The Daily Show: Ears Edition - From the Archives: Joe Kennedy III - August 2, 2017

Episode Date: May 17, 2018

Massachusetts Representative Joe Kennedy III discusses the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and explains the Democratic plan for revitalizing health care.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast. The Weekly Show is going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday we're going to be talking about. All the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about

ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance, it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. My guest tonight is a Democrat from Massachusetts serving in the House of Representatives. Please welcome Congressman Joe Kennedy the third.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining sir. How are you? Good to be here. Let's get straight into the news because Oh good. On your way here, things happened. That's not surprising and still terrifying. It is, isn't it? Every single day, there is something new. Donald Trump came out and announced he is looking at creating the Rays Act,

right? He's put forward an idea that Americans should only be allowed, or people should only be allowed to become Americans or come to this country if they are highly skilled, the best of the best. Predominately English speakers, I think, was one of the criteria involved. As a lawmaker, you are going to have to vote on this at some point. What are your first thoughts? Um.

Um. So I find myself doing that a lot these days. Trevor, it's where you would think at this point, how bad could it get and if you were going to try to characterize it this way. Trevor, it's where you would think at this point how bad could it get and if you were going to try to characterize it this way, could you possibly? And it just gets one-upt. Right. So, look, joking aside, the outlines of that plan, at least from as has been described to me

so far, is, I think, an insult to our American story. Look, it's not how my family came here. It's not how I assume most of the members of this audience, their family came here. It is not from people that have been in other parts of the world that have undergone and and survived through oppression and wars and famine and hardship to know that there is a place that you can't come to where if you work hard, there are structures in place where you can get ahead. We are taking that away. Donald Trump and the senators that put this bill together are literally slamming that door shut.

Right. And that's not who we are. That's not what makes America great. It's not. It's not. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's. It is once again, I think yet another example of where the president and this administration have decided that somehow, for some reason, our country today is us against them, whether it's an immigration policy, whether it's a budget, whether it's a health care bill,

whether it's deciding that who gets into college, almost every single policy proposal you have seen a lot of this administration. From day one, it hits American against American. And somehow, I mean, I think the part that's most dispiriting and dangerous for all of us is that that is in somebody's definition of making America great. That somehow we are at our best, when we are divided,

when you are fighting with each other, when you are trying to compete against somebody else to get to some zero some game, and by you're succeeding means you're putting some other American down. And look, I just fundamentally don't believe that. I don't think most Americans believe that. I think there are real big challenges out there that we have to confront. But you do that, you win when you get 320 million Americans pulling for each and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting, I that, I that, I that, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm tho, I'm thi, I'm thi, I'm thi, I'm thi, and thi, and thi, I'm, I'm thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, I is, and thi, I is thi, and thi, I is thi, I is thi, I is th. th. th, I is th, I is th, th, th, th, and thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and thi, thi, thi, is thi.. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thiiiii. thii. the apartment. The truth is there is legislation every single day that seems to be spoken about that goes against many of the values that America stands for. You went viral a while ago, which is a strange thing to say to a human being, but you did. And it was when you were speaking out against Congressman Ryan and his views on health care

when he was saying there is mercy in not giving certain people what they need. And you spoke out against it. Health care is one of the biggest issues that is facing America right now, the discussion around the Affordable Care and whether or not to repeal and replace Obamacare, and as we've seen, it's broken down many times. Realistically speaking, is there a way to fix what is wrong with Obamacare? Because it is not perfect, everyone acknowledges that. But is there a way forward where both sides can come together and fix it?

So the shortness that is, yes, absolutely. Look, all of these challenges that we have to it, believe or not, there's human beings that pass those laws. We can change them, you can strengthen them, we could pass a tax reform proposal on the back of that napkin, or the back of that paper if we want it to. It's just a question of political will to say, okay, can we get behind it and solve thrown. of the proposals we saw in health care, regardless of whether it was a couple of iterations through the House bills or the Senate ones of late, they decided every single one of them, while different, the underlying structure was the

same. It created one system of health care for the healthy and the wealthy and another system for everybody else. And fundamentally, that's not I don't, that's not who we are as a country. You can go through the details of those plans, but what that means is that for some large percentage of our citizens, when you are at your most vulnerable, when there's a loved one that is sick, when somebody that is in need, when all of us at some point are going to be brought to our knees, that the most powerful country in the world says, too bad, you're unknown, we will not be country at our best. That's not America at its best. And the bottom line is that every single, almost every single person that I meet, if their neighbor falls on hard times, they're there for.

