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Biden & Dems Driving America off a Cliff with Government Shutdown · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, So, as I am sitting here right now,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: we are headed towards a government shutdown. Senator Cruz and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I we're talking about this. At what point do we
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: do this podcast? When do we record it? Well, it's
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: well after midnight now, and we were trying to see
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: if a deal was going to get done at this
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: point it has not gotten done yet. Now the question
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: is what should Republicans be fighting over. What should we
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: be asking for? What is a good deal, what is
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a bad deal? How do you get to that magic
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: number two eighteen? And so, as I was sitting here
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: with Sender Cruise a moment and I said, look, let's
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: just have that conversation together. Let's talk it out, because
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of people online that are saying a
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: lot of things that are just not accurate about you know,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: some people are wanting there to be less government spending
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: while also raising the debt ceiling, which doesn't make any
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: sense logically, if you want to cut government spending, then
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: why would we get rid of the dead ceiling. It's
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a fair question to ask. So we're going to explain
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: it all to you. And what's going on this is
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I actually think one of the most important shows that
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I've ever been a part of, because look, whether you're
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: dealing with the government shut down and you're dealing with
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: trillions of dollars in spending and you're dealing with a
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: lot of pork ball spending that we're trying to stop. Yes,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: this is really important because this is what I mean,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the average Americans working what three and a half months
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: four months a year to pay their taxes and they're
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: abusing your tax dollars the way that they are. So
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: this is a conversation that's important that we should have.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: So with that being said, here are four principles that
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: center Cruise and I came up with to talk about
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: what's going on now. Now, I want to be clear,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: this is not going to be what you see from
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: like online an X. Okay, this is a different conversation.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: But first I want to talk to you real quick
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: about the USCCA. There are over eight hundred thousand Americans
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• 2:18
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• 2:21
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• 3:18
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• 3:44
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• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Now here are four principles the center Cruise and I
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: came up with talk about what's going on. Now. Now,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I want to be clear, this is not going to
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: be what you see from like online an X. Okay,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: this is a different conversation because I want you to
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: understand the CR. I want you understand why it's happening.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I want you to understand all aspects of it. So
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I want you to understand the CR. I want you
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: understand why it's happening. I want you to understand all
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: aspects of it. So with that being said, here's my
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: conversation that Senator Cruise and I just had. All right,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: so this is an interesting conversation center about what's happening
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: in Washington.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: And look, there's.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: The politics of it that everybody's obsessed with and pointing fingers.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I love doing this show because I think we can
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: look at it a little bit differently. I want people
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: to understand, starting off with what is actually being fought over,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and that is a CR. Can you explain in layman's
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: terms what a CR is? Why we keep having these
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: over Christmas time? And is this the normal way that
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: government does work or is this abnormal?
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's a very good question.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: People are very confused about it. And let me do
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: my best to explain number one, what this fight is about,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: and then some basic principles to think about it, because
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: there are a lot of people who are right now yelling,
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: but it's hard to understand what's going on. So for
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: the federal government to operate, Congress has to appropriate funds.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Appropriating funds is voting to spend money. Unless Congress appropriates funds,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: money can't be spent. Now, there are three principal ways
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: money gets appropriated. The first and the best one is
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Congress actually passing appropriation bills through the regular Order, through
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: the process of legislating. There are typically thirteen appropriations bills
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: for each of the major cabinet areas and subject matters,
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: and the way it should operate is Congress takes up
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: an appropriation bill, the House passes that, the Senate passes
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: at the President signs it. That's the way it normally works.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: It almost never works that way anymore, especially when you
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: have what we have now, which is divided government. We
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: have right now a Publican House barely a very very
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: small Republican majority in the House. We have a Democrat
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Senate and Democrat President, and so as a result, appropriations
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: bills will not pass, and they will not pass because
