GOP Reps Get Ripped Apart under Cross-Exam at Hearing

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1:52But it's an important age. If you're at average risk, that's when you start screening for colon cancer. And look, it's okay to be nervous, but it's not okay to ignore your own health. It's time to see if the Cologuard test can be an option for you to get screened. All right. I'm glad we had this little chat.

2:07Ben Meiselas:This is how it's done. Democrats going on the offense in the Rules Committee hearing, led by Democrats like Congress Member Neguse. In the Rules Committee, you get to cross-examine the other side who appears before the Rules Committee to try to justify their actions, justify their amendments, and Democrats expose these MAGA Republicans who are refusing to allow a vote to take place on the House floor today for the extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies. Instead, MAGA Mike Johnson and the Republicans trying to push through the Rules Committee last night and push onto the House floor today some hodgepodge bill of like old, outdated, rejected Republican health care concepts that deal with like banning women from reproductive care at a federal level.

3:08Ben Meiselas:I mean, while the American people are saying, can you extend our Affordable Care Act subsidies, please? Because we're about to lose health care. MAGA Republicans are like, oh, do you mean you want us to further ban abortion now in blue states that allow women to have reproductive rights. So let me just show you what went down here. One of the things that the MAGA Republicans are saying is let's get rid of the Affordable Care Act in total, and maybe we can do some association health plans, AHPs, which actually lack a lot of the Affordable Care Act mandated essential benefits like maternity coverage and other key coverages that are required under the Affordable Care Act, a lot of ones that actually save people's lives.

3:55Ben Meiselas:And so you have Democratic Congress member, Joe Neguse. He's cross-examining the MAGA Republican Congress member, Wahlberg here. And Wahlberg here is trying to act like these AHPs are the best. So Neguse is like, which plan are you on? Which plan are you on? Oh, you've got the best health care as a member of Congress, but you think the American people shouldn't get the same health care that you get as a Congress member? Watch as Democratic Congress member Neguse like breaks this MAGA Republican. This is great cross-exam by Congress member Neguse. And he always does an incredible job on the rules committee.

4:33Ben Meiselas:Here, watch this. It sounds like you're a big fan of these AHPs. I certainly am. Are you on one? It's an option. Are you on one? I'm not. I don't have to be on this. What do you mean you don't have to be? I have insurance otherwise. What kind of insurance? Good insurance. Not an AHP? That's not the question. What about the small businesses? Do you get essential health benefits? What about the employers? Wait a minute, Mr. Chairman. The question is, do you want to give the same opportunities to small businesses and employers like you give to the large corporations? I think they should have the same insurance you have.

5:07Absolutely. I agree with you. I suspect that your plan covers the essential health benefits under the ACA. Am I wrong? I would assume it does. Yeah. Not maternity. Why can't they get that? Not maternity because, frankly, I'm too old. Well, I appreciate that. But why can't your constituents get the same essential health benefits you do? They can. Give them the opportunity for these choices. Not under these plans. For these choices, absolutely. It's not required. You don't think, well, are you saying Ford Motor Company doesn't give it? I'm saying that. Don't you think unions give it? Of course they do.

5:34I am saying that there are a variety of plans. Of course. Once it's no longer a legal requirement. Why would in the competition in the marketplace, small businesses not want to give their employees the same opportunity? I think that the Madam Chair, I only.

5:47Ben Meiselas:And then the goose says, I've got more receipts for you, Wahlberg. OK, so first off, why are you rushing everything with MAGA? They rush through at like midnight, right? They go. This is supposed to be an issue that impacts Americans more than anything. Americans, health care, Americans need their affordable care hack subsidies. And right now you're pushing through something again, once again, just like the disastrous budget bill that the American people can't see. You're holding no hearings about it publicly. Again, what do we see in the middle of the night? The MAGA Republicans try to push these things through, force votes and screw over the American people.

