LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Now that the ACA tax credits have expired, some members of Congress are warning about the effect it'll have on Americans.
BRIAN FITZPATRICK: For the people that are receiving these subsidies, for those subsidies to go away, it's a huge deal for them.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
That's Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. He's one of the swing district Republicans Sam just told us about. Fitzpatrick is also part of a bipartisan group in the House called The Problem Solvers Caucus.
FADEL: Fitzpatrick co-chairs the group with Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York.
TOM SUOZZI: This is going to be a body blow to people throughout the country that are now getting these premium tax credits.
FADEL: Suozzi and Fitzpatrick are behind the discharge petition that's made today's vote on extending the subsidies possible. They sat down together in Suozzi's office to talk to our co-host, A Martínez, about the road ahead.
SUOZZI: The bill that we're voting on is to put it back the way it was before for three years, but that's unlikely to become the final law. Brian can speak for himself, but he didn't support the idea of a clean three-year extension, but he did this because he knew we had to get it to the Senate. The Senate will then negotiate to try and come up with a bipartisan compromise, we hope, on their side and then bring it back to us again.
A MARTÍNEZ, BYLINE: So, Congressman Fitzpatrick, how did you square those two ideas, not being in favor of a clean three years, but also knowing for you, at least, that you wanted something to be there for your constituents?
FITZPATRICK: Yeah, because there was only one thing that was worse than a clean extension with no income caps and no reforms and that would be complete expiration, with no bridge, no off-ramp for people who need these subsidies. Myself and Tom and so many of our colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, offered multiple two-party solutions, multiple different iterations, that in large part did the same thing.
It enacted reforms, anti-fraud measures, income caps to ensure that the lower- and middle-income earners were benefiting the most from these subsidies. All of those options were rejected, unfortunately, by House leadership, so it left us with two options - either expiration or clean extension. And clean extension is a far better option, in my view, and that's why I proceeded down the path that I did.
MARTÍNEZ: How many other of your Republican colleagues do you think would support that?
FITZPATRICK: Well, there were only room for four signatures, and we got four signatures almost instantly after I led the charge to sign. There were many others that were ready to sign, but once it hits 218 the petition is closed. So, you know, the number, the final number remains to be seen. And keep in mind, A, that this is a vehicle that will go to the Senate. The Senate will then put their stamp on it.
It will, in all likelihood, emerge back to the House as something close to the proposal that Tom and I worked on, along with our other colleagues, that have those reforms and income caps that I mentioned.
MARTÍNEZ: Congressman Suozzi, if indeed this bill passes, I mean, will this ultimately be vindication, you think, for your party's decision to make health care such an important issue in last year's government shutdown?
SUOZZI: Well, I think it's a victory for the American people, and the people that we serve, both parties - Democrats, Republicans, independents, they all care about this issue. And, you know, Brian and I serve as the co-chairs of a group called the Problem Solvers Caucus, and it's about 50 members of Congress pretty evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
And every problem we face in our country, including this one, is complicated. And you can't solve complicated problems with everybody just yelling and screaming at each other and saying, you're one of those. No, you're one of those. You need people of goodwill who may disagree with each other, like Brian do - and I do. We disagree on a lot of stuff. But we work together to say, hey, let's try and find common ground.
MARTÍNEZ: But Congressman Suozzi, we live in a world where we look at the scoreboard after everything that happens, no matter what. We want to see who wins and who loses. Will it be perceived as a win for Democrats if this happens?
SUOZZI: Yeah. It will be. And it'll be seen as a victory also for the people who want to promote bipartisanship 'cause the Democrats couldn't do this on their own.
MARTÍNEZ: Congressman Fitzpatrick, even if this bill does pass in the House, it would need, of course, to pass in the Senate before President Trump would have to make that decision to sign it or not. What kind of support do you think this would need to get in the House for Majority Leader John Thune to actually allow a vote in the Senate?
FITZPATRICK: Well, I think it's going to be taken up regardless, you know, because getting the vehicle to the Senate was the key. I am very confident in the signals that we see coming out of the Senate. After we got 218 on this discharge, it completely breathed life into this issue in the Senate. It was all but dead. And I'm confident that they're going to get something done and get something back to us.
MARTÍNEZ: Are you worried at all over the kind of pressure all of this might put on President Trump? If he's got this on his desk waiting to make a decision, and it seems like it has support both in the Senate and in the House, wouldn't that put a lot of pressure on President Trump to actually sign it?
FITZPATRICK: Well, I think it tells him that it's the will of the people. It shouldn't be pressure. It should be an easy signature, and I believe he will sign it.
MARTÍNEZ: Congressman Suozzi, what about you? What do you think?
SUOZZI: I think there's no question about it. The president - if, you know, for all the things I don't like about him, he follows the polls and he follows what the people are asking for, and the people are asking for us to address this health care affordability issue.
MARTÍNEZ: If all this gets to the finish line and the subsidies are extended for three more years, do you think that is enough time to come up with a solution or maybe a different way forward for health care in the United States? Congressman Suozzi, let's start with you on that.
SUOZZI: Health care, even if we get these subsidies put back in place, these tax credits put back in place, is way too expensive. We spend way too much money at the end of people's lives. We don't spend enough money on prevention. We know the leading causes of early death, avoidable deaths, are smoking, improper diet and lack of exercise, and we have to do more with preventative, making sure people get their primary care early as opposed to waiting until they're very, very sick.
And we have seen during this process that there are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle that really want to get something done. And this is an opportunity for us to show that we can work together like we have here, and we can do even more things together if we get a little bit of a breather, and we're not under the gun like this.
MARTÍNEZ: What about you, Congressman Fitzpatrick?
FITZPATRICK: Yeah. I think this is a case with a lot of these issues, and health care is certainly included, that for too long, too many have allowed the perfect to be the enemy of the good. I think, A, that we need to get back to the basics with health care. And I represent Levittown, Pennsylvania. Tom here represents Levittown, New York.
And when I grew up in Levittown, doctors, by and large, worked out of their own houses. There was very little between the doctor-patient relationship. And you look at the health care system today, where doctors then started working for hospitals, and then the hospitals were working for insurance companies, and then the insurance companies were working for hedge funds.
And there's been massive vertical integration that has been incredibly harmful to the health care delivery system, incredibly harmful to patients. So I think we just need to get back to the basics in health care, and to your question, do we have enough time to do it? Of course we do. We know what needs to be done.
The question is, are there enough people with courage, with backbone, in both parties to cross the aisle to actually get it done. And that's a question that remains to be seen. You know the answer when it comes to Tom and I. We do it every single day. It's built into our genetic DNA. That's how we operate.
FADEL: That's Tom Suozzi, Democrat from New York, and Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania. They're the co-chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. Thank you both for your time.
FITZPATRICK: Thank you.
SUOZZI: Thank you.
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