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: the Republican House and the Democrats Senate fundamentally disagree on
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: what should be in those appropriation bills. There's a second
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: way you fund the government, and that's through what's called
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: an omnibus, or sometimes you call it a minibus. Basically,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: what that is is a bunch of appropriation bills jammed together.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: So instead of thirteen separate bills you can get an
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: omnibus would be all thirteen. A minibus is sometimes say
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: four or five, six of them, but it is a
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: specific appropriation for a portion of government. That is frequently
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: how things are done, all crammed together. Again, we can't
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: get agreement doing it in divided government is very difficult,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: and I will point out that Joe Biden and the
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: Democrats are providing the zero leadership to do anything other
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: than embracing radical positions that of course Republicans in the
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: House aren't going to agree with. So the third way,
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: and there are really only three, is what's called a
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: continuing resolution. So a continuing resolution typically does not specify
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: how how money will be appropriated. It simply says, what
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: we're doing now, let's continue going forward, and a continuing
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: resolution is typically for a set period of time. Continuing
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: resolution is usually abbreviated a CR, and a CR basically said,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: a continued resolution basically says what we're spending today, keep
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: spending tomorrow. And you sometimes will get a You can
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: get a long term CR, like you could get say
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: a year long CR that says for the next year,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: we're just going to spend what we're spending right now.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: You can get a short term CR. Sometimes crs are short,
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  Speaker 3: as short as a day or two or a week
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: or more. Now, why is this fight happening? This fight
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: is happening because at midnight Friday night, funding for the
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: government expires, and that was set in the last funding battle.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: Congress funded it through mid night Friday night. That means
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: at twelve oh one am on Saturday, funding for the
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: government will expire. Now, if we get to twelve oh
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  Speaker 3: one am, and I got to say sitting here right now,
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: that seems like a very likely outcome that we're going
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: to get to twelve oh one without this being resolved.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: The result will be a quote unquote government shutdown. Now,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: what does a government shutdown mean? Well, that phrase is
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: overstated because much of government does not shut down. Number one,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: mandatory spending. Mandatory spending is government spending that is written
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: that is automatically spent, that doesn't need to be appropriated.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: Mandatory spending is not affected. What does that mean. It
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: means so security checks will go out regardless. It means
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: Medicare will go out regardless, It means Medicaid will go
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: out regardless. It means anything that is written as mandatory
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: spending happens regardless, because you don't need appropriations. That's just
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: written to automatically be spent. What else does it mean, Well,
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  Speaker 3: if you have a government shutdown, it is existing law
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  Speaker 3: that even in the case of a shutdown, when Congress
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: has not appropriated funds, essential services continue. So for example,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: if at twelve oh one am on Friday we have
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: a government shutdown, the military is not going to suddenly
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: cease to operate. We have soldiers and sailors and airmen
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: and marines who are deployed in harm's way. The military
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: is the very definition of essential services, so they'll continue
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: to defend this nation. It means that there are a
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: host of positions throughout government that are deemed essential, and
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: by the way, that's decided typically agency by agency.
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  Speaker 2: It is up to.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: Each agency to decide how many which ones of their
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: employees are essential. At some cabinet departments, you take it
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: to a cabinet department like the Commerce department. Historically you
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: have seventy percent or more of the employees that are
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: deemed non essential. If you're deemed non essential, when there's
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: a government shut down, you stay home, you don't go
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: to work, you don't do anything. And by the way,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: typically all government employees stopped being paid. So one of
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: the consequences of a shutdown is if you're a federal
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: government employee, your paycheck doesn't come Now. Sometimes Congress will
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: make exceptions so for example and pass shutdowns. We have
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: made exceptions with some frequency for active duty military, but
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: that actually takes Congress moving in and legislating and saying,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: you know what, We're going to pay our soldiers, sailors, airmen,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: and marines. But if Congress doesn't act, they don't get paid.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: In the last big shutdown we had when Trump was president,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: I went to the Senate floor and fought to pay
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: coast guardsmen. Look, the Coastguard was saving people who were drowning,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: they were guarding our border, they were working, and yet
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: they weren't being paid. And the Democrats stood up and
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: objected to paying coast guardsmen during the shutdown. So the
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: basic principle is the vast majority of federal government employees
