Nov. 3, 2025

Open the Books $200M in Fed Grants Going to Illegals

Open the Books $200M in Fed Grants Going to Illegals
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Season 2

Rachel O’Brien, the deputy public policy editor, investigative journalist for OpentheBooks.com reports that $200M in Fed Grants is going to illegals. Illegal immigrants have benefitted from at least $197 million in direct federal healthcare-related grants since fiscal year 2021, according to new research from Open the Books. This figure does not include indirect spending on illegal immigrants via Medicaid, and education spending. You will be astounded, if not frustrated with the waste.

Bill Martinez Live is broadcast live Mondays at 3PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Bill Martinez is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Bill Martinez Live Podcast is also available on https://www.billmartinezshow.com,  Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Transcript
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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not

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Well, good afternoon. Well it's time to follow our money. Okay,

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how are the Feds handling our money? We're holding them

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accountable as we check out, Open the books. Rachel O'Brien

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going to be joining us here in just a few

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moments every dime online in real time. This is what

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accountability looks like it Open the books, and it's not

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easy because you got to know, the Feds, like just

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about anybody else, doesn't like it. When you're looking into

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their checkbook, they think it's their checkbook. They don't realize

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it's the people's checkbook, because it's the people's money. Because

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after all, this is a government of for and buy

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we the people, right, won't you agree? Well, Rachel O'Brien,

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as I mentioned, she's the deputy deputy public policy editor

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investigative journalists for openthooks dot com, and she joins us,

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right now, let's bring uh, let's bring Rachel on.

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Hi, Rachel.

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Hey, how you doing, Rachel. Good to have you with us.

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We're gonna hold them accountable. Huh absolutely, yeah, every dime online.

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I love that at openbooks dot com. All right. Uh,

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so we've got several, uh, you know, several things to

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look at. H On top of the list is two

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hundred million dollars in federal grants going to illegals. So

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why should we worry?

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Right, Yes, no, illegal immigrants aren't getting any federal money,

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right win, Queen. It's employ We've been told, just trust us. Well,

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so we looked into it. Of course, this was a

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very easy one. We simply did a search for the

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word undocumented in grant descriptions and we found two hundred

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million dollars worth of grants going to healthcare related projects.

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And so this is sort of just the tip of

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the iceberg. So these are grants for healthcare research and programming.

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Again with that word undocumented in the grant description, there's

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likely much more grant spending.

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That's yeah, you gotta blate, you gotta blieve it. I mean,

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look at how arrogant they're not even trying to hide

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it anymore.

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Rachel, Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I mean, and this doesn't even

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include the twenty seven billion dollars in federal that the

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federal government and state government spend on medicaid services between

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fiscal year twenty seventeen twenty twenty three. They provide emergency

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medicaid services for people who are ineligible for full Medicaid

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coverage because of their immigration status. The twenty seven billion there,

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it doesn't include education spending that benefits illegal immigrants in

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their chldren that amounts to seventy billion annually. This is

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just a tiny portion that we were able to pull together.

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Yeah, and why should we the people be upset over that,

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especially when we're looking what, what have we surpassed now?

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Thirty eight trillion dollars in debt?

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Right? Well, what's what's two hundred million dollars there? When

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you're when you're trillions in debt? I mean, you know,

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and these projects are projects that could could you know,

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go to other populations. For instance, there was one grant

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for four point three million dollars to Stanford.

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UH.

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That was to study people who California put in a

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pilot to test universal basic income right. So California has

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a group I believe it was two thousand people. They

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were giving universal basic income just money, just checks, right

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to people, and some of that were to illegal immigrants.

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And so Stanford has four point three million dollars to

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study how that money can impact cancer risk. UCLA, they

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got two and a half million dollars to study reprojective

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healthcare among Asian immigrant women including undocumented. A million dollars

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to the University of Miami to study this one really

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through me. This was to study culturally relevant interventions for

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drunk driving. They argued that undocumented immigrants were less likely

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to understand DWI laws, more likely to binge drink, and

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less likely to perceive the associated risks. So University of

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Miami is studying that population and.

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Probably less likely to understand the signs of the road.

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As we're fo you can't read it, sure.

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So that's all from the National Institutes of Health. This

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is all you know, UH, health funding and there and

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there are there's there's so much more. I mean that

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four million dollars went to Southern LA County to build

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a medical wellness center for low income minorities, refugees and undocumented.

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Another two and a half million in e SLA for

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community health center including a drug rehab primarily for Latino adults,

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including those undocumented. Another million dollars in LA for primary

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care services for minority, low income Latino homeless and undocumented.

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And and why you lank go in hospitals in New

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York City, they have a new cancer center there, again

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serving a population that's very large foreign born, with many undocumented.

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And there's many, many more examples.

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Well, and the thing is is that every time you

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mentioned California, like as if they've been so fiscally responsible

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and they've been out of whack at every turn, and

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so here we are forty nine or the other states

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are are supporting California. I mean they're like, you know,

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they're like the poor cousin in the family that is

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constantly in need of money, and you just you know,

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you get to the point where you resent, you know,

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Thanksgiving or any holiday parties that brings them into the fold,

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because you know they're going to be coming with hat

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in hand, that's right.

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And out of this chunk that we found that the

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two hundred million, California, of course they got the most funding.

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They got sixty six millions, and fistically year twenty twenty one,

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you know, Florida is in second place. They got twenty

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six million, DC twenty two million, and New York seventeen million.

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So and I should say that of this two hundred million,

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you know, most of it did go to programs providing

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direct services. One hundred and fifty eight million went to

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actual you know, services versus scientific research. So there was

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some scientific research they were using this for, and most

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of it came from the Department of Health and Human Services.

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So yeah, next time someone tells you illegal immigrants don't

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get any federal money, you'll know the truth.

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Well, keep in mind, it was never the vision of

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our founding fathers to be getting into all these little

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projects like this, right, and what spurs it on. At least,

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what I'm able to understand, Rachel, and you, as an

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investigative researcher and reporter, may have found the same thing

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is that I'm looking at how much of this money

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went to in actuality by votes?

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Oh, for sure. I mean, if if you're you know,

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if you're looking to to vote based on who's going

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to give you something for it, absolutely, you know, pandering

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to a population like like immigrants and in this case

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specifically undocumented immigrants who should not be voting, right, should

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not be able to vote. Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna

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say this this particular you know politician or or in

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California's case, almost all of them, you know, are working

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to get funding for projects that benefit me and my

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family and my community.

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Absolutely right, I mean it's always as even Nancy Pelosi said,

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it's quit pro quote. I mean, she was raised on

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that ever since she was seven years old, sneaking into

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I think it was her father's mayoral office, and in

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fact that I think at one time anecdotally they reported

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that she even got on the phone and negotiated the deal.

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Basically just said to the guy, Okay, what's in it

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for us if we do this for you. I mean,

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this is the corruption of the government, and it's been

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going on for so long it's become such a tradition

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that it's acceptable. Well, you know, how is thirty eight

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trillion dollars in debt and just the interest alone is

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now surpassing our military budget. How does that feel for you?

