[19:30]All right.
[21:02]Good morning. I'm grateful to be joined by Congressman Ammy Barah and Congresswoman Maxine Dexter, both distinguished doctors
[21:11]joining me and Vice Chair Lou up here today. We're here today because Donald Trump and House Republicans have created a full-blown healthc care crisis in this
[21:22]country. Since Republicans passed their big ugly law, we've been hearing from our constituents non-stop. They are scared that they'll lose their health care and that their local hospitals will
[21:34]close and that they'll see their insurance premiums continue to rise. All of this comes at a time when Americans are already struggling to afford the
[21:44]basic needs. Gas, groceries, health care, housing. On Friday, we saw just how harmful Donald Trump and his policies are for
[21:54]the American people. The latest jobs report showed a significant slowdown with just 22,000 jobs added and unemployment reaching 4.3%.
[22:04]the highest rate since the pandemic in 2021. The amount of damage that this administration has done to our nation in 9 months is staggering. There is no
[22:16]doubt that because of his cruel and chaotic administration, the costs of the American people are rising and American families are worse
[22:27]off. Meanwhile, House Democrats are doing everything we can to protect Americans access to affordable quality healthcare. We implore Republicans to
[22:37]abandon their partisan go it alone approach and work with us on legislation that improves health care for our constituents in red, blue, and purple
[22:47]districts. It's time for Republicans to get serious about supporting the hardworking individuals they represent rather than the ultra wealthy and well-connected elites that they continue
[22:58]to defend. Next, Vice Chair Ted Lou. >> Thank you, Chairman Aguular. Trump's
[23:07]economy sucks. Last month, the jobs report was so bad that Donald Trump felt compelled to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics to distract from how
[23:18]bad that report was. This month, the report was equally horrible because it turns out when you fire the head of BLS, that doesn't actually change the rules
[23:28]of math. And as Chairman Aguular said, unemployment increased and jobs wildly miss expectations in terms of job growth. You then have inflation
[23:39]continuing to rise and you had core CPI last month being uh quite high and then certain categories within the economy even exceeding inflation such as
[23:50]electricity prices. And then you add to that what we learned this week that the New York Fed's survey of worker confidence and getting a new job was the lowest ever in the history of its
[24:01]survey. Now is exactly the wrong time to increase health care costs. And that's what Trump and Republicans are doing. Their big ugly bill not only slashes
[24:12]Medicaid and it's going to throw off 15 million people off health care. It also the way it's written is going to cause half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts. And then in addition, ACA premiums
[24:23]are going to rise and then everyone's employer base premiums are also going to rise because of the massive cuts to healthcare across the board. So, we're urging Trump and Republicans to reverse
[24:33]course, to focus on reducing prices, and to reverse the devastating healthcare cuts that they put in. I now want to talk about the Epstein files. We got a discharge petition on the House floor.
[24:45]We urge Republicans to sign it. If we can get a handful of Republicans to sign it, we can get this into a bill and compel it off the House floor to get the
[24:55]Epstein files. And if Republicans don't want to engage in a cover up of pedophilia and this pedophilia ring, they should go sign this discharge petition. A handful of Republicans is
[25:06]all we need. Democrats are all on board. And now it's my honor uh to introduce Congressman Ammy Barah. I'm not a doctor, but I did stay at a holiday in
[25:16]Express last night, but I'm very honored to introduce a real doctor. Ammy is a tremendous representative as well from the Sacramento region and look forward
[25:25]to hearing from Ammy Barra. >> Thanks vice chair. So a lot of people ask me why'd you run for for Congress and you know when I think back to when I
[25:36]was practicing there was a day where folks would come in and you might diagnose them with diabetes. You might identify a lump and say hey this might be cancer. We've got to send you over
