The Laken Riley Act Passes with Sen. Katie Britt
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Summary
Sen. Kaitie Britt Britt (D-DC) joins me to discuss the Laken Riley Act, a piece of legislation she introduced in the 115th Congress that has become one of the most hotly debated pieces of legislation in Washington, D.C.
Transcript
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hello everybody welcome to the games for girls podcast what an exciting week it has been uh
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what an exciting next four years i imagine it will be i actually got to i mean a once-in-a-lifetime
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opportunity i got to be in dc at the inauguration and to be there and to witness it all uh on both
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ends of the spectrum might i add uh was nothing short of remarkable uh it's it's pretty amazing
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you think back to four years ago i can think of how i felt i was at a different stage of my life
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certainly uh right i i this was never what i intended to be doing but nonetheless i've i've
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always been christian number one conservative uh number two uh and i remember how i felt
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watching when joe biden uh was inaugurated into office and comparing that to how i feel now
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uh it feels like a weight has been lifted if you've watched the show you heard me say that
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uh on the episode following the election actually with pete hegseth all exciting things for him in
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the future it's just a really good time it's a great time to be an american how about that
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uh today's guest um she's someone who i admire for a lot of reasons uh number one she's an sec girl
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which always makes it better uh but she's a strong female leader and i've said it many times even on this
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podcast that is rare especially in the halls of the capitol building in washington dc
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uh but before we get into that and the amazing work that she has done i want to tell you about
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but let's get back to today's guest i've been following her career for the past two years
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um something pretty pivotal this this legislative session the 119th congress she introduced in the
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senate side the laken riley act we're going to get into what that is what that does uh and why it was
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important for her to sponsor it uh in this episode exciting news it passed the senate uh just last week
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with a vote 61 to 35 it had to have 60 uh yeses in order to to advance in the senate before hopefully
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soon making it to president trump's desk all exciting things we're going to get into all of that and more
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in this episode with senator katie britt well senator britt thank you so much for joining the gains for
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girls podcast uh it is always good to have another sec girl on as well absolutely i'm just thrilled to
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talk with you uh we're we're chatting after some very very exciting news uh of course the senate just
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cleared the final 60 vote hurdle on the laken riley act uh which puts this bill on track to to get on
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president trump's desk where he will surely sign and so uh just take a brief minute and tell us
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about the laken riley act and why you you chose to sponsor this absolutely well riley first thank you
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so much for allowing me to be on i told my entire team i'm having a fangirl moment uh getting to be on
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with you you are remarkable what you have done for young women what you have done for my daughter
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who plays basketball and volleyball and runs track um the example and the opportunity that you're
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ensuring is there for her as a mom i cannot thank you enough um and as a united states senator i want
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you to know your influence has been tremendous and you are behind the momentum that we continue to build
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right now so on behalf of all of us thank you thank you thank you um and then um look this is a big
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day so i was just texting with laken's mother and her stepfather um as as everyone knows she was taken
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and stolen from this earth way too soon she was a beautiful woman who had her entire life ahead of her
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wanted to be a nurse wanted to give back um and they said that she just in everything she did
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exemplified her faith she was unfortunately taken by an illegal immigrant who had committed not just one
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but multiple crimes what this bill would do was maintain or mandate detention for that individual
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he would have never been out roaming our nation if this had been law and she would still be with us
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so today was a huge victory this was the last really big hurdle where we had to get to 60 votes
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we will have final passage right after president trump is sworn in on monday we'll come back into the
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senate chamber this will be the first piece of legislation that we vote on it's a big moment
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it's a big moment for uh keeping americans safe and secure and it's also a moment where we're getting
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to say riley we heard you on november 5th and now with a republican senate with a republican house and
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a republican back in the white house we are actually taking actions and we're going to be delivering
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results so it'll honor lakin and it'll keep americans safe and i am really excited um about about what's to come
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you and as as you made clear um majority of americans who had their voices heard on november 5th
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uh and it very narrowly passed you know 61 votes uh and as you said the timing of it all coming
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i mean right as president trump is inaugurated it feels really really historic uh that's how this
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feels to me it is it is historic and you know i don't know the last time we passed anything that
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was you know related to illegal immigration and and you know border policy since the mid-90s so i mean
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this is a real moment for our country and i think it shows the type of momentum that president trump
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builds people know that he means business they know that we are moving things in the right direction
