Government Funding: The Latest

Fox News Radio's Ryan Schmelz joins us to discuss the latest as Congress negotiates a funding package to avoid a government shutdown. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
President Trump canceled a meeting with top Congressional Democrats yesterday
over what he's calling unserious and ridiculous demands. That's the quote.
As the deadline to fund the government fast approaches, This
is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly and Red Keita
Schmidty should be back with us asap. Senate Minority Leader

(00:23):
Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries were set
to meet with President Trump to discuss a path forward.
That meeting was to happen tomorrow to avert a partial
government shutdown before that September thirtieth deadline, and lawmakers are
still away from Washington, d C. This week to observe

(00:45):
the Jewish New year Rashashana, and the Senate is expected
to return on September twenty ninth. Meanwhile, the House is
expected to be out until the deadline passes. We will
keep our eye on that story and get the very
latest as we continue this morning. Has you been hearing

(01:07):
from Dave in the newsroom over the last couple of
days the well, a similar problem is happening at the
state level.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
So will we.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Find out what it's like to have a partial government
shutdown in the state and a partial government shutdown at
the same time at the federal level. Could this be
a first for all of us? Let's get the latest
and what we're hearing from Washington.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
D C.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Ryan Schmells on the liveline with Fox News Radio. Ryan,
thanks for doing this today, of course, great, Thank you.
So the President canceled this meeting with Schumer and Jefferies
because he didn't think it was going to go anywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
How come, well, that's part of it, yes, and she
just really didn't like the counter offer that they were proposing.
The Democrats pretty much have their own bill to avoid
government shutdown, and they've been pretty steadfast that their big
redline here is going to be healthcare in these Affordable
Care Acts subsidies that are set to expire soon. But

(02:13):
President Trump has pretty much said that he doesn't like
what they're proposing and doesn't think it's going to be
productive to have them in there, so ultimately canceled the meeting.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
So this isn't some sort of annihilation of the ACA.
And correct me if I'm wrong. It's premiums going up?
Is that what I'm reading?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Well, it's it's a tax credit program that are set
to expire. There's about twenty million or so people that
are using them, I believe, and you know, there have
been talked and there are Republicans who support them. There
there have been a number of Republicans who have said
they want to have a discussion about this and potentially
negotiate an extension, but they don't think that a clean

(02:57):
extension A is the right move without some type of
provisions or changes to the program.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
And B.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
I think a lot of the most believe this is
a separate issue that shouldn't be attached to government funding.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
So releases from both Schumer and Jeffries have said, now,
if anything happens, it's clearly the Republican's fault. What path
forward could there be?

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Well, the path forward as of right now is that
Congress is going to come back or release. The Senate
is on Monday, and on either.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Monday or Tuesday, they are going to vote on the
Republican bill that passed out of the House, which is
a clean extension of government funding until November, no spending.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Cuts attached to it. If anything, it actually spends more money,
and Republicans think that's a pretty good deal. I mean,
for a Republican controlled Congress and White House to not
cut any spending on a government funding proposal. They think
that would be a win for Democrats. But Democrats on
the other hand are saying, well, no, we want the
healthcare part attached to this. So this is a no

(04:02):
for us. But the strategy it looks like right now,
is that when Congress comes back, they're going to vote
on the still and the hope is that at least
a couple of Democrats will cave and say they don't
want a government shutdown and just vote for the bill.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
All right, We will catch up with you on that
then at that time Ryan Smells with Fox News Radio
I in Washington, DC.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Thank you, of course, thank you.