and we're making
progress every day. And one of the reasons we're making
progress is because we have these things called talk radio
where the truth comes out because obviously the mainstream media

(23:32):
is just complicit with the ultimate complicity of covering up
for four years the inability of Joe Biden to serve
in public office. And it was bad enough that the
Biden family hid that from the American people, but I
think much worse is that the mainstream media knew it
and concealed it and covered it up.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Congressman Joe Wilson. Still people talking about January sixth, and
last week we had the arrest of the DC pipe bomber.
What is the narrative now on what happened on January sixth?

Speaker 3 (24:09):
Oh, hey, hey, Kelly, I'm glad you brought that up.
I'm so disappointed in that. Indeed, how could we trust? Sadly?
But it actually does It's more than that, It's not
a question to trust. It revealed the corruption of the
FBI and the politicization of the FBI. The pipe bomber

(24:29):
was a diversion from what the Democrats wanted to focus on,
which was the entering into the Capitol. Well, I've always
felt like the entering into the capital was due to
not being prepared, and indeed President Trump had urged that
they have proper security and it just wasn't there, and

(24:50):
it just it really was incoonfidence. And then you say, well,
who is responsible, Well, that's the Speaker of the House,
Nancy Pelosi, And so we did not have proper securities
been so easily avoided and reduced in significance. But then
the other thing, the pipeowber, was a diversion, and we
now find out it was a diversion from the far left.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
One of the things that I had a conversation with
Mark Levin about twelve years ago, at least twelve years ago,
was the fact that repeal and replace Obamacare was going
to have to be replaced with something, and we kept
hearing from doctors, in particular in the House of Representatives,
they were going to come up with a perfect thing
to replace it with. We're yet to hear the Democrats
and Donald Trump's coming the closest of anyone with not

(25:35):
making it necessarily a healthcare focused issue, but more of
a business focused issue. I can take you right now
to a neighborhood in Columbia where it's pretty much filled
with doctors and they're all frustrated. At the time, they
were green within me because the biggest house on the
block was owned by an insurance guy. So the insurance

(25:55):
companies are making out like bandits over here, and Donald
Trump's the only one that seems to be willing to
call them out, wants to hold them, hold their feet
to the fire, to make sure that we are spending
our money wisely as a federal government, because we got
so many people in the private sector who know that
we don't, including the insurance companies. So I'm hoping that
the Republicans are able to put their heads together and

(26:16):
come up with a plan the American people can plainly
see is going to help them with their increased cost
and premiums, because that's common.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
We're voting on that today and so there'll be But hey,
it is so frustrated, because hey, we want people to
receive their health care, and we want it to be
where people can afford to have healthcare, and so that
they'll be to a two different plans. One of them
is going to be in the House and the other
in the Senate, as Mark Levin, and you would want

(26:46):
it relies indeed on bereat them a choice.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
Congressman Joe Wilson. Politics gets very confusing to those of us,
maybe even those of you inside the political arena, but
some you know us watching on the outside, it gets
very confusing. So can you help us make sense of
what happened with Representative Anna Paulina Luna from Florida who
introduced a discharge petition earlier this month trying to force

(27:13):
a vote regarding the ability for lawmakers to do stock trades.
It seems like, you know, she's got AOC signing off
on this, and yet there's Republicans who are against it,
but they're saying they're against it because it's the wrong bill.
What is going on here?

Speaker 3 (27:34):
I appreciate you bringing that up, because indeed, I would
agree that there should be no stock trading by members
of Congress, and I would support any and all measures,
and I don't care who sponsors it or even who
co sponsors it. I would support that. What we've seen

(27:55):
in incredibly enough with Speaker and Pelosi that that should
be not possible by members of Congress. That should be
a ban.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Congressman, I know that you're very busy today, obviously is
as you mentioned, you've got two votes coming up, You're
going to have conversations about healthcare. You've got a very
excited opportunity yesterday to facilitate for a military with thank
you for your being able to juggle so many things
at the same time and at the and all the
while taking time to talk to us, and we appreciate
you serving the state of South Carolina.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Thank you for your time, sir, and Jonathan Kelly, thank
you and again you bring issues to us and hey
as we consider everything here, of course, in the real
world where you are, I want to wish everybody very
very Christmas and the happiest and healthiest of New Years.
God bless