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: don't get paid during a shutdown. And by the way,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: if you're a young enlisted man, I mean you might
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: need like your paycheck to pay your rent next month.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: You might need your paycheck to pay your food. Like
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: many of these these government employees are not wealthy and
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: they are living paycheck to paycheck, So having the paycheck
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: stop puts real burdens, particularly on the load to median
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: income federal workers. On top of that, when the shutdown ends,
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: the federal workers all get paid. They get paid back pay.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: So what we end up doing is having a significant
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: chunk of federal workers not work for a period of time,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: and then they don't get paid during that period of time,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: and then after the fact they get paid on the
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: back end. So we waste a bunch of government money.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: That's what's at stake. Now, how do we think through
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: this fight? What does it mean? I'm going to suggest
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: four key principles that are important. I want to start
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: with one that that almost no one talking about this
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: is talking about. But it's a very simple one count
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: to eighteen. I want to repeat that ben count to eighteen.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: To eighteen is a majority of the House of Representatives.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: The House Representatives has four hundred and thirty five representatives.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: Two hundred eighteen is half of it. Unless you have
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: absences or vacancies. Nothing can pass the House without two
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: hundred and eighteen votes. So we have seen there have
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: been two different attempts so far by House leadership to
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: pass a CR continuing resolution. The first attempt was a
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: continuing resolution that extended until the middle of March, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: it included a variety of different programs. Now, I want
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: you to understand I want you to imagine for a second, Ben,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: that you wake up tomorrow morning and your name is
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: Mike Johnson, You're the Speaker of the House. I want
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: you to engage in some simple math. You need to
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: get to eighteen.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Okay, if you don't get to two eighteen, my life.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I don't think want to get to that name in
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the morning, because I know how stressful that job's got
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: to be.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: So I want to walk through just the simple reality
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: that Mike is facing.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: He needs to eighteen.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Now, a continuing resolution continues funding. The current discussion is
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: through mid March. On top of that, you've got a
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: significant number of House members who are insisting at least
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: two things be included in the continuing resolution. Number one
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: is one hundred and ten billion dollars in funding for
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: farmers and ranchers and ag that have just been hammered
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: across this country. So if you don't add that money
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: for farmers and ranchers and ags, you lose dozens of Republicans,
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: you lose a ton of votes if you.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Don't have AG there.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: So you're sitting there going, Okay, we need to take
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: care of our farmers and ranchers.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: We need to have that money.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Secondly, you've got disaster relief, and in particular two states
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: that have been just hammered by disasters recently, Florida and
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: North Carolina. Now the Florida and North Carolina members are saying,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: if you do not have disaster relief in this bill,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: I'm voting no. So here's the challenge. The first version,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: Mike Johnson sits down, he extends government funding, he puts
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: funding for farmers and ranchers in there, he puts disaster
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: relief in there. Now, there are a significant number of
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: Republicans who is a matter of principles, say they will never,
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: ever ever vote for a continuing resolution. So if you're
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: only looking to Republicans, you can't get to too eighteen
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: because they're a bunch of them. They're going to vote no,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: no matter what. They're just like no, no, no, I
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: will not vote yes.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I'm a no.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: So you're Mike Johnson, You've got to get to get
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: to eighteen. You look at Republicans. There are not two
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: hundred and eighteen Republicans who will vote yes. Your only
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: choice is to get Democrat votes. If you've got to
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: get to to eighteen, where you'd like to start is
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: give me two hundred and eighteen Republicans.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: There are not.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: I don't believe they're two hundred and eighteen Republicans who
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: will vote vote for any CR. That means you must
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: get Democrats. Now, Democrats, let's look at something like relief
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: for farmers and ranchers. Most Democrats today, the Democrats by
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: and large don't care about farmers and ranchers. So the
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: Democrats are like, I'm not going to vote for aid
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: for farmers and ranchers. Why would I do that? And
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Florida and North Carolina are both Republican states, so most
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: of the Democrats are like, why would I give disaster
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: relief to Florida and North Carolina. I'm not from there.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: I'm a liberal New Yorker. Why would I help out Florida?
