US Rep. Scott Fitzgerald on 2025 Government Shutdown Fallout

Frederica Freyberg:
Senator Baldwin is on a statewide swing denouncing Republicans for blocking attempts to extend Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies. For the GOP put this shutdown vote in the win column. For his reaction, we turn to Republican U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald of the state’s 5th Congressional District. And thanks very much for being here.

Scott Fitzgerald:
Good to be with you. Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
So what is your reaction to the successful vote to end the shutdown?

Scott Fitzgerald:
I mean, I go back to September when I voted on the continuing resolution and actually left for the airport. By the time the jet hit the ground back in Wisconsin, the Senate had already voted it down. That was a message to me that we were on a different track than what we had seen before with previous continuing resolutions. But the thing that was confusing to me is that the Democrats picked one of the most difficult and comprehensive issues to kind of hang their hat on, and that is health care. So we all know, everyone in D.C. knows, that the health care markets, that the programs and that those individual policies are a complete mess right now. And this is going to take a long, long time to kind of straighten out. But, you know, like you said, Senator Baldwin’s out there kind of using it as a wedge issue right now, but you’re not going to get anything done with blaming one party or the other. We need to come together on that. But it can’t be done in the environment created by shutting down the government. So it was a huge mistake. I did predict publicly and almost 3 or 4 days after that, that there’s only one way this is going to end, and it’s going to be for the U.S. Senate to capitulate and cave in. And ultimately, that’s what they had to do.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you support a vote in the House on the enhanced ACA tax credits, as it’s promised in the Senate?

Scott Fitzgerald:
I don’t know that we’re going to get there. I think with a two-seat majority and with Speaker Johnson already sending a message that we don’t have the support for that. I certainly couldn’t support it right now. The way it’s been framed up. It’s just more money to the health insurance companies. I think we need to continue to look at health savings accounts. Just this week, Wall Street Journal editorialized on something that goes back to 2017 where individuals have control over their own health accounts. I think that’s another pathway we could take. But the idea that we’re just going to keep throwing money at a COVID era fix that was dreamed up at the last second makes absolutely no sense to me. And I couldn’t support it right now.

Frederica Freyberg:
What is your message to your constituents in your district who may see their ACA premiums more than double when these enhanced credits expire?

Scott Fitzgerald:
Yeah, I think the first thing I do is disagree with the premise that they’re going to double. There’s a couple of independent think tanks that have done some analysis since the whole shutdown, and there are some instances where you could see a significant increase, but there’s others where it will be far less. And as a result of that, I think, again, something we don’t have a handle on. Congress doesn’t have a handle on. And for us to somehow dream up some new policy without doing the leg work makes no sense to me at this point. So again, I mean, I take issue with what Senator Baldwin has been saying and continues to say, because I think it’s misleading that there’s a simple fix to this and it’s simply to put more tax money in.

Frederica Freyberg:
Would you like to see a wholesale alternative to the ACA, apart from kind of direct cash payments for health savings accounts, a wholesale alternative to it, and if so, what would that look like?

Scott Fitzgerald:
It has to start with portability. I mean, this isn’t something that’s new. This has been around for a long time. The idea that individuals go from insurance company to insurance company to insurance company every time they change jobs or every time they get a new HSA. I joke about it because there’s a lot of young adults who have switched careers maybe 2 or 3 times early on in their careers. And each one has a different health plan. So what you end up with are these accounts that have been created, but yet they never grow. And they’re never sizable enough to have an impact. I mean, that’s first and foremost. And that goes back to 2017 again, where there were some reforms put in place that, you know, no one’s really tapped into because they haven’t had to because the government keeps throwing money at these subsidies. And it’s just unsustainable at this point.

Frederica Freyberg:
So you were describing how, you know, the issue that Democrats were kind of hanging their hat on was this very complicated health care product. The continuing resolution runs through January. Are we going to be right back here to these same kind of shutdown talks at that point?

Scott Fitzgerald:
You know, so let me back up a little bit and make a point on that, which is it’s another reason many of us were kind of perplexed by the idea that Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate couldn’t come up with a handshake agreement behind closed doors to just say, listen, we’ll go out there, we’ll vote for this CR. We won’t shut down the government because guess what? We got to do it all again. And at that point, we were looking at November 21st. So there was a backstop there. And here we go again. There’s another backstop. So I’m not sure why they thought that that shutting down the government was a good idea. And I think if they attempt that again, if they go back there again in January, there would be some huge political fallout for them. So I think right now their best option is to try and sit down and craft something with Senator Thune that can make it out of the Senate, and then the speaker would see if he could pull the votes together. I mean, he’s pulled a few rabbits out of his hat along the way here. I’m not sure what that would look like, and I can’t even commit to supporting it, but that might be the best option if we find ourselves back in the same position again.

Frederica Freyberg:
We’ll see what that looks like then. Congressman Scott Fitzgerald, thanks very much.

Scott Fitzgerald:
Thank you so much. Good to be with you.