00:00Is it your expectation that the Department of Homeland Security is going to be shutting down
00:04come midnight tomorrow, or do you see an 11th hour opportunity to avert that outcome today?
00:11You know, right now I would have to say that it looks fairly inevitable that we will have a
00:16partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. I think it's good to frame that,
00:21remember, we did pass a lot of bills and the president signed into law. So 96% of the
00:27government is fully functioning. But that critical piece of Homeland Security in all likelihood will
00:32shut down. But I am for extending the time for debate. I am for making improvements such as
00:40Senator Britt was able to negotiate into the Homeland Security bill. We need to move beyond
00:45this and make sure that our Coast Guard and our TSA and our Secret Service and our FEMA are all
00:51funded along with our Border Patrol and ICE.
00:54Senator, it's good to see you. I wonder your thoughts on this approach that some Democrats
00:59are taking in the House. Rosa DeLora has a bill that would essentially strip ICE itself away from
01:05the other agencies under DHS, like the TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard. If the House accomplished that,
01:13would that even be entertained in the Senate?
01:15You know, I don't think that's a good strategy. We've got to look at Homeland Security in the whole.
01:19It is important that we have internal enforcement of our, not just immigration laws, but our ability
01:26to work with cities and counties and states to be able to remove people that have been adjudicated
01:32and are under deportation orders. And that's what ICE does. And so I'm fully supportive of the efforts
01:40that they've moved forward. And the same with Border Patrol. I mean, can we make improvements? Yes.
01:45And improvements are built into the bill. More cameras, more training, more IG or, you know,
01:52inspectors, inspections. These improvements can be made. They're already built into the bill that
01:58the Democrats will not accept. And I think they're using this as a political statement.
02:03I think if we pull it out, it becomes even more polarized and more political.
02:08Well, as we consider the politicization of the ICE issue specifically, it of course has been a focal
02:15or the focal point of that has been in Minnesota and Minneapolis, specifically in the aftermath of
02:20the two U.S. citizens who were killed. We learned from Tom Homan, the borders are today that they are
02:26going to be drawing down Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. Let's take a listen to what Mr. Homan
02:32said earlier.
02:32In success that has been made, arresting public safety threats and other priorities since this
02:37surge operation began, as well as the unprecedented levels of coordination we have obtained from
02:42state officials and local law enforcement, I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred,
02:49that this surge operation conclude.
02:54A significant drawdown has already been underway this week, and will continue through the next week.
03:02So if we are at the conclusion of this operation, Senator, with the benefit of hindsight, did
03:07the operation surge too far?
03:11Well, here, what I think, what I'm reading and what he's saying is the key component that
03:15he's emphasizing is the coordination between state and local. And I'm not sure that that was
03:20there before the temperature went way up. And then I think this has been part of the compromise
03:27between that Tom Homan was able to forge with state and local authorities and with ICE and
03:34Border Patrol. Let's lower the temperature. Let's work together as law enforcement officers. And let's
03:40get the worst of the worst out of here. And I think those are reasonable propositions. Did it go too
03:45far? I think, obviously, mistakes have been made and had some very, very life ending and altering results.
03:54And for that, I think we all wish we could go back and change that. But I think lowering the
03:59temperature, removing themselves from
04:01the operation and leaving it to state and locals, that's what we need to do. We need to have that
04:05coordinated effect.
04:07You know, it's interesting, Senator. We've talked to a number of your colleagues, Republican senators, about the issue of de
04:14-masking. And we've heard the arguments on both sides of it. It appears to be a breaking point. And I'm
04:18wondering if de-masking is a non-starter for you.
04:22You know, in my view, that's just sort of an issue that I think gains a lot of attention. We
04:28just obviously, as a nation, went through a big masking issue during COVID. But also, the protesters in New York,
04:35they were all masked.
04:36And we were saying, you know, if you're protesting, we need to be able to see your face. And then
04:41now we see the same sort of argument on the opposite side.
04:44I think that you have to do this on a case-by-case basis. We have to protect our officers.