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and i'm really proud of all of my colleagues that chose to advance this bill um because it's
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ultimately going to save lives so it is it's historic and it's it's kind of crazy when i walked off the
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floor i thought i can't believe we did it you know and and we did and that's exactly what i texted her
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parents we did it a lot of people doing a lot of things but um hopefully monday we'll get final
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passage and then we'll get this to his desk soon thereafter well you are to thank uh i watched
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h.r 30 representative mace's bill on the house floor uh just this week and i got to listen to
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some of the democrats uh this was the violence against women by illegal aliens act and i got to
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listen to some of the democrats because i'm curious you know what is their argument i try to always learn
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from the other side try to understand understand their their perspective their point of view but
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listening to their arguments hearing them say things like this bill will actually make our
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national security weaker i mean some of the most outlandish stuff they're they're so open-minded
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their brains have fallen out it seems uh what was some of the pushback from your colleagues that you had
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who voted nay you know i actually was talking with many of them throughout the process there were
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misconceptions about the bill that that um that were out there there were things that we were able to
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clarify um you know this bill actually gives states the opportunity to in to uh enforce essentially to
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to sue the government and to sue department of homeland security if they are not actually meeting
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um the mandatory provisions of our immigration laws so not discretionary but mandatory um it seems that
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some people didn't want them to have that that opportunity i think it's important for them to have that
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opportunity you think about what is happening in texas you think about what's happening coast to coast um
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and so you know that was a provision that was really important um and you know some people uh felt a
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little bit differently about um additionally you know you you look at this and there were some
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interesting um arguments coming out that uh unfortunately to me seem to undermine police officers
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um and the integrity of our police force which is something i absolutely will not engage in i am
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grateful for our men and women in uniform and i know that they leave the safety of their home every
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single day so that we can return to ours and um you know so they were coming up with hypotheticals um
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that you know were really outlandish and also the application of other things to it and kind of how
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things worked but um for the most part we were able to sit down with enough of our colleagues
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explain how this works and any misconception they had or questions they had we were able to answer
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and we didn't have full attendance today if we had had full attendance then we think that vote would
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have been even bigger so that's great um but at the end of the day we did get the vote to proceed to
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the bill so it's a good day it's a really good day huge and a no-brainer for sure yeah i know
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myself and again uh majority of americans we have been enjoying if that's the word you want to use
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watching uh some of these senate confirmation hearings i know oh my god they've been awesome
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they have been awesome uh they have been entertaining to say the least uh so how are you feeling how are
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you feeling about trump's cabinet picks uh any concerns for any of of the people that he has appointed
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no i mean look i think they are all doing tremendous so for me it was a little bit of an
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out-of-body experience like walking into my first hearing um for a nomination for a cabinet secretary
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obviously i did not have the opportunity to do that in the last two years and to um to be a part
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of that you know to to listen to pam bondy in front of us so that was at senate judiciary that was the
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the hearing that i was a part of first this week she just did tremendous i mean rally i don't know if
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you watched her but i mean she was absolutely brilliant um she was very direct about that she will
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follow the law that she will be transparent um it was it was a moment too in there where i kept
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listening to democrats say we're worried you're going to weaponize the department of justice
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and i honestly sat there and rally i was so happy that my children had taught me what gaslighting was
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um because now i have a perfect example of it for them i'm going to be like go back and watch this
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this is where i got to see it firsthand literally the gaslighting that was occurring on the other side of
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the aisle um about that i thought the weaponization of the department of justice occurred under this
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administration i mean you think back to the fact that you know they had parents that were speaking
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up at school board meetings that they were targeting as potential domestic terrorists you think about
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you know after the dobbs decision actually infiltrating the you know the catholic church and faith and
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and in ways that they did i mean you think about like 1507 which i brought light to so if you
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remember after the dobbs decision was leaked there was all kinds of protest outside of the justices
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homes well i exposed in a hearing last year riley that that um the attorney general had said he had
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not prosecuted anyone because no arrests were made well i exposed from a whistleblower that actually the
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u.s marshals we had the slides where they were trained for this and they actively discouraged them
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from making arrest which is just completely contrary to 18 u.s code 1507 and so this this weaponization
