Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Member of Congress Talks SAVE Act, Mid-Terms, And Rise of Socialism

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Member of Congress Talks SAVE Act, Mid-Terms, And Rise of Socialism · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Back at it after the long weekend. It's Monday, July
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: sixth Welcome Friends, Show five thousand, six hundred and thirty
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: four of the Morning Show with Preston, Scott and Preston.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: He is Jose and this is a voice we have
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: not heard in a very long time. He is US
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Congressman Mike Herodopolis from Florida's eighth district. Congressman. How in
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the world are you.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: I am doing so well. Thank you so much for
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: having me on, Preston, great to hear your voice.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: It has been a minute, as the kids like to say,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: since you and I have chatted. You were in the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: state legislature. Explain how different it is serving the state
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: as a state senator versus now as a member of Congress.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Well, there's two. I think there's two distinct differences, Preston.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: One is, of course we're danting with foreign policy issues,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: national defense issues, which I love as a former history teacher.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: It's very exciting talk to get involved in. And I
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: think the biggest difference for your listeners between being in
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Congress versus being in the legislature is this. When I
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: was in the legislature before I became the President of
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: the Senate, you would serve on four or five committees,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: so you invariably see almost every issued one of your
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: committees before you had a final vote on the floor.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Here in Congress, very different. I serve on two committees.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: One I chair the Space Committee, and I'm also on
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Financial Services. They oversee banking, stock market, crypto, insurance, et cetera.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: That's where I serve. Those are the issues I deal
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: with almost primarily. So when there's an issue on the environment,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: or for that matter, foreign policy or healthcare, I really
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: don't see that issue in depth until I get to
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: a final vote on the floor. Those are the two
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: biggest differences that I see as far as actual policymaking.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: How much do you pay attention to what goes on
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the state of Florida. You're clearly you're a resident of
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the state of Florida, But how much are you paying
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: attention to what you know, the House and the Senate,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the governor are doing, oh every day.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was a pretty tumultuous year, as you know,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: in the legislature that you're back and forth among Republicans.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: That's something that I keep my own closely, and plus
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I work really closely with state legislators and of course
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: locally elected officials because they're coming to me saying, can
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: we get some federal dollars for whether it be healthcare,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: the environment, especially in River Lagoon that I represent, space,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: you name it. And so I have a policy where
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: let's get everybody involved if we're ever going to have Washington,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: DC involved, so that everyone has the skin in the game,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: so to speak. So I think close contact with him,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: no doubt.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: The last time he was on the program with US now,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Congressman Mike Herodopolis was the Senate President in the state legislature.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: He joins US again representing Florida's eighth congressional district. Congressman,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: let's talk about the tension that exists between the House
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and the Senate, particularly as it revolves around the Save
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Act and the unwillingness of the leadership in the Senate
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: to bring this to a vote when by my account,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: was soon in Collins now switching her decision on this.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: The votes are there to pass this thing if they
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: just let the filibuster happen.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I couldn't agree with you more. It's been incredibly frustrating.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: As you know, I think we've passed the Safe America
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Act three or four times now. It is the most
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: common sense thing. I'm still shocked at fourteen states don't
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: require voter ID, which is insane. And second, of course,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: it's so logical that only Americans should vote in American elections,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: and so we're cautiously optimistic we can find a way
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: to get this done so that people will know that
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: when you go to vote, you have the confidence that
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: it's only Americans voting and they're doing the ID checks
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: so that we don't have any of the chaos that
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: we saw and frustrations, whether be twenty sixteen or twenty twenty,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: and especially after ten million people came into the country
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: illegally during the Biden years. I think we can get
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: something done. We should and if necessary, we should have
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the talking filibuster as they call it, meaning remember when
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: they passed the Civil Rights Bill, they took the time
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: to make sure that they went through by forcing those
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: people to talk on the floor. We should do something
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: with the Save America Act. I think it's well worth
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: the effort, especially in the dulgrums of the summer here
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: in Washington, d Z.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, especially with eighty plus percent of the country supporting
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: it on both sides of the ale without giving away
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: anything that you can't What what is the speaker telling
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the Republican Caucus needs to happen? What are the ideas
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: to get the Save Act across the finish line?
