YouSaid · the spoken record

Cheri Bustos

lines on the record
82
first
2018-01-08
most recent
2018-01-08
sittings or episodes
1
sources
podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “In our family, that if you do a good job, the future will take care of things. And if you do a bad job, the future will take care of things too. And so I'll work hard and fight and be honest.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “I'd be open to it, but I think in politics it is so much about timing. What do people want? I'm what I would consider a very reasonable Democrat. I don't have a voting record that is far, far, far left. And we have parts of our state that are farther left than I am. So I just What I'm proud of is that I know why I am doing what I'm doing. I know that we have been in a position to help a lot of people in the short time that I've been in Congress. I'm very proud of the staff that we've put together who understands to their core the importance of working hard and fighting for people and getting results. And that's what I'll continue to focus on. And, you know, we've always had a sad.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “A lot of zeros, and it would have been making calls nonstop. And, you know, when you've got 102 counties in a very, very large state, you've got to be able to get out and talk with people and let people know who you are. And I would have been raising money nonstop. And when you've got, you know, people in the race who had access to zero.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Well, the path to success for me was very, very narrow. And while I'm not afraid of taking a chance, Yeah, it has to be reasonable. And frankly, it got down to money. I knew exactly what I would have to raise to be able to be successful in a Democratic primary.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “But I do think it was his decision. I mean, he could have, you know, he could have stayed. But I think we need to make sure that we have a system in place. So if there are accusers, there's a process to go through. There are proper hearings or so-called due process that everybody's talking about. But frankly, back to the approval rating of Congress, I think we should be better than think that any of any kind of sexual harassment is okay. I've worked in the private sector my entire life until this job in Congress. And there's not one job that I had, either as a kid or up until now being in Congress where I haven't seen this. And I think I choose to look at this in a positive way. Let's hope that this is a wake-up call, that this isn't okay in the workplace.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “We need to have a system in place to be able to process this in a way that makes sense. I mean, we can't just keep doing these one-offs and all of that.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Or anything. I just think, you know, let's just take a look at the person. Let's take a look at what we can do to make things better. And that's really kind of my approach to it.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Well, you know, and so where people feel like because you're an elected official or because you're a member of Congress that you're a bad person or you're corrupt or whatever it is, what I said at a luncheon in Galesburg, Illinois yesterday is a guy came in, a Republican came into our luncheon and said that he supported me and he voted for me and I was one of the few Democrats he would support or had supported. But I was helpful to him on an issue. And so I thanked him. I said, you know, I really appreciate you coming into this group and saying something like that and sharing a compliment because while I don't think I'm any better than anybody just because of the job that I have, I also don't think I'm any worse than anybody. And then when people feel like they can beat up on whether it's politicians or whether it's police officers.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “My husband and I have both been members of the NAACP way before I was in Congress or on the city council and way before he was sheriff of Rock Island County, Illinois because we believe in making sure that we have good relationships with all parts of our community. I just don't like these broad brushes that are painted on people or professions. And it's just like as a politician, Congress has single digit approval rating?”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “I believe when you look at police officers, they're no different than any other profession in that there are good police officers and there are bad ones. There are people who are Democrats and there are people who are Republicans in law enforcement. There are criminals who are in law enforcement and there are exemplary people. And it's just like in politics or in business or anything else. We've got to make sure that we are addressing the problems and some of the perceived problems, especially in the minority communities. But what I don't do, nor would I do, and it actually leaves a very bad feeling with me is when people generalize that all cops are bad or that there can't be a positive relationship between the minority community and the law enforcement community.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “It's about even It's about even. But people are still willing to give him a shot. And so I see my job as, again, working hard, fighting and getting something done. The only way I can get something done is to work across the aisle and to have ideas that I can get my friends on the Republican side to be agreeable with me on because I can't do it with a 24-vote deficit. No Democrat can.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Not as damaged as he is in some of the other districts. I mean, we've done some polling here within the last, you know, four or six weeks that shows he is not underwater.