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that has occurred over the last four years has been on full display um and i believe pam bondi is going
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to bring back integrity she's going to bring back faith uh to the justice department the american people
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deserve to feel like they have a credible person at the helm of the justice department um that is that is
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doing what's best for the american people and that's what she's going to bring but all of them riley all
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of them i mean it's been fun to watch i had a friend of mine um pete headsess uh hearing and in the
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middle of the day she's like i'm glued to my tv she was like i'm watching every word um and i think
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americans for the first time riley have hope again i mean they have hope that we're going to have people
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in these positions that aren't going to focus on wokeness or weaponization but they're going to focus
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on the safety and security of americans and creating an environment where every american can live
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their american dream and so i am really excited about it and i think the momentum and just the energy
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around this building i've never felt anything like it absolutely and yeah i agree uh whether it was
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watching pete hexeth uh pam bondi i'm so excited about her getting into office
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the attacks that they're using especially with pete right i mean it was pretty horrific to watch
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but it's just not sticking after that hearing it came out that you know his his chances only really
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increased of getting confirmed uh we're sick and tired of of the identity politics we're sick and tired of
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of the labeling and and the things the attacks really the tactics that the democrats use
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um i want to ask you too more news that has has come out this week but feels pertinent to this
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conversation especially as we're talking about pam bondi another strong woman yourself a strong woman
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how do you feel about getting another uh fantastic female uh senator up there with you and ashley moody
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oh my gosh riley i am so excited so yesterday when we had our second round at the senate judiciary
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i um i had an opportunity because several of the individuals that were testifying uh on behalf of
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pam worked with ashley and so i had an opportunity to say i heard you mention ashley moody and then lo
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and behold it did not dawn on me that they didn't have their phones because they had been testifying
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so i actually got to break the news to them um that she was going to be joining me as a colleague and
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look obviously they were thrilled and spoke so highly of her but i've heard nothing but the
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like the best things that she is a brilliant attorney she's going to be an amazing addition
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um i called her this morning i sent her a text yesterday and then called her this morning
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she called me right back and said hey so sorry i was getting some baseball stuff together my son has
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tryouts this morning and so to have another mom that is raising kids in this this environment this
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day and age that wants to preserve the opportunities that we had in front of us for our children and
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their children fighting alongside me fighting alongside the rest of our republican colleagues
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like i am beyond thrilled so i can't wait to get her up here and get going um we are going to be a
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force um and the republican conference is just going to be even stronger with her being up being part of it
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and i love that uh it makes her a real person uh appointed to the senate yesterday and still doing
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things with her kids and and all the tryouts and games and practices today i think people forget
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like particularly those of us who are raising raising you know a family right now i mean that's
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exactly what we're doing we are working our senate schedule around when the volleyball tournament is
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and i'm like oh well that's you know she's she's travel we got travel this weekend we've got this this
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wins the football wins the football banquet i mean these are the things that we're doing like
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calling our children yesterday morning calling my son and saying don't forget the canned food that
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you have to take to school i mean so all all of the things that you know that every other uh parent
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out there is doing too we do but i thought that that was a neat moment when she called me right back
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and said so sorry i was getting things together helping get them together baseball trials today and
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getting all of it together and that's what you want i mean those are the kind of people you want up
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here people that are living real lives that have uh real see the real issues in front of us and that
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have the grit to actually do something about them no doubt about that i've had your your alabama cohort
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on this show many times he's one of my favorites uh i really enjoyed watching him as senator mullen was
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was uh during actually the pete heggs staring watching uh senator tuberville back there you know
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he's making the faces it was it was just perfect yeah the mullen part that's the one my friend was
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texting me about she was like are you watching this and i said i'm in a meeting but i will go back and
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watch she was like this is amazing i sent mark wayne and christy a text i was like well done buddy well
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done it was perfect and again it speaks to the point of um a lot of these people in these positions who
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who you know sit from their ivory towers um we want real people but i want to ask you what's it
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like being partners with with senator tuberville coach tuberville yeah coach yeah he'll correct you
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quick he'll tell you he'll tell you to call him coach um so we go all the way back if you think about