[25:47]there. They may have chest pain. But far too often in America, in that America over a decade ago, they'd say, you know, doc, I can't afford the medications or I
[25:57]don't have health insurance. That's why I ran for Congress because in a country like ours, no patient should ever worry about being able to go see a doctor and no American should ever worry about
[26:08]going bankrupt. In the 13 years I've been in Congress, we as Democrats, our core value have worked to expand health care. First through the ACA, then expanding Medicaid access, then
[26:19]addressing prescription drug prices, you know, um under the last administration, addressing the cost of insulin. That is who we are. That's the values that we reflect as American medicine, but also
[26:30]as Americans, we should look after one another. Now, think about the first six months of the Trump administration. Think about the complicity of House Republicans, what they've done. They've
[26:40]unwound all of those gains in six months. These are folks that know better. When I think about my California colleague like David Valadeo, over half
[26:50]of his constituents are on Medicaid. He's going to take healthcare away from them. Are you kidding? That is not who we are as the United States of America. That is not who we are as House
[27:00]Democrats. Nor should that be the values that the American people stand for. So, we are going to get out there. We're going to fight every day. We're going to fight against the the Republicans. We're going to fight against the Trump
[27:11]administration because our core values are to care for one another as the United States of America. That's the oath I took when I entered the profession of medicine to do good, to do
[27:21]no harm, and to work with patients so they have the choice in the type of health care decisions that they want. That is exactly what Donald Trump and House Republicans want to take away from the American people, and we're not going
[27:32]to stand for it. And that's why I am so happy that we now have a Democratic doctor's caucus. We've got six Democratic doctors in Congress and um
[27:41]one of our outstanding freshman members from Portland, Oregon, Dr. Maxine Dexter is going to take it from here. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Good morning. I am Congresswoman Maxine
[27:52]Dexter. Very proud and honored to serve Oregon's third. I'm also a mother and a pulmonary and critical care physician. Before coming to Congress, I spent nearly two decades caring for the
[28:03]sickest in our community as a critical care doctor. And you know what I saw over that time? More and more patients ending up in my intensive care unit due
[28:12]to delaying care or deferring care because they couldn't afford it. Working families everywhere know this. Healthcare just keeps getting more expensive while their paychecks don't
[28:24]change. Families are less able to afford their basic needs. right now, let alone their prescriptions or co-pays that are
[28:33]ever increasing in price. And how can when Americans spend more money per person on health care than any other nation in the world afford this? It's
[28:43]because money isn't going to keep people healthy. It's going to it's going into the corporate and billionaire pockets. Let's be clear, fraud and waste isn't
[28:55]coming from people getting sick and seeking care. It's coming from our system being rigged to benefit the special interests on the max on the backs of the American people. And as
[29:06]someone who took care of patients on life support fighting to live, I can tell you very clearly people won't stop getting sick when a Republicans take away their healthcare. They will just
[29:17]delay getting care, showing up much sicker, needing more expensive care, and having no insurance to pay for it. But you know who will pay for it? the American people. Democrats are committed
[29:28]to a better way. We are united in our opposition to the Republican assault on healthcare. And we are committed to fighting for policies that center working people, not Trump's
[29:38]billionaires. And now I'm proud to h hand it back to Chairman Aguilar to close us out. >> Thank you so much, Maxine. Thank you, Dr. Barah. Questions?
[29:50]Nick? Nick? >> Sorry. Sorry, Nick. Um, >> is your name Nick too? Nick. >> Nick. Nick, please.
