Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Congressmen Don Bacon on White House liklihood
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I am your host, Gene Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer,
- 0:03Speaker 1: is also here today. Good morning, Peyton.
- 0:06Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene. Another dreary day.
- 0:08Speaker 3: It is, but we are guaranteed human, too.
- 0:11Speaker 4: Always.
- 0:11Speaker 1: We are not AI. And thank you all for being
- 0:14Speaker 1: with us today. We want to hear from you. We
- 0:17Speaker 1: want to get your feedback, hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints.
- 0:21Speaker 1: We'll be right back. to speak up and sound off.
- 0:48Speaker 1: You can send your emails to comment at kfab.com. You
- 0:51Speaker 1: can call us at 402-558-1110, or you can leave us
- 0:55Speaker 1: a recorded message on the talkback mic and we will
- 0:58Speaker 1: play it on the air. We're very happy that you
- 1:00Speaker 1: are with us and we are very happy to have
- 1:03Speaker 1: our guest with us today. Congressman Don Bacon is on
- 1:06Speaker 1: the line. He is in Washington, D.C. Good morning, Congressman Bacon.
- 1:11Speaker 5: Hey, good morning, Mayor. We're getting ready to vote on
- 1:13Speaker 5: the Ukraine sanctions bill today, and it's going to pass.
- 1:16Speaker 5: That's the big deal we're doing today.
- 1:18Speaker 1: And, you know, I'm going to have you explain that
- 1:20Speaker 1: a little bit in a little bit because I know
- 1:24Speaker 1: you just returned from the Ukraine, and I'm sure you
- 1:27Speaker 1: have plenty of interesting things to tell us.
- 1:29Speaker 3: But one of the main things I wanted to bring
- 1:31Speaker 3: up today, and we'll.
- 1:32Speaker 1: Get right to it if it's okay with you, is
- 1:35Speaker 1: just recently, and everybody's talking about it, is I believe
- 1:39Speaker 1: it was an interview on 9-11 to public media, Nebraska
- 1:42Speaker 1: Public Media. You made a comment, and you said you
- 1:45Speaker 1: were mulling over an idea for a run for president
- 1:49Speaker 1: in 2028. And this comes as the GOP is really
- 1:53Speaker 1: looking for candidates to.
- 1:55Speaker 2: Succeed Donald Trump.
- 1:57Speaker 1: And I think the GOP is looking for strong conservative
- 2:00Speaker 1: candidates that will really showcase their alignment with traditional GOP ideals.
- 2:09Speaker 1: And so I Why don't you just talk to us
- 2:12Speaker 1: about what you said, why you said it. I know
- 2:16Speaker 1: you have said many times that you want to advocate
- 2:19Speaker 1: for bipartisan government. You want solutions for debt and immigration.
- 2:26Speaker 1: You've also said you want to stop using the DOJ
- 2:29Speaker 1: to go after our enemies. So I know I have
- 2:31Speaker 1: heard you say many things in the past, but tell
- 2:34Speaker 1: us why you made this statement and tell us kind of.
- 2:38Speaker 3: Where you're at with it right now.
- 2:40Speaker 5: Well, I appreciate being asked. I really have some strong
- 2:43Speaker 5: ideas where the country needs to go and the things
- 2:46Speaker 5: that we're not doing that we should be doing. And
- 2:48Speaker 5: I really don't want it to be about me because
- 2:50Speaker 5: I'm happy to have someone be the standard bearer and
- 2:55Speaker 5: lead the country in the right direction, and I'd be
- 2:57Speaker 5: glad to help them. But I'm not hearing it right now,
- 3:00Speaker 5: and so I'm going to get involved over the next
- 3:01Speaker 5: year with various groups speaking all over the country laying
- 3:05Speaker 5: out a vision. and if so we want to pick
- 3:07Speaker 5: up that flag in and carry it out of all
- 3:10Speaker 5: get right behind a bit of that i want to
- 3:12Speaker 5: keep promoting it first of all what we've seen the
- 3:15Speaker 5: last three presidents is a total inability to work across
- 3:18Speaker 5: the aisle and get things from our country sorely needs
- 3:23Speaker 5: the biggest issue right now really is the forty trillion
- 3:25Speaker 5: dollar dot and at some point that house of cards
- 3:29Speaker 5: is going to collapse we're gonna have a nineteen twenty
- 3:31Speaker 5: nine a depression The current president and the previous president
- 3:37Speaker 5: were totally unwilling to tackle this. And I've been on
- 3:41Speaker 5: legislation for many Congresses now, doing a joint bipartisan commission
- 3:47Speaker 5: where you sit down and you balance the budget. That's mandatory.
- 3:50Speaker 5: You're going to give Republican victories in there and Democrat victories.
- 3:53Speaker 5: Whatever the solution they come up with, you've got to
- 3:56Speaker 5: put it on the floor for an up-or-down vote without amendments.
- 3:59Speaker 5: We've done this stuff before, but we've never forced a
- 4:01Speaker 5: vote or we allowed amendments and then nothing ever happened.
- 4:04Speaker 5: But we have to deal with the debt, and most
- 4:07Speaker 5: of it's mandatory spending, 75% of it. And we're an
- 4:10Speaker 5: aging country. More people are retiring every day. They're entering
- 4:13Speaker 5: the workforce. We've got to acknowledge these things. Secondly, I'd
- 4:16Speaker 5: like to tackle immigration. It hasn't been done since Ronald Reagan.
- 4:20Speaker 5: And our birth rate today is 1.6. That means we
- 4:24Speaker 5: have a declining young population, a growing aging population. And
- 4:29Speaker 5: if we don't have a conversation on this and figure
- 4:31Speaker 5: out how we're going to handle this country, we're going
- 4:34Speaker 5: to hit some serious economic headwinds, for one. And we've
- 4:39Speaker 5: got to deal with it. But I also have been
- 4:41Speaker 5: disappointed in the last three presidents have used the DOJ,
- 4:45Speaker 5: the IRS to go after opponents. It's not right. We
- 4:48Speaker 5: need somebody to pledge we're going to restore normalcy in
- 4:51Speaker 5: this area. We've seen presidents enrich themselves, not just one, multiple,
- 4:57Speaker 5: in their families. based on these positions. I think most
- 5:01Speaker 5: Americans want butter. They want someone that is going to
- 5:06Speaker 5: handle their office respectfully and with dignity in that regard.
- 5:10Speaker 5: And one thing I do have a strong idea about
- 5:13Speaker 5: national security and the military, and I know what we
- 5:16Speaker 5: need to do, and we are failing in this area
- 5:18Speaker 5: as well. We're at the second lowest spending of defense
- 5:21Speaker 5: per GDP since early in the Cold War, and our
- 5:25Speaker 5: alliances are are weakening right now because of crude comments
- 5:30Speaker 5: towards our leaders, and I'd like to restore our military
- 5:34Speaker 5: and our alliances so that we remain the leader of
- 5:36Speaker 5: the free world and we live in a safer world.
