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00:00I'm curious how all of this is reverberating around Fort Wayne and its surrounding environs.
00:04What are your constituents saying to you?
00:06What questions do they have about this conflict as it enters its eighth week?
00:10Yeah, good morning.
00:11First of all, thanks for having me.
00:12You know, that's a really good question because as I talk to constituents, it usually depends
00:17on the age.
00:18The older folks are that understand or remember the context of Iran and what they have done
00:23over the last 40 years.
00:25Many of them are like, finish the job.
00:27We need to get rid of this extreme ideology.
00:30And then the younger folks that, you know, haven't lived through the 40 years of turmoil
00:35with Iran, they're the ones that typically say, we got to get out of there.
00:38President Trump said no new wars.
00:40So it's kind of a generational approach more than anything.
00:45I want to ask you, though, with that 47 years of context, the reason this administration
00:49pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal the first time is because they said Iran couldn't be
00:53trusted.
00:54Can Iran be trusted to stick to anything that's agreed to in the room in Pakistan with these
00:59negotiators?
01:01The IRGC cannot be trusted.
01:03That's they have shown that over and over.
01:05You know, on Friday, we're being told by the Iranian regime that the straits are going
01:10to be open.
01:11President Trump announced the straits are going to be open.
01:13And then within 48 hours, it's not.
01:15And so, you know, I think that there's a real power struggle going on inside the IRGC.
01:20The prime minister or the parliamentarian leader is being kind of the lead negotiator.
01:27But it seems like after he makes some sort of a deal with President Trump, he's being
01:31pulled back by the more fundamentalists that are in that camp.
01:35And, you know, these are true believers in the ideology that, you know, they're willing
01:40to die for their religion.
01:41And I think that's also the big struggle within Islam is that there is you have the modern
01:47and moderate Muslims who are moving forward.
01:51You look at the countries in the Gulf states and in other parts of the world.
01:54And here you have this extreme regime in Iran that continues to show, you know, they they're
02:01willing to die and want the infidel to be to be gone.
02:04And so I think that's really the struggle that's going on right now.
02:06And you look at even Turkey, Turkey saying, hey, we want to see a deal done.
02:10And Turkey seemed to be supportive.
02:12Other countries in that region have been supportive.
02:14Iran is the one that's standing alone by themselves.
02:16Let me go back to your constituents, if I could.
02:18And you mentioned that younger constituency here that maybe voted for the president because
02:22they wanted him to take a less aggressive approach overseas.
02:25They're watching all of this unfold, as you are, and looking at the bill as it comes due and
02:30the prospects for this being coming a more and more expensive conflict.
02:33We've seen what the Pentagon has floated, the amount of money that they need on an
02:36emergency basis, how big they want the Pentagon budget to become.
02:39You sit on the House Budget Committee.
02:41What is your appetite, sir, for continuing to fund this war?
02:44What constraints do you need to see put in place to keep funding it the way in which
02:47the White House wants it to be funded?
02:50Well, I think we need to finish the job.
02:51And I don't think we want to short ourselves at all when it comes to that funding.
02:55I mean, sitting on the Budget Committee, I mean, we look at the reports every day.
02:59The military is not the issue of our deficit spending.
03:03It's emergency spending that typically is what drives our debt up when we don't budget
03:08appropriately.
03:09You know, when we do these extreme supplementals, you know, during the COVID era, during, you
03:15know, emergencies, whether, you know, natural disasters, things like that.
03:19Those are the ones that really drive the debt up rather than sticking to the budget that
03:23we passed.
03:24We actually did cut some real spending this past in 2025.
03:28So, you know, we can do it.
03:30We've got to fix a lot of things within our federal government.
03:32There's a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse.
03:34That doesn't fix the problems entirely.
03:36We still need some reforms.
03:38And there's bipartisan groups.
