Episode 21 • L3 IRL • Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski

[00:00:22] Hi, this is Whitney from Left Leaning Ladies, and tonight we are joined by a very special guest, our Congressperson Nikki Budzinski. She represents Illinois 13, and we have the pleasure of having her as our own Congressperson.

[00:00:36] I especially love, what I love about Nikki is that she is ever present in our district. We have all gotten to know her through different events. She comes to our parades. She holds regular office hours. She is ever present in our district. So we've really gotten the pleasure of talking to her on several occasions.

[00:00:59] So we are talking to her tonight about the rising cost of living. We're going to talk about rural health care, and we're also going to touch on workers' rights. We're going to talk about her work in Congress and what comes next in the community. So welcome, Nikki Budzinski. Thank you, Whitney. It's so great to be with you and Amy and Meredith. It's wonderful to be on the Left Leaning Ladies. I'm honored.

[00:01:22] Thank you so much. I know this is a super busy time of the campaign for you four days away, so we're going to jump right in with a question. The first one is about affordability, and I know that that is a major thing for you that you're really concentrating on. You've identified lowering costs as one of your top priorities. Families are struggling with groceries, energy bills, and health care. What specific actions are you fighting for in Congress to make life more affordable?

[00:01:50] And how will constituents know those efforts are making a difference in their lives? Yeah, that's a great question. And let me say, when we talk about affordability, it's really the compounding problem of so many different costs that have risen, right? I do believe we have a broken health care system that the average premium now across the 13th Congressional District after the ACA tax credits expired is over $1,000 a month.

[00:02:18] And so the median income in the 15th Congressional District is $55,000. So when you're talking to families about adding an additional $400, $500 just to remain covered by health insurance, people are making some really difficult decisions because not only is that happening, but because of, I believe, in the war in Iran has led to these really increased costs of the gas pump. Now in our district, a little over $4.50 a gallon.

[00:02:49] Diesel is over $7.00. This is, again, adding another pain point. And then I also just want to say utility bills. You know, Donald Trump sold all of us a bill of goods, obviously. But one of, I mean, I don't think he sold any of us on this call, let me say that. But I think just for some working people, they really genuinely believed he was going to bring down costs on day one, as he said. He said he was going to cut utility bills in half.

[00:03:14] But the reality is we know that utility bills have gone up by about 16% nationwide. So it isn't just those one pain point. It's multiple. And you add tariffs and rising grocery costs. So the thing that I think we need to do, I'm hoping, obviously, on Election Day, we're going to have a really good night. We're going to take back the House of Representatives. And I really hope we also take back the Senate. That would be incredibly powerful because then we can really tackle these things.

[00:03:43] For health care, we obviously, I think we need to reinstate the ACA tax credits. But we have to go farther. We have to crack down on pharma. Big pharma has really led to a lot of increased costs in prescription drugs. I think we need to hold them accountable. We need to also expand the drugs that we negotiate for lower prices. Joe Biden and the Democrats actually were the ones that capped the cost of insulin at $35 for those on Medicare. We shouldn't stop at just Medicare.

[00:04:12] We should really be strengthening Medicare. We should expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing. And we should continue to, I think, extend the drug price negotiations to those on private insurance. So these are some immediate things I think we can do. I know we're going to be talking about rural health, so I'll save some of my thoughts on Medicaid and what's coming down the pike for that part of the conversation.

[00:04:39] But I also want to say with utilities, what we can do on day one, and Leader Jeffries had myself and Congressman Mike Levin from California lead our working group for our caucus on bringing down gas prices and utility bills. Utility bills, one of the things we should do is expand LIHEAP. LIHEAP is a lifeline for so many families that are working that need a little bit of assistance.

[00:05:05] And as we're going to be soon getting into our winter months, people are going to really struggle to keep their homes warm. LIHEAPs make sure that no utilities get cut off, that people can afford to heat their homes. I think that's a very common sense thing. It's something that Donald Trump has tried unsuccessfully to eliminate as a program. Democrats really want to strengthen that.

[00:05:28] When we're talking about gas prices, though, I've voted six different times on ending this war in Iran and voicing my opposition to it. I think if we can end this war and bring a quick conclusion to it, I think we will then see gas prices go down. But all of these things require different leadership in Washington. Republicans in the House and the Senate have truly just failed to provide that leadership.

[00:05:55] They seem to be more interested, quite frankly, in kissing up to Donald Trump than they do standing up to him. And so I think that's why this election is just so important. And the work that we have ahead of us, when Democrats take back power, we need to show the American people that we can really deliver on these issues. Yes. Well, we're going to talk about rural health care.