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Yeah, no, it's it's obviously terrible. Right when we're talking

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about healthcare spending, you know, it's it's a it's a

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huge problem. You know, Medicare and Medicaid alone, those are

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those are grossly overspent, not just for actual benefits, but

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in terms of fraud as well, and in terms of

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improper payments. Medicare and Medicaid are always the culprit for

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the largest figure of improper payments every year. I think

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it was eighty seven billion last year. I have to

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double check that number, but they're always number one, right,

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There's there's reason for that.

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Well, Doze did some you know research, and of course

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everybody was yelling and screaming about it, but you know,

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look at the truth is the truth. And I was

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watching the other day Elon Musk was just going down,

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you know, when he was talking about Social Security. How

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many people uh with birth dates that they haven't even

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officially been born, but believe it or not, miraculously they

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are receiving Social Security benefits. And I mean we're not

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talking one or two as you say. I mean we're

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talking millions adding into billions of dollars, and and and

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the government just is kind of yawning over this, as

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opposed to saying, wait a minute, this is the people's money.

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This is uh, you know, grossly uh egregious to the

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taxpayer to do this and put this burden upon them,

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and then on top of that, well, let's shut down

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the government deprive them of needed services on top of that, right.

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Right, No, Yeah, that's it's uh, it's certainly a shame,

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and it's it's you know, one of the reasons why

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we highlight this every year. We talk about payments that

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should be something that people should be able to gree

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on immediately, that that shouldn't be a partisan issue at all.

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If you eliminate the hundreds of billions of dollars in

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improper payments every year that go to people for the

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wrong amount, the wrong amount, for the wrong reason, or

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to the wrong person, that right there, you know, saves

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you so much, so much money that could go to

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so many other things. But it's but it's it's all

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getting wasted, and it's there doesn't seem to be any

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interest in fixing that.

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And Rachel, what's the chance of clawing that money back

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once it goes out to these people, they spend the money,

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So what are you going to do? Put them in jail?

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You know, a small portion gets gets clawed back every year,

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but you're right, it's spent again if it went to

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the wrong person for the wrong amount or for the

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wrong reason. Sometimes the records aren't even accurate. They don't

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even know who got the money. In some cases, the

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records themselves can't even tell you who to go after,

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and so that's that's obviously you can't claw back money

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from someone you don't know who has it.

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I mean, how is this acceptable? I mean why I

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don't understand why the people just aren't screaming out of

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their windows every night yelling at the government saying, wait

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a minute, stop, this is absurd. I mean, you know,

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we are, you know, basically we're fulling ourselves. Were basically broke,

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but we're fooling ourselves because we do everything through through

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data and through you know, made up paper and adding

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another decimal point. You know, it's like no big deal,

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you know kind of thing. But it's like this is unsustainable.

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I mean, we're really leaving ourselves open on so many levels.

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I mean even now the dollar, which has been under

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attack for a long time, which has been the choice

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of currency around the world. You know, you've got other

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powers that are encroaching on that because of you know,

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our lack of efficiency and what it says about our government.

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I mean, how dais you know, it's like we can't

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have no moral high ground to stand against these other

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third world countries supposedly the way they conduct business when

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the United States is almost as bad, if not worse.

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Right, right, Absolutely, it's a real problem. And that is

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why we open the books, are so passionate about what

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we do. It's it's to put this information out there.

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You know, you ask, why aren't people shouting from their

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windows and demanding changes. I think a lot of people

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don't know how bad it is. They don't want to know, right.

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A lot of people, I think feel helpless, like they

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don't know any what they can do about it. Right,

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It's election day tomorrow in many places, and you can

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go and vote, but you kind of sort of feel helpless,

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like what am I supposed to do about it? Well,

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pay attention. Go to start by going to your local

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school board meetings. Some of these meetings that I've attended

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as a local news reporter in the past, nobody tends

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them and so the school boards don't expect anyone to

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ask any questions. They feel they don't they're not accountable

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to anyone. Go to your town board meeting, or your

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city council meeting or your county board meetings and start

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asking questions exactly and know where this money is going.

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And that's why we put it out there on our

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website for people to thank God.

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And I've said this forever, you know, for Open the Books.

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You know what was started decades ago with your original

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founder and then you know, subsequently with the leadership that

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followed and where you are right now. I mean, thank

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God for all the great work that you've been doing.

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And you know we we have been coming alongside and

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supporting and wanting to be an information arm you know,

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for Open the Books to make sure that our audience

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is informed and they're aware of what's going on. Is

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that you know, their lying eyes and their own gut

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instincts is you know, is telling them the truth, and

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that is that our government is inefficient. Uh. You know

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what Elon musk Uh, you know produced in terms of

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some receipts early on and of course, you know the reaction,

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particularly on the left. I mean that tells you everything

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you need to know, is that the forces are strong,

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they're diligent. Uh, they're not They're not about to give up,

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you know, the goose that's laying golden eggs for them.

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This is what has kept them in office, and it's

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what has put a lot of pressure on we the people.

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And uh, and why we're producing a government with this

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kind of inefficiency and this kind of corruption.

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Yeah, absolutely right. We're we're talking all the time about

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the changes that that Congress needs to make, the bills

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they need to pass. Why would they take money out

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of their own hands?

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Uh?

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And so it's unfortunately, you know, one of these things,

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it's it's it's not going to change as long as Congress, uh,

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you know, has the choice to say yes or no,

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uh to to that change. And we did see a

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little bit with Dose right again coming and making those

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changes without Congress. But you do need Congress because every

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administration can just come in and and erase what the

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previous administration did if it's not right, if it's not

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in law, if they're allowed to just go back and

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all the spending cuts they made last session. They can

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bring those all back. And so yeah, I mean it

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does start with reform with Congress, and so it does

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start at the voting both right to electric exactly.

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And we've got to stay on top of it, remain

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vigilant because it's bad enough that you have you know,

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Congress at times and I understand look at uh, you know, realistically,

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they're in a tough situation because this government's too big,

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it has grown. It is an immense bim myth that

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they're trying to run here, but they do. They need

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to have this sense of discipline and urgency to codify

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this so that it minimizes the radical activist judges who

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are now interfering in the process.

287
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Right, well, sure, right exactly. You do you do while

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there's lack of action from Congress, then we do see

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more action again, like you said, from these judges who

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are weighing in on things they never used to weigh

291
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in on and of course deciding how our country is

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run really in many instances because Congress won't act. And

293
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so right, there's there's there's a lot of reform that's needed. Unfortunately,

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it's not an overnight thing that can be solved and

295
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you know, it starts with you know, the the younger

296
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generation right where uh where.

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You know.

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One of the things that that we did recently was

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a report on students and student performance. You know, I

300
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mentioned school boards and going to your school board meetings

301
00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:58.480
and asking questions there about what what the district, the

302
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school district is doing. You know, if our own students

303
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are not performing well, they certainly can't compete with China.

304
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They certainly aren't going to be informed enough to vote

305
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to make solid voting choices at the booth. They're going

306
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to just vote based on party, or they're going to

307
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vote based on maybe who they think is cool, if

308
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it was someone who was endorsed by you know, a

309
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performing artist or something like that. And so we just

310
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did this report on America's public education crisis.

