The Checkup with Doctor Mike - The Truth About The Government Shutdown | Senator Chuck Schumer

Episode Date: October 19, 2025

I'll teach you how to become the media's go-to expert in your field. Enroll in The Professional's Media Academy now: https://www.professionalsmediaacademy.com/00:00 Intro01:18 What Is A Shutdown?09:03 Proposed Cuts12:42 Republican Healthcare Plan16:40 Healthcare For Immigrants25:47 Calling Trump Now32:18 Nuclear Option, Epstein Files36:20 Israel, Deficit, Illegal Immigration46:08 Democratic Agreement47:58 A Message To TrumpHelp us continue the fight against medical misinformation and change the world through charity by becoming a Doctor Mike Resident on Patreon where every month I donate 100% of the proceeds to the charity, organization, or cause of your choice! Residents get access to bonus content, an exclusive discord community, and many other perks for just $10 a month. Become a Resident today: https://www.patreon.com/doctormikeLet’s connect:IG: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/instagram/DMinstagramTwitter: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/twitter/DMTwitterFB: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/facebook/DMFacebookTikTok: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/tiktok/DMTikTokReddit: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/reddit/DMRedditContact Email: [e-mail] Producer: Doctor MikeProduction Director and Editor: Dan OwensManaging Editor and Producer: Sam BowersEditor and Designer: Caroline WeigumEditor: Juan Carlos Zuniga* Select photos/videos provided by Getty Images *** The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional **

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we don't renew the ACA. When you talk to a mother and she says, my daughter has cancer and she's going to lose her treatment, my daughter's going to die. That's a moral imperative, not a political imperative, a moral imperative to do something about it. I think the reason why our channel is successful is because we try and see people who disagree with us,

their side of things. Yes, good idea. So what's your understanding as to why the Republican leadership is okay with making these cuts? What is their plan? In the past, I've said that my content is clinical, not political. And I realized that's inaccurate. In order to advocate for my patients, in order to advocate for good quality public health, we need to be political. The key is to not be partisan.

Currently, the United States is in the midst of a historic government shutdown, all centered around health care spending. So I invited Senator Chuck Schumer to a conversation where I challenge him on the truth about why the government is shut down, what impact it has on your life and how your health premiums may skyrocket in the near future. Please welcome Senator Chuck Schumer to the Checkup podcast. What a run. This champ is picking up speed. But they found a lane. Phenomenal launches into the air. Absolutely incredible air transit.

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Senator, thank you so much for joining me at a time where it seems the entire world wants to hear from you. Thanks for coming on to check a podcast. Mike, I couldn't think of a better place to be. And I know, you know, how strongly you have fought for health care things. We've had some successful battles together. There are epipens on airplanes, every airplane because of us. We have more doctor slots because we're so short of doctors, especially primary care. And we did those fights together. And now, you know, now I'm involved in another healthcare battle, a very important one. Yeah, so for viewers, I might be confused why we're having this conversation on the

checkup podcast. It is because health care has become the main reason for why the stalemate exists, why the government shutdown exists. And I want to, I want for us to have a conversation today that is not MSNBC, CNN, just transparent, honest about what's happening because people are frustrated, Senator. They're confused. They don't know what a government shutdown is, why it's happening. So hopefully we can tackle somebody today.

Terrific. Love to. Well, let's kick it off. The government is currently shut down, going into week three. What does a government shutdown even mean? Because when I ask my patients, my friends, my loved ones,

they say it, they say, oh, some essential things are happening, but some are not, some are not getting paid. So what's happening? So like a company, a government has a budget, our budget expires September 30th, okay?

And what has always happened in the past is that the Democrats and Republicans, because you need both in the Senate, unless one side has enough 60 votes, which no side really gets, supermajority, yeah. We sit down and negotiate. This time they didn't do that. The Republicans said, take it or leave it.

And we, the Democrats, we felt that what's happening in health care, that the health care crisis is upon us, and Americans are going to, so many tens of millions of Americans and families are going to feel such pain, that we said, we want to negotiate to address the health care crisis. So they said no.

What's the consequence? I'll get into all of the details as to why they said, no, and most important, what we're fighting for. Sure. But what it means is that the government doesn't have money to spend. essential services continue and the people work.

They don't get paid, but they get paid. Everyone who is furloughed, whether you're working or not, gets back pay at the end. So no one loses any money, but it's hard. Of course, yeah. We hate the shutdown. That's why we want the Republicans to simply sit down and meet with us. So essential services, the military, law enforcement, air traffic control, they continue to work without pay. Some other people are furloughed, and they come back.

when the shutdown is come over. And then they all, you know, what the Trump administration, they've done something no president has tried during the shutdowns, to fire people. But that's illegal. And they've been doing that all along. Shut down or not, they take agencies and they illegally fire them.

