July 2, 2025 • 12 mins
Congressman Andy Barr (KY06) checked in from Washington as the House of Representatives was closing in on a final vote for President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill proposal that has already passed in the Senate.
Rep. Barr laid out his reasons for supporting the bill and answered questions about debt increases, Medicaid reduction, and other objections by Democrats.
He also wanted to separate himself from other candidates who are vying for the soon to be vacated seat held by Senator Mitch McConnell.
Rep. Barr laid out his reasons for supporting the bill and answered questions about debt increases, Medicaid reduction, and other objections by Democrats.
He also wanted to separate himself from other candidates who are vying for the soon to be vacated seat held by Senator Mitch McConnell.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Myles, thanks a ton. Let's bring in Andy Barr.
He is a congressman, of course from the Lexington Areas
District six here in Kentucky, and he is in Washington,
of course, because they're wrestling with the Big Beautiful Bill.
Congressman Bar, welcome back. Hello there, Congressman Bar. Do we
(00:21):
lose that line? Hey, hey, hey, Terry, how are you
all good? Good to have you on. I know it's
a crazy busy day. Where are we update us on
this pursuit of getting the Big Beautiful Bill passed?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, I literally just a quick conversation with the White
House stepany chief of Staff, and then also a little
bit before that, had a conversation with the House majority leader.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And we are making progress on getting to the votes.
We are not there yet. There are several Republican holdouts
who are in active conversation with the White House, including
with the President himself. And you know, we do have
a fin majority in the House. It's not much of
(01:10):
a large majority in the Senate. It's only a three
vote majority in the Senate, and obviously they need a
the Vice President to cast a tie breaking vote to
send the bill back to us.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
We have a thin majority.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
We have a diverse conference where we have blue state
Republicans and swing districts, we have very conservative Republicans and
districts that Trump won by seventy eighty percent, And so
the politics of this are pretty complicated for some of
these members.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
It's not for me. It's pretty easy. But this is
why I love President Trump because he's showing leadership.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
He's the only leader really who has the capability of
bringing together all of these disparate interests and members together
and ultimately, as the deal maker in chief, get the
job done.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
He's making progress on that.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
And the bottom line is, terry, we have to pass
this bill to stop a four and a half trillion
dollar tax increase. Just to put that in perspective, it
would result in a decrease of gross domestic product by
four percent.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
It would lead to six.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Point one million fewer full time jobs in this country.
We would lose six percent revenue as a result of it. So,
in other words, of recession, we can't allow our recession
will never balance the budget.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
In a recession.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
What we need is robust economic growth, and this bill
is rocket fuel for the economy.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
It's a no brainer.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
First off, you win one of my word Nerd Awards
for using the word disparate. I don't think that's been
used on here in my forty years by a guest.
So thank you for that. Andy, appreciate, sorry about that. No, no,
appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Diverse.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
No, No, disparate is a good one. That's a class
a word. I appreciate that, all right. So Rand Paul
obviously he voted no over on the Senate side and
said it's about the debt and the deficit, and so
that's where his concern is. So tell me how we
remedy that situation in the coming ten years where they
say three point six trillion more is added.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
And I think that's some of the concerns of some
of the other holdouts. But a couple of things.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Number one, the forecasts of this producing more debt and deficits,
I think they're just wildly the wild fantasy because the
scores that show deficits as the results of this bill
are static scores. They do not take into account the
dynamic effects of the bill, and if they do, their
very modest dynamic effects. If you look at I think
(03:42):
more realistic measurements of the growth effects of this, you're
looking at upwards of three and a half to four
percent GDP growth as a result of not only extending
and making permanent the tax cuts, expanding them and pulling
forward all the capital expenditures and the investment. I mean,
the solid economic analysis that I trust forecasts fourteen and
(04:07):
a half percent increase in investment.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
That again is rocket fuel. That translates into.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
A surge in median household income by ten thousand dollars
in real.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Inflation adjusted wages.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So just for your listeners out there driving home from work,
driving home from a Ford plan in Louisville, or driving
home from the small.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Business or wherever wherever your listeners are.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
Driving homework, imagine basically a pay increase of ten thousand
dollars in real inflation adjusted terms. That means the government
will actually take in more revenue, not from higher taxes,
but from bigger paychecks, and the cost of living will
be much more manageable for the people of Jefferson County
and the commonalth of Kentucky and across this country because
(04:55):
of this massive surge in economic activity and surgeon economic
growth and bigger paychecks. That's what we need, and we
will never balance the budget.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
We will never get our fiscal house in order.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
If we have a recession, if we do nothing, you're
you're looking at a tax increase of four and a
half brillion dollars and that will put us in a recession. Now,
let me just say this, I certainly respect Senator Paul
for what he's doing because we need more fiscal discipline.
