Adam Schiff says he’s hopeful shutdown talks pick up with President Trump back in the U.S. | California Politics 360
Senator Adam Schiff joins the program now. Senator Schiff, thank you so much for being with us. Great to be with you. I want to get to Proposition 50 with you, but first we should talk about the government shutdown. Uh, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that conversations have picked up with Democrats. Is there anything you can share with us right now? You know, I think conversations have picked up at an individual member level, but what we really need is *** conversation with the president and the Republicans in Congress are not likely to make any deal with us unless the president says make *** deal, we need to resolve this, we need to get government reopened. Uh, in the House of Representatives, the speaker has sent all of his members home for the last 6 weeks. So they’re not even here to negotiate, but this has gone on way too long. It needs to be resolved. We need to figure out how to make sure that people aren’t priced out of their health insurance. Californians are getting those notices right now. They’re going on to the website. They’re seeing their premiums double or go up dramatically, um, to the point where it’s estimated that, uh, *** couple million people will simply become uninsured, and that will raise the cost for everyone else who remains in the health insurance pool. So this needs to be fixed. We need, need to get the government reopened. Uh, and I hope that, you know, we can have the president sit down at the table and help us resolve this. I want to unpack two of those, but I’ll pick up where you left off with the president. I mean, now that he’s coming back to the United States after being out of the country, are you confident that maybe talks could pick up and there could be *** resolution with him being on the ground? Uh, I’m hopeful that that will happen. There’s no guarantee though that it will. I say that because we have been urging the president to sit down with us and negotiate for quite some time. Uh, and it hasn’t happened. So this might be different though, now that I think Americans are seeing their insurance costs, I think it has really increased the pressure on the White House to try to fix this, uh, but time will tell. Nevertheless, um, this needs to get done. It’s gone on way too long. Um, and we need to fix the insurance problem because if we don’t fix it immediately, then those premium increases people are already seeing are gonna be permanent for the year. There’s still time, I think, to change that, but the longer we wait, the more young people, particularly young people decide, I’m just not gonna buy insurance this year, and that pushes up the cost for everyone who’s left. Speaking of the weight and, and that sticking point, I mean, do Democrats have an expiration date? I mean how much longer can government workers go without pay before Democrats there essentially for lack of *** better term, give in. Well, I think, you know, people all around the country, in addition to federal employees are experiencing these health insurance increases, so everyone is feeling the pain right now. Um, and we need to get federal workers back to work. We need to make sure that people get the food assistance. That they need, uh, that the president is unilaterally withholding and by the way, there’s nothing in the law that requires that during *** shutdown. In fact, the law requires the president to use *** contingency fund that is set up that has billions of dollars in it, but he’s refusing to. Uh, this is the first time during *** shutdown where *** president has actually tried to increase the pain people are feeling rather than mitigate the harms, but, uh, we need to resolve this, get people back to work, but also we can’t. Simply say, well, OK, 2 million people losing their health insurance, that’s just too bad, and millions more who are gonna pay *** fortune more for the healthcare and it’s gonna mean less money for food and for family. That doesn’t work either. That also needs to be fixed. Switching gears here, staying with healthcare though, I mean one way in which we’re seeing you, *** Democrat, work with *** Republican is on addressing these rural hospital closures, especially here in California. The Sacramento region losing Glen Medical Center uh because it lost its critical access designation, which was *** key funding lifeline. Senator, what can you share with us about the update and your joint efforts with Representative Doug LaMalfa to try to fix this? So just to put things in perspective, Glenn Medical Center had this critical access designation for years and years and years. It’s based on how far that hospital is from the nearest hospital. If it’s over 35 miles, then it qualifies as critical access. So