Imagine you're a duly elected member of Congress, passing laws, advocating for your constituents as you'd expect, and then for reasons completely beyond your control, it's decided your district will be split apart.

Have you made a decision about running for reelection?

I have, yes. I will be running for re election.

Where?

That's the question, because when you have your history cut into six different pieces, how do you decide which of the six to go with?

That's what happened to Republican Kevin Kiley, whose 3rd district in California will be unrecognizable after the effects of Proposition 50, an effort led by one of Kylie's political foes, California Governor Gavin Newsom. Lately, Congressman Kylie has been showing some willingness to speak against his party, to a point. One example, he remained in Washington during the recent government shutdown, defying Mike Johnson, who kept the House out of session for over a month. Congressman Kiley is my guest today. I'll ask him how a California Republican can survive redistricting, why he chooses to critique his own party, and whether or not now is the time that Republicans should start thinking about separating themselves from Donald Trump. I'm David Chalian, CNN's Political Director and Washington Bureau Chief, and this is the CNN Political Briefing. Stay with us.

Congressman Kylie, thank you so much for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Can you give our our listeners like a little insight into what it feels like inside the House Republican conference right now, given the November election results, the Tennessee special election this week, the president's poll numbers, turning into the midterm election year? Are you sensing a vibe shift inside your conference?

I think there has been maybe an unusual level of of discontent just because we're dealing with things that are kind of new in the sense that, you know, number one, we have this redistricting war that is now tearing apart the districts of dozens of our members, which house leadership let happen and in some sense cheered on. And then you also have the House itself really not being at the center of policymaking, really just kind of missing, literally missing an action for for two of those months almost, with the Speaker canceling session for six weeks. So I think this question of the effectiveness or lack thereof of the House is at the root of a lot of the frustration because people run for Congress because they want to have an impact on the issues they care about. And because of some of the decisions of our leadership, it's become harder to do that.

Are you saying you're not so into your job? Like are you disenchanted?

No, I'm not saying that. I love my job. I think I've been able to accomplish a lot from for my district this year. But when it comes to the House as a whole, the House has not been in the driver's seat and on a lot of the really important policy items. And and for example, just not being here at all for six weeks, two months almost actually during the shutdown, meant that the Senate basically just worked out the deal and the House had to come back and ratify it.

Can you give me an example of a couple other policy items that you think the House should be sort of at the center right now, driving forward that you feel it's sort of abdicating its responsibility on?

Well, on the issue of the healthcare costs and subsidies.

Yeah.

'You know, this is something that we've known was coming. And yet there still is no direction really from House leadership on the matter. So it's become really a very member-driven effort to come up with some sort of bipartisan agreement with the clock ticking with just a few weeks left here. So I have introduced a bill to Fix It Act with Sam Liccardo. We now have six Democrats and six Republicans on it, has a lot of momentum. I'm part of a group of 25 bipartisan House members that we did a press conference today about this broader health care policy framework. And so we're trying to, I guess, pick up the slack in some sense because this is an urgently important issue. Another issue specifically concerning the House is when it comes to tariffs. You know, the the Senate just voted on three resolutions, I believe it was, where they were able to weigh in on specific tariffs that had been imposed. So whether you agree or disagree with those tariffs or the vote on them, what is I think unacceptable is the House doesn't even have an opportunity to vote on those because the House specifically divested itself of its own authority on the matter. I was one of three House Republicans to vote against that maneuver. So I think those are a couple of examples.

Do you find yourself l lonely at times inside your conference?

No, I think that a lot of people feel the same way and you're seeing more and more people being vocal about it. You know, with this redistricting thing, people tell me all the time that this is just crazy what's going on. And they're very supportive of the efforts that I've made to try to bring it to an end. And with the House being absent as it was, I think that you're starting to see a lot of these frustrations kind of bubble up now.

Can you talk a little bit about your Fix It Act? Like what is your proposed solution for the upcoming expiration of those Obamacare subsidies?

Yeah, so the key elements are it's temporary, two years. It includes cost controls with income caps at six hundred percent of the poverty level. It institutes reforms against fraud, and then it also deals with overcharges by insurers in connection with a program called Medicare Advantage. And that proposal is actually endorsed by the AARP. So when you add all of that up, we actually pay for the two year extension and in fact save taxpayers' money. This is what the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget just came out with. They scored all the proposals, and ours is the only one that pays for itself and actually saves taxpayers' money.

But do you think that part of the problem, especially for the House Republican leadership or the majority of your conference right now, is that the party spent so many years, I mean, to repeal and replace Obamacare and voted on it, you know, countless times to do that. And what you're talking about now, even with the reforms you're putting in place, even the fiscal responsibility that is attached to it, it it is still, you know, a two year extension of a Biden era subsidy of Obamacare. Like, none of that sounds like something Republicans would get on board with if I've been paying attention.

Well, that that's one way to say it, I guess. I here's how I'd say it is that yes, we have gotten into this vicious cycle of subsidizing a system where costs continue to grow. And frankly, Congress should have addressed the underlying causes of that a lot sooner. But Congress has failed to do so. That's not a reason for Congress now to fail to act again in a way that's going to cause 22 million people to have their health care costs soar. And by the way, a lot of those people are groups that Republicans have been fighting for for a long time, like independent contractors, freelancers who have been targeted by the likes of Gavin Newsom in California. They're the people who would suffer the most, small business owners, small business employees. So I'm certainly not willing to say, you know, well, it's it's the fault of Obamacare or it's the fault of the Democrats, or it's the fault of someone else. So when your health care costs go up, just blame them for it. I'd like to actually come up with a solution rather than trying to cast blame.

And I know you have this solution, but do you have a sense of where this is going to land yet? Do you have any idea how the party's gonna find itself out of this predicament? As you note, it it is a problem that is going to predominantly, probably more predominantly, impact Republican voters, the president's own supporters.