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: And so what happens is the Democrats say, Okay, if
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: you want my vote, I need X, Y, and Z.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Now these are demands made by Democrat members of Congress.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: So they're bad, they're bad policies, they're terrible. And so
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: the first bill that Mike Johnson rolled out had some
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: elements in it that were really bad. Now I don't
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: like elements that are bad. But what is Mike Johnson
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: supposed to do? If there were two hundred and eighteen
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: Republican votes there, he would not have to agree to
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: really bad Democrat provisions. There are a bunch of Republicans
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: who are like, hell, no, no matter what, I won't
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: vote for you. So Mike Johnson, on the first version,
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: I think, felt he had no choice but get the
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Democrat votes.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: To pass it.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: Now, when he rolled it out, Twitter went crazy and
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: a whole bunch of people criticized it, and they said,
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: there are Democrat provisions in here that are terrible. Now,
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: mind you just remember the very simple principal, count to
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: two eighteen. If you can get to two eighteen and
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: a better bill, awesome. And by the way, two eighteen
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: doesn't even get it done because you've also got to
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: get it to pass the Senate, which Chuck Schumer and
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: the Democrats control. But let's just focus on the House.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: If you can't get to two eighteen, nothing will pass.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: All right, let me talk about a second principle. I've
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: got four principle that I want to lay out. Number
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: one is count to eighteen. And just remember this, because
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: almost all of the commentary is ignoring the fact that
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: nothing will pass unless you can get to to eighteen.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: And by the way, so the first bill Johnson had
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: a cr through mid March, had far made, had disaster relief,
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: and had a bunch of gives he had to give
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: to Democrats because he had to get Democrat votes to
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: get it to pass. Twitter went crazy, blasted him, you
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: terrible rhino. How could you possibly propose? Democrat asks, Well,
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: the answer would be because he's got to get to
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: eighteen and so the first one crashed and burned. Then
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: Trump wants to raise the debt ceiling. Now what's the
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: death ceiling. Let's talk about that, because there's sort of
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: two elements in these battles. One is funding the government.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: The other is the debt ceiling, which is a cap
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: on how much the federal government can borrow. Now every
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: president hates the death ceiling. When Trump is president, he's
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: got to raise the debt ceiling because if he doesn't
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: raise the death ceiling, we will run into the death ceiling.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: And if we did not actually raise it, the United
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: States would default on its debt, which would be disastrous
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: for this country. So Trump wants to raise the death ceiling.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: Now Trump is also angry with Kevin McCarthy, the former
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: Speaker of the House, because he extended the dead ceiling.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: The death ceiling is scheduled to expire next summer. I
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: think June or July, I don't remember, but next summer.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: So six months into the Trump presidency the dead ceilings
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: scheduled to hit, and Trump is very focused on He's
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: mad at McCarthy, very mad at McCarthy. That's six months
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: into his presidency. He's going to hit the death ceiling
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: because he's got to raise it. And that's true of
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: every president. And so Trump is demanding, he says, part
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: of this continuing the resolution raising the debt ceiling.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: So he demanded that.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: Well, Mike Johnson came back as a second version, and
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: he came back with what was called a skinny cr
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: So it included funding for the government through mid March.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: It included farm relief, and it included disaster relief. So
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: those are the asks principally a Republicans. And because Trump
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: demanded it, it suspended the debt ceiling for two years.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: So it gave two of the four years of the
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Trump presidency no debt ceiling, which is what Trump is
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: insisting being this bill. So this second bill was by
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: and large the bill that was being demanded by Republicans. Well,
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: we had a vote tonight.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: What was the vote result? Then it didn't pass.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: Okay, As I said, rule number one is count to
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: two eighteen. The vote was one hundred and seventy four
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: to two hundred and thirty five. Now I'm going to
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: make a simple observation. One hundred and seventy four is
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: not to eighteen. One hundred and seventy four of the
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: s is two thirty five of the No's the breakdown.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Every Democrat but two voted no. Look, the Democrats want
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Trump to fail, so they're all happy to vote no.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: There were only two Democrats who voted yes. Now we
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: still had the Republican votes to pass it. Well, what happened.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Thirty eight Republicans voted no. You cannot get to eighteen
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: in this narrow congress. If thirty eight Republicans vote no,
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: you end up with one hundred and seventy four, which
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: is where we were. So as we're sitting here tonight,
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: I don't know what the hell's going to happen, but
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: on the death Sailing. To be clear, this skinny proposal
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: was almost exactly what President Trump demanded. He put out
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: a statement urging every Republican vote for this now. He
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: was unequivocal, I'll vote for it now because it had