311
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I was going to ask you about that. Yeah, it's great,

312
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Go ahead, Yeah, you know.

313
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It's it's it all comes down to education when we're

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when we're talking about the the you know, where our

315
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country is headed. So you know, the debate about public

316
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school funding sometimes includes the assumption that that more funding

317
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means better student outcomes. And so we challenged that and

318
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we looked at thousands of school districts UH and found

319
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that as pay for teachers and administrators increased, students scores

320
00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:04.279
dropped on standardized tests. Yeah, we looked at almost thirteen

321
00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:06.640
thousand school districts and we came to this conclusion. We

322
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compared the twenty nineteen payroll to the twenty twenty three

323
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payroll for teachers and administrators in each state, and of

324
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course there's an increase in pay everywhere, but at the

325
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same time, the change in each state's ranking by the

326
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National Assessment of Educational Progress they measure reading and math

327
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skills for fourth and eighth graders, those dropped in many cases.

328
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We found that, you know, while many schools hope that

329
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increasing their payroll will help their students perform better, there's

330
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little evidence in the data support that claim. You know,

331
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in fact, the opposite seems to be true on average.

332
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Because the money didn't go into the classroom. Rachel exactly

333
00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:49.200
went to the administrators, exactly right.

334
00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:52.319
The BIB rules go up, but it is not associated

335
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with higher test scores for those students. They're not seeing

336
00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:56.680
the impact of that spending. That's exactly right.

337
00:18:56.839 --> 00:18:59.039
And this has been going on for decades. This isn't

338
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something you know, you looked at twenty nineteen. But I

339
00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.880
dare say, go ahead and run a line over the

340
00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.519
last three decades and start watching that dynamic, because as

341
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the administrative courses or the administrative line of public education

342
00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:19.319
has grown, you start seeing the test scores reflecting it,

343
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and a not positive direction.

344
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By the way, yeah, no, we actually went back to

345
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nineteen fifty.

346
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You can't go back, Okay, good.

347
00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:29.480
It's referred to as administrative bloat. So the number of

348
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administrators at American schools increased by over seven hundred percent.

349
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Seven hundred percent had done down our kids.

350
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From nineteen fifty to two thousand and nine, and in

351
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that same time, the number of teachers increased two one

352
00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:48.200
hundred and fifty percent, and of course during that time,

353
00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:52.000
student scores on the National Assessment's felt so in more

354
00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:55.799
modern day, from twenty ten to twenty twenty two, the

355
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number of administrative staff that rose by forty one percent

356
00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:00.920
on top of the seven hundreds and now were at

357
00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:04.079
seven hundred and forty one percent. Right, an overall school

358
00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:07.200
employment only rose by ten percent, So you have this

359
00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:12.079
administrative bloat of these people who are of course very

360
00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:15.680
highly paid. In twenty twenty three, there were over eighty

361
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eight hundred public school employees across the country who earn

362
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:23.039
salaries of at least two hundred thousand dollars. Those are

363
00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:27.160
certainly not teachers. Those are administrators, and in many cases,

364
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those are administrators that are not really having an impact

365
00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:36.119
on students learning in the classroom. In many cases, they're

366
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not even school principles or superintendents. In many cases, they're

367
00:20:41.079 --> 00:20:44.200
sort of these new positions that you would not have

368
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heard of even ten years ago. Baltimore is a perfect example.

369
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Baltimore in twenty nineteen, their test scores ranked twenty second

370
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among the twenty fifth largest cities, so they were three

371
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from the bottom, so they're ranked twenty second. By twenty

372
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four they had increased their salaries by forty three percent,

373
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they still ranked twenty second, and so we looked at

374
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their payroll. At less than half of their employees. Just

375
00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:15.000
about almost half of their employees are listed as teachers

376
00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:19.480
or principals. The other half are administrators, some in very

377
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similar roles. There's the senior executive director of equity making

378
00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:27.599
two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars. There's also a director

379
00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:31.559
of equity, a director of equity centered principal development. There

380
00:21:31.559 --> 00:21:35.480
are five educational specialists of Equity. There's a staff associate

381
00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:41.119
of Equity. There are directors of environmental health there in Baltimore,

382
00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:44.119
each earning over one hundred and sixty thousand. There's a

383
00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:49.039
senior project manager of environmental compliance, a supervisor of environmental compliance,

384
00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:53.079
all making high six figures. So these are not positions

385
00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:57.160
that are helping students. Students aren't you know, they're not

386
00:21:57.240 --> 00:21:59.640
learning to read, or to write or to do math

387
00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:02.759
on the hiring of any of these people. And they

388
00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:06.359
continue school, just continue to do this, continue to hire these.

389
00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:11.440
It's a total scam. Angel I mean they they would

390
00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:15.119
not pass the show what test in the open marketplace,

391
00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:18.880
their business model would not last. But because it's a

392
00:22:18.920 --> 00:22:21.880
government entity and they're able to get away with this.

393
00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:24.519
I mean they go the E I. D. They're into

394
00:22:25.079 --> 00:22:29.319
environmental issues and everything else, and of course, uh you know,

395
00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:33.119
bringing in pornography into the classroom. I mean it's like

396
00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:37.880
have we lost our minds? No? I mean who's who's

397
00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:41.839
who's watching them? I mean why are they to you do? See?

398
00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:46.279
Well? And that's why we we say all the time,

399
00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:49.400
Like as I said earlier, you know, go ask questions

400
00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:52.519
to your school board. Stand up at these meetings and

401
00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:57.079
demand and demand answers to whether it's curriculum or spending

402
00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:03.079
or hiring. They they are are accountable, you know if if.

403
00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:05.440
Oh, but they don't think so they don't. I mean

404
00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:09.359
you see you see sometimes where they're arresting parents. I mean,

405
00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:12.720
so yes, go go and you know you may just

406
00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:15.240
have to listen and it may be hard and uh,

407
00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:18.599
but be careful because uh, they feel some sense of

408
00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:22.279
empowerment and uh, you know, what they're doing to parents

409
00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:25.720
is absolutely disgusting. But it starts, first of all, just

410
00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:28.599
as you said, it starts with knowledge. That's power. You've

411
00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:31.880
got to understand what they're doing. And and you're lying

412
00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:34.559
eyes they're not lying to you. I mean the fact

413
00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:37.920
that these uh pornographic books that they even try to

414
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.039
bring them to school board meetings and to read what's

415
00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:45.359
in the libraries, uh, that their kids can be exposed to,

416
00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:47.400
and then they don't even want to hear it.

417
00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:52.440
Yeah, I mean, this is of course, that's that's one

418
00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:56.720
one thing among one issue among them many many issues.

419
00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:00.759
Right, right, But it's all it's all symptomatic of the

420
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:04.640
problem that exists. And we're only talking education. Yes, we

421
00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:08.559
talked some other things, but it's it's a consistent model

422
00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:11.240
of incompetency and acceptance here.

