Transcripts For CSPAN Rep. 20240705 : vimarsana.com

Congress. This is just over 20 minutes. Welcome to action yoas. James scott senior politics reporter and coming to you today from washington, d. C. Welcome to our audiences on facebook, u tube, facebook. And join the conversation on x. For our final 2023 news shaper and speak with the newsmakers driving the news and policy priorities that are top of mind heading into 2024. 2024. Our first our first guest is the congressman from new jerseys 3rd congressional district, andy kim. Congressman, thanks for joining us today. Thanks for having me today. What have you been working on as you are looking to tie up loose ends in washington . Rep. Kim will be able to bar forward in a bipartisan way, we have some any challenges we are facing globally right now, and was important for us, with some of the big challenges we face. We are going to do it in a bipartisan way. A lot of other things are happening in congress, the things that are deeply frustrating at the end of the year, not accomplishing the things we want to get done. What is one of those things that is frustrating you most significantly . Rep. Kim the easiest one is to say we are at the end of the year with without knowing how we will keep the lights on, we are kicking that can down the road and that has been deeply frustrating. People of our country deserve to have a government that is going to work and is able to function not constantly move from just precipice to precipice and cliff to cliff, just on the politics and brinksmanship that we have constantly been seeing. People here deserve to know the government is in step. Is a democrat who has been in this for little while, what would you point to as the reason you are not able to make progress in this area . Rep. Kim right now we have a majority in the house of representatives with a speaker that is not interested in getting things done. Theyve been more interested in playing partisan politics and that kind of way. Thats something i find really frustrating. Instead of trying to think about this in a bipartisan way, they are engaged in a way that is just trying to bring in some of the worst of partisan politics, those are the things we saw and what we were able to get past it , it was holding up a lot of important matters. Is there a matter in particular it has been holding up that you think is most relevant to your constituents . Rep. Kim because of this process, we are not able to have indepth conversations in terms of lowering cost right now. The number one thing im hearing about from residents today is the high cost at the grocery store, whether thats with housing, thats what people are worried about. That is a challenges they are facing right now. They dont have a government that is taking that seriously and trying to address it in a way that is needed. It was a lot of what we talked about in the campaign before last year, and if were not able to follow up in a meaningful way, the voters feel like the government is not focused on the things they care about. That is certainly what i hear a lot of today and every day that im here in new jersey. Do you have any ideas of the new approach or strategy you will be able to take in the new year that will hopefully get this legislation across the line . Rep. Kim i hope that first of all we can come back and keep our government open and have that bipartisan vote that is needed to do that. We have that coming up in january and february. So if we are able to actually do that in a meaningful way, then yes, i will have hope that we can move forward on other important issues. Going into a president ial election cycle year, there is even less for people to come to the table and have constructive conversations. I do worry about our ability to do the work which is to legislate, group to be able to pass laws to solve problems. Ive been trying to make progress on Mental Health issues, we have a Mental Health crisis right now especially for our youth, our kids and students. It is a bipartisan issue, should be a bipartisan issue. I hear people talk about it, but our ability to sit down and try to come up with solutions, that has yet to be seen. That is something i find very frustrating. Mental health is a topic weve seen people on both sides of the ill attempt to address. I have you not been able to get on the same page about it . Rep. Kim right now, what i see a lot of is a lack of interest in trying to proactively tackled some of the biggest problems. We have a very reactionary congress. It doesnt make for a strategic approach that is needed. Instead we are getting distracted, this past week, it was all about whether or not to proceed on impeachment inquiries , rather than trying to actually tackled things that affect peoples daytoday lives. Theyre just uninterested in prioritizing the issues we hear about like Mental Health. Its something im literally hearing about middle school and high school, im the father of two little boys and i worry about what kind of environment, what kind of america they are growing up in. We are seeing that kind of problem from some of our youngest communities, especially coming out of the pandemic. It really had an impact on them that we have to take serious. What are some issues you would like to prioritize in the new year . Rep. Kim like i said, we need to be able to Prioritize Health care at large, it is something that has been so problematic. I worked hard over the last congress, we were able to pass legislation i helped coauthor that would cap outofpocket cost for seniors when it comes to medication at 2000 a year. I was hearing from seniors that were paying 500 or 600 outofpocket for their prescription drugs. That is something that is putting money back in their pocket and helping them be able to afford food and other necessities. Weve got to make sure we are dressing these things that people care about. How effective do you think your party has been able to be in communicating to voters what it is that you all have been doing . Rep. Kim we definitely need to do more of it. Ive done 70 town halls this past year. Right here in new jersey i have been going around to some of the places where projects are underway, the bipartisan infrastructure law that we were able to get past, and what is moving forward in terms of manufacturing that has been supercharged by the chip and science act. Which once again is bipartisan legislation. I wish we had got more things done, but real meaningful work was done and it is important to build on that. We live in the time of the greatest distrust of the American Government in modern history. We have to try to tell them what it is we are doing but also about what they need. Youve mentioned bipartisanship quite a few times. What area are you most proud of that you have been able to accomplish in this last congress, or the current congress, i should say, where you and republicans have worked together . Rep. Kim i am the Ranking Member of the military we do a lot for veterans and military families. I have been frustrated we have not got as much done is wed would like, but we have been able to move the deals forward, try to address childcare needs and other things they are working on, but also work we are trying to do to push forward on the health care crisis. There is a lot of room for bipartisanship. Weve done some things, but not enough. Those are the places im hoping to make more progress on. These topics are ones that viewers are pretty familiar with if they watch the news pretty regularly. Is there a topic you feel like isnt getting the amount of attention that it needs to that you hope to elevate next year. . Rep. Kim thats another really good question. One thing i hear a lot of is actually just about transportation. More broadly, the number one issue that i hear outside of the high cost of prescription drugs, when it comes to health care, lack of transit. A lot of seniors are struggling to be able to get to medical appointments, to be able to get around. That is something that i hope to really tackled