[30:01]>> I mean, I I'm gonna ask on the ACA. >> Nick, please. >> I want to ask about government funding. Do you see this government funding deadline at the end of the month as
[30:11]being a fight over the ACA credits? >> We see this being a fight over values. We see this being a fight over the
[30:21]Republican assault on on healthcare. Uh we know that the Affordable Care Act, whatever, whatever we want to say, Nick, uh Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable
[30:31]Care Act, all of these, um the American public views through a positive lens because the American public gets their health care from these important programs. Uh that's what we're fighting
[30:43]about. But this isn't just about the Republican big ugly bill and the big ugly law now and that attack on healthcare uh which is now law. This is
[30:55]that this is still happening today in the appropriations committee where I'll go back to after this press conference. the continued attack and assault on
[31:06]health care, on NIH, on research, on uh infant mortality programs, all of these things matter to our communities. So, this is much broader than than the
[31:17]Affordable Care Act, although we lift that bill up for all of its positive achievements. This is about fundamentally Americans who receive their health care are now under attack
[31:28]by the Republican big ugly law and the continued attack uh in the appropriations committee. Even at this moment, at this day, at this hour, uh
[31:38]healthc care is under attack by Republicans and Donald Trump. Uh we can't stand for that. Uh we're not going to take that. And so, uh, uh, you're going to continue to hear us speak up on
[31:49]this, uh, from now until, uh, the end of the month with a potential Republican shutdown. >> Daniel, >> adding to what Nick asked you, um, would
[32:00]is there a scenario where Democrats uh, don't compromise with Republicans on a CR, which it seems like that's what's y'all are coalesing around because of
[32:10]this this fight. We will work in a in a bipartisan way with our colleagues on legislation that meets the needs of the American public. That's that's what we want. Um if Republicans are willing to
[32:21]to meet us, um then then we will do that. Uh but what they have done, all we can do is judge them by where they've been. And where they have been is
[32:31]focusing strictly on partisan bills that assault healthcare. And so it's kind of hard to flip the page and to say, "Oh, okay. Now we now we trust you because
[32:42]you want to have a conversation. Um after everything that they've done this year and even through today is an attack on healthc care in a partisan way. Um so
[32:53]that's why uh we'll be incredibly you know cautious as we proceed. Um, but that's the importance of this moment and what doctors like Maxine Dexter and Ammy
[33:04]Bara and their rich experience bring to the table in advocating uh uh for uh patients uh in the past. That is who they are. That is the values that they bring to the table and why their voice
[33:15]is so critical at this point. You have heard the vice chair and I continue to talk about this. Um, but it's so incredibly important because the chaos machine and the in and this potential
[33:26]Republican shutdown uh is harmful, but the American people are the ones that will suffer. And so, Democrats stand willing to work in a in a bipartisan way. Um, but we aren't going to to um
[33:38]work with them uh when they go down the partisan path alone and assault healthcare. >> Go ahead. Um, I'm just want a quick
[33:48]reaction to the bill from 10 Republicans to extend the ACA tax credits, number one, and number two, uh, the bill, the big, ugly, beautiful bill, whatever you want to call it, uh, has a payo
[33:59]sequestration of 500 billion for Medicare. In past years, the parties have worked together. They've simply waved those PGO restrictions. Are Democrats going to do that on Medicare with this?
[34:10]>> That's why this is so incredibly important uh, to solve this issue. Um because this is about the ACA, this is about Medicaid, this is about premium
[34:20]tax uh uh uh the premium tax cuts uh and the subsidies associated with the premium tax credits. Um but the trigger of 500 billion to Medicare is also
[34:32]what's at stake. That's what Republicans have done. We're only in that place because of the big ugly law and what that has meant. um the cuts that uh that
[34:41]are in the law now trigger further cuts in Medicare. So, like I said, if if Republicans are willing uh to work with us in a bipartisan way, we have solved
[34:53]some of these issues in the past. Uh we will continue to work with our colleagues, reasonable colleagues to solve these issues in the future. That's not what we're where we are today. We are seeing partisan attacks on
[35:05]healthcare. And I want to defer to uh Ammy Bara and Maxine Dexter on your first point. Um but what I will say is all the happy talk and all the nice
[35:15]letters that our Republican colleagues sign, they're nice. I'm sure that they send them to their constituents and they tell them that they're fighting for them. We saw this with Medicaid. We saw
[35:25]15 17 Republicans sign a letter saying that they weren't going to attack Medicaid uh for vulnerable populations. and then they went and supported the
[35:36]bill. Um, so, uh, I don't believe any of the letters that they signed. It's strictly to make them, uh, sleep better at night. Uh, I'm not concerned. My
[35:46]feeling is that this isn't about actual policy. This is about, um, you know, them being able to defend terrible positions and saying, "Well, I told the speaker um, well, it's not enough to do
[35:57]that. You got to take action. Uh, our votes matter in this place and their votes attacking healthcare." um are hurting the American people. A mommy bar. >> So um we live in interesting times,
[36:12]right? I mean the these are my opinions and I have the utmost um admiration for our leadership. But we live in a time where Congress is article one. We write
[36:22]the budget. We do the appropriations. And we've seen an administration that just has turned their back on them. It's like we don't care what Congress is doing. So, I talk to my Republican colleagues and sit there and say, "Do
[36:33]you want to deal with it? Shutdowns are really bad here. They're not good for America." But why are you going to shut things down? Because if you don't stand up to Donald Trump, if you don't say what we passed, what we appropriate, you
[36:44]guys implement it. Until they're willing to do that, it's really hard to trust them. And we've shown how weak that the House Republicans are in terms of standing up to this administration. Russ
[36:54]Voit just wants to do over $4 billion of recisions or or at least let the let let that go away. That isn't how this works.
