Pod Save America SHOCKING GOP Plan to Fund War with Health Care Cuts
286 snips
Mar 31, 2026 
Josh Turek, Iowa state representative, Senate candidate, and Paralympic gold medalist, joins a sharp conversation on prairie populism, disability rights, and rural economic anger. The discussion also hits Republican plans to fund war with health care cuts, Trump’s shaky Iran messaging, young MAGA backlash, the DHS funding fight, and his bizarre ballroom obsession.
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Republicans Chose Shutdown Over Their Own DHS Deal
- Jon Favreau says DHS remains shut because House Republicans rejected a Senate bill that unanimously funded everything except ICE and Border Patrol.
- Jon Lovett notes Mike Johnson could have passed that bill with a huge bipartisan House majority but chose internal GOP politics instead.
The DHS Fight Is Really an ICE Leverage Fight
- Jon Lovett says Democrats' leverage comes from refusing to fund ICE without reforms while Republicans already stuffed ICE with money in the big bill.
- The new fight is whether Republicans can force Democrats to rescue DHS while preserving ICE's unchecked operations.
Republicans Are Tangling DHS Funding With War Spending
- Jon Favreau argues Republicans could reopen the rest of DHS now and fund ICE later through reconciliation, but they refuse because the politics are tangled with war spending.
- Jon Lovett says that creates an absurd position where Republicans may fund bombs for Iran while leaving the Coast Guard unpaid.