423
00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:17.000
Sure, yeah, oh, of course, especially in you know, we're

424
00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:20.839
talking about administrators and administrative bloat. But of course teachers

425
00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:24.759
and teacher unions are incredibly powerful. It's it's incredibly difficult

426
00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:29.759
to get you know, a tenured teacher removed, and they

427
00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:32.440
know that, they know that they are protected, and they

428
00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:35.880
sort of can do to a degree, you know, what

429
00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:38.200
they want. You know, just going back to the data

430
00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:40.279
when we were looking at there were there were some

431
00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:45.559
success stories. While we saw you know, six states increase

432
00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:48.200
their payroll by at least twenty three percent in the

433
00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:50.079
time period we were looking at from twenty nineteen to

434
00:24:50.119 --> 00:24:55.359
twenty twenty three, Virginia, Vermont, Oregon, Missouri, they all saw

435
00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:58.960
student performance decrease and New Mexico saw no change. Only

436
00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:01.480
Utah moved up very slightly in the rankings. But we

437
00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:06.000
saw the converse in some cases. Miami Dade County Public

438
00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:09.759
Schools in Florida, they had the second best exam scores

439
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:13.240
in twenty twenty four and they spent just about sixty

440
00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:16.680
four hundred dollars on payroll per students the fifth lowest

441
00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:22.519
among twenty twenty five cities among the twenty five largest cities,

442
00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:25.240
and also in Florida Hillsboro County, those students they had

443
00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:28.319
the fifth best exam scores among those cities, and the

444
00:25:28.359 --> 00:25:31.359
district only spent fifty three hundred dollars on payroll per student.

445
00:25:31.400 --> 00:25:33.440
That's the second lowest.

446
00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:35.880
So they can be So it can be done, right, Rachel,

447
00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:36.759
that's what you're saying.

448
00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:40.599
Absolutely, it can work. Yeah, and it's you know, it's

449
00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:43.759
because those districts are investing in the right things.

450
00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:44.079
Right.

451
00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:48.480
Just increasing the dollar figure of what you're spending per

452
00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:52.960
student means nothing. And we know that. We see that

453
00:25:53.240 --> 00:25:55.200
where I am in New York and New York City,

454
00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:57.119
we have the highest, if not one of one of

455
00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:01.000
the highest, if not the highest spending per pupil on

456
00:26:01.160 --> 00:26:04.799
students in New York City, and a huge portune of

457
00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:07.400
students can't read or write at their grade level. So,

458
00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:12.039
you know, I think, at what point are people going

459
00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:15.400
to say, don't talk to me about spending per pupil.

460
00:26:15.480 --> 00:26:19.240
It's a nonsense way of measuring success. I don't care

461
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:21.480
how low the spending per pupil is. What are you

462
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:26.039
spending it on Are you spending it on these administrators,

463
00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:30.039
the director of equity, the assistant director of equity, the

464
00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:34.519
senior executive director of equity. If so, it doesn't matter.

465
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:37.480
It doesn't matter for students and what they can achieve.

466
00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:41.240
Yeah, if you can't attach it to a matrix that

467
00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:43.799
has a direct effect on results, then it needs to

468
00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:47.039
be gone. Right. You know, this isn't about warm and fuzzies.

469
00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:49.519
You know, this is about producing a bottom line here

470
00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.519
and then you know you speak that you're there in

471
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.000
New York. I mean, I was just again seeing this

472
00:26:56.079 --> 00:26:59.160
morning that in Queens alone, you've got one hundred and

473
00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:03.440
sixty different languguages that are spoken in the borough there, Absolute, Rachel,

474
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:06.960
how do you teach these kids with that kind of language,

475
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:09.240
different entuation? And when I was in California, we were

476
00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:13.880
in a community that was mostly Hispanic, about seventy percent.

477
00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:17.440
And you know, all it took was two kids in

478
00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:21.119
the classroom to occupy the teacher's time and then the

479
00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:23.319
rest of the kids were, you know, left to their

480
00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:26.319
own devices because the teachers had to spend more time

481
00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:28.400
with the two kids that couldn't speak English.

482
00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:32.319
Yeah, that's that's that's the perfect example of where you

483
00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:36.400
know districts and even portions neighborhoods of districts like New

484
00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:38.880
York City is all one large school district. So you're

485
00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:44.359
talking about Queens in particular, right, there has to be

486
00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:46.519
a very large and there is, but there should be

487
00:27:46.519 --> 00:27:49.799
more a large investment in these ESL classes English English

488
00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:53.160
as a second language class, right, so that the students

489
00:27:53.160 --> 00:27:55.839
who have English as their primary language are being taught

490
00:27:56.119 --> 00:27:59.240
and then those who are not, who don't have English

491
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:04.799
as their first language, are being taught properly. And nobody's

492
00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:07.480
sort of getting left behind there, either the English language

493
00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:11.000
students or those who are learning English. Yeah, I mean

494
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:17.880
New York We are ranked I believe, thirty first from

495
00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:24.160
this from the National Association of the Educational Association that

496
00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:27.920
ranks the largest cities and then states. So talking about

497
00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:32.599
New York State, we're ranked thirty first. California is ranked

498
00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:36.400
forty third. And when you look at how people are paid,

499
00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:40.880
California has about twenty eight hundred employees who made two

500
00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:44.640
hundred thousand dollars or more in the schools. New York

501
00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:47.039
has about fifteen hundred people making two hundred thousand dollars

502
00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:49.599
or more in the schools. And again it's just you

503
00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:52.720
see this metric all the time about per pupil spending

504
00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:56.440
and how states or school districts need to raise their

505
00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:59.960
per pupil spending, and it is really just a red

506
00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:04.160
heiring for what really needs to be done to help

507
00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:06.720
these students. It's nothings that were going to accomplished if

508
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:09.079
you keep going back to the same well over and

509
00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:12.720
over again and not looking at the real problem.

510
00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:15.680
Well again, what open the books is bringing to the

511
00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:19.880
front here, ladies and gentlemen. Are the receipts? And is

512
00:29:19.880 --> 00:29:23.440
this okay with you? Is acceptable? I mean this generation

513
00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:26.720
that we're raising right now, I mean the odds are

514
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:29.519
against assist is also Rachel. Why when we talk about education,

515
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:33.440
why so many people are homeschooling these days? Right?

516
00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:35.880
You have a homeschooling increase. You also have an increase

517
00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:41.240
in charter schools and parochial schools. States that give out

518
00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:46.680
vouchers for those things for either for charter schools or

519
00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:51.279
homeschooling are incredibly popular, you know, especially those that are limited,

520
00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:54.200
those are they're gone immediately. You have these wait lists

521
00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:57.799
of people looking to get vouchers to get their kids

522
00:29:58.200 --> 00:30:01.000
out of public schools. And it is it's a very

523
00:30:01.079 --> 00:30:05.319
Instead of the instead of the teachers' unions saying what

524
00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:07.960
can we do to improve our schools, How can we

525
00:30:08.039 --> 00:30:11.599
better serve our students and help them learn better? They're

526
00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:15.880
they're fighting, right, They fight these voucher programs, they fight

527
00:30:16.119 --> 00:30:22.519
the creation of charter schools. They fight, they fight it

528
00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:26.839
tooth and nail and and that's obviously not the way

529
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:27.640
to help students.

