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Brian talks to Senator Jon Husted · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Five k the talk station.
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  Speaker 2: It's seven thirty here fifty five KRCD Talk station. Happy Tuesday,
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  Speaker 2: Brian Thomas, Please as I can be to welcome the
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  Speaker 2: former Lieutenant cover of the State of Ohio and currently
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  Speaker 2: Cenator from the State of Ohio, John Houston. Welcome back man.
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  Speaker 2: It's a pleasure to have you on the program today.
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  Speaker 1: I am great to be with you. Thanks for having
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  Speaker 1: me up.
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  Speaker 2: And last time I checked, there was another vote last
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  Speaker 2: night of the Republican Continuing Resolution continuing Joe Biden era
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  Speaker 2: funding levels without any any cuts in government, which we'd expected.
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  Speaker 2: We were hoping that we get some cuts. No, but
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  Speaker 2: the CR passed. It was clean. This was a Democrat
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  Speaker 2: era funding level, and yet it isn't satisfying the Democrats.
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  Speaker 2: They're saying no because they want to continue to allow
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  Speaker 2: these pandemic era subsidies to continue. Now, my recollection, John Houston,
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  Speaker 2: is that because of COVID, they use that as a
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  Speaker 2: justification to provide these these tax benefits, making Obamacare appear
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  Speaker 2: to be free for people making north of four hund
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  Speaker 2: percent of the poverty level. The previous cutoff was sixty
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  Speaker 2: two to five, so they get rid of that and
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  Speaker 2: it was unfunded. There were no taxes raised to cover
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  Speaker 2: the nut on this, and of course our federal deficit
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  Speaker 2: grew what five point seven trillion dollars in one calendar year.
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  Speaker 2: It just was an amazing expenditure. But never have they
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  Speaker 2: decided how they're going to pay for it. And these
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  Speaker 2: The CBO is estimating that continuing these these freebies will
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  Speaker 2: cost three hundred and fifty billion dollars over the next decade.
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  Speaker 2: But they were temporary and they were set to expire
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  Speaker 2: at the end of the year under the Democrat's own
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  Speaker 2: hand of the inflation reduction, and they knew this was
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  Speaker 2: coming a mile away. They wrote the law Senator Houston, well,
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  Speaker 2: here's the deal.
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  Speaker 1: We just needed to keep the government open. We have
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  Speaker 1: passed a clean CR. Democrats of Chuck Schimer votes for
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  Speaker 1: claim CR thirteen times over the previous four years under
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  Speaker 1: Joe Biden. No indifference is Donald Trump as president. But
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  Speaker 1: now they want to shut down the government because they're
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  Speaker 1: getting pressured from their left flank to show that they're
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  Speaker 1: being tough and standing up. Well, you know what they're
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  Speaker 1: being tough in standing up costing the American taxpayer four
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  Speaker 1: one hundred million dollars a day to pay furloughed federal workers,
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  Speaker 1: and they get no productivity out of them. You get
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  Speaker 1: nothing in return for your four hundred million dollars a
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  Speaker 1: day that Chuck Schumer is wasting by shutting down the government.
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  Speaker 1: There's number one. Number two what they keep offering. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, I voted for the fifth time last night
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  Speaker 1: to keep the government open with a clean CR, just
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  Speaker 1: current funding levels. Keep debating the unresolved issues. But their
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  Speaker 1: proposal would allow for health care under Medicaid, those costs
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  Speaker 1: for illegal aliens to be paid for by you, the
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  Speaker 1: American taxpayer. That's one of the things in their provision.
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  Speaker 1: They also want to continue to allow people who are healthy,
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  Speaker 1: able by adults to receive free health care without doing
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  Speaker 1: anything in return for it. These this, this is the
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  Speaker 1: nonsense that dug us into this hole. We're not going
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  Speaker 1: to capitulate to that. But what we will do is
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  Speaker 1: have a clean CR, keep government open, and then negotiate
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  Speaker 1: on all the other issues that they want to talk about.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I suppose you, as my understanding is Obamacare succeeded
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  Speaker 2: in doubling the number of people enrolled in the program
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  Speaker 2: because they gave away these basically free premiums. Everybody was
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  Speaker 2: eligible for free insurance, so a whole bunch of people
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  Speaker 2: went to Obamacare rather than choosing their own. To expand this,
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  Speaker 2: ultimately the conclusion one can easily reach, this is what
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  Speaker 2: they've wanted all along, one size fits all, government paid
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  Speaker 2: for healthcare for everyone. That's why they don't want to
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  Speaker 2: pull back these subsidies.