03:39I'm part of one that we're looking at the budget in a bipartisan way on how can we get
03:45this debt and deficit, you know, back down under comfortable levels rather than these
03:50high levels that we haven't seen since World War II.
03:52So you are comfortable then with this $1.5 trillion figure effectively doubling the size
03:57of the Pentagon's budget.
03:58You think that that's a reasonable request, reasonable change for Pentagon funding going
04:01forward?
04:02Yeah, I mean, I want to exactly understand what it is.
04:05A lot of these are one-time expenditures.
04:08And so, you know, the $1.5 trillion can't consistently maintain itself.
04:12And I shared that with the Pentagon this last week that, you know, $1.5 trillion, you're asking
04:17for, you know, almost $500 billion more.
04:21But a lot of it goes towards, you know, drone capability, F-47s, ships, which we have been
04:27behind on.
04:28So a lot of this goes towards a one-time new projects in modernizing our military.
04:34And I think that's something that we need to, you know, kind of separate out and explain
04:39to the American people what this big plus-up is actually for.
04:43And that it's not just for military spending in perpetuity.
04:46We can't afford that.
04:48We've got to get, you know, a good handle.
04:50And there is waste in the military.
04:51And I mentioned that to them, that we've got to be sure in the military that we're not
04:55wasting taxpayer dollars if we're going to go after the waste, fraud, and abuse in other
04:59programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs.
05:02But, Congressman, you said you want, you know, the administration to finish the job.
05:05If they came to you and said, we need this whole $1.5 trillion to finish the job, would
05:10you say, yes, carte blanche?
05:12Or would you say, we still need to look at this?
05:14Well, I don't think we need that much.
05:16In fact, any supplemental for Iran, there's talks around $100 billion to $200 billion at
05:21most.
05:22In fact, the Pentagon is telling us that, you know, they think they can do it within the
05:26appropriations that we did in the big, beautiful bill.
05:29So this $1.5 trillion would actually be long-term military, you know, capabilities, especially,
05:36you know, Golden Dome and the new technology coming forward.
05:40So I don't think that this is going to cost that much.
05:43And no, I would not approve $1.5 trillion just towards the conflict in Iran.
05:48Let me ask you about the hearing that's going to take place on Wednesday in the Senate, not
05:51in the House.
05:52Kevin Warsh is going to have his time before the Senate Banking Committee to testify in
05:56advance of his nomination being voted upon.
05:58And of course, there's a lot surrounding that that adds some uncertainty to this, whether
06:02Senator Tom Tillis is going to allow that to go through.
06:04He says he won't.
06:05And I imagine you'll be listening as a spectator, as the two of us will be.
06:09What are you listening for?
06:10And what's your sense of how this nomination is likely to proceed?
06:13Are you sympathetic with Senator Tillis in what he's saying?
06:16Well, I think if there's anybody that wants to see Jerome Powell leave his position, it's
06:22President Trump.
06:24And, you know, whatever it takes.
06:25If the investigation is warranted and is needed, then that's one thing.
06:31But if it's just to, you know, to poke him in the eye, then, you know, I think that's
06:35one of those things that's just like, you know what, he's done.
06:38Let's let's move on.
06:39Let's get to Kevin's nomination and let's get a new Fed chair.
06:44And but again, you know, there's a lot of information that folks have been looking at
06:48that say, you know what, there needs to be a deeper look behind Mr. Powell.
06:53And so I think that, you know, we just need to be to be fair, to be practical and be
06:58reasonable and understand that if there is a warrant or I'm sorry, if there's an investigation
07:02warranted, then then, you know, that should be followed through on.
07:06But if it's if it's not, then let's move on.
07:08I mean, the quicker we can move on and have a new Fed chair.
07:11I'm looking forward to that.
07:13Is that your preference, sir?
07:14You think that this is a fight the president should let go and just move on so that he can
07:18ultimately get his end goal, which is a new Fed chair?
07:21Well, I think the end goal should be to get the new Fed chair as quickly as possible.
