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Looking at shares of meta here following that TikTok ruling up about three percent right now, little more than eighteen dollars. Remember Donald Trump said if you get rid of TikTok, well that's going to help Mark Zuckerberg. And there are questions about exactly where this is all going today. It's just one of the things that we want to talk about with Congressman Tim Burchett on a busy Friday that I mentioned. You have made it to the threshold of
the weekend. It feels nice today. Now lawmakers have left town after spending some time here in Washington. Tim Burchett might be an exception. Everyone's still talking about the fifteen minute Christmas party. Congressman, welcome back to Bloomberg. It's great to see you, sir. You've got the most famous barn jacket in Washington here for our viewers, and I wonder your thoughts on this ruling. This basically keeps in place
the bill that you voted for. I was looking at a news release a short time ago thirteen March from your office. Birchett votes to require CCP affiliated company to divest from TikTok.
So has anything changed following this ruling today?
Not with me, and I know I'm on opposite side where President Trump is. I would hope that we could get China out of it, out of that business. When China's out of it, I'd be okay with that. It's just another currently right now. I think it's just another avenue for the communist Chinese to indoctrinate our children, and we should watch that because of the way they target them and through algorithms and stuff that I really don't understand.
But I know that when I'm talking about I was talking about aluminum solo cups.
The other day.
My wife and I were talking about them, and then all of a sudden, we both get ads on our phones about them, and so they're listening to us and as we're listening to them.
So I would hope parents would be very cautious with with.
That happens to the best of us, right, Congressman, you're talking to your wife, Like you said, you mentioned something that I'm getting all these ads that I didn't know was the Chinese doing it.
Though, well they with with TikTok it is they I think they're they're under They don't even allow it in their own country, and their country it is an educational device. Over here, it's just a marketing tool for some whacked out clauses. I think that's why you're seeing some In my opinion, you saw arise and mental issues with children after COVID because when they were blocked off from the world, that's all they had to communicate with was their cell phones.
And and I think they're they're using that. I think they're using that to undermine our society. And I just think it's a real it's a real tough tough thing. It's tough enough being a kid growing up today, and it's even tougher if you got somebody whispering in your ear continuously about you're too fat, you're not pretty, you're not strong enough, you're this or that. And I just think that we should really be careful about what we expose our children to.
Well.
Listen, I know this is a real issue for a lot of parents. As you put it in your statement that day, you voted against allowing bye Edance to control what you called an enormous information mining source in the United States. You also mentioned Donald Trump just now, do we really know how he feels about this. I know he had said on the campaign trail that he might work to save TikTok, but he also took action to Bennett when he was in office.
Where do you think he really falls down on this?
I think he falls down the sides of I hope on patriotism and in the American way. If we could get the communist Chinese influence out of it, I think it would probably pass muster. Then I'll still be sticking where I'm at. I don't trust them. They do not have our best interests at heart, and I'm very cautious of anything they have anything to do with.
Well, you think it's as good as banned, then, I mean we're looking at a January deadline here.
Well, you know, it's sort of like when we say we're going to ban all these crazy random phone calls from our cell phone, from these marketing groups and things. We banned it for about three minutes and then they figured out a way around it. If it affects their pocket books, they'll do it, but if not, they'll claim they can't do it. And you know, it's like when they say they can't the FBI says they can't crack into somebody's computer or whatever, and then musk bring somebody
out and they get into it in fifteen minutes. I think if the financial incentives there, they can do it. Otherwise they're not going to do it.
Well, Congressman, I want to ask you about what's happening or will happen on the floor of the House in the next couple of weeks here, because you've got some business to take care of. There is news today House GEOP leadership plans to put the NDAA on.
The floor next week.
I understand there's a bit of a difference with the Senate when it comes to top line numbers there, but then it's a matter of funding the government, and we understand that the Speaker wants to see a vote on the cr not sure how long it'll last in the week of December sixteenth. Will that just get us through the new year so you can come back and finish or push us to March.
What's the right plan here?