[00:06:20] You've warned that Medicaid cuts could put rural hospitals and health care providers under even greater financial pressure. And we're already kind of seeing that in our area. You also fought to secure Illinois' requested funding through the Rural Health Transformation Program, which is amazing, while acknowledging that it won't fully offset those cuts. What is the long-term plan to protect rural hospitals? And what can Congress do to ensure people in smaller communities aren't left without access to care?

[00:06:47] Yeah, I think that these cuts to Medicaid, which, by the way, Amy, are like the biggest cut to Medicaid in the program's history, almost a trillion dollars of cuts. What my biggest concern is that it's going to impact our rural communities most significantly. We also know that people are not feeling the effects of those cuts yet, because those cuts, even though they were voted on, I obviously voted in opposition to this.

[00:07:15] The Republicans, though, passed it. It doesn't go into effect until next year. And so what this is going to mean is when that kind of a reduction of federal dollars for the Medicaid program no longer flows to the state, it's going to put incredible amounts of pressure on our state budget in order to make sure that our hospitals can remain solvent. About 30% of most of the hospitals in the 13th District service those on Medicaid.

[00:07:44] That's a pretty significant portion of a hospital's budget. And when you take cuts out of that, some of our hospitals, especially our safety net hospitals in our rural communities, are operating on a shoestring. I mean, they're barely able to balance that budget. And so we want to make sure that Democrats, when we take back control, we want to roll back those cuts to Medicaid. That's the thing that we can do that I think is very unifying across the caucus.

[00:08:14] And it's something that we can really introduce and get to on day one. It's going to be challenging, though, because we're going to have to have the president sign it. But I do think that as Democrats, we have to fight for this. You're absolutely right, Amy. I was very proud to work with the governor's office to lead our request to CMS, which is the federal agency that handles the Rural Transformation Fund. We did get the most.

[00:08:43] We asked for the full amount. We did get that full amount. But it is a drop in the bucket to what is going to happen when these cuts really go into effect. And so while it's good, we're getting these resources. Those resources are only going to exist every year for the next five years. And then we really, truly fall off the cliff. So we need to focus on reversing the damage of these cuts. Again, almost a trillion dollars.

[00:09:11] And I just want to also mention, too, because we have a lot of seniors in this district. This isn't just going to impact hospitals. We know in the 13th district there are six different nursing homes that are going to be added immediately to the watch list for potential closure.

[00:09:28] And it is truly heartbreaking because a lot of the seniors that I talk to, if they are reliant on Medicaid, Medicaid is helping them to ensure that they're living with the assistance, healthcare assistance that they need in an assisted living facility. I mean, what are we going to do if that facility ends up closing? What will we do with our seniors?

[00:09:53] And I just honestly think that as a society, we should be judged by how we treat our children and how we treat our elderly. And our elderly being able to retire and age in their homes, ideally, or however they like, but with grace, I think is just so important. And these Medicaid cuts are going to be a real challenge to that. Wow, that's so scary. It is.

[00:10:20] It's going to put a lot of families having to take care of their elderly relatives that they aren't qualified to take care of. Exactly. I could just say too, Amy, like in the district, we host a senior advocacy day. And so we've actually had a good participation of seniors and family members that care for seniors.

[00:10:43] And I've had more people come up in tears at those events telling me situations where a family member is the main caregiver for both a child in their home and an aging parent. I had not heard until, you know, really doing these events about the sandwich generation, these folks that are probably around our age that are caring for both. And then the strain that it puts on the family because that person then can't get to their job.

[00:11:12] It becomes a full-time job being a caregiver. So Medicaid helps to kind of fill that gap. Without those dollars, it's just going to be even more heartbreaking, I think. Yes. And then Meredith will be asking the last question. Oh, sure. Hi, Meredith. Hello. So I just wanted to ask you a little bit about the future of workers' rights and economic security.

[00:11:42] So I know that you have a long history of working with people like firefighters, meat packers, grocery store workers. And you yourself are also part of a union. And I know that you played a large role in helping to negotiate the $15 minimum wage in Illinois.

[00:12:03] And with workers who are really struggling with the rising costs, the debates over wages, workplace protections, and just the protections of the unions themselves. What policies on a federal level would you prioritize to help secure the future of the working class? Yeah, I love this question.

[00:12:32] And as you said, Meredith, before I ran for office, I worked for 10 years in the labor movement. And I really think of that work as what grounds so much of the work that I do in Washington to this day. Whether it's trying to raise the federal minimum wage, which I will say I appreciate you mentioning our minimum wage is $15. We've got a fantastic governor who signed that into law and has been a true champion for working people.