- 5:39Speaker 5: This is the vision I have that I want to
- 5:40Speaker 5: take all over the country, and I want, and I'm
- 5:42Speaker 5: happy to, and I don't want to be about me.
- 5:45Speaker 5: It's more about the vision, and I'm happy to help
- 5:47Speaker 5: someone that if they share that vision, I just want
- 5:51Speaker 5: this to be America's vision, and I want to be.
- 5:54Speaker 6: A part of it.
- 5:55Speaker 1: You know, you mentioned about the last three presidents and
- 5:59Speaker 1: the debt and a $ 40 trillion debt. And you said,
- 6:04Speaker 1: you know, one of these days soon, hopefully not too soon,
- 6:08Speaker 1: this is going to collapse. And then we're going to
- 6:09Speaker 1: have perhaps a depression. Congressman, why do you think this is?
- 6:16Speaker 1: I mean, why do you think the last three presidents
- 6:20Speaker 1: have not made any headway that I can see or
- 6:23Speaker 1: any of us can see about the national debt. And
- 6:27Speaker 1: is it possible to solve a $ 40 trillion debt? I mean,
- 6:32Speaker 1: I can't even fathom that when I think back to
- 6:36Speaker 1: little old Omaha, you know, your debt has to be
- 6:39Speaker 1: balanced at the beginning of the year and your debt has,
- 6:41Speaker 1: I mean, you're budget has to be balanced at the
- 6:43Speaker 1: end of the beginning of the year and at the
- 6:45Speaker 1: end of the year no questions it has to be
- 6:47Speaker 1: balanced how could we have gotten into a 40 trillion dollar.
- 6:52Speaker 5: Debt this year we're going to run a one and
- 6:57Speaker 5: a half to two trillion dollar deficit and and most
- 7:00Speaker 5: of its mandatory spending so a lot of my republican
- 7:03Speaker 5: friends say don you voted for a 10 million thing
- 7:05Speaker 5: over here and these are this is budget dust they're
- 7:09Speaker 5: pennies the real issue is is more people are retiring
- 7:13Speaker 5: every day that are entering the workforce, or Social Security,
- 7:16Speaker 5: or Medicare, or Medicaid, and all that stuff is just skyrocketing.
- 7:21Speaker 5: And nobody wants to deal with it because it's painful.
- 7:24Speaker 5: There's a lack of leadership here, a lack of backbone.
- 7:27Speaker 5: You've got to sit down and figure out, do we
- 7:29Speaker 5: need to adjust to retirement age? Do we need to
- 7:31Speaker 5: adjust the caps? Do we need to do all these
- 7:33Speaker 5: kind of things? And you've got to make painful choices.
- 7:36Speaker 5: And the current president, the previous president, Really, we've, and
- 7:41Speaker 5: even the one before that, President Obama, has never wanted
- 7:44Speaker 5: to talk about these things because they're politically hard. But
- 7:48Speaker 5: someday we're going to hit a, the house of cards
- 7:50Speaker 5: is going to collapse, and we're going to all look
- 7:52Speaker 5: backwards and say, why didn't we have leadership step up
- 7:55Speaker 5: and make this a priority? And the concerns I've had
- 7:59Speaker 5: with my colleagues, both sides of the aisle, right now
- 8:03Speaker 5: is they want to focus on, on the discretionary budget only.
- 8:07Speaker 5: You could subtract the entire military budget and you're going
- 8:11Speaker 5: to run a deficit still. So the people aren't looking
- 8:14Speaker 5: at the big stuff. They're looking at the pennies or
- 8:16Speaker 5: the budget dust, we call it. The big issues are
- 8:19Speaker 5: not being solved. And I just want to put it
- 8:21Speaker 5: on the table that we've got to work together. You've
- 8:23Speaker 5: got to work across the aisle on this. There's no
- 8:25Speaker 5: way the Republicans can do this by themselves, nor the Democrats.
- 8:29Speaker 5: So you've got to sit down and you're going to
- 8:31Speaker 5: have to do some give and take and make some
- 8:33Speaker 5: painful decisions choices, but those painful choices will save our
- 8:37Speaker 5: country and will build a playing field for our economy
- 8:41Speaker 5: for decades to come. So we need leadership that will
- 8:45Speaker 5: make the hard choices. I had to do that in
- 8:46Speaker 5: the military. I had to do that my whole life, right?
- 8:49Speaker 3: Yes, yes, you have.
- 8:51Speaker 1: But I guess what I'm asking here, too, is do
- 8:54Speaker 1: we have to wait until 2028 and for new leadership?
- 8:57Speaker 1: I mean, we have another couple years here, and are
- 9:01Speaker 1: we just going to dig ourselves in a deeper and
- 9:03Speaker 1: deeper hole? I mean, when I look at the present Congress,
- 9:07Speaker 1: I looked at that, I watched that, and I'm sure
- 9:09Speaker 1: many people did, too. that committee hearing yesterday with Kash Patel.
- 9:13Speaker 1: and the behavior that was going on in that committee meeting.
- 9:19Speaker 1: I mean, usually you don't even see what goes on
- 9:21Speaker 1: in committee meetings, but I mean, I almost had to
- 9:23Speaker 1: laugh when Senator Chuck Grassley finally said to Cory Booker,
- 9:26Speaker 1: are you ready to shut up?
- 9:29Speaker 3: This is what was going on between these.
- 9:32Speaker 1: I mean, it was embarrassing to listen to the politics
- 9:37Speaker 1: and the behavior of these elected officials saying, Seeing that
- 9:41Speaker 1: and understanding that, I mean, do we have a chance
- 9:45Speaker 1: to even start turning things around with the current administration
- 9:48Speaker 1: and the current elected officials we have in Congress?
- 9:52Speaker 5: Well, President Trump has said he doesn't think this is
- 9:55Speaker 5: an issue right now. It's not a priority. He did
- 9:58Speaker 5: not want this Congress to tackle it. And I think
- 10:01Speaker 5: we should have done it anyway. We need to have
- 10:03Speaker 5: a separate voice or a separate branch. I have talked
- 10:07Speaker 5: to Speaker Johnson on this, and I'm on legislation to
- 10:10Speaker 5: do all this. So this isn't just talk. I'm on
- 10:12Speaker 5: the bills to force these issues if they were passed.
