Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - December 20, 2019


Ep 200 ｜ Should We Be Worried？ ｜ Guest： Rep. Thomas Massie


Episode Stats

Length

39 minutes

Words per Minute

182.77534

Word Count

7,210

Sentence Count

482

Misogynist Sentences

7

Hate Speech Sentences

5


Summary

Rep. Thomas Massey (R-Ky) joins me to discuss abortion legislation, impeachment, and the spending bill that passed the House of Representatives this week. In this episode, we talk about the abortion hearing that I was a part of a few weeks ago, why abortion is a moral issue, and why impeachment is so important.


Transcript

00:00:00.160 Hey guys, happy Friday. Welcome to Relatable Today. We are talking to Congressman Thomas
00:00:06.940 Massey. He is awesome. He is from Kentucky. We are going to talk about abortion legislation.
00:00:14.340 We're going to be talking a little bit about the hearing that I was a part of and he was
00:00:18.040 a part of a few weeks ago, and he's going to kind of give us some insight into that.
00:00:21.620 But we're also going to address impeachment and all the craziness that has been happening
00:00:25.880 this week and the spending bill that was passed this week as well. What's in it, why it matters,
00:00:32.220 the process behind passing these huge 2000 plus page bills and how we as the American people
00:00:41.140 can actually affect change when it comes to not just the content of these bills, but also
00:00:45.480 the process that goes into it. So I'm really excited for you to hear this conversation.
00:00:50.900 He is just a wonderful, wonderful person to talk to and a very good conversationalist.
00:00:55.660 You're going to learn a lot, but to kind of refresh your memory on who Congressman Massey
00:01:00.240 actually is, I want to play you this clip from the hearing that I was a part of a couple
00:01:05.740 weeks ago on Capitol Hill in regards to abortion legislation that the Democrats called. I played
00:01:12.500 it in the episode that recapped it because it was one of my very favorite parts of the hearing
00:01:19.240 because it was just such a good line of questioning and a really, really revealing part of the
00:01:26.620 hearing. So here that is. At your clinic, does it matter what the reason is for the abortion?
00:01:32.300 At my clinic, I trust that women have a valid reason. Every reason that they have is valid.
00:01:38.040 Okay. So given that you think that every reason is valid, would you abort a viable fetus if there
00:01:45.880 was not a law preventing it? Again, given that the reality for people choosing abortion is that
00:01:53.240 there are many reasons, there isn't a single thing that defines somebody's choice. It is a reflection of
00:01:59.500 You seem to have a hard time saying this. This tells me you have a heart, or at least you know
00:02:04.680 that people watching this have a heart. And they would be concerned if you would just admit, which
00:02:11.080 you won't admit here, that you would abort a viable fetus for any reason if the law did not prevent it.
00:02:17.980 Mr. Massey, abortion is moral. It is important. It is health care. And I support people being the
00:02:26.640 experts in their own lives and making decisions for themselves.
00:02:29.580 Mr. Massey, abortion is moral. It gives me some hope that you here understand that people do not
00:02:39.500 support you when you say, or if you would say, that you would abort a viable fetus for any reason.
00:02:46.700 But given what you told us in your opening statement and knowing what you've said, we know that you would.
00:02:55.020 But it does give me hope that you still know in your heart that's wrong.
00:02:58.540 I'm going to use my remaining time asking Mrs. Stutkey, should any reason be of a good reason for having an abortion?
00:03:10.460 Absolutely not. It's a child. It's a life inside the womb from the moment of conception onward.
00:03:15.660 And I'm very troubled by how flippantly she said that there are 3,000 abortions performed every year of defenseless human beings.
00:03:26.080 And the remark that abortion is moral.
00:03:28.780 Time has expired.
00:03:29.780 Excuse me, imagine that kind of logic driving my lifestyle.
00:03:32.920 No, the time has expired.
00:03:35.100 Loved it. I mean, it was sad, but loved it. Thought that he just did such an excellent job of that.
00:03:40.540 So without further ado, here is Congressman Massey.