In most instances, those who were fired in their groups, unions or whatever, go to court and win, but they are using the shutdowns. as a pretext in that regard as well. And when these specific essential workers that are not getting paid, they get back pay, how has President Trump funded some of their pay? Because he wanted to make sure some groups continue to get paid.

Right. So he funded the military with $8 billion. He took research dollars out of the Defense Department and put it into pay. Now, that's probably not legal because Congress allocated the money in one place, And the Constitution says the president can't just unilaterally move it without Congress is okay. But he's been doing a lot of illegal acts to enforce what he wants. Everyone wants the military to get paid.

Of course. We need them. They risk their lives for us. They're just great. But the way to do that, the real answer is for the Republicans to end the shutdown by sitting down and talking to us. This is unprecedented. So are they not talking to you? Not at all.

Let's listen to this. So when we saw how they decimated health care in June in their so-called big beautiful bill, which is we call the big ugly bill, and by the way, Donald Trump said, we better change the name because it's not very popular. They thought it would be more popular than it was, but the way they slashed lots of things,

not just health care, but energy costs, your electricity bills are going to go up dramatically because of what they did because they eliminated some of the best forms of producing energy, clean energy, wind, solar. But health care in particular, We said to the Republicans, way in advance, let's sit down and negotiate. And we started in July, and Thune and Johnson, these are the two Republican leaders of the Senate in the House, said no.

And we wondered why. And then in late August, early September, I don't remember exactly when Trump said, we don't need the Democrats. Well, of course they do, because he needs 60 votes in the Senate and they got 53. I was wondering what his math was like. And so they didn't try to negotiate. Finally, we did get Trump to sit down with us. We asked Trump to sit down with us. Once we found out that the two of them wouldn't do it

because of Trump, we asked them to sit down with us. We asked Trump to sit down with us. He said yes. And then the next day you may remember, he said, no, because Johnson said, don't do it. But he finally did the day before, but it was too late, and he didn't have a serious negotiation. What happened during that meeting?

That was in the Oval Office? It was in the Oval Office. And he saw, well, two interesting things. things happened. First, he didn't take it that seriously. He was playing his games. You know, he put these Make America great red hats on the desk. Of course, we didn't put them on. Oh, he was recommending that you wear them. Well, I think so. He didn't say that, but he put, he had some aid come over and put him on the desk. Little games and sure. All of that and all of that. But here was the interesting thing. When he told that, when we told him how bad this crisis was, how people's

health care costs would dramatically rise so they'd have to lose health care. He said, that's going to be bad for me. I think it was the first time by his body language, et cetera, that he realized how bad the crisis would be. And it's, you know, he's going to, he's, he, he is going to see that more and more and more because we can get into this. Over this month, people are getting from their insurance companies notices of how much their premiums will go up. I just make one other point, if I might. Please. When I was majority leader, we had no shutdowns. We did 13 different budgets.

Why didn't we have shutdowns? Because I sat down with the Republicans and I said, look, no one's going to get everything they want. Let's come together and make an agreement. That's how budgets are passed. And that's what happened. Trump is the first time with the Republican leaders, unfortunately. In the old days, if a president said that, some of the Republican leaders would have the backbone to say, no, we got to do this. This is how, but they went along with Trump.

So the reason we have a shutdown is they won't negotiate with us. And it's common sense when you have two sides that each need something, you sit down and talk about it. So in reflecting on that, do you feel that the Republicans have been more successful this time around, that perhaps maybe you should have held firm and had a shutdown during your course? The number one reason we are not doing this.

We are not, the number one reason we feel so strongly about health care. is because it's decimating. And let me give you some details. Yeah, when we say decimating health care, what will actually play out? So they slashed Medicaid by a trillion dollars. What does that mean? First, it means rural hospitals all across the country,

mainly in Republican states and districts, are going to close. Some have closed already because it's so many of these hospitals depend on Medicaid. For many counties, like including in some of my counties in upstate New York, they're the only hospital.

And they're the largest employer. Second, this applies to lots of your audience, who I know tend to be the young folks, the parents who were in nursing homes are going to get kicked out. I was at Silver Lake Nursing Home on Staten Island, where I know your dad lives. The owner told me, if these cuts go through all 300 patients,

many of whom are Staten Islanders, are going to have to leave because I have to close. I'm 70, 80% Medicaid, because Medicaid pays for the people in the nursing homes. where are they going to go? A lot of these, a lot of the kids here don't have an extra room to put them in. And even if they did, as you know, as a doctor, they can't provide the kind of health care they need. Even more devastating is how the premiums will rise. In other words, we want to just renew the tax credits that have existed for a while on your ACA, your Affordable Care Act, they used to call it Obamacare. If they are not renewed, and we asked the Republicans three times we put votes on the floor, and three times they voted no, unfortunately. Here's what will happen.