And you're asking, this administration continues to ask people to make up for their government. People to try to say, hey, our government can't, but you're going to have to if you believe in the family down the street or the child next door. And so look where do we go from here? There's a lot of things that we can do. There's a lot of ways we can fix it and I think you're starting to see some of those machinations. I would hope that if there's one message at the moment that this administration understands it's like it or not. The president of the the United the United the United the United the United the United the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. thi. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, th. th. th. th is is is is th is th is th is is is th is th is is th is th is th is is th is th is th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the is the is the is the is the. the. I's is toe. I's is to. I's toe. I's thee. I'm thea. thee. thea. the. the. the. of the United States is going to own what happens with health care. And he can try to put that off on somebody else, but he's got a unique opportunity at the moment to actually make our health care system in this country stronger and better for every single American. I really hope he takes it and doesn't somehow try to, as you're hearing off of Twitter, that he's going to somehow try to sabotage, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a, as, as, as a, as, as, as, as, as a, as, as, as, as, as a, as a, as a, as a, as a to, as a to, as a toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, tooom. tooom. tooom. to. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to. to, to. to. to. to. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. tooome. toe. tooomb. toe. toe. tooomb. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. going to somehow try to sabotage it for millions of people

across the country and categorize that as success. We've he's got a unique opportunity here and and I urge him to take advantage. When you look at the problems facing health care in America right now, one thing that cannot be denied is Medicaid expansion has cost lots of money and over the upcoming years and as the decades come The cost will keep increasing at some point people say there has to be a cut There has to be some sort of measure that brings it down. I mean in Massachusetts alone. I think it is 40% of your spending And so when you're looking at that as an issue? How do you remedy that situation? How do you figure out how to cut the Medicaid spending?

So it's a great question. I promised my staff when I got here today I would not get into the weeds of health care financing. So sorry. I'll do my best on this. But look, the real thing that we need to do, you're right in that Medicaid expansion and Medicaid health care is is is is expensive is expensive is expensive is expensive is expensive is expensive is expensive is expensive is expensive that Medicaid expansion and Medicaid health care is expensive in this country. The main reason why health care is expensive and very well-respected studies say about a third of the cost in

health care are just inefficient. They don't get to a better outcome. It's it's based off of what's called a fee-for-service-based model. It means when you go in into the doctor, doctors and providers get paid based based upon the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the number the the their, their, their, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. th. thi, thi, and th. the, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the that they prescribe. Right. So they'll go in and say, hey, you should do this and this and this and this. And you don't mind because your insurance company's paying for most of it, so you don't pay that much, but health care, but health care, but the treats to their tra. tooes're actually getting better quality care. It means treating people in the right places at home if you can, and a doctor's office rather than an emergency room, in community health centers.

There's a whole sense of wrap-around services that can be done to lower health care costs. The way you do that is you lean into programs like Medicaid to identify those individuals that actually are the big spenders in this and make sure you get those cost drivers and those individuals under control. And if you do that, you will save boatloads of money. You don't do that, though, by rationing health care. You don't do that by saying, hey, if you're sick, good luck, go back to emergency room.

We tried that the issue they face with Obamacare, some people in your state would go, I earn just enough money to be considered out of the poverty bracket. I'm considered a middle-class earner and yet I am still too poor to afford Obamacare. I cannot get onto a program but I'm also too rich to be on Medicaid. What do you say to that person who then says says to you, why is it that an able-bodied person is on Medicaid? So the issue, one of the big issues we have in Massachusetts, and look, every state does this a little bit differently. Massachusetts, for those folks that say, hey, the Affordable Care Act doesn't work,