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  Speaker 1: Well, but by the way, look, we all want working people,
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  Speaker 1: people who are working, doing their best, trying hard. We
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  Speaker 1: want them to be able to afford healthcare. But this
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  Speaker 1: is not the way to go about it. Because I
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  Speaker 1: want to go through a few of the things that
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  Speaker 1: happened under this program that they're advocating for, is that
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  Speaker 1: insurance brokers just sign people up. It's very easy to
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  Speaker 1: sign people up. They've signed up thousands, it's not millions
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  Speaker 1: of people over time, but many of them aren't real
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  Speaker 1: because the individual doesn't receive a subsidy from the center
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  Speaker 1: of government. The insurance company does. So these brokers sign
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  Speaker 1: people up, they don't even know they have the insurance
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  Speaker 1: in some cases, and boom, the federal government sends a
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  Speaker 1: payment to the insurance company and the broker gets a
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  Speaker 1: commission off of it. There is at least a billion,
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  Speaker 1: there may be as much as thirty billion in fraud
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  Speaker 1: that's come from that failure. And you know this, Brian,
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  Speaker 1: because we've talked about all the pandemic failures. Two hundred
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  Speaker 1: billion of fraud under the PPP, one hundred and thirty
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  Speaker 1: billion of fraud under the unemployment compensation system, and now
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  Speaker 1: this what they call enhanced Pandemic Premium subsidy, there's billions
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  Speaker 1: of dollars of fraud under that. Well, this is a
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  Speaker 1: non starter to have a negotiation over a program that's
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  Speaker 1: that full of and then secondly, it does nothing to
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  Speaker 1: drive down the cost of health care. Yeah, does this
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  Speaker 1: say for one person that's making one hundred thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: a year for that family, it says you have to
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  Speaker 1: subsidize the other family who doesn't have the insurance program
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  Speaker 1: that you do, and they have one under Obamacare, they
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  Speaker 1: want you to subsidize their insurance via the government. That
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  Speaker 1: is not containing health care costs, That is using one
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  Speaker 1: taxpayer to subsidize the health care costs of another taxpayer.
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  Speaker 2: Senator John Houston, let's pause. I'm me and have a
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  Speaker 2: few questions relating to this. If the government opens, for example,
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  Speaker 2: or is there still a possibility of continuing these subsidies,
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  Speaker 2: because I know that's what the Democrats want to continue
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  Speaker 2: talking about seven thirty six more talk station coming up
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  Speaker 2: on seven forty fifty have K City Talks Station. Brian
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  Speaker 2: Thomas enjoying this conversation. I hope you're enjoying it as well.
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  Speaker 2: With Senator John Houston talking about the government shutdown. Democrats
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  Speaker 2: said no last night to another vote on the cr
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  Speaker 2: the clean one. Do you sense any cracks in the
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  Speaker 2: dam of obstructionism? Houston? Do you think you're going to
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  Speaker 2: get a couple more senators from the Democrats to wake
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  Speaker 2: up to reality and reopen the government.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not optimistic that it's going to happen this week.
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  Speaker 1: They have a big rally planned, one of those not
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  Speaker 1: King's rallies, you know that they have. They have one
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  Speaker 1: plan for the eighteenth of October here in Washington, d C.
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  Speaker 1: And so I don't think that they they're going to
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  Speaker 1: end the shutdown until they get to have their big rally.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, frankly, because most of this is political anyway.
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  Speaker 1: It's not about it's not about being serious. It's about,
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  Speaker 1: you know, them being able to show their base that
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  Speaker 1: they're standing up to Donald Trump well.