The average American who's on ACA will pay $500 to $1,000 more a month, not a year, a month. That's, you know, $6,000, $10,000 a year. That's budget breaking for most families. Exactly. That's the problem. They're going to sit at the table Friday night and get their new, their, insurance companies, new proposals. They get them this month. By October 31st, every state requires the insurance companies to send it out, I believe, just about every state. And you'll

see it'll be devastating. For older people, it's even worse. A couple making a couple that's 55 years old, two people 55, who makes like $85,000 a year, which is not that much, particularly with two people working, making $40,000 or $45 each, $25,000 increase. So these people, you And they're starting to get the notices. You see, the people didn't start get notices until October 1st. And about 12 states have gotten the notices so far, but it's going to be every state by October 31st.

What are they going to do? It's like a punch, an economic punch in the stomach. I have two kids. I can't afford $15,000 more a year. I only make $60,000, $70,000. Am I going to have no health insurance? What am I going to do if my kid gets sick? What am I going to do in these situations?

situations. So this is one of the most severe and devastating cuts in health care that we have ever had. And we feel an obligation to represent the American people in this trauma. And even if you don't have, your Medicare will go up because of deficits. If you have Medicaid, you're in real trouble, of course. And it's just, it's not just poor people. And I believe in helping the poor people, of course. But it's middle class people, too, because in nursing homes and stuff. but even you have neither Medicare nor Medicaid nor ACA or premium is going to go up a lot because the insurance companies have to make up the money

they're losing somewhere else. So this is going to be probably certainly the worst crisis in health care for as long as I can remember. I think the reason why our channel is successful is because we try and see people who disagree with us their side of things. Yes, good idea.

So when I sat surrounded by, by those who were anti-vaccine. I had a debate against 20 individuals. I wanted to hear them out. I wanted to understand where they were coming from. What's your understanding as to why the Republican leadership is okay with making these cuts? What is their plan? They say we'll have a plan, but they don't say what it is.

But for so many of them, they've hated this from the beginning. Many of them opposed Medicare and Medicaid when they started in the 60s. You know, before the 1960s, we didn't have health care and much health care. in America. You were on your own. Every Western country had it. And there was an outcry. And under Lyndon Johnson, we've had Medicare and Medicaid, and we've advanced it and made it better and better, making it easier for people to afford their health care. But a large group of Republicans have never wanted to do it. And it's these MAGA right wingers. And they just hate having the government involved in helping people. But the average person without health

insurance, without Medicare, without Medicaid, can't afford it. Period. It's gotten, as you know, more expensive. Now, because, and look, it's not a perfect system at all. I mean, it's far from a perfect system. It's far from a perfect. But people are living longer and healthier because they have the resources to get the kind of medical care

that you and millions of other doctors and health care professionals give them. So here's the horrible thing. They would rather not negotiate with us and shut down the government than provide this health care. It's almost religion to some of them. and it's horrible, but they're against the American people.

Here's an interesting little poll statistic. I don't usually like to cite these polls. Extending these ACA premiums, which will dramatically cause the rates to rise for everyone that they can't afford it, or they have to sit down and say, oh, God, I'll have to really cut back. I can't go to the doctor or hospital I want to go to.

I have to pay much more in co-pays and in deductibles. Which is devastating because then the emergency room becomes primary care. Emergency rooms lose money. They close. People can't get care. It's bad for everyone. It's happening already. Emergency rooms are closing. Community health centers, which, as you know, are the cheaper way, because it's not a big hospital. It's like a drop-in clinic. They're closing left and right. It's terrible. And so this is just something we feel we are doing our job and representing the American people. And what I was telling you was, so extending the ACA credits. Over 90% of Americans want it, but here's sort of the interesting thing. Fifty-five percent of

the people who voted for Trump, so they're hardly pleading-heart liberals, want it, want it extended. So the Republicans are misreading how bad this is, but day by day, more and more people are getting these notices. By October 31st, everyone who has any health insurance will be getting these notices. And it's already, when I go out around my state and other states, this is what people are talking about. And it's going to people, you know, our hope is, and more than hope, our belief is, strong belief, that this is so bad that people, Democrat, Republican, independent, will go to their congressmen and senators and say, fix it. This is a crisis for me and my family, and I think that will happen. It'll take a little bit longer, but as more of these

notices come out, and here's the one other thing. On November 1st, you've got to make your decision, starting November 1st. Do I eliminate health care for my family? Pay more, as we talked about, more deductibles, more co-pays. What do I do? So we've got to move fairly quickly. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and vary by race.

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who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk, business. Yeah, there's been a heavy sticking point for the Republicans surrounding care for health care for illegal immigrants. They've said that time and time again, and I'm going to play it out how I've experienced the information coming at me, and I'd love for you to reflect on it. Initially, it was Mike Johnson coming out

and saying, we don't want illegal immigrants to get funding dollars from these ACA subsidies. On the flip side, you come out and say, that's illegal, we do not provide Medicare ACA subsidies to those who are here illegally. And they say, well, yes, but if they use the emergency room or if they get some kind of protected status, that bypasses those rules that you're saying.