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this so my husband played football um he played at alabama and then he played for the new england
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patriots he actually went through the recruiting process uh with tuberville at the helm of auburn he was
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um he was the coach of albert at the time um and so we go all the way back to then he gives us um he
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always gives us a hard time that wesley ended up at alabama instead of albert but his leadership on
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the title nine issue has been exceptional and you know when you talk about um you know real people
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talking about real things like that's exactly what's happening here with coach tuberville he has
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been in the arena you have been in the arena that's why it's so important that your voice continues
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to be elevated in this conversation because you have people that come to dc and this goes to your
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earlier point who somehow think that they get here and then they have all the answers that they know
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all the things about all all the issues in front of them and the truth is it's the boots on the ground
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it's the people who are living it it's the people who've experienced it that we have to listen to
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to fully understand the implications of what we're doing or what we're not doing or fighting for
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that's where your voice has just been amazing and this title nine conversation and his as well i mean
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having been a coach um having obviously um you know had a number of male athletes and having been
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a part of an athletic director i mean athletic department and know the challenges that are in
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front of us he can speak to it in a way that very few up here can and so i'm so excited about his
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leadership on this issue riley and i think that we will do big things in this congress um with with
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the foundation that he has laid um that's certainly the one that you continue to lay as well absolutely
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last thing for you what are some other priorities for you uh in this this new legislative session
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yeah so we've got a lot of stuff ahead of us so for all of you watching i mean it's gonna be like
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go go go go go which is fun because we we need to be doing the things that we should for the american
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people but we've got a number of nominees to get across the finish line so obviously we started that
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process this week i think we had 13 nominees on the hill we'll continue that once we get them their
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hearing completed we'll go back and we'll actually do a vote we'll vote them out of committee i think a
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number of these nominees are going to have strong bipartisan support and if democrats um you know
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democrats are being honest and truthful about it that's certainly the way that um that that this
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will go down then additionally in that we have funding bills from fy25 riley which is like something
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we've got to finish we've got reconciliation bills we've got funding bills for fy26 but on top of all of
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that there are a number of things a number of things in addition to the border in addition to making
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sure that hard-earned americans dollars go further in addition to making sure that we return to
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president trump's peace through strength there are things like child care that i want to continue to
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work on the cost and affordability of child care across our country um i've got a piece of legislation
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on that that we're going to work and continue to build momentum on um to help those who want to
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re-enter the workforce but maybe that that cost or availability is an impediment to it um helping
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helping that and it does it in a way that puts parents back in the driver's seat so we'd love to come
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talk to you about that also we'll have a number of conversations continuing on social media and
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youth mental health um you know making sure that we are shining a proper light on that that people
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understand um kind of what what's going on out there particularly what's happening to some of our
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young people so that they can make smart decisions as they engage online um amongst a number of other
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things so i i'm excited about what's to come um and i'm excited to actually be able to deliver results
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which is exactly what we did today with lake and riley and i think what the american people can
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take away from this is that there is more to come absolutely well we are grateful for you we are
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cheering you on uh thank you for your leadership on this issue uh and as you said the many more to
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come so thank you senator brett oh thank you so much riley and thank you for letting me be in front
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of your audience i look forward to coming back as always thank you guys for joining the gains for
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girls podcast uh you can check out all things gains for girls at outkick.com be sure to like
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and subscribe and follow along be sure to share these episodes far and wide uh it really makes a
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difference and i appreciate your support tremendously we have some exciting things planned
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in the future for for this show uh how the dynamic is going to change what's that what
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that is going to look like uh so make sure you're you're subscribing uh again it really matters
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just joyous that's it that that's how we're signing off today i am overwhelmed with joy and
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excitement and patriotism and energy it's been a long time uh since i think as a whole we have felt
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those feelings um to be proud of the country that we live in consistently and i think that's what
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we're going to see over the next four years so lots of stuff to look forward to we are grateful
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uh for senator katie brit everything she's she has done we will certainly continue to follow what she
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is doing and cheering her on every step of the way until next time we will see you guys next week on