Well, that remains to be seen.
I don't want a hamstring President Trump in the first one hundred days. I have traditionally not been poor crs. I think we're abdicating our duties. You know, we're really constitutionally bound to do one thing, and that's past a budget, and we haven't done that in thirty years. And that's by design. Both parties love it when you pass. They drop a three thousand page bill on your desk and you got two hours to read it, and all you do is for the stuff in your.
District, or which.
Lobbyist you're going to agree, or where your wife and or your girlfriend, which group they work for, and then you end up voting for those terrible things. And that's why we're what thirty six trillion dollars in debt. So I think we need to do like we do in Tennessee in the legislature, single issue spending bills. And people will say, well, Bartiet will be here all night. Well you pay us over one hundred and seventy thousand.
Dollars a year.
Dad, we ought to be here all night work and these two hour workdays, to me are kind of annoying. It doesn't sell well back in Tennessee. I can tell you that until we treat this as what it is, it's just going to continue getting worse.
What I want to ask you about the matter of supplemental funding, because you obviously are in a state that was impacted by the hurricanes that tour through the southeast a couple of months ago. Should that be added to the cr for the sake of expediating that money. Expediting that money, I should say, Or should that go into an actual budget, assuming there's regular order.
In the new year, Well, make no bones about it. If they put it in there, they're just trying to get more boats. It's funny money. They're spending money we do not have. It's our great grandchildren. You say, we're spending our kids money. Man, We're spending our great grandchildren's money right now.
It's just more of the same.
If we managed our money better, we wouldn't be in this situation. You know, I've got people still up there, have been standing in line and they're told they can't get a seven hundred and fifty dollars check because guess what, they don't have a cell phone, they don't have a dadgum computer. They don't have any identification that got washed away in the flood, for goodness sakes, and you got some smartle bureaucrat up there telling them to no.
Or they've got these houses for them that are two hours away.
They'll end up losing their jobs and they can't and they can't maintain their own property. This thing's a nightmare. It needs to be. It is a trash can. Quit picking and choosing things to clean out of it. We need to turn it upside down like a trash can, put a garden hose on it, and dismantle all these groups that are doing this stuff. And you know we had when it all went down, Franklin Graham's group, Samaritans Persons up there, Mountain Bride, all these other groups are
up there on the ground. FEMA still there as of about a month ago. There's people in North Carolina still. I haven't seen anybody from FEMA.
So are you seeing FEMA is the trash can or the government or I just want to understand.
Congressmen, Well, they're part of it. FEMA is a trash can in itself. In my opinion, you might have some good people.
Up there, but it's just a you know.
When you're talking when you're in a Walmart parking lot, playing god with these people's lives, staying in a three hundred dollars a night motel and they don't have running water or electricity, and then you're giving over a billion dollars to illegals, and we got American citizens that have paid into the system that are being turned away. To me, that's a real problem and that there's an arrogance there.
There's a lack of connectivity. I think what FEMA needs to be is just to flow through for money that can get to these organizations that actually do the job, like Samaritans perse Well.
We do like to think that there are some patriotic Americans working for FEMA who are trying to help people out. Congressman, I'm glad that you could join us today, and happy holidays to you. I hope you still got some cheese whiz left over after the big party yesterday. He's a member of the House Oversight, Foreign Affairs Transportation committees. Congressman Tim Burchett, Republican from Tennessee.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then roun Oo with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven.
As we turn to the transition, it's been a very busy week here in Washington, DC, with Donald Trump's nominees for some awfully important jobs walking the halls of the Senate. As we've told you, we've walked you through all of these alongside names like Pete Hegseth, who has had quite
the journey personally and professionally. I think we can say this week with allegations from sexual assault to alcohol abuse following him into all of these meetings, including the sit down with Joni Ernst that we heard so much about, she is still not a yes based on what we're hearing in some aer, suggesting that this could be a short run here for Pete Hegseth. As Donald Trump also talks to Ron DeSantis.
About potentially having the job.
