00:02:23 · Debbie Wasserman Schultz
[00:02:23] S1: Well, our legislative agenda is going to be driven by the message we heard loud and clear and that these election results produced, which is that people want us to reduce their costs, whether it's groceries and gas, housing and health care or utilities, housing being the largest portion of a household budget. We've got to create more affordable options. We had the Road to Housing Act that became law without Trump's signature. That was bipartisan legislation. even in a very challenging partisan political environment. And I am confident that we're going to be able to build off of that model. We have dozens of bills that have been filed focused on bringing the cost of housing down, healthcare as well. We need to reenact the enhanced premium tax credits because folks, health insurance premiums have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled. We have to make sure that whether it's groceries or gas. You bring this war to an end. It's illegal to begin with. People were very, very vocal when I was hearing from them that they're tired of this war. They're angry that Trump is waging it. And it's increased the cost of fertilizer as well as a barrel of oil, which has put gas prices and the cost of food on top of his price increase resulting from tariffs. really out of people's, too many people's reach. So those are the focuses that we're going to have when it comes to legislation.
00:03:55 · Joe Mathieu
[00:03:55] S0: And you need to get around a president who, while he has pledged to work with Democrats, has also fancied calling himself Mr. Veto. I wonder, with so many new members coming in, so many of them were running against data centers, corporate interests, AIPAC, many pledging to end weapons shipments to Israel. When will the family conversation happen? When does Hakeem Jeffries get everyone in a room and hammer out an agenda?
00:04:22 · Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kailey Leinz
[00:04:22] S1: Well, we've been working on that agenda for months now, and the voters have spoken. We will, after you have all the votes counted and the numbers are in, we will have the largest majority in the House of Representatives since 1990. And that majority is made up of moderate Democrats who who flipped Republican districts, and they got so many votes from Republican constituents. And so making sure that we focus on life being more affordable, that's going to be critical. That is issue one, two, and three, while also really going after the Trump crime family's corruption. Because I heard, and it doesn't matter whether you're in a liberal district or a moderate or conservative district, People were tired of Trump's obvious corruption, taking money out of families' pockets, stuffing it into the pockets of billionaires, and also just the dismantling of our democracy, ignoring the Constitution. So we're going to be united in combating and proposing and pushing forward those efforts. I've served in majorities and minority, Joe, back and forth in my time in Congress with Republican presidents, with Democratic presidents. I mean, unless Trump decides he's going to be the exception to the rule, most presidents want to actually have a legislative agenda and not just veto bills. [00:05:51] S2: All right. Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida's 25th District. Thanks so much for joining us on Balance of Power.