Here & Now

First Look: Grothman Talks About Trump Address, Presidency

Frederica Freyberg:

A First Look tonight at a new tone from President Donald Trump in his address to Congress. We’ll speak with Second District Congressman Democrat Mark Pocan later in tonight’s program. Joining us now is Republican U.S. Representative Glenn Grothman of the Wisconsin’s Sixth District. He joins us now. Thanks for being here.

Glenn Grothman:

Glad to be on “Here and Now.”

Frederica Freyberg:

Now obviously we saw a different kind of Donald Trump in his address to Congress. Did you like it?

Glenn Grothman:

Yeah. To be honest I talked to Donald Trump several times during the campaign. This is the Donald Trump I was more familiar with. Obviously there’s The Apprentice Donald Trump and he’s transitioning from the star of The Apprentice to president of the United States. I think this is the Donald Trump we’ll see pretty much from here on out.

Frederica Freyberg:

On this news item, what is your reaction to the recusal of Attorney General Sessions who will not participate now in any investigations into Russia’s interference in the presidential campaign?

Glenn Grothman:

It seems as though they caught Claire McCaskill critical of this in a little bit of a fib here. It’s really not something that affects me one way or the other I hear Congress talking about. We’re looking at replacement for Obamacare. We’re preparing for a new budget that is probably going to have to be rolled out sometime in the next two months as well as focusing on overhaul of the internal revenue code.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to get to some of those things. But are you concerned about meetings on the part of Trump officials with the Russian ambassador and the larger issue of Russian influence?

Glenn Grothman:

Well, I think it is something I guess we’ll see how it plays out. Right now I'm not overly concerned. I don’t really see how it affected the elections. I’m following where the investigation goes and think it will be dwarfed by these more substantive issues.

Frederica Freyberg:

As to policy points, the president as you know spoke to repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. You’ve seen the draft replacement bill which includes these tax credits to help purchase plans based on age. I understand you have some concerns about that. What are they?

Glenn Grothman:

Well, the major concern is this. Right now we are spending too much on health insurance in this country. I think the area that’s doing the best job of holding down costs is medium to large companies and it seems to me in the initial plan there are a lot of incentives for employers to give up their employee-sponsored healthcare. In other word, if you look at the — let’s say you have a husband and wife and maybe three kids. You can easily wind up with a $13,000 or $14,000 subsidy to get rid of — $13,000 subsidy if you have your own healthcare. Given the size of the subsidy, why wouldn’t an employer drop the subsidy? So we have to get rid of the incentive for employers to drop employee healthcare.

Frederica Freyberg:

So if people are trying to get their own plans under any kind of new draft, can you assure low-income people and those with pre-existing conditions they’ll be able to afford these plans in the absence of Obamacare?

Glenn Grothman:

Well, we’re going to probably have some high-risk insurance and incentivize states to do that just like the state of Wisconsin used to have. Obviously where there’s a market you are going to have insurance companies spring up and provide healthcare. Plus you have Medicaid as well, which as always, takes care of a lot of low-income people which is going to continue in effect.

Frederica Freyberg:

But if the taxes supporting Obamacare are scaled back or eliminated how are the promises to provide lower costs and better access met?

Glenn Grothman:

We feel that the new budget that will be introduced, together with the reconciliation bill, we won’t be able to pass it unless it’s revenue neutral. So the plan that will be presented will be revenue neutral.

Frederica Freyberg:

But back to Medicaid, in Wisconsin, which did not take the expanded Medicaid, people just above the poverty line were then kind of encouraged into the marketplace plans. Under the new kind of draft that would replace Obamacare, what happens to that group of people?

Glenn Grothman:

They are going to get a tax subsidy and that tax subsidy should be enough to buy some sort of health insurance plan. We also anticipate giving Medicaid back to the states and some of them will be picked up, I assume, by the state of Wisconsin. We’re aware that the state did not expand Medicaid. An adjustment will be made in the amount of money the state of Wisconsin gets to take care of that problem.

Frederica Freyberg:

On to another issue. Do you agree that undocumented immigrants are causing, quote, lawless chaos in America and that we must build the wall?

Glenn Grothman:

I think we should build a wall. I mean, there’s a problem out there and a lot of people seem to be confused as to whether we have to enforce our immigration laws. Obviously many immigrants who come here are not breaking the law but I think probably disproportionately some are. It’s hard to get hard figures on this. I’ve talked to people who work at the Oxford Federal Prison. They feel they see immigrants breaking the law and common sense will tell you if you have to pick between immigrants who are patiently waiting to come in this country legally and pick between people who are breaking the law to come here, you’re not getting the type of people that are predisposed to obey the law. I think we ought to go back to a system in which we are keeping track of who is coming here, vet them insofar as we can vet them and take those people. There are 196 countries in the world. It is not harsh to say that not everybody can live here.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to ask you about immigration in terms of the kinds of immigrants that work on Wisconsin dairy farms. Farmers have talked about some kind of a special visa program that would allow for them to be documented and work these farms. Is that something that you’re working on in Washington?

Glenn Grothman:

I think there will have to be some visa system because right now we know that under past presidents, we have solved the need for labor in this country by allowing people to come here illegally and anticipating people who come here illegally. In the past and farms other than dairy farms have relied on temporary visas. We are aware something along those lines is going to have to be done and I would say I am in favor of building the law.

Frederica Freyberg:

You are in favor of building the wall you just said?

Glenn Grothman:

Correct.

Frederica Freyberg:

I want to ask you one other thing and sorry this interview is kind of jumping around. President Trump says he will not cut Medicare or Social Security. What’s your position on that?

Glenn Grothman:

I think that’s good. I think for the first four years there are plenty of other things to focus on.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you take no position on that?

Glenn Grothman:

No, if he doesn’t want it done in the first four years it’s not doing to be in the first four years. And I do think to a certain extent, as some illegals are removed from the country, I think that will take some pressure off all of our healthcare programs.

Frederica Freyberg:

Okay. Congressman Grothman, we leave it there. Thanks very much for joining us.

Glenn Grothman:

Glad to be on the show as always.