Latest / Bloomberg Intelligence / Is There Value in Gorsuch's Congressional Hearings?

Transcript

Is There Value in Gorsuch's Congressional Hearings? · Bloomberg Intelligence

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg P and L Podcast. I'm Pim
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Fox along with my co host Lisa Abramowitz. Each day
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: we bring you the most important, noteworthy, and useful interviews
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: for you and your money, whether at the grocery store
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: or the trading floor. Find the Bloomberg P L Podcast
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: on iTunes, SoundCloud and at Bloomberg dot com. Let's now
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: turn to our own Supreme Court reporter for Bloomberg, Greg
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Store to give us a little bit of detail about this,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and Greg, just to bring everyone also up to date.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: The Dow Jones Industrial average a lower. Right now, markets
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: are selling off that was down eight tens of a percent.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: The s also lower by about nineteen points. Greg, maybe
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: you can give us your thoughts as to the tactics
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of the questioning and whether this will have any effect
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: on the outcome of the nomination vote. Look, Democrats are
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: doing basically what they averagised they were doing, which is
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: first of all, trying to cast him as somebody who
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: sides with powerful institutions rather than the little guy. Uh.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: And they're raising questions about the extent of which he
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: would rely on or instead overturned storied precedents like Roe v. Wade. Uh,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: you know it, this is probably not changing a lot
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: of minds. But there are some Democrats who are still
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: on the fence or havn't said what they'll do. And
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: I'm sure they're paying close attention. Greg. One particular item
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: that caught my attention with the course it's refused to
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: preview any possible ruling on President Trump's traveled than is
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: this pretty much par for the course that any potential
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court nominee would decline from talking about anything specific
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: about anything unless it sort of setting stone. Yeah, and
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: certainly a case that's in the in the courts right now.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: This is a case that he knows there's an excellent
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: chance he will actually have to ruin this in a
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: matter of in a matter of a few months. I
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: thought it was a fascinating exchange there with him and
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Senator a path lay here democrat from Vermont, where the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Senator was trying to give him, you know, slight hypothetical
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: variations like could you hit it all June Jews from
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: entering the country, um, and you know, you know, could
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: we have a religious test? And uh, you know, generally
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Judge Gorsch, uh, you know, did try very hard to say.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: I can't commit myself to, uh, you know anything. There
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: are these principles in the Constitution. There's equal protection, there's
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: due process of law, there's you know, a statute that
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: protects religious freedoms. Those all all make a difference. But
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to tell you how I might rule
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: in a particular case. Greg can you comment on Senator
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: arn Hatch, Republican from Utah, and his line of questioning
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: in the context of not only this nomination hearing, but
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the lack of any hearing for the previous nominee to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: hold the Supreme Court chair, Merrick Garland, who was nominated
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: by former President Barack Obama. Yeah, the I didn't catch
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: all the exchange. But Republicans have been been making the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: point that, uh, you know this this was different. This
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: was an election year. We put the you know, it
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: was basically up to the voters to decide do you
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: want Donald Trump silling this seat or do you want
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Hillary Clinton filling the seat. The Republicans have made the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: case that, uh, this was a way to give the
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: people a voice and who was going to be on
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. Judge Gorset did at kind words about
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Mary Garland at this hearing. Um, And I believe at
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: one point one of the senators I'm forgetting which one,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: one of the Republican senators, forgot who he was talking
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: to and actually referred to him as Judge Garland. Well,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I guess that you're not the only one that's forgetting
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: what's who's talking and who's on first, you know, just
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: to put us into perspective, Greg, I mean, in general,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: do we get anything out of these hearings? Are they
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: basically just an excuse to throw every single question you
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: could possibly imagine at somebody and see if they mess up. Um,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: that is a big part of it. Yes, Um, and uh.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Of the answers are are fairly predictable, but there are
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: some nuances and for people who are really watching the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: courts closely, Um, you know there's some good substance in
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the nitty gritty of of what they say. And in addition,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I think you know people who might not agree with
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a nominee about some things. Do you think there is
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: some value in having Neil Gorsage say Roe v. Wade
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: is a precedent of the court and it's entitled to respect.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Um and uh, you know every nominee who has who
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: has come before the Court, are come before the Judiciary
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Committee that I can recall has said something along those lines,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: and that there is some value in just having the
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: person say say out loud that I'm not going to
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: immediately move to overturn precedents. I wonder if you could
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about cases that are going
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: to be coming before the Supreme Court and which ones
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: you believe are going to have the most effect on business,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: but also on the legal issues that presented by President
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump. Well, the travel band that we've already talked about,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: of course, is a big one that's hanging out there,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and there's an excellent chance that gets to the Supreme
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Court one way or another. Uh one. Uh. You know,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: we're going to see that the Court has been a
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: little slow in taking cases while it's shorthanded. But if
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Judge Gorstch gets confirmed, I think you can imagine very
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: quickly you'll start to see more cases about class action
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: litigation and efforts to curb that. We may see a
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: new case involving mandatory fees to unions, if you recall
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: the Supreme Court deadlocked on that right after Justice Scalia
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: died um and we'll probably have issues about arbitration. Um,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: certainly we'll have more patent cases. You know, there's gonna
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: be a lot of big business cases that Neil Gorcach
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: is gonna have a chance to rule on. Greg Start,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: we really appreciate you joining us. I'm sure that it's
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: going to be a busy couple of days for you,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: and frankly a couple of weeks. Great story, Supreme Court
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: reporter for Bloomberg talking about, uh, the Neil Gorcerge confirmation