I've got a little bit of news for you on Ron DeSantis, by the way, but let's hear from heg Seth from last night talking about some of the doubts surrounding his confirmation on Capitol Hill.
Let's listen to.
Senators who are the ones that deserve it, answers to every question they have, and in every office we've stood in, you've welcomed that opportunity.
It has been a great week.
It's a process that's ongoing, and we look forward to finishing up.
I wanted to talk to a sage, someone who understands how Capitol Hill works when it comes to the transition and to all the matters we just discussed with Tim Burchett here creeping up on a funding deadline and a whole new Congress. Lisa Camusa Miller is, of course that voice, Republican strategist, host of the Friday Reporter podcast, and former communications director at the Republican National Committee. Lisa, great to
see if, Happy Friday, and welcome back. You've got deep contacts at the Pentagon, and I know that you're closely associated with the national security and defense spaces. There are a lot of concerns, not only about some of the personal issues surrounding Pete Hegseth, and he denies them all, but even just his lack of managerial experience. Now, before I ask you whether you think he's going to get
through the week. We've got a headline here, Donald Trump the Army Navy game, and he's bringing Ron DeSantis with.
Him this weekend. Now, what do you think about petex Seth.
I've been watching all week, Joe, and I think that the time is running out for this nominee. That's my point of view. This has been a tremendous distraction from the transition and from Donald Trump's ascension back to the White House. So to me, it just doesn't add up. There's so many reasons why this nominee is not the right nominee. It seems like an unforced error and one that on all accounts will not possibly make it to Sunday.
That would be my if I had two dollars to put on this one, Joe, I'd say, Sunday is today?
Wow?
All right, So that's he's not doing well obviously, and it's not going to be another John Tower. Some folks thought, you know what, Donald Trump's is going to stand by his man. He said so just this morning. So let's let this thing go through committee and see what the Senators can do.
That's not the way this ends in your view.
It just doesn't feel that way, Joe. It just feels like the energy is running out for heg Seth. I mean, yes, he's making some progress on the hill. He's having meetings and he's answering questions, and that's really part of the process for sure, But to me, all of the other optics behind the scene, all of the questions about whether or not, I mean, it sounds like he may already have a pick in mind after hag Seth goes away.
So to me, more than anything, I feel like he's probably hearing from the Senate, He's probably hearing from his colleagues and the Party, hearing from colleagues and people that he knows and works with well inside the Pentagon and inside the National Defense space. It just seems to me like this is an unnecessary fight to take on, and it seems like one that might go the way that the Gates nominee went, and that is that he would bow out knowing that it's too big a distraction.
Well, you know what's going to happen next, Lisa's We're going to turn to Tulsey Gabbard. And considering everything that's blowing up literally right now in Syria, you've got a lot of people saying that she might not make it either.
What is that process going to look like?
You know, this is like a whack a mole situation, Joe. I mean, it seems to me like there are really four nominees that are very, very vulnerable. The first one we've already seen go in. That's Gates. I think Haig sith. Number two seems like Tulsi Gabbard and and uh and Kennedy is also on the on the chopping block. Those two guys are going to be they'll be the next ones.
And you know, look, if you're the if you're the transition, you knew that these were going to be controversial and that they potentially might not be nominees that would ultimately get through. But also it to me feels like it may have even been a strategy, may have been on by design that that they nominate the nominee. Some of these nominees were a little bit out of the box, and we're an opportunity for for nominations beyond those to
be ones that would sail right through. So to me, I think that we're going to see that Tulsi Gabbard will be the next one. We look very closely at and we see as one that will also not likely make it over the finish line.
Well, I gotta throw this one at you because you mentioned at Gates. Don't make me bring up mad Gates, Lisa. I have been hearing over the last couple of days a growing level of concern that he is going to show up to fill his seat in January as elected. He has not filed paperwork suggesting otherwise, and has only said that he intends to step down.
What happens if he shows up? Do you think he does it?