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I think what we need to tie it to
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: essential legislation and put it in what we call reconciliation.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: As you know pressed and when we passed a big
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: bill last summer which cut taxes on overtime tips solid security.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Of course, it's got its to border security dollars. We
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: needed to finally secure the border. That's reconciliation. That's where
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: we know we can't get any Democrat votes. They won't
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: pass anything to help us, and so we're going to
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: have to do through the budget process. That is the
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: way we're going to go. My guess is we'll have
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: another vote on reconciliation, probably in early August, so that
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: we can get this done. But it's been incredibly frustrating.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: The Democrats have said no to anything common sense, and
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: we're going to have to go that route because the
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: traditional route is always blocked. As we talked about earlier
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: in the filibuster or cloture process, where you need sixty
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: votes in the Senate, No way know how. The only
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: person we could probably get is Fettermen, of all people
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: other than that, the Democrats have shut down business.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Well I was just going to say, John Fetterman is
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: committed to the Save Act. I'm curious to now tying
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: it to reconciliation, perhaps lose him.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Well again, in that case, still be it. I mean,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: we need to go it alone. The only way to
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: get it is reconciliation. There's no way you're going to
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: find seven Democrats to go against their base. As you're
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: seeing not just in New York City but in Colorado.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: They're going to promote radical people you've ever heard run
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: for office, let alone win a nomination. And so you're
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: facing a base in the Democrat Party. If anybody votes
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: for anything resembling the say back, they'll never get re elected.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Mike the President, for the first time that I can recall,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: at least publicly spoke against, spoke out about the communist
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: and socialist movement inside the Democrat Party. I've talked about it.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: It's a Democrat problem. They've got to deal with it,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: probably more so than the Conservatives or Republicans do. But
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: talk about that in general. What are your thoughts on
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: this sudden rise of this that some of us have
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: been paying attention to for a long time. But is
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: this a reflection as an educator guy who love to
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: teach history, is this a reflection of what's going on
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: in our public schools or maybe what's not being taught?
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Well, you nieled my answer. I think you're a spot
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: on present. This is what happens when you have people
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: who are pushing an anti American agenda in too many
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: of our public schools. They talk about the failures of
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: the United States opposed to the amazing success story of
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty years, and you have this ideology
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: that is really counter to what It made America the
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: most successful nation in the world, the most prosperous nation
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: in the world, to enjoy of the most freedom. And
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: there's a reason why people went to live here. It's
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: because of the opportunities. And it is the reflection and unfortunately,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: we need to re educate people of the failures of communism,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: let alone socialism. You can't point to a socialist the
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: country today that is anywhere near the success of America.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: And what makes America such a special nation is not
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: the automatic result, it's the automatic opportunity for freedom. I mean,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: some of the richest successful people in the world we're
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: not even born in this country, but they took advantage
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: of the opportunity that capitalism affords, not a government handout,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: but an opportunity. And so this is what we need
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: you as elected officials, re educate people of the power
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: of tax cuts, the power of free markets, of the
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: rule of law as opposed to this radical idea that
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: has failed. And ironically, South America is moving in the
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: path of freedom. Yep, we're here. In North America, we're
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: going in the opposite direction. It's insane.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: I think one of the best things that's happened for
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: our nation is the World Cup, because we've got so
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: many visitors of this country that are posting on social
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: media how amazing America is.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: That's a perfect example. You know, it's one thing to listen,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: it's better to quote watch with your eyes. You come
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: to America and you see all of these opportunities and
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: going to different stores and the prices for that matter
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: versus Europe and the freedom of movement. It's just an
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: amazing place to be. And this is why people need
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: to readdress what's really going on here. And the good
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: thing about elections, it's not about perfection, it's about contrast,
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: and we're going to show the differences between one group
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: of people want to empower the government to have more
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: power among fewer people. We're saying just the opposite. Let's
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: put money and power back in the States. Let's get
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: money and power back to individuals so they can decide
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: how they want to spend the money, as opposed to
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: the government saying they know what's best. That's the fundamental
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: difference in our philosophy and theirs, because remember this old
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Soviet Union or or even some a lot of European nations.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: You send so much money to the government that they
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: make all the decisions of how your dollars that you
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: earned are actually being spent.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Congressmen, you're not alone serving up there in Washington, DC.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: No, not at all. It's an exciting time. My wife,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: as many people know, who is really involved in with