00:03:43.840 Congressman, thank you so much for joining us.
00:03:46.780 Thank you for having me.
00:03:47.920 So some people, most people, I would say listening to this podcast are familiar with you for lots of different reasons.
00:03:54.080 They probably follow you or have heard a few things from you on Fox or elsewhere.
00:03:59.040 But they also might know you from the hearing that I was a part of a few weeks ago talking about legislation on abortion.
00:04:05.940 You had an awesome exchange. I thought that it was probably one of the best, if not the best parts of the hearing where you questioned the abortionist that was on the panel with me.
00:04:18.180 And the audience just heard a little bit of that.
00:04:20.540 Can you just talk to me kind of how you created that line of questioning that you hit her with?
00:04:26.300 Sure. You know, going into that hearing, we kind of had a pre-meeting among the Republicans.
00:04:32.400 And the advice we were given was not to talk to those witnesses, just to avoid the witnesses that the Democrats had called because they were all women and they would make us look bad if we tried to engage them in a discussion.
00:04:47.260 And so what they really wanted us to do was to talk to you, Ali Beth, and give you a chance to speak because we knew you would shine.
00:04:54.500 But I turned to the congressman to my left and the one to my right and I said, you know what, I think I'm going to ask the abortion doctor some very uncomfortable questions and you all might be uncomfortable too.
00:05:08.200 And I'm going to see where it goes. I don't know where it will go.
00:05:10.940 And so I didn't have a line of questioning, honestly. I just thought, let's prod and probe and see if she will answer any of these really hard questions.
00:05:23.060 I mean, the questions that are hard for people who, you know, perform abortions, I would think they would be hard.
00:05:28.700 So I asked her, for instance, the details like how do you dispose of the babies?
00:05:34.340 How many babies have you aborted? What's the biggest baby you've aborted?
00:05:39.920 And she avoided every single question for as long as she could.
00:05:45.540 And then I finally said, you know what, this tells me something about you.
00:05:49.340 You must have a heart somewhere in there because you know it's wrong.
00:05:53.300 Otherwise, you wouldn't have avoided all of my questions.
00:05:56.160 Right.
00:05:56.400 And then, obviously, I think the best part is when I had about a minute left and I gave it to you to sort of drive the point home.
00:06:03.800 Because she had just told me, I had, through the series of questions, got her to admit that she believed every reason that's ever given for having an abortion was a valid reason.
00:06:15.400 And that's when I pivoted to you and you explained there's no good reason.
00:06:20.340 Right.
00:06:20.600 Through all nine months, by the way, she wouldn't even tell you if at any point maybe abortion wouldn't be the best option, wouldn't be a safe option for either the mother or obviously the child.
00:06:31.460 She couldn't even tell you the point of viability.
00:06:33.700 And anyone who has been pregnant or who can even look up fetal development online can tell you when viability is.
00:06:40.700 But you're right.
00:06:41.280 They are so afraid of speaking to the humanity of life inside the womb because they know that even the most adamant abortion supporter, there is this bit of morality left in them that flinches a little bit thinking about inflicting pain on an innocent and defenseless child.
00:07:00.560 And I thought that you revealed that so well as they gaslight and accuse pro-lifers of only using generalities and euphemisms.
00:07:09.120 She wouldn't even tell you the scientific reality of what an abortion is and of what a baby is inside the womb.
00:07:16.340 So I just thought that was so good.
00:07:18.300 Go ahead.
00:07:19.420 Yeah, she had been heavily coached not to answer any of the questions I asked.
00:07:24.100 And what's ironic is we had been coached.
00:07:26.960 You know, you may not want to ask these difficult questions.
00:07:30.800 So, you know, I took it head on.
00:07:32.840 And what's also interesting, I'm not sure if it came through in the hearing videos, is there was an audience behind her and they were 95 percent pro-abortion.
