The Issue Is: CA Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Edward-Isaac Dovere

Tuesday, June 15, as the pandemic subsides, the California economy is set to fully reopen.

That date also marks the deadline for California’s annual budget.

This week, Elex Michaelson is joined on The Issue Is by Speaker of the California State Assembly Anthony Rendon (D), who has been negotiating with Governor Gavin Newsom on the details of the $267 billion budget ahead of next week’s deadline.

Also this week, Michaelson is joined by US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to discuss infrastructure negotiations, vaccine distribution efforts, and LGBTQ Pride.

Then, author and columnist Edward-Isaac Dovere stops by to discuss his new book "Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump," a behind-the-scenes look at the tumultuous, and expletive-laden, race for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination.

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THE ISSUE IS: HEALTH COVERAGE FOR UNDOCUMENTED CALIFORNIANS

BACKGROUND: Ahead of the state’s budget deadline on June 15, Governor Gavin Newsom and Speaker of the State Assembly Anthony Rendon have been in negotiations about the specifics of the state’s $267 billion budget proposal. One point of contention continues to be funding for health insurance for low-income undocumented immigrants. Newsom wants to extend benefits to undocumented adults over the age of 60, but Rendon wants to lower that threshold to 50.

RENDON’S CENTRAL TAKE: "We want to get to 50, we think that's sort of an important marker in terms of the demographics…These are people who are in this country, contributing to our economy, we want to make sure they're healthy, we want to make sure that a lot of the health maladies that they sometimes suffer from, including COVID, where this population suffered tremendously, we want to make sure that they get the coverage that they need… Regardless of your feelings about the presence of these folks in this country, in this state, they're here, they're contributing to our economy, they’re folks who are working at the restaurants you eat at, at the stores you purchase from, we want them to be healthy…"

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THE ISSUE IS: COMBATING CALIFORNIA’S HOMELESS CRISIS

BACKGROUND: Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, California’s homeless population had ballooned to roughly 161,000. With that number expected to have risen even higher over the course of the last year, so too have efforts to combat the crisis, with the state’s proposed budget allocating a record $12 billion to help those experiencing homelessness.

RENDON’S CENTRAL TAKE: "Our plan is to make sure that local entities, whether it's city governments or counties, have the resources that they need to address issues in their own communities. They are the ones who know problem areas and how to get people housed… we’re spending more money on homelessness than we've ever spent over the next two years, but we also have plans for years three and four to make sure that it's a sustained commitment. We also know we have a problem with housing scarcity, so we're going to do all we can and make sure that there's more housing online so that we can impact the law of supply and demand and help to bring down some of the prices of housing…"

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THE ISSUE IS: INFRASTRUCTURE NEGOTIATIONS

BACKGROUND: This week, a bipartisan group of Senators put forward a roughly $1.2 trillion infrastructure framework, which would call for $579 billion in new spending, focused on core, physical infrastructure. The plan would be paid for without any tax hikes. That framework comes just days after talks between the White House and a group led by GOP Senator Shelley Moore Capito (WV) broke down.

BUTTIGIEG’S CENTRAL TAKE: "There's been a lot of goodwill in honest, frank negotiations, where sometimes we turn out just to be too far apart, and so that's what happened with the group that the President was speaking with earlier. There are other groups forming, different combinations of Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate, and it's absolutely worth pursuing that track…"

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THE ISSUE IS: LGBTQ PRIDE MONTH

BACKGROUND: When he was confirmed as President Joe Biden’s Transportation Secretary in February, Pete Buttigieg became the nation’s first Senate-confirmed, openly LGBT, Cabinet Secretary. Ric Grenell, President Donald Trump’s Acting Director of National Intelligence, was previously the first openly gay Cabinet member, but was appointed by Trump, not confirmed by the Senate. With June being LGBTQ Pride month, Buttigieg reflected on what "pride" means to him.

BUTTIGIEG’S CENTRAL TAKE: "Right now, I'm thinking about the journey we've been on. You know, not that long ago, somebody who was out would have been unimaginable as a cabinet officer, or even as a federal employee. We’ve got a long way to go, but what pride means to me is that there really is a chance to stand up for each other in the name of compassion, in the name of equality, and make life better, and my being here is one small piece of evidence of that. And I know there are a lot of young people out there wondering whether they fit, they know they're different, and they don't know whether America has a place for them, and I'm here to say that there's a lot of people rooting for you…"

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The Issue Is: with Elex Michaelson is California's only statewide political show. For showtimes and more information, go to TheIssueIsShow.com.