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: almost entirely what was asked for by Republicans, and it
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: had very few of the things asked for by Democrats.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: And it didn't just fail.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: It failed.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: One hundred and seventy four is way way way below
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: two eighteen. And to be clear, it failed because thirty
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: eight Republicans voted no. So what's next. Let me move
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: to the second principle. I told you I got four
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: principles to think through this. Here's the second principle. Funding
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: should be about leverage. Listen, we're living in a time
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: right now. You spent a lot of time on Twitter.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: I spent a lot of time on Twitter. I get
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: that sense. You're frustrated with Washington. Washington's the swamp. You
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: don't like government, just shut it down raw in my view, Now, listen,
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: there are some Republicans. There are swampy Republicans Mitch McConnell
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: who are terrified of a government shutdown, who on every
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: battle over government spending, they want to surrender on everything
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: because they think the government shutting down is the end
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: of the universe. That view is wrong. The government shutting
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: down is not the end of the universe. However, I
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: think you should use battles over government funding as leverage
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: to get something. So if you think back to twelve
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: years ago when I was a brand new baby senator
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: and I led a filibuster against Obamacare, and we had
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: a government shutdown, and I was painted by the media
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: as the point of the government shutdown. To be clear,
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: my position was not shut the government down, raar. My
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: position was we should fund the entirety of the federal government,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: but don't fund Obamacare. That we should use funding as leverage,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: and I had a very detailed and laid out plan
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: to get to victory. Now, we failed in twenty thirteen
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: with that objective, in significant part because Republican leadership Mitch
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: McConnell and John Bayner waged war against me. They joined
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: with the Democrats and said, nope, we want to fund
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: all of Obamacare.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: To hell with you.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: And when you're fighting the Democrats and leadership in your
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: own party, you lose. But I will say to everyone
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: tweeting shut it down, shut it down, shut it down.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: I get you're on your phone. That feels good. Why
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: do I care shut it down? Well, let me tell
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: you when you have a shutdown. Number one, if you
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: have a bunch of soldiers stationed abroad who are not
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: getting paid, who are not able to feed their families.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: That ain't good.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: By the way, it is also important to recognize so
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: the last big shutdown we had was when Trump was president.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: So when Trump's president, if you have a shutdown and
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: you want to navigate through it, And by the way,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Chuck Schumer forced the last shutdown when Trump was president.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: His administration was able to mitigate the harms of the
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: shutdown because they wanted to. If we have a shutdown
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: twenty four hours from now, Joe Biden, the Democrat, will
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: do everything they can to make it as painful as possible.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: So it means a crap tout of federal workers will
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: not get paid going into Christmas. That doesn't make him thrilled.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: And by the way, it's not just federal workers that
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: we're not big fans of. It's not bureaucrats that are
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: regulating the hell out of business and destroying jobs. They're
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: among them, but it's also prosecutors. It is also border
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: patrol agents. It is also Marines, I mean is it's
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: coast guardsmen. It's a lot of people who are good
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: people doing great work who get their pay cut off.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: But Biden will also implement the policies in ways. So
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: for example, what will they do. They'll shut down every
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: national park in America. So maybe you and your family
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: over Christmas break, we're planning to go see a national park.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Maybe you're planning to go see the Smithsonian. Now Christmas
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: is not a huge time for that, but shutting down
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: the museums, shutting down the national parks, it is one
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: hundred percent Biden will do that, and that is done
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: to inflict maximum pain. Let's say you're taking your family
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: on vacation and you want your passport processed. Well, you
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: know what, Biden's going to shut that down. You're not
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: going to get your passport processed.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Every consumer face, make it hurt, is what they're saying.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: They want to make it hurt, and they want you
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: to blame Republicans, and they want you to say this
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: is what they did, this is their fault, and it's
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: a blame game.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: It is a blame game, and they want to make
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: it painful and they want to blame Republicans. So I
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: will just say to everyone, and look, I'm reading Twitter,
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: I'm reading people that I like it, agree with the
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: or just like shut it down, shut it down, shut
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: it down.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: That I get.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: There's a lot about government that frustrates the heck out
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: of me. But let me just ask, Okay, what's.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: The end game.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Do you really think if we have a government shutdown
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: for the next month and Trump arrives on January twentieth
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: with the government shut down for a month, that that
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: helps Trump? Do you really think that helps the incoming administration?