- 10:16Speaker 5: And a speaker has said if we remain in the
- 10:18Speaker 5: majority in January, he will make it a priority. But
- 10:22Speaker 5: it is hard to make a priority when the president
- 10:25Speaker 5: doesn't want to make those tough choices either. And I
- 10:27Speaker 5: don't just blame President Trump. President Biden, he did some
- 10:32Speaker 5: of the biggest spending bills in history, gave us a
- 10:34Speaker 5: 9% inflation. And so this has been a multiple presidency issue.
- 10:41Speaker 5: And nobody wants to do it because it's painful and
- 10:43Speaker 5: you've got to make tough choices. It's politically risky. But
- 10:46Speaker 5: I would rather see a president say, I want to
- 10:48Speaker 5: be an Abraham Lincoln. I want to be a Ronald Reagan.
- 10:52Speaker 5: I want to do the important things that preserve our
- 10:55Speaker 5: country for the many, many decades to come. But if
- 10:58Speaker 5: we do nothing, at some point, I don't know when
- 11:00Speaker 5: that point is, we're going to see a 1929 collapse
- 11:04Speaker 5: of our economy, and it's going to be devastating. And
- 11:07Speaker 5: we're going to look at ourselves, why didn't we fix
- 11:08Speaker 5: it when we had a chance? And that's... That's my message.
- 11:12Speaker 1: Now, yesterday, Senator Banks out of Indiana, which I don't
- 11:17Speaker 1: even know him.
- 11:19Speaker 2: But he actually.
- 11:20Speaker 5: I know him too well.
- 11:21Speaker 1: Yeah, well, he actually mocked this idea of your ambitious goal,
- 11:26Speaker 1: as he called it. He said it was comical, and
- 11:28Speaker 1: he said he used the LOL as laugh out loud. But,
- 11:33Speaker 1: you know, I'm assuming that was just a knee-jerk reaction
- 11:36Speaker 1: to something, but... But what I think what you are
- 11:39Speaker 1: doing and what you are saying is hopefully it causes
- 11:42Speaker 1: a knee jerk reaction to a lot of people. And
- 11:45Speaker 1: I mean, and hopefully those that are in the Senate
- 11:47Speaker 1: now and those that are in Congress now sit there
- 11:50Speaker 1: and look back at what they are doing or what
- 11:52Speaker 1: they have not been doing and say, you know what?
- 11:56Speaker 1: Don Bacon's really got a point here. I mean, this
- 11:58Speaker 1: is this is really, really important. critical for the future
- 12:04Speaker 1: of our country. And it's who we elect and who,
- 12:08Speaker 1: who we pick as our leaders. Now, you know, as
- 12:11Speaker 1: I said earlier, obviously the GOP is looking for candidates
- 12:15Speaker 1: to succeed Donald Trump. You know, we're hearing all sorts of,
- 12:18Speaker 1: we're hearing DeSantis, we're hearing J.D. Vance, we're hearing Kamala,
- 12:23Speaker 1: we're hearing Gavin Newsom. I mean, we're hearing all of
- 12:25Speaker 1: these people that are, AOC, we're getting, you know, people
- 12:30Speaker 1: are talking about it. But, but Nobody's talking about what
- 12:34Speaker 1: really needs to be done.
- 12:36Speaker 2: And you are.
- 12:37Speaker 3: And I don't want it.
- 12:39Speaker 5: To be about me. It's more about the message. I
- 12:42Speaker 5: really want to be an ideas guy, and I want
- 12:44Speaker 5: to push what I think of the vision that we need.
- 12:46Speaker 5: I'm happy to be part of a team. But I'm
- 12:48Speaker 5: willing to pitch in, and I have the ability now
- 12:51Speaker 5: over the next year or two years to travel the
- 12:54Speaker 5: country and be part of various groups that agree with me.
- 12:57Speaker 5: I'm not by myself. There's a group called the Legacy Republicans.
- 13:00Speaker 5: I did this interview, and there's 30,000 members, and there's
- 13:04Speaker 5: opportunities to travel with them. There's a whole host of
- 13:07Speaker 5: groups that can give access so we can get this
- 13:10Speaker 5: message out there, like AEI, a big AEI guy. Mike
- 13:14Speaker 5: Pence has a great think tank. And then there's Jim Banks.
- 13:17Speaker 5: This goes back a while. It's a personal match with him. Frankly,
- 13:22Speaker 5: he has criticized me four or five times over the
- 13:24Speaker 5: last year. I finally spoke up two days ago, and
- 13:26Speaker 5: he didn't like it. It goes back, I didn't vote
- 13:30Speaker 5: for him to be the president of the class. He's
- 13:32Speaker 5: a pre-shell individual. He holds a grudge. And I didn't
- 13:35Speaker 5: vote for him for whip. And so he's an angry guy.
- 13:40Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds that way for somebody to come out
- 13:42Speaker 1: and say something like that.
- 13:43Speaker 3: I mean, to me, it's very disrespectful.
- 13:46Speaker 1: Another quote that I had that you made is you said,
- 13:49Speaker 1: we need leadership that stands as an example of decency
- 13:51Speaker 1: and humanity and represents Christian values.
- 13:54Speaker 3: Speak to that a little bit, Congressman.
- 13:57Speaker 5: Well, I'll give you an example. I'm at loggerheads with
- 14:00Speaker 5: the administration right now. We have a 24-year-old lady, for example,
- 14:03Speaker 5: and this is just an example, but there's dozens of
- 14:06Speaker 5: it right now. But here's an example. A 24-year-old lady
- 14:09Speaker 5: came here when she was a teenager, a minor, 16
- 14:12Speaker 5: years old. Her mom and dad abandoned her in Omaha.
- 14:15Speaker 5: She lived with an uncle. The uncle didn't treat her right,
- 14:19Speaker 5: so she ended up moving in with the cousins. But
- 14:22Speaker 5: she graduated from high school in Omaha with honors, then
- 14:25Speaker 5: from UNO with honors, and She just got her pilot's license.
- 14:28Speaker 5: She wants to be an airline pilot, and we're going
- 14:30Speaker 5: to deport her. And so I call the Homeland Security secretary.
- 14:34Speaker 5: I know him. He's a friend of mine. I said,
- 14:35Speaker 5: this is just not right. It's inhumane. It passes no
- 14:39Speaker 5: common sense. He goes, well, she didn't make a hearing
- 14:41Speaker 5: when she was 16. Yeah, because her mom and dad
- 14:43Speaker 5: abandoned her, and she was being shipped around from house
- 14:46Speaker 5: to house. She never got the summons. Can we not
- 14:48Speaker 5: have some common sense and decency, right? But there's dozens
- 14:53Speaker 5: of examples right now in Omaha of wild-biting people Good
- 14:56Speaker 5: people working. Some people have been here for decades, married
- 14:59Speaker 5: to Americans, and they're in the process of getting deported.
