Senator Marshall: American Families are Safer Today

Senator Marshall Joins NewsNation to Discuss Maduro's Arrest & How to Make Healthcare Affordable Again

Washington - On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined NewsNation Live with Marni Hughes to discuss the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, Congress's upcoming agenda, and his plan to make healthcare affordable for all Americans again.

Click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall's full interview.

On Operation Absolute Resolve:

"Well, Marni, Happy New Year to you and your viewers as well. Look, most importantly, American families are safer today because Maduro is behind bars. The number one killer of young adults in America is drug poisoning, and he was part of, he was the leader of, one of the four or five cartels that control the drug flow into this country. So certainly, we need to be safer. I think, you know, people want to emphasize that this was a law enforcement action, that this was led by the DEA, by the Justice Department, that I'm not a nation builder, President Trump's not a nation builder. I think it's a very fluid situation, and going forward, I think we should stay focused on what our goals are here, our goals as Americans. America First is number one. Stop the flow of drugs into our country. Number two is to restart, improve the flow of oil from Venezuela. And number three is to reinstitute the Monroe Doctrine. Look, we don't want China controlling Venezuelan oil, we don't want China in the Panama Canal, we don't want China building a naval base just off an island off of Cuba's shores. So I think that this is about America first, about this 'Donroe' Doctrine, so to speak."

On Congress's upcoming agenda:

"Look, we need to finish funding the government. I'm excited. The Democrats are saying they don't want to shut down the government again like they did last time. So let's figure out a way to do the appropriations. Look, 90% of the funding has already come through the committees, with a huge bipartisan support. Let's get those on the floor and get those done. Next, I want to address the cost of living for people. Under Joe Biden, we know that inflation is cumulative, that the cost of housing, of child care, of health insurance, and property insurance went up 50% under Joe Biden, and that's impacting people in many ways. So what can we do to bring down the cost of health care? For me, that's why I'm on the Health Care Committee and on the Finance Committee that controls that. So we want to really push for our price tags bill, which forces all health care providers to show patients what things are going to cost up front, before you have that MRI done, or lab done, or your surgery done. We think that will bring down the cost of healthcare $1,000 a month for families across the country.

On addressing fraud in Obamacare:

"Well, I think number one is, I need my friends across the aisle to be willing to take on the fraud within Obamacare. Probably $25 billion of fraud. Just like we're seeing fraud in Minnesota, there's fraud in Obamacare. So we need to address that. Look, I'm willing to extend the Biden-era subsidies. Remember, 80% of the subsidies are still in effect. People making less than $120,000, a family making less than $120,000, they're on Obamacare, 80% of that premium still going to be paid for by the federal government. But we want to move towards taking the money rather than sending it to the insurance companies. We want to put it in your own health care debit card, so to speak. We want to address the fraud. We want to do the price tags bill as well. I'd be willing to extend the Biden error subsidies for a year to get that, as well. But it's been pretty tough sledding up here to get anything done on a bipartisan basis with health care.

On balancing the federal budget:

"Look, no one wins during a shutdown. I know that we can sit here and yell at each other and blame each other, but nobody wins, and certainly, the American people don't win as well. There needs to be a bipartisan solution; it's going to take 60 votes in the Senate to get an appropriations bill done. The committee's done its work. We're spending more money than I want to, I acknowledge that. That the number one long-term threat to our country is the $36 trillion of national debt, growing, and that we're spending a trillion dollars a year on interest. But nevertheless, it looks like the appropriations committees have done their job; we've not grown the budget any this year for all practical purposes, and if we start working on waste, fraud, and abuse, maybe we can get back to a balanced budget.

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