On Friday, U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and is a former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, appeared on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” During the interview, Hagerty addressed several current issues including government shutdown negotiations, healthcare subsidies, and crime reduction efforts in Memphis.
Discussing the ongoing government funding impasse, Hagerty said, “Republicans have been concerned about it all along. That’s why we voted to keep the government open. I want to be very clear: Chuck Schumer is driving the shutdown. You’ve seen the Democrats yet again go to the floor and vote against what is simply a clean extension of a budget that they’ve already approved in the past. This is pretty much just theatrics. This is a temper tantrum by Chuck Schumer. And frankly, what it is is domestic politics from New York State bleeding into national politics. Chuck Schumer is deeply concerned about his standing with his own state. If you look at the polling right now in New York, AOC would defeat Chuck Schumer in a primary. He does not want to be seen as, quote, taking a knee to Donald Trump, as bowing to Donald Trump in any way. This is about demonstrating a will to fight. They don’t have a point that they’re fighting for. They don’t have an off-ramp. They have not figured out how to land the plane. But this is basically performative, and I don’t think the public is going to like it at all. When Democrats get back home to their various states over the weekend, I hope they hear loud and clear from their constituents that the government needs to be reopened.”
On healthcare policy changes made during recent years, Hagerty stated: “This isn’t just Obamacare. This is the Biden-era plus-up of the subsidies on Obamacare. We’re just trying to get back to the original basis before all of the COVID-era plus-ups were installed. A lot of data suggests this is the area where the greatest amount of fraud exists. The program is going broke. And what we have are Democrats that want to come in and not only do this, which would amount to about $400 billion if this plus-up were continued, but more than a trillion dollars of additional spending in order as their ransom to keep the government open. I just think it falls on deaf ears.”
Hagerty also commented on work requirements for benefits and healthcare access for undocumented immigrants: “It’s not just the able-bodied, the people between the ages of 18 and 64 who could work but don’t. They’re not disabled, they don’t have dependents, and they’re not willing to work 20 hours a week. They shouldn’t be getting the subsidies. If you think about it, the Democrats want to, again, provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants. That’s an incentive for more illegal immigration—that’s going to stop. They’re arguing that it shouldn’t. These are very difficult arguments for the Democrats to make. Once a subsidy is provided, it’s hard to take it back. We’re going to have to make those tough decisions, and the time has come right now.”
Addressing crime-fighting efforts in Memphis following federal intervention earlier this year involving cooperation among local officials and law enforcement agencies across different levels of government—including resources from federal agencies—Hagerty said: “This is something I’ve been working on for over a year, trying to address with the mayor of Memphis, with local law enforcement, with the state, with the Governor of Tennessee. Everybody is pulling in the right direction, and we’re seeing dramatic results. Just in the past week, since we’ve had this major surge, we’ve had over 150 arrests of some of the hardest of hardcore criminals. The earlier surge we did very quietly–that was FBI resources that started in July and ended about three weeks ago–brought 500 of the toughest criminals into custody. We’re going to continue to do this. We’re going to see great results. We even found five children this week and were able to return them to their homes. So, we’re making real progress in Memphis.”
