Latest / Brian Thomas / Brian talks with Congressman Warren Davidson

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Brian talks with Congressman Warren Davidson · Brian Thomas

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's seven five and happy Thursday to everyone, and a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: happy welcome back to the fifty five Caressey Morning Show.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Congressman Warren David's becoming a regular fixture on this program,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and God bless him for spending time with my listeners
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  Speaker 1: and me. Welcome back, Congressman Davidson. Thanks for the opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to speak with you this morning.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Oh thank you, Brian. Great to talk with you.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: So who capitulated? I understand that Mike Johnson and Cinemajoria
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: leader Johnson have reached an agreement. They will be moving
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: forward with a Donald Trump approved I guess two track approach,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: which sounds to me like the Democrats aren't going to
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: get anything that they were fighting and closing the government
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: over funding of ice. There's not going to be funding
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: for ice as I understand it, or parts of custom
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and border patrol, everything else gets reopened. And then the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: second tier of this two prong approach is for the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Republicans through reconciliation, bringing back the funding for ICE. So
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: if it all goes according to plan and reconciliation COO
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: only requires fifty one in the Senate. So if all
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: goes according to plan, the Democrats don't get anything at
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: all by way of ICE reforms, and ICE will ultimately
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: be fully funded under reconciliation.
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  Speaker 2: Have I got that right, Congressman, Yeah, that's the plan.
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  Speaker 2: They haven't communicated exactly what the sequence is because you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think the Senate personally, I think the Senate made
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  Speaker 2: a huge mistake by funding DHS with no funding not
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  Speaker 2: just for ICE, but for customs and border patrol, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: or Homeland Security Investigations, which you know, investigates all the
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  Speaker 2: things related to secure borders and people that are here
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: lawfully or unlawfully and everything else. So I mean, that's
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  Speaker 2: a crazy proposition. So you know, I don't think that
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  Speaker 2: they're going to do that again and then say, oh,
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  Speaker 2: we'll fix it later. I think they're just going to
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: be like, well, it's unfunded for now. So yeah, I
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: had a text message exchange with the Speaker last night.
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  Speaker 2: We've got a conference call later this morning and we'll
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: get a little or clarity there. But you know, I've
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: supported reconciliation as the pass since the last shutdown. They're like, oh,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: you guys aren't negotiating. Like, no, we are, in fact negotiating,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: but let me show you what not negotiating is like,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: this is a reconciliation where we don't even need your votes.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm glad they're finally calling this play call. You know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: better late than never. And in the meantime, the one
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: thing I've really wanted them to do is pass the
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Shutdown Fairness Act, which is, if you're so essential, you've
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: got to be at work. The payroll clerk should be
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  Speaker 2: essential too. You know, there are some people that aren't
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: working and are laid off effectively, you know, vendors that
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: aren't getting paid on time, projects that aren't launching, all
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: these things. They're consequential when there's a shutdown. But like
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  Speaker 2: in the private sector, if you had your workers work
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  Speaker 2: and didn't pay them, it's called payroll theft. Yes, it's
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: a crime, and people go to jail for it, and
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: they should.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's a logical, reasonable, seemingly bipartisan solution to this problem.
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  Speaker 1: So we ensure that people get paid. How about these
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  Speaker 1: Shutdown Fairness Act? Is there any opposition to it conceptually,
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  Speaker 1: Congressman Davidson, because that seems me to be a no
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  Speaker 1: brainer much in the same way, and I think you'll
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  Speaker 1: get bipartisans support for at least when people when they
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: talk to the media, Republicans and Democrats seemingly willing to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: hold up their own paychecks when the government shuts down,
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  Speaker 1: because it's simply a matter of fairness. Since they're the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: ones that prevent the paychecks from going out, they should
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  Speaker 1: suffer as much as people not getting a paycheck.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's that's we haven't We don't know
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  Speaker 2: for sure where the opposition is because the leadership of
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: the House and Senate haven't put it on the floor.
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  Speaker 2: My understanding is that in negotiations, Democrats don't like it
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  Speaker 2: because it gives you know, Republicans leverage, and it gives
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  Speaker 2: the president discretion to decide who's essential and not essential.
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  Speaker 2: And they also don't like that there's a variation that
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  Speaker 2: everyone would still get paid because that takes away their leverage,
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  Speaker 2: and they're just they're using the workers as leveraging their negotiations,
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  Speaker 2: and meanwhile, the people that are using the leverage are
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  Speaker 2: still getting paid themselves. So it's a really sick system.