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “I was very disappointed that it got to the point where we had to vote on impeaching the president at a time where we've got an investigation going on that's continuing rather than just let that play out and see where that leads. The truth comes out in the end. I have a belief in that. And that's just do it. That's self-inflicted damage in congressional districts like mine and the ones that we need to do well in because, you know, in my district, Donald Trump is not underwater. He is not, you know, there are people.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “I think we have a damaged brand, the Democratic Party, and I think we've got to rebuild trust. I think we need to start focusing on what people want us to focus on. I think we need to stop going down all of these diversionary routes that President Trump leads us down, and we just need to stay focused on people and families and what is going to help them have hope for their own futures, whether they live in rural Midwest or whether they live in one of the coastal bigger cities. And I believe that we have the right policies. We have to keep talking about that. The impeachment vote that we had to take a couple weeks ago, I think, was a terrible plan to do that. And I express that to Al Green, who was the one who forced us to vote on that. I was very disappointed in that.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “No, but in time, they will be the face of the Democratic Party. And we've got a very, very important election in 2018 where To win back the house, we have to pick up 24 seats, and that's what I think we need to stay focused on, making sure we're successful, not for the sake of the Democratic Party, but I really do believe to my bottom of my heart that we need to do this for the sake of our country. I believe that we have the policies that help families succeed and can address some of the struggles that we're seeing in a congressional district like mine and in a state like Illinois.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Yeah, I think if you look at the candidate who are running here in 2018, we have a woman named Alyssa Slotkin in Michigan, who had worked with the CIA. She's one of the most innovative, creative candidates I have seen in a long time. We've got Brendan Kelly, who's running in Southern Illinois, who's a state's attorney, a veteran himself. We have a woman named Abby Finkenauer, who's running in eastern Iowa would be the youngest woman ever elected. Comes from a union household. We've got young people, we have smart people, we have veterans.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Yeah, but we've got some really outstanding newer, younger members of Congress who their day will come. And it's a matter of time when people will run for various leadership roles. And I have confidence in our caucus that we will make good decisions as to who we're going to elect our leadership. Does it hurt?”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “I think anybody who's in that leadership role, who's ever speaker, whose ever leader is criticized, they are, I mean, look at Mitch McConnell. You know, he's brought into every Senate race in the country. Look at Paul Ryan.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “I think the two biggest problems in our democracy right now are how we do redistricting and campaign finance. We need to fix both of those things, and I think we would have a much better country if we did that, if we had more swing districts like mine, where I can tell you, when I'm not out in Washington, I'm back in Illinois, and I'm walking the supermarket aisles and I'm job shadowing people, and there are people in these very, very Democratic districts who don't have to work hard. They probably don't even have to have a robust constituent service operation. And I think we would be a much better country if we had more swing districts”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Democratic district in the United States, congressional district, we have a Democrat where we don't have as many Democrats are in these swing districts that we have to win in order to get back to the majority and do things to fight for people. And as much as we value diversity in our party, and I'm so glad we do because I think every organization stronger if you have a diverse group of people sitting around the table, we do not apply the same level of valuing that diversity when it comes to geographic diversity. And I want to help bring about that change.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Yeah, so my leadership role, we talked about what I'm doing politically in working with candidates in the Heartland region, but on the governmental end of things, I was actually elected among my colleagues to be one of the chairs of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. So which means I do have a seat at the leadership table. And here's what I think we need to think about as the future of Democrats in Congress. As I sit around that table, I am the only Midwesterner sitting around that leadership table. I am the only person sitting around that table who comes from a Trump district. Almost everybody sitting around that leadership table comes from a entirely strong Democratic district. And I would contend that every place that we have a Democratic”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “I talk about when I go into a room. I try to have a conversation about what's important to people. I try to do my best to listen. But, you know, we talk about what we've done to help fight for jobs in the economy.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Well, they don't want people coming in and talking about social issues all the time either. That's a part of the component here. What I was hearing when I do our supermarket Saturdays was jobs in the economy. I mean, they wanted us to focus on what are we going to do to improve their lives? What are we going to do so that their kids who grew up in this town of 400 people want to come back and stay when they get out of school or want to take over the family farm or whatever it is? And they view too many Democrats as focusing on things that aren't important to them. You know, my voting record on the vast majority of the social issues that Democrats believe in is no different than the vast majority of Democrats. But it's not what...”