Chairman Aguilar (00:00):
This comes at a time when Americans are already struggling to afford the basic needs, gas, groceries, healthcare, housing. On Friday, we saw just how harmful Donald Trump and his policies are for the American people. The latest jobs report showed a significant slowdown with just 22,000 jobs added an unemployment reaching 4.3%, the highest rate since the pandemic in 2021. The amount of damage that this administration has done to our nation in nine months is staggering. There is no doubt that because of his cruel and chaotic administration, the costs of the American people are rising and American families are worse off. Meanwhile, house Democrats are doing everything we can to protect Americans' access to affordable quality healthcare. We implore Republicans to abandon their partisan go-it-alone approach and work with us on legislation that improves healthcare for our constituents in red, blue, and purple districts. It's time for Republicans to get serious about supporting the hard-working individuals they represent, rather than the ultra-wealthy and well-connected elites that they continue to defend.
(01:20)
Next, Vice Chair Ted Lieu.
Vice Chair Ted Lieu (01:25):
Thank you, Chairman Aguilar. Trump's 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 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 of math, and as Chairman Aguilar said, unemployment increased and jobs wildly miss expectations in terms of job growth. You then have inflation continuing to rise and you had core CPI last month being quite high, and then certain categories within the economy even exceeding inflation such as electricity prices, and then you add to that what we learned this week, that the New York Fed survey of worker confidence and getting a new job was the lowest ever in the history of its survey. Now is exactly the wrong time to increase healthcare costs, and that's what Trump and Republicans are doing.
(02:28)
Their big ugly bill not only slashes Medicaid and is going to throw off 15 million people off healthcare, and also the way it's written is going to cost half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts, and in addition, ACA premiums are going to rise and then everyone's employer-based 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 course, to focus on reducing prices and to reverse the devastating healthcare cuts that they put in.
(03:00)
I now want to talk about the Epstein files. We've got a discharge petition on the House floor. 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 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 all we need. Democrats are all on board.
(03:30)
And now it's my honor to introduce Congressman Ami Bera. I'm not a doctor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I'm very honored to introduce a real doctor. Ami is a tremendous representative as well from the Sacramento region, and look forward to hearing from Ami Bera.
Ami Bera (03:49):
Thanks, Vice Chair. So a lot of people ask me, "Why'd you run for Congress?" And when I think back to when I 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 there." They may have chest pain, but far too often in America, in that America over a decade ago, they'd say, "Doc, I can't afford the medications or I 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 going bankrupt. In the 13 years I've been in Congress, we as Democrats, our core value, have worked to expand healthcare, first through the ACA, then expanding Medicaid access, then addressing prescription drug prices 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 as Americans. We should look after one another.
(04:53)
Now, think about the first six months of the Trump administration. Think about the complicity of House Republicans, what they've done. They've 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 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 Democrats, nor should that be the values that the American people stand for.
(05:25)
So we are going to get out there, we're going to fight every day. We're going to fight against the Republicans, we're going to fight against the Trump 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 no harm, and to work with patients so they have the choice in the type of healthcare decisions that they want. That is exactly what Donald Trump and House of Republicans want to take away from their American people, and we're not going 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 one of our outstanding freshman members from Portland, Oregon, Dr. Maxine Dexter is going to take it from here.
Congresswoman Maxine Dexter (06:09):
Thank you. Good morning. I am Congresswoman Maxine 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 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 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 change. Families are less able to afford their basic needs right now, let alone their prescriptions or copays that are ever-increasing in price. And how can when Americans spend more money per person on healthcare than any other nation in the world afford this? It's because money isn't going to keep people healthy. It's going to going into the corporate and billionaire pockets.
(07:12)
Let's be clear, fraud and waste isn't coming from people getting sick and seeking care. It's coming from our system being rigged to benefit the special interests on the backs of the American people. And as 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 Republicans take away their healthcare. They will just 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 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 billionaires.
(08:00)
And now I'm proud to hand it back to Chairman Aguilar to close this out.
Chairman Aguilar (08:05):
Thank you so much, Maxine. Thank you, Dr. Bera. Questions? Nick? Sorry. Sorry, Nick. Is your name Nick too?
Reporter (08:18):
What's that?
Chairman Aguilar (08:19):
Nick? Nick.
Reporter (08:20):
Go ahead.
Chairman Aguilar (08:21):
Nick, please.
Reporter (08:22):
I'm going to ask you, on the ACA-
Chairman Aguilar (08:23):
Nick, please.
Reporter (08:25):
I want to ask about government funding. Do you see this government funding deadline at the end of the month as being a fight over the ACA credits?
