Sen. Smith: Government shutdown, higher health insurance premiums a 'lose-lose situation'

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: It's our top story today. The US government has shut down after the Senate failed to pass a stopgap spending bill. That means some US government services are coming to a temporary halt. And many federal workers are furloughed or working without pay through the shutdown.

Republicans and Democrats could not come to an agreement on the spending bill before the deadline, which was at midnight. US Senator Tina Smith from Minnesota, is one of many Senate Democrats who voted against the Republican-backed spending bill. She's on the line with us now. Thanks for your time this afternoon, Senator Smith.

TINA SMITH: Thanks so much, Nina. I'm glad to be with you.

NINA MOINI: The House has already voted to pass the Republican-crafted spending bill. Most Senate Democrats have voted against the bill. Can you explain why? Because I'm sure you don't take lightly a government shutdown that impacts so many people. Why was this so important to you and your Democrat colleagues?

TINA SMITH: Well, it's so important to me because I hear every single day from Minnesotans about how their grocery costs are going up, their utility bills are higher, and especially their health care costs are going through the roof. And we are looking at people in Minnesota and around the country seeing health insurance premiums increase by more than double, in some cases up to 70%.

And that's what this shutdown is about. Democrats want to work with Republicans to halt the massive increase in health insurance premiums. And so far, Republicans have said no. And what we are doing here is saying we're not going to help you take health care away from people. We're not going to help you raise insurance premiums for Minnesotans and people around the country.

And so our doors are wide open to come to an agreement. And this is not really, actually, a Democratic or Republican issue, because people in red parts of Minnesota, as well as people in the blue parts, are all suffering from this huge increase in health insurance premiums. And we just want to work together to get that fixed.

And that's what this fight is about. And that's why I think, in lots of ways, this is a health care shutdown. And I think it's a fight that is well worth having.

NINA MOINI: I want to play a clip of Republican US Representative Tom Emmer from a press conference in Washington this morning. Let's take a listen.

TOM EMMER: Republicans did our job. We did the right and reasonable thing by passing a nonpartisan, clean CR to keep the government open while we work to return the appropriations process to regular order. The reason the government is shut down this morning is because the Democrats decided they would rather hold our government hostage and issue a $1.5 trillion ransom note of radical demands instead of joining us as we try to govern.

NINA MOINI: What's your response to that, Senator Smith?

TINA SMITH: Well, my first response is that Republicans are in charge of the House of Representatives. They're in charge of the Senate. They have the White House. And even President Trump has said that when these things happen, it falls at the foot of the president, who is responsible for making things work and responsible for keeping the government open.

The second thing I would say is that Representative Emmer is very focused on casting blame and trying to deflect responsibility when what he should be doing is working with Democrats to keep health insurance premiums from going up in his district by more than double. That's the issue that Minnesotans are, I think, focused on.

And let's be honest-- I think what's happening right now in Washington, DC is probably not getting a ton of attention yet. But what is getting people's attention is that they're looking at these huge increases in their health insurance premiums, and they're trying to figure out how to pay for it. And they want to know that somebody is on their side here in Washington to help them afford it.

What is going on here, actually, is an expiration of a tax credit to help people afford their health insurance premiums through MNsure, through the Minnesota Health insurance exchange. That's where, I guess, about half of small businesses are purchasing their health insurance, and many, many, many farm families, because they don't have a big employer. But across the board, health insurance premiums are going up. And so I think that's, as I said, I think that is something that is worth arguing over, and disagreeing over, and reaching a consensus on so that we can stop this from happening to people.

NINA MOINI: How do you reach consensus or work together during a shutdown? MPR had a cut earlier from Speaker Johnson saying, we got to keep the lights on to be able to come to an agreement. So what is your response to that?

TINA SMITH: Well, Speaker Johnson knows that although the House-- it's sort of ironic because the US House of Representatives has been out of session for two weeks. They won't even be back until next Monday. But the Senate is in session. And we're voting today.

And I saw on the floor a pretty sizable group of rank and file senators that were trying to figure out what's a path forward-- because the Republican senators understand that their constituents are going to be hurt by these huge health insurance premium increases. And so I would say back to this, respectfully, to the Speaker of the House, that we here in the Senate are continuing to talk and trying to find a path forward. And it's too bad that they passed their bill, and then left town, and aren't here to help us figure it out.

NINA MOINI: The last government shutdown was 2018. It lasted for 35 days. That's a pretty long time. And I'm sure you can understand it's hard for constituents and people to hear both parties casting blame back and forth.

But I want to talk to you about how you feel this will impact Minnesotans here in the state, both immediately. And then if it does reach 30, 35 days, a month or more, do you think that that's possible?

TINA SMITH: Well, I hope that we can have a common sense negotiation to try to solve the problem of health insurance premiums going up. And there's no reason that should take weeks and weeks and weeks. But I'm also concerned that what has to happen is that President Trump has to be willing to find common ground and to find agreement.

And, of course, I always worry about what impact this has on folks and what they're going to do. And I worry a lot about the hard working federal employees that will start going without a paycheck in a couple of weeks and what impact that has on them. And I'm thinking a lot about Minnesota farmers who are going to find it a lot more difficult to get the help that they need from the USDA because folks might not be there to answer the phone. So we are in a kind of a lose-lose situation in the sense that if we don't fight, then people's health insurance premiums are going to be massively impacted and going up. And yet, there is this real impact on people's lives that I take very seriously too.

NINA MOINI: And you mentioned President Trump. A government shutdown has, in the past, meant federal workers are temporarily furloughed. The president has said that he may use the shutdown time to fire some workers permanently and take some other permanent actions. Do you take him at his word on this?

TINA SMITH: Well, President Trump has already fired well over 100,000 federal workers. And I have come to believe, sadly, that he's going to do whatever he does.

He's trying to bully us, and intimidate us, and use fear in order to get us to go along with something. And I'm just not going to go along with a Republican proposal that's going to cut health care for my constituents. And I think that it's important, in this context, to also appreciate that he's breaking all sorts of laws all the time, whether the federal government is open or whether it's not. And so that's a double reason why I think it's important for us to take a stand right now.

We know that we passed bipartisan budget bills in the past since President Trump became president, and he's ignored them. So I'd like to see some guarantee that whatever we do isn't going to just be a blank check for him to do whatever he wants.

NINA MOINI: Just before I let you go, senator, can you describe for Minnesotans what your work looks like next. What happens next? Because I think sometimes people have an impression of Congress, particularly now during a shutdown, that people are just sitting around, and doing nothing, and giving soundbites. Tell the people what you're going to be doing. What's your action step?

TINA SMITH: Yeah. Well, I will be here for the foreseeable future working and pushing to try to find agreement so that we can negotiate and we can stop people's health insurance premiums from going up so dramatically. So I'll be here in Washington. I would like to note that the high holiday of Yom Kippur is starting at sundown tonight.

And so the Senate will not be in session tomorrow. But I will still be here. And then we'll be back working on Friday.

NINA MOINI: Senator Smith, thank you for stopping by Minnesota Now. Appreciate your time.

TINA SMITH: I appreciate it. Thanks so much, Nina.

NINA MOINI: That was US Senator Tina Smith.