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Especially if their boss is out of range, you know, when was the last time you got a raise? Were you and your family able to take a vacation last year? And you learn a lot from people when you ask them, what do you do for fun? And when you, you know, one of my most vivid memories of that conversation was it was a home care nurse woman married to a guy who worked for one of the cities in the region where I live. They had two kids. And when I said, what do you guys do for fun? And she said, we have cable television. And I said, oh, I said, do you not like to go to movies? And she goes, no, we just watch movies on cable television. That is how we have entertainment because they can't afford to do other things. And you only know those stories if you get out and listen to people.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “No, I don't think that a lot of people felt like they were listened to. You know, I'm one of only 12 Democrats in all of Congress serving in a district that Donald Trump won in. And yet, if Democrats are going to win back the majority, we've got to figure out how we're going to do well in these districts. And I think part of it is going to where people are. Don't just go to the Democratic Fish Fry on a Friday night during Lent, but go to the supermarkets. I do something else we call Sherry on Shift, and all that is I job shadow people. But when I'm doing that, I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with a welder or somebody's teaching me to drive a forklift or I'm processing carp that have been caught out of the Mississippi River or I'm in a car repair shop or I'm mixing chemicals or whatever it is and I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with people and I'm asking them you know”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Buy new F-150 trucks or silverados like they used to every four or five years and they're hurting. And how you find out that people are hurting is you go where they are. I don't like to just go to Democratic Party functions. I go to supermarkets on Saturday. We actually call it supermarket Saturdays where I have zero agenda other than to walk up and down the aisles and introduce myself and say what's on your mind. What do you want me to know? I'm going to be heading back out to Washington on Monday. What do you want me to work on? What's concerning to you?”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “A lot of the people who lost their jobs, and I still keep in touch with them. I mean, they're heartbreaking. And then, you know, in my first term after I was elected, there was another company in Joe Davis County, which is a town called Hanover that sent a company called Robert Shaw. They had almost a 0% defect rate on these little valves that they would make to regulate water in dishwashers. And a nearly 0% defect rate, and yet all of those jobs got sent over to Mexico. So why did President Trump win? And why did Hillary Clinton not do well in a district like mine? Because people who have gone through that, whether it's their own family or their neighbors or their entire community who are making half what they were before those jobs went away, they're hurting. And they, in some cases, have to work two or three jobs.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “Well, I, you know, I mean, we've got to be smart about trade. I mean, trade also is critical to agriculture. And ag is the biggest economic driver in the state of Illinois. I know that's a surprise to some people in Chicago, but it is still our biggest economy. And so we've got to be smart about trade. But I'll tell you what I do agree with is we've got to do something about giving companies incentive to stay in our country instead of shipping jobs overseas. And I think we've got some good policies to address that. But the Maytag example was just one. We had another one in Stevenson County, which is in the northern part during my first campaign. Bain Capital had bought a company called Sensata, decided to take every one of those jobs that were good-paying jobs where people could support their families, send all those over to China. And, you know, you've got people who are training their replacements. The Chinese workers would come over and they would have to train their replacements. I became very close with”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “Well, so 11 of the 14 counties in the 17th Congressional District of Illinois are rural. The towns in most of these counties might be 200, 300, 400, 500 people. I'll give you a couple quick examples. Maytag. All right, your former boss, President Obama, talked about what happened at MayTag. But for your listeners, it was 13 years ago. Last September, that Maytag up and took every last one of the more than thousand jobs to Mexico. And here we are 13 plus years later in Knox County, Illinois, and the wages there still have not recovered because those were good union jobs. People could support their families on those jobs, but they just up and left to Mexico”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “Well, um so go back to that you know what I believe public servants should do work hard fight for people and get results but you know the other thing we do is and this comes very naturally to me but you know I listen to people David you go back to your reporting days and you know you didn't do all the talking right You asked questions and you listened, and that's how you had information to be able to put together a great story. And again, my comfort level really is, and as much as I'm talking now, is really asking questions and drilling down and understanding people. I love personal stories. I love being around people. I'm very much an extrovert. That's how I get energy is being around people. And I am perfectly comfortable in any neighborhood in our congressional district.