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  Speaker 2: And then I think it should be illegal at least,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there could be shutdowns. I'm like, okay, that
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  Speaker 2: stuff could happen, and you're negotiating over something and you say,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't think we need to keep
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  Speaker 2: funding the irs, for example, so everyone's furloughed, but as
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  Speaker 2: you're negotiating over that, fine, But if somebody is essential
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  Speaker 2: and we know, look, you're not going to send the
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: federal prison guards home, they're going to need to keep
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: guarding the federal prison you should have to pay those
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  Speaker 2: people who are working now, not someday. And they do
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  Speaker 2: all get paid someday, which makes this other thing stupid
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  Speaker 2: because you have people that are not even coming in
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  Speaker 2: and they too get paid eventually.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, well, this cool concept discretion. I'm thinking along the
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  Speaker 1: lines of the nuclear option as well. Democrats may be
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: against this discretion and keeping people funded because Donald Trump
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  Speaker 1: or the Trump administration would have control over that, but hey,
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  Speaker 1: don't they anticipate taking over control of Congress down the road.
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  Speaker 1: Wouldn't it then be their discretion to decide what does
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  Speaker 1: and what doesn't get paid. I mean, it's like nuclear option.
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  Speaker 1: Demo Republicans seem reluctant to do away with the sixty
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  Speaker 1: vote threshold in the Senate because oh my god, there
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  Speaker 1: will be another Democrat administration. We'll just railroad through all
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  Speaker 1: their woke, crazy policies. So do we really want to
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  Speaker 1: go down that road?
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  Speaker 2: Now?
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  Speaker 1: They may very well do that anyway if they take
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  Speaker 1: back over Congress. But isn't that the point If both
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  Speaker 1: sides ultimately get the discretion that they're looking for, If
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  Speaker 1: this either hurts both sides or benefits both sides, there's
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  Speaker 1: a question of time when the parties flip.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just neither side wants to be the one
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  Speaker 2: to do it, except that, you know, Democrats, Yeah, this
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  Speaker 2: is a you know, an analogy to the Americans were
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  Speaker 2: the ones hiding behind rocks and trees in the Revolution,
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  Speaker 2: and the British were the ones wearing bright red uniforms
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: marching out in the open fields and down the roads.
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  Speaker 2: And you know why are the Republicans fighting like the British? Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: we should be willing to do what it takes to
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  Speaker 2: win here too. And it seems like the consistent thing
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  Speaker 2: is Democrats, are you willing to use every tool possible
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  Speaker 2: to advance their agenda? And Republicans are like, well, it's
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  Speaker 2: not very sporting to do it that way, you know,
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  Speaker 2: which is you know, no, we said we would do this.
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  Speaker 2: We should find a way to win and do the
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: things we said we would do. So I've encouraged that
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  Speaker 2: President Trump is putting pressure on the House and Senate
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  Speaker 2: to say, look, you guys need to get together, do
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  Speaker 2: reconciliation and get me a bill that funds everything. And
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: you say better late than ever. I wish we had
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  Speaker 2: called this playback in, you know, September October, when we
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: had had this whole blow up over funding homeland security.
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  Speaker 1: Well and nothing in this proposed resolution, this two prong
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  Speaker 1: approach resolution that will put the Save Act in What
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  Speaker 1: happened to the Save America Act. Congressman Davidson, we have
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: a weak Senate.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's what happened to the Say of America Act.
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  Speaker 2: They don't want to vote on it. There are some
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  Speaker 2: Republican Senators that don't support it, allegedly, but they're hiding.
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  Speaker 2: They don't come out. They don't have to vote, and
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  Speaker 2: they haven't even had to vote on a proxy for
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: it on real cloture for sixty votes, and culture isn't
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  Speaker 2: really a vote on the underlying issue. You could vote,
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  Speaker 2: oh yeah, we should have a vote on the floor,
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  Speaker 2: knowing that Democrats are going to kill it, and you
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  Speaker 2: don't have to go on record for the actual position.
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  Speaker 2: So I think that you know, there's a handful of
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  Speaker 2: Senators who've said, oh, we can do that in reconciliation too,
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  Speaker 2: but that's not true. Reconciliation spends money. You can either
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: raise or lower taxes. You can increase your decree spending,
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  Speaker 2: you know, in aggregate or in little granular ways about
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: increased funding for ice, for example, But you can't do policy.