530
00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:31.839
So it well, it's about their survival, not the students.

531
00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:35.400
The priorities are off and that's, unfortunately, is the nature

532
00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:38.920
of how the union works, and it's about survival for them.

533
00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:42.400
It's not about the kids. So they're upside down in

534
00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:46.359
their priority and uh, you know this is why there's

535
00:30:46.359 --> 00:30:51.119
so much pressure now and conversation about dismantling, you know,

536
00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:55.160
the public education system. I mean, it's not in the constitution. Uh,

537
00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:58.480
you know, we have, we we should on all levels, Rachel.

538
00:30:58.680 --> 00:31:02.559
You know, things we touched on, whether it's healthcare, immigration,

539
00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:06.480
America can do better than this, but we can't do

540
00:31:06.599 --> 00:31:13.559
better if the interest is for you know, a politician,

541
00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:16.680
a political interest, and not for the interest of the

542
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:23.359
immigrant who comes here. That basically comes here illegally. You know,

543
00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:26.079
we got millions of illegals coming into the country, so

544
00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:28.400
they operate in the shadows. I mean, how is that

545
00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:31.480
successful for them? I mean they have to rely on

546
00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:36.119
a sanctuary state. And then what they're finding out is

547
00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:38.519
as the nets are going out to get these people

548
00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:43.119
the good I mean, you know, the terrible immigrants who've

549
00:31:43.119 --> 00:31:45.720
come in with felonies and you know what have you

550
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:48.599
and have killed American citizens and all. Well, then these

551
00:31:48.599 --> 00:31:51.359
people are caught up in the net, and everybody's upset.

552
00:31:51.720 --> 00:31:56.200
But you know, even you know, our Homeland Security is

553
00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:00.519
saying seventy percent of those caught are felons. There's going

554
00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:02.599
to be thirty percent that are caught in that. You

555
00:32:02.680 --> 00:32:05.200
might say, well, they're not as bad. Well, but you

556
00:32:05.240 --> 00:32:07.680
broke the law. You came here illegally. We don't want

557
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:10.000
you to be here illegally. Want you to be here

558
00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:13.119
to be a legal citizen there so that you can contribute,

559
00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:16.680
that your children, your future family can be a part

560
00:32:16.839 --> 00:32:22.440
of this incredible mosaic of human potential and energy and

561
00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:24.839
success that we call the United States of America.

562
00:32:26.039 --> 00:32:30.960
And of course, and back to our whole you know

563
00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:32.880
what we do and open the books. Is the spending

564
00:32:32.920 --> 00:32:35.759
associated with all of it? Yes, right, So you know,

565
00:32:35.799 --> 00:32:42.480
it's one thing to promise all of these wonderful things

566
00:32:42.480 --> 00:32:44.799
that America has to offer. In America has a lot

567
00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:46.839
of wonderful things to offer, and it is a country

568
00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:49.200
of immigrants, right, We are country immigrants. We all came

569
00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:52.599
from somewhere else legally of course, right. And so that's

570
00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:56.240
of course the distinction here, and it's one of the

571
00:32:56.279 --> 00:33:02.960
reasons why we do have such such debt and spending

572
00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:06.799
out of control because, as you mentioned earlier, the country

573
00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:09.839
was never intended by the founders to do or the

574
00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:12.160
federal government was never intended to do all the things

575
00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:13.799
that it does and pay for all the things that

576
00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:14.200
it does.

577
00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:18.000
Right, you know, well, well they're they're they're writing checks

578
00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:20.440
on our backs. They're not paying for anything. I mean,

579
00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:22.920
if it was their money, it'd be a different ball

580
00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:26.960
game altogether. But it's our money, and so they can

581
00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:31.079
make promises do whatever, and their policies are what is

582
00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:36.200
created this, uh, this environment of in affordability that we're

583
00:33:36.200 --> 00:33:39.039
dealing with, that you're dealing with, particularly in New York.

584
00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:42.440
I mean, you know, my friend Liz Peek's Fox News contributor.

585
00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:44.680
You know she's telling me and you could verify it

586
00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:47.400
that you know, a one bedroom in New York is

587
00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:50.759
now five thousand dollars a month. That that's how do

588
00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:52.079
you afford that? Now?

589
00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:55.240
You don't? You don't, right, And that's why there's there's

590
00:33:55.400 --> 00:33:59.960
people flee New York for other states. You know, Florida

591
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:03.519
up is the number one uh place where you will

592
00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:07.039
find transplanted New Yorkers, the Carolinas.

593
00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:09.440
You know, we we welcome by the way, I'm I'm

594
00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.400
in Florida now, I've been here for fourteen years. We

595
00:34:11.400 --> 00:34:13.639
welcome people from New York where we say leave that

596
00:34:13.719 --> 00:34:15.840
New York state of mind in the politics back at

597
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:18.400
the border, do not bring it here, you know, because

598
00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:21.360
we operate a little bit differently as you cited. I mean,

599
00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:25.039
we have a successful track record with education, you know,

600
00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:30.360
managing you know, the illegal immigration situation, all things considered.

601
00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:33.079
I mean, it's hard for anybody to get a deluge

602
00:34:33.320 --> 00:34:36.360
of illegal immigrants and find a way to manage it perfectly.

603
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:41.199
But Ron DeSantis and our officials here are pretty vigilant

604
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:44.000
about these things to make sure that you know, they're

605
00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:47.679
being wise and prudent about the people's money.

606
00:34:47.800 --> 00:34:50.360
Right, you know, one of the things that that you know,

607
00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:52.840
as I mentioned earlier about Medicare and Medicaid being the

608
00:34:53.239 --> 00:34:58.760
worst spender of improper payments and and the what was

609
00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:01.199
what was the figure I think I gave in terms

610
00:35:01.239 --> 00:35:05.800
of illegal immigrants getting that that uh spending for medicaidor

611
00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:06.239
I think.

612
00:35:07.079 --> 00:35:08.960
I think it's forty two. I think it's forty.

613
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:13.880
Seven billion, twenty seven million dollars on emergency MEDICAIDE services.

614
00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:16.599
Right for those who are who are here you know, illegally.

615
00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:21.000
You know that's not to say that, you know, we

616
00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:24.239
can't we can't blame illegal immigrants for everything, right, this

617
00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:26.880
is this is a problem we created on our own.