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “Representing the 700,000 people in the 14 counties that I represent in central and western and northern Illinois that I get something done. And so that is, and I approach my job as a city council member the same way you're not there just to sit in a chair and listen to people, other members of the city council talk, you're there to get something done. And that's how I view my job now and I did as a city council member.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “Yeah, I mean, we have the same philosophy as, you know, I think there's three things that you need to do to be a good public servant. And I don't think it's a heck of a lot more complicated than that. But number one, you better work hard in our case as a member of Congress. I make $174,000 a year. Maybe some people who are listening to this might think, okay, well, that's nothing. But people who I represent where the average household income is $45,000, I'm making darn good money, so I better work hard for it because it's their dollars. It's their tax dollars that are paying my salary. Number two, if you have a fight on your hands, you better fight and you better fight hard. And number three, you better get results. And it doesn't matter that I'm in the minority party, that we have a 24-vote deficit in Congress. It doesn't matter. The expectation is that as a member of Congress,”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “And his time was before emails and all of that. But so my philosophy, and if you ask anybody who works in our whether it be our political or our governmental office, we return every phone call we get. We respond to every email. And so I was easily re-elected for a second term. And I think it was based more than anything on if I got a call, I took care of it. I had a great relationship with most of the city department heads. So especially the guy who would fill potholes and do that kind of thing. So I could literally call the guy who was in charge of maintenance services. And he'd go out within an hour of me calling him and fill a pothole. And it made me look really good. And I have deep appreciation of that.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “I loved it. Yes, they do. You know, anything from calls about a pothole right in front of their driveway that needed to be filled to, I remember a neighbor walking down the street in the middle of the summer waving her water bill and saying that she was going to go to the press if I didn't take care of this. And, I mean, from a stop sign or whatever it is, but I absolutely loved it. And, you know, I was raised. And if you talk to anybody who ever knew my father, we were raised, you return every phone call. And you return it the day you get it.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “So I raised a decent amount of money, more money than anybody running for Alderman ever had. So I had this, you know, my literature was, you know, it had full color, wasn't black and white. It wasn't like, you know, Xerox or anything. It was very professional looking. I actually had billboards because I knew the guy who ran the billboard company. And he said if I...”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “Zero TV, but you know, what was interesting though is I have a journalism background and a public relations communications background.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “But the reason I decided to do that is the same reason why I allow women run is I was asked. It is not something that just popped in my head. I literally, when I was a journalist and then even going into healthcare, I had no plans on the horizon to run for office. It was not something I thought I would ever do. But I was asked. It was an open seat. And actually what went through my head, I had covered the city for about five years. That was one of my beats. My first thought was, I think I could do better than a lot of the council members I've covered over the years. And so made the decision that I wanted to run and make a difference in that little part of the city of East Moleen. It was a three-way primary. I ended up winning.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “Well, running for city council, East Molene is a town of 21,000 people. I ran in one ward with her seven seats, so I literally represented only 3,000 people. So, you know, not this huge base of our constituency.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “I am, I am. But I have hope. I really do. We're sitting here and. The start of 2018, and I have a lot of hope there's great candidates running for Congress all over this country. And my political role at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as I'm chair of Heartland Engagement. So I'm working with all of the candidates in the Midwest who are running in these tougher districts and kind of some of the Trump land. And I'm very, very encouraged by a number of the candidates who are running. And I think we've got a really good shot at picking up a number of seats.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Know, and that's the phoniness of politics that I just it is really hard for me to accept that that is part of politics. And I know it is, again, you know, we've talked about how long you've been in politics, how long I've been around it. I'm only in my third term right now. I learn something new every day. But that kind of talk that the person who's saying it knows it's phony as it's coming out of its mouth, out of his mouth, is just, you know, I think it's a disturbing element of politics.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “That will knock an additional 13 million Americans off their health insurance is just, I don't know how anybody could support doing something like that or how anybody could take pride in saying that we're going to, you know, we want this to be a destroyed Obamacare. And frankly, I call it the Affordable Care Act. I don't call it Obamacare because I think there are too many people who have negative views of that.