Chairman Aguilar (08:35):
We see this being a fight over values. We see this being a fight over the Republican assault on healthcare. We know that the Affordable Care Act, whatever we want to say, Nick, Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, all of these, the American public views through a positive lens because the American public gets their healthcare from these important programs. That's what we're fighting about. But this isn't just about the Republican big ugly bill and the big ugly law now and that attack on healthcare, which is now law. This is 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 health care, on NIH, on research, on infant mortality programs.
(09:33)
All of these things matter to our communities, so this is much broader than the Affordable Care Act, although we lift that bill up for all of its positive achievements. This is about fundamentally, Americans who receive their healthcare are now under attack by the Republican big ugly law and the continued attack in the Appropriations committee. Even at this moment, at this day, at this hour, healthcare is under attack by Republicans and Donald Trump. We can't stand for that. We're not going to take that, and so you're going to continue to hear us speak up on this from now until the end of the month with a potential Republican shutdown. Danielle?
Reporter (10:18):
Adding to what Nick asked you, is there a scenario where Democrats don't compromise with Republicans on a CR, which it seems like that's what y'all are coalescing around because of this fight?
Chairman Aguilar (10:31):
We will work in a bipartisan way with our colleagues on legislation that meets the needs of the American public. That's what we want. If Republicans are willing to meet us, then we will do that. But what they have done, all we can do is judge them by where they've been, and where they have been is 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 trust you because you want to have a conversation." After everything that they've done this year and even through today is an attack on healthcare in a partisan way, so that's why we'll be incredibly cautious as we proceed. But that's the importance of this moment and what doctors like Maxine Dexter and Ami Bera and their rich experience bring to the table in advocating for patients in the past. That is who they are, that is the values that they bring to the table and why their voice is so critical at this point.
(11:37)
You have heard the vice chair and I continue to talk about this, but it's so incredibly important because the chaos machine and this potential Republican shutdown is harmful, but the American people are the ones that will suffer, and so Democrats willing to work in a bipartisan way, but we aren't going to work with them when they go down the partisan path alone and assault healthcare.
Reporter (12:03):
I just want a quick reaction to the bill from 10 Republicans to extend the ACA tax credits, number one, and number two, the bill, the big, ugly, beautiful bill, whatever you want to call it, has a PayGo sequestration of 500 billion for Medicare. In past years, the parties have worked together. They've simply waived those PayGo restrictions. Are Democrats going to do that on Medicare with this?
Chairman Aguilar (12:31):
That's why this is so incredibly important to solve this issue, because this is about the ACA, this is about Medicaid, this is about the premium tax cuts and the subsidies associated with the premium tax credits, but the trigger of 500 billion to Medicare is also 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. The cuts that are in the law now trigger further cuts in Medicare. So like I said, if Republicans are willing to work with us in a bipartisan way, we have solved some of these issues in the past. We will continue to work with our colleagues, reasonable colleagues to solve these issues in the future. That's not where we are today.
(13:23)
We are seeing partisan attacks on healthcare, and I want to defer to Ami Bera and Maxine Dexter on your first point, but what I will say is all the happy talk and all the nice 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 15, 17 Republicans sign a letter saying that they weren't going to attack Medicaid for vulnerable populations, and then they went and supported the bill. So I don't believe any of the letters that they signed. It's strictly to make them sleep better at night. I'm not concerned. My feeling is that this isn't about actual policy. This is about them being able to defend terrible positions and saying, "Well, I told the speaker." Well, it's not enough to do that. You got to take action. Our votes matter in this place and their votes attacking healthcare are hurting the American people. Ami Bera?
Ami Bera (14:29):
So we live in interesting times, right? These are my opinions and I have the utmost admiration for our leadership, but we live in a time where Congress is article 1. We write 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, "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 pass, what we appropriate, you guys implement it." Until they're willing to do that, it's really hard to trust them, and we've shown how weak the House Republicans are in terms of standing up to this administration.
(15:14)
Russ Vought just wants to do over $4 billion of rescissions or at least let that go away. That isn't how this works. 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 be hard. So I think that's why the sequestration becomes pretty difficult as well. This is a ruthless, lawless administration that just has shown total 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 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.
Congresswoman Maxine Dexter (16:09):
So I'm new here. I came here after December 30th, finishing my last shift in the ICU, and what I saw are people 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 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 shameful. So whether it's cutting 500 billion from Medicare or taking away premium tax credits that makes it unaffordable for the middle class, or gutting what we know as healthcare, 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 they're doing to the American people.
Vice Chair Ted Lieu (17:05):
In answer to your question, let me just be very clear to American people about what happened. House Republicans 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 reverse the cuts we just voted for." It's like the arsonists saying, "Please help me put out the fire I just caused." So if these Republicans didn't want this half trillion dollar cut to Medicare, they never should have voted for the big ugly law in the first place.