00:07:42.900 Yes.
00:07:43.200 I mean, and you could you could hear a pin drop in that room when I was asking those questions.
00:07:48.640 There was nobody cheering for either side.
00:07:52.240 And you could if you could have seen the looks on their faces as they felt, I guess, a glimmer of, you know, a glimmer of compassion or humanity inside of them as I asked those difficult questions.
00:08:06.700 So maybe it had the same effect, hopefully, on people who are watching, you know, through the TV.
00:08:11.440 And what you might not have seen, Congressman, while you were asking this question, and I was on the edge of my seat, too, because, OK, I know the answers to these questions.
00:08:21.220 She knew the answers to the questions, too.
00:08:23.080 She just didn't want to answer the there were a lot of people that were lining the room.
00:08:27.900 I think a lot of them were probably staff.
00:08:30.620 But you could tell, I think, which ones by the expressions on their faces and just their countenance, which ones were kind of going for the Democratic side and which ones were going for the Republican side.
00:08:40.620 But there were a group of girls that were watching.
00:08:43.480 And as you were questioning, I saw this young woman gripping as tightly as she could the clipboard that she had.
00:08:50.460 And she I could just tell that she was stressed out.
00:08:54.180 And I think that is that is the reaction from a lot of people.
00:08:57.600 It's like, please don't talk about what an abortion is.
00:09:01.260 The pro-abortion side knows that they can't actually talk about what the procedure is.
00:09:06.160 And it should tell you something, that if you're on the side that has to operate under deceit, that maybe maybe it's not the side to be on, which is why I thought your line of questioning was perfect.
00:09:17.140 By the by the way, Ali Beth, this isn't a hearing that Republicans called.
00:09:21.600 I mean, this is the Democrats don't just have the Speaker of the House.
00:09:25.080 They've got every gavel, every chairmanship.
00:09:27.260 And so they called this hearing to try and advance their pro-abortion agenda.
00:09:32.860 And I think, you know, the line of questioning that I engaged with with the abortion doctor and then with you when you drove it home, I think we really set their agenda back some in that hearing.
00:09:44.420 And maybe they'll think twice about trying to have a hearing like that again.
00:09:47.580 I think so, too, because they were on the defense the entire time.
00:09:51.460 I think it's kind of crazy to think that you guys were coached not to ask questions, because to me, there is no way to lose by simply asking them to describe what an abortion is.
00:10:02.780 The pro-life side is going to win every time because either they're going to fumble and not answer or what they are going to reveal is so brutal and disgusting that most people just they don't want to support it.
00:10:13.080 So I think you're absolutely right.
00:10:14.200 They were on the defense the whole time.
00:10:15.660 A lot of people ask me, why were you the only pro-life witness?
00:10:19.080 That's so not fair.
00:10:20.100 But obviously that was those were the rules because they are they're the majority.
00:10:24.580 Yeah, those are the rules.
00:10:26.500 You know, as you saw in these impeachment hearings, we're lucky if we even get to have one witness, like if they're if they're feeling like they're going to follow the rules that day.
00:10:36.160 So it says a lot about the fact that the staff did their research and realized you would be the best witness we could have.
00:10:45.220 And you you really were.
00:10:46.480 You came through.
00:10:47.380 Thank you very much.
00:10:48.420 It was an honor.
00:10:49.780 You know, you didn't know.
00:10:50.760 I didn't give you my line of questioning.
00:10:52.340 You didn't know what I was going to ask.
00:10:54.100 And I didn't know where it was going to go when I started asking.
00:10:57.120 And then I gave you about 60 seconds.
00:10:59.440 That's the other thing.
00:11:00.260 They tried to shut you down at the end like that when, you know, you're really scoring hits is when they try to gavel you down when the Democrat before me had two extra minutes.
00:11:12.800 And when you got to one second left, they're like, she's done.
00:11:17.380 Stop it.
00:11:18.340 Yeah.
00:11:18.880 Well, it was an honor to be there.
