Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter discusses current government shutdown

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Congressman Buddy Carter joined WTOC’s Dawn Baker on Welcome to Our Community to discuss the current government shutdown.

Carter spoke to us going on the 28th day of the government shutdown, we asked him about his feelings on the shutdown.

“Well, as you would expect. I mean, look, we’re entering our fifth week, as you indicate, day 28, and this is something that’s unnecessary and something that has been instigated by Chuck Schumer and by John Ossoff and the Democrats, and it’s something that really is unnecessary. We did our job in the House. We passed a continuing resolution to get us through November 21st. We’ve also offered at this point, if we need to extend it even further, we’re willing to do that. But the Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer, John Ossoff, and the other Democrats, they are holding out because they want to provide health care services to illegal immigrants, and that’s simply not going to happen,” said Rep. Carter.

Rep. Carter discusses healthcare negotiations

“What about the Americans who are now going to suffer because they may lose their health care or the prices will get so high that they may as well lose their health care,” asked WTOC’s Dawn Baker. “We’ll be back before the times of the Affordable Health Care Act.”

“Absolutely, and let’s make sure we understand now. The subsidies that they’re talking about that they want to extend were subsidies that were given when the pandemic began. When the Democrats were in charge at that time, they set them to expire when the pandemic expired. It has expired now, so we’re willing to negotiate extending those subsidies, but you need to understand that they’re only going to be about 4% to 5% of the cost of the premiums. The premiums are going up much more than that,” Rep. Carter responded. “The premiums are going up in double figures, and the reason is because it is not the Affordable Care Act. It’s the Unaffordable Care Act. Democrats have ruined health care in America by this policy that they’ve implemented here with the Affordable Care Act, and that’s something that we’ve got to address. We’ve got to bring health care costs down here in this country, and we’re not going to be able to do it with the Affordable Care Act as it is now. Now, we’re certainly willing to negotiate, but open the government first. It’s unfair to keep our troops, to keep our federal employees hostage in order to get health care for illegal immigrants.”

Rep. Carter said, “We will negotiate, and we’ve committed to doing that, but we need to open the government first.”

Rep. Carter discusses SNAP benefits

“So come Monday, if nothing changes, we will also have 42 million people or so who will not get their SNAP benefits, their food stamps. This has become a time where it’s kind of divided America even more, in my opinion, because some are just using this time to roast the adults who are on the program who they believe should not be. But I always look at the children. The children didn’t choose these people who don’t have regular employment who can pay for them to have three meals a day,” said WTOC’s Dawn Baker.

SEE: Georgia EBT cards will stop working Nov. 1 if government shutdown continues

“You’re absolutely right. They’re the ones who are suffering, and they’re the ones who should not be suffering. That’s why we need to open the government back. Okay, let’s do talk about the subsidies and extending the subsidies. Willing to do that, perfectly willing to do it, but open the government up so these people that you just noted, so that they don’t have to suffer,” responded Rep. Carter.

SEE: What to know in SC as SNAP benefits set to expire

Rep. Carter responds after President Donald Trump speaks on Hyundai ICE raids

“Just yesterday, President Donald Trump talked about the ICE raids and saying that he wasn’t really in favor of it the way that everything happened. What is your opinion of that? Just your opinion of what has happened in our community as a result of these raids,” asked WTOC’s Dawn Baker.

COVERAGE: Trump says he ‘very much opposed’ Hyundai ICE raid

“Well, certainly we want to make sure we’re following the laws, and Hyundai wants to make sure that they’re following the laws too. If you look at this, and I’ve spoken to the district attorney and what happened there, the southern attorney, and she has indicated that a lot of the problems were just technical. That is, expired visas, expired passports, things that were somewhat sloppy, to be quite honest with you. It wasn’t as if someone was here illegally that shouldn’t have been here. We need those workers here. We need them to be training our workers as to how to use this equipment and how best to perform these duties, and that’s why they were here. But you’ve got to follow the rules too,” replied Rep. Carter. “So a lot of it could have been prevented. It’s unfortunate that it happened I know the president has indicated that he would have rather seen it not happen.”