6:28Ben Meiselas:And Democratic Congress member Negus is like, you've done like all of these bills about like the shower act and shower pressure and these things. You don't think we should have gone through a process when it comes to ripping away health care from tens of millions of Americans? Watch the goose right here play this clip. I noted, I wrote this down in your opening. You said, I hope, I think I quoted this right. I hope we can work across the aisle on this issue. How many legislative hearings has this bill received? in your committee. Well, so you're talking about the parts of the bill, the cost sharing reductions, we had legislative hearings.

7:09I'm talking about the bill that we're talking about today. I'm talking the bill that you're testifying on. This has not had legislative hearing. The specific bill, but we had everything in the bill has been through. Has it had a markup? We did markup on cost sharing reductions and we did markup on the bill that we're sitting here that you know you you're here to testify on this bill. This specific bill did not have a markup. Did not have a markup, right? You all had a markup last week in your full committee. This bill wasn't one of them. I looked at the list, saving homeowners from overregulation with exceptional rinsing.

7:42That's called the Shower Act. You're familiar with that bill? I'm familiar with it. Shower Act. That's a bill that you all took up last week. There's another one here, Don't Mess With My Home Appliances Act. Interesting title. Do you remember that bill? Yeah, people want to be able to buy the plants of their choice on what's mandated by the government. Don't Mess With My Home Appliances Act. Plenty of time to take up that bill. last week. Plenty of time to take up the Shower Act. We have plenty of time to take up this bill. Well, this bill didn't get a markup in your committee, Mr. Chairman. Well, we're ready before us today.

8:09You had 15 before the Rules Committee, not before the Energy and Commerce Committee. I know, but I'm saying we have time to bring it up today. Well, why don't you have a markup, if that's the case? If you scheduled one? We're going to get a vote. You're going to get to vote yes or no. I'm not asking about a vote, Mr. Chairman. Come on. You know what I'm asking. We have the cost share reductions, going to lower premiums by 11 percent, scored by CBO. I hear you, Mr. Chairman. And so we're going to have a chance to make that decision. We're going to talk about the CBO score. The OPM reform is in the bill.

8:31We're going to have a chance to vote on that on the floor. I hear you. I think you could imagine the dismay of folks that I represent in Colorado, I suspect in Kentucky too, who say, wait a minute, you've got this really powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. Well, members of Congress, at least those that I know, they fight really hard to get on this committee. You schedule a markup last week, you've got 15 bills. Six of those 15 bills are on home appliances, the Shower Act, and you can't be bothered to include your health health care plan that you've been spending a year developing? We have been working on this bill.

9:01We have been working on this bill. We marked it up in May before it came to sections of this bill. You mentioned working on a bipartisan basis. We've done PBM reform in a bipartisan way. Have you worked with Mr. Pallone on this bill? We, we, we not on this specific bill, but we've worked on, we've worked on a bipartisan - Isn't this the big one? PBM reform. Well, I, the reason why I say that Mr. Guthrie is because I actually agreed with the premise, you know, that line in your testimony about working in good faith on, you know, with respect to this particular issue across party lines. And it's just it's pretty clear to me that that's not embedded in this bill.

9:38But in any event, let's.

9:40Ben Meiselas:Then you have Congress member, Democratic Congress member McGovern, and he's like, OK, so what you're saying is that you all have concepts of plans, concepts of plans. Here, play this clip. So if by concept of a plan, you meant screwing millions of people over, including the millions who voted for Republicans in the last election, I think you've accomplished your goal. And it's not just that this is a lousy health care bill. The latest CBO score, I don't know if you've seen it, just came out. And this bill would kick 100 ,000 more people off their health care than if you did nothing. So by passing this bill, even more people are going to lose their health insurance.