Reporter (17:41):
So tomorrow, House Republicans on the Oversight Committee are planning to mark up 14 different bills that embolden the President's agenda as it relates to Washington DC. I'm just curious if you expect all Democrats to be in opposition to those bills as they, in at least some of the instances, impede on the home rule that DC has, and then also whether or not Democrats will be united and against those? But how do you balance that given that under the federal takeover of DC, we have seen crime numbers go down? How can Democrats defend Washington DC while acknowledging that crime does appear to be down?
Chairman Aguilar (18:22):
Democrats support home rule, we support crime going down in our communities. The crime statistics continue to go down in a number of communities post-COVID. Not all of those bills are partisan bills. Some are bipartisan that will have support of Democrats when it comes to DC operations, but many of them are partisan bills. Look, Democrats believe in the rule of law, Democrats believe in 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 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 going across this country, and a handful, more than a handful have already re-offended and committed crimes back home. So it's hard to say.
(19:24)
It's hard for us to believe that he actually cares about this issue when House Republicans are trying to defund cops grants and programs that come to our communities to keep people safe. That's how we do it. We believe in community policing. We believe in local 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 only governed by in blue states is not the way it's done. He's not talking about crime in Cincinnati or Toledo or Nashville or in other places. He's weaponizing this issue, and that's unfortunate because Democrats believe in safe communities everywhere. Michael?
Reporter (20:12):
Over the August recess, the White House started an official TikTok account. It comes as the president has signed three extensions to push back the implementation of the divest or ban, the law that you and the vice chair supported. One, do you support the president signing another extension to push back the implementation of the law? And two, more people use TikTok now than when the bill was passed. Are you concerned that if the president doesn't sign another ninety-day extension and the ban starts to go 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?
Chairman Aguilar (20:54):
This was a bipartisan bill in Congress at a time when people talking about the hyper-political environment that we're in, this was a bill that had Democrats and Republicans support it. I support President Trump implementing the law and the law is pretty clear on this issue. He also campaigned by saying he would lower the costs that people face 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. That's where we are, and his family continues to make money and grift off all of these products and all of these environments, and I think that's what's unfortunate, specifically when we talk about the social media landscape. We've talked about the policy of this issue over the past. I stand by the vote that we've made. My hope is that national security folks close to the President continue to push him to implement the law, and we will handle what comes beyond that.
Ami Bera (22:01):
Chairman.
Chairman Aguilar (22:01):
Vice Chair.
Ami Bera (22:03):
As someone who's on the Intelligence Committee and the ranking Democrat on foreign affairs in Asia, what we did in the last Congress was totally bipartisan. In fact, in many cases, house Republicans led in that conversation crafting that legislation. Again, what is disappointing to me right now is crickets out of the House Republicans. They've gone silent. Donald Trump is not implementing a bipartisan law that we passed to protect our country, and House Republicans just don't have anything to say. They're the ones who helped us write that law.
Reporter (22:41):
So would you say that the threat today is still as acute as it was when you all passed the legislation given your role?
Ami Bera (22:49):
Nothing's changed in those algorithms, et cetera, so nothing's changed in how easy it is to manipulate elections and public opinion and so forth. But again, I don't know what happened to my Republican colleagues.
Reporter (23:03):
Thank you.
Chairman Aguilar (23:03):
Last question?
Reporter (23:03):
Thank you. So you talked about the economy and the numbers that have been provided. House Republicans messaged heavily on the economy. Do you have any changing thoughts as to the economy Biden left behind and where that line is of when it transitioned from Biden's economy to Trump's economy, and where that line is as far as job revisions numbers go?
Chairman Aguilar (23:23):
Look, January 20th when the president implements policies that make life difficult and raise the costs for people, that's where the line is. That's what we're focused on. Who did what in what economy, I'll let economists, if there are any working for the federal government now, I'll let them speak for themselves on where the line started, but what we've seen is a declining economy under Donald Trump because of his policies. That's why we're seeing economic data revised and people struggling and people hurting. In all of our communities, people are struggling, and they can't help but think, this guy campaigned on making life better, and costs have continued to rise, and his tariffs and his reckless policies are the reason why that's happening.
(24:17)
And so House Democrats stand by the data 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 deflections start. Chicago, going after boats in Venezuela. I mean, all of these things are a direct through-line to the distractions of what the Trump administration knows the American people are focused on. That's the unfortunate thing but that's where we are, and House Republicans, like Dr. Bera said, have nothing to say about it. Thank you.
Speaker 9 (24:56):
Thank you, you everyone. There's a press conference in the House Tribal with Planned Parenthood CEO also, if you want to get to that. Yeah, of course.
(25:15)
Hi, [inaudible 00:25:16], it's nice to meet you.
(25:15)
[inaudible 00:25:16].