discussed very often with the debate over taxes and the like but that s a completely new entitlement program that we re talking about or that they are considering which doesn t get the coverage that perhaps it deserves, and that s why there s so much struggle. everybody you know, everybody in the democratic detective has some sort of a vested interest, a buy-in to so many of these other topics. many other things and sort of conditions that senator manchin laid out yesterday talking about, for example, if the revenue raisers that we get for instance crease the tax rates, if it goes over 1.5 trillion which it is expected to do, then push that all into deficit reduction. that s not going to make a lot of progressives or other democrats happy. we actually asked bernie sanders, the chairman of the budget committee yesterday, what would a $1.5 trillion top line mean to the policies and what democrats want to do, and he said it would basically decimate their ambition so he s making it
the infrastructure and the larger $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill in time for any votes this week? thanks a lot for having me, fredericka. yes, we re quite frankly at a defining moment in our country and, in fact, i believe, now that we ve passed the budget out of the budget committee yesterday, i serve on the budget committee and we worked all day in washington to make sure that bill left the floor. the speaker is smart and knows what she s doing and i met with progressives last night at the white house. we re all on the same page trying to find consensus and unify and trying to make sure that both bills work together per our agreement and deal that was made. so possible unify on what. where would the consensus be? you ve already identified the problem areas among the progressives including yourself? well, yes. i m a former chair of the
of important military assistance to ukraine to essentially coerce them, pressure them into interfering in our elections on our behalf. so two distinct issues but both important ones. what s the consequence of it being illegal, if that s what the gao determines? well, that s one of the problems. there s been no enforcement mechanism over the years. in fact, just in the budget committee yesterday, we were working on a piece of budget process legislation. i offered an amendment that was accepted that it would at least create some enforcement mechanism. essentially, penalize folks who were withholding money illegally after it s been appropriated by the congress. so we re trying to put in a penalty. but that does not exist right now, which is why this has been a back and forth over many years between congress and the executive branch. we want to settle this very clearly. the gao, as i said, had
have to ask senator johnson from why he claimed he was a no to voting yes in the budget committee yesterday. he indicates he was promised something by president trump with regard to small businesses, but we have yet to see what that is. i would remind you that there is something else that donald trump promised, which was to get rid of the carried interest loophole, a bill that i put forward for years now. and that is not a part of this tax legislation. what it is is really a giveaway to the wealthiest and the major corporations and middle class families, working families in wisconsin, small businesses and manufacturers are not seeing the benefits that were promised. and in fact, those earning $75,000 or less in our state and across country will end up paying more in a matter of years as these temporary cuts evaporate, yet the business cuts
longer than it should have taken. we need to continue to work on the medicaid expansion, address those issues and make certain this is a bill that republicans can support and send to the senate for them to take up the house bill. sean: yeah, steve, where are you with the freedom caucus guys? they ve been the ones that s communicated with me the most. they kind of they say that the president is a-plus-plus. he s been reaching out to them and talking with them. they appreciate it. the president is listening. some changes they wanted are in the bill, but they feel the leadership reached out as much to them. why? i ve been talking to freedom caucus members directly, sean. in fact today at the meeting with the rfc chairman mark walker and other rfc members, there were two freedom caucus members there who said they were going to vote for the bill which included one member, gary palmer who voted against the bill in the budget committee yesterday, so with these changes, both you talk a