- 15:02Speaker 5: And when I challenge the administration, I say, well, we're
- 15:04Speaker 5: only going to deport criminals and violent people. I go, well,
- 15:06Speaker 5: here's a dozen examples where you're not. They say, well,
- 15:08Speaker 5: just focus on the criminals. Well, this whole policy is
- 15:13Speaker 5: hurting the administration, I think, for this November because people
- 15:17Speaker 5: see it all over the country. And I have Republican
- 15:19Speaker 5: business leaders call me, hey, do you know where you
- 15:21Speaker 5: can help out my foreman, who's been in our company
- 15:25Speaker 5: for over a decade or two decades in some cases.
- 15:28Speaker 5: But this is, I think, what we've gone from one
- 15:30Speaker 5: extreme to another extreme on the immigration policy. Most Americans
- 15:33Speaker 5: want the border secure. They want violent people kicked out.
- 15:37Speaker 5: But they also want some decency and humanity. And I
- 15:40Speaker 5: do think on the Christian values thing, that our immigration
- 15:44Speaker 5: policy is part of it. But it's also in the
- 15:47Speaker 5: way we treat each other. When you demagogue your opponents
- 15:51Speaker 5: and demonize them, it's very hard to sit at the
- 15:53Speaker 5: table with them and come up with a plan on
- 15:55Speaker 5: the dot and budget deficit, right? Or to solve Iran.
- 16:00Speaker 5: Right now, the Democrats will do nothing with the president
- 16:04Speaker 5: of Iran. Even though Iran killed 1,000 Americans, they were
- 16:08Speaker 5: trying to build a nuclear weapon. I've lost friends from
- 16:10Speaker 5: these Iranian proxy groups when I served in the Air Force.
- 16:14Speaker 5: I see the need, but because of the president... has
- 16:16Speaker 5: demonized them, and they've demonized the fact that they were
- 16:19Speaker 5: offering zero help. In fact, here's another one. I was
- 16:22Speaker 5: on the floor today debating the Ukraine bill, and the
- 16:24Speaker 5: Democrat leadership is opposing it, even though they've always supported
- 16:29Speaker 5: it in the past. And why is that? Because the
- 16:31Speaker 5: president said he was willing to sign this one. And
- 16:33Speaker 5: so out of a reaction of his willingness to sign
- 16:36Speaker 5: this bill, they now oppose it, even though they were
- 16:39Speaker 5: for it before the president said he was going to
- 16:41Speaker 5: support it. And this demonizing each other It's made us
- 16:46Speaker 5: dysfunctional at the top, and our country cannot afford to
- 16:51Speaker 5: be governed by a dysfunctional government that can't sit down
- 16:55Speaker 5: at the table and just work out basic issues.
- 16:59Speaker 4: Right.
- 16:59Speaker 1: It sounds like the Democrats realize it's the right thing
- 17:02Speaker 1: to do, but because the president said he will sign it,
- 17:04Speaker 1: now they're going to be against it because it's against
- 17:07Speaker 1: the president, not because it's the right thing to do.
- 17:09Speaker 3: I mean Congressman Bacon is with us today.
- 17:12Speaker 1: I mean you look at this D2 race or CD2
- 17:16Speaker 1: race going on now in Omaha and who will be–
- 17:21Speaker 1: follow you and Congress for congressional district too. And I mean,
- 17:25Speaker 1: I just get so irritated with these commercials that Denise
- 17:29Speaker 1: Powell has put out because 98% of what she says
- 17:32Speaker 1: about Brinker Harding is downright a lie. But she just
- 17:36Speaker 1: keeps on saying it over and over and over, thinking
- 17:40Speaker 1: it's going to stick, and she's not telling the truth.
- 17:42Speaker 1: And this is what we are seeing in a lot
- 17:44Speaker 1: of our campaigns right now. And so this is– to me,
- 17:47Speaker 1: it's very frustrating. It should be very frustrating to the
- 17:50Speaker 1: American people. I think what I'm hearing you say, Congressman Bacon,
- 17:53Speaker 1: is that you have been there. You've been on the Hill.
- 17:57Speaker 1: You know what goes on. You have an idea of
- 18:01Speaker 1: what you feel like the country needs right now. And
- 18:04Speaker 1: you're going to put yourself out there and you're going
- 18:08Speaker 1: to travel and you're going to say, here's what we need.
- 18:11Speaker 1: You would consider a run for a president? You would
- 18:14Speaker 1: consider being someone else's running mate? Or you would consider
- 18:17Speaker 1: just helping someone else?
- 18:19Speaker 5: I'd be willing to be on somebody's team in whatever position.
- 18:22Speaker 5: I just want this message to prevail for our country.
- 18:26Speaker 5: I love history. God gave me this innate interest in history.
- 18:31Speaker 5: I love studying great leaders. When you look at people
- 18:33Speaker 5: like Reagan and Lincoln and Jefferson and Churchill, and if
- 18:37Speaker 5: you have a passion for your country, that's my number
- 18:40Speaker 5: one passion. That's what I like. I love, this is
- 18:43Speaker 5: what my brain dwells on. And I just, I can't
- 18:47Speaker 5: just sit back and, you know, sit in my garage and,
- 18:51Speaker 5: Watch TV and think, well.
- 18:53Speaker 3: Somebody else is going to take care of this stuff.
- 18:55Speaker 2: Right, that's not you.
- 18:56Speaker 5: I've got to get in.
- 18:57Speaker 2: That is not you at all.
- 18:59Speaker 3: No, it isn't.
- 18:59Speaker 1: You're a patriot, and I have always said that about
- 19:02Speaker 1: you from your career in the military to what you
- 19:04Speaker 1: are doing now. Congressman Don Bacon is on with us today.
- 19:09Speaker 1: You just returned from the Ukraine. Tell us about the
- 19:12Speaker 1: Ukraine bill and tell us what's going on today on
- 19:14Speaker 1: the Hill.
- 19:15Speaker 5: So I just came back on Sunday from Ukraine, a
- 19:19Speaker 5: pretty quick visit. The Ukrainians are beating the Russians on
- 19:22Speaker 5: the battlefield. The Russians cannot make no progress. They're losing 1,000
- 19:27Speaker 5: to 1,300 troops a day on the front lines. It's
- 19:30Speaker 5: because the Ukrainians are flying 7,000 drones a day that
- 19:34Speaker 5: are attacking their soldiers within about a 30-mile boat where
- 19:38Speaker 5: the battles are being fought. So what the Russians are doing,
- 19:41Speaker 5: they're now bombing cities with ballistic missiles that Ukraine has
- 19:45Speaker 5: no ability to really shoot down because we ran out
- 19:46Speaker 5: of Patriots, and they just don't have the intercept. right now,
- 19:51Speaker 5: which I think we should solve. And I'll come back
- 19:52Speaker 5: to that. So what Russia's doing every day, they're bombing Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, Lviv.