our unemployment rates is about 3.8%. Our uninsured rate is under 3%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the. the. the. the. the. the the the the. the the the the the. the. the the. We've got to Medicaid is a large percentage of our state budget. But if you ask folks what the big problem on this is and why Medicaid is so big, it's because one, you've got a Medicaid product and exchange products and competition exchanges and plans that people actually like. And our penalty, our mandate that you've heard a lot about is actually tougher than it is under the federal Obamica. But what that means that means that that means that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that th th th th is th is thi-i-i-a, thi-a-i-a-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-a-i-a-i-a-i. their-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-i. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thauu. thi. thi. thi. thi. their, i. the you've heard a lot about, is actually tougher than it is under the federal Obamacare. But what that means is that there's a stiffer penalty to not get insurance, but there's a better product if you get insurance. And that means that you've got more people that end up on the exchanges than what would happen in other states. Our governor, Republican, very well respected, knows health care well, it's a health, and, putting forth some plans to actually try to shift that back

and work with the business community to try to make sure businesses aren't shifting people to the exchanges because the exchanges happen to be a really good plans. So there's ways you can go about this, sitting down, thinking therying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. There are plenty of problems in health care. Telling doctors that they get paid too much in Medicaid is not one of them.

Trying to say that you're going to somehow address the issues of lack of continuum of care and rural America by addressing Medicaid. The way you address that, and yes, Medicaid has problems there is increasing reimbursement rates, not cutting them, because there's no doctor there there there there there there there their their their their their their their their their their their their their their thiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thoing, their, the the thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the problem, the problem, the problem, the problem, the problem, the problem, their, their, their, their, their, the problem, the problem, the problem, th. and th. and thi. and thi. and thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, try, try, try, try. I I's try and te. I's tryia. tea. tryia. trying. trying, trying, trying, trying, trying, tryingthem because there's no doctor there that will take Medicaid to begin with. Got it. So, they've diagnosed the problem, much like a lot of things with this administration, they've diagnosed part of the problem. The solution is 100% backwards from what you actually need to do to solve it. Let's talk about solutions.

Is there a willingness for a solution to be found? We watch Congress and it rivals the greatest traffic jams of the world. You don't seem to see movement, people voting against each other, people voting politically as opposed to voting for their constituents, it seems like at times. We're less popular than traffic jams actually, so that's an insult of traffic jams. Well at least there's music paying in a traffic jam. The appearance is that nothing can get done. As somebody who's on the inside, as a congressman, when you're working with your fellow congresspeople, do you find that there is a wil-a, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, their, their, their, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, is their, is their, is their, is a their, is a thi, is a thi, is a thi, is a thi, is a thi, is a thi, thi, thi, thi, toguui, togui, is thi, is thi, is thi, is thi, is their, is their, is a thithere is a willingness for consensus? Do you find that people actually want to work together? Or are they so afraid of being primaried that they would rather appear to be enemies and not

do anything than get something done? So the partisanship is the tauar. You can't deny that. And particularly not the big things. I like how you pointed at me when you said immigration. Right. Health, health the the the the th, I like how like how like how like how like how like how like how like how like th. I like th. I like th. I like th. I like I like I like I like I like like like like like like like like like. I like like like. I like like. I like like like. I like like like like like. I like. I like to th. I like to like th. I like th. I like th. I like th. I like. I like th. I like th. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like th. I like. I like th. I like th. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like. I like to to to to to to to th. I like th. I like like to like to like to th. I like th. I like th. I like th. I like like th. I like th. I like th. I like th. I like you pointed to me when you said immigration. Right. Healthcare taxes immigration. Right. But carry on, carry on. Not going to recover from that way, am I.

Thank you. So those challenges are real. That being said, look, there's, there are strong philosophical differences that underlie those issues which we do have to work through. And we as a country have to work through. If you go a the the th th the th th th th th th th th th th th th th th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thoes, thoes, to to tho. tho, to to to to to to to to too. too. too. too, too, too, too, too, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to work through and we as a country have to work through. If you go a level down, there's a whole lot of issues where there is actually a lot of bipartisan support. You don't hear about it, you don't read about it, but that is part of the wheels of government

that are cranking through. I was able to get a bill out of the house a couple of weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago, that creates a tho, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,aaa,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a,a, a those of you that might have them, up to about $5,000 for a pair. Medicare doesn't cover them. So there's tens of millions of seniors that actually need hearing aids that don't get them. That bill made it out of the House unanimously, out of our committee unanimously and out of the house. Senator Warren is working with a couple of conservatives in the Senate on, the thininininin, than, than, than, the bill in the Senate. That's a big deal for a lot of people that are missing conversations with their kids, their grandkids missing out on the golden years of their life.

