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We turned out a Democratic Congressman, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, joining us here on balance of power. Congressman, it's so good to have you this evening as we consider the changes the speakers trying to navigate here with the various factions of his party. They include bringing forward potentially stricter work requirements for Medicaid, bringing forward rollbacks to subsidies, and the Inflation Reduction Act. All of that could get us
closer to the midterms in twenty twenty six. Does that actually serve you and your party better in thoughts about reclaiming the House majority?
Well, thank you very much for having me.
I'm not too sure that we are concerned about the conduct at this moment. We are concern about the people that are going to be affected by all of this. I always say, if we take care of our jobs, if we take care of the American people, that will do all we need to do for us as Democrats. Now, we don't know, or at least I don't know yet exactly what all there is to this legislation. I do know this, there is no knee jerk opposition to work requirements.
We Democrats another pose to work requirements if they make sense. And the problem we've got now is that people tend not to remember that.
We've had work requirements.
In these pieces of legislation for several years now.
We don't oppose that.
We do oppose balancing the budget on the backs of working men and women. And I don't understand how they investor class they make their money off of people spending money, or so against people having money to spend. It seems to me that you would be interested in your products being afforded by the people who work in these companies and on the manufacturing places that you invest in and that you own.
It's just like this Medicaid.
Medicaid has beneficiaries, but the people who benefit from medicaid, or the people who own the nursing homes, the people are on these hospitals, these are the people who get the benefit.
And so I just think that the.
Time for us to start pushing a serious narrative about who or the beneficiaries as well as who gets the benefits.
And that's what we Democrats are concerned about.
Congress soon, it's good to have you back. I'm sure you saw the news from Moodies on Friday.
The US no.
Longer has a triple A credit rating by any of the major ratings agencies, and we've got the debt limit to deal with here. We're waiting for a more firm X state on this, but it looks like it will probably be part of this massive reconciliation project. How do you reconcile potentially voting no on this bill knowing the debt ceiling needs to be raised.
Well, you know, I've always been one for getting rid of the debt seimit.
Ever since I've been in the Congress over thirty years now, I've always advocated by getting rid of that. We know on the company left doing that. I just think I think there may be one of us and said, I think of what we ought to do is separate that from everything else.
We ought not have that as a part of this package.
And so I would be voting against this bill irrespective of the fact that they're putting things in the raising the debt limit, because for raising the debt limit, I've got to vote yainst people having income or being able to occur in.
The debt at all. And so that's the fool's eerrand that I'm not going to go on.
Congressman, I'm sure you are familiar with the thinking of some Republicans in the Senate, including Senator Josh Holly, for example, who is also not in favor of Medicaid cuts of any kind. President Trump suggests he doesn't really want to
see Medicaid touched for eligible individuals as well. To what extent do you expect that the other chamber may actually be the one that make sure these policies don't come to law, and that it's not just Democrats not voting for this in the House, but Senate Republicans saying no to some of these policies.
Well, I think there'd be some Senator Republicans saying no.
I think that's some House Republicans who would like to say no as well. It just so happens that people tend to put priority over whether or not they remain in this Congress or whether or not they get challenged in the primary. That's never been a priority for me. I get challenged every year, and that's fine. I'm here to do everything I possibly can to make those greatnesses. And the people say, I'd hear me say this, but
this is a great country. We got a great educational system, We've got a great healthcare system, energy, We've.
Got it all. The problem is.
All Americans can't affod it. All Americans need to be able to forward these things. And so that's what I am going to be voted for trying to do the things are the necessary so that all irrespective of what side of town you may live on, irrespective of what zip code you exist in, whether or not you can afford to educate your children, whether or not you can afford to have health care, whether or not you can afford to pay your energy costs. These are the things
we ought to be about. And to the extent that there are Republicans in the House and the Senate who would agree with us, I'm pleased to have them and I'm pleased to be associated with them.
Harrison Kleinberg, I want to ask you about former President Joe Biden's health and this terrible cancer diagnosis that we have all learned about. I know you two are close. Have you had a chance to talk with them.
I have not talked to the former president about this diagnosis.
I do believe that.
I received calls from him last week, which I did not get I saw this thing that I could not return a call to and I was told on the last evening those calls were coming from him.
So I have not talked to him, but I do know this.
I know what it is to be associated with people going through dehabilitating illnesses. My late life spent thirty years fighting diabetes that led to heart failure or stroke, told kidney failure, and I know what that's like. My father died from prostrate cancer, my mother from multiple my MoMA, and so these diseases that he has worked so hard to help alleviate and eliminate, to see him become a
victim to one, it's a little bit disheartening. But I hope he will come along well, and I plan to talk with him very soon.
Well. And we extend our well wishes to the former president as well, and we're sorry for your loss as Congressman. But we just heard from President Trump in the Oval Office suggesting that somebody is not telling the facts around this diagnosis. There's dark corners of the Internet where people are also questioning the timing of this announcement, And I wonder if it saddens you, sir, to see this kind of erosion of trust.
Well, trust has been erouting for a long time in this country when it comes to our governmental process.
This is not anything new.
I've been talking about this now for about ten years. I just left the meeting before coming out here when I talked about the erosion of trust in our government, erosion of trust in the system. Whether or not we are going to continue to work together to try to build a more perfect union.
We're going to go the way the country went back in.
The eighteen seventies when we initiated that which became known as Jim Crow. I referred to Project twenty twenty five as Jim Crow two point zero. And if you look through that project, you will see throughout that those nine hundred ages or all kinds of things that undermined the media, undermine the government, undermine the private sector.
These are just things that are eroding.
And so I know that people, no matter what they see here these days, they're not going to believe it. So I have no idea when the cancer was first detected. I do know this that hindsight is twenty twenty which all of us because they have the benefit of hindsight as we go through the process of making decisions about our lives and our livelihoods.
It's good to have you.
Back with US Congressman Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.
We thank you.