00:11:20.720 So I it was it was really it was probably one of the best experiences, one of the scariest experiences beforehand.
00:11:29.280 But one of the best experiences of my career, definitely.
00:11:32.380 Before we get into the impeachment stuff, because you did mention that, I do want to ask you about this Kentucky law.
00:11:38.100 I've gotten a lot of questions about it that are.
00:11:40.780 Can you tell me if it's requiring doctors that are dealing with someone who may be considering an abortion, if it requires them to show the ultrasound picture or just allows them to?
00:11:52.340 What's the deal with that Kentucky law?
00:11:54.200 You are a congressman from Kentucky, in case some people don't know.
00:11:57.400 Yeah, I'm a congressman from Kentucky.
00:11:59.100 I didn't write the law and I didn't even get to vote on it because I'm not in the state legislature, but I'm really excited about it.
00:12:05.360 And frankly, I think this is we're going to we're we are going to make our progress on the pro-life movement.
00:12:11.000 It's going to be state by state, law by law, court battle by court battle.
00:12:15.660 So what the law requires in Kentucky that they passed.
00:12:19.240 And by the way, it got struck down.
00:12:20.740 Then it got reaffirmed by a court.
00:12:23.720 And and the Supreme Court here in Washington, D.C. said, you know what?
00:12:28.280 We're not going to take this up.
00:12:29.940 We're going to let the law stand.
00:12:31.360 The last court ruling, which is the one that reestablished the 2017 law.
00:12:35.800 But what the law says is a doctor contemplating, you know, performing an abortion for a patient has to show the patient the an ultrasound.
00:12:46.660 They have to perform an ultrasound.
00:12:48.120 They have to show the patient the ultrasound.
00:12:51.440 The law does say that the woman can avert her eyes like she doesn't have to look at the ultrasound.
00:12:59.720 And she could also request that the volume if there's a heartbeat or something that you can hear, she can request that the volume be turned down.
00:13:09.360 So it it's a requirement on the doctor, but not on the woman who may be contemplating an abortion.
00:13:16.580 There was a lot of pushback, obviously, from Planned Parenthood, from NARAL, from pro-abortion rights groups.
00:13:24.780 Can you talk about do you know what some of that pushback was?
00:13:27.800 Why? Why are they so against informed consent?
00:13:31.920 Oh, well, because they know it works.
00:13:34.420 I mean, Alibeth, I have four children and I'll never forget my first child.
00:13:41.000 But my daughter, I'm not afraid to say this.
00:13:44.880 My wife and I were married, but we weren't planning to have a baby.
00:13:47.820 We were both still in college.
00:13:49.200 Yeah.
00:13:49.920 And when and, you know, we didn't ever contemplate an abortion.
00:13:54.560 But I didn't really fully realize that there was a little human being in there until we went to the doctor and heard the heartbeat.
00:14:02.580 And that's like, whoa, that's when it became really real for me.
00:14:07.520 I know for me, even though we never contemplated an abortion, it really drove home the fact that there was a living person inside of there.
00:14:16.200 So the reason, you know, the pro-abortion folks push back, I think, is they know that it works, that it changes minds.
00:14:24.660 I'm an engineer, by the way, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a lawyer, but I feel like engineers by inventing ultrasounds and now the 3D ultrasounds, they are really helping as much as any lawmaker is to move this discussion about where life begins.
00:14:42.820 And so, and the pro-abortion groups know that.
00:14:47.260 They produced a study that I saw that said that only in a very few cases does it change somebody's mind.
00:14:53.800 But if you look at the study, they only look at the people who requested an ultrasound.
00:14:58.640 They don't look at the people who came in and weren't, like, given the opportunity to have an ultrasound.
00:15:04.380 Right.
00:15:04.980 Absolutely.
00:15:05.560 And if it didn't change anyone's mind, if it wasn't that big of a deal, why would they care?
00:15:09.280 Well, why are they pushing back on it so much if it was so inconsequential?
00:15:14.720 But, like, you know, they know that having that information, I mean, we hear babies referred to as clumps of cells.
