00:00:02
Speaker 1: Bloomberg audio studios, podcasts, radio news, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz aforementioned the Democrat representing Florida's 25th district, a senior member of house appropriations and was at one time chair of the DNC Congresswoman. Congratulations on your reelection. It's great to see you back on Bloomberg TV and radio. And thank you for joining us. So was this just a big night? Ted Cruz calls it a Watergate level repudiation. Was it just a big night for Democrats or did you see your party, uh, entirely remade in this midterm cycle?
00:00:37
Speaker 2: What we saw was a cataclysmic response to Republican MAGA indifference to the plight of everyday folks across this country, no matter what their party affiliation was, because I know I heard across my district when I was campaigning, and frankly, during the last few years of representation of my current congressional district, People's costs have skyrocketed out of control and went into overdrive when Donald Trump implemented this illegal tariff tax policy.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: I think we may have just lost our connection.
00:01:19
Speaker 2: Nope, I'm still here.
00:01:23
Speaker 1: Sorry, Congresswoman, I think you're getting a little choppy on the Wi-Fi. Maybe we can just check quickly to make sure the Congresswoman... is good, because I want to be able to finish her answer there. Kaylee's in New York. I'm in Washington. And Kaylee, as we reconnect with the Congresswoman, this is the question right now. And while I'm not sure anyone's going to know until all the lawmakers are back in Washington and we actually have a family conversation inside one room.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, and as she's talking about hearing so much about affordability questions and costs in her district and beyond, the real question is, is what legislation immediately can be enacted by a Democratic-controlled Congress that can address that, assuming that it's not one of those that President Trump has suggested he might veto, because he said he might be Mr. Veto and be doing that a lot. Congresswoman, I believe we've reestablished our connection. Apologies for the technical difficulties here. Legislatively, as you talk about addressing costs, what's the first bill that's going to pass that does that for the American people? What do you want it to be?
00:02:23
Speaker 2: Well, our legislative agenda is going to be driven by the message we heard loud and clear and that these election results produced, which is that people want us to reduce their costs, whether it's groceries and gas, housing and health care or utilities, housing being the largest portion of a household budget. We've got to create more affordable options. We had the Road to Housing Act that became law without Trump's signature. That was bipartisan legislation. even in a very challenging partisan political environment. And I am confident that we're going to be able to build off of that model. We have dozens of bills that have been filed focused on bringing the cost of housing down, healthcare as well. We need to reenact the enhanced premium tax credits because folks, health insurance premiums have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled. We have to make sure that whether it's groceries or gas. You bring this war to an end. It's illegal to begin with. People were very, very vocal when I was hearing from them that they're tired of this war. They're angry that Trump is waging it. And it's increased the cost of fertilizer as well as a barrel of oil, which has put gas prices and the cost of food on top of his price increase resulting from tariffs. really out of people's, too many people's reach. So those are the focuses that we're going to have when it comes to legislation.
00:03:55
Speaker 1: And you need to get around a president who, while he has pledged to work with Democrats, has also fancied calling himself Mr. Veto. I wonder, with so many new members coming in, so many of them were running against data centers, corporate interests, APEC, many pledging to end weapons shipments to Israel. When will the family conversation happen? When does Hakeem Jeffries get everyone in a room and hammer out an agenda?
00:04:22
Speaker 2: Well, we've been working on that agenda for months now, and the voters have spoken. We will, after you have all the votes counted and the numbers are in, we will have the largest majority in the House of Representatives since 1990. And that majority is made up of moderate Democrats who who flipped Republican districts, and they got so many votes from Republican constituents. And so making sure that we focus on life being more affordable, that's going to be critical. That is issue one, two, and three, while also really going after the Trump crime family's corruption. Because I heard, and it doesn't matter whether you're in a liberal district or a moderate or conservative district, People were tired of Trump's obvious corruption, taking money out of families' pockets, stuffing it into the pockets of billionaires, and also just the dismantling of our democracy, ignoring the Constitution. So we're going to be united in combating and proposing and pushing forward those efforts. I've served in majorities and minority, Joe, back and forth in my time in Congress with Republican presidents, with Democratic presidents. I mean, unless Trump decides he's going to be the exception to the rule, most presidents want to actually have a legislative agenda and not just veto bills.
00:05:51
Speaker 3: All right. Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida's 25th District. Thanks so much for joining us on Balance of Power.