04:48And I think the protesters in Minneapolis showed that they're willing to dox, threaten families, and threaten the health and
04:55security of a federal law enforcement officer,
04:57which in and of itself is pretty frightening. So I think maybe when the temperature goes down, we'll see more
05:03abilities for identifications.
05:06But I do want to reserve the right for our officers to wear a mask if they feel their lives
05:11in danger. Yes.
05:14Senator, I'd like to switch gears. As we are expecting later this hour, President Trump to be appearing at the
05:18White House with the administrator of the EPA,
05:21Lee Zeldin, to formally revoke the so-called endangerment finding around greenhouse gases.
05:27Lee Zeldin calls this the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States.
05:32But I ask you, given your chairship of the Environment and Public Works Committee, is it too large an act
05:38of deregulation?
05:39Could this not have negative environmental consequences?
05:43No, no. We have environmental laws that are strict, stringent, and they're adhered to.
05:49What this has done is taken an issue in the early Obama administration and ballooned it up into what can
05:59we do for global carbon emissions?
06:02And what we see, and as you read articles, different opinion articles from different papers,
06:07some that are very liberal papers have said, yes, the endangerment finding went too far.
06:12You cannot have the executive take control of the legislative prerogatives of Congress.
06:18And that's what's happened, and it's going to be the largest, I think, economic deregulation that we've seen.
06:26I'm sure it will be litigated, but I feel confident that he's on firm ground,
06:30especially in light of some of the past decisions by the Supreme Court that we've seen that have said
06:34the executive and the agencies have to stay within the boundaries that Congress has set.
06:40And an endangerment finding goes way beyond that.
06:43Really interesting.
06:45I don't know if you were there, Senator, but the president of the United States was awarded
06:50the undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal trophy yesterday at the White House, Peabody Energy.
06:57Jim Gretsch actually gave it to him.
06:59In the effort to celebrate an order that the president made directing the Pentagon to buy electricity from coal-fired
07:07power plants,
07:08what does that mean for the industry in West Virginia, this Pentagon deal?
07:13Well, this provides the certainty to the coal industry, but it also provides a lot of balance and certainty to
07:22the nation.
07:22Let's just look at this practically.
07:24Over the last two to three weeks, we've had these amazingly low temperatures.
07:27If you look at the energy, who's providing the energy to warm our homes, what source?
07:33Coal has had a major role here, along with natural gas and nuclear.
07:37And so we have to preserve these baseload energy availabilities to do a lot of things,
07:44but just the basic needs of heating our homes and making sure that our hospitals are open, all of these
07:50things.
07:51So, you know, the president's a big fan of coal.
07:53Coal country loves the president.
07:55I was there yesterday.
07:56It means more, a longer life for a lot of our coal-producing power plants, but also more coal mining
08:03jobs.
08:03They're doing it better, safer and cleaner than they ever have.
08:07And it just makes a lot of sense for our nation.
08:11Senator, we just have a minute left, but I know you today have officially signed on to the Save America
08:16Act
08:16that passed the House of Representatives last night, of course, a voter ID piece of legislation.
08:20Your Republican colleague, Senator Lisa Murkowski, has suggested that legislation such as this could have the effect of federalizing elections.
08:27We know President Trump had made some comments about nationalizing elections as well.
08:32Is that an idea you stand behind, or do you have concern about that?
08:36Well, yeah, I don't want to federalize our elections so that every state has the same election parameters,
08:41and our secretaries of states can't form and function their election practices that their legislature puts forward.
08:48So this doesn't do this.
08:50This basically says you just have to prove that you're an American citizen to vote in an American election.
08:55It sounds simple.
08:57I would say it's probably not as simple as it sounds,
09:00because I think some of the identification issues could pose a challenge to some secretaries of state,
09:07whether you need a passport or a birth certificate or a real ID card.
09:11And some of these issues have been raised.
09:13But honestly, it's a simple concept.
09:15Many states have a voter ID.
09:17Mine's one of them.
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