Is my understanding correct? And what else am I missing? Okay. Number one, this bill, what we're fighting for is health care insurance. Medicare, Medicaid, ACA. Not one dollar. Not one effing dollar. can go to an undocumented immigrant.

That's the law, and they haven't shown a single situation where it happens. Now, maybe they can find something by accident or something. I believe it was KFF said something like 1% of that budget will go to getting health care for illegal undocumented individuals because if they end up in the ER, for a really rational reason, because you're not going to ask for someone's immigration status

when they're having a heart attack, because you won't get that answer, especially if they're unconscious. So based on our rules that we have, the EMTLA, we have to treat everyone in the ER. And your Hippocratic oath. And the Hippocratic Oath. We would treat those patients.

Yep. And some of the spending from that budget would go there. Okay. Is that true or no? No. Here is the, it's, let me just modify what you said. Someone, this is a law that's passed in 1986, signed by Ronald Reagan.

because people were being turned down from nursing homes, mainly American citizens, I mean not nursing homes, from hospitals and emergency rooms who said, you don't have insurance, go somewhere else, and they die. So this has always had bipartisan support that people who show up in emergency rooms, in real emergencies. You know, a real answer here, we shouldn't have people going to emergency rooms unless it's a real emergency. And that's why these community health clinics and these rural hospitals are so important.

And you shut those down, it's going to have more people. go to emergency rooms for non-emergency situations. And so when someone shows up, American citizen or otherwise in this emergency room, and they don't have insurance, different people have different hospitals have different ways of paying for it. Some pay for it by different programs, okay? Some pay for it by state and local, and a lot of them pay for it by charity. Yeah, we have a charity care system where I work. Exactly. So that's what happens here.

And this idea that illegal immigrants are getting this money is crazy, crazy. You know, I can't. Are any of those three programs that you mentioned, part of the spending bill that's currently holding? No, that's the point here. Whatever they want to say about this 1986 law, 1968 law, maybe they want to change it. It has nothing to do with the debate we're in. And I want to say nothing. Again, no Medicare, no insurance, no Medicare, no Medicaid.

no, ACA, goes to illegal immigrants, period. Why are they doing this? This is, it's because they always try to divert attention away from the real issue. But that's politics in general. I know, but Mike, this is so serious. It's always politics in general. And depending on which party you ask, they'll say this is serious for us. We believe our budget is so bad that this is serious.

I'll let the American people decide. And they are totally, I mean, 68% of the people are on our side on this issue. 40% of Republicans are on our side. And they're on our side, not because it's Democrat-Republican, not because it's a political fight. They don't give a hoot about politics. They're facing these devastating decisions they have to make ahead of a rural hospital. Should I close my rural hospital?

They had a Silver Lake nursing home on Staten Island and many others. Should I close my nursing home? And then, of course, the tens of millions of Americans who are going to have to make the decision as to whether they pay more. So the bottom line is they always try to come up with a subterfuge, a diversionary issue that has nothing to do with what we're debating and discussing. And here's just a little, this is a little political insiderish, so shut me off. Real roadblock here is Johnson.

Okay, not Thune, although he's not been helpful, but he hasn't. Johnson is in a true pickle for two reasons. number one, about half his caucus doesn't want any ACA extension. Scalise just got up and said that. That's his number two guy from Louisiana also. So they don't want it. But he's got 50 people in his caucus who very much want it. And they're the ones who are most vulnerable in the re-election.

Everyone, you know, they want to keep the House Republican. We want to see the House go Democratic under H.K.M. Jefferson. And so he's stuck. So his decision, what he thought, he would pass a bill without talking to us that didn't address this issue at all and jam us. And in the House, he can do it because he doesn't need Democratic votes. But in the Senate, he does. And they thought they could barrel us into just saying yes. We have found the American people, our constituents, the people were supposed to help feel so strongly and hurt so badly on this that we said we want to negotiate.

and they wouldn't. And they'd rather shut down the government than help these people. It's just crazy. Yeah, you've... And it's because of the political pickle that Johnson is in. What's the way out of it?

Trump. Trump, you know, he's pretty good at the politics of all this. As much as I despise so much of what he's done with his politics. I mean, I worry about our democracy, but that's a different subject.

We're not going to get to that today. But Trump has... When Trump backs Johnson... Johnson usually then backs off. And Trump is seeing how bad this is for him politically. The two best Republican pollsters, a guy named Fabrizio, and a guy name, I think it's McLaughlin, I forgot, it's one of emcee something. They both said that Republicans will lose the House and lose the Senate if they don't change this

because it's the most devastating consequence to American people that we've had in a very long time. You've made unpopular decisions before that you thought were right. Yes. You made your speech on Israel, which some people disagreed with. You chose not to shut down the government earlier in the year. I'm on the speech on Israel. I criticized Netanyahu for the very reasons now that other people are criticizing. I'm just giving a couple of...