I mean, you know these I hate to say it, Joe, but these are politicians, I mean so much about politics as ego, right, And so when you step away, he won that seat. And so if he's not going to be a g and he's not going to be a replacement for the US Senate or a candidate for governor in Florida, then what's in his mind? The way he's moving seems like he would go back potentially to that seat.
The only thing that I think holds him back from doing that is the possibility that then that ethics report that so far has held as a secret and not been released potentially could be by those who want to see him go away for good.
Well, I'm glad you mentioned that, because the House last night blocked the release of that Ethics Committee report, having forced a vote on this. We talked about that privileged resolution from Sean Casten. Does this thing have to leak now because you know it's going to come.
Out, Lisa, Right, it's coming, Joe, It's just it's I mean, you know, the joke in Washington is if you want something out there, you tell Capitol Hill, right, So to me, it seems like it is very likely that that will get out. Matt Gates has made no friends on Capitol Hill. He's done everything to make enemies, and there are plenty of people that st aren't even in the House anymore
that want to see him go away. So to me, this feels like the other shoe that drops for him, and it's one that really would cause him a tremendous amount of discomfort and legal trouble moving forward. So for him, I don't know, I don't think the risk out weighs the reward. But like I said, in politics, you know, it's a lot of ego, and a lot of it has to do with how that particular candidate feels about themselves.
Well, let's do a little lame duck lightning round here, Lisa. Don't you miss the lame duck when you were working in the Speaker's office. Mike Johnson is trying to craft a plan here. We've got two weeks to go until the government runs out of money. The plan as we see it now is to get the NDAA on the floor next week, even though they cannot agree on top lines with the Senate, and then a vote on the cr the week of December sixteenth. Is that actually going
to work? And do we avoid a shutdown? How much breathing room do we get?
That's going to happen?
Joe?
It always happens. It's messy. You and I talk about it, twisting, twisting our pearls in our hands, waiting for it to go down. But yeah, the NDAA is going to get done, There's no doubt about it. It'll be negotiation, They'll be back and forth. They'll have to decide whether or not they want to do it under a rule suspension or you know what that all comes down to. But funding for the funding for the Department of Defense and for the support of the country and the and national security
is one that everybody has to come together on. Ultimately, the government is another one. I mean, there's no way we come to the end of the year without that getting done. Now, there'll be plenty of threats for having to stay late, having to stay long, having to stay into a Saturday for this congress. But you know better than anything that the smell of jet fumes gets people motivated to vote for legislation to get it done.
God knows. I'll tell you what.
I talked to a lot of Republican members just yesterday off the record about this, Lisa.
None of them knew what the plan was going to be.
And if you heard what Tim Burchett just told us at the top of the hour, he's going to have to hold his nose to vote for another cr So you wonder how much space they find here.
Do they get the NDAA done?
Yeah, I think they do. They're absolutely going to have to get that, and both of those are must pass legislation. They've got to get done before the end of the year. It's going to be a mess before it all gets decided. But yeah, I think more than anything, they are going to have to make a decision. Nobody likes the fact that we have to get to a position where we have to have a continuing resolution into the next year.
But the truth of it is is that they have a job they are elected to do, and that job is to get that business done, and so I think more than anything, they'll be motivated to finish it and get it right, because otherwise it's just another big, big battle to have to get through over the course of the holidays and into the new year.
I mentioned Tim Burchett. You see at his fifteen minute Christmas party yesterday. This is like, you have to attend this if you're in the house now. I guess that they didn't have this when you were there, Lisa. Fifteen minutes, he gives you a little cheese whiz on a cracker, You take a picture with Santa, and you go on your way.
But the question is who is Santa? Do we have this picture here? Did you see Santos Claus?
We spent enough time talking about George Santos in his illustrious political career, Lisa, that you should have a piece of this.
There he is with.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingle, wearing the beard and the full outfit.
We have clearly come to a new level here in Washington. What do you think?
Yeah, I think that it's just silly and it's what people are really tired of from Washington, d C. We probably need to clean up our act.
