Rep. McCollum to vote no on spending bill, calls health care vote promise 'cold-hearted lie'

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: Today, lawmakers in the House are returning to Washington, DC, to vote on a bill that will end the longest federal government shutdown in US history. Lawmakers have been in stalemate for nearly seven weeks, as neither party could reach an agreement on a spending bill. But on Sunday night, seven Democrats and one independent joined most Republicans to pass the bill.

Representatives will vote on the bill in the House tonight, where Republicans have a majority. Joining me now is the longest serving member of Minnesota's congressional delegation and Democrat US Representative Betty McCollum. Thank you so much for your time this afternoon.

BETTY MCCOLLUM: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: I wanted to start just by asking-- I think I know the answer. But how are you planning to vote? Are you going to vote to reopen the government tonight?

BETTY MCCOLLUM: I'm voting to make sure that we have-- the American people know that it was irresponsible of the Republicans never to negotiate with Democrats in good faith to make sure that people could afford their health care. So I will be voting no on this continuing resolution, which the more Americans find out which is in it-- it's not, quote unquote, as Republicans like to call it, "a clean CR--" they're going to be appalled.

NINA MOINI: The legislation passed by the Senate includes funding for SNAP food aid, a back pay for those furloughed federal workers that have been working so long without pay, many have quit. What is not in the package that you're-- I see you alluding to some things. But what's not in there that you think should be included?

BETTY MCCOLLUM: Well, nothing ever good comes of a shutdown. And when President Trump and the Republicans passed their big, beautiful bill, we pointed out as Democrats, both out and going through the committee process and on the House floor, how tax cuts were being made permanent for the most wealthy Americans in this country.

But for people who receive a tax credit to be able to afford health insurance that really covers the needs of their families, that was left off. That was zeroed out. And we're finding out-- I just stepped out of a meeting now, I'm in the process of trying to get a copy of everything to read it-- that there's going to be eight senators in this bill that's on the floor tonight, eight senators that are going to be paying themselves close to, when all said and done, $1 million for a grand tour, for what they disagreed with, what the grand jury doing something lawful, just to not look at their conversations but as part of investigating what has happened on January 6, phone calls that were made.

Eight senators, $1 million. Now, there were Republican House members that are also upset about this. They weren't even included in the deal. And then the appropriations process for the appropriation bills that were going to go forward on, the Appropriations Committee wasn't involved in the way that they normally are at signing off on the bills.

The Senate, Mr. Thune, just included it on the 11th hour, without any sign-off from the house appropriators. So the House has been totally shut out on this bill. Food never should have been used as a weapon.

The president refused to follow appropriations law and fund SNAP. But I am, and I mean this sincerely. I am glad that our hardworking federal workers are going to start to receive a paycheck. That, I am grateful for. But at the same time, I have constituents, there's people all across the country that are telling me that they're not going to be able to afford their health insurance, and they're going to be dropping it.

NINA MOINI: And I should mention, as you're saying what you're seeing in the bill, in the paperwork that we have reached out to Minnesota's Republican representatives in Congress as well and have not received responses from any of them. I wonder--

BETTY MCCOLLUM: No. In fact, last night at the Rules Committee, when the Rules Committee was meeting, the Republicans split as they were finding out about some of these things that were placed in the bill, especially the money to the eight senators. They were asking, well, why can't we remove this?

So this bill has been done in a nontransparent fashion and a cold-hearted lie saying, one, that we're going to get a chance to offer health care that's affordable to Minnesotans and Americans, and also that it's going to really bring down costs and improve the lives of Americans.

NINA MOINI: That is the center of the argument of many Democrats, that this will potentially gut health care for Americans. But there are many realities as well, that people are facing in this moment, especially those furloughed workers we were talking about, disruptions to government programs.

BETTY MCCOLLUM: Absolutely.

NINA MOINI: We know the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is coming up and the travel nightmare situation that has been unfolding. How are you weighing all of this?

BETTY MCCOLLUM: I'm weighing the fact that Democrats, myself, as an appropriator, we have been excluded from even being able to negotiate. In August, when it became apparent that the Epstein files might be released, Speaker Johnson put us on a hiatus.

I still was showing up to work. We still wanted to do things. He refused to swear in a member of Congress, who was duly elected in Arizona, for 50 days. She'll be finally sworn in today because they didn't want the Epstein files released.

So I don't know if this shutdown was dragged out so that a cover up of the Epstein files could keep moving forward, or if it was sincerely that they just didn't want to negotiate with Democrats.

We're almost an equal 50% of the House, We are almost 50% of the US Senate. And our voices have been totally not heard on this. That means the voices of my constituents were never given a chance to participate in a meaningful dialogue, to make sure that their needs were addressed.

NINA MOINI: As the process moves forward, Representative, if the current legislative package passes, Congress does not take any other action on health care costs this year, those Affordable Care Act tax credits will expire, that you've been talking about. How will you continue to provide affordable health care for Minnesotans in that case?

BETTY MCCOLLUM: Well, that I'm trying to. The Republicans are not trying to provide affordable health care. And let's be clear, people have to pick their plans by the first week in December. And they have to make a payment.

And the Senate's not even going to maybe get a possible vote, not a guarantee that it would pass until December 15. This is a total avoidance of negotiating in good faith with the American public to be able to afford their health insurance.

And it's not just the people who aren't getting their tax credits denied while tax breaks for the wealthy were made permanent, it's also going to affect everybody's health care insurance rate. It's going to affect our clinics. It's going to affect our hospitals. It's going to affect our emergency wards. This will live on and on and on in a negative consequence for families and for our economy.

NINA MOINI: Representative McCollum, thank you for your perspective. I appreciate your time.

BETTY MCCOLLUM: Yes, I hope we can do better. The American public deserves better. I'm here to work. Thank you.

NINA MOINI: Thank you. That was Democrat US Representative Betty McCollum. Again, we reached out to Minnesota's Republican representatives in Congress for interviews and did not receive a response from any of them.