I thought it was the right thing to do. Yeah. So you follow your heart. Yes. Why is it so important on this issue to follow your heart? 51,000 people will die at minimum if we don't change the law. law. We don't renew the ACA. Tens of millions of Americans will have, you know, the biggest issue, you ask the average

American family, what bothers you the most? It's nothing political. It's costs. It's how much practicality. Practicality, but how each week, with my income of X, do I buy all the things and have all the things I need, right? And it's gone way up. It's probably the reason Biden lost the election. They called it inflation then. Now we call it costs, but the same thing. And now, Now, Trump is in worse shape on that issue than Biden was when Biden lost the election. In part because of the tariffs, they've raised costs. In part because of what they did on energy, that's going up.

But the number one reason is health care. And so the bottom line is I felt an imperative to do something about this. When you talk to a mother and she says, my daughter has cancer and she's going to lose her treatment and the research, the groundbreaking research has been cut off because they cut off NIH, something you know better than anybody, my daughter's going to die. That's a moral imperative, not a political imperative, a moral imperative, to do something about it. So I felt this was the right thing to do. And the good news is virtually my whole Democratic caucus, from the most liberal to the most conservative feel the same way. But most important, it's not my caucus.

It's the American people. I mean, two-thirds of these cuts are going to be in red states and red districts. I don't care. And, you know, some people say, don't get this done and it'll be good for us politically. It's too important to get this done because so many people will suffer and thousands and thousands will die. Thinking from the Republican side of things, Thune yesterday offered you to buy some time and allowing these ACA subsidies to continue temporarily so that we can reopen the government. Tell me about that.

He didn't offer it to me. Who did he offer it to? Nobody that I know, but he's supposed to offer it to me. But he didn't offer it. He said he might do it, but he said he first, he wanted us to just go along and not negotiate, do what they want, you know.

And then second, maybe we'd negotiate. when we see what it is. We need to sit down, the four of us. That's how this has always been done. Jeffreys and me on the Democratic side, Thune and Johnson on the Republican side, and negotiate something that addresses this issue. Will we get everything we want?

No. Will they get everything they want? No. But that's how it's supposed to work. Thune talked to the press, but there was nothing real, and he never talked to me about that, and didn't have any concrete proposal either.

It was just sort of in the hall. Yeah. Given that you're saying you believe Johnson is leading the real issue here and that President Trump would be on par with this, we're Brooklyn guys. Trump's a New Yorker, I guess sort of. You have your flip phone. What's stopping you from calling him up directly and talking about? Look, when I met with him, when Hakeem and I said, Mr. President, when you're ready to sit down and talk with either the two of us or better, the four of us, the four leaders, we're ready to do it. He hasn't yet. Now he's had his things. He's had his negotiations in the Middle East, and he's doing this with Zelensky. But I believe that the American people, as days go on, and we get closer and close to October 31st, will make it so clear that they want this, that Trump, I think there's a good, strong likelihood

that Trump goes to Johnson and said, let's stile this problem. It's very bad. he'll say politically, I don't know how much he cares about everybody, all the people, but he'll think that. The average person listening or watching will see the president of France, Macron, call President Trump on his cell phone to cross the street. Yeah. But you won't call him to talk about this situation? Look, if I thought he'd have a serious negotiation, I would. And you don't think he will? I think he will at the right moment, yes. So you're waiting for the right moment to have that conversation. Well, yes. We have to have to have the right moment. You know, if I were to call up

and he just call me names, which he does and doesn't bother me. But you guys have a kind of a cordial relationship when you see each other, their smiles and shanches. I would say cordial. I'd say we have a New York, we have a Brooklyn, Queens relationship. Okay, that's fair. Okay. How long does this go on? Well, look, this Republican shutdown, we hope will end soon. And we hope it's because, as I said repeatedly, but I believe it. This is my job. My job is to represent the people of my state and every senator and every congress, the people of their communities. And I believe that every day more and more people are seeing, you know, on October 1st, very few people saw how devastating the crisis would be. But in the 12 states, for instance,

there was some article in one of the papers today. In the 12 states where they've gotten the notice, there's a groundswell. By October 31st, all the states will get the notice. And I believe the pressure on the Republicans, particularly a lot of the Republicans who are not MAGA, and they'll say, save us, we're going to lose our seats. If you don't do this, we'll bring the Republicans to the table, negotiate, and we can get something good done.

It's so frustrating as an individual listening to a conversation like this, probably, because it seems like everyone in politics is making these decisions. based on mounting pressure, based on re-election campaigns, as opposed to what's truly right or moral? No, I'm making it because I hear, and I think my colleagues are making it. At the bottom line, we hear the anguish of people.