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  Speaker 2: And moving more towards socialized medicine for all too.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, there's no doubt about that. But as you know,
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  Speaker 1: that march has been on for quite a while.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, go back to Hillary Clinton on that one, can't
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  Speaker 2: we But this the cr is is, I guess, has
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  Speaker 2: been presented for the purpose of keeping the government open
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  Speaker 2: until sometime, you know, so you can finish the twelve
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  Speaker 2: appropriations bills, a project that hasn't been done since nineteen
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  Speaker 2: ninety seven, even though it's really like the ultimate point
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  Speaker 2: of the jobs of elected officials get us a budget
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  Speaker 2: twelve appropriations bills. So is work being done on those
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  Speaker 2: right now while the government's shut down?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, four of them. Four of them have
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  Speaker 1: been already passed, so you could we could put the
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  Speaker 1: four of them in one of the resolutions been done
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  Speaker 1: on a bipartisan basis. They need to get the other
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  Speaker 1: eight done. But I mean informal conversations are going on.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, I'm not on the Appropriations committee, but
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  Speaker 1: for the most part of both sides have walked away
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  Speaker 1: from that discussion until you get the continuing resolution accomplished.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean, really, all we're asking for is to say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: pass this, give us until November the twenty first. They're
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  Speaker 1: not giving up any leverage because November twenty first, and
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  Speaker 1: we can do this all over it right, If we
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  Speaker 1: don't get our job done, it's just a question of
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  Speaker 1: whether the government's going to operate and serve the American
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  Speaker 1: tax payers or the government's going to be closed to me,
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  Speaker 1: continue to negotiate. Think about this. America is paying four
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  Speaker 1: hundred million dollars a day for furloughed workers. They'll ultimately
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  Speaker 1: receive this back pay, but we're getting no production out
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  Speaker 1: of them. They're not processing your permits, they're not issuing
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  Speaker 1: your licenses, they're not doing any of that eventually. But
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  Speaker 1: they will get paid eventually, and you will have received
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  Speaker 1: no service. Sports. This is how silly this all is.
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  Speaker 1: It's bad for America. It's selfish and political. B truc shammer.
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  Speaker 2: Well, doesn't this provide a opportunity for Donald Trump to
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  Speaker 2: fire people? I mean, you have non essential government workers
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  Speaker 2: like men and women in uniform that continue to perform
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  Speaker 2: their task without a paycheck. We need them. There are
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  Speaker 2: other non essential well, the whole idea of essential versus
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  Speaker 2: non essential sort of demands, asking the question, well, if
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  Speaker 2: they're non essential, why do we need them in the
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  Speaker 2: first place. Isn't there a lot of fat we could
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  Speaker 2: cut out of this in saeingly large government we have.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think that they're already doing that. They're they're
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  Speaker 1: ending projects that they've deemed is you know, not vital
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  Speaker 1: or essential or maybe even wasteful. Uh in rest vote.
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  Speaker 1: The ob director is going is taking a scalpel right now,
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  Speaker 1: going through the budget and eliminating and furloughed workers. I
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  Speaker 1: think you'll continue to see more of that as this
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  Speaker 1: goes on, because President Trump's not going to just sit there.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, he offered yesterday to say, hey, open
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  Speaker 1: the government backup, I'm happy to talk with you about
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  Speaker 1: all of the issues related to the the the premium
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  Speaker 1: sudies for healthcare. He said he would be willing to
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  Speaker 1: talk about it, but he's not gonna He's not gonna
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  Speaker 1: do it until they reopen the government. And that's clear.
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  Speaker 1: And so I imagine that we'll continue to see cuts. I
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  Speaker 1: hope they'll do them in a targeted way, because let's
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  Speaker 1: get rid of the things we don't need. Let's not
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  Speaker 1: eliminate things that we're going to then have to bring back.
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  Speaker 1: But then President said he'd be willing to negotiate with
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  Speaker 1: them if they stop holding the American people hostage in
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  Speaker 1: this particular case.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm glad you brought up that point because one
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  Speaker 2: of the things I hear from Democrats has been widely reported.