I think did Debbie Dingle take that picture on purpose? Merry Christmas, Santos Claus. We are clearly through the looking glass. We'll assemble our panel next. I'm Joe Matthew at Washington. This is Bloomberg.
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Let's get the panel back together.
It's Friday, and we've got both of our signature panelists with us. The aforementioned Genie Schanze, no Bloomberg Politics contributor and democratic analyst, political science professor at Iona University.
And there's Rick.
Davis, republican strategist partner at Stone Court Capital, Bloomberg Politics contributors.
Both Hey, Rick Block, the talk. Is it going to happen?
Yeah, look, it's already happened. The question is who's going to make it unhappen. I don't think there's any chance that it's going to sell between now and the end of the year and the Supreme Court, I can't imagine them overturning this.
Federal Appeeals Court decision.
So government has expended its will, and I think all of this could be sort of settled case load by the time Donald Trump takes his oath of office on January twentieth.
So we'll see.
But it seems like the blockers are getting the way they want with talk.
Wow, amazing, Genie, What do you think about this? And does Donald Trump really know what he wants? We've heard every version of this, but most recently from the President elect. He said at least before the election that he is now against a TikTok ban, will work to save the word he used the social media platform. Do you think he talked about this with Zuckerberg over dinner?
Oh?
I bet they did.
And by the way, the best part of this and why we must keep the block the talk is to hear Rick Davis say that repeatedly while we move forward. So it's so fun to listen to.
You know.
The big question here is going to be does the Supreme Court grant cert do they get four justices to area to hear this case. I am not quite sure they're going to get there. And if that's the case, then this decision by this court will stand, and of course, going forward, it's going to be a quick question of you know, does TikTok sell? And what could Donald Trump do at that point to stop that? I mean, they
are Republicans taking over the Congress. I suppose that if he exerts pressure, if he's really so intended, he could try to do something. But that is really going to be an uphill battle. So I think unless the Supreme Court takes this case, and you know, that would just extend this out for a while longer, because if they took it now and heard it, that would be pretty fast to hear it and decide by early next spring for the Court.
It's kind of funny Rick to be having this conversation after both campaigns used TikTok on the daily right to be posting information. You can't get away from this thing. It's the very same people who are debating whether we should ban it that are using it.
Absolutely.
But like when you're running a campaign, you use whatever resources are available. Uh and and you know, look at there are hundreds of millions of eyeballs on TikTok.
So it's not that they haven't been successful.
It's that, you know, there are links to the Communist Party of China and their pernicious effect on you know, our young people is enough cause to warrant Congress and the administer, this current administration to want to kick them out. And I think that right now, unless Steve Manuchin or Kevin O'Leary or one of these guys comes out of the woodwork with you know, tens of billions of dollars of money to buy it from the Chinese, this thing is done well.
Remembering China's got to approve this too. It's just something that we don't always talk about. I want to get to the to do list here because I'm guessing this is not keeping Mike Johnson up at night.
They've already dealt with the legislation.
Now we need to deal with closing out this Congress and Rick and Genie, we do have a bit of a roadmap as of yesterday. How's GOP leadership telling us they put the NDAA on the floor next week, the week after week of December sixteenth, we get to vote on a CR, everyone leaves town, and then the Senate would take up government funding. I guess that week of the twentieth, which means we're going to walk right up to the line. Jeanie, does that sound like a plan.
It sounds like the one hundred and eighteenth Congress, Joe. I was just thinking back. The three of us sat here and talked about what a bizarre Congress this has been from start to finish two years ago when they came in, you know, and now where are we there limping their way out. I think it's probably the best case scenario we can think of at this point. But the reality is is that this is in Congress that has been really the definition of a do nothing Congress.
They have been really unable to do even the most basic aspects of governing, and so many people's frustration. The idea that we are going to keep this government funded, or hopefully keep it funded again on a CR is just depressing, and I think that is what will likely happen. Best case scenario, neither side see sees that it's in their political interest to let the government shut down, and I can't imagine anybody sees that in their interest.
Right, now, give us your take on this.
