What's Congress have to work on the rest of the year?

Fox's Ryan Schmelz reports that the two big issues are funding the government and Healthcares

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, we'll pivot and let's go to Capitol Hill

(00:02):
and check in and see what's been going on the
last couple of days. Ryan schmells Fox News, Congress is
trying to type up some loose ends the rest of
the year. Smells. What are they working on?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
The big thing is going to be funding the government
and healthcare. Leader fun has promised that Democrats to vote
on a healthcare proposal between now and the second week
in December. Depends what planned Democrats are going to pull
them before. And then the other thing that's worked on
is obviously there's a government funding deadline on January thirtieth,

(00:35):
so getting those funding bills done to avoid another shutdown
is going to probably be one of the top priorities too.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Let's talk about healthcare for a second. It's my understanding
the enrollment for the Obamacare is expires or ends on
December fifteenth, So if there's going to be any extension
of subsidies or any other agreement, it needs to happen
before then.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, absolutely, before that. Yes, And the program expires at
the end of the year, so if they don't have
an extension, people are going to be seeing an increase
in their in their their healthcare premiums. Now, keep in mind,
it's only about the portion of the population that has this.
It's about probably about six percent of the population qualifies

(01:18):
for the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. So that's
kind of been one of the questions that Republicans have is, well,
if we're going to extend this program, we got to
make sure we know who's getting on and who's qualified,
and if if that's worthy for us to be subsidizing.
And of course this also raises the question of well,
is Obamacare actually working if it needs to be subsidized.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
What are some of the plans that the Republicans have
Have they floated anything? I mean, I've heard about just
extending it as they are for like one year, twelve
months to kind of buy buy some more time to
work it out.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
So there's something more realistic. Expect bills that I've seen
that probably could get a vote or even potentially, you know,
come close to passage or having the votes to do so.
Senator Bill Cassidy has a HSA slash Flexible Spending Account
plan that he's been floating around that could get some
interest and if according to him, he's got some buy

(02:12):
in from the White House as well. There's also a
proposal that's bipartisan that would extend the program for two
years and have a number of different reforms to it,
like income casts. Those are some of the plans I've
seen floated that could possibly actually get close to passage
or at least.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Flirt with it, Ryan Smells, Fox News on Capitol Hill.
And then funding the government now, I mean, nobody wants
to go through what we just went through with the government,
the government being shut down for a record length of time.
What's being talked about there, what are some of the
concerns and consideration.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
So Leader throughn and Speaker Johnson want to complete the
process of what they call regular order, which is passing
well individual spending bills that fund different agencies within the
federal government, and three of them were actually passed as
part of the last government funding package, though Veterans Affairs,
SNAP Benefits that will not be on the table for

(03:10):
the next government shutdown. Now, some of the other things,
you know, Defense, Department of Transportation, pretty much to the
rest of the federal government that's going to be on
the line for the next government funding battle, and whether
or not they have the votes to pass that, and
whether they can get those done, we don't know. There's
certainly is progress, it's being made. There's some negotiating that's

(03:31):
going on right now. So it just depends on when
they're going to bring them to the floor and ultimately
finish the negotiations and have the votes and all that.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
The whole notion of doing this, you know, every you know,
month or so, it seems kind of silly to me
that we can't pass the spending bill that is at
least six months, if not an annual. Why don't they
do that?

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Well, that's what they're trying to do here, and they're
trying to do it, but they're trying to do it
in these in these little drows you know, the right
well spending bill, and the point of doing that is
that you have less stuff that gets stuck getting there,
less poison pills, it's more of a transparent process. It
gives you a better chance actually balancing the budget, and
it's a more effective way to run the government. You know.

(04:15):
The more the more they get done between now and
January thirtieth, the less they'll have to worry about. But
of course, remember, because they've kicked the can down the
road several times. The idea is that you were supposed
to pass this thing in September, right and and then
you know that funds the government through the fiscal year
from September to September. But that didn't happen this time.

(04:36):
So whatever they get done this time, it's gonna be
funded until the end of September, and that's when the
fiscal year comes to an end.