Miles Parks

And we are taping this podcast at 1239 p.m.

It is Friday, so we are going to try to make some sense of another crazy week in Washington.

Sam, I want to start with you.

Congress has a deadline, another deadline at the end of the month.

to get some various spending bills passed.

I feel like the government shutdown was just yesterday.

So how in the world are we back here again?

Sounds a little bit like me in college waiting till the end to do the hardest stuff.

Yeah, you procrastinate.

What are the sticking points?

All right.

Well, let's also talk about health care, because

You know, when the shutdown did end, it ended without a deal on the Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Millions of Americans are now heading into 2026, staring down big increases in their premiums if they do get health care through the Affordable Care Act.

There's still no deal, though.

So where do things stand there?

I mean, what is the White House perspective on this health care issue?

I mean, what is Trump saying about the fact that millions of people are facing these higher premiums?

Well, it's so interesting also just thinking about Trump's broader strategy.

I feel like you have this very, very specific problem of these millions of people on the ACA whose prices are going up.