How do you make sure that you can do more than just oppose the president?

Well, great to be with you, Michelle.

Good morning.

After really a historic election last night, I want to just first say I'm so thrilled to get a third term in the House of Representatives to represent the 13th Congressional District.

So thank you to those voters.

Look, I think that this was a change election.

I think this was a rejection of the Trump economic policies that we've seen over the course of these last two years that have led to increased costs across the board, whether it's people being unable to afford health insurance today, gas prices at over $4.50 a gallon in the district, a war, a needless war that no one asked for, no one wanted, and we clearly don't have any strategy on how to get out of.

How do you balance both of those things and not just make this continue to be a political fight?

And on an election night, Congresswoman, how are you feeling here as polls are closed but not all the results are in?

I'm feeling really good.

I think people are getting out to vote.

I think the early vote tallies are showing that that we're seeing and hearing about record numbers of early vote turnout.

We do know, of course, early vote has typically favored Democrats.

So we have to kind of balance that out with the results that we're going to see from today.

But I think that the early vote numbers, and I just anecdotally tell you at SIU, we've heard SIUE and Edwardsville, they ran out of ballots for the first time ever.

What are the district's priorities and what might be the priorities of a Democratic caucus now that might have some different ideas about how to govern in Congress with the majority?

What would be your policy's prescriptions to make health care more affordable with your residents?

Yeah, I think first and foremost, there's a universal in the House Democratic Caucus about reinstating the ACA tax credits.

I also think that one of the things that was cleverly, cruelly genius about what the Republicans did with the big ugly bill is these Medicaid cuts aren't being felt yet.

They don't go into effect until next year.

So we know that that is coming.

That is a huge financial strain that states are gonna have to be absorbing.

And I do believe if we don't take action to roll back those Medicaid cuts, we're gonna see rural hospitals closing, nursing homes in rural communities closing.

Where have the policies pushed by the current administration and Republican Congress most harmed this population? Oh,

What do you hear from workers about the cost of projects being delayed or canceled? And where could this deal, Baja, really make a difference?

Yeah, well, thanks, Pavan.

And thanks.

Thank you to you, too, for having me on.

I do just want to say, you know, I think on a couple of different fronts, I think what I hear is, you know, first of all, going back to the Inflation Reduction Act and the loss of those tax credits and building out many of these energy projects, specifically the clean energy and the renewable energy projects that were terminated and You know, they estimate that nationally that's been directly attributed to a loss of about 122,000 jobs.

These are good paying jobs.

And, Pavan, you make the point about the work I did with Climate Jobs Illinois.

As a coalition's policy vice chair, how are you and your colleagues approaching it? Are there any parts of the package that offer a really strong basis for getting House Democrats on board?

Congresswoman, you told the Associated Press that the antidote to Democratic infighting is, quote, "getting things done." With President Trump in the White House, what can a Democratic House actually get done?

Well, we can demonstrate that first we can govern right out of the gate and address the biggest concerns that the American people have, which is cost.

Uh, we need to fix our broken healthcare system.

We need to lower utility bills.

We need to build on the 21st century road to housing law, making affordable housing really attainable in this country.

Um, we have a lot of work to do, and I agree with Senator Manchin that it should be laser-focused on cost, bringing down cost, hitting the ground running in January.

We can show that we can lead, and I think it's equally important that we can govern.

Take your choice.

Do you think that it will get voted on before the end of the year?

You know, first of all, let me just say, I really wanna get a bipartisan farm bill done.

We have to get a farm bill done for our growers.

I hear about it as the top concern in the district.

I was just with some growers, actually, a horseradish, uh, group of farmers that do some specialty crop in addition to beans.

And getting that farm bill done, that safety net, is so important.

My feeling about the House version of the farm bill that got out that I couldn't support, a couple of things.

What are your thoughts?

Mm-hmm

... uh, program.

That was a billion dollars that the Trump administration decided to roll back when they eliminated that program.

And I can tell you from an Illinois perspector, this-- perspective, this was a wildly successful program connecting our organic farmers that are growing a lot of, yes, specialty crops, but fresh fruits and vegetables with our food banks, and so otherwise some of their-- what they're producing, what they're growing might not have ended up being sold.

So because of the local food purchasing grant assistance program, those organic farmers were able to get a little bit of a subsidy in order to sell and not lose money on what they've grown and get their-- get what they've grown to a local food bank.

Yeah

... because of the devastating cuts to SNAP, because of the fact that we've, this administration, I say we, none of us, but the Trump administration has eliminated some really successful programs to getting healthy food options to people that are most vulnerable.

'Cause I, too, like Maxine, I believe healthy food is preventative healthcare.