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: hearings that we were listening into. He is testifying in
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: front of the Senate about his views and anything under
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the sun in his path to go to the Supreme Court.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: In addition to hearings at the Senate Judiciary Committee on
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to take a place
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: on the Supreme Court. There was a meeting today between
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: President Donald Trump and Republican leaders of the House to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: talk about repeal and replace the American the Affordable Care
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Act for Me, sometimes known as Obamacare. Anna Edney is
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: our Bloomberg healthcare reporter and uh, and I'm wondering if
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: you could describe for us exactly what did we learn
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: from that meeting. Well, what we heard that President Trump
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: said was if this healthcare bill doesn't pass, the Republicans
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: are going to lose their seats in the elections. So
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: he basically said, do this or you know, bad things
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: could happen. And there were Republicans who are against this, UM,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: who don't want to vote yes for it, and they
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: still feel that way. They don't. I don't think that UM,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: his please kind of changed that at all. I think
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: they are actually afraid of the opposite if if they
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: do vote for it, that the Republicans are going to
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: lose their majority. So can you put this into perspective
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: as far as what the main issues are that some
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: of the Republican representatives are fighting back on. Well, the
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: ones who are still against it right now, a lot
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: of them are in a very conservative group of about
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: forty members. They're called the Freedom Caucus, and their biggest
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: issue is they just want a complete repeal of Obamacare UM,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and a lot of that isn't in this legislation because
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: of the way that it has to be done to
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: get through the Senate. They're using this sort of complicated
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: process called reconciliation, and so they're not able to deal
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: with a lot of them, for example, the regular Leasians
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: on insurance companies. UM. That kind of tells them what
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: sort of things they have to cover and things like that, UM,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and those won't be repealed in this this piece of
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: what Republicans plan to do. And those who are against
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: it want that done. They don't feel like they have
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: assurances that it will get done down the line. They
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: don't know that they can um, exactly trust the Desk
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Secretary to do that on his own through regulation and
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: that something like that would stand up in court. Does
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: the President need these members of which it described the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Republican the Freedom Caucus, such as Congressman Mark Meadows in
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: North Carolina? Does he need their votes in order to
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: get this to the Senate? He needs at least some
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: of their votes. UM. You know, they can't lose any
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: more than twenty one members and so you've got they
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: need to get to to sixteen. UM. And so he
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: does need to flip some of those in, even in
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: the Freedom Caucus. And you know, right now we don't
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: know they are opposed to it as a block, but
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: we know that UM, a lot of them are opposed
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: to it, and that the chairman who you mentioned Mark
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Meadows has said, you know, we have enough to block
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: this bill right now, and so somewhere along the line
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: between that one Thursday, Um, you know, Paul Ryan and
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump are going to have to flip some of them. Well,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: and you know, talking about Thursday, can you walk us
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: through what happens if President Trump and how Speaker Ryan
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: do not get sufficient votes to get this through on Thursday?
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: What happens next if they don't have enough votes, they're
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: basically just going to have to go back to the
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: drawing board. And you know, but but they have time
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: to do that. I mean, given that what's going on
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: with with Obamacare and getting the insurance companies queued up
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: for any potential changes, there's not a lot of time
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: to do it at all. Um. But the process I
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: mentioned earlier that they need to get it through the Senate,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: this thing has to start in the House. So there's
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: really they've to find out what they can give to them,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the insurers or I'm sorry to the conservative Republicans to
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: be able to get this through. That might be something
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: like moving a little quicker on those regulations to undo
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: some of the um the limits on insurers that Tom
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Prices said he would do, it might be bringing most
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to light because we haven't seen those yet, and that
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: might give them some sort of assurance that this piece
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: of the puzzle that they've been promised is going to happen.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: There any ideas to who would be most affected, meaning
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the company's most affected, if indeed the plan as it
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: stands is actually passed by the Senate right now, that
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: would be hospitals. They stand to lose, you know, a
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: lot of money because of uncompensated care, which kind of
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: was the case before Obamacare, and Obamacare has been able
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: to decrease that because a lot more people had coverage,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a lot more people were able to qualify for Medicaid,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and so hospitals we're getting paid when people went to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the emergency room. And under this plan, um in, they'll
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: be twenty four million more people without insurance um than
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: would have been if Obamacare had stayed the law. And
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: so that's a lot of money for hospitals, and they're
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: already stretched very thin and and sort of closing in
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: record numbers. Anna Edney, we really appreciate you taking the
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: time to speak with us. Anna Edney as Bloomberg Healthcare reporter,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: talking about the GOP's plan to replace Obamacare and what
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: has to happen on Thursday for this to proceed. Right now,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: just to cut you up with markets, as Greg Jarrett
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: was saying, you did have a stock sell off that
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: is more significant than we've seen over the past couple
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: of days. Also in the bond market, you could see
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: the sixth day rally in thirty year treasuries is the
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: biggest since September. So definitely a risk off sentiment. Thanks
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: for listening to the Bloomberg pen L podcast. You can
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: subscribe and listen to interviews at iTunes, SoundCloud, or whatever
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: podcast platform you prefer. I'm Pim Fox. I'm out there
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: on Twitter at pim Fox. I'm out there on Twitter
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: at Lisa Abramo. It's one before the podcast. You can
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: always catch us worldwide on Bloomberg Radio.