All We're Asking Democrats to Do Is Vote for Funding Mechanism They Voted for Under Biden

Meanwhile, back on Capitol Hill, the government still shut down, going on its 29th day, approaching the record of 34 days. Joining us in studio, Texas Congresswoman Beth Van Dine. Congresswoman, it's great to have you with us. >> Great to be here. Great to be here in studio. >> Yeah. Back back in DC. Uh you you're obviously here. We're on day 29. Um from the military to paying SNAP benefits, how is this impacting the American people? Well, I think you're seeing right now this administration has taken this seriously is trying to do everything that they can to not have it affect the American people. Um they're finding ways of being able to u get get money to wick programs so that you know women, infant and children are not affected. They've been trying to figure out how to pay the military. They're doing everything that they can. But how is it affecting people? You got how many millions of federal workers that in just a few days are going to go without pay. um that you have you have law enforcement, you've got air traffic controllers, you've got um TSA flight, you know, flying is going to be very difficult. You've got tens of millions of people that are on SNAP benefits that are getting ready to lose those benefits uh for at least a short period of time until we can open the government. And it's incredible. Like all you're asking Democrats to do is to vote for a funding mechanism that they have already voted for a dozen times under the Biden administration, setting their their uh level of of budget, their their funding levels, which by the way, a lot of us in in Congress did not want to support. This was a gift that was handed to Democrats, and yet it's still not enough. They voted now 13 times against it. They really need to get out of their fetal positions in the corner. uh you know because they are fearful of folks like the the Marxist loving um on Mandami in New York. They need to get back to work. They need to listen to their supporters. Listen to the Democrats in their district. Listen to the the Now you've got um the the the federal union workers, you know, that are saying enough of the politics. Get back to work. >> Speaking of the politics, your average American is busy, you know, taking the kids to school to soccer practice and, you know, trying to put food on the table. not necessarily so in tune to the inner workings of government. And so when it comes to this uh continuing resolution to pass to fund the government, uh the Democrats are saying that the reason why they're not coming to the table is because people's health care and Obamacare prices are going to skyrocket. Uh talk to us about that and what is the Republicans plan to address it? >> Well, there's a number of things, right? what they put on this uh in order to negotiate, they put on a $ 1.5 trillion wish list. Part of this has to do with the extended subsidies. The fact is that every Democrat though voted for this end date. We're not cutting subsidies. It was specifically to be able to pay for it. It has an end date and that's what's happening. But let's see where have these subsidies gone. Have they gone to actually decrease the price that people are paying for healthcare? No. The average family's increase in in premiums has been about 86%. That is how much more of families are paying for their health care premiums. By the way, access has decreased, prices have increased, quality has decreased. But do you know who's gotten the subsidies? The health insurance companies. The health insurance companies have enjoyed 230% profits, all while denying over a third of all claims. So, the Democrats are willing to fight for the insurance companies, not for the working families. And what do they want to do? They want to continue having good money follow bad. It is not working. Come to the table. Let's actually figure out the solution to hold these insurance companies accountable to make sure that they're actually covering what their people who are pre paying these outrageous premiums are actually paying for and stop for the with the corporate buyout, which is basically what this program is. From what I understand, another major argument for uh fiscally conservative Republicans is the uh the amount that it would add to the national debt over a series of time. Uh Democratic states are also arguing the Trump administration uh has the legal authority to tap into a $5 billion contingency fund uh to keep those SNAP benefits uh going. Explain that situation for us. >> Well, I think what Republicans are saying is that the the contingency fund is for emergencies. Look, I worked for the first Trump administration. I worked under Secretary Ben Carson when we had Hurricane Harvey. Those funds are meant for those types of of of unexpected disasters. That's what those funds are for. What Democrats want to do now is say, "Oh, no. We have voted to keep the government shut, but this is an unexpected disaster. You've created this disaster. You can't take disaster dollars." And you're seeing hurricanes now, right? Affecting various areas of of not not too far away from us. um various areas of uh right outside the country. Expect that to continue. You want to make sure that you've got those dollars. We also have other money that is being funded to protect, you know, women and school programs, the wick program, um um infant uh you know, food for infants. Uh that that's where they want to take the money from. Get back to work. Open the government back up. You need what six six Democrats to actually realize, you know, come to the table and and and do what is common sense. do what they've already done over a dozen times before in the Biden administration. This is not rocket science. >> And to your previous point, um it is it was agreed upon in the previous bill that this was the Obamacare tax cuts. They were going to expire. And it is not typical to um >> the Democrats voted for them to expire. >> They did. And >> so this is should not be a shock to them. All of a sudden, they all voted for this end date. >> Yeah. >> The idea was though, if you remember, it was the Affordable Care Act. Mhm. >> Has anything been affordable since this bill was passed? No. You have seen skyrocketing costs in healthare. No increase in quality, >> but harder to access, harder to pay for. And they've confused health insurance with health care. People can't even afford to get health insurance right now, which means they're not getting the health care that they need. We have got to redo this plan, which Dem, you know, all Republicans voted against telling them this is what's going to happen. We've now proven it out over a decade later. it is time to come to the to the table and let us figure out what is an actual solution because this one is an utter failure. >> Just lastly in and briefly if you could um we're on day 29. We had heard that Democrats would perhaps come to the table once they got through the no kings protest. >> Uh now we're edging up on breaking the record. Um is there any sign are you hearing anything on the Hill when they're going to actually come to the table and if they will? >> I I think you know at first I I already lost this bet, right? I was asked I was already asked what I thought and I said 5 to seven days because I figured what was going to happen was Russ vote was going to come to the table with a list of of of employee names, programs and agencies that they were getting ready to cut, you know, at 12:01 on on November 1st. That has not happened. They've been very strategic. They have been very careful in uh and announcing some of those riffs. Um it is now, you know, the Kings rally. Are we going to wait until next next week, you know, when you've got the uh the vote in uh in Virginia, in New York to see how they come out, you know, if is it is it politically acceptable? Are they wait gaining gaining support? Are they not? Are we going to wait until make sure that we go past the 35 days? Um at this point in time, I would argue the Democrats are paying politics and they are ignoring the human tragedy. I think the more that they hear from these governors who are willing to sue the federal government instead of calling up their senators and telling saying this is the pain we're feeling. Vote the right way. Um or are they going to continue to play, you know, to play games with people's lives? We've already heard Democrat after Democrat acknowledge the fact that these families are hurting, they're suffering, and that they're doing it so that they have leverage. >> The leverage has got to stop. >> There is support for it. Uh on the Senate side, there are Democrats that have said it's time to come to the table. >> Look at Fenerman. >> Yeah. >> He's like, "Stop playing games. Stop playing politics and start looking out for the people." >> Texas Congresswoman Beth Van Dine, really appreciate you joining. Great to see you.