00:15:20.260 Obviously, there are a lot of people, unfortunately, who are operating under ignorance.
00:15:24.640 But I had the same experience that you did already having been pro-life when I got pregnant and seeing my child for the first time.
00:15:31.800 I think it was like the 11-week ultrasound that I saw the arms and the legs and the brain and the lungs.
00:15:37.140 It was like, OK, I knew this was a human being, but seeing the humanity and the personhood of that child just does something to you.
00:15:45.100 I just think God created us that way to have that instinct of, wow, this is my child and I'm here to protect him or her.
00:15:52.240 OK, moving on from the abortion conversation, I do want to get your insight on what is going on with all of this impeachment stuff.
00:15:59.880 To be honest, I think a lot of people out there haven't really been paying attention.
00:16:04.440 It's like they're not watching the game.
00:16:05.640 They just want to see the end score and the end score is kind of happening, at least on the House side this week.
00:16:10.740 So tell us kind of what's been going on.
00:16:13.720 Yeah.
00:16:15.340 Well, I was most involved in this process as a member of the Oversight Committee.
00:16:19.180 The committee that you came to testify in front of was actually the lead committee on the Republican side down in the classified rooms where we heard the witnesses the first time.
00:16:30.860 We like to call those the witness tryouts that, you know, Adam Schiff called witnesses.
00:16:37.880 And if they did good for him in the secret room, then he brought them out into the hearing and had them up there.
00:16:44.760 But I was down in the secret room with Jim Jordan and we were the ones initially asking the question.
00:16:48.960 So it wasn't even always possible to watch this process.
00:16:52.020 But now it's very public.
00:16:54.080 Today we're having the vote.
00:16:56.580 I just voted against the rules that the Democrats came up with here in the House to to hear the impeachment.
00:17:03.520 They're going to have like five hours of debate, maybe four hours, and then they're going to be done with it.
00:17:08.920 We're going to take a vote.
00:17:09.880 And the fact that they're moving this so quickly shows you that they're going backwards in public opinion.
00:17:17.380 And there there will be no Republicans, I will predict, who vote for impeachment.
00:17:22.180 That'll be the first time in history that you've ever had an impeachment that wasn't bipartisan.
00:17:26.960 But the opposition will be bipartisan.
00:17:29.820 There will be Democrats who vote with us today.
00:17:32.740 Now, I know some of those Democrats.
00:17:34.360 And so it's going to be interesting.
00:17:36.780 The gallery is full in the House of Representatives.
00:17:40.340 Typically, there are just a few tourists up there.
00:17:43.140 But now it's full.
00:17:44.180 The press boxes are full.
00:17:45.680 Everybody's got all their eyes on what's going on here.
00:17:49.360 Why do you think they've decided to go forward with impeachment?
00:17:52.720 Obviously, Republicans believe that there haven't been impeachable offenses, at least according to the articles of impeachment that they have filed.
00:18:00.940 What do you think the political calculation is that Nancy Pelosi finally did after saying for so long,
00:18:06.100 no, we're not doing impeachment?
00:18:07.480 What do you think the calculation is that made her say, you know what, this is going to be worth it going into 2020?
00:18:14.160 You know, people, they look at the leadership we choose up here, like John Boehner or Nancy Pelosi, and they have no understanding.
00:18:21.220 They're like, how do you pick those as your leaders?
00:18:23.100 I can tell you they didn't get there by accident.
00:18:26.080 Nancy Pelosi, and I wasn't even a big fan of John Boehner's, although I want a Republican speaker.
00:18:31.980 But both of them are very talented and very politically astute.
00:18:36.920 And that's how they get to be speaker.
00:18:39.480 And she knew and she's known from the beginning this is a bad political play and it's more likely than not to backfire on her.
00:18:47.180 So she tried to avoid it for the longest time and she eventually got pushed into it by her base.
00:18:53.940 They're also raising a lot of money off of this issue among their base.
