Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. I'm happy to say we can extend the conversation with New York Congressman Michael Ola. Congressman, welcome back to the program sir. The good news. The military looks like it's getting paid. Can you just walk us through how you would characterize current negotiations.
Well, the Democrats refuse to do their job. You know, Jeffries talks about getting permission. The reality here is that AOC and Zorn Mandani and the progressive left are who's driving the ship here. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have been petrified to do their jobs, and so they shut the government down for fear of a primary challenge from the left and to show their progressive base that they're quote unquote fighting back, resisting you know, President Trump. And
it's fundamentally wrong. They are holding the American people hostage. House Republicans passed a clean Continuing resolution over three weeks ago to keep the government funded, to pay for all of these critical programs, to ensure that our troops are paid, to ensure that border patrol agents are paid. And yet Democrats have voted over eight times against the clean CR and We'll see what Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats do today.
But it doesn't look good. And when I was in Washington last week, I went and confronted Hakeem Jeffries to his face and pointed out that if he's serious about tackling the healthcare challenges in our country, sign on to the bipartisan legislation that would do that. And he refused. So this really is not about healthcare. It's not about a specific policy outcome. This is about Democrats showing their progressive base that they're fighting back against President than Trump. Meanwhile,
look at the juxtaposition. President Trump on a twenty four hour trip to the Middle East secured peace and Democrats are playing patty cake here in Washington, DC, shutting the government down and holding the American people hostage.
Well, two weeks, there's going to be some off ramp at some point. Would you support structural changes to the Affordable Care Act premium subsidies in exchange for an extension to get the government back up and working well.
To be clear, the off ramp is the clean cr that's been sitting in the Senate for over three weeks with respect to the Affordable Care Act Number one. Since Obamacare took effect in twenty ten, you've seen premium skyrocket across the country. And Democrats put in place these enhanced tax credits during COVID. They were slated to expire at
the end of this year. Democrats knew that they passed it into law, and they knew that they couldn't extend it beyond that period because of the cost associated with it. I have signed on to legislation to extend it by a year because we don't want americans healthcare premiums to spike. But it speaks to the fundamental problem with Obamacare, which is that it didn't actually do what it was intended to do, which is reduce health care cost in America,
and in fact, it has exploded since its inception. So look, I am open to obviously solving the issue both short term and long term. We have to address the cost of health care in this country. But Democrats just you know, pounding their fists on the table, stomping their feet and demanding their way is not the way to govern. You don't hold the American people hostage. And by the way, don't take my word for it. Go look at every quote from Chuck Schumer Hakeem Jeffreys, Nancy p and name
the Democrat. They all previously believed that you don't use government shutdowns to exert policy outcomes, and now fundamentally they have changed their view because Donald Trump is president.
Congressman. Also being held hostage right now is data which the financial services industry, the FED, we all rely on. You are on the Financial Services Committee. Do you think the White House should deem the BLS data like the jobs report? We're still waiting on essential.
Look, obviously that information is critically important for the FED and others to do the work that is required. But this is the fundamental challenge. They're trying to figure out how to pay for, for instance, our troops, which is vital. They're trying to figure out how to pay for critical programs like Wick and Snap and so these are the very difficult decisions that any administration is put in because
of the calc trends of my Democratic colleagues here. Look, I've been opposed to government shutdowns, regardless of who has tried to do it. I criticized my Republican colleagues last Congress when some of them wanted to shut the government down over Joe Biden's disastrous open borders. While I agreed with them on the merits, the fact is shutting the government down wasn't going to solve that problem. And the same applies here. What the Democrats are doing is creating
more problems. The FED, to your point, needs to be able to do its job. They need to cut rates. They need the information with respect to jobs for instance, that is critically important. So yes, we want them to be able to get that information. The fastest way for all of this to come to an end, the fastest way to ensure that government does its job, is for my Democratic colleagues to go back to Washington today in the Senate and vote yes to open the government up and pass the clean.
Cr The White House has also taken aim on projects in New York City, eighteen million dollars worth of New York City infrastructure projects. You are in a swing district and you are facing a lot of challenges. A lot of Democrats are lining up to try to flip that seat come the midterms. Are you concerned about potentially the pushback you're going to get from things like this? Billions of dollars being frozen right here in New York.
Look I've already spoken out against the freeze on that project and have been in touch with the administration to get that project back up and running. Are they going to But again, the fastest way to do that is to pass a clean cr And that's the point that I've made over the last week to my New York colleagues and to the press that these projects can easily come back online when the government is open and running.
Gateway is a critical project for my district. We don't have a one seat ride from Rockland County where I live. Gateway will that. So this is a critical infrastructure project, not just for New York City or New Jersey, but for the region. But you know, this is something that I've fully supported in terms of getting the funding for that project and will continue to fight to do it.
But again, based on conversations, it's not that hard to figure out if you open up the government, a lot of this stuff will be resolved.
Congressman, we got to go. I appreciate your time as always. I'm sure you've got to go to Mike Lauda there, the New York Congressman on the latest situation down in Washington, d C.