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Joining us now to discuss the partial

government shutdown over DHS and ICE

funding is public policy analyst Michael

Bustler who’s a pro professor of finance

over at Stockton University and

political strategist Gene Valentino.

He’s host of the podcast Grassroots

Truthcast. Gentlemen, thank you so much

for joining. Michael, starting with you.

Seems like Speaker Johnson is confident

that he can get the twoe extension done

without any collaboration from the

Democrats. Your thoughts on that?

Well, I certainly hope he’s right. And

actually, it’s not two weeks. I think it

uh only lasts till February 13th, which

is really only uh 10 days. I’m not sure

what’ll happen uh between now and

February 13th. It’s good that we got we

have the vast majority of uh the

government funded, but DHS includes more

than just uh border enforcement and ICE.

It also includes FEMA. And with some of

the bad weather we’re having,

particularly snows in uh much of the the

country, FEMA may be called in and they

have to be funded. So, I hope this

passes today. I think the Republicans

can only afford to lose one vote. Uh it

looks like no Democrats are going to

vote uh for it. Um, I hope it passes uh

today and I hope that they can come up

with something by um February 13th uh so

we don’t have any kind of another uh

shutdown.

Yeah, important points in that it’s not

a full two weeks as you point out only

to the 13th and also that it’s not just

specific to ICE it does affect FEMA and

other really important services at what

seems like a pretty crucial weather

moment. Gene, your thoughts on if this

will go through without democratic

collaboration today?

Well, the probability is higher that it

will and let’s hope Mike Johnson’s

correct and things are as optimistic as

he claims. The truth of the matter is on

a broader scale uh this should not be

such a partisan partyline issue each and

every year. uh the House of

Representatives in the Senate need to

take a a stronger examination of

themselves, not ICE and other peripheral

matters, and take a hard look at how

they’re operating. Uh to to to comp

complement what my guest, my co- guest

just said, uh we we shouldn’t be in

these stressful deliberations each and

every year. We have so many more

important things to deal with. And Gene,

staying with you on that topic, specific

to what they’re debating on, um there

are already some compromises here. Gnome

says she wants body cameras and she’s

just waiting for the money to clear and

then they’re going to deploy them. And

you heard the president say that they

the police prefer to have those body

cameras. Um but in terms of removing

masks and the judicial warrants, um that

seems like where the rubber will meet

the road. What are your thoughts on what

will happen? Not not just today because

clearly just they’re just trying to keep

the government open, but over the 10 not

14 days as Mike pointed out. What do you

what do you think will happen?

Isn’t this funny? It’s just a few years

ago when you talk about mask, it was

supposedly some mandated protection we

were going to receive for uh from the co

virus. Today the word mask means hide

the identity of the ICE agent. And why

is that so? It’s so because there’s a

threat against the ma the ICE agent and

his family. And why is that? It’s

because we are going into communities

legally to extricate individuals legally

and authorized to do so to remove them

from this nation legally because they

have violated the law and they just

don’t want retaliation or retribution

against themselves or their families.

that instead the House of

Representatives and related uh leftwing

groups are trying to uh go after and

intimidate the very people that are

hurting this nation and we need to stop

this immediately. I pray that there’s

some legislation that comes along to

penalize anybody, whether it’s an

elected official uh or or other law

enforcement agencies from uh trying to

stop a duly um authorized group, ICE

agents in protecting this nation by

getting these villains out of the

country.

And I want to pivot over to you,

Michael, from the economic perspective.

No mention that the budget under

scrutiny uh has the funding for the body

cameras. So, in a way, delaying the vote

is preventing them from getting what

they’re asking for. Um, but it seems

like everybody’s in agreement that body

cameras are good. They need to be funded

and they need to be distributed uh for

everybody’s sake. But are there other

economic aspects of this extension um

you know that should be highlighted in

your view?

Well, everything else has been uh

resolved. The the other issue that we

haven’t heard too much about, and I

believe it it’s been uh resolved, was

the extension of the um Affordable Care

Act subsidies that were passed in 2021

and were set to expire at the end of

2025. The only purpose of that was

during the uh pandemic, the unemployment

rate shot up to almost 15%.