[37:03]So until House Republicans stand up and say, "Nope, we want to do a budget. We want to do a CR, but we're going to hold the Trump administration accountable to implementing what we pass. It's going to
[37:15]be hard." So I think that's why the um sequestration becomes pretty difficult as well. This is a a ruthless, lawless administration that just has shown total
[37:26]disregard for Congress. But this is a Congress that has a Republican majority. And until Mike Johnson, Speaker Johnson, House Republicans find some courage and
[37:37]some backbone to stand up to him and say, "No, we are Congress. We pass the budget. We do the appropriations and you implement what we pass." It's going to be hard.
[37:46]>> Yeah. So, I'm new here. I came here after December 30th, finishing my last shift in the ICU. And what I saw are people
[37:56]who are struggling every day. This isn't going to change with a one-year extension of the ACA premium tax credits. Folks are already struggling to get by. And so, as somebody who
[38:08]represents a very progressive district, my job is to not just hold the line, but to extend the protections for Americans. And what this administration is doing is
[38:19]shameful. So whether it's cutting 500 billion from Medicare or taking away pre premium tax credits that makes it unaffordable for the middle class or
[38:29]gutting what we know as health care, Medicaid for our country. We cannot arbitrate a little bit here. We've got to hold the line and give them a chance to take a step back and rethink what
[38:41]they're doing to the American people. Uh, in answer to your question, let me just be very clear to American people about what happened. House Republicans
[38:50]voted for the big ugly bill that results in a half a trillion dollar cut to Medicare. Now, some House Republicans are saying, "Wait, please help us
[39:02]reverse the cuts we just voted for." It's like the arsonists saying, "Please help me put out the fire I just caused." So, these Republicans didn't want this half trillion dollar cut to Medicare.
[39:13]they never should have voted for the big ugly law in the first place. >> So, tomorrow, House Republicans on the oversight committee are planning to uh
[39:24]mark up 14 different bills that sort of embolden the president's um agenda as it relates to Washington DC. I'm just curious if you expect all Democrats to
[39:34]be in opposition to those bills as they in at least some of the instances sort of impede on the home rule that DC has. Um and then also uh you know whether or
[39:44]not Democrats will you know be united and against those. But how do you sort of balance that given that under the federal takeover of DC we have seen crime numbers go down. How can dem
[39:55]Democrats sort of uh you know defend Washington DC while acknowledging that that crime does appear to go down. >> We support Democrats support home rule. We support crime going down in in our
[40:06]communities. uh the crime statistics um uh continue to go down in a number of uh communities um postco um not all of those bills are partisan bills. Some are
[40:18]bipartisan uh that will have support of Democrats um when it comes to DC operations, but many of them are partisan bills. Look, Democrats believe in the rule of law. Democrats believe in
[40:29]safe communities and Democrats want to give tools for our communities to keep the American public safe. It's hard to believe House Republicans and Donald
[40:39]Trump on this issue when the first thing he did was pardon 1,500 violent offenders on day one of his administration. Some of them coming to the District of Columbia, many of them
[40:51]going across this country and and a handful, more than a handful have already reaffended and committed crimes
[41:00]um back home. So, it's hard to say. It's hard for us to believe that he actually cares about this issue when House
[41:08]Republicans are trying to defund cops grants and programs that come to our communities uh to keep people safe. That's how we do it. We believe in community policing. We believe in local
[41:20]control and home rule here in DC. Those are the elements that are going to keep the American public safe. Theatrics and militarizing big cities. um only
[41:30]governed by by blue in blue states is not the way it's done. He's not talking about, you know, crime in Cincinnati or or Toledo or Nashville or in other
[41:42]places. He's he's weaponizing this issue. Uh and that's unfortunate because Democrats believe in safe communities uh everywhere. >> Michael, over the August, the White House started
[41:53]an official Tik Tok account. It comes as the president to um push back the implementation of the divest or ban law that you and the