it’s had that designation, I think, for decades. But somebody in Washington at one of the bureaucracies decided, I don’t know whether they’re using Google Earth, or whatever, to measure the distance between all these hospitals, and decided that Glenn Medical was actually now *** couple miles short of that. And so rather than grandfather them in or work with the hospital, they just said, You’re losing this money and Glenn Medical has had to close its doors, um, through no fault of its own. And it’s absurd to use that basis to close *** rural hospital. This is affecting more than one hospital in California. It’s affecting *** number of hospitals around the country. The legislation on *** bipartisan basis would fix this problem and grandfather them in. So, um, you have my colleague Doug Malfa working on this in the House. I’m working on it in the Senate, um, with Cindy Hyde-Smith from Mississippi, *** Republican colleague. Uh, I hope that we can move this quickly because Um, uh, it’s hard enough to reopen *** hospital once it’s been closed, but the longer the passage of time, you know, attracting the talent, the healthcare personnel, and staff to come back is even more difficult. If you have to go through relicensing, it’s even more difficult. So, this is an urgent matter. And what’s more, every day that this goes by and the medical center is closed, means that people have to go farther, much farther to get medical care in an emergency. And that could be life or death. Is it clear that the administration is just on its own, not going to move on this, that the legislation is essentially the only way for this? I think it is clear, which is regrettable. Uh, we’ve approached the administration and tried to see if they could just address this through *** regulatory change or just *** decision to reverse the recalculation of the mileage, and they were unwilling, and they’ve said no legislation would be required. Technically, not required. I think they could do this using their discretion, but nevertheless, that’s the position they’re taking, so we’re trying to get legislation to fix it. And uh so circling back to Proposition 50 now, Senator Schiff, I, I know that’s *** you support this measure, um, I wonder with some of the independent redistricting commissioners right now stating that they don’t believe this would be temporary as *** former House member. Do you see it being easy for any Democrats who could get elected under these new maps to give up those districts um that have been gerrymandered for them if this passes? Well, California passed this resolution establishing the commission, uh, even though members benefit from being able to draw their own districts or having *** legislature. Do it. So we were able to get this um in place in California, but frankly, many of us had the concern that is now materializing, which is that other states would decide they’re gonna continue to gerrymander or even gerrymander worse and Californian uh voters will have their votes diluted. Basically, the only reason this is necessary, the only reason it’s happening is that the president told Texas, you need to redistrict in the middle of the census because the administration is afraid they’re gonna lose control of the Congress, they’re gonna lose the majority in the midterms over health care, over their cuts to healthcare and the cuts to food assistance. And so the only way that the administration evidently believes they can hold on to power is if they redraw the lines elsewhere. So California was forced to respond, otherwise our voters just don’t have the same voice in deciding national policy. But my hope is that at the end of the day. That Democrats and Republicans will agree on *** national redistricting reform that prohibits the gerrymander in every state that insists that every state use *** commission like California has been using. I’ve been sponsoring that legislation for years, but now that things have gotten so out of control, I hope it has new impetus and more bipartisan support or at least some bipartisan support. But regrettably, I think it is very necessary to preserve our voice and things in California, to preserve our democracy, to change the course of policy in this country that we passed Prop 50. But you’re confident it would be temporary? Yes, you know, the only caveat being, um, if *** president like Donald Trump goes through this exercise again and tries to rig the election by redrawing the lines in other states, California can’t unilaterally disarm. But yes, this is intended to be temporary. I hope it is temporary, uh, and I think the way to ensure that it’s temporary is to make sure that this obligation to use commission extends to other states as well, not just the blue states. Senator Adam Schiff, we thank you so much for your time. Thank you for being with us. Thank you.
