Rep. Stutzman on Obamacare Tax Credits and Republicans’ Alternative to Lower Healthcare Prices

Welcome back. I'm Jack Bradley. With the government shutdown now over, Congress still has a full plate ahead. And the clock is already ticking toward January. Are we at risk of another shutdown? Joining us to discuss, Congressman Marlon Stzman. Congressman Marlon Stzman, thank you so much for joining us here today. >> Jack, great to be with you this afternoon. Thanks for having me. Congressman Stzman, this government shutdown is now uh ended, but Congress still has a lot to work out here. Congressional Democrats are pushing to extend Obamacare tax credits as insurance premiums are set to rise. Can you explain for us here where these subsidies came from and what this is all about? Well, you know what we do know now after over a decade of Obamacare and that the health care insurance and health care providers, it's created a massive mess for the American people. Uh, you know, watching what has unfolded over the past 10 years as Obamacare has really settled in. It just shows that it's been unaffordable uh the whole time and that Congress Democrats passed subsidies to keep the cost of the premiums lower and it was something that Republicans argued back, you know, in 2010 before 2010 actually when they passed the bill uh that it was going to be unaffordable and that the taxpayers were going to be on the hook to keep premiums low and and that's now coming to fruition. And unfortunately, it's coming at a time when Americans are already trying to recover after the, you know, rapid inflation uh period that we experienced under President Joe Biden. And so I think that what people need to realize is that there's too many hands in the cookie jar. You have insurance companies, you have the federal government, and then of course we've taken basically the ability away for patients to see the doctor that they wanted to keep to begin with. And uh and there's it's a real problem that needs to be addressed. So, I think if there's going to be any sort of subsidy that it needs to go directly to the consumer. It should not be sent to the insurance companies. Insurance companies have had massive profits uh thanks to these subsidies over the past several years. And we need to start addressing the problem with making sure we empower the the American individual, not American insurance companies. >> At the end of the day, many Americans are concerned about health care prices. Uh do Republicans have an alternative to lower the premiums? Well, you know, again, it goes back to economics. I mean, let's uh, you know, let's take the insurance companies out of the mix as much. They're the ones setting the prices along with the government. Ironically, Jack, we have the two entities that are setting prices aren't even in the room with the between the doctor and the patient. And uh, so why don't we let the patients and the physicians and the hospitals set those prices rather than the insurance companies and the federal government? So, I think that's a very simp, you know, maybe some people say that's pretty simplistic, but honestly, that's just simply what it is. You have too many hands in the cookie jar. >> Now, government funding expires again at the end of January, and the government could shut down again uh if they don't come to a deal in Congress. Uh Congress has already approved three appropriations bills to fund different federal departments, but there's nine more to go. Do you have hope for the end of the year deadline that they'll meet any of these appropriations bills or do you expect another temporary funding bill? >> Um, you know, it'll be interesting to see, you know, really how Democrats are willing to work with uh Republicans in the Senate. I mean, this really comes back to the filibuster rule in the Senate. While Republicans have the majority, 53 to 47 in the Senate, uh, it's not enough to get past that filibuster rule. I really am a big firm believer that if you want to filibuster a bill, uh, you need to go to the floor and and do what Mr. Smith did when he went to Washington and actually filibuster the bill. But because of the rules of the Senate, they can call their filibuster in and say they're just simply not going to give the majority party enough votes to end the debate to go to final passage. Uh, Democrats, you know, already tried it back when they were in control. uh Joe Mansion and Kristen Cinema from Arizona uh didn't go along with it. Uh they felt like they needed to protect the filibuster rule, but I don't I don't I believe it's being abused. If they would use it for the its appropriate role um in using the filibuster to say, "Look, we're going to make sure everybody has every senator has the chance to speak," that's fine. But if you're going to say, "No, we're just not going to allow you to get to final passage and make enforce, you know, kind of hold the bill hostage." Uh, the majority party can't move forward. Um, but I think that should at least be eliminated on budget bills. That way there's no more shutdowns, which ultimately impacted and Democrats even admitted leverage the American people to get what they want, which he failed. >> And Congressman Stzman, one more thing I want to get in with you. Um, President Trump met with the Syrian president at the White House this week. You also met with him afterwards. How did that go? And how do you see the relationship between the US and Syria going from here? >> Well, you know, it's an opportunity that we have right now uh with Syria. And of course, you know, Syria is just to the north of Israel, the city of Damascus, which is a a holy city for Christians. Saul was on his way to Damascus where he met Christ on the road to Damascus. There's so much Christian history there. Of course, you know, Syria is very diverse. Uh you have Muslims, Christians, Drews, Alawite, Kurds, and many of them, especially the Kurds, have been great allies to America over the past several decades in the fight against ISIS. So, you know, a new president has now come in uh to Syria and he was in the United States to sign an agreement, an anti-ISIS coalition agreement with the United States. And so, that's a good signal. But, uh I think you know what's important with President Alshar, I've met him several times now. Uh he's younger, he's 42 years old. As I talked to him, he says that he's interested in joining the Abraham Accords. He had a deal offered to him from the Russians. He wanted to talk to President Trump. He's rejecting any conversations with the Chinese. If his actions are or what he says he's going to do, um I think Syria has a lot of potential and a bright future. But ultimately, you know, uh President Alshara, he was former al-Qaeda, part of al-Nusra. Uh he has a very checkered past and uh and so, you know, we have to keep our eyes wide open. But uh I'm I'm rooting for the Syrian people. They've been put through hell over the past several decades because of Assad and the the Assad family regime. And if they can move past war, if they can move towards rebuilding their country and being an ally to Israel and the West, it'll bring a lot of stability to the Middle East. >> Congressman Marlon Stzman, thank you so much for your insights here today. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. Great to be with you.