I would note Terry that this bill, this one big
beautiful bill, cuts more spending than any other federal legislation
(05:34):
in history. So even with the static score and some
of the unrealistic, you know, prognostications of this bill, it
still is a major savings in terms of of spending.
And so the spending reforms coupled with the growth features,
(05:55):
in addition to the resources for securing the border and
modernizing our military and unleashing energy dominance.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Again, this is a no brainer to me.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
What about the Democrats who are they're going into convulsions
talking about the Medicaid cuts. Morgan McGarvey, he's said he's
up there trying to twist arms and do what he can,
your colleague, he's a Democrat, obviously, So where are they
missing the boat on the Medicaid changes? Is this about waste?
(06:26):
And abuse of the program.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
So I mean, look, here's the bottom line.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Medicaid is an important program for our fellow Kentuckians who
the program was designed for the indigent four moms and
their kids children who obviously can't work and don't have
health insurance. The dual eligible elderly and obviously are disabled
friends and neighbors and family members who cannot work because
they are disabled.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
That's what Medicaid is for.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
This bill strengthens that safety net for those core groups
of people because it ends this practice of psych fenning
off scarce resources to illegal immigrants, people who are fraudsters
and are not eligible for the program, and able bodied,
work capable adults who really need to be in the workforce.
(07:14):
We need to stop paying people to not work people
who are able to work.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
And what I would say to those individuals, which is
a significant number.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I think it's around five million Americans who are able bodied,
work capable, they have no dependents but are currently eligible
for Medicaid.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Is hey, we want something better for you.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
We want you to get employer provided health insurance, commercial
health insurance with a better choice of doctors and more
immediate services. Let's do that for those folks and give
them the dream of upward mobility where they can get
up on their feet with the dignity of work.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
I think that is a formula for success. Now you
will probably hear in some of your listeners and.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Morgan, my colleague from Louisville, he has been about some
of the reforms for rural hospitals. I will say that
I've been talking to the administrators of the rural hospital
and I've been collaborating and working closely as as Kairman
Guthrie with the Kentucky Hospital Association, and we want to
make sure that we protect our rural hospital so that
(08:18):
they don't close their doors or that they don't have
a significant reduction of services. That's why I'm very glad
that the Senate included a Rural Hospital Stabilization fund. We
can work with CMS and the Department of Health and
Human Services to access those funds for our rural hospitals
that really need it. But the bottom line is this,
(08:41):
when Obamacare expanded Medicaid, and when Kentucky expanded Medicaid, basically
they expanded Medicaid at no cost. Almost all of that
expansion was borne by the federal government. And what this
bill does is start asking the states to share in
that responsibility.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
The way medica it was originally.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Designed, it's supposed to be a federal state share, and
the way these directed payments have been set up in
the provider text, basically states have been circumventing that.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
What we do in this bill is create a glide path.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So that Medicaid is on a more fiscally sustainable trajectory.
Give hospitals a glide path, to allow hospitals, the states,
and Congress to make appropriate adjustments. And here's here's what
I would say to the rural hospitals that might be
a little concerned about, uh, this bill.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
The important thing.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Here that we have to fix is the Medicare reimbursement
rates for hospitals. That's the real problem. The real problem
is that the real problem is that this reform puts
these hospitals on a path towards Medicare reimbursement, but Kentucking
reimbursement under Medicare is is substantially less in the estate.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Let's say California.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
California gets one point seven times the reimbursement as Kentucky,
and that doesn't reflect the actual cost of care. We
need to reform how medicare reimburses states like Kentucky in
order to make sure that these rural hospitals get the
payments that they need to take care of our people.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
All Right, last thing for you here at Congress, but
are you going to get the big beautiful bill finished
before the fourth of July? Do you feel like the
momentums there they are going to be deals made, Like
in the Senate with Murkowski.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I know about the deals like that, but I can
tell you that we're making progress. In my conversations just
just a few moments ago with the White House and
with the Leader's office, I've been working as a member
of the whip team to deliver the votes, talking to
colleagues who have questions, especially my colleagues with questions about medicaid,
questions about the fiscal trajectory of this bill and what
(10:56):
the growth effects really will look like, because I'm such
a strong advocate for the bill. But I think bottom line, Terry, is,
You've got a lot of politicians out there who like
to pay lip service that they support the president and
they're really maga and they work with them. But nobody
in this US Senate race that I'm in right now
is actually doing what I'm doing, which is actively working
(11:17):
my colleagues in the House to deliver for the president's agenda.
