Transcript of Trump Addresses Nation, Congress ACA Vote, Venezuela Oil Tankers

In a primetime address to the nation, President Trump defended his economic record, insisting prices are falling and an economic boom is on the way.

Our policies are boosting take home pay at a historic pace.

Does that ring true to voters?

I'm Michelle Martin with Leila Fadel, and this is Up First from NPR News. A group of swing district Republicans have sided with Democrats to force a vote on extending health care subsidies.

This doesn't need to be an all or nothing zero-sum game. We can come to the center and build consensus.

Will that encourage Congress to act before lawmakers head home for the holidays?

President Trump is escalating with Venezuela ordering a ban on some oil tankers. It's a blow to a country dependent on oil exports. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

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In a defensive and boastful address to the nation Wednesday night, President Trump insisted that the US is poised for an economic boom and said that high prices are falling.

He blamed his predecessor and immigrants for many of the country's problems. The speech comes as a majority of voters say they are not feeling the economic relief Trump promised in his campaign and touted in his speech. Recent polling shows Trump's rating on the economy is historically low and high prices remain a top concern.

With us to talk this through is NPR Whitehouse correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Hi, Deepa. Hey, good morning. Okay, so what did the President say to try to counter how Americans are feeling about high costs.

Well, his message overall is essentially telling people to just hang on and wait. He says costs of goods like gas are going down, and he said the administration is, quote, making progress on lowering other costs, but it's not done yet.

You will see in your wallets and bank accounts in the new year, after years of record-setting falling income, our policies are boosting take home pay at a historic pace.

In other words, the policies that he passed this year will have benefits next year. Things like the big tax cut bill, which includes things like no taxes on tips or overtime. He also said families will see a larger tax refund next year. He also touted what he said was an $18 trillion investment in the US from foreign countries It's though his own White House website puts that tally at a little more than half of that.

I mean, the message to tell Americans, Oh, you can't feel it, but just have patience. The economy is pretty good. I mean, that's something that we heard from the Biden administration. That's what they tried to do, and that didn't really work, right?

Yeah, it's a familiar message, right? Telling people that they will feel it in their pocketbooks just later is a complicated place for Trump to be in heading into a midterm's year. A recent poll from NPR, CBS News Marist just said that 36 % of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. That's a new low. So he's clearly trying to turn some of these feelings around. He did announce a few new things last night. One is an initiative of paying service members a check of $1,776. The other plan is to come next year on lowering the cost of housing. And I will say just one other major part of his speech was talking about immigration. That's long been an issue he falls back on when other things aren't going well. He tried to tie bad economic feelings to illegal immigration. He said migrants were the reason housing costs have gone up. But of course, housing prices fluctuate based on a number of factors and can't be pinned down to just blaming immigrants.

The worst thing that the Biden administration did to our country is the invasion at the border. The last administration and their allies in Congress brought in millions and millions of migrants and gave them taxpayer-funded housing while your rent and housing costs skyrocketed.

That message of attacking immigrants and Democrats, That's something we've heard from Trump again and again. It's possible that stays part of his economic messaging.

I mean, on that note, why don't we take a step back here and talk about his overall address last night? It comes at a time the President is seeing lower approval ratings, a lot of criticism over Venezuela, his reaction to the killing of filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner, the issue of affordability. What was his big message to Americans?

Yeah, I mean, this sounded like a pretty typical Trump address in a lot of ways. It was a long list of everything he seems to think his accomplishments are, all of that tacked together, everything from claiming that he's ended eight wars this year to showing off tariff policy. He ended his remarks saying that the country is doing better than ever, which is a definite contrast to polling that shows that Americans are worried about the future and the direction of the country. His response to things when they aren't going in his favor is usually to dig his heels in deeper. So as all of these criticisms, like you mentioned, of his rhetoric in these recent weeks have ramped up and his approval numbers fall, he's trying to paint a different picture of the last 11 months, saying that they have just been stellar and that only he could bring about what he says is a strong nation.

That's NPR's Deepa Chiveram. Thank you, Deepa.

Thanks.

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday on a Republican-led health care plan, but extending health care subsidies was not part of it.

More than 20 million Americans rely on the subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the month. In a rebuke of party leadership, a handful of Republicans joined Democrats to force a vote at some point on a three-year extension of those subsidies.

Joining us to talk through this is NPR Congressional Correspondent Barbara Sprunt. Hi, Barbara. Hi, Loula. Okay, so Republicans have been promising for weeks that they have plans to fix the healthcare system, but it doesn't sound like they agree on what exactly that entails. What happened this week?