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: By the way, come January twentieth, it stays shut down,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: you still got to get to two eighteen. There are
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: people around Trump will say, well, no, no, no, everyone will
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: blame the shutdown on Joe Biden. I promise you they
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: won't in significant part because when it's Republicans screaming we
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: want to shut down, it's actually not ridiculous of Democrats
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: to say, well, if the Republicans want to shut down,
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: then it's the Republican shutdown. I mean, that's not an
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: insane thing to say. The media will say it, the
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: Democrats will say it. And when you have Republicans screaming
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: I want to shut down, that becomes not a very
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: difficult narrative to tell. So if you're arguing, who cares
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: about the shutdown, let's shut it down, let me just
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: ask what are you trying to accomplish with that, what's
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: the leverage you're trying to get, and what's the endgame?
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: When does the shutdown end? Or do you think we
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: should never pay our active duty military again? And I
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: don't think there are many people And that's one of
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: the dangers of people just yelling when they don't actually
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: look at well, what does this mean?
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: And let me be clear, I have been.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: Vigorous in saying we should use funding as leverage, but
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: leverage for an achievable, concrete, discrete outcome. I'm not hearing
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: anyone who's saying shut it down, shut it down.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: Some people are saying, all right, here's what we should
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: get leverage for. We should get leverage for Trump's demand
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: that we suspend the debt ceiling. And here's the third principle.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: I want to say.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: There are some.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: People arguing for eliminating the debt ceiling permanently altogether, just
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: getting rid of the death ceiling. Never again having to
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: worry about it. And by the way, one of the
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: plans that's discussed is, well, the Democrats have always wanted
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: to eliminate the death ceiling, so let's just do that,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: and that's how we get out of this. I pray
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: that is not the end game here. Eliminating the debt
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: ceiling would be the single world first step we could
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: possibly take if you care about spending or deficits or debt.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Now, why is that?
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: Okay, let's do a little history. Historically, the debt ceiling
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: has been the single greatest leverage Republicans have had to
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: force spending restraint. Now, this has only happened and it's
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: only worked against the opposing party. So one of the
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: challenges with the debt ceiling is when your own party
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: is in power. Trump wants the dead ceiling raised. Every
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: president wants the dead ceiling raised. Republicans, as a general matter,
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: are not willing to exert massive leverage on their own
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: parties president and force spending restraints. So when Trump was
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: president the first time, the debt ceiling was not leverage
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: against Trump because Republicans didn't want to do that.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I understand that.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: But when Democrats are in the White House Republicans, the
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: debt ceiling is the single most effective lever point that
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: has been used against Democrats to force spending restraints. And
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: I want to point to a couple of examples. Number one,
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Graham Rudman Hollings. Graham Rudman Hollings, passed decades ago, remains
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: the single most effective spending restraint that has ever been
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: passed into law. Phil Graham, former Senator from Texas, was
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: the lead author. How did that get passed? It got
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: passed because of the debt ceiling. Got passed because Republicans
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: forced it and said, we won't raise the debt ceiling
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: unless you pass meaningful structural reform to.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Reign in spending. And Graham Hollings.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Was in effect for many years and had a very
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: positive effect reigning in the growth of spending. I'll point
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: to a second example twenty ten, the Budget Control Act.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: Twenty ten, Barack Obama was president and Republicans used the
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: debt ceiling to force Barack Obama to agree to something
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: called the Budget Control Act. The Budget Control Act again
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: significant constrain the growth of federal spending. It was only
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: through the debt ceiling we got that. Now the argument.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: And by the way, today we the Republican senators, we
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: all had lunch.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: JD. Vance came to express his views. To the lunch.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: There were a number of Republicans saying, well, we should