- 20:00Speaker 5: And they're not just going after economic or military targets.
- 20:05Speaker 5: They're attacking gas stations, grocery stores, shopping malls. And it's
- 20:10Speaker 5: all about terrorizing the civilians. That's what's going on right now. Now,
- 20:13Speaker 5: this bill that we're voting on today, and we got
- 20:16Speaker 5: the votes. The Senate's already passed it. It's going to
- 20:19Speaker 5: put a stiff tariff on Russia. And we're also going
- 20:23Speaker 5: to tariff the top five buyers of Russian energy that
- 20:26Speaker 5: are propping up their economy. And so the Democrats have
- 20:30Speaker 5: long supported that, and the Republicans always have been a
- 20:32Speaker 5: little alert here. a little more leery about interfering with
- 20:35Speaker 5: the president's tariff authorities. But my view is this. I
- 20:38Speaker 5: didn't like the president doing tariffs without congressional approval. I
- 20:42Speaker 5: don't think it's constitutional. I don't think it's even good economics.
- 20:45Speaker 5: But I do support tariffs on Russia who invaded Ukraine
- 20:49Speaker 5: and those who are propping up their economy. And this
- 20:52Speaker 5: bill authorizes the president to do it. It's constitutional. It's
- 20:55Speaker 5: Article I authorities that we're saying, President, we want you
- 20:59Speaker 5: to tariff Russia and those who are buying Russian oil.
- 21:02Speaker 5: And so this is constitutional, and President Zelensky, I've heard
- 21:07Speaker 5: him personally make the plea, please sign this bill, get
- 21:10Speaker 5: this bill passed, we need it. The Russians are being
- 21:14Speaker 5: propped up and they're attacking our people. All the top
- 21:17Speaker 5: leaders in Ukraine asked us who were there to pass
- 21:20Speaker 5: this bill. NATO was asking us to pass this bill.
- 21:24Speaker 5: And also in the Senate, three to one Democrats voted
- 21:28Speaker 5: for it, and they're imploring the Democrats in the House
- 21:30Speaker 5: to to pass this bill. But for some reason, they
- 21:34Speaker 5: are doubly opposed to it. And I just think it's
- 21:37Speaker 5: sort of a political psychology there. But this is a
- 21:40Speaker 5: needed bill. And I want the U.S. House to stand
- 21:43Speaker 5: on the right side of this war. Ukraine's being invaded.
- 21:47Speaker 5: Their people are being murdered. Putin's a dictator. He hates
- 21:51Speaker 5: our country. We shouldn't be a neutral bystander trying to,
- 21:55Speaker 5: you know, weigh in between these two people fighting. No,
- 21:58Speaker 5: there's a good versus evil debate. And I want America
- 22:01Speaker 5: to be on the side of good.
- 22:03Speaker 1: Congressman Don Bacon, I know you're really, really busy. I
- 22:06Speaker 1: want to thank you for taking the time to be
- 22:08Speaker 1: with us today. I always have appreciated your passion for
- 22:12Speaker 1: our country. You are a true patriot in my mind
- 22:15Speaker 1: and many's mind.
- 22:16Speaker 3: Thank you.
- 22:18Speaker 1: Keep up the good work, and thank you so much
- 22:20Speaker 1: for taking the time out to explain your position and
- 22:23Speaker 1: explain really what you want to do and what you
- 22:26Speaker 1: think needs to be done for the future of our country.
- 22:29Speaker 1: I appreciate so much you being on today. Thank you
- 22:31Speaker 1: so much.
- 22:32Speaker 6: Thank you.
- 22:33Speaker 5: I'm grateful.
- 22:34Speaker 6: Bye-bye.
- 22:34Speaker 7: Bye.
- 22:35Speaker 2: I want to thank.
- 22:35Speaker 1: Congressman Don Bacon for being on the show. We're having
- 22:39Speaker 1: some calls. We're going to read those and some emails
- 22:42Speaker 1: in just a few minutes. But just to review what
- 22:44Speaker 1: he said, he said that he would prefer someone else
- 22:49Speaker 1: to do this, meaning running for president. But he says,
- 22:52Speaker 1: I quote, I see a need for the country. I
- 22:55Speaker 1: would love to run for the White House, but I
- 22:57Speaker 1: would also wouldn't mind being someone else's running mate. The
- 23:02Speaker 1: points that he made are And I took scribbled notes
- 23:06Speaker 1: really quickly. I think I got them all right. That
- 23:08Speaker 1: he wants to advocate for bipartisan solutions for debt and immigration.
- 23:15Speaker 1: Those were the two things he mentioned the most, and
- 23:17Speaker 1: he explained why. He said he wants to stop using
- 23:20Speaker 1: the DOJ to go after our enemies.
- 23:23Speaker 3: And the IRS.
- 23:24Speaker 1: He wanted to stop using public office to enrich one's family.
- 23:28Speaker 1: He wanted to restore alliances. That's basically what he was saying.
- 23:33Speaker 1: And he was saying that, you know, as the GOP
- 23:36Speaker 1: is looking for candidates to succeed Donald Trump, he said,
- 23:39Speaker 1: these are the things that I want to say based
- 23:42Speaker 1: on my experience of what we need in this country
- 23:46Speaker 1: to get back to getting things done, especially with the debt,
- 23:50Speaker 1: because we are getting.
- 23:52Speaker 3: Just more and more and more in debt.
- 23:54Speaker 1: And I can't fathom a $ 40 trillion debt, to tell
- 23:57Speaker 1: you the truth.
- 23:58Speaker 2: I can't even think in those numbers.
- 24:01Speaker 1: But, you know, when he says it's going to happen
- 24:03Speaker 1: one of these days, if we don't get a hold
- 24:05Speaker 1: of it, it's going to collapse. And then are we
- 24:07Speaker 1: going to have 1929 again and another Great Depression? There
- 24:11Speaker 1: is a saying that I have remembered many, many times
- 24:14Speaker 1: that And the saying is, somebody said this, and I'll
- 24:17Speaker 1: tell you who said it in just a second, but
- 24:20Speaker 1: success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It's the
- 24:23Speaker 1: courage to continue that counts. And that was said by
- 24:27Speaker 1: Winston Churchill. And I always remember that. that statement because
- 24:30Speaker 1: it meant a lot to me. But let's hear what
- 24:33Speaker 1: you have to say about Congressman Bacon being on the
- 24:38Speaker 1: air here today and what he was saying and what
- 24:40Speaker 1: he feels like needs to be done. We are hearing
- 24:43Speaker 1: names out there already about the presidency in 2028, J.D. Vance,
- 24:48Speaker 1: Ron DeSantis, of course, Kamala Harris, AOC. I mean, you
- 24:53Speaker 1: just hear person after person that is considering But keep
- 24:58Speaker 1: in mind what we have at risk right here. Elections
- 25:02Speaker 1: have consequences, and we are seeing that all over the
- 25:06Speaker 1: country right now.