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  Speaker 2: There's something called the bird rule, and it always gets
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  Speaker 2: taken out when you try to make policy. So they
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  Speaker 2: know that, and so I think they're gas lighting people
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  Speaker 2: when they say, oh, we can fix this, say in reconciliation.
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  Speaker 1: So is this to suggest that cent the majority leader
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  Speaker 1: Thoon is protecting these wavering Republicans by not bringing it
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  Speaker 1: to the floor for a vote, because at minimum we
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  Speaker 1: should want to know where the senators are on this
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  Speaker 1: vitally important issue. I mean, put it up for a vote.
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  Speaker 1: If the Republicans that want to vote against it, let
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  Speaker 1: them be on record and doing it. But Thuon is
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  Speaker 1: protecting them for that, isn't he in a very important
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  Speaker 1: election year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's exactly it. And he's protecting them
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  Speaker 2: on a lot of votes. And yeah, here's the other thing. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, scorecards are hard to say, you know, anyone
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  Speaker 2: vote you know, it doesn't you don't you could record, Hey,
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  Speaker 2: our position as an organization is everyone should have voted
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  Speaker 2: yes on this bill. But you don't get like an
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  Speaker 2: essay is where you say why you voted no or
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  Speaker 2: yes whatever. It's just yes or no on the bill.
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  Speaker 2: So anyone particular score, you know, might be hard to
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  Speaker 2: measure something, but when you've got dozens and dozens of
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  Speaker 2: votes over time, it's at least directionally right as to
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  Speaker 2: whether somebody is more or less conservative, you know, aligned
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  Speaker 2: with the Republican agenda. Most conservatives will score, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in the nineties on a lot of these scorecards. But
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  Speaker 2: there's like fifteen Republican senators that are scoring f's on
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  Speaker 2: these scorecards. And you know, to be fair, there's a
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  Speaker 2: range between like Susan Collins who's getting at twenty percent
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  Speaker 2: and you know, like Leader Thun who's getting about a
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  Speaker 2: fifty percent. So you know there's a range where they're not.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Reagan said, you know, I want somebody to
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  Speaker 2: be with me eighty percent of the time. We've got
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  Speaker 2: a pretty significant chunk of the Senate that's with us
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  Speaker 2: barely fifty percent of the time. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, as of course, scorecards are important to pay attention to.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, Congressman Davidson, you like me and my
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: listening audience, we tend to be weed dwellers and do
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  Speaker 1: pay attention to that. When it comes time to November elections.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder how many people to go to the ballot
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  Speaker 1: box are even aware that there is a thing called
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  Speaker 1: a scorecard on any given issue. Let's continue with congress
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  Speaker 1: Warren Davidson. We've talked about whether the long lines at
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the airports are gone now or and of course Donald
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Trump speaks to the nation about the Awar with Iran stationed.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: A very happy Friday Eve to you, Congressman Warren Davidson
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: on the phone. We're talking about the government shutdown. Maybe
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: we have a path to end the shutdown. Obviously, the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: shutdowns brought about a heapload of pain on folks, most
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: notably those traveling going through airports and having to stay
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: in TSA lines that last hours and hours and hours.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Why TSA is not getting paid? A lot of them
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: have already quit, many of them not showing up because
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: he's got to pursue employment elsewhere. Clearly this has been
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: a problem, It's been widely reported, Congressman Davidson. But the
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: abuse that's been heaped down upon the traveling American public,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: not to mention the TSA agents working without pay, but
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: people are really feeling it. They have missed flights, they've
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: missed vacations, they have stood in line and fumed over it.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: So this is what our elected officials are willing to
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: meet down on the voting public. Question is who's going
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: to get blamed for? Isn't this all about ICE agents
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: and the death of two Americans? They want to change
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the protocols that ICE agents use when going around and
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: picking up and deporting illegal immigrants. So ultimately it's a
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  Speaker 1: prioritization of illegal immigrants over the American people, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: Or is am I missing something? Is this the Republican's fault,
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  Speaker 1: Congressman Davidson.
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  Speaker 2: I mean it's pretty basic. Who's withholding their votes? Democrats?
