* Shane Hernandez, President of the Michigan Forward Network

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Blue Cross has Michigan covered head to toe inside it out,
ready to help with health and wellness resources for the
body and mind, and you can learn more at BCBSM
dot com. You heard Congresswoman Debbie Dingle just a few
minutes ago talking about Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
and the cost of healthcare, and she used words like
fight and suffer, very dramatic words, and then told us

(00:34):
how she in the United States House of Representatives is
going to vote today when it comes to funding the
government and ending the shutdown. So if we had it
to do over, do you wish maybe we hadn't. In
the Senate there enacted the longest shutdown in government history.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
I wouldn't part of that, so I voted no in
the House.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
And then i'm again today you are okay.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Shane Hernandez as the president of the Michigan Forward Network,
former Michigan legislator on our AT and T line, and
a businessman too, welcome to the.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Program, Good morning, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
What did you make of the congresswoman's answer?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
It's not surprising and you use the word to suffer,
and the House Democrat whip Catherine Clark, Senator herself of
course there's families that are going to suffer. But that's
one of the few leverage times we have. That's an
actual quote from the Democrat whips, So they know what
they're doing. This entire thing is political theater. Our own

(01:35):
senators Peters and Schlockin are happy to play a part
in that political theater, and they're using American families as leverage,
and it's all about politics for them. Has nothing to
do with healthcare like they're talking about. It has nothing
to do with funding the government. It's all about political leverage.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
I asked the congresswoman a couple of times. I'm not
sure sure I got a valid answer as to whether
the vehicle, the mechanism of shutting down and not funding
the government was, you know, a suitable one when it
comes to legislative and congressional negotiation. How do you answer that.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Well, at the end of the day, the deal that
the Senate voted on is the exact same deal that's
been on the table the entire time, basically, So if
that tells you anything, you know, using it did absolutely
nothing for them. And let's look at what they were
actually fighting for. They were fighting to fund health care

(02:37):
for illegal immigrants. They were fighting to basically continue this
Obamacare sunset that they voted to sunsets themselves the subsidy.
So it's really kind of comical, and it's very obvious
that this entire thing is just about political leverage, political power.

(02:57):
It's about hurting Trump, hurting the account of me, so
they can try to win elections. It has nothing to
do with the American people for them. Meanwhile, we have
a president who managed to fund our military, he found
a way to fund Wick. He's been fighting for the
American people the entire time.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Senator Slatkin was part of the problem Solvers caucus. If
you remember when she was in the House, was she
contributing to the problem or trying to solve it in
her role as a senator voting X number of times
to keep the government unfunded.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, I think it's pretty clear that the problem solvers
are the eight Senate Democrats who voted to end the shutdown,
and she's not one of them. The problem solvers caucus
is supposed to be finding bipartisan solutions. I don't think
her voting record shows that she actually is part of that.
I think she likes to be part of that because
she needs that image to get re elected, but her

(03:53):
voting shows otherwise.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Do you think that the placement and timing of the
election had anything to do with the Senate showdown the
shutdown if you will, Well, I.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Don't think it's any coincidence that we know that Schumer
was pushing these eight members to not end this and
that it ended the week after the election. I don't
think it's any coincidence that he may be let off
a little bit and let them go out and end
this thing. So, I mean, it plays right into what
I said that this was political theater for them and

(04:27):
our own two senators, and it sounds like probably our
Democrat representatives in the House are going to be part
of that theater and continue to vote to shut it down.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
We narrowly avoided it, seems like a shutdown in the
state of Michigan by a day or two. What did
Michigan do that the federal government couldn't do and why?

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, I think there's a common theme here in that
in Michigan it was the Republican House, the Republican Speaker
Matt Hall that actually did do the bipartisan work and
got to get was the governor Whitmer and went around
the Senate and got a deal done, and the luckily
the Senate actually voted for it and ended that potential shutdown.

(05:12):
But it was Republican leadership that got it done, that
got schools funded, that got our government opened, and the
same thing is happening at the federal level. Republican leadership
is getting this done.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
This is a little bit out and left field, but
not really because you have a unique position having served
in the Michigan legislature and also as an independent businessman
and entrepreneur. If you will this zorin Mam Dannie who
became the mayor of New York offering a chicken in
every pot. It seems like, what's going to have free

(05:44):
bus service? And right after he got elected, the governor,
Kathy Hokeel said, we can't do that because the bus
system depends on fares, and if we give away the
bus system, there will be people left. We won't be
able to fund it, we won't be able to have
it happen. So the reality of saying things to get

(06:05):
elected and then actually enacting them when you are there
to govern starkly different, isn't it. Sometimes?

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, I mean I think he promised a lot of
things that he probably knew that the state legislature would
be needed to pass them. As somebody who doesn't live
in New York, there's part of me who thinks, oh,
let's let him try it so we can show how
wrong they are. Feel bad for the people of New York.
But you know, I have three small businesses, and I
know how much things like rising energy costs, the cost

(06:38):
of even my water bills. I own a laundromat, like
it's kind of thing that can close your doors. And
he's the kind of guy that's going to run those
costs just out of control on the business owners. And
you're going to find people leaving New York. We've already
seen signs of that happening there.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Do you think that Nancy Pelosi deciding not to run
for reelection means anything? And take a look, say at
Chuck Schumer. He's taken some stick now. I think I
don't think it's agism to say it. I just don't
know if the young generation of Democrats or anybody that
wants to come to office with ideas are going to
tolerate them anymore.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Well, she's eighty five, and from what I see is
her daughter running who's fifty nine years old, So I
don't know if she's making way for the young generation
and the Democrat Party or if she's just handing off
control to another family member. I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
So they'll be the Dingles of California. Then if you
just keep keep the same name on the ballot and.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Let her rip, right, I guess it's possible.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
The family business about that. Well, so in the end,
it was all for nothing, this shutdown and those who
didn't get paid and those who had to, you know,
And eventually doesn't this tarnish the American opinion of Congress
in general, maybe not even party or the other, just

(08:01):
in general. A dysfunctional situation.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
For sure. Like you said, it was all for nothing.
They got the same deal that's been on the table.
I guess for them, they got their political points out
of it at the cost of American families, and a
lot of the media did their bidding. Luckily, we got
people like you who don't and are willing to tell
the real story.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Well, that's kind of you to say, and I get
very frustrated with it. I can barely watch cable news
anymore or listen to it. For the reason that you
that you just stated, and that goes for both sides
of the coin. For what it's worth. In media statt virtus,
the truth is in the middle, and we like to
get the truth from Shane Ornandez. He was there and
he's still there. You know, an entrepreneur who served in

(08:46):
the legislature. So we get the straight skinny from the
Michigan Forward Network. It's Michael Patrick shields through the AT
and T microphones.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
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(09:22):
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(09:52):
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