- 25:07Speaker 3: And I've said this before.
- 25:08Speaker 1: There are good Democrat incumbent leaders in this country right
- 25:14Speaker 1: now that have been beat in the primaries soundly by
- 25:20Speaker 1: socialists and by communists. And this is not the direction
- 25:24Speaker 1: that we want to go. And just saying I want
- 25:27Speaker 1: to work with Democrats and Republicans for bipartisan solutions is
- 25:33Speaker 1: not being that term that I hate, a rhino. I
- 25:36Speaker 1: know somebody is going to come right out and say
- 25:38Speaker 1: Don Bacon is a rhino. I've heard Gene Stothert is
- 25:40Speaker 1: a rhino because Gene Stothert said she would work with
- 25:43Speaker 1: Democrats and I didn't hate every Democrat there was in Omaha. Yep,
- 25:47Speaker 1: that's me and that's how I feel. And you're not
- 25:49Speaker 1: going to be a successful leader otherwise. if you will
- 25:51Speaker 1: only represent one party. And that's why I think this
- 25:57Speaker 1: CD2 election coming up is so important. Again, when I
- 26:01Speaker 1: hear Denise Powell's commercials, which I heard again this morning,
- 26:06Speaker 1: which are 100% lies about Brinker Harding, I would ask
- 26:10Speaker 1: myself and any Republican or independent should ask themselves, would
- 26:15Speaker 1: she ever even consider representing me the way she trashes
- 26:20Speaker 1: the Republicans and trashes what is going on right now
- 26:24Speaker 1: and what she trashes her opponent? And so these are
- 26:27Speaker 1: things you got to think about. Is it going to
- 26:30Speaker 1: be better for us in this district, in this congressional
- 26:35Speaker 1: district to Excuse me, with Denise Powell out there saying
- 26:40Speaker 1: she's only going to represent Democrats. And then yet when
- 26:44Speaker 1: some of her commercials as she's walking door to door,
- 26:47Speaker 1: somebody will say, well, I like how you reach across
- 26:49Speaker 1: the aisle and work with both parties in the PTA. OK,
- 26:53Speaker 1: that's great. I didn't know PTAs were partisan. But even
- 26:56Speaker 1: her last commercial she has out, she ends with, you know,
- 26:59Speaker 1: it's important basically to vote for me because I'm a mom.
- 27:02Speaker 3: OK, well, there's a whole lot of moms out there
- 27:04Speaker 3: in Omaha.
- 27:05Speaker 1: But I don't think all like me that have been
- 27:08Speaker 1: in the PTA and that doesn't make you the candidate
- 27:12Speaker 1: that is going to solve the problems we have.
- 27:14Speaker 6: And our problems are great. Jean, I'm going to play
- 27:16Speaker 6: some talkbacks for you here. I have three talkbacks that
- 27:20Speaker 6: have a similar sentiment and a similar message. So I'm
- 27:24Speaker 6: just going to play them here consecutively, and then you
- 27:26Speaker 6: can fire away on a comment.
- 27:28Speaker 2: Here's talkback on the iHeartRadio app. Number one.
- 27:32Speaker 7: Good morning. I think part of the problem is we
- 27:37Speaker 7: have too many rhinos in our the Republican Party, and
- 27:42Speaker 7: they don't try to support Trump and the things that
- 27:44Speaker 7: he's doing. So that's why nothing ever gets done. And
- 27:48Speaker 7: I think, Don Bacon, no offense, because I've always voted
- 27:53Speaker 7: for you, but I think that you not siding with
- 27:56Speaker 7: Trump causes part of the issue.
- 27:58Speaker 2: Have a great day. That is talkback number one. Here
- 28:04Speaker 2: is number two.
- 28:06Speaker 3: Good morning, Gene.
- 28:07Speaker 8: I'm listening to your interview with Don Bacon, and the
- 28:10Speaker 8: problem is he's voted and sided with the Democrats so
- 28:13Speaker 8: many times just to undercut Trump himself that nobody's going
- 28:16Speaker 8: to trust him to run as the Republican candidate for president.
- 28:21Speaker 2: And last talk back here, number three.
- 28:24Speaker 4: Don Bacon is full of crap. I reached out to
- 28:27Speaker 4: him years ago for help with immigration, and his office
- 28:31Speaker 4: said that there was nothing that they could do Yet
- 28:34Speaker 4: here he is on the radio now saying that he
- 28:37Speaker 4: can help an illegal get citizenship when I, a voting constituent,
- 28:43Speaker 4: reached out to help and was told there's nothing he
- 28:45Speaker 4: could do.
- 28:47Speaker 1: I appreciate the calls. I mean that's what we want
- 28:50Speaker 1: to hear. We want to hear what you have to say.
- 28:52Speaker 1: I wish I could ask each one of these callers–
- 28:55Speaker 1: this is a talkback mic.
- 28:56Speaker 2: Talkback mic, yeah.
- 28:57Speaker 3: So they're not.
- 28:58Speaker 2: On the air right now.
- 28:59Speaker 1: They're not live. It's a voice message. But I wish
- 29:02Speaker 1: I could ask each one of them. So for the
- 29:04Speaker 1: upcoming Congressional District 2 race, who is going to take
- 29:08Speaker 1: Don Bacon's place? In the House, who are you going
- 29:11Speaker 1: to vote for? Are you going to vote for Brinker Harding?
- 29:13Speaker 1: Are you going to vote for Denise Powell? I wish
- 29:15Speaker 1: I could ask these people that. Brinker is not a
- 29:19Speaker 1: yes man. Brinker is not one that is– as Denise
- 29:23Speaker 1: Powell accuses him of Trump's bootlicker or Trump's ring kisser
- 29:27Speaker 1: is what Denise Powell accuses him of– If he is
- 29:32Speaker 1: not a Trump ring kisser boot licker, does that mean
- 29:37Speaker 1: he's a rhino?
- 29:38Speaker 3: I mean, I would really like to hear.
- 29:40Speaker 1: What your thoughts are on that, because this is really
- 29:43Speaker 1: an important election coming up. And, you know, we have
- 29:46Speaker 1: a lot of important elections coming up, you know, that
- 29:48Speaker 1: are congressional races or races for governor.