Well, centrist Republicans have been pushing for leadership to let them have an amendment vote to extend those subsidies. There was a lot of back and forth on this, and leadership ultimately said, No, you're not getting it. The group of swing district Republicans had a choice, which was either go home for the holidays with no vote on the amendment that they had wanted to bring, or vote alongside Democrats who launched what's known as a discharge petition, which can bypass leadership and force a vote, in this case, on extending the subsidies for three years. That's exactly what this small group of Republicans did. Who were they? Well, the group is three congressmen from Pennsylvania, Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Breznahan, and Ryan McKenzie, along with Mike Lawler of New York. Worth noting, these are competitive districts. They'll be important next year in the midterms as we figure out who's going to control the House. Yeah. And these four votes were critical because they got Democrats to the magic 218 number of signatures that's required to force a vote.

What's the timeline for this force vote?

Well, under House rules, there's a waiting period. The speaker could choose to move the vote sooner as soon as today. But if he doesn't, the vote wouldn't happen until next month because lawmakers are leaving at the end of this week for the holidays. And then, of course, the bigger picture, we have to consider what future this could have in the Senate. Just last week, four Republican senators voted to advance a three-year extension. It did not clear the 60 vote threshold that it needs to pass there. What I'm watching is come January, does that shift?

Does all of this say something bigger about the Republican Party here?

I think so. I mean, I think if you didn't already know that the midterms were next year, this would be a clue. Members are acutely aware of what's important to their constituents, to their district. And in this case, concern about what these premiums will look like for folks back home if the subsidies are not extended. And so there is, I think, a disconnect between what this group feels will be a big issue for their voters and how they want to address it versus how leadership is approaching it.

And what does that mean for House Speaker Mike Johnson?

Well, it means more headaches, something that he's used to this year, trying to unite a conference that has a very narrow majority. And what that has led to lately has been these discharge petitions. Last month, we had a similar situation where a handful of Republicans rebelled against leadership. Sound familiar? Teamed up with Democrats to force a vote, in that case, on releasing the Epstein files. So I think this is just another example of the growing willingness of the conference to buck leadership on issues that matter to them and their constituents.

Npr's Barbara Sprunt. Thank you, Barbara.

Thank you.

President Trump has ordered a ban on all sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela.

The threat of a partial blockade marks an escalation in the Trump administration's pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolaus Maduro. It also raises questions about whether the US and Venezuela are edging closer to a direct military conflict.

Npr national security correspondent Greg Myri is following this story and joins us now. Good morning, Greg. Hi, Leila. With the President's latest announcement, what actions should we expect against oil tankers trying to reach or leave Venezuela's ports?

Well, we should look for the US to target oil tankers that the US has already sanctioned, but not all tankers going to and from Venezuela. Now, a full blockade is considered an act of war, but the Trump administration move appears to be limited, blocking only the tankers already on this US Treasury sanctions list. Now, a monitoring group, Tanker Trackers, said recently that around 30 of the 80 oil tankers in or near the waters of Venezuela were on this US sanctions list. Those 30 could potentially be targets while the others presumably would not be. We saw an example of this just last week when the US Coast Guard seized a fully loaded tanker that was on the list.

How do oil tankers get placed on this US sanctions list?

For several years now, the Treasury Department has been keeping this list of so-called ghost ships, tankers that try to disguise their identity and location and are used by countries trying to evade the US and Western sanctions. We're talking about Venezuela, Russia, and Iran. This could be a major blow to Venezuela. The country is so dependent on oil exports. One of these fully loaded tankers can carry about $100 million worth of oil. If the US does seize more ships, this could have additional consequences. It may just scare away non-sanctioned tankers because they may just decide it's not worth the risk.

How is Venezuela responding?

President Nicolas Maduro said the country's oil trade won't be stopped. His defense minister went on television and offered a defiant response. He said this US threat is an active progression, and it makes clear the main US goal is seizing Venezuela's oil resources. The country has the largest proven oil reserves, but production has dropped dramatically in recent years. One irony, Leila, is that US oil company Chevron is still a major producer in Venezuela. Chevron is responsible for about a quarter or even as much as a third of Venezuela's production of roughly a million barrels a day.

Now, the US has built up a military presence in the region. What operations could it carry out?

The US has at least a dozen warships in the region and around 15,000 troops at sea and on land. This is more than enough firepower to stop oil tankers or keep up these attacks on suspected drug trafficking boats that we've seen. Also, the US could carry out sustained air strikes against Venezuela if that becomes part of the plan. However, if Trump is considering a ground invasion, then US would need a significant force, perhaps more than is in the region right now.

Npr is Greg Myrie. Thank you, Greg.

Sure thing, Leila.

There's another story we're following today. The Trump administration has announced an arms sale package to Taiwan worth more than $10 billion. The largest arms sale package to Taiwan since the 1990s, including medium-range missiles, howitzers, and drones.

The State Department issued a statement asserting that the proposed sale will help improve Taiwan's security and, quote, assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region, unquote.

China condemned the sail to an island it claims as its territory, saying it harms China's sovereignty and undermines peace. That's Up First for Thursday, December 18th. I'm Leela Fadel.

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