TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer Joins “The Lead With Jake Tapper” To Discuss Skyrocketing Health Care Costs And Venezuela

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today joined CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” to answer questions about the current situation on ACA tax credits and the Trump administration’s latest actions in the Caribbean. Below is a transcript of the full interview between Leader Schumer and Jake Tapper:

Jake Tapper: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, who joins us now. Senator, thanks so much for joining us, Leader Schumer, I should say.

Leader Schumer: Good evening, Jake. Good to be here.

Tapper: It appears that there is a bipartisan way forward, theoretically, your Democratic colleague, Senator Peter Welch of Vermont, laid some ways out, some ideas out today. Take a listen.

Senator Peter Welch [clip]: Some Republicans have proposed putting a cap on the income. That's something we'd be open to, or a very small copay at the bottom end, that's realistic. So, if we were talking about that, and the Republicans could deliver votes, I think you'd get an outcome.

Tapper: Is that something you'd be willing to agree to?

Schumer: Well, the key line there is, Peter Welch said, if the Republicans can deliver votes, they can't. Nope, they are busy fighting with each other with 100 different proposals, and none of their proposals extend the ACA credits by a day, let alone a month, a year, et cetera. And so, the only real way for the Republicans to avoid the calamity, the health care calamity that will occur on January 1st, is for 13 of them to vote for the bill we have on the floor. It's clean, it's a three-year extension, and it would prevent these dramatic increases of five hundred, a hundred thousand dollars a month going to health care. The Republicans are adamant. John Thune got on the floor and said, we will not extend the ACA.

Tapper: So let me just play devil's advocate for a second, sir, if you'll permit me.

Schumer: Sure.

Tapper: What if, in addition to the bill that you're putting on, which is just a three-year extension of the Obamacare subsidies, what if you also put legislation that had some of those compromises that Republicans say they would find appealing, you know, a cap, a means test on it, or an additional copay, maybe some other reforms to Obamacare, and you extended it for one year. Wouldn't that be worth trying?

Schumer: No. The Republicans won't vote for it. The vast majority of Republicans in the Senate and in the House want no extension of ACA, not one year, not one month, not one day. Furthermore, they want to add to anything they do, they've said they're going to do this, anti-abortion riders, which would even go further to take away a woman's right to choose. Jake, they're all fighting with each other. There are 100 different proposals. None of them gather much Republican support. Occasionally, some of the more moderate Republicans throw out something because they're under such pressure. But their only answer, their only real answer to this is to support our bill.

Tapper: What do you hear from the White House? Do you think President Trump should be involved in these talks?

Schumer: Well, President Trump, he doesn't get it, as we saw in his speech last night. He is for no ACA extension. He says, let's start over and do a new bill. That's not going to solve the problem. I don't know what new bill he'd do. He doesn't even have a foggiest idea of any specifics. But at the same time, he wouldn't avoid the crisis. And, you know, this is a guy who says that there is no, that increase in cost is a myth, that the huge prices people are paying for everything is not real. And he doesn't get it. President Trump is in a bubble. He doesn't have to shop for groceries. He doesn't have to pay electric bills. He doesn't have to pay health care. So, he says, you know, that this is a farce, this is a joke. It's amazing. I've never seen a President so far removed from the needs of the American people than he is.

Tapper: A short time ago, the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi released video of the United States seizing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. What's your reaction to that?

Schumer: Well, look, I am really worried here because I don't, you know, who knows how far these guys are going to go? I met yesterday with both Secretary Hegseth and Secretary Rubio, and I said, what's the bottom line? How far are you going to go? Americans are worried they're going to escalate, escalate, escalate and get us involved in an endless war, which is nobody wants. And they couldn't delineate their plan as to how far to go. They couldn't delineate. You see a different thing done every day and Americans are worried. We need real answers from the president to the American people. What's the plan here? What's the ultimate plan? And where are the barriers?

Tapper: Do you disagree with President Trump's ultimate goal of regime change in Venezuela?

Schumer: Look, the bottom line is President Trump throws out so many different things in so many different ways. You don't even know what the heck he's talking about. You know, obviously, if Maduro would just flee on his own, everyone would like that. But we don't know what the heck he's up to when he talks about that. So, it's very, very, you cannot say I endorse this, I endorse that when Trump is all over the lot, not very specific and very worrisome at how far he might escalate.

Tapper: There have been some bipartisan calls for a Secretary of Defense Hegseth to release that full video of the follow-up strike on the alleged drug boat on September 2nd. Just a short time ago on CNN, Congressman Jake Auchincloss suggested that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, told Republican lawmakers to walk back their public calls for the release of that video. Take a listen.

Congressman Jake Auchincloss [clip]: I think Secretary of State Rubio talked the Republicans down in Congress, is my understanding of what happened, which is a shame. I think he spoke to the Gang of Eight. I think he spoke to senior defense and intelligence Republicans in Congress and Democrats. He, by far, has the most credibility in Congress on national security matters. And I think Secretary Rubio put his reputation on the line to tell them to walk back their public commentary.

Tapper: You were in that Gang of Eight meeting. You're a member of the Gang of Eight. Did Secretary Rubio suggest that people should stop calling for the release of the full video?

Schumer: I didn't hear him say that, but let me say this. I'm not walking anything back. I directly confronted face-to-face Secretary Hegseth. I said every member of Congress should be able to see those videos, the unedited videos. I said the American people are entitled to see those unedited videos. You've already released videos that show you're looking good in certain places here and there, which he didn't look very good in, in my opinion. So, he should be releasing those videos, and it is still bipartisan. Roger Wicker, who's the chairman, Republican chairman, conservative Republican, head of the Armed Services Committee, has joined with Senator Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the committee, to demand that these unedited videos be released. That's the right thing to do. The question is this, Jake. What the hell is Hegseth hiding? Why is he so afraid to release these videos? What, if he says he's done nothing wrong, he should say America should see them.

Tapper: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York. Thank you so much, sir. I appreciate your time.

Schumer: Thank you very much, Jake.

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