And I think that's a fundamental difference between me and
my opponents and this US Senate race, and I can
hit the ground running to help advance the president's agenda
in the United States Senate.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That was a nice transition because one of your competitors
was in here a few minutes ago. We'll have to
discuss that further down the road. I appreciate your time, Andy.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Harry, It's great to be with you. Always enjoy being
on your show.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
We'll see again soon. That's Congressman Andy Barr live from
Washington as they're still trying to cook a cookup of
final passage of the Big Beautiful Bill. And he is
indeed running for the US Senate against Daniel Cameron, who
was the guest here a few minutes ago. Iack in
a few on news radio weight forty wh SM
All right, Myles, thanks a ton. Let's bring in Andy Barr.
He is a congressman, of course from the Lexington Areas
District six here in Kentucky, and he is in Washington,
of course, because they're wrestling with the Big Beautiful Bill.
Congressman Bar, welcome back. Hello there, Congressman Bar. Do we
(00:21):
lose that line? Hey, hey, hey, Terry, how are you
all good? Good to have you on. I know it's
a crazy busy day. Where are we update us on
this pursuit of getting the Big Beautiful Bill passed?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, I literally just a quick conversation with the White
House stepany chief of Staff, and then also a little
bit before that, had a conversation with the House majority leader.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And we are making progress on getting to the votes.
We are not there yet. There are several Republican holdouts
who are in active conversation with the White House, including
with the President himself. And you know, we do have
a fin majority in the House. It's not much of
(01:10):
a large majority in the Senate. It's only a three
vote majority in the Senate, and obviously they need a
the Vice President to cast a tie breaking vote to
send the bill back to us.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
We have a thin majority.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
We have a diverse conference where we have blue state
Republicans and swing districts, we have very conservative Republicans and
districts that Trump won by seventy eighty percent, And so
the politics of this are pretty complicated for some of
these members.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
It's not for me. It's pretty easy. But this is
why I love President Trump because he's showing leadership.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
He's the only leader really who has the capability of
bringing together all of these disparate interests and members together
and ultimately, as the deal maker in chief, get the
job done.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
He's making progress on that.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
And the bottom line is, terry, we have to pass
this bill to stop a four and a half trillion
dollar tax increase. Just to put that in perspective, it
would result in a decrease of gross domestic product by
four percent.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
It would lead to six.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Point one million fewer full time jobs in this country.
We would lose six percent revenue as a result of it. So,
in other words, of recession, we can't allow our recession
will never balance the budget.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
In a recession.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
What we need is robust economic growth, and this bill
is rocket fuel for the economy.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
It's a no brainer.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
First off, you win one of my word Nerd Awards
for using the word disparate. I don't think that's been
used on here in my forty years by a guest.
So thank you for that. Andy, appreciate, sorry about that. No, no,
appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Diverse.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
No, No, disparate is a good one. That's a class
a word. I appreciate that, all right. So Rand Paul
obviously he voted no over on the Senate side and
said it's about the debt and the deficit, and so
that's where his concern is. So tell me how we
remedy that situation in the coming ten years where they
say three point six trillion more is added.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
And I think that's some of the concerns of some
of the other holdouts. But a couple of things.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Number one, the forecasts of this producing more debt and deficits,
I think they're just wildly the wild fantasy because the
scores that show deficits as the results of this bill
are static scores. They do not take into account the
dynamic effects of the bill, and if they do, their
very modest dynamic effects. If you look at I think
(03:42):
more realistic measurements of the growth effects of this, you're
looking at upwards of three and a half to four
percent GDP growth as a result of not only extending
and making permanent the tax cuts, expanding them and pulling
forward all the capital expenditures and the investment. I mean,
the solid economic analysis that I trust forecasts fourteen and
(04:07):
a half percent increase in investment.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
That again is rocket fuel. That translates into.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
A surge in median household income by ten thousand dollars
in real.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Inflation adjusted wages.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So just for your listeners out there driving home from work,
driving home from a Ford plan in Louisville, or driving
home from the small.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Business or wherever wherever your listeners are.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
Driving homework, imagine basically a pay increase of ten thousand
dollars in real inflation adjusted terms. That means the government
will actually take in more revenue, not from higher taxes,
but from bigger paychecks, and the cost of living will
be much more manageable for the people of Jefferson County
and the commonalth of Kentucky and across this country because
(04:55):
of this massive surge in economic activity and surgeon economic
growth and bigger paychecks. That's what we need, and we
will never balance the budget.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
We will never get our fiscal house in order.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
If we have a recession, if we do nothing, you're
you're looking at a tax increase of four and a
half brillion dollars and that will put us in a recession. Now,
let me just say this, I certainly respect Senator Paul
for what he's doing because we need more fiscal discipline.
I would note Terry that this bill, this one big
beautiful bill, cuts more spending than any other federal legislation
(05:34):
in history. So even with the static score and some
of the unrealistic, you know, prognostications of this bill, it
still is a major savings in terms of of spending.