Speaker 1: Bloomberg audio studios, podcasts, radio news, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz aforementioned the Democrat representing Florida's 25th district, a senior member of house appropriations and was at one time chair of the DNC Congresswoman. Congratulations on your reelection. It's great to see you back on Bloomberg TV and radio. And thank you for joining us. So was this just a big night? Ted Cruz calls it a Watergate level repudiation. Was it just a big night for Democrats or did you see your party, uh, entirely remade in this midterm cycle?
00:00:37
Speaker 2: What we saw was a cataclysmic response to Republican MAGA indifference to the plight of everyday folks across this country, no matter what their party affiliation was, because I know I heard across my district when I was campaigning, and frankly, during the last few years of representation of my current congressional district, People's costs have skyrocketed out of control and went into overdrive when Donald Trump implemented this illegal tariff tax policy.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: I think we may have just lost our connection.
00:01:19
Speaker 2: Nope, I'm still here.
00:01:23
Speaker 1: Sorry, Congresswoman, I think you're getting a little choppy on the Wi-Fi. Maybe we can just check quickly to make sure the Congresswoman... is good, because I want to be able to finish her answer there. Kaylee's in New York. I'm in Washington. And Kaylee, as we reconnect with the Congresswoman, this is the question right now. And while I'm not sure anyone's going to know until all the lawmakers are back in Washington and we actually have a family conversation inside one room.
00:01:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, and as she's talking about hearing so much about affordability questions and costs in her district and beyond, the real question is, is what legislation immediately can be enacted by a Democratic-controlled Congress that can address that, assuming that it's not one of those that President Trump has suggested he might veto, because he said he might be Mr. Veto and be doing that a lot. Congresswoman, I believe we've reestablished our connection. Apologies for the technical difficulties here. Legislatively, as you talk about addressing costs, what's the first bill that's going to pass that does that for the American people? What do you want it to be?
00:02:23
Speaker 2: Well, our legislative agenda is going to be driven by the message we heard loud and clear and that these election results produced, which is that people want us to reduce their costs, whether it's groceries and gas, housing and health care or utilities, housing being the largest portion of a household budget. We've got to create more affordable options. We had the Road to Housing Act that became law without Trump's signature. That was bipartisan legislation. even in a very challenging partisan political environment. And I am confident that we're going to be able to build off of that model. We have dozens of bills that have been filed focused on bringing the cost of housing down, healthcare as well. We need to reenact the enhanced premium tax credits because folks, health insurance premiums have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled. We have to make sure that whether it's groceries or gas. You bring this war to an end. It's illegal to begin with. People were very, very vocal when I was hearing from them that they're tired of this war. They're angry that Trump is waging it. And it's increased the cost of fertilizer as well as a barrel of oil, which has put gas prices and the cost of food on top of his price increase resulting from tariffs. really out of people's, too many people's reach. So those are the focuses that we're going to have when it comes to legislation.
00:03:55
Speaker 1: And you need to get around a president who, while he has pledged to work with Democrats, has also fancied calling himself Mr. Veto. I wonder, with so many new members coming in, so many of them were running against data centers, corporate interests, APEC, many pledging to end weapons shipments to Israel. When will the family conversation happen? When does Hakeem Jeffries get everyone in a room and hammer out an agenda?
00:04:22
Speaker 2: Well, we've been working on that agenda for months now, and the voters have spoken. We will, after you have all the votes counted and the numbers are in, we will have the largest majority in the House of Representatives since 1990. And that majority is made up of moderate Democrats who who flipped Republican districts, and they got so many votes from Republican constituents. And so making sure that we focus on life being more affordable, that's going to be critical. That is issue one, two, and three, while also really going after the Trump crime family's corruption. Because I heard, and it doesn't matter whether you're in a liberal district or a moderate or conservative district, People were tired of Trump's obvious corruption, taking money out of families' pockets, stuffing it into the pockets of billionaires, and also just the dismantling of our democracy, ignoring the Constitution. So we're going to be united in combating and proposing and pushing forward those efforts. I've served in majorities and minority, Joe, back and forth in my time in Congress with Republican presidents, with Democratic presidents. I mean, unless Trump decides he's going to be the exception to the rule, most presidents want to actually have a legislative agenda and not just veto bills.
00:05:51
Speaker 3: All right. Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida's 25th District. Thanks so much for joining us on Balance of Power.