That's my number one motivation. Now I find, you know, Abe Lincoln said public sentiment is everything, which means the people ought to decide, and they ultimately do. We still have the vestiges of democracy, despite Trump trying to undo parts of it. And I believe that will happen. I do.

And my motivation, my sole motivation, is to prevent this awful crisis from happening. I don't want to go down the street and have people telling me how bad this is and they don't know what they're going to do and how are they going to deal with their parent or how are they going to deal with their child. Health care is, you know, probably the most important thing to the American people of all the things the government does. And it's at risk, as I said, Since the 60s, we have built up a health care system.

Is it perfect? Far from it. But is it a lot better than it was when you couldn't get any insurance and people were just, you know, and the life expectancy was whatever. You would know the number better than me, but much lower than it is now. And to undo that and turn the clock back,

I believe I would be not fulfilling my responsibility to my constituents. when I see that mom talking about her daughter dying, when I see that middle class family saying, what am I going to do with my 82-year-old mother who needs help in a nursing home? When I talk to medical researchers and they say, we're on the verge of coming through with a breakthrough on Alzheimer's or pancreatic cancer

or these things you know better than me, and now it's cut off, I'm motivated to act. And I've always felt, I think I've said this to you before, The higher you climb in politics, the fiercer the winds blow. So when you're a senator or congressman, the winds blow pretty fierce. If you stick to your own internal gyroscope, and my internal gyroscope says, help the people, do what the people want and need, that's the way to go.

That's what I've always done. And as you said, sometimes it's unpopular. In this case, not only is it the right thing to do, but it's helping people. And people every day, every day, more and more people get these notices. more and more people here their nursing home is closing. More and more people here, their rural hospital is closing. Tim's new Cravable Raps are made for the times your boss said the what now? Or your teacher mentions that thing I'm a bob.

Need to pick me up. Snack back to reality with Tim's new craveable wraps available in Chipotle or ranch. Plus tax at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time. One to ten, if you can give me the number first before you answer, how worried are you that the Republicans will use the nuclear option to remove the super majority on this? Well, number first. Low.

Okay. They've done it with judicial nominees. They've done it in a few instances, but removing it all together would be a huge deal. And, you know, I have a lot of friends on the Republican side, and there's a, I don't think they could even get the number of votes to do it. I think there are a good number of Republicans who say that would undo, um, I'm the whole bulwark of the Senate. And so I think,

I don't think Thune wants to do it. Now, sometimes he's pushed to do things and he too often goes along with what he's pushed to do, even if he knows it's wrong. But in this case, I think there's a pretty deep feeling among the Republican senators not to do it.

Why were they comfortable doing you with the 40-year-so judicial nominees? Because, yeah. I believe Democrats did it in 2013, also with nominees. Yeah, nominees have been somewhat different. And I think this would be on the most major issue facing us to do this in a way that would affect all future legislation is way beyond what happened with nominees, as bad as that was. You made a video recently on social media, basically saying that Johnson is more worried about the release of Epstein files rather than what's going on in the emergency rooms and hospitals.

Was that just politics, partisan theater? No, there's something really going on here, okay? First, everyone wants the Epstein files released. It showed leaders of our country and government doing all kinds of very bad things and then covering it up. So even the MAGA people, you have so many of these MAGA people

getting out and saying they should be released, okay? Johnson would not release it. Trump wouldn't want it released. And Johnson, I have found to be a very political animal on most of these things, or too many, on too many of these things. And he's, you know, he's from a very conservative district. By the way, his district, this is another thing,

his is one of the highest districts in losing health care dollars in the country because Louisiana doesn't do that much for health care. Anyway, so there's something called, it's very arcane, but it's called a discharge petition. And if you get 218 congressman to sign the discharge petition, It has to come to the floor, and then it would pass. There are now 217 who have signed it, and there's a newly elected congresswoman named Grahalva from Arizona.

Her father passed away, and she was just elected to the seat. Ah, and you bring up another point then I've got to make. If she is seated, there's 218, and the whole Johnson, and the whole Epstein files are released. I'll have it in the video that we talked about a minute ago. That's one of the main reasons. The point I should make now is Johnson has not had the House in session for three weeks. How do you negotiate a deal if none of them are around and no one's talking to each other?

Why? First, because he's afraid of bringing us to the floor and he thought he could bamboozle us into doing it. But now he's seeing they've had 10 votes in each case it's been the same vote and they keep doing it over and over again. But second, he's afraid of the Epstein files because if he brings the Congress back into session, He's going to have to swear in Ms. Grahalva. It'll be 218, and the Epstein files will be released. So he's got both those things going, and it's despicable, it's disgraceful, that here we have this health care crisis.