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  Speaker 2: And why are they withholding their votes? Because they want
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: to weaken ICE and they want ICE to actually be
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: doing what they're doing. When you think about the ICE guys,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: they've been like the most flexible employees ever for the
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: past few years. I mean back when Joe Biden was president,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: they would get deployed down to the border, working intents
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: along the border, processing illegals through that they know shouldn't
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: be coming through by the laws of our country. But
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: that was the policy for Biden and his borders are
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Kamala Harris. And so now we've got a new president
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: who campaigned on following the law and enforcing the border
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: and deporting the people, which is the law, who came
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: in unlawfully or overstayed their visas whatever. So all the
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: ways to define the lawful presence of foreign nationals, that's
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: clearly a federal standard. And you have sanctuary cities and
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: states that want to deny that. Minneapolis is one of
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: the most egregious in doing it. It's open rebellion to
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: the authority of the United States, and that can't be
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: allowed to stand. That's really what this is about. And
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: you know they're willing to cause massive consequences to American
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: citizens because they want to protect it.
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  Speaker 1: So well, I hope we get it. We hope the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: voting public understands exactly what you just articulated. Because I'm
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: in full agreement with you and most notably many people
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: at observers and Things political appreciate the fact that Donald
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Trump got elected it because in large part of his
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: strategy on the border to close it down completely and
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: to deport the illegal, most notably criminal immigrant population. If
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: that is indeed true, then the Democrats have entered into
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: a fool's errand by shutting the government down and ruining
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: people's lives in the name of protecting the very people
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: donald Trump promised to deport.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's that's the stakes. And you know,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: on issue after issue, you know, common sense versus crazy.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's crazy the position they're taking.
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of people think it's crazy. And look,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: you know one of the things that I thought, and
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: someone who pointed out President Trump also created no tax
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: on tips. So if you're flying, just give some tips
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: to to the TSA folks who are there. Listen, paychecks
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: and we should just put a big tip jar up
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: there at every place so they can share the tips.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: I think people appreciate these folks, right, I mean, they're
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: there showing up, not getting paid on time. They didn't
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: cause this, but they're showing up the work. I mean,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: it's nutty.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, real quick, Congressman Davidson probably served your country serving
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: the American military. Real quick. Here, Donald Trump, in pointing
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: out we need some assistance over in the Straight of
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Horror moves, he talked about how powerful we are, how
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: much oil and gas and reserves we had. He offered
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to sell that to those that are dealing without because
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the Strait of Horror moves is shut down. But he
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: said to the country of the world, it's your issue.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: You get in there, take care of the passage, grab it.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: You could do it easily. We've been helpful. We eradicated
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the Iranian threat. Now get in there and open the
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: straight of horror moves up. Do you think that's going
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: to happen, most notably with an eye toward our NATO
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: quote unquote allies, Congressman Davidson.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're weak. I mean, and here's the stupidity. Not
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: only do they need this in a lot of ways
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: more than we do, they're blocking our access to our
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: own bases, you know, to take action to open the
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: straight And you know, okay, they're right, you know, they're like, well,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: the strait was open until you guys started all this
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: combat over there. You know it's a fair point. Nevertheless,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: we are in this situation right now, so what do
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: you want to do about it? And their solution is that, well,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: you can't use your bases and you can't fly it
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: through our airspace, which to me begs the question, well,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: then why do we have these bases. We certainly don't
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: need to maintain them at our expense and that goes
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: to NATO. I mean, was sixty plus percent of NATO
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: funding is from US? And who does it defend? They
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: want us? Oh, well, America must save us from Russia
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: and Ukraine. We've done hundreds of billions of dollars in
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: and then we just want to use our own bases
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: to do an operation that frankly I think we could
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: have thought out a little differently. But nevertheless, it's underway,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: and I think it's just stupid for these European countries
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: to den is access to our own bases.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and it's certainly bringing a bright light of common
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: sense on them. They're the ones that cut their own
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: throat by refusing to tap into their own nature resources
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: and trying to eliminate carbon dioxide from the world. They're
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the ones that got stuck supporting the Russians. Even though
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: they hate the Russians invading Ukraine, they're still buying their
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: oil and their natural gas, supporting of course the Russian economy.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's just I can't make any sense out
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: of this. Congressman Davidson. Maybe it'll sort itself out of
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: her time, and of course we'll have you there to
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: talk with us about it here on the fifty five
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Kscene Morning Show. Congressman Davidson, I wish you and your
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: family a very happy Easter this weekend. I hope you
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: have an excellent time, and I'll look forward to having
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: you back on the show real soon.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Thanks Brian, Blessings to you all your listeners, and have
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: an awesome Easter.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you, my friend. We'll try to do that. Folks,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: stick around this