10:22Ben Meiselas:And frankly, the MAGA Republicans had nothing good to say in response. You have MAGA Republican Chip Roy saying that basically the Republicans are just offering a bunch of garbage this week. He admits it. He admits it. MAGA Republican Chip Roy says, yeah, we're offering milk toast garbage. These exact words here play this clip. And now we're sitting here and we're listening to nonsense about health care or my college on the other side of the aisle sit here saying well you guys aren't doing anything about the massive expensive cost of health care why do you think it's expensive because you literally cut a deal with insurance companies to run health care you think that's going to run wild yeah that's why they have 2 000 profit increases and the american people can't afford to go to the doctor of their choice while we enrich insurance companies and yet republicans will complain about it and then they'll offer milk toast garbage like we're offering this week and then go home at christmas and say look at what we're doing we're campaigning on reducing health care well congratulate friggin lations at some point people will look at this body and say maybe we should get rid of all 435 members of the house and all 100 members of the senate and start over because congress is literally failing the american people i yield back and then there's all this infighting Chip Roy goes after Marjorie Taylor Greene.

11:43Ben Meiselas:Everyone's going after each other. Just watch what Chip Roy says here. Play this clip. That's the case. Marjorie was given this vote this week to buy her vote on the National Defense Authorization Act. Everybody knows it. It happened right there on the floor of the House. The majority leader said, Marjorie, would you like to have your bill brought up to the floor? And guess what? Got a yes vote on the rule for the National Defense Authorization Act. And that's the kind of shit that keeps happening around this institution all the time, including on our side of the aisle. And I'm sick of it. And I'm sick of what happened in the Judiciary Committee when we should have done it there.

12:20We should have addressed it in the Judiciary Committee. The people who are supposed to be vanguards of the Constitution.

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13:38Ben Meiselas:Go to drinkolipop.com slash Midas. That's drinkolipop.com slash Midas. Drink O-L-I-P-O-P dot com slash M-E-I-D-A-S. And then Democratic Congresswoman Teresa Fernandez. she brings up this important point that I raised at the outset of this video, that this Republican health plan that they're calling it, which does not deal with extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies, okay? What it does do though, is have a backdoor abortion ban that puts women's lives at risk by interfering with a doctor's medical judgment. This is what the Republicans' plan was to now go after reproductive rights in blue states where women are still able to have reproductive rights.

14:27Ben Meiselas:And when Democratic Congresswoman Fernandez is cross examining the Republican witness, because again, Republican congressmen, they have to testify at the rules committee and she gives her own experience. She goes, this was my life story. Let me explain to you what happened to me. The Republican congressman was like, yeah, we don't think that happens to women. I'm not worried about that happening to women. That's their position. Here, play this clip. Do you think it is right that a woman should have to go into sepsis and almost die, become infertile before her doctors will treat her? Obviously, I don't think that's what's going to happen, but also I don't think the public will submit for abortion.

15:10Well, you know, that's the interesting thing, is that right now, the federal government does not pay for abortion care. What will happen though is that access to health care for women is key. And I see that the back doorway in which Republicans are intending to restrict access to abortion care in states like New Mexico, where it is legal. I need to tell you in New Mexico, I almost died in pregnancy. And I was the woman who was on the operating table, bleeding to death, bleeding to death. I got to make every decision with regards to what care I wanted. And my doctors did not have to worry about whether it would be paid for by my health insurance plan or whether they would go to jail because of decisions I needed to make.

16:10Based on my own choices. And right now, what you have done in this field is a backdoor way of restricting women's access to health insurance to pay for reproductive health, even in private insurance plans.

16:30Ben Meiselas:By the way, you have MAGA Republican Tom Emmer from Minnesota. Watch him run away from from our friend and our partner, Pablo Monriquez from Migrant Insider, who was asked, trying to drill down, like, didn't you serve back before Donald Trump told you that you have to now hate the Somalian community? Weren't you on the Somalian caucus? You are a Congress member in Minnesota with a large Somalian population and used to pretend to care about the Somalian population. You were on the Somalian caucus. And now you now you saying that Somalian people are garbage. That's what Donald Trump says, that Somalian people, all of them are garbage.

17:12Ben Meiselas:And you're OK with that being a congress member from Minnesota? Shame on you. Watch as our Pablo Manriquez catches up with him. Play this clip. Mr. Emmer, do you agree with President Trump that, say, 5000 Somali residents of your district in St. Cloud are garbage? I think what President Trump has done is raised an issue that is something we've been trying to raise for almost three years. And Pence refused to cover things that are right in front of him. No, but I'm asking you, Donald Trump said that the Somalis are garbage. That's what I'm asking you about. Let me finish. I'd love to answer your question.