Yeah. So my belief is that there is enough bipartisan support for doing something here to avoid the worst outcome, to avoid this cliff, that the House should be able to work its will. We should be able to get a deal and get this done before the end of the year. So we're doing everything we possibly can to broaden that circle of consensus in time for the deadline.

We're going to take a quick break. We're going to have a lot more with Congressman Kevin Kiley in just a moment. Stay with us.

'Welcome back. We're talking with California Congressman, Republican Kevin Kiley. You had mentioned several times the redistricting fights that have been going on and and obviously that has had a huge impact on your own district. In California, has your district - Trump won it by a few points and now it has redrawn would be like a Harris +10 district. Is that right or something like that?

Not exactly because my district has been cut into six different pieces. So it depends on which piece are you talking about. So the six new districts that my old district has been fragmented into, you know, they all have a variety of partisan advantage or disadvantage.

Have you made a decision about running for reelection?

'I have, yes. I will be running for re-election.

Where?

That's the question. Because when you have your district cut into six different pieces, how do you decide which of the six to go with? So I I feel like I owe it to my constituents to have a very thoughtful and deliberative process where I hear from as many of them as possible as far as what the best way to go is. So I haven't made any decision in that regard other than that it will be in California, which is not a point I thought I'd need to clarify.

Apparently your colleague Darrell Issa clarified that as well, yes.

And it will be in in one of those six that so I can continue to represent at least part of my current constituency.

Do you have a timeline for this constituent input and when you want to make a decision by?

Yeah, so you've got to file by early March. So that's kinda like the the hard deadline. I'd imagine that it'll be somewhat before that, but I'm not really in any rush. You know, and I think it'll be any time before the end of the year for sure.

And any one of those new districts will be tougher than what your current district was for you politically?

'You know, it it really depends on how you look at it. I mean, you know, you could of course measure the partisan margin, but that you know, a lot in a lot of the areas actually, the results at the state level differ from the results at the federal level. So I am confident that I have multiple paths to re-election. And that's because I have a record of actually far outperforming the partisan baseline. In 2024, President Trump won my district by 3.5 points, I won it by 11 points. So I had the second most crossover votes of any competitive race in the country.

I want to dig in a little bit about what you were saying about the House sort of being absent from the central policy making role. And I to me, and please push back if this is wrong, but like I read that to say, OK, Speaker Johnson is just like giving the ball to President Trump and letting the administration sort of dictate the state of play. Is that your assessment?

I mean, I think it's both. I mean, the Senate and the White House have I think been a lot more at the forefront of things, at least in in recent months. You know, and the tariff example is is a very clear example of that, where the House literally decided to cede the authority of the House itself on on that specific issue. And the shutdown, of course, is another example of that.

I'm sure you're aware what your colleague Elise Stefanik had told the Wall Street Journal, where she said that if Mike Johnson was to be up for a vote for speaker in the conference today, that he would not have the votes to be the speaker. Do you agree with that assessment?

You know, it's kind of a a hard hypothetical to assess 'cause you never actually have that happen, right? Because you elect the speaker at the beginning of the term and then the only...

Don't tell Kevin McCarthy that.

But even in that scenario, it's not like you know, McCarthy was having to get the votes to be elected Speaker. It was a whole different you know, procedure and then you had new people who had come and run. So I don't know. I would say that there is a lot of discontent now with you know, the the way that he's led or failed to lead in recent months.

'You said a lot of discontent, right? That you think it's - you think it's pretty - it's a prominent feature of the conference.

Yeah, no, it's definitely not. I saw him say something like 99% of people think he's doing whatever a great job. It's like that's no, not true.

Broadly on the issue of affordability, which I know is like a buzz word, but it does seem to be the thing that voters are experiencing the most concern about in their everyday lives. We see it in every poll, we see it in every election result. We see I, you know, this Tennessee special election to me is a perfect example because both your new colleague, Congressman Van Epps, he was also like advertising in his closing message on this issue of bringing prices down and getting healthcare premiums down as well. President Trump repeatedly, this week included, just calls it a con job and that it's a total figment of of his political opponents. Do you think the president's rhetoric on this is making this a tougher sell for you guys that Republicans have a mission and a plan to help address the cost crisis for Americans?

I didn't hear exactly what he said. I mean, I think maybe what that's getting at is the notion that a lot of the inflation, the lion's share of it was baked in coming out of the Biden administration, and that there has been real progress in things like gas and energy prices. But I mean, it's absolutely true that there's a lot more that needs to be done and the frustrations of people are very real. I will tell you though, that coming from California, the biggest problem when it comes to affordability is what's happening at our state level, because California is #1 in the the country, gas prices, #1 in the country in electricity, #1 or close to it in water bills, #1 in taxes, #1 in the continental United States in housing costs. So I have a lot of ideas for how we can fix that at the state level. And I think that what California has done actually holds a lot of lessons for what we need to be doing at the federal level as well.

Do you believe Donald Trump's approval rating is going to have an impact on your ability to get reelected?

I mean I think that if you look at the metrics, like traditionally, sure, the approval rating of the president does have a

You could right. You could see that the president's like standing with the American people and how he's perceived has an impact on how the party performs, right? That that is yes.

I mean, as a general rule, but in elections happen on an individual level. So I mean, as I said, like I had a a very you know, unusual level of support from Democrats and independents in my district. And that's going to be the approach that I take is focusing on issues that really matter to the folks that I represent, regardless of who the president it is, regardless of which party has the majority.

Congressman Kevin Kiley, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Of course. Thanks for having me.

That's it for this week's edition of the CNN Political Briefing. We'll be back with a new episode next Friday. Thanks so much for listening.