[42:04]vice chair supported. One, do you support the president signing another extension to push back the implementation of the law? And two, more
[42:14]people use Tik Tok now than when the bill was passed. Are you concerned that if the president doesn't sign another 90-day extension and the ban starts to
[42:24]go to the to effect that Democrats will pay a political price from folks who enjoy the app and don't really understand why one of their favorite apps would be banned? >> This was a this was a bipartisan bill um
[42:36]in Congress at a time when they're when people talking about the hyper uh political environment that we're in. This was a bill that had Democrats and Republicans support it. Um, I support
[42:46]President Trump implementing the law. Uh, and the law is pretty clear on this issue. Um, you know, he also campaigned by saying he would lower the costs that
[42:57]people face, uh, and that the American family would see a benefit for it. We didn't know that he was going to start with his family first. Um, that's where
[43:07]we are. and his family continues to make money and grift off all of these, you know, products and all of these uh environments. And I think that's what's unfortunate specifically when we talk
[43:19]about the social media landscape. Um we've talked about the policy of this issue over the past. Uh I stand by the vote that we made. Uh my hope is that
[43:29]national security folks close to the president uh continue to push him uh to implement the law. Um uh and um we'll we'll handle what comes uh beyond that. >> Sure.
[43:41]>> Sure. Yeah. >> You know, as as someone who's on the intelligence committee and the ranking Democrat on foreign affairs and and um Asia, what we did in the last Congress was
[43:53]totally um bipartisan. In fact, in many cases, House Republicans led in that conversation crafting that legislation. Again, what is disappointing to me right
[44:03]now is crickets out of the House Republicans. They've gone silent. Donald Trump is not imp implementing a bipartisan law that we passed to protect
[44:12]American to protect our country. Um, and House Republicans just don't have anything to say. They're the ones who helped us write that law. So would you say that the threat today is still as
[44:24]acute as it was when you all pass the legislation given your >> I mean nothing's changed in those algorithms etc. So nothing's changed in how easy it is to manipulate elections
[44:34]and public opinion and so forth but again I don't know what happened to my Republican colleagues. >> Last question. >> Um thank you. So you talked about the economy and the numbers that have been
[44:45]revised. Last year Republicans messaged heavily on the economy. Do you have any changing thoughts as to the economy Biden left behind? Um, and sort of where that line is of when it transitioned
[44:56]from Biden's economy to Trump's economy and like where that line is as far as like job provisions numbers go. >> Look, January 20th when when the president implements policies that make
[45:07]life difficult and raise the costs uh for people, that's where that's where the line is. Um, that's what we're focused on. Um, who did what and and in what economy? I'll let you know
[45:17]economists, if there are any working for the federal government now, um I'll let them speak for themselves on on what where the line started. But we we've seen is a declining economy under Donald
[45:29]Trump because of his policies. Um that's why we're seeing, you know, economic data revised uh and people struggling and people hurting in all of our
[45:40]communities. People are struggling. Um, and they can't help but think this guy campaigned on making life better. Uh,
[45:50]and costs have continued to rise and his tariffs and his reckless policies are the reason why that's happening. And so, House Democrats stand by uh, the data
[46:00]and the and the truth. And the truth is Donald Trump is trying to tank our economy. And every time negative economic data is put out, the
[46:10]deflections start. Chicago going after boats in Venezuela. I mean, like all of these things are a direct throughine to the distractions of what
[46:22]the Trump administration uh knows the American people are focused on. Uh and that's the unfortunate thing, but that's where we are. And House Republicans, like Dr. Barrow said, uh have nothing to
[46:32]say about it. Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. There's a press conference in the househood
[46:42]CEO also. >> Yeah, >> it's nice to meet you. What's your
[47:19]join me right after? So I went to um