Rick.
We talked to Tim Burchet a little while ago. He is to hold his nose, I guess, and vote for what the Republican leadership decides. What are we going to have a situation where we just kick things into early next year and then have to decide whether it's March or September or God forbid, regular order.
Yeah, look, I think that they'll wind up getting a package put together. I mean, the number one priority obviously is the National Defense Authorization Act, and that's scheduled to go and very little mystery around that getting done. It's just a procedural matter. But look, this has been a do nothing Congress, and look how well our country's doing. I mean, maybe this should be the pattern in the futures.
Do nothing, don't screw up our country anymore, and then maybe we in the private sector can actually continue to motivate investment and job creation and prosperity. Those are three things that the United States government has never been good at. So yeah, I don't think it's going to be so much about what are we going to get past this year?
That's set in stone.
Now they'll be working Christmas week, but that won't be the first time that's ever happened. And I think it's a clear slate for the next administration and the Republican Congress to put its stamp on, not just this budget that'll, you know, basically run out in March if they stayed a plan, or and the next year's budget, which will give them plenty of time to work their will on that.
Are we going to light up this Christmas tree with anything else?
Here?
Rick?
I talked to Congressman Birchett, for instance, about emergency funding. There's going to be a supplemental, whether it's attached to this one or the next. But are lawmakers going to be able to attach amendments, get any last minute prizes under the tree before they go home.
Yeah, they'll try to decorate the tree, and I have no doubt that right now the discussions between the House and Senator are going on to create that supplemental that will add money to our emergency spending, FEMA, disaster assistance, that kind of thing. Look, we need to help the people who have been affected by these horrible storms, including those in Burkett's district, and I think those are just
the most responsible measures. I don't get the sense that they are going to have any trouble getting time limits, for instance, in the Senate, to limit the number of amendments so it won't be like shootout, OK corral. You know, it only ends when the bullets are done, you know, and you run out of AMMO. I think everyone really wants to get out of here, wants to celebrate the victories on the Republican side and explore their losses on
the Democratic side. And I don't see the real burning interest in fighting in Congress right now.
Yeah, one thing that we do know is that there's no agreement on any of this genie you talk about the NDAA. The Senate is twenty five billion dollars apart from the House, and there's no agreement on top line numbers for funding the government for the CR. Is there a chance I'm going to get people upset by asking is there a chance?
Do we sleep walk into a shutdown?
Gosh? I hope not.
There's always a chance, But again I don't see it in anybody's interest. But what you just mentioned, Joe, is so important the timing of this thing. If they only get a short term extension and that goes until March. Think about the impact of that on the President and the new Republican House and Senate's ability to move forward
with their really, really ambitious policy agenda. We're already seeing the GOP sort of starting to battle it out between the House and the Senate as to whether, in fact they should try to do two reconciliation bills or one.
Donald Trump has.
An ambitious agenda, That's why he's been moving forward so quickly gets trying to get these appointments done. But imagine if the short term extension goes until March and their one hundred days is disrupted by that. And add on to that the fact that Donald Trump is entering with the thinnest of thinnest majorities in the House, if you can even call it a majority, and that is going
to just make this so much more difficult. A razor thin majority of just one vote, and a far more conservative number of members in that MAGA group, and so all of that is going to make it difficult to move forward. So what happens in these next two weeks matters so much for the GOP as to what they do going forward. Not to mention that Mike Johnson has to have a vote to be speaker again in January.
So he's got to try to keep everybody moving forward, knowing that just one or two of them can disrupt his plans to become speaker again.
All I know is Rick Davis's preferred political poll came out this morning on this job's day. That, of course would not be a poll. It's the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. We're going to be talking about the jobs, reporting a lot about the economy at the top of our next hour, Rick, what we have here is the highest level since April hit seventy four.
But at the same time, inflation.
Expectations rose to a five month high because people see a greater risk with Donald Trump's proposed tariffs coming into the picture.
Which number is more important.
Look, I think they're both important.
