Budget ping-pong: Democratic Congressman call out House GOP for 'ruling instead of governing'

this is a movement and to have an incumbent like Donald Trump not getting 40% in the early states to have an incumbent like Donald Trump where he's campaigned in Michigan for eight years I campaigned in two days and got 30% there is a movement here and if you see this is not an Angry Crowd this is a patriotic crowd this is a crowd that once in America their kids can be proud of Nikki Haley she is there pushing back against the notion that the Republican party is 100% Maga ahead of super Tuesday

and she is also warning that Donald Trump can't count on all Republicans to back him in the general election let's discuss joining us now is democratic Congressman Eric swell of California good morning Congressman it's good to have you at the table with us uh Hey to see you I I I want to I want to before I get we get into the the politics of of you know the parties I want to Broad broad stroke look at uh some polling that talks about the economy New York Times poll on the economy uh with Sienna

College notes asking the question thinking about the nation's economy how would you rate economic conditions today you've got excellent good 26% of Americans fair to poor 74% of Americans how are Democrats getting this messaging on the economy so wrong for voters that they think with low on uh low unemployment low inflation job uh creation up uh growing expanding economy their their 401ks are damn site better than they were not just a year ago but 6 months ago what is wrong here what is the disc

onnect that people think that Joe Biden is is presiding over the worst economy in a decade our economy is a come our economy is a comeback story and we've got to start telling that story Michael and Democrats I I think when when it comes to messaging we're at our worst when we try and you know speak to the head and we try and get all cerebral and we talk about the numbers and you know unemployment numbers and GDP growth that doesn't mean anything uh especially you know to uh wage workers who may

not have seen that 24% growth last year in the stock market they want you to talk to the heart uh and to the gut and and they're looking at a phrase that I hear all the time uh from friends and family which is breathing room they want Breathing Room in their finances they want to know that you know they're going to be able to save uh a little bit in case you know they get a blown tire or uh you know the washing machine goes out or maybe they want to you know take the kids uh to Disneyland you k

now they want to know that they're going to have breathing room and their finances and so I think we need to speak you know a little more plainly about it and we need to connect how our policies uh you know at the top line of low unemployment of seeing inflation flattening out how that connects to Breathing Room uh in your fin Fin aners and and the President Franklin just needs to be out there more Across America he's at his best when he's with bluecollar uh regular Americans talking about how h

is policies connect I mean you you there was like a a little silence everybody's like yes this just makes so much sense why is this so sensible Congressman you just you made it so plain why is it why are people making it so complicated why they it is it is literally just as simple as you as as you said and you noted I mean we started this segment obviously coming in with sound from Nikki Haley I am wondering just you know your thoughts about uh the former governor of South Carolina being in this

race this argument that she is now making about uh Donald Trump she keeps Towing up to the line but not going over it I I know uh Governor Newsome of California said that Nikki Haley is one of the best surrogates for Democrats right now this cycle what do you think about that well I would rather be us uh than Donald Trump right now because I'm hearing about the concerns about you know uncommitted voters in Michigan and the president has work to do there certainly but when you look that in Michi

gan 10 different counties voted for at least 30% or more for Nikki Haley and that across the board in these primaries 20% of Republican voters are saying they're never going to vote for Donald Trump you know that's a hell of a math problem uh for Donald Trump especially when you look at back in 2020 it was only about 5% of Republican voters who were saying they were never going to vote for Donald Trump so he's got a real math problem here he's got a ceiling that keeps coming down uh every week w

hen he shows us and reminds us as to who he is and and every day that Nikki Haley stays in this race it shows Joe Biden who are the voters that are getable uh for him in the campaign here here's the thing Congressman which is some of this is playing out on the the presidential campaign Trail and some of this is playing out in the House of Representatives itself this is from The Washington Post on Wednesday talking about speaker Johnson and The House GOP quote the lack of unity among House Republ

icans whose first year in the majority was defined by their inability to agree on must address issues has weakened Johnson's hand as he negotiates without a cohesive message on conservative demand so yes that impacts the Republican caucus they can't get their act together but it also impacts the General body right your ability to actually get things done narrowly averted a government shutdown this week there's another one on the horizon and one more after that we spoke with your colleague Congre

ssman Meeks just yesterday he said I don't think this Friday's deadline is the one to worry about I think it is the one after that and so my question to you the the the chaos in their caucus how much is it costing the American people the cost of the chaos is that we can't plan anything longterm so we can't put our best scientists to work to cure cancer to help you and your family in a long-term way because we budget them week to week we can't put you know the uh TSA workers who protect our airpo

rts uh and give them any certainty so that the lines are shorter when you want to take that family vacation or or go see your relatives because we're budgeting them week to week and so we're feeling this across the government uh because of the chaos and I think this is where Democrats have to show that government is at its best uh when its leaders govern and it's at its worst when they just want to rule and Republicans have an interest in just ruling ruling over your freedoms and and restricting

them and Democrats have an interest in in governing and I think the story that we have to tell uh that really hits with folks is that I95 about a year ago collapsed uh just outside Philadelphia and most experts said it was going to take a year to get that critical portion uh of the freeway back up and running and it was causing an extra half hour to an hour delay in people's commutes that got fixed in about two weeks uh because of a democratic Administration and a Democratic governor who wanted

to get things done and so I think we have to get and just tell that story we want to govern we want to get things done and these guys are only interested in the chaos because all they want to do is rule over you Congressman I I want to shift to something a little bit close to home and and certainly close to your heart the upcoming uh California US Senate race uh you have a situation now where Steve Garvey the Republican candidate uh is basically in a statistical tie for first place with Adam Sc

hiff um give us your assessment of the race there at this moment uh has this boil down to a shift Garvey uh uh you know race in the fall coming out of this jungle primary yes and I'm on team shift uh because I've been in the breach with him in these fights for our democracy and I've seen the dollar he's delivered for California uh and I a lot of respect to ktie Porter and Barbara Lee but it does look like it is going uh this way and and frankly if that is the case um if it's Adam uh and Garvey i

n you know in the General in California the great news is is that uh Democratic donors and activists will be able to spread their resources to Arizona to help Ruben guo or to Ohio to help shered brown or to Montana to help uh John tester you know there's other iCal Senate races where resources are going into California right now so with one Democrat coming out uh that's going to be a real boost to some of the other seats we need to protect all right con