Talk about your pushback.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I think, and push- pushing back has been what we've been doing, [laughs] you know, over these last two years to this administration.

Um, you know, Russell Vought has certainly been one chaos agent, but we, we both well know that there have been many, and they've been effective in creating that chaos all across the country.

I actually served as the chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget under President Biden, so have a little bit of u- a unique familiarity with the, the office.

And I know for a fact that the office is tasked with administering and moving out resources that have been appropriated by Congress.

Help, help us understand where you are, what you've been doing in that space, Congresswoman.

What does everything that has happened there tell you about the state of domestic manufacturing?

Well, first, let me just say what it says to me about the people of Granite City is the grit and resilience and the fight that these people have.

For over 100 years, they've been making steel in this community.

It is the bedrock of this community.

And they're not going to let a corporation, U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel... shut it down without a fight.

And I've been very proud to be a part of that fight with them.

But the credit really goes to them because this was a fight that had been waged well before I got to Congress.

Give me, for instance, what did you see? Do you think they cleaned it up when a member of Congress, two members of Congress were coming by?

All right, so what's on the people's minds as you work the state of Illinois, work your district in particular? What are on the minds of the voters? What concerns them?

There's a lot.

There's a lot that's on people's minds.

I think the thing first and foremost, I would say, is cost.

I think people are talking a lot about rising gas prices now.

I think in Springfield, somewhere around $4.10 plus cents a gallon, which is high.

The war in Iran, I think, obviously, is a big contributor to that.

Why can't we meet somewhere or get some agreement on how to handle this? Is it just basically a major difference between two philosophies?

What other parts of the farm bill are a non-negotiable for you?

Well, I will just say the thing that I am really concerned about is, you know, we took a billion dollars out of our conservation title in the House bill, and the Senate version actually takes about $1.9 billion, so even more, unfortunately.

And what I would just say is, you know, EQIP in and of itself is oversubscribed today at best.

These are programs that, conservation programs that our farmers are taking advantage of.

And without those dollars, it's just going to make it that much more difficult for our farmers to fully utilize it and for all of the potential, I think, for conservation practices to be realized.

That's not a good thing for our farmers.

And I really wish we wouldn't have touched the conservation title as House and Senate Republicans did.

I just wondered if you had anything to add to that.

So like, what is your approach? How are you building support?

Yeah, well, you really hit it on the head, Chelsea.

I mean, it is about showing up.

But it's about listening.

And I think sometimes as Democrats, our policies can kind of feel a little too prescriptive when we should really be showing up in communities with ideas and ideas to bounce them off the farmers and to hear from them.

What is working? Since I came to Congress, some of the things I've heard the most about is that corn and soybean prices are at record lows, input prices are at record highs.

And so farmers on a day-to-day basis are trying to marry those.

And so as the climate is warming, it seems like they should actually be the most on high alert of anyone impacted by climate change.

There were some tradeoffs, as I understand it.

Very much.

How did you get that done? We all worked together.

But one of the things that was very formative is an experience for me in learning about the art of negotiation and legislating.

We had business at the table.

At the same table, we had labor.

We had folks on all sides of this issue.

How do you talk to your constituents about this issue?

Do you think this is the type of bill that could actually get support in both the House and Senate?

I definitely think that, and I think that because I'm standing here with my Republican colleague, Congressman Smith.

I think together on a bipartisan basis, we're the only bipartisan House bill to address, uh, prediction markets and, um, to look at how those trades are happening and, and eliminate the ability for elected officials and our senior staff to potentially take advantage of those.

What are you hearing from their representatives, from, uh, the folks who are lobbying on their behalf about this right now?

Well, we've had really positive conversations with industry.

I will say CalCI in particular is supportive of the legislation that Congressman Smith and I have introduced, and we're continuing to have ongoing effort, uh, conversations with the industry as we put forward this legislation just today.

What would it look like if you were on the receiving end of that hr.opm.gov email and you were flooded with all of the responses from hundreds of thousands, in some cases, federal employees? How possible is it even to take the accounting of who responded and who didn't respond and then notifying them of their termination?

Well, exactly.

Not only is it confusing, but what you're seeing is this administration is actually making mistakes.

You know, first, let me say that when I had the opportunity to serve as chief of staff at the Office of Management and Budget, I served firsthand the professionalism, the thoughtfulness of the federal workforce.

And the fact that they would be bullied as they are being right now and getting these emails is really just horrific.

But what I would say is that this administration, in their rush to make these decisions, are clearly making mistakes.

You saw that at the CDC.

So harsh words from a stalwart of the Democratic Party, but is there some truth in it?