The good news is consumers were trying to feel the impact of what has been a robust economy for the last six months. Came a little bit too late for the Harris campaign, but they are and should be cautious about the future because they have seen good times past and have been disappointed with the economic stewardship of the government that brought us the inflation to begin with so, yeah, I think that I think that both these numbers are not actually in contrast to one another, but predictive of
the future. And I think this is one of the big burning questions after the meetings with the Doge Group on Capitol Hill, is are we cutting the budget to reduce the deficit or are we spending more money to you know, promote our goals and objectives you know, in you know, with these policy positions, and both of those don't work together.
Great to have you both with us.
As always, there are signature panel Rick Davis and Genie Shanzano.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Appocarplay and then Roudoto with the Bloomberg Business app.
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Really glad to say that we can spend some time with Jim Times today. The gentleman from Connecticut is with us here, Democratic Congressman, ranking member House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He's also a member the Financial Services Committee. Congressman. Welcome back to Bloomberg TV and radio. We've been talking about TikTok all day long, and it wouldn't be the first time that you and I have spoken about this.
I remember distinctly you're voting against that bill, the divest Or band bill, when it was standalone, and voted for it when it was part of a larger package that included a bunch of things, including Ukraine funding. Where's your head on this today.
Yeah, so my head is where it always has been, which is, you know, I remain deeply uncomfortable with the United States government telling the citizens of the United States that there are media outlets.
That they cannot have access to.
Now, you know, I'm the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, so I have a pretty specific sense for what China is able to do. I also know that todate they have not used TikTok as a way to either exfiltrade information on Americans or as a way to try to influence Americans. So, you know, we're talking about a potential danger,
no question that. But you know, before the appellate ruling on you know, just today, I guess it was you know, I thought it would be pretty clearly unconstitutional for the government to take the position it had. You know, now, I guess they'll either go to the full appellate court or the Supreme Court for a file decision on the constitutionality.
Yeah, bite Dan says it will appeal this to the Supreme Court or I guess TikTok In this case, A lot of this seems to be resting on what Donald Trump wants to do. I don't know if you see it that way, Congressman, but he's had an evolution here, having tried to ban TikTok at one point, he now says he wants to save the platform. But I guess I'm not sure how that would work now that this is law, and based on the court ruling we saw today,
that might not be changing. Unless, of course, Mike Johnson Craft's a whole new bill to overturn what has been passed.
Would you support that effort?
Well, you ask a really interesting question, right, I mean, you know, Donald Trump is pretty attuned to those things that would reduce his popularity. You know, I'm told that almost half of Americans whatever it is, one hundred and seventy five million or so, have accounts on TikTok, especially young people. You're you know, setting aside the constitutionality and all the other national security questions.
Here, Wow, talk about a major disruption.
So my guess is that Donald Trump, attune, dizzy is to his own popularity, may come into this saying, you know, can I find a way to postpone this or to you know, try to engineer an acquisition of the property away from ByteDance. But my guess is that he's going to kind of double down on his opposition to it,
just because if it happens on his watch. Look, he can try to blame Joe Biden, who signed the law, but it'll happen on his watch, and my guess is that that's not going to be a comfortable moment for him.
As we spend time with Congressman Jim Hims of Connecticut, a couple of things I'd love to ask you about. Starting with a lame duck session, We've got a funding deadline in two weeks.
Congressman, is there going.
To be a deal here in time to avoid a shutdown?
And how long?
How much time will that provide. We're hearing stories about potentially kicking the can into early next year, so you can revisit the ODID issue in a new Congress. There's some Republicans, though, say kick it all the way to September, so Donald Trump doesn't have to worry about it.
Where are you?
Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a country where the president's worries weren't what determined whether we have a budget for the United States of America or not. But anyway, I think the answer to your question is pretty clear. Yes, the budget expires on January twentieth. No, there will not be other than maybe a couple of fringy social media colleagues that I have, that will be zero appetite for a risk of a government shutdown. Especially going into a period when we're going to have a
Republican House, Senate, and presidency. There's going to be zero, zero appetite for the kind of histrionics that led to shutdowns in the past. So my guess is that, no, there won't be a shutdown. In fact, they may even try to get it done earlier than December twentieth so that people can go home.