You probably haven't read about it, you probably haven't heard about it, but it's actually a pretty big deal for those folks that need it. And look, some of my closest friends in Congress are repuagents are going to be different than mine. The concerns that drove them to run for office are going to be different than mine. They're doing what they think is the right thing for their districts in their country. If they weren't, they wouldn't be there. And I get along really well with some of them. And look, one of the hardest parts of this job is t issues that drive you to run for office, which we all feel very passionately about. Yeah. And understanding that for some of us, even some close friends of mine, they're going to be on the exact opposite side of

those issues. And trying to somehow separate the policies from the friendship can be difficult. But, you know, just I guess one quick example. Last week we're in the middle of a hearing. And the guy next to me was asking questions and I was sitting there on my iPad and I went like this and I went like this and a Republican texted me and said, hey, don't pick your nose, you're on camera. So that was helpful, right? I mean, that's one way to work together.

The American public is like, yeah, yeah, that's, that works for us. Hey, any little bit at this point. Every, yeah, and that's not a little bit helps, right? Um, before I let you go, let's, let's, let's talk about something that rocked America, it's military, many people in Congress, and surprisingly, both sides of the out, this is something many people agreed on. Donald Trump tweeted out, of the blue, transgender people are banned from the military. It didn't seem like he consulted with his generals or with the Pentagon rather, and everyone was in a hissy going, what on earth just happened here? Now you have been

working on a program with transgender people in America. Is this a real thing? Can it be a real thing? And should it be a real thing? Is it a real thing? As of now? Not really. Could it be, yes. Should it be absolutely not?

And why not? Why not? Because it's not who we are as a country. It makes us our military less ready. It divides us. Look, our men and women in uniform. They their their their their their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, th, th, th, tha, tha, thoes, thoes, thoes, thoes, thoes, thoes, tho, and thoes, thoes, and thoes, and tho, tho, tho, tho, thoes, thoes, thoes, thoes, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, thoes. And, thoes. And, thoes. And, thoes. And, thoes. And, and, thoes. And, tha, and thoes. And, and tha, and tha, and tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha.a.a.a.a.a.a. And, tha. And, tha, our men and women in uniform, their families, they step forth and answer that call to service. They are willing to risk life and limb for us.

They don't discriminate. They don't say, I will lay down my life for you, but not you. I will serve you, but not you. What the President United States did last week on a twea going to honor that service and didn't show them the same courtesy, the same decency, the same respect that all of them have done when they put forth and answer that call to service. And Trevor, we hear an awful lot these days, particularly from many of my Republican colleagues talking about freedom. Freedom to do this and freedom to that and freedom and inherent value of the United States. Those calls for freedom ring pretty hollow when this country cannot guarantee the most basic

fundamental freedom, which is a freedom to be you. And if you can't be you, the rest of it erodes pretty quickly. And look, there's behind closed doors and some right out in the open. Even some of my concerted colleagues that are not as staunch advocates as of the transgender community as some of us might be, said very clearly and unequivocally, this is not right. You cannot do this. The statement from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, we will not do this, we will not act on it until there's a clear directive and it falls through the tradition, the

appropriate policy channels, which is why I say it isn't anything yet, but it could be if the White House actually moves in that direction. But you saw him also say that they will continue to treat everybody with dignity until that happens. And that statement of treating people with dignity, I think is an important reminder for everybody in our government, everybody in our country at the moment, that I think all of us could do a little bit, could do well to remember that, and I would urge the White House to do the same. Thank you so much for your time.

Hey, my Pudgeon thank you very much to be here. President Joe Kennedy, everybody, I really appreciate it. The Daily Show with Trevor No. the Daily Show, Weekn, the Daily Show, andnights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. And follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. John Stewart here.

Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.