And so the spending reforms coupled with the growth features,
(05:55):
in addition to the resources for securing the border and
modernizing our military and unleashing energy dominance.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Again, this is a no brainer to me.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
What about the Democrats who are they're going into convulsions
talking about the Medicaid cuts. Morgan McGarvey, he's said he's
up there trying to twist arms and do what he can,
your colleague, he's a Democrat, obviously, So where are they
missing the boat on the Medicaid changes? Is this about waste?
(06:26):
And abuse of the program.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
So I mean, look, here's the bottom line.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Medicaid is an important program for our fellow Kentuckians who
the program was designed for the indigent four moms and
their kids children who obviously can't work and don't have
health insurance. The dual eligible elderly and obviously are disabled
friends and neighbors and family members who cannot work because
they are disabled.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
That's what Medicaid is for.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
This bill strengthens that safety net for those core groups
of people because it ends this practice of psych fenning
off scarce resources to illegal immigrants, people who are fraudsters
and are not eligible for the program, and able bodied,
work capable adults who really need to be in the workforce.
(07:14):
We need to stop paying people to not work people
who are able to work.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
And what I would say to those individuals, which is
a significant number.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I think it's around five million Americans who are able bodied,
work capable, they have no dependents but are currently eligible
for Medicaid.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Is hey, we want something better for you.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
We want you to get employer provided health insurance, commercial
health insurance with a better choice of doctors and more
immediate services. Let's do that for those folks and give
them the dream of upward mobility where they can get
up on their feet with the dignity of work.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
I think that is a formula for success. Now you
will probably hear in some of your listeners and.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Morgan, my colleague from Louisville, he has been about some
of the reforms for rural hospitals. I will say that
I've been talking to the administrators of the rural hospital
and I've been collaborating and working closely as as Kairman
Guthrie with the Kentucky Hospital Association, and we want to
make sure that we protect our rural hospital so that
(08:18):
they don't close their doors or that they don't have
a significant reduction of services. That's why I'm very glad
that the Senate included a Rural Hospital Stabilization fund. We
can work with CMS and the Department of Health and
Human Services to access those funds for our rural hospitals
that really need it. But the bottom line is this,
(08:41):
when Obamacare expanded Medicaid, and when Kentucky expanded Medicaid, basically
they expanded Medicaid at no cost. Almost all of that
expansion was borne by the federal government. And what this
bill does is start asking the states to share in
that responsibility.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
The way medica it was originally.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Designed, it's supposed to be a federal state share, and
the way these directed payments have been set up in
the provider text, basically states have been circumventing that.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
What we do in this bill is create a glide path.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
So that Medicaid is on a more fiscally sustainable trajectory.
Give hospitals a glide path, to allow hospitals, the states,
and Congress to make appropriate adjustments. And here's here's what
I would say to the rural hospitals that might be
a little concerned about, uh, this bill.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
The important thing.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Here that we have to fix is the Medicare reimbursement
rates for hospitals. That's the real problem. The real problem
is that the real problem is that this reform puts
these hospitals on a path towards Medicare reimbursement, but Kentucking
reimbursement under Medicare is is substantially less in the estate.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Let's say California.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
California gets one point seven times the reimbursement as Kentucky,
and that doesn't reflect the actual cost of care. We
need to reform how medicare reimburses states like Kentucky in
order to make sure that these rural hospitals get the
payments that they need to take care of our people.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
All Right, last thing for you here at Congress, but
are you going to get the big beautiful bill finished
before the fourth of July? Do you feel like the
momentums there they are going to be deals made, Like
in the Senate with Murkowski.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
I know about the deals like that, but I can
tell you that we're making progress. In my conversations just
just a few moments ago with the White House and
with the Leader's office, I've been working as a member
of the whip team to deliver the votes, talking to
colleagues who have questions, especially my colleagues with questions about medicaid,
questions about the fiscal trajectory of this bill and what
(10:56):
the growth effects really will look like, because I'm such
a strong advocate for the bill. But I think bottom line, Terry, is,
You've got a lot of politicians out there who like
to pay lip service that they support the president and
they're really maga and they work with them. But nobody
in this US Senate race that I'm in right now
is actually doing what I'm doing, which is actively working
(11:17):
my colleagues in the House to deliver for the president's agenda.
And I think that's a fundamental difference between me and
my opponents and this US Senate race, and I can
hit the ground running to help advance the president's agenda
in the United States Senate.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That was a nice transition because one of your competitors
was in here a few minutes ago. We'll have to
discuss that further down the road. I appreciate your time, Andy.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Harry, It's great to be with you. Always enjoy being
on your show.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
We'll see again soon. That's Congressman Andy Barr live from
Washington as they're still trying to cook a cookup of
final passage of the Big Beautiful Bill. And he is
indeed running for the US Senate against Daniel Cameron, who
was the guest here a few minutes ago. Iack in
a few on news radio weight forty wh SM
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