For the holidays.
My best guess is that they kick it into you know, probably late winter, early spring. And if I were a Republican, I would say why not at that point. We've got the House and the Senate, the presidency, so we can work our will. But that's my best guess as to how this proceeds.
Congress Span you're the ranking member, as we have already determined here on the Intelligence Committee. And there's a wild story unfolding in Syria right now that's difficult to tell where it is going, with government forces reinforcing some strongholds here even as rebel fighters make their way closer to Damascus. I know that you can't predict the way this is going to end, but I wonder if this story is going to revisit Tulsi Gabbard's relationship with Bashar Ala Sad.
It's something that you know more about than most Americans, and how that might impact her confirmation process to be the next d and.
I yeah, yeah, interesting. Interesting.
The Tulsia angle is an interesting one, you know, one of the many causes of concern for Tulsi Gabbard. I think the reason you asked the question is that after Basher alas Sad, you know, gassed his own people and just did you know all that horrible stuff during the Obama administration, After all of that, Tulsa Gabbard went to Damascus to sit with them, and you sort of scratch your head and say, what the heck is happening there.
I can't imagine it's a happy thing for Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation process and the Senate to have all of the Senators and much of the world reminded of what an appalling character Assad is. So yeah, I'm sure I don't think Telsea's timing was or at least the timing of this rebellion against Assad was particularly good for Telsey Gabbard.
But look, it's a remarkable event.
It's pretty clear that the rebels saw that Assad's helpers, that is to say, the Iranians and the Russians are shall we say occupied elsewhere, and took advantage of that fact to really make remarkable gains. They've taken the city of Aleppo, I understand, they may have taken some of the cities on the way to Damascus, Homs and Hama. And it looks like the Assad regime is collapsing. And now, by the way, when I say collapsing, that doesn't mean
that he's on a plane out of there. But it sort of feels like the regime now is in control largely of Damascus and the surrounding areas.
When you hear members of Congress called Tulsey Gabbard a Russian asset, what do you say?
You know, I am not a fan of hyperbole, and I think that people in positions of responsibility should should be very careful about the language they use. There's no reason to believe that Telsea Gabbard is a Russian asset. There is also no reason to believe that she has the experience or the temperament necessary to have the top
position in our intelligence community. But look, when we start throwing around loose language like that, what we do is we degrade the quality of the really important conversations that we do need to have about our national security.
I appreciate that answer. I've only got about two minutes left.
Congressman.
I want to ask you about something important that is personal to you, and that is a series of bomb threats that were posed against yourself and other members of the Connecticut and New England House delegations. You issued a statement about this. On the twenty eighth of November. You were notified of a bomb threat targeting your home while you were celebrating Thanksgiving with your family. Based on the multiple assassination attempts that we saw against Donald Trump during
the campaign. This, of course, now the killing of a prominent healthcare CEO in midtown Manhattan. Is it about time that members of Congress are provided security details?
Yeah?
I you know, I've been doing this for a little while now, sixteen years to be exact, and honestly, I have never felt perhaps with the exception of January sixth, twenty twenty one, when my workplace was attacked as we were trying to tally the electoral votes, I've really never felt insecure. A bomb threat on Thanksgiving is an awful thing, but you know, it was also very clear right up front that this was not a was not a serious thing.
So before I went.
To providing a security detail for all five hundred and thirty five members of Congress, I would say it would really help if we, as leaders, but as the American people, as citizens of a great democracy, would work really hard to take the tone of our conversations down.
Is that going to solve the problem? No, it won't.
But if we start using decent language and start treating each other as fellow Americans, a lot of this stuff will eventually begin to dissipate.
Congressman Jim Himes, Democrat from Connecticut. We thank you, sir for the insights today. I'm Joe, Matthew and Washington. This is Bloomberg. Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg dot com.