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: the of course, putting on the board of Medicine with
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Rick Scott. Later, of course she headed Toe to Healthy Kids,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: and when the Trump administration heard about her spectacular background
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: as a medical doctor, she is now the acting Surgeon
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: General of the United States, which is very exciting. We
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: are living a very unique lifestyle here you are and
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: works with of course RFK Junior with the Maha movement
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: every single day. Of course, also doctor Oz who's been
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: so awesome on taking on fraud here in the government,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: and of course working with Donald Trump. So she has
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: been a whirlwind and it's exciting to watch her spread
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: her wings and really help out bringing more of Florida
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: to Washington, DC.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: What are your expectations for the mid terms.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I'm cautiously optimistic. I mean, as we talked about earlier
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: in your show. I mean you talked about contract that
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: the Democrat Bass saying that haw KEM. Jeffries is not
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: liberal enough. I mean that just shows you how far
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: gone they are. And we've got some great candidates who
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: really will show that contrast. And I talked about this
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: and fundamentally as a history teacher, what I love about
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: what we have done is that we said we would
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: do a certain things when we ran for office back
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: in twenty four We said that we would secure the border.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: No doubt we have done that. We said that we
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: would stop the largest tax increase of American history. Remember
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: had we done nothing, it would reverted back to the
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: old Obama rates, which around twenty three percent higher than
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: the rates are today. And then finally, we actually gave
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: the middle class tax cut that every been asking for
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: that means overtime tips social Security. We actually did that,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: and I think that's a real boom for us. And
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: the reason we did it is to put more money
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: back in people's pockets who are so hard hit by inflation.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: And finally, because we're seen as a capitalistic nation by
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: the rest of the world. Again, you see trillions of
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: dollars being invested here like never before, and so I
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: think we're doing better. We fel have some work to
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: do on prices, no doubt. Obviously this Iranian conflict hurt
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: us on the price issue, but the contrast is clear.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: One group wants to empower the government. We think you
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: should have more of your own, hardered money in your pocket.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: I think that message will resonate, especially given the contrast
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: in New York City and Colorado, like we spoke about
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: earlier today, What do.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: You think the timing is or is there an appetite
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: among your colleagues and the Republican side of the aisle
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: congressman to tackle.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: The debt, well, I think it's essential. The way we
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: really tackle the debt is twofold one is we need
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: to go out and grow the economy. That's what really
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: comes down to and that's how you put more money
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: in people's pockets. When you do that, of course, more
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: tax revenues come in. Second, is that with this Doze
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: issue so vital, it's kindly exposed some of the wasteful
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: government spending. You saw what happened in states like California, Minnesota,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: primarily where they were just outright stealing money and the
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: government didn't care. I mean, we're talking not millions, but
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: tens of billions of dollars. I think that's the focus.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: And once we fully kind of flesh out that Doge issue,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: if we can keep the majority, I think we're going
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: to see a lot of those dollars move the right
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: way and we can reduce spending because they's that a
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: lot of it is truly wasteful or fraudulent in some cases.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: That's where we're going.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: What what about making social Security more solvent? Now you
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: know you and I both know it is not a
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: guaranteed benefit that's out there that that's why it's not
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: on the balance sheet for the federal government. But it's
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: political suicide for either side of the aisle to try
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: to kill the thing. But it's still facing solvency issues.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: How do we solve that, Well, that's going.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: To be the challenge of today. We're going to have
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: to have Republicans the Democrats hold hands. But I don't
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: think raising taxes is the only solution, which seems to
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: be the Democrats' playbook at all times. Right, I mean,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: do you think about it. You've been, as you mentioned,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: you've been in Tallahassee for over twenty four years doing
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: the radio show. Think about what go back when you're eighteen.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: If your money that you put into the social security system,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: you meaning you're seven and a half of the fifteen
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: percent you approximately pay in Social Security and Medicare taxes,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: if you're able to keep that and then the other
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: half went to the beneficiaries, Imagine saving seven or eight
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: percent a year go into your four oh one K.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: How much that will be work today if you started
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: when you're eighteen. So these are flexible things we need
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: to look at. Everything should be on the table, and
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I'm optimistic that with the market can actually help people more,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: but it's a debate we're going to have to have
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: long term.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Congressman. Thanks for the time this morning. Great to hear
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: your voice, great to have you back on the show,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: and we'll do it again soon.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: My pleasure. Thanks for your time, congrats and all your success.