618
00:35:27.800 --> 00:35:31.000
No, no, you're you're exactly right. I don't blame I

619
00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:33.480
don't blame the people. I mean, look at if I

620
00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:35.800
was outside and I thought, hey, you know, it was

621
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:38.719
outside America, and I wanted to do something for my family,

622
00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:42.559
and and you had an administration and says, hey, when Benitos,

623
00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:45.039
you know, we got T shirts, we got Obama phones,

624
00:35:45.079 --> 00:35:46.960
we got all We'll take care of you. Hey, I'm

625
00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:49.800
I'm I'm on the boat, I'm on the plane, I'm

626
00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:52.920
whatever it is for the sake of I don't blame them,

627
00:35:53.079 --> 00:35:55.280
but the fact of the matter is is that, uh,

628
00:35:55.519 --> 00:36:00.079
you know, we had irresponsible governance, right and uh and

629
00:36:00.199 --> 00:36:02.800
shame on them, and we're having to clean clean all

630
00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:07.480
this mess up in in in the midst of a

631
00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:12.760
very uh divided government. Uh, you know, instead of just saying,

632
00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:14.960
look at this problem, saying look at we've got to

633
00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:18.960
do right by everybody, by the citizen, by the immigrant,

634
00:36:19.639 --> 00:36:22.320
you know, and if we do that then it'll be

635
00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:25.920
win win. But you know, right now, they're not they're

636
00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:28.400
not ready to really deal with this in a responsible

637
00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:30.360
way because that's not the way our government works.

638
00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:33.400
Unfortunately, Yes, we have we we have a larger issue

639
00:36:34.840 --> 00:36:39.079
with these uh these safety net programs. We have a

640
00:36:39.159 --> 00:36:43.119
large larger issue with mandatory spending, especially healthcare spending in

641
00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:45.880
the in the US. It's it's grossly inefficient and wasteful.

642
00:36:47.079 --> 00:36:51.039
We recently did a report where we looked at Medicare

643
00:36:51.079 --> 00:36:53.599
Part D, just one small portion of Medicare. This is

644
00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:58.800
the prescriptions and what is costing taxpayers for prescriptions under

645
00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:02.480
Medicare Part D. For sure, people are not paying this

646
00:37:03.239 --> 00:37:05.480
out of their pocket. They're certainly not paying it when

647
00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:10.039
they have private insurance. So we looked at just the

648
00:37:10.119 --> 00:37:16.320
top one thousand prescribing doctors, and in twenty twenty three

649
00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:20.800
they wrote eleven billion dollars worth of prescriptions. Woll you know,

650
00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:24.000
we saved nine billion on the July recision package. So

651
00:37:24.039 --> 00:37:26.800
it doesn't even it doesn't even cover one year of

652
00:37:27.519 --> 00:37:33.400
Medicare prescriptions. So tackling something like that, obviously, again is

653
00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:36.920
one of these very large issues that you can't solve overnight,

654
00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:39.679
but is worth what is worth attacking?

655
00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:44.159
Well, yeah, I've long said look at Obamacare, supposedly the

656
00:37:44.199 --> 00:37:47.639
Affordable Healthcare What a misnomer that was. That was like,

657
00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:50.760
you know, this whole ruse that Biden tried to sell

658
00:37:50.840 --> 00:37:54.119
us on, you know, the Inflation Reduction Act, and I

659
00:37:54.159 --> 00:37:57.119
mean all these things say the Democrats speak, you know,

660
00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:01.039
double speak. What they tell you it is is the

661
00:38:01.119 --> 00:38:03.639
exact opposite. As long as you realize what they're telling

662
00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:06.719
you and it's the exact opposite, you'll maintain some sanity.

663
00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:09.800
Otherwise you're going to get brain bruised in the process.

664
00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:13.440
Because that has been consistent with them, is what they

665
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:16.519
tell you one way, it's not, it's exact opposite. And

666
00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:19.519
so the Affordable healthcare. We knew from the very beginning.

667
00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:22.400
Anybody that had half a brain could do some math, said,

668
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:26.400
this is not going to pencil out it. And it

669
00:38:26.440 --> 00:38:30.639
hasn't all for supposedly thirty million people that were part

670
00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:33.719
of that donut hole. And I've been asking the question

671
00:38:33.920 --> 00:38:36.719
all these years. Oh God, shame on me for doing this,

672
00:38:36.920 --> 00:38:39.000
you know, but inquiring minds we don't want to know.

673
00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:42.119
And my question is, and I ask all these officials,

674
00:38:42.119 --> 00:38:45.119
I go, so of the thirty million that you estimated

675
00:38:45.119 --> 00:38:47.880
that you kept quoting time and time again, how many

676
00:38:47.920 --> 00:38:50.440
of them are still on Obamacare? How many of them

677
00:38:50.559 --> 00:38:55.039
actually went to Obamacare? Well, we know Obamacare, what did

678
00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:57.480
it get up to? About about eight million, maybe twelve

679
00:38:57.480 --> 00:39:02.039
million people, so it barely made it dent. And most

680
00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:03.920
of the people that are thirty million that they said,

681
00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:06.079
there was a lot of those people just said I

682
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:09.599
don't want your staking healthcare, right, you know. And so

683
00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:12.360
I mean, this whole deal was such a such a farce,

684
00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:14.960
and it was one it was, you know, built on lies,

685
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.079
and now here it is. I mean, it's so affordable

686
00:39:18.119 --> 00:39:21.519
and such a great plan that it requires government subsidy.

687
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:23.920
And it's one of the reasons why our government is

688
00:39:23.960 --> 00:39:24.800
closed right now.

689
00:39:24.760 --> 00:39:26.639
That's exactly right. Yeah, I was. I was just going

690
00:39:26.679 --> 00:39:31.119
to say, to bring it back to where we are now, right,

691
00:39:31.199 --> 00:39:33.280
That's why. That's why the government is closed over of

692
00:39:33.400 --> 00:39:36.880
the debate of this this this program that is not

693
00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:40.760
is not certainly not worth closing the government over.

694
00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:45.800
Well, Rachel, I see, I maintain, whether it's healthcare, you know,

695
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:51.000
Medicaid that we're talking about, education, go down the line, immigration,

696
00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:54.800
We're better than this. And if you got people together.

697
00:39:54.960 --> 00:39:56.800
I mean, it's almost like I want to say, I

698
00:39:56.800 --> 00:40:00.239
don't want to politicians involved. We're going to have, you know,

699
00:40:00.599 --> 00:40:03.360
a normal group of citizens get together in a room

700
00:40:03.480 --> 00:40:08.800
and design a world class, you know, healthcare program, and

701
00:40:08.840 --> 00:40:10.960
we're going to negotiate. I mean's Trump's been doing. He's

702
00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:14.679
negotiating you know, drug prices. He did that, you know

703
00:40:14.719 --> 00:40:17.400
before he left office. Of course, we were able to

704
00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:20.719
realize benefits that Joe Biden said, see what I've done

705
00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:23.360
for you going. You didn't do that, that was Trump.

706
00:40:23.400 --> 00:40:25.639
You just happen to be in office. You get to

707
00:40:25.639 --> 00:40:28.079
claim some sort of credit, But it was Donald Trump

708
00:40:28.079 --> 00:40:30.280
that did that. You don't know how to negotiate those things.

709
00:40:30.519 --> 00:40:33.400
But Trump has been continuing to negotiate drug prices. But

710
00:40:33.440 --> 00:40:35.840
that's only part of the you know, part of the

711
00:40:35.880 --> 00:40:38.519
elements of what needs to be dealt with. And you've

712
00:40:38.519 --> 00:40:42.519
got to get all these middlemen, these what prescription what

713
00:40:42.559 --> 00:40:47.320
do they called benefit PBMs or something managers. Yeah, they

714
00:40:47.360 --> 00:40:50.519
get they get a special cut out of everything for

715
00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:52.719
what they didn't do anything. But they're just in the

716
00:40:52.760 --> 00:40:54.920
middle collecting money like trolls.