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  Speaker 2: They want to continue talking about this, but they want
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  Speaker 2: some guarantees that there will be a discussion, which when
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  Speaker 2: I hear that, hey, you can talk all day long,
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  Speaker 2: but these are politicians. They can say one thing and
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  Speaker 2: do another. It happens every day, but that they want
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  Speaker 2: an actual guarantee up front that there will be some
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  Speaker 2: extension of these subsidies along some level, which I would
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  Speaker 2: say also as a non starter. So what's Donald Trump
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  Speaker 2: really truly willing to entertain and talk about.
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  Speaker 1: Senator, Well, here's the deal, what we would be what
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  Speaker 1: we're asking for us to keep talking until November the
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  Speaker 1: twenty first. It's a government open talk till that. The
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  Speaker 1: enhanced premium subsidies don't end until the end of the year.
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  Speaker 1: I understand there's notifications going out with the last side,
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  Speaker 1: but this doesn't end till the end of the year,
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  Speaker 1: and by the way, if you wait until November the
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  Speaker 1: twenty first, what harm do you have, then you can
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  Speaker 1: if you're if you're the Democratic cobecs, we'll see they
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  Speaker 1: didn't they didn't do anything. But frankly, this is this
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  Speaker 1: is just for political theater, for Chuck Schumer to prove
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  Speaker 1: that he's being tough. It has nothing to do with
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  Speaker 1: the negotiation right now because there are negotiating. There are
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  Speaker 1: no negotiations as long as the government shut down, and
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  Speaker 1: there shouldn't be.
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  Speaker 2: Senator Houston, one more question. We were missing my obligations
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  Speaker 2: as a curious person and viewing the announcement yesterday that
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  Speaker 2: the FBI spied on eight senators and one Republican minor
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  Speaker 2: of Congress, all Republicans, this operation Arctic Frost and connection
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  Speaker 2: with the January sixth riots. Were you at the press
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  Speaker 2: conference on this, I'm just going to gauge your reaction
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  Speaker 2: to the whole idea that some elected officials were spied
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  Speaker 2: on between January fourth and January seventh, twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I was not at the news conference, but I
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  Speaker 1: did talk to some of my colleagues who were spied on,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, they're really having a hard time believing
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  Speaker 1: that their own government spied on them, surveiled their phones,
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  Speaker 1: checked who they called. Really it was it was an
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  Speaker 1: out of control, out of control effort under the Biden
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  Speaker 1: administration UH to go back and relitigate January sixth and
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  Speaker 1: then try to implicate members of the of the US
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  Speaker 1: Senate by spying on them. And this is this is
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  Speaker 1: you're going to see. Many of my colleagues who are
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  Speaker 1: spied on are are just outraged by the fact that
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  Speaker 1: the executive branch spied on them without their you know,
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  Speaker 1: without any knowledge, without you know, if they wanted to
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  Speaker 1: talk with them, they could have come talk with them.
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  Speaker 1: They need to spy on them for goodness sakes. And
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  Speaker 1: this is there's going to be huge ramifications. I think.
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  Speaker 1: I think you'll see litigation, lawsuits. I think you'll see
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  Speaker 1: criminal prosecutions over.
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  Speaker 2: It, criminal prosecutions, perhaps the civil rights lawsuits and their
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  Speaker 2: constitutional rights were violated, and where's the probable cause that
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  Speaker 2: would allow them to get records of elected officials phones
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  Speaker 2: and who they called.
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  Speaker 1: I think that basically that anybody who received a phone
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  Speaker 1: call from Rudy Giuliani was were the people that got surveilled.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's exactly what happened, but more information will
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  Speaker 1: come out on that.
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  Speaker 2: I look forward to that popcorns out on that one.
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  Speaker 2: Senator John Houston. I can't thank you enough for your
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  Speaker 2: time today. Keep up the great work, and we're all
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  Speaker 2: waiting and looking forward to seeing what happens. You're always
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  Speaker 2: welcome here in the fifty five Case Morning Show. Sir,
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  Speaker 2: thank you very much