07:25But at any time there is abuse of funds or misappropriation of funds, those are the
07:31questions that are being asked.
07:32And I think that every person needs to be held accountable, whether you're the outgoing
07:35federal, the Fed chair or if you're the incoming Fed chair.
07:39I mean, we're all human beings that need to be held accountable.
07:43And so if there's real if there's real problems here that need to be looked into, those should
07:48be.
07:49But if it's not, then let's move on and let's get to the new Fed chair.
07:52And there's a lot of work to do to grow this economy.
07:55In the couple of minutes we have left, let me come full circle and ask you about your
07:57constituents once again.
07:58Ask about you as well.
07:59You're a fourth generation farmer.
08:01We were reporting earlier this morning that tomorrow folks can begin filing for money back
08:05based on tariffs after that Supreme Court decision.
08:08Talk, if you could, about the level of uncertainty that farmers in particular are facing amidst this
08:13layer of uncertainty about where trade policy is going forward.
08:17What's your message to the president about the way this trade policy should be engineered
08:21and implemented for farmers, particularly, who are facing so much uncertainty?
08:26Yeah, well, I love to talk about northeast Indiana, my district.
08:30It's a great place to live and raise a family.
08:32Farmers have had it tough.
08:34But, you know, I grew up in a family farm and farming is always difficult.
08:38But, you know, when you throw on a couple of these new policies, you know, whether it's
08:44tariffs, of course, the energy issues, fertilizers being bottled up in the Straits of Hormuz, that
08:51does affect all the commodity prices.
08:52And if there's one thing I know that, you know, farmers really are kind of at the mercy
08:56of the markets and often have to, you know, we have to plan ahead.
09:01And that's one of the things that a lot of farmers have done.
09:04You know, they've already locked in their pricing on fertilizers.
09:07They've locked their pricing in on fuels and, you know, selling corn, soybeans, other
09:10commodities that they produce.
09:12But it's been tough.
09:14I think a lot of folks believe that President Trump is doing the right thing by resetting
09:20the trade policies with China in particular that have needed to happen for a long time.
09:25We know China plays a different game, but it has been rough.
09:29And I think that, you know, some of the issues that could easily be addressed would help
09:33offset this is, of course, you know, there's a farm bill hopefully coming to the floor this
09:37next this next week that gives farmers some risk tools to use for management.
09:43Labor is another issue that is needs to be addressed at some point for agriculture.
09:48So I know that President Trump has is very in tune with agriculture and to the farmer across
09:54this country.
09:54And but, you know, we've we're we understand the long term ramifications of President Trump's
10:01policies when it comes to tariffs.
10:02My hope is, is that we can move away from income tax and go towards a tariff tax base
10:07structure to to really let the you know, the American farmer keep their own money.
10:12So before we let you go quickly, you said you understand the long term ramifications and
10:16I'm sure you're hoping your constituents are.
10:18But in the short term, have those policies, has this conflict made life harder for those
10:24people you were just talking about?
10:26And is that something that you are concerned about going into the midterms?
10:29Well, yeah, I mean, they have.
10:31But at the same time, the big, beautiful bill did a lot to help the American farmer and rancher.
10:36You know, we are eliminating the the inheritance tax.
10:38That's a big issue for farm families that are trying to pass on the farm from one generation
10:44to the other. Keeping the taxes low, that was a big deal as well.
10:48That's been very helpful, especially, you know, to those pass through entities that most
10:53farmers are set up as.
10:55And of course, the energy policy, you know, rural development, rural focus, rural America.
11:02It's it's tough.
11:03It always has been tough, but that's OK.
11:05You know, many of us choose to be here because we we like the independence.
11:09We like our maybe our privacy and a little calmer lifestyle.
11:14But at the same time, we want to see a strong, vibrant economy when it comes to agriculture
11:19and manufacturing in the rural areas.
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