717
00:40:55.239 --> 00:40:59.840
That's exactly right. Yeah, the thousand doctors that we looked

718
00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:04.199
at with these prescriptions that cost eleven billion dollars. Oh, absolutely,

719
00:41:04.239 --> 00:41:06.320
I mean these are these are money makers. The top

720
00:41:06.360 --> 00:41:10.119
prescriber in twenty twenty three was responsible for one hundred

721
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:13.480
and sixty million dollars worth of drugs paid by Medicare

722
00:41:13.519 --> 00:41:17.119
part dy. The second person was responsible for one hundred

723
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:20.679
and thirty seven million dollars. You know the reason you said,

724
00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:23.519
you know, what would happen if we got regular people

725
00:41:23.639 --> 00:41:26.760
in a room and ask them to design these things?

726
00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:29.800
Of course it would look far different from what we

727
00:41:29.920 --> 00:41:35.159
have here. What we have is, you know, from years

728
00:41:35.239 --> 00:41:43.000
of having special interests and lobbyists and donors and industry

729
00:41:43.159 --> 00:41:48.119
impacting how our government is run, and it is it

730
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:50.840
is certainly not how the founders would have expected it

731
00:41:50.880 --> 00:41:55.079
to be, and it is it is. It is certainly

732
00:41:55.119 --> 00:41:58.400
something that every American should should be aware of and

733
00:41:58.440 --> 00:42:01.119
should shouldn't you know, read about and learn about and

734
00:42:01.480 --> 00:42:05.559
go to openbooks dot com and we're reporting and you'll

735
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:08.440
be shocked every day what you see that that we've written,

736
00:42:08.480 --> 00:42:12.599
that we've that we've investigated, all through public records. By

737
00:42:12.639 --> 00:42:16.559
the way, this is all spending that the federal government

738
00:42:16.599 --> 00:42:20.119
and state government and local governments are required to report.

739
00:42:20.199 --> 00:42:23.119
This is your money. They're required to tell you how

740
00:42:23.119 --> 00:42:26.719
they're spending it. And so yeah, we make it digestible

741
00:42:26.880 --> 00:42:30.039
so people can be informed and maybe come up with

742
00:42:30.079 --> 00:42:33.000
some good ideas to pitch to the government for once.

743
00:42:33.599 --> 00:42:36.039
Ladies and gentlemen. Rachel makes it seem so easy. It's

744
00:42:36.079 --> 00:42:41.360
not easy because the resistance is thick, it's long, and

745
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:45.039
they're well practiced. You know, there's all kinds of foyer

746
00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:47.679
requests that are involved. You've got to go to the

747
00:42:47.719 --> 00:42:51.840
courts to get this information. Uh, you know, open the books.

748
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:55.880
You know, hey, hey i'm here, I'm from I'm with

749
00:42:56.000 --> 00:42:58.280
Open the Books. It's almost like they just they slam

750
00:42:58.320 --> 00:42:59.719
the door in their face. Then I want to talk

751
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:03.039
to him because they know, you know, they're there to

752
00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:07.639
find out the information which we're entitled by our constitution.

753
00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:11.719
They owe us this information and open the books. God

754
00:43:11.800 --> 00:43:16.000
bless them, and God bless you know, Tom Comburn, Adamanjiaski,

755
00:43:16.159 --> 00:43:19.360
the team over the years, John Hart, now your self, Rachel,

756
00:43:19.400 --> 00:43:23.440
everybody that's involved in holding to the cause on behalf

757
00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:26.800
of the American people, because if not you, then who.

758
00:43:27.119 --> 00:43:29.000
Well, thank you, Bill. This is very kind of you.

759
00:43:29.519 --> 00:43:33.119
And right, I'm honest about it. I mean, I just

760
00:43:33.360 --> 00:43:35.400
I mean going back to the Coburn years and everything

761
00:43:35.400 --> 00:43:36.760
and just saw it was going on. I mean, it

762
00:43:36.800 --> 00:43:40.679
was just to me, it just is so much common sense.

763
00:43:41.360 --> 00:43:44.000
But what's happened over the years because of all the

764
00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:48.880
work that you've done, it exposes the fraud, the delinquency,

765
00:43:49.039 --> 00:43:52.519
the corruption, and the American people look at if you

766
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:56.039
want to have in America that your great grandchildren can enjoy,

767
00:43:56.119 --> 00:43:59.519
your grandchildren can enjoy, you've got to take a stand

768
00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:02.880
and say enough is enough. Because this is a government

769
00:44:03.079 --> 00:44:06.159
of for and by we the people. And guess what

770
00:44:06.360 --> 00:44:10.360
it's not. It's not reflecting that crado that is in

771
00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:13.760
our Declaration of Independence or our constitution, is it no?

772
00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:17.000
And you mentioned Senator Coburn. Absolutely, you know, he helped

773
00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:20.719
found open the books, and he was one of those

774
00:44:21.039 --> 00:44:26.280
unique people who refused to just go along to get along.

775
00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:30.960
He put up a fight against everything that he that

776
00:44:31.039 --> 00:44:35.599
he believed was wrong, the wrong spending, the wrong programs,

777
00:44:35.679 --> 00:44:39.119
the wrong way to do it. And he was he

778
00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:42.000
was a man all all unto himself. He was. He

779
00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:47.480
was certainly unique. Jony Ernst, Senator Ernst is similar in

780
00:44:48.039 --> 00:44:52.159
her fight to say, we're not going to just continue

781
00:44:52.199 --> 00:44:56.199
funding this. We're not going to u increase this spending.

782
00:44:56.559 --> 00:44:59.360
We're this isn't something that should be funded to begin with.

783
00:44:59.400 --> 00:45:04.639
This is waste or fraudulent or abusive. And unfortunately they

784
00:45:04.760 --> 00:45:07.800
are very few and far between, and there need to

785
00:45:07.840 --> 00:45:14.800
be more Senators Coburn and senators are in Congress. We

786
00:45:14.840 --> 00:45:15.760
need more of those people.

787
00:45:16.199 --> 00:45:19.440
Well, without a doubt, we need to increase the megaphone

788
00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:22.760
and the pronouncement. And it's up to we the people

789
00:45:22.800 --> 00:45:25.519
to make those changes to get the right people in

790
00:45:25.559 --> 00:45:28.400
there so that we can have an efficiently run government.

791
00:45:28.599 --> 00:45:30.960
And look at this is not easy. This has been

792
00:45:30.960 --> 00:45:35.760
going on for decades. They're well entrenched as you realize,

793
00:45:36.519 --> 00:45:39.400
and for them to without any kind of conscience whatsoever,

794
00:45:39.920 --> 00:45:42.840
to run up a bill of thirty eight trillion dollars

795
00:45:43.159 --> 00:45:45.519
and just kind of shrug over it, and you just go, well,

796
00:45:45.559 --> 00:45:50.079
you know, we just you know, just because America keeps

797
00:45:51.079 --> 00:45:53.599
you know, it just keeps on living, doesn't mean that

798
00:45:53.719 --> 00:45:56.039
it will always be this way, right.