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: just get rid of the debt ceiling now. And I'll
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: tell you I expressed my views. If we get rid
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: of the debt ceiling, it would be utterly disastrous. If
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: you care remotely about government spending, eliminate the debt ceiling
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: would be a massive mistake.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: And I just put it up.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: If we get rid of the dead ceiling, there will
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: come another Democrat president. I get the urge to live
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: in the moment of we're in charge.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: Wuha.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: But unfortunately, there will come another time when the American
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: people elect a Democrat. And for anyone who has an
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: attention span beyond twelve seconds, you recognize throughout history that
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: politics has been a pendulum and it goes from one
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: to the other. So we will get another Democrat president.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: And I told my colleagues today at lunch, I said,
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: all right, you get rid of the death ceiling, get
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: ready for President Elizabeth Warren. And if you don't like
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: a thirty six trillion dollar debt, get ready for a
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: fifty trillion dollar debt because the Democrats Elizabeth Warren wants
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: to eliminate the dead ceiling, AOC wants to eliminate the
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: death ceiling. Chuck Schumer wants to eliminate the dead ceiling
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: because they want to spend us into oblivion.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: So I will say one potential way out of.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: This is to cut an absolute deal with the Democrats
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: that gets rid of the debt ceiling forever. We will
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: have given away what history has proven. And by the way,
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: I'll go back. I'll go back to about a decade.
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: I don't have the most recent stats, but about a
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: decade ago, it was the case that of the previous
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: fifty one times Congress had raised the debt ceiling, twenty
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: eight of those times that had attached meaningful conditions to
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: the debt ceiling. So it's leverage. Remember my principal number two,
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: as you spending for leverage, this is related on principle
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: number three. The debt ceiling is about getting leverage for concessions.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: Now here's the problem I mentioned to you. There are
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: a bunch of Republicans in the House who say they'll
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: never vote for continued resolution. There are also a bunch
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: of Republicans in the House who say they will never
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: ever ever vote to raise the debt ceiling.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: I got to tell you, I don't think that makes
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: any sense.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: I've never said it, and I consider myself very much
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: a fiscal conservative. But forty percent of every dollar the
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: federal government spends is borrowed unless you're prepared to slash
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: the federal government budget by forty percent tomorrow. And by
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: the way, there is literally no serious person on planet
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: Earth who is prepared to do that and is able
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: to do that. Even if you would with a magic
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: wand do that, there's no way to make that happen.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: Unless you're prepared to do that, the debt ceiling will
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: have to be raised. My position has always been I'm
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: willing to vote to raise the debt ceiling if we
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: are getting concessions that are raining in the out of
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: control spending that's bankrupting our country. However, in the House
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: there are a bunch of Republicans who simply say, I
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: will never ever ever vote to raise the debt ceiling
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: no matter what, it doesn't matter what we get. My
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: answer is no, that is a real problem. Let me
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: make one final principle, Mike Johnson, who's the Speaker of
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: the House. There are a bunch of voices on TV,
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: a bunch of voices on talk radio, a bunch of
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: voices on Twitter saying get rid of Mike Johnson, throw
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: them overboard. I'm going to tell you something that I
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: believe is an absolute fact. Mike Johnson is the single
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: most conservative Speaker of the House that will ever be
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: Speaker of the House in our lifetime. He is undoubtedly
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: the most conservative Speaker of the House we have ever
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: had in our lifetime. It's not even close, it's not
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: even arguable. And I'm here to tell you listen, Mike
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: Johnson may lose his job over this. He has a
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: very perilous It's a tiny majority in the House. You've
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: got a bunch of House members saying I'm going to
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: vote against him. I will tell you this, If Mike
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: Johnson has toppled a Speaker of the House, and he
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: might be Kevin McCarthy was, Mike Johnson is orders of
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: magnitude more conservative than Kevin McCarthy. It's not even close.
