Yesterday, nine House Republicans crossed party lines and joined Democrats to force a vote on a 3-year extension of ACA subsidies. While the actual extension vote remains uncertain, this display of bipartisan support indicates that hope for affordable healthcare in America is not lost.
Jen is joined by Representative Pat Ryan (D-NY) to explain what comes next for MAGA blindly following Trump into political disaster. Simultaneously, the more moderate Republicans are in fear of keeping their seats come this November. The two also discuss the possibility of sending American troops to Venezuela without a plan of action from the White House.
Congressman Pat Ryan is is an American businessman, politician, and former U.S. Army intelligence officer serving as the U.S. representative for New York’s 18th congressional district. Ryan served two combat tours in Iraq, earning two Bronze Stars. He sits on House Armed Services Committee and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The following transcript has been edited for formatting.
Jen Rubin
Hi, this is Jen Rubin, Editor-in-Chief of The Contrarian. We are thrilled to have back with us Representative Pat Ryan from the 18th District of New York. Welcome, Congressman.
Pat Ryan
Thanks for having me again. Happy New Year.
Jen Rubin
My pleasure, and Happy New Year to you, too. The House has an opportunity, this will be seen on Thursday, later in the day on Thursday, to vote to extend the ACA credits, and, to preserve, healthcare for millions of people. The Republicans were utterly unwilling to do anything, and therefore triggered the shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. What has changed, and what gives you confidence now that it’s going to pass?
Pat Ryan
Well, it’s still touch and go, because the Republicans are in disarray, including, you know, we’re talking, on… on… was it Wednesday? I don’t even know what day it is these days. And there’s a procedural vote tonight that they’ve had to delay. So, I think, though, that will pass, and we’ll vote… we’ll be voting on it Thursday, and I think what’s changed is the American people have made their voice known, to the credit of, you know, a lot of people, including my colleagues. Democrats have been out there, to the credit of our leadership, to the credit of Hakeem Jeffries, who’s quarterbacked this, I mean, saying. it’s outrageous.
Costs are already too high for healthcare. The last thing we can afford to do is jack them up more for millions of people. So I think that is what’s changed, and if this passes, which I think it will, it’s actually, like, a democracy in action moment of the people making their voices heard, us organizing around this, us holding the line, us Democrats holding the line on behalf of the people. And, and getting a win here. So, To be clear, there’s still a lot to improve on healthcare. Affordability and quality, but this is a big win if we can get this passed.
Jen Rubin
And this does remind me of 2017, when, same situation. Democrats were in the minority in the House and in the Senate, Trump was in the White House, and yet. Trump could not repeal the ACA. And on exactly the same issue here, in exactly the same configuration, Democrats may be able to pull one out of the… a rabbit out of the hat. Do Republicans at this point understand how unpopular their view is? Do they understand they’re going to get killed in the midterms by maintaining this position?
Pat Ryan
Well, this is one of, like, a dozen plus particularly cost-related issues where they’re wildly out of touch with where my constituents are and where the people are. This is obviously a huge one. I put it in two camps. There’s the group of most, the vast majority, maybe 90% of House Republicans anyway, who are just blindly, pathetically following Trump Off the cliff politically, but more importantly, like, really hurting people. Cutting a trillion from healthcare, not willing to help on this, everything that was in that big, ugly bill.
But there are a set of a few Republicans who still at least try to listen to their constituents, and they are freaking the you-know-what out, because they know this is just, as you said, in 2017, it was rightly kryptonite, it’s gonna be again. And you saw a little bit of efforts by some of these quote-unquote moderates on the Republican side to try to sign on to these discharge petitions, basically to cover their ass, frankly, with their constituents, and So, they know they’re in trouble here, and rightly so, because I, like, we just got some survey results back from my district. The stories we heard back, qualitatively and quantitatively, of how people are going to be hurt on healthcare through these actions of the Trump admin, it is… I mean, it’s just un-American. It’s just straight-up un-American.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. Now, if this does pass, it goes over to the Senate. There’s some talk about some kind of compromise, maybe not a 3-year or 2-year, maybe they’ll have some qualifications, maybe they won’t. In your talks with New York’s senators, are you optimistic at all that the Senate could get something done?
Pat Ryan
I actually am optimistic the Senate will get something done. The question is, how much do they… dilute down and sort of detract from what is a big win. Again, like, Leader Jeffries putting out this aggressive 3-year extension and holding a line on it and the caucus sticking together is really important. And, my sense is certainly Senate Dems are now strongly united, and there are a lot of Republicans in tough spots that are gonna have to you know, hopefully, again, listen to their constituents. So we’ll get something done on it, but, the fact that, like, to your point, like, for basically a decade plus, they’ve just been trying to take healthcare away from people and raise costs of healthcare, the voters know that that is the Republican brand when it comes. So, there’s gonna be major consequences, both politically and materially, for… for a lot of people.
Jen Rubin
Let me switch gears to foreign policy and the military. You’re a graduate of West Point, and wanted to get your perspective. Donald Trump unilaterally essentially went to war. He used a overwhelming military force. He’s kidnapped the president of a, sovereign country, at least it was sovereign, and now he’s talking about running the country, and he personally dispensing oil. Give me your perspective as both a former military person and also somebody who’s part of the first branch of government that last time I checked in the Constitution, had the sole power to declare war.