799
00:45:56.840 --> 00:46:01.639
Well, I hope not in terms of spending out of control,

800
00:46:01.679 --> 00:46:05.239
I hope not. You know, there has to be some

801
00:46:05.400 --> 00:46:07.880
into it. We can't keep borrowing from China, which we

802
00:46:07.920 --> 00:46:11.920
are doing, right. We can't keep kicking the can down

803
00:46:11.960 --> 00:46:14.800
the road. You know, we say our children will pay

804
00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:17.480
for it. It's not just our children, it's our grandchildren and

805
00:46:17.519 --> 00:46:18.800
our great grandchildren.

806
00:46:19.079 --> 00:46:22.519
We're borrowing from them. They're not even born yet, born yet,

807
00:46:23.159 --> 00:46:25.000
I mean, and it is the result.

808
00:46:25.119 --> 00:46:28.559
And I borrowed from his children, right absolutely.

809
00:46:29.599 --> 00:46:32.000
And they're not even getting Social Security checks to see

810
00:46:32.039 --> 00:46:35.599
other people somehow, you know, with the right I guess

811
00:46:35.639 --> 00:46:39.639
birthdate or whatever scam they've been able to work, you know,

812
00:46:39.719 --> 00:46:42.599
and like Elon Musk, has you know, has anybody even

813
00:46:42.679 --> 00:46:45.639
called them to say, hey, you know, we may have

814
00:46:45.719 --> 00:46:48.440
the wrong birthday here. What is your right birthday? You know,

815
00:46:49.719 --> 00:46:53.239
it can't be thirty thousand, you know, threey ten. I'm sorry,

816
00:46:53.280 --> 00:46:55.159
there must have been a type or something. Help me

817
00:46:55.199 --> 00:46:58.480
understand why you're getting a check, right, Yeah, we've.

818
00:46:58.199 --> 00:47:01.480
Seen this, especially with the COVID nineteen funding, you know,

819
00:47:01.559 --> 00:47:04.840
during the pandemic that was given out so freely, no

820
00:47:05.039 --> 00:47:09.719
questions asked. PPP loans money to businesses that don't exist,

821
00:47:09.920 --> 00:47:14.679
to people that don't exist. Yeah, and if Social Security

822
00:47:15.480 --> 00:47:18.639
checks can be given to people who are long dead

823
00:47:18.920 --> 00:47:22.199
or who have yet to be born, clearly there's a

824
00:47:22.199 --> 00:47:24.480
little bit of record keeping that needs to be done here.

825
00:47:24.519 --> 00:47:27.639
It's it's very basic stuff, right, it's it is. It

826
00:47:27.719 --> 00:47:31.360
is very upsetting when you when you think about the

827
00:47:31.480 --> 00:47:36.199
lack of care that is that is taken when overseeing

828
00:47:36.239 --> 00:47:39.719
our money. There's there's no care in making sure that

829
00:47:39.719 --> 00:47:43.119
that money is being spent prudently. You certainly wouldn't act

830
00:47:43.119 --> 00:47:45.360
that way with your money. You certainly wouldn't hand it

831
00:47:45.400 --> 00:47:49.559
out to to anybody who asks. Right. If someone calls

832
00:47:49.599 --> 00:47:52.159
you and asks for money and claims to you know

833
00:47:52.199 --> 00:47:54.119
you owe them a bill. You want some proof. You

834
00:47:54.119 --> 00:47:55.599
want to see a bill. What is it for? What

835
00:47:55.639 --> 00:47:58.519
did I buy? What did it go to? Right? And

836
00:47:58.559 --> 00:48:02.920
there's there's no similar responsibility taken when it comes to

837
00:48:02.960 --> 00:48:04.159
American tax payer money.

838
00:48:04.440 --> 00:48:06.639
Well, Rachel O'Brien, we got to leave it there. I'm

839
00:48:06.639 --> 00:48:08.960
thankful for you. And as I mentioned Open the Book,

840
00:48:09.039 --> 00:48:13.239
she's a deputy public policy editor investigative journalists for openthbooks

841
00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:16.280
dot com. As we wrap things up, I'm gonna give

842
00:48:16.320 --> 00:48:18.119
you the final word. We've got about a minute left,

843
00:48:18.800 --> 00:48:21.519
you know, bring us home and encourage the people what

844
00:48:21.599 --> 00:48:24.519
they can do to activate and stay in touch. And

845
00:48:24.920 --> 00:48:28.119
knowledge is power, and you've got a lot of information

846
00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:31.480
that will empower the everyday American right there at open

847
00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:32.239
the Books dot com.

848
00:48:32.280 --> 00:48:34.320
So go ahead, Yeah, I mean our website. We have

849
00:48:34.320 --> 00:48:37.400
a newly revamped website. We've been around for over a

850
00:48:37.440 --> 00:48:40.239
decade now. But you can go to our website and

851
00:48:40.360 --> 00:48:45.400
find your state or your municipality. You can search for

852
00:48:45.639 --> 00:48:48.280
the companies that have been paid by your city or

853
00:48:48.320 --> 00:48:51.920
your state. You can know who's getting paid, you can

854
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:55.360
know what the pueral is of public employees, and so

855
00:48:55.360 --> 00:48:58.440
there's a lot of great detail on our website. Also

856
00:48:58.519 --> 00:49:01.280
our substack substack dot com Open the Books, that's where

857
00:49:01.280 --> 00:49:04.679
we post our long form writing. Check it out, and

858
00:49:05.719 --> 00:49:09.199
I hope people find it helpful because that's our job

859
00:49:09.239 --> 00:49:12.519
here is to inform and put every dime online in

860
00:49:12.559 --> 00:49:13.760
real time. That's our motto.

861
00:49:14.239 --> 00:49:16.360
I will say this, Rachel, sometimes when I go to

862
00:49:16.400 --> 00:49:18.199
open the books, I have to have a stiff drink

863
00:49:18.239 --> 00:49:22.800
with me. I just mean, just me, That's all I'm saying. Rachel,

864
00:49:22.840 --> 00:49:24.840
thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate

865
00:49:24.840 --> 00:49:26.800
all the help and information. And take care be well.

866
00:49:27.079 --> 00:49:28.400
Thank you, Bill, thanks for having me.

867
00:49:28.760 --> 00:49:32.000
Hey, our thanks to Rachel O'Brien, the deputy Public policy

868
00:49:32.119 --> 00:49:35.679
editor investigative journalists for openthooks dot com, and thank you

869
00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:37.920
for joining us. May God bless you and keep you.

870
00:49:38.079 --> 00:49:40.639
May He make his face shine upon you. May He

871
00:49:40.719 --> 00:49:44.039
be gracious unto you and give you peace. Take care.

872
00:49:44.079 --> 00:49:44.599
God bless