Rep. Smith on the Big, Beautiful Bill

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Two hundred and fifteen to two hundred and fourteen, the
narrowest possible margin the vote in the United States House
of Representatives on what became known as the Big Beautiful Bill.
After much haggling and wrangling and sausage making, they got
it over the finish line. It's not parties, not over.
Of course, it goes on to the Senate now. But

(00:20):
we're joined for a few minutes this morning by Nebraska
third District Congressman Adrian Smith. Congressman, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Mony, good to have you, Good morning, Thanks for having.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Me you bet, I appreciate you being here with you. Man,
that was tough. Was there a point there where you thought,
or maybe more than one point where you thought this
ain't going to make it?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I think as the time went on, and of course
the Democrats were employing some delaying tactics that I think
tends to bring the Republicans together. I think as time
went on that brought Republicans together, and the votes that
came at maybe even a little more quickly than I
would have anticipated.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'd like to get some clarity or at least your
your educated view on this. As number two on the
House Ways and Means Committee, on the Medicaid piece of
this legislation, because you're hearing all kinds of gloom and
doom about how this is going to take Medicaid away
from people who need it. Don Bacon was on with
Scott yesterday and he said, absolutely not. We're just trying

(01:23):
to get rid of abuses and fraud and waste. What
can you tell Nebraskans, Adrian, about what exactly will happen
if this legislation holds together with Medicaid.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
That the most vulnerable populations they will have the care,
the healthcare that they need. What has happened is there
has been so many people put on to Medicare that
are on start Medicaid that should not be there. And
so we've got work requirements that I think are very important. Actually,

(02:01):
some of some of the items that I was hoping
could be there ended up not being in the bill.
We can address that later perhaps, but this bill I
think strengthens the Medicaid actually and able to have folks
who needed to most have that access.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
I have a question, Adrian about spending, and I'm a
little bit confused why in a in a reconciliation bill,
discretionary spending is off the table, but mandatory spending is
on the table, it seems to me. Discretionary spending is
where you want to go, like, for example, the money

(02:40):
for corporate for public broadcasting that's still in there because
that's discretionary spending. Explain that concept to.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Us, Well, the rules of reconciliation are fairly specific, and
you know, the basically guardrails and that mandatory spending that
takes place, you know, year after year after year without
even Congress revisiting the issue. It's the discretionary spending that
Congress is supposed to address every year. There's some broken

(03:11):
pieces to that, to that process, but the discretionary spending
that can be that is supposed to be set every
year and revisited every year. That's that's work we need
to get done.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
So that means that the mandatory spending, which would be
the Social Security and some of the entitlements they're off
there are on limits for this thing, but there, but
the discretionary spending isn't. That's essentially.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Right. The social security cannot be changed in the under
the rules of reconciliation that was established some time ago. Uh,
so that that is limiting. You know, there are some
things that we need to address in the future obviously,
but the rules are reconciled to prevent us from from

(04:04):
adjusting Social Security at all.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
So that's why the no tax on social Security is
not in there, because that was one of Trump Trump's
campaign deals.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
There are yes, it is in there, but in terms
of how it impacts the Social Security Trust Funds is
not in there. So like the federal income tax that
a taxpayer will pay, that's where the relief is. Likewise
on no tax on tips, you know that we were

(04:36):
not able to look at the payroll tax. You know
that that's a significant tax. Sometimes that might even be
the only tax that that a wag journer will pay,
but that that was not able to be put into reconciliation.
But the federal income tax liability that a worker would face,

(04:57):
that's where the relief is.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Okay, dead and Devis said, we don't have a ton
of time. You guys were elected to chop into that
debt and chop into that deficit and this does not
do that.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Well, there are various perspectives here. Act of the matter is,
you know, our economy is important in terms of how
we grow the economy to actually increase revenues to pay
down the debt. This bill is great for the economy,
and we showed that back in twenty seventeen that the
actual tax relief led to growth in the economy, growth

(05:29):
and wages. We saw wages grow at a faster rate
proportionately than even executive wages. That's what we need to continue.
We wanted to avoid this huge tax increase that would
take place if we don't get our work done. And
so I think we're in a good place moving forward,
but certainly I wouldn't say our work is complete.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Back to Medicaid for Amminator and up. Are you convinced
that no one who genuinely needs and deserves kid benefits
will be hurt by this?

Speaker 2 (06:03):
I believe that folks in need will have the care
that they need. And I know there's a lot of
characterizations out there. It's unfortunate really that the demagoguery has
taken the form that it has, because you know, when
you look at a chart of Medicaid, and there are

(06:24):
a lot of there. In fact, some folks are even
saying now that there are more folks on Medicaid above
the poverty line than below. That's a problem, and especially
as it as it crowds people out of private pay,
say employer provided health insurance, which is going to reimburse
hospitals at a better rate than even Medicaid or in Medicare. Incidentally,

(06:49):
but we want to keep people on private pay that
that's the most sustainable way forward.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Before we run here. What's your level of optimism that
some version of this fairly close to what you guys past,
will survive the Senate and go on to the President.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
I am. I'm very enthusiastic in terms of what the
cenic Senate. I think there's full understanding that they need
to get their work done. That was the case on
the House side, and so this process is moving forward,
and I think they'll they'll look at at Medicaid as well.
And when someone is on say an employer provided health

(07:31):
insurance plan, that is much better in that private sector
than just pushing someone onto Medicaid, that complicates matters. And
more than anything though, we'll be able to the Senate
will be able to emphasize the fact that we want
a legitimate safety net for folks who need it the most.
Let's make sure that the able bodied individuals, though, who

(07:54):
can participate in the economy. I can do so as well.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Let's hope that Congressman, thanks so much for the time
this morning, and we appreciate your work. That's Adrian Smith