Pat Ryan
To your great question, like, this is just wrong in every dimension, constitutionally, strategically. I think the big takeaways to me are, Separate from the process, which is an important discussion of absconsion of responsibility by the Congress. Like, this action does not make America safer. Like, my constituents are not safer because of this. It’s gonna cost, most importantly, like, we have already spent American blood. There were 7 Americans wounded in this, which wasn’t even disclosed till last night. We’ve spent American blood and treasure already toppling another regime in pursuit of oil, and Trump has not been subtle about his views on that. And now they’re saying, we’re gonna, to your point, quote, run this country, threaten to invade 6-plus additional countries, many, one of whom is a NATO ally, and, like. this is… the juxtaposition between the two items we’re talking about here, Jen, is so important, because what my constituents want is lower my healthcare costs, lower my housing and food costs, lower my utility bill, and everything he’s doing is not focused on that, is actually raising the costs.
And, just on a personal level. I served 27 months in combat in Iraq. what is happening now rhymes so eerily, infuriatingly, with what is going on. Like, we just came out of a briefing with Marco Rubio. dual-hatted as the Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor, who shrugged his shoulders when we asked how much this cost, who joked and made light of the fact that we have supposed leverage on, the now-acting interim Deputy, who’s… who is listed in… as one of those, who was indicted, along with Maduro. So, this is just upside down, and most importantly, and I’m sorry, I could go on on this, because it pissed me off,
Most importantly, this is not what the American people want, for one.
Jen Rubin
As in Afghanistan and Iraq. We had, in essence, an open-ended commitment. Did you get any sense from the administration that they have a time frame? How long is that Armada gonna stay off the coast of Venezuela? And if there is increased violence, and we’re seeing some signs of that increased repression, are they going to put troops on the ground in Venezuela?
Pat Ryan
Well, this is where we get the mixed messages again. There were major mixed messages in that press conference on Saturday, where Trump’s saying we’re gonna run it, then later Rubio’s trying to clean it up and saying, no, no, no, that’s not the case. Then later, Trump doubles down and, no, we’re running it. So what’s clear is that there is no plan. I mean, they have clearly not thought this through, and I was really struck by how… the hubris, actually, in the briefing we just came out of, where I think Rubio in particular, feels like… this is untouchable, like, this is like his neocon dream from the beginning of his political career, and he’s seeing it lived out, and I think he feels almost invincible.
But this is not gonna go well. And they even admitted in this briefing that we’re already seeing major repressive action by this new regime. Which is totally predictable. And they would not commit, to your… answer your direct question, they would not commit to any timeline of. A free and fair election, a bringing in of the previously democratically elected president from last year, or any commitment around, you know, our military forces being deployed, a carrier strike group surrounding the country.
Jen Rubin
And to be clear, that deployment means they’re not deployed elsewhere. It is an enormous armada, and not only the cost, but the risk that we’re posing. Exactly. One of the aspects of this, that is inexplicable to me is that Trump says it’s all going to get paid for by the oil from Venezuela. Part of the problem is that the Maduro regime, of course, has completely trashed their own oil system, and their own oil industry, and it is expected that it will cost tens of billions of dollars just to get it back up and functioning properly. Who is going to pay for that?
Pat Ryan
So that question was directly asked, and like most of the questions in this last classified briefing, not answered. The vaguest, you know, the vague hand wave of, well, the oil companies are gonna do it. Which, of course, they have increasingly publicly and definitely privately said. we’re not ready to sign on the dotted line, to that, sort of mess of a situation, politically and materially. So, again. saying this is half-baked would be generous in every dimension. It’s like a 1% baked mess of a plan, both militarily was executed well, but then all the rest is not thought through, and again, like, I just have to keep saying it, because I think this isn’t… like, the American people get this. It rhymes with… Iraq, so… so eerily and strongly, and if there’s one thing the American people agree on, it’s stop. Open-ended foreign entanglement, regime change wars, largely based on oil, that spend our precious blood and treasure, when we need that here.
Jen Rubin
And that, in fact, was the message Donald Trump ran on. Right. And, And frankly, this is worse, because at least George W. Bush in Iraq got a authorization for use of force, and they had a fulsome debate. They misrepresented what was going on there, but at least there was a debate, and there were votes in Congress. Let me shift gears to what Congress might do, or could do. There’s talk of a War Powers Act, there’s talk about using the power of the purse so we don’t wind up subsidizing the oil companies. Do you think there’s any kind of chance that Congress can actually take back their role, and they do have one in foreign policy, given the fact that you do have some nervous Republicans now in the House?
Pat Ryan
Yes, I actually do. I mean, there’s two big leverage points coming. One is we will introduce another War Powers resolution, which is privilege, meaning it has to be voted on specific to Venezuela. And this happened just a day or two before Christmas, but that almost passed in anticipation of essentially what ended up happening. By one vote, I mean, it was, you know, 213 to 211, but one vote swapping would have kept us, at least if they followed the Congress and the law, which was debatable these days, but that would have blocked this action that happened.
So, I think… I know Democrats will be united on this, and to your question, I’ve talked privately with several Republicans who already had concerns and now have serious concerns about, particularly the doubling and tripling down on the we’re running the country aspect. I think we can debate the… the strike and the arrest, or kidnapping, whatever you want to call it, is… at least there’s some more room to debate that, not that I’m saying I… fully supportive, but the idea that we’re gonna run a country that’s a true mess is… just defies common sense of any normality
The other thing that I think is important, the Defense Appropriations bill. is gonna play out over the next two to three weeks. That’s another really important leverage point here. that we’re thinking about how do we bring that into play, over the next… and that has to be passed before January 31st, per the last continuing resolution after the shutdown. So, I know that’s wonky in the process, but there are multiple force points here coming up.
Jen Rubin
Well, Congressman, as always, we thank you, and the question has to be put to Republicans. Are you in favor of forever wars? for oil, and each one of them is going to have to answer that, at some point. So, we thank you, we thank you again for your service in the military and now in Congress, and we will look forward to speaking with you more in the new year. Take care.
Pat Ryan
Thank you for having me, appreciate it.