- 29:51Speaker 3: Races for U.S.
- 29:52Speaker 9: Senate.
- 29:53Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of important races for our
- 29:55Speaker 1: legislature coming up. But this is the one I concentrated
- 29:58Speaker 1: on more because I think we have the greatest risk here.
- 30:02Speaker 1: When I see what happened in the primary with this race,
- 30:05Speaker 1: what Denise Powell did to Democrat John Kavanaugh in the primary,
- 30:10Speaker 1: and what she is doing now, where she is getting
- 30:12Speaker 1: her money from, this is a big concern to me.
- 30:16Speaker 2: Absolutely.
- 30:17Speaker 6: And Just really brief. There's some phone calls I want
- 30:20Speaker 6: to get to. But when I look at Congress in
- 30:23Speaker 6: the last two years while Trump has been back in office,
- 30:27Speaker 6: I get very frustrated sometimes when the Democrats are so
- 30:31Speaker 6: comfortable voting with the party within the party lines and
- 30:35Speaker 6: nothing gets passed in Congress. And so I know that
- 30:39Speaker 6: other people like me have that similar sentiment. So why
- 30:42Speaker 6: can't– all right, we'll vote here this way. We'll get
- 30:45Speaker 6: this through. Now a little give and take the other
- 30:47Speaker 6: way so we can get something through here.
- 30:49Speaker 2: Absolutely.
- 30:49Speaker 1: And like I said earlier, if you all listen to
- 30:52Speaker 1: that committee hearing, which you usually don't even hear about
- 30:55Speaker 1: committee hearings. The one yesterday with Kash Patel, I mean,
- 30:59Speaker 1: what Cory Booker and others were saying was unbelievably disrespectful.
- 31:06Speaker 1: I mean, it was so hard to listen to when
- 31:09Speaker 1: finally Senator Chuck Grassley says, are you ready to shut
- 31:13Speaker 1: up to Cory Booker? It was like, come on, we're
- 31:15Speaker 1: getting nowhere with this. And the vitriol that is going
- 31:20Speaker 1: on between parties there, it is just so divided and
- 31:24Speaker 1: that I don't see much getting done at all. You
- 31:28Speaker 1: can support Donald Trump. You can say there's some things
- 31:31Speaker 1: I support, some things not. I would say with every president,
- 31:35Speaker 1: there would be people with opinions to say, generally, I
- 31:38Speaker 1: like the job he's doing. There's a few things that
- 31:40Speaker 1: he's done that I don't like. Same with the mayor
- 31:42Speaker 1: of Omaha. Same with the city council. Not everything are
- 31:46Speaker 1: you going to agree 100% with, but you got to
- 31:48Speaker 1: look at the whole body of work. And you've got
- 31:50Speaker 1: to look what they have achieved and what is left undone.
- 31:53Speaker 1: And that's what you really need to look at rather
- 31:56Speaker 1: than just start calling people names.
- 31:58Speaker 6: Let's get to a phone call here. 402-558-1110. Chuck, you
- 32:02Speaker 6: are live with Gene Stothert here on KFAB.
- 32:05Speaker 2: Good morning. Good morning.
- 32:08Speaker 9: You just brought it up. Speaking of calling names, I
- 32:11Speaker 9: don't know if you watched the debate between our Senator
- 32:16Speaker 9: Ricketts and Osborne. But during the entire thing, our senator
- 32:22Speaker 9: called him names, Democrat Dan. And speaking of lies, that's
- 32:30Speaker 9: a lie. Osborne has never been a Democrat. He's always
- 32:34Speaker 9: been an independent. Now, you can say that he acts
- 32:37Speaker 9: like a Democrat. You could say he gets money from Democrats,
- 32:41Speaker 9: but he's not a Democrat. That is a lie. So
- 32:45Speaker 9: I call when you call lies, Gene, call lies. that
- 32:49Speaker 9: are real lies, regardless of party affiliation.
- 32:53Speaker 5: Thank you.
- 32:53Speaker 3: Good point. Good point.
- 32:55Speaker 1: But, you know, I would say, here's an old saying,
- 32:58Speaker 1: if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck,
- 33:00Speaker 1: quacks like a duck, then it's a duck. I mean, Dan,
- 33:04Speaker 1: I think, I did listen to it. I know he
- 33:07Speaker 1: called him Democrat Dan over and over and over and over.
- 33:11Speaker 1: And in my opinion, it was like, okay, enough. You
- 33:14Speaker 1: made your point here, calling him Democrat Dan. But at
- 33:16Speaker 1: the same time, He is supported by the Democrat Party.
- 33:20Speaker 1: I think that's what people are mostly concentrating on is
- 33:27Speaker 1: you don't get anything done in D.C. unless you caucus
- 33:30Speaker 1: with one side or another. And so if you are
- 33:33Speaker 1: truly an independent, which he says he is, but who
- 33:37Speaker 1: is he going to caucus with? And he says, I
- 33:40Speaker 1: won't caucus with anybody. Well, then you're not going to
- 33:42Speaker 1: get anything done. And so I think the point is
- 33:45Speaker 1: that he– absolutely leans more Democrat in his thinking and
- 33:51Speaker 1: probably how he would vote. But you know what? Let's
- 33:55Speaker 1: get Dan Osborne on the show sometime. And I think that,
- 33:58Speaker 1: you know, I came in here when Dan Osborne was
- 34:01Speaker 1: on the morning show with Rosie and Scott just to
- 34:03Speaker 1: meet him. I came in early and asked him to
- 34:06Speaker 1: be on our show. And I think we've got some
- 34:09Speaker 1: information that he's going to be on this show. So
- 34:10Speaker 1: I'm going to ask him those things. And I hope
- 34:12Speaker 1: that you listen. And we'll let you ask the questions too.
- 34:16Speaker 2: Absolutely, Gene.
- 34:17Speaker 6: You're right on. We're working on getting Dan Osborne on
- 34:20Speaker 6: the show. His team said they'd love to be on.
- 34:22Speaker 6: We're trying to find a date that works for all
- 34:24Speaker 6: of us.
- 34:24Speaker 1: And we promise we won't play– he's a fake Democrat.
- 34:28Speaker 2: But you know what?
- 34:29Speaker 3: I sang that song to him and he laughed.
- 34:31Speaker 1: I mean he just said– Well, that's all you can do.
- 34:33Speaker 2: I know. He said it's kind of catchy.
- 34:34Speaker 3: But I mean– Truly.
