LEILA FADEL, HOST:
We have the congressman on the line with us now. Good morning, Congressman Haridopolos.
MIKE HARIDOPOLOS: Good morning. Nice to have the opportunity to be on your show.
FADEL: It's nice to have you here. I'm sorry we lost you for a moment there. I want to start with how this government shutdown is going to impact the thousands of federal workers in your district. I mean, you represent a district that includes the communities around the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. What are you hearing from them?
HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I work directly with NASA's - I am the chairman of the Space Committee, and I've spoken to NASA, and there'll be very little impact whatsoever with the government shutdown. That's the positive thing, meaning that those workers who are furloughed know that full well when they go back to work, whether we solve it today or tomorrow or next week, that they'll give it their back pay as soon as we reopen. So they have that comfort to know.
But that said, it is very frustrating right now in Washington, D.C., because, as you know, last week, we in the House of Representatives voted to keep the government open. And we're optimistic with the three votes last night with three Democrat senators saying, you know what? Let's have this negotiation about health care, but let's first keep the government open. That's where I stand. But for whatever reason, the Democrats think that the best thing to do - right now, at least - is to keep the government closed. We just don't agree on that.
FADEL: Now, both parties are very dug in. The Democrats blame your party for this shutdown. Your party blames them. So what is the way out of this crisis? Because many federal workers live check to check, and these furloughs, even if it's just a week or two, will be devastating to their lives.
HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I agree. I think the - it's a bad idea to shut the government down. As you know - you're well versed in politics - when Joe Biden was president of the United States, Democrats said that shutting down the government is the worst thing you could do. Well, they're the ones stopping us from keeping the government open. As you know, we voted to pass it out of the House, but it takes 60 votes in the Senate. But I again - I'm encouraged by last night's reality where three Democrats said, you know what? We're going to have the health care negotiation, which John Thune, the majority leader, and Speaker Johnson said they both want to have. But until then, let's keep the government open. So you don't have the concern like you have...
FADEL: So your hope is that more Democrats will just vote for the stopgap bill, not...
HARIDOPOLOS: It is, because remember, this is not the final negotiation. This is a seven-week what we call stopgap so that workers aren't furloughed. They don't have to worry about, as you put it, perfectly, paycheck to paycheck. We want them to keep working 'cause not just to get paid, but more importantly, provide the services that people have paid for as taxpayers. So it's a win-win to keep the government open instead of playing this political game. But, look, it's politics. I understand that part, but we did our...
FADEL: Right.
HARIDOPOLOS: ...Part in the House, and we're optimistic the Senate will do the same in the next few days.
FADEL: Now, we've heard from Democrats that this is their way of pushing back on the president in a moment where they feel that the president is taking the power of the purse from Congress, that this is what their voters want from them, to use this moment of leverage. What do you say to that concern from voters that there needs to be a Congress that stands up to an executive that might be taking some of the power of Congress?
HARIDOPOLOS: Well, first of all, as you know, the - some of the rescissions - about 9 billion that we made adjustments of - that was not the president acting alone. That was the Congress looking at some of the more transparent opportunities we had because of DOGE and said, you know what? Even though those are programs we might like to have, we can't afford them anymore, and we're going to move in a new direction. And so this is something we work on with the president.
But remember, the president campaigned on the idea that we have a big budget deficit, and we need to bring the spending in line with what revenues come in. And so this is part of the process. It's a give-and-take process. We're willing to work with Democrats, and we're again, encouraged to see that Democrat senators saw the logic of, let's spend the next seven weeks working on the budget, make sure that's in good shape and also work on policies like the health care concerns that some people have, which are more than legitimate.
FADEL: Which the Democrats have brought up. Yeah. So if the Democrats don't come on side - it sounds like you're hoping that more than three will come on side - this will be solved quickly. But if that isn't happening, is there a way to get out to a place where both parties just give up something to get the government back up and running?
HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I would say this. All we're talking about is seven weeks, and this is the exact same agreement that the Democrats thought was a good idea back in March. I understand the political pressure that Democrats are under. Their approval ratings have never been lower. Of course, Chuck Schumer is worried about a primary. There are three different republic - I'm sorry - Democrats in New York worried about primaries. But I think that you're not really standing up to Trump. What you're doing is you're hurting people who need some of these government programs, let alone those folks who rely on that paycheck because they're government workers. I want to see us stay open, and I think that's the best thing to do.
FADEL: A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that Republicans actually might get more of the blame for this shutdown than Democrats. Are you ultimately worried that this shutdown will hurt your party with voters?
HARIDOPOLOS: Well, that's the - all I can say is, I hope everyone listening recognizes the rules of the game. The rules of the game are it takes a majority in the House to keep the government open. We did that. The rules of the game are if the - for the Senate, you need 60 votes. That means you need at least seven, maybe more, Democrat votes to keep the government open. I would think that given the constituencies of the Democrats, they would want to keep the government open, and then let's negotiate some of these health care issues. But the health care issue isn't such a pure issue. Remember, if you make $600,000 in Arizona as a family of four, you get subsidies. I think that's a little bit out of control.
FADEL: Republican Congressman Mike Haridopolos of Florida. Thank you so much for your time and for joining the program (ph).
HARIDOPOLOS: Enjoyed it. Thanks so much. Have a wonderful day.
FADEL: You too.
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