And typically it’s the lower income

people that feel this more than uh

everyone else. So Congress being

compassionate said, “Look, we’ll we’ll

cover more of your uh health care

payment than we do now, at least until

everybody gets back on your feet.” Well,

back on your feet, they gave it till

2025. The unemployment rate, although

it’s inched up a little bit recently, is

still at uh close to a full employment

level. Um, and considering the federal

government is $ 38 trillion in debt and

running up nearly $2 trillion per year

deficit to add to that, government

spending has got to be reduced. Um, and

every time they come up with a way to

cut government spending, somebody has a

um has a a problem with it. Well, one

way to cut it is we don’t need to extend

these additional subsidies. So, that was

a big hold up last time. Um, I’m not

sure how it was resolved. The House

agreed to a three-year extension. The

Senate, I believe, agreed to a two-year

extension. So, I’m not sure how that

finally got um resolved, but overall um

shutdowns are not good for the U

economy. We don’t have the fourth

quarter GDP number because the

government shut down before. We don’t

have all the data, but when it comes in,

I believe it’ll be very strong. uh the

third quarter number was uh 4.3% growth.

I think the fourth quarter could have

been more than that. Um however, we

don’t know what the exact effects of the

government shutdown were and it could

slow that down. Overall, we need the

government to uh operate and operate all

the time. We needed to operate more

efficiently and to stop spending money

that they don’t have. And we really have

to take a stand on that. We can’t kick

the can down the road as we’ve done for

the last 20 or 30 years. We have to

address that now.

You bring up a really interesting point

that, you know, for the longest

government shutdown, um, healthc care

was central to that and then it just

sort of faded into the ether and people

really aren’t talking about it. But now

there’s this new emergency and clearly

what is happening in Minnesota is

concerning to all people maybe for

different reasons depending on what side

of the aisle they’re on. So Gene, love

to get your thoughts on that that you

know there’s a new theatrical thing that

is preventing the government from having

its normal functioning and you had

earlier alluded to you know that that

Congress just needs to work more

efficiently. So how do you understand

what’s taking place at this moment?

Let’s start with term limits for

congressmen, a constitutional amendment

for balanced budgets. uh audits on

specific agencies starting with the

Department of Defense. Uh Michael’s

point a minute ago was perfect. We we’ve

kicked the can down the road for so

long, we can’t do it anymore. It’s it’s

really coming to a point of no return.

So, we need a balanced budget with

audits in place. Let’s start with the

Department of Defense and we can easily

balance the budget. All of a sudden,

cameras for ICE agents become a

non-issue. It’s such a small item in the

scheme of things. We really need to get

our our budget balance. And this is

where government activity or government

behavior interferes with an economy. It

interferes with the speed of um of

incentives that go to industries and

[laughter] sectors that uh help

stimulate jobs and growth. Uh th this is

why we need to do it immediately. I

think there’s a direct relationship. the

the faster government steps away from

spending, uh the opposite is true. We

will see growth and prosperity um

accelerate geometrically and therefore

the paying down of that egregious debt

that’s accumulated over the decades.

Well, appreciate your insights there,

Gene Valentino and Michael Bustler as

well. Thank you for joining us this

morning, gentlemen.

My pleasure.

Take care.

Hi, friends. Gene Valentino. Are you

tired of those cold sore outbreaks

caused by the herpes virus? Discover

Herplex, the natural homeopathic remedy

that works with your body’s immune

system. Unfortunately, herpes is not

curable. With Herplex, you can relieve

systems that help prevent future

outbreaks safely and effectively without

the side effects of these traditional

medications. Their patented formula

helps your immune system produce more

interferon, targeting the outbreaks at

the source. Get back to feeling like

your old self again. Visit

byherplex.com/gene

today and save 50% 50% on your first

order using discount code gene ne5.

That’s gan50. But hurry, this discount

is exclusive to my listeners and won’t

last long. You have nothing to lose as

Herplex offers a 100% satisfaction

guarantee. Let’s conquer herpes together

and do it naturally. Buy

herplex.com/gene.

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