- 34:37Speaker 1: I mean, when you look at what goes on, I'm
- 34:40Speaker 1: not going to say that Republicans are perfect either. I
- 34:43Speaker 1: have my beef with the DCRP, the Douglas County Republican Party,
- 34:48Speaker 1: of who they supported, not me. And so here we
- 34:53Speaker 1: have a very liberal Democrat mayor in the city of
- 34:57Speaker 1: Omaha right now. So again, elections have consequences. People will say, well,
- 35:03Speaker 1: I didn't vote for you because of one thing. But
- 35:06Speaker 1: you've got to look at the whole body of work
- 35:08Speaker 1: we have for our elected officials.
- 35:10Speaker 3: Yesterday, I had a caller. Frank was his name.
- 35:13Speaker 1: And Frank, if you are listening today, I'm going to
- 35:15Speaker 1: backtrack a little on what I said to you yesterday
- 35:18Speaker 1: because I got more information from the city yesterday afternoon.
- 35:22Speaker 1: Frank is the gentleman who called and said that he
- 35:26Speaker 1: got his little green card, like most of us did,
- 35:29Speaker 1: from the Douglas County Assessor. and that he had a
- 35:32Speaker 1: multifamily property on the streetcar line. And he said it
- 35:37Speaker 1: was valued and he was being taxed at approximately $ 400, 000.
- 35:42Speaker 1: And he said he did quite a bit of work
- 35:46Speaker 1: on his facility that was due to code enforcement to
- 35:50Speaker 1: get it up to code. And he said when he
- 35:52Speaker 1: got his green card, They increased his value to $ 1. 2
- 35:56Speaker 1: million from $ 400, 000. Now, he appealed it, and he got
- 36:00Speaker 1: it down to $ 560, 000. And now, you know, before it
- 36:05Speaker 1: was 400, so now it's 560, which is still a
- 36:08Speaker 1: 30% increase. And I said it is because of what
- 36:13Speaker 1: we have always said is there is going to be
- 36:16Speaker 1: an increased value in all of the property. Therefore, more
- 36:21Speaker 1: property taxes for if you have higher value on along
- 36:26Speaker 1: the streetcar line because of the massive amount of development
- 36:29Speaker 1: and new development that is happening. And I said already
- 36:32Speaker 1: before the rails are in the ground and it's up
- 36:34Speaker 1: and running. There's been over $ 1. 5 billion of new development
- 36:39Speaker 1: along that streetcar line, knowing that those rails will be
- 36:43Speaker 1: permanent and want their business or their multifamily or whatever
- 36:47Speaker 1: along that streetcar line. Now, what I said wasn't exactly accurate,
- 36:52Speaker 1: so I'm going to backtrack a little bit on it
- 36:54Speaker 1: because what the city told me yesterday is ultimately there
- 36:58Speaker 1: is no such thing as a valuation increase because of
- 37:02Speaker 1: the streetcar at this time. And it said the only
- 37:07Speaker 1: basis for an increase in either commercial property or multifamily
- 37:11Speaker 1: valuation at this time is additional revenue from increased rent
- 37:17Speaker 1: or expenses. So they said if the property owner has
- 37:22Speaker 1: not increased their rent and their expenses have remained the same,
- 37:27Speaker 1: or increase, there is no basis whatsoever for the assessor
- 37:31Speaker 1: to increase their valuation. And that's good that he appealed it.
- 37:35Speaker 1: It said it is true that the proximity to the
- 37:38Speaker 1: streetcar will make it possible for the owner to increase
- 37:42Speaker 1: the rents, Once the streetcar is in operation and once
- 37:46Speaker 1: that happens, it is expected that the assessor will increase valuation.
- 37:51Speaker 1: But that is not until the streetcar is up and
- 37:54Speaker 1: running because that's the one thing Frank said is it's
- 37:57Speaker 1: not even up and running and my valuation went up
- 38:00Speaker 1: that much. It sounds like the biggest reason for the
- 38:04Speaker 1: assessor's increase was because, Frank, the owner said he brought
- 38:08Speaker 1: the building up to code. And the assessor may have
- 38:11Speaker 1: assumed that the owner would significantly increase his rents because
- 38:15Speaker 1: of that. So the bottom line, if the property owner
- 38:19Speaker 1: increases the rent and makes more money, their valuation and
- 38:24Speaker 1: tax levy will increase, but it will not increase because
- 38:29Speaker 1: of the streetcar, because of the increased value along the
- 38:32Speaker 1: line until the streetcar is up and running. And once
- 38:36Speaker 1: it is up and running, then the assessor may increase
- 38:40Speaker 1: the valuation to reflect their increased income that they are
- 38:45Speaker 1: making Because of the value that the streetcar will provide.
- 38:48Speaker 2: So I wasn't totally.
- 38:50Speaker 1: Wrong because eventually that the property along the streetcar line,
- 38:55Speaker 1: their value will go up. They can charge more for
- 38:58Speaker 1: rent at that time. We figured out when we were
- 39:01Speaker 1: figuring out how to pay for the streetcar, which is
- 39:04Speaker 1: not going to come out of all of your property
- 39:06Speaker 1: tax bill. that the value of property would go up
- 39:09Speaker 1: maybe around 13% to 15%. Not anything like Frank is
- 39:13Speaker 1: talking about, 35%. Or when he said that $ 1. 2 million,
- 39:18Speaker 1: that would be sticker shock, definitely. So I just wanted
- 39:22Speaker 1: to clarify that. I wanted to make sure I was
- 39:24Speaker 1: giving you all the right information. Thank you for clarifying, Jean.
- 39:28Speaker 1: I appreciate you for being thorough. and precise.
- 39:31Speaker 6: Michael was the winner of the Durham Museum Family Pass today.
- 39:35Speaker 6: We have two more tickets to give away and we
- 39:37Speaker 6: have a guest tomorrow to help.
- 39:39Speaker 2: Learn more about the Durham Museum.
- 39:40Speaker 1: Yes, and that is it for us today. But Hal
- 39:42Speaker 1: Dobb will be with us tomorrow. He'll be in the studio.
- 39:45Speaker 1: He had so much to do with not only the
- 39:48Speaker 1: restoration of the Durham, but also has a lot of
- 39:52Speaker 1: information about the Byron Reed collection, which is exactly why
- 39:55Speaker 1: we're providing these day passes for this new exhibit they have,
- 39:58Speaker 1: Insert to the Signers. So I thought it would be
- 40:00Speaker 1: real interesting for Hal to come on and talk about
- 40:03Speaker 1: all of that. But thank you all for spending this
- 40:06Speaker 1: hour with us today. If you have more comments about
- 40:08Speaker 1: Don Bacon's interview today, please, we'll get to them tomorrow.
- 40:12Speaker 1: And we'd love for you to join us again then.
- 40:14Speaker 1: I'm Jean Stothert, and this is 1110 KFAB.