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: If Mike Johnson is toppled as Speaker of the House,
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: we will end up with a Speaker of the House
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: who is much much more liberal than Mike Johnson. I
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: think that is indisputable. I know Mike Well, he's a
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: good man. He's a decent man, he's a strong Christian,
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: he is a man of humility. And everyone on Twitter
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: is saying, but he gave the Democrats concessions. I want
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: to go back to the first principle. I said, count
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: to two eighteen. If Mike Johnson could draft a bill
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: that makes it out of the House with two hundred
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: and eighteen Republicans, he would I don't believe that is
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: p possible. There's certainly nothing to indicate it as possible
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: right now. If you cannot get to two eighteen with
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: Republicans because a bunch of Republicans say I will not
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: vote for anything you propose, no matter what, then Mike
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Johnson is forced to get Democrat votes. To get Democrat votes,
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: he must give Democrats things they want. And so I
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: don't know what will happen. I think there's a reasonable
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: chance somehow out of this we get some very short
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: term cr a week or two or three, and then
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: in mid January we're back in the middle of this
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: mess again. That's possible. I'll tell you, in the state,
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: we're all sitting there. We have no idea what's going
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: to happen. I got to tell you I feel for
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: Mike Johnson. I think he is trying with all his might,
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: and I would just encourage you to focus on listen.
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: I think we need people to be serious about changing
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: the direction of the battleship of government, and to do so,
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: you actually need a strategy that can get the votes
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: to prevail. If you can't get the votes, it's easy
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: to tweet about it. I mean that's from the cheap seats.
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: Thirty eight Republicans voted No. One hundred and seventy four
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: is not to eighteen, and so I don't know what
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: the result is here. I think it is chaotic. We
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: will get through this one way or another. But the
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: fundamental structural dynamics, and it's one of the things look
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: going forward into the next year. I'm really optimistic about
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: the Trump presidency. I'm really optimistic about a Republican Senate
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: in the House. But I'll tell you the Senate's going
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: to be a lot easier. We've got fifty three Republicans
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: coming in next year. By the way, we still have
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: a Democrat Senate today, so I haven't even this whole
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: discussion has ignored the fact that you've got to get
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: Chuck Schumer and the Democrat to agree with whatever you do,
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: which is even harder. But next year we'll have fifty
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: three Republicans in the Senate. Fifty three is a big
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: enough majority that we can lose three votes and still
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: get things done. So I think the Senate will be
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: able to pass pretty good legislation, not fantastic, not wonderful,
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: but surprisingly good. The House worries me enormously next year
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: because the majority is so excruciatingly small that if you
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: lose a handful of votes, you cannot get to too eighteen.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: And so I think Mike Johnson is trying to work
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: miracles right now. But the single hardest challenge of the
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: next two years in terms of passing good legislation is
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: going to be getting to two eighteen in the House.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: And I don't know what the answer is to that.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: I want to take a moment and talk to you
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: about IFCJ the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, wants
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: to wish you a blessed beginning of the holiday season
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: as you gather with your families, grateful for the blessings
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: that God has given us all. But let's also remember
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: those who are facing unbelievable hardship in need of food, fellowship,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: and hope. That includes the people of Israel, who are
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: threatened daily by attacks from enemies on all sides. And
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: during these hard times, Israelis are thankful for the fellowship,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: for food and basic assistance, truly life saving aid, when
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: the rest of the world seems to have turned its
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: back on them. Your gift of twenty five dollars will
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: help provide a food box to an elderly Jew or
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: a Jewish family who are suffering and in desperate need.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: A gift of one hundred dollars will help provide four
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: of these life saving food boxes this holiday season. Please
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: consider standing with Israel and the Jewish people. You can
• 38:51
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• 38:57
  Speaker 1: To make a gift now, that's SUPPORTIFCJ dot org. Or
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: you can call to give at eighty eight for eight
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: eight I f CJ. That's eight eight eight four eight
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  Speaker 1: eight four three two five all right. Make sure you
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  Speaker 1: share this podcast as well. That helps tremendously, Get out
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: all this information to everybody that's out there, and I
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: will see you back here tomorrow