Adam Schiff says he’s hopeful shutdown talks pick up with President Trump back in the U.S. | California Politics 360
Updated: 8:28 AM PST Nov 2, 2025
California’s Democratic U.S. Senator Adam Schiff said he’s “hopeful” a resolution on the government shutdown will be reached with President Donald Trump back in the country. “There’s no guarantee, though, that it will,” Schiff said on California Politics 360. “I say that because we have been urging the president to sit down with us and negotiate for quite some time, and it hasn’t happened. This might be different, though, now that I think Americans are seeing their insurance costs, I think it is really increasing the pressure on the White House to try to fix this.” To see the full interview with Senator Adam Schiff, watch in the video player above.The government shutdown stretched into its 33rd day on Sunday. Many federal workers are not getting paid, and millions of Americans may go without the federal government’s food assistance program known as SNAP in November. The shutdown is one of the longest in history. Republicans and Democrats have been unable to agree on a plan that would reopen the government. Democrats have been refusing to vote for the plan without their healthcare demands. Those demands include an extension of COVID-19 era healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year and the reversal of Medicaid cuts recently approved by lawmakers. “We need to figure out how to make sure that people aren’t priced out of their health insurance,” Schiff said. “if we don’t fix it immediately, then those premium increases people are already seeing are going to be permanent for the year. There’s still time, I think, to change that. But the longer we wait, the more people, particularly young people, will decide, I’m just not going to buy insurance this year.” Schiff would not say if Democrats have an expiration date for their holdout, noting those workers could be impacted by health insurance cost increases. Schiff also noted federal workers could be getting paid with a contingency fund that is available to the Trump administration. “We can’t simply say, well, okay, 2 million people losing their health insurance, ‘that’s just too bad,’ and millions more who are going to pay a fortune more for the health care.” Schiff said. “it’s going to mean less money for food and for family. That doesn’t work either.” The government shutdown comes as California voters decide Proposition 50, which would change the state’s Congressional district maps to give Democrats an advantage in upcoming elections for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Schiff said he’s confident the measure will be temporary, even if Democrats who may take over the new seats get comfortable. “The only caveat being, if a president like Donald Trump goes through this exercise again and tries to rig the election by redrawing the lines in other states, California can’t unilaterally disarm,” Schiff said. “But yes, this is intended to be temporary. I hope it is temporary.”Schiff said he hopes Republicans and Democrats can agree on national redistricting reform. KCRA 3 Political Director Ashley Zavala reports in-depth coverage of top California politics and policy issues. She is also the host of “California Politics 360.” Get informed each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KCRA 3. Watch the full episode of this week’s show below.
California’s Democratic U.S. Senator Adam Schiff said he’s “hopeful” a resolution on the government shutdown will be reached with President Donald Trump back in the country.
“There’s no guarantee, though, that it will,” Schiff said on California Politics 360. “I say that because we have been urging the president to sit down with us and negotiate for quite some time, and it hasn’t happened. This might be different, though, now that I think Americans are seeing their insurance costs, I think it is really increasing the pressure on the White House to try to fix this.”
To see the full interview with Senator Adam Schiff, watch in the video player above.
The government shutdown stretched into its 33rd day on Sunday. Many federal workers are not getting paid, and millions of Americans may go without the federal government’s food assistance program known as SNAP in November. The shutdown is one of the longest in history.
Republicans and Democrats have been unable to agree on a plan that would reopen the government. Democrats have been refusing to vote for the plan without their healthcare demands. Those demands include an extension of COVID-19 era healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year and the reversal of Medicaid cuts recently approved by lawmakers.
“We need to figure out how to make sure that people aren’t priced out of their health insurance,” Schiff said. “if we don’t fix it immediately, then those premium increases people are already seeing are going to be permanent for the year. There’s still time, I think, to change that. But the longer we wait, the more people, particularly young people, will decide, I’m just not going to buy insurance this year.”
Schiff would not say if Democrats have an expiration date for their holdout, noting those workers could be impacted by health insurance cost increases. Schiff also noted federal workers could be getting paid with a contingency fund that is available to the Trump administration.
“We can’t simply say, well, okay, 2 million people losing their health insurance, ‘that’s just too bad,’ and millions more who are going to pay a fortune more for the health care.” Schiff said. “it’s going to mean less money for food and for family. That doesn’t work either.”
The government shutdown comes as California voters decide Proposition 50, which would change the state’s Congressional district maps to give Democrats an advantage in upcoming elections for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Schiff said he’s confident the measure will be temporary, even if Democrats who may take over the new seats get comfortable.
“The only caveat being, if a president like Donald Trump goes through this exercise again and tries to rig the election by redrawing the lines in other states, California can’t unilaterally disarm,” Schiff said. “But yes, this is intended to be temporary. I hope it is temporary.”
Schiff said he hopes Republicans and Democrats can agree on national redistricting reform.
KCRA 3 Political Director Ashley Zavala reports in-depth coverage of top California politics and policy issues. She is also the host of “California Politics 360.” Get informed each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KCRA 3. Watch the full episode of this week’s show below.