[00:13:02] But as we know, that's not the case in every state. And at the federal level, the minimum wage is just a paltry $7.25, which is just that that is obviously clearly nothing anyone can live on. So raising wages is something that we should be tackling in Washington. But I'm a really big believer in the labor movement in the sense that I think it lifts up all workers.

[00:13:27] It's a real challenge in this country because labor laws were basically crafted in the 1930s and 1940s. And all of our work environments have changed, yet labor law has really not evolved to meet the working man and woman. And so I think it's really important that we look at labor law reform. I'm an original sponsor of what we call the PRO Act.

[00:13:51] In Washington, the PRO Act would basically make it a fairer, even playing field for workers in a workplace where it might not be currently unionized. If they choose to join the union, it creates a level playing field that's free from intimidation from their employer if they wanted to organize their workplace and then negotiate through the collective bargaining process a contract. It's incredibly difficult right now for workers.

[00:14:19] We all probably are following the Starbucks workers. McDonald's has been I was at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union where for well over a decade we were trying to organize Walmart workers. It is it is very difficult when a union is going up against a pretty powerful corporation. And right now we have a system that just so unfairly, in my opinion, favors those at the very top.

[00:14:47] And I think what we need is a strong labor movement that can step in and support working people to make sure they have the fundamentals, which to me is a good wage. It is good benefits, meaning health care, which is so critically important. And then also retirement with dignity. You know, we're kind of blessed in Illinois. Working people still have access to pensions.

[00:15:15] That's a, you know, a really good way for them to save in conjunction with their employer for retirement. Unions often negotiate those on behalf of those working people. And then I just also want to mention safe working conditions is still something that we don't have in all places.

[00:15:33] And so I just think that that's the importance of a strong labor movement when the movement is strong and they're elevating workers by negotiating good collective bargaining agreements. It actually helps union and non-union workers because it sets the ground floor for then what other workers can ask for. So it's it's really something that's important. And we're very lucky in the state of Illinois.

[00:16:01] You know, our governor signed the workers rights amendment, which was something that passed overwhelmingly in our legislature that enshrined the rights of workers to participate and be a part of the labor movement in our constitution. But it's just very uneven. If you look over in Missouri, for example, workers are not making the same. If you looked at Indiana, it's a right to work state. So they're making a lot less.

[00:16:29] And so it's just, I think, important when we're talking about protecting the middle class in this country. I really think that that begins with strengthening the labor movement. And it's something I've really been working hard on in Washington to try to do. And will be easier when we win. Yeah. We all hope that we will all be celebrating here in just a couple of days. Right. Yeah. I also wanted to commend you.

[00:16:57] I got your weekly email and always try to read through it. And this week, the focus was on you leading other legislators for. And what is it? So the pricing for Dollar General and Family Dollar and in rural areas where we're talking about affordability, I think that is so worthy. Yeah. Would you mind if I talked a little bit about it? Yeah.

[00:17:23] Just because I feel like it is so resonant, especially in some of our rural communities, because a Family Dollar or a Dollar General can be oftentimes the only really quick access anybody has to groceries or a retail store. And what we found out through some reporting from The Guardian was that there were practicing deceptive pricing. And what deceptive pricing basically is, is when somebody goes into a Family Dollar store

[00:17:51] and they see one price on the shelf, they end up going to the register and it's higher. And if they call it out, oftentimes Family Dollar and Dollar General don't honor the lower price that was on the shelf. Well, I think it's really important to call that out because Family Dollar and Dollar General, part of their business model is that they're affordable, that they're a good lower cost option

[00:18:17] for families that are just trying to make ends meet, fill up a grocery cart when we know right now groceries are so high. So I think calling out these employers that kind of call in people based on low prices, but then in fact are practicing deceptive pricing, they just need to clean up their business as far as the same price at the shelf should be the same price at the register.

[00:18:40] We actually led a letter with a number of my colleagues to both of these companies and we got very unsatisfactory answers. So then we took it up to the next level, which was to go to the Federal Trade Commission because the Federal Trade Commission does have the authority to crack down on folks when they're not abiding by these laws.

[00:19:04] And so we're going to keep after this, but I think one of the things we heard though is that 7-Eleven and some of these other convenience stores are also doing the same type of practices. So we're going to keep following this, but I think it's really important that there be accountability to these corporations when they're doing this. Absolutely. I'm glad that you touched on that.

[00:19:30] And for anyone listening, you can sign up for her weekly email and it goes over all of the work that she's doing. So I love that. Nikki, I know that you are super busy, so we're going to cut it. But I so appreciate you making the time for us tonight and I appreciate everything that you've done for our rural area. Thank you, Amy. Thank you, Amy. Thank you, Meredith.