Here we have people really going to suffer and die and be sick or longer, what's the best thing we have, you know, our health. And he's doing this for political purposes. So, yeah, I did this video to knock him a little bit, to put a little pressure on him. One of my friends the other day asked, isn't the reason that this shutdown is ongoing because Senator Schumer is afraid of AOC primaring him? And he wants a distraction.

Any truth? Zero. Zero. I'm doing this because I think it's the right thing to do, period. What do you tell the general public who's frustrated with losing trust in our nation? I mean, when the government shut down, that can't bode well for other nations taking us seriously. What reassurance did they get by seeing this?

If we succeed in dealing with this health care crisis, I think people's faith in the country will be greater. I think if we don't deal with this crisis, the people will be even more distraught. They'll say WTF at the dinner table, if they're allowed to say that at the dinner table. And they'll say, this is the most important thing to me and they couldn't fix it.

I mean, this trans, again, it appalls me that Republicans would rather shut down the government with the harm it causes. We hate the shutdowns. I've always not liked shutdowns, as you talked about my earlier vote, you know, months ago before this health care crisis started. But they're going to say,

they're going to say, how could they let this happen? Especially, it's not doing something new. You know, the difference here, We're not trying to take something away. We're trying to just keep it as it is. And as it is, as I said, could always use improvement. But going back to where we used to be with no health insurance

from tens of millions of people is awful, awful, horrible. So if they do make this concession and they join you, would you give them credit for doing so? Yeah, sure. Yeah, the three issues that Republicans, and I think a lot of Americans are really concerned about wars, the budget, the fact that we're so in debt, yeah, exactly, and illegal immigration, given that the policies have changed so abruptly targeting those perhaps who are here illegally, there's less incentive for people to come here illegally, and there's been decreased illegal immigration happening under President Trump. Do you give them credit for that? We need, what he's done on immigration, I think, is wrong, and he's done it in a vicious way and also a haphazard way, arresting people and sending them without due process. We have due process and process of law, so I do not. We should have a good, strong immigration bill, and actually we came up with one last year where there was a bipartisan bill.

It would have stopped illegal crossings of the border. would allow more legal immigrants to come into the country. It was, and it had the support of a lot of Republicans, even Thune. And Trump said he wasn't president yet. Don't do it because I want to do it. He has not fixed this system at all, okay. Thinking about the deficit, them trying to fight back and push on this health care spending, trying to lower the deficit.

Is there any rhyme or reason to cutting the deficit through focusing on health care cuts, given the fact that our health care system so low- Okay, this is, I'm glad you brought this up. Where did the money go in this budget, where they cut a trillion dollars from health care? Tax cuts for billionaires. Now, I'm not against billionaires. Billionaires are like the American dream. There are some poor people in America who start out poor work, their butts off,

and they get to be a billionaire. I'm not anti-billionaire, but they don't need a tax cut, particularly when it comes with such devastation. But they have a small group of very wealthy people. billionaires, not, you know, newly made billionaires who don't want to pay taxes. So they, one of the shibbolists of the, you know, one of the watchwords of the right wing is we got to lower taxes, but who are they lowering taxes on by and large? The richest people in America who have a lot of political clout because of the money in politics. So yes, the deficit is real, but the number

one reason that we did this, that they did this, was to give tax cuts to billionaires. That is far less important than saving the health care system. What's your relationship like with these billionaires and these billion-dollar companies when they come for your re-election campaign, they donate a quarter million dollars? What do you say to them when they want you to go to bat for them as opposed to your constituents? I say, if you're right, I'll agree with you. If you're wrong, I won't agree with you, period. And that's what I've done. So that's all they get when they make a donation. They get me to give a fair look, but nothing more. And then the, final third of that conversation is about war. Do we give President Trump credit for creating

peace in Gaza? Well, look, I have always, and I've been critical of Netanyahu, as you know, I've always said what we need, what we needed above all was a return of the hostages. Mike, I flew to Israel. I was the first, I'm the highest-ranking Jewish-elected official in America, and right after October 7th, the week later, I was the first elected official to fly there and tell the Israeli people, we have your back. And I met with the parents of people. One lady showed me a picture of her son, like 11, 12 years old, on a motorcycle, grabbed by these Hamas thugs,

waving goodbye to her. She was waving goodbye to him. A picture stayed in my head every day. There was another parent there who knew their son's arm was blown off, and would he survive? And another parent who was there, we sat in the room talking, said, I'm a doctor. And oftentimes, when they're these, you would know this better than me, they heal the wounds can be self-healing.