00:18:58.740 But among moderates and independents, like moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats and independents,
00:19:05.520 and this is what Nancy Pelosi knew all along, this is why she tried to avoid impeachment.
00:19:10.060 Those independents and moderates are against impeachment for the most part, as almost every poll shows.
00:19:18.220 And so, you know, here's the silver lining, Ali Beth, of this.
00:19:22.300 It's been a waste of time, but the Democrats haven't been able, for instance, to advance their pro-abortion agenda here
00:19:30.900 because they've been spending so much time on impeachment.
00:19:33.560 And also the other silver lining is if this backfires on them at the ballot box, which I think it's going to,
00:19:40.460 and we may get a chance to get the House back, if it backfires on them,
00:19:44.300 maybe we can go another 20 or 30 years without another impeachment because, you know, the congressman,
00:19:51.900 whether they're Republicans or Democrats and whether it's Republican or Democrat in the White House,
00:19:56.300 will hopefully be somewhat reluctant to undergo such a political process again.
00:20:01.160 Right. So you don't think that this is going to be effective PR for them.
00:20:05.800 To me, I think that's kind of what they're banking on, that there's a lot of people that maybe they aren't paying attention
00:20:10.800 to the impeachment thing right now.
00:20:12.280 Maybe they're only going to tune in when they're trying to figure out who to vote for, Republican or Democrat.
00:20:17.440 And then they just hear, oh, wait, Donald Trump was impeached.
00:20:21.380 I'm not going to vote for a guy that was impeached.
00:20:23.460 Like impeachment's pretty bad, right?
00:20:25.060 And so I think they may be betting on that being an effective strategy to get some people that aren't paying attention right now.
00:20:32.860 Do you think that that could work for them?
00:20:35.080 I mean, that's some of them have stated that they've said we've got to impeach him.
00:20:39.760 Otherwise, he might win his reelection.
00:20:42.020 But I don't think Nancy Pelosi believes that you can see how reluctant she's been.
00:20:46.980 And when people go to the ballot box to vote for a congressman, it's good.
00:20:52.900 And really, in a presidential year, they're mostly voting for president.
00:20:56.960 He's at the or her is at the top of the ticket.
00:20:59.800 And then the congressmen are below that.
00:21:02.500 And when they go vote, they're going to the ones who vote for Donald Trump aren't going to go down the next line
00:21:09.620 and vote for somebody who tried to remove Donald Trump.
00:21:12.660 Yeah.
00:21:12.800 So I really think it's going to be consequential at the ballot box.
00:21:16.060 And by the way, you know, a lot of people are saying some of these Democrats who are going to vote against impeachment
00:21:21.060 are just doing it for electoral reasons.
00:21:23.460 I believe there are a lot of Democrats who don't think we should be impeaching this president
00:21:28.720 on such flimsy evidence and flimsy articles of impeachment.
00:21:32.840 How is it that the views on this are so disparate?
00:21:37.300 They are so far apart.
00:21:38.700 If you go to Twitter, you click on the hashtag impeachment day or whatever it is,
00:21:43.040 you see all of these people saying, oh, yes, Trump has done all of these very impeachable things.
00:21:48.700 And they are so resolute that this is absolutely the way of integrity and the way to go.
00:21:53.580 And then you've got the other side who says, oh, my gosh, this is the sham.
00:21:56.160 This is flimsy.
00:21:56.920 This is a joke.
00:21:57.800 And most people looking at that, they're like, what the heck?
00:22:00.120 How am I supposed to figure out what's actually true?
00:22:03.320 How is it that we are so polarized on this particular issue?
00:22:06.740 You know, at Twitter, you're always going to get a polarization there.
00:22:11.660 I call it a dumpster fire.
00:22:13.540 If I weren't an elected member of Congress, I probably wouldn't have a Twitter account.
00:22:18.060 Yeah.
00:22:18.400 But I think if you go look and talk to your neighbor, I think what you'll find is not everybody
00:22:25.700 posts on Twitter, but a lot of people watch Twitter.
00:22:30.140 Yeah.
00:22:30.560 And they've got the same questions as you.