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Your brother Yeah, my brother Dan Callahan had been, you know, he was a high school baseball coach and then went to coach at Eastern Illinois University for five years and then was the head coach at Southern Illinois University for 16 years. And he had this rare form of cancer that the doctor would prescribe treatment that the insurance company would not cover. And when you see something like that up close with a family member and how to figure all of that out, how you're going to get the care that a doctor's saying you need to stay alive, yet the treatment is many thousands of dollars for every dose. And knowing that I and my family were not at all unique that this was happening all over the country, we knew that we needed to do something with healthcare. And I think, frankly, what the Trump administration is doing right now and through this tax bill that just passed.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “Yeah. So, you know, I went into Congress when I eventually ended up running for Congress and winning, having a pretty decent understanding about health care. And even on a personal level, when the Republican who I ended up defeating, literally when he was elected, he defeated a sitting Democrat in our congressional district in northwestern Illinois. When he was elected, my brother was on his deathbed.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “Actually, initially, I think in a pretty good way because the Affordable Care Act, this gets a little bit in the weeds, but you remember the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation that allowed for demonstration projects, pilot projects all over the country that allowed hospitals and health systems and clinics to try new ways of delivering care. And we took on some of those, where, for instance, you'd bundled payments. If you were going to get a hip replacement that the patient knew, the insurance company knew there would be one cost. didn't matter if there were complications. That included your rehab, your anesthesia, the surgery fees, all of that.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “Yeah, a great deal. When I worked in this health system, it was during a period that was before the Affordable Care Act, during the Affordable Care Act passing, and then after. So, you know, we knew that we were on an unsustainable path, how we were delivering healthcare. It was too expensive. The costs were going up too much every year, and yet the outcomes for patients were not improving. So we did a lot within our health system because we had this innovative CEO that said, let's take control of our own destiny and figure out how we are going to bring costs down and improve patient outcomes. And so we were on the path to do that during all of the Affordable Care Act negotiations.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “Struggling and people who couldn't afford their care and, you know, how were we as a health system going to help them? We were a nonprofit health system. And learned a lot about the business component of it as well.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “Oh, it educated me quite a bit about the health care system. I mean, we would, part of my job was to make sure that, you know, people could navigate the health system. Part of my job was to make sure that when there were people who couldn't afford their care, how are we going to make sure that they could afford their care? And, you know, raising money through our foundation, I didn't physically raise the money there, but I wanted to make sure that our foundation was successful so we could help people. Again, even, you know, transitioning from journalism to healthcare, you saw people in their happiest of time, you know, after a baby's born or something like that to, you know, their absolute worst time in their lives. And saw so many people.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “Detroit, Michigan at a health system came to our region of the Quad Cities. And after meeting with him, I thought, I'd like to work with that guy, take the job, and that's what I ended up doing. I moved up, ended up becoming, I started out as a director of corporate communications, ended up being a senior director, then a vice president of the larger health system for a number of years. And so did that for 10 years. And during that, I also was allowed to get very involved in the community, something you can't do as a journalist, right? I mean, you can't serve on board. You can't run for office. You can't do any of that. You can't even pound a yard sign. But while I was doing that job, I was actually encouraged by my boss to get involved. So I served on a lot of boards.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “And I said because I'm not interested. And he said, Well, why don't you just hear him out? I said, Yeah, you know, I guess, you know, what do I have to lose? So I end up meeting with the guy at the end of the conversation. He said, are you interested? And I said, well, I'm intrigued. And he said, well, let me set up a meeting with the CEO. I go meet with the CEO immediately. It's like, you know how sometimes you meet people and you think I am very impressed with that person. I could work with that guy. So I meet the CEO, a guy named Bill Leaver. He came from Michigan.”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “Want No, I could talk about you all day long. I can start asking you questions, David. So anyway, go home that night and I tell my husband, hey, I get this call about this. He goes, what'd you tell him? I said, I told him I wasn't interested. He said, why would you say that?”

    2018-01-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 206 - Rep. Cheri Bustos · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source