So freeing the hostages, and I've gotten to know their families pretty well, is really important. And also getting a ceasefire. Look, the devastation that has occurred to the Ghazan people has been awful. And I criticized Netanyahu repeatedly for the way he conducted the war. I thought they could have done more to minimize civilian casualties, as much as I think Hamas is a menace in danger, and without Hamas, we have a much better chance for peace, and getting more aid in, not using food and basic substance as a way. So those two things have been accomplished, and look, there are a lot of people who deserve credit, Trump, other people, the Arab nations, some of the others, they deserve some credit,

But we have a long way to go. And there's a real opportunity here, Mike, because I believe, and one of my severe disagreements with Netanyahu, even back then when I spoke critically of him, I wasn't critical of him wanting to get rid of Hamas. That's a good thing because they're such a vicious evil thing and they've been standing in the way. But to be for a two-state solution,

the Saudis want a two-state solution. The Saudis say they're willing to come in and rebuild, you know, a lot of the devastation in Gaza, put in, help with their financial resources, they're being the leader of the Sunni Arab world, and their wealth, put in a moderate Palestinian entity that maybe five years from now or ten years from now

could govern in a Palestinian demilitarized state. That's the hope. So we have a long way to go, but the door has been opened by this first agreement where a lot of people deserve some credit and pets on the back. But we've got to keep at it. And one of my jobs will be pushing everybody I know,

whether in Israel and the Arab world or Trump administration, to not stop here, because we could revert back to the old way, but to get this two-state solution, which is going to take a lot of work and a lot of effort and a lot of compromise. But ultimately, if we could get two states,

this 75-year-old traumatic war, and I'm so, you know, I so believe we need in Israel, could actually bring some stability finally to the region. Yeah, as a doctor, I worry about the aid that is now perhaps not being sent to Gaza to the people that are in this war-torn area. So I hope that continues. Yeah.

Because that's suffering for children, for families, that's absolutely devastating. Yes, yes. The reason why I'm, I just wanted to explain why I'm pushing so hard to give credit, where credits do at times. Yeah. I know it's difficult

in this political landscape because everything can be weaponized. Every soundbite can be weaponized. That's the error we live. But I feel like the general public is getting tired of these gotcha, taken out of context, AI, deep fakes.

Yeah. They did one on me. Trump just did one on me yesterday. I saw the Republicans yesterday put out of video. But, you know, they always want to come up with some diversion as opposed to, anyway, go back. So the reason why I'm saying it is because I feel, and I've been quite vocal about this for the medical organizations in my world, AMA, AOA, AOA, whatever alphabet soup you want to throw in there.

The more we can be honest, transparent, even if it looks like it's weakening our position, long term, I feel like it fortifies trust. So that's why when I'm giving you these three scenarios, perhaps that we could say President Trump is doing somethings well so that we can come together a bit more. In my statement, I gave credit to a lot of people, but I included Trump. Yeah, which some people refuse to do. And I got some criticism for it, but so be it. How much are you in agreement with your party on the current state of the shutdown? Bernie Sanders. Everybody's on board on this, from one end to the other.

That's why they've had us vote ten times. They thought they could pressure us, bamboozle us, threaten us, and they haven't. And the vast majority of my caucus and the vast majority of the House caucus, is, and the reason is we have been very proud of building up the health care system and letting people get decent health care, and we don't want to see it undone particularly, and in one fell swoop like they did. So we feel, as I said, it's not, it's a moral imperative, it's a people imperative above everything else. No eff in way, as you said. Right, I said that. And you got a lot of positive feedback from your party that,

you're standing up for this issue. Is there anything within the party not related to the shutdown that you guys are having disagreements about right now? Or is everyone on board fix this health care crisis first? Well, you know, I think there are some people. I think overall we want to fix it first. Everyone agrees we ought to negotiate. Now look, a negotiation when the Republicans realize

that they should sit down and talk to us and Johnson realizes he ought to bring Congress back. You know, I tell people, Federal workers are working and not getting paid, and House Republicans are not working and getting paid. Federal workers are working and not getting paid. House Republicans are getting paid and not working. So I think we all agree that we should have a negotiation.

Once we have that negotiations, there may be, you know, some people may want a little more, a little less. We have to solve the problem. That will be the watchword. Well, Senator Schumer, I appreciate you. taking the time to debunk all this misinformation, set the record straight. To conclude, I'd love if you will,

and feel free to pass if you're not comfortable doing this, to our camera here, pretend you could send a message to President Trump. What would you like to say to him? He's listening right now. President Trump, the American people are suffering because of the cuts in the so-called big, beautiful bill. When I saw you, you seem to understand.

It was body language and all of that. that how bad this is. Get Johnson and Thune and perhaps you to sit down with Jeffries and I and negotiate a real, real way to get out of this terrible problem. Senator Schumer, thank you so much for your work. Great to be here. Thank you. We've done some good things together. We said numerous times that the health care system absolutely sucks, and that's true. So if you enjoyed this conversation, please don't hesitate, give it five stars. That helps us find

new listeners and viewers. But more importantly, check out my conversation with the former CMS administrator, Chiquita Brooks LaSure, where we discuss how Medicare Medicaid functions, what's complicated about it, what's broken, and how we fix it. Please enjoy. And as always, stay happy and healthy.