00:22:32.520 Like, they're like, you know, I kind of don't like what he did, but I don't think you should
00:22:37.140 be impeached over something like this.
00:22:40.000 It's basically a disagreement.
00:22:41.800 Like, you'll find a lot of people in the middle there that aren't on Twitter or Facebook just
00:22:47.540 like screaming at each other.
00:22:49.700 And those are the ones who I think are going to be influenced and actually decide the results
00:22:54.700 of the next presidential and congressional and Senate elections.
00:22:58.180 Yeah, I think you're right.
00:22:59.300 Okay, let's talk about this spending bill.
00:23:03.080 I've seen some things that you've said on Twitter about this.
00:23:06.220 Okay, if people are listening and they can't see your reaction, he just put his face in
00:23:10.300 his hands.
00:23:10.840 He doesn't look happy about this at all.
00:23:13.120 Tell us.
00:23:13.940 Oh my gosh.
00:23:15.260 You have to, y'all have to watch this on YouTube.
00:23:17.000 He's got the spending bill in front of him.
00:23:19.500 Okay.
00:23:19.980 So this is like one of the bills we vote on last week.
00:23:23.240 Um, our printer quit working after 2000 pages and it said, turn me off and turn me back
00:23:31.280 on in 30 minutes and maybe I will work for you.
00:23:34.160 Um, is that how you felt to print this thing?
00:23:37.040 That's probably how you felt too.
00:23:38.540 I'm just kidding.
00:23:39.120 Yes, this is how I feel exactly.
00:23:41.880 Um, and so this, that was last week's, uh, defense authorization.
00:23:47.120 Uh, yesterday we passed an omnibus that was over 2000 pages together and it had stuff,
00:23:55.060 you know, it had things sprinkled in there that a lot of members of Congress are just
00:24:00.180 now finding out about, even though they've already voted for or against the bill.
00:24:04.100 By the way, it's the biggest spending bill, um, ever in the, in the, like I, I pointed
00:24:11.900 this out on Twitter and you know, I know I've just disparaged Twitter, but, uh, I pointed
00:24:16.980 this out on Twitter that the Democrats a day after they give this president more spending
00:24:24.660 authority than any ruler in the history of human civilization, the day after they give
00:24:31.860 him all that money to do all these things, they're going to vote to impeach him because
00:24:35.360 they say he's abusing his power.
00:24:37.580 Like there's some irony in there and maybe a little bit of hypocrisy.
00:24:41.980 Yes.
00:24:42.900 Okay.
00:24:43.680 What else, what else is in the bill?
00:24:45.740 Cause I agree with that.
00:24:46.800 And I saw you say that on Fox and I thought that was a great point, but there's another,
00:24:50.580 there's another thing.
00:24:51.760 Um, the tobacco, the being able to buy tobacco, right?
00:24:56.180 The age raised until, uh, to 21 from 18 to 21.
00:25:00.040 What do you think about that?
00:25:01.900 So, yeah, I was frankly appalled.
00:25:05.500 Now I don't want my kids to smoke.
00:25:08.520 I have adult children who are in those eight age ranges.
00:25:11.640 Yes.
00:25:12.140 And I'm not going to say whether they smoke or not, but I don't want them to smoke.
00:25:16.740 But if you're old enough to go in the military and die for our country, if you're old enough
00:25:22.460 to vote, and by the way, some Democrats want to lower the voting age.
00:25:26.200 Yeah.
00:25:26.480 But if you're old enough to make those decisions, then you should be old enough to decide whether
00:25:31.380 you want to buy and use tobacco and tobacco products or not.
00:25:36.680 And even if you, you know, the people watching this video, I think there should be a ban on,
00:25:43.940 um, on tobacco products.
00:25:46.940 It should be a state law.
00:25:49.060 There's nothing in the constitution that really gives us the authority to do that.
00:25:53.460 The person you're hurting, if you're using tobacco, is yourself.
00:25:57.880 And so I don't think it's, you know, the government's job to protect us from ourselves.
00:26:02.920 How did that happen?
00:26:04.220 Who, who is supporting this and what's their reasoning behind it?
00:26:07.480 You know, I, I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but this is the absolute truth.
00:26:14.180 The tobacco lobby supported it because they're getting sort of a black eye for the vaping