17:53Okay. But apparently you want to have an argument. Well, it's a yes or no. Maybe you can find someone else that you can have the argument with. Because I'm telling you, not all Somalis are bad. 90 % of the Somalis or the crimes that have been charged are from the Somali community. And there's nothing wrong and nothing racist about calling out a crime.

18:12Ben Meiselas:And let's just take a look at AOC also with Pablo Monriquez on the Hill. Here's what she says about Donald Trump's essentially his declaration of war by a social media post against Venezuela and saying that he's initiated a blockade against oil tankers going into Venezuela. Play this clip. Of course, we know that the drug crisis has been a large one here in the country. But to begin engaging in and making enemies of our allies in Latin America and threatening the lives of service members in this process, it's just reckless. And frankly, the intelligence has not been shared from this administration to Congress to authorize such activity.

18:59If it's shared, it shows that these legitimate targets, then what? I mean, is it something you can support down the road if they show you evidence? Congress, it is the responsibility of Congress to declare and authorize military use of force. Congress has not authorized and had a vote on a military use of force. And so the case needs to be made against what actors. And there has to be, again, a case that's made. And I think the lack of one really speaks volumes. And the fact that this administration has not even shared their case with the committees of jurisdiction, not with the Intelligence Committee, defense, etc., I think is a huge red flag for everyone.

19:40Thank you.

19:41Ben Meiselas:And here she is again saying that the American people are overwhelmingly against reckless intervention. Let's play it. There could be moving into Colombia because they've just designated a Colombian drug cartel as being a terrorist organization. Yes, yes. I mean, I think that overwhelmingly Americans are opposed to this reckless interventionism. We frankly on both sides of the aisle, Democrat, Republican, independent, people are sick of these endless wars. And every time we wind down in one area, there seems to be an excuse to start hostilities in another. And here you have veteran Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego.

20:21Ben Meiselas:He really lays out here what the Trump regime is doing and how it is that they are provoking this war against Venezuela and what their plan is. So what do you think the response of the American people will be to what they're hearing tonight from you? Well, hopefully they're pissed off. Hopefully they call the Republican senators and members of Congress to say that I don't want to go to war. But there's a reason why they're doing it the way they're doing it. The reason they're slowly building up, saying we're going to go after these drug dealers first, then they're going after tankers, then they're going to close the airspace, then they're hoping Venezuela reacts in some hostile way to defend their own sovereignty, then we'll have to react.

21:01And then the president's going to come here and ask everyone to rally around the flag. And that's how we find ourselves in war. What I'm telling you is they're setting it all up to happen. Be aware. Be aware of what they're doing. They're slowly putting the pressure on Venezuela so they react. And so the American public gets used to us doing hostile acts. We went from putting sanctions to droning speedboats. And the American public hasn't reacted that bad. So what else are they going to continue doing until we finally find ourselves in war? But let's be clear. The goal of what they're doing right now is to get us into war.

21:35They're not going to be able to stop the drug trade. They're not effectively going to have to go into narcos in this way. at the end of the day, all they want to do is get rid of Maduro. And if they can get rid of Maduro through peaceful manner, they will. It's not working right now. If they can trigger a war to happen, they'll gladly do it.

21:51Ben Meiselas:That warning means more. And then you have another veteran, Democratic Senator Duckworth. Here's what she says. Play this clip. Well, I heard a lot of chest thumping, but not a lot of answers to the questions that I still have. And I would have to agree with the discussion you're having right now, which is I think the president is trying to lead us into yet another forever war that Americans don't want. If this is justifiable, then come to Congress. We have the power to declare a war. Come to us and ask for an authorization for use of military force. The fact of the matter is they're not doing that.

22:25And if they truly were going to go after drug traffickers and the president would not have pardoned the former president of Honduras who trafficked over 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. So what is exactly is he trying to do here?