00:26:20.620 flavors.
00:26:21.740 Gotcha.
00:26:22.740 Interesting.
00:26:23.220 Yeah.
00:26:24.380 So what this does is it gives them some cover, by the way, I'm from Kentucky.
00:26:29.300 I'll get in all sorts of trouble.
00:26:30.880 You know, we're one of the biggest tobacco producers in the country, but I mean, maybe
00:26:35.460 the tobacco lobbyists won't be mad at me for telling you this and maybe they will, but it's
00:26:40.220 the honest truth.
00:26:41.780 Uh, it was introduced into this bill by Senator McConnell, who's from Kentucky, uh, and the tobacco
00:26:47.760 folks want it in there.
00:26:49.680 I think because they've taken such a hit, uh, in the public for the vaping flavors, they
00:26:54.840 thought, well, let's do something.
00:26:56.960 And so the thing they they're doing is to ban tobacco for people under the age of 21 at
00:27:03.600 the federal level.
00:27:05.220 And it, you know, I've read this thing and I've read it over and I'm reading it again.
00:27:09.580 And I'm not sure if it bans vaping products or not for people under the age of 21.
00:27:15.200 I think it can be interpreted that way because the FDA eventually makes the definitions and
00:27:22.680 the rules.
00:27:24.420 Interesting.
00:27:25.340 That's really interesting.
00:27:26.200 I'm sure that there are a lot of people listening to this who know someone who vapes, maybe even
00:27:31.100 if they do have adult children or teenage children, their kids vape.
00:27:34.480 I am kind of completely unaware and ignorant to all of that.
00:27:38.260 I just know it's a problem.
00:27:39.200 I see those viral posts on Facebook of someone whose kid was sent to the hospital.
00:27:43.780 And I obviously think it's, it's terrible, but I agree with you that this should be a
00:27:48.000 state issue and that the federal government doesn't really have this kind of authority
00:27:52.200 when it comes to raising the age.
00:27:54.320 Um, okay.
00:27:54.740 Here's a question that I have for you.
00:27:56.420 Yeah.
00:27:56.860 Is there a fiscally responsible party on Capitol Hill?
00:28:01.120 That's the question that I have been seeing circulate on social media, um, in regards to this
00:28:07.540 bill.
00:28:07.840 Is there a party who cares about fiscal responsibility?
00:28:10.460 That party is not in Washington, D.C.
00:28:14.520 Gotcha.
00:28:15.640 And that's, that's sort of my reputation for better or worse.
00:28:20.180 I will call out Republicans and Democrats when they campaign on one thing and do something
00:28:25.160 else.
00:28:26.020 And the thing that I haven't told you yet is the omnibus bill that passed yesterday.
00:28:32.040 It passed with a lot of Republican votes.
00:28:34.460 In fact, it passed with two, more than two thirds of Congress voting for it.
00:28:39.740 So it's a veto proof majority.
00:28:42.520 Now the president wouldn't likely veto this bill because frankly, it's got a lot of things
00:28:47.960 that he wants in it.
00:28:49.280 Like the border wall.
00:28:50.980 What's that?
00:28:51.780 Like funding for the border wall, correct?
00:28:53.900 Yeah.
00:28:54.080 There's a one and a half billion funding for the border wall, the NDAA that was, uh, that's
00:29:00.000 funded by the omnibus, but the NDA is a separate bill we passed last week.
00:29:04.020 It's got space force in there.
00:29:05.920 It's got a raise for the military, three, 3% raise for the military.
00:29:10.560 And, um, so there are a lot of the president's agendas that are in these last minute bills
00:29:15.320 that are coming through and he probably wouldn't veto it anyway.
00:29:19.100 Um, but what disappoints me is the number of Republicans who voted for it.
00:29:25.360 And it's difficult, honestly, to vote against it because then you open yourself up to the
00:29:30.900 accusation that, oh, you don't care about our military because this had a pay raise for
00:29:35.460 the military.
00:29:36.380 Even if that part of the bill was like 0.0001% of the bill and should have been a separate
00:29:41.620 bill to vote on anyway, you'll still get criticism for that.
00:29:44.900 And that's what makes it tough here in Washington DC to be a fiscal conservative.
00:29:50.240 They put more things in the bill and, and more or less dare you to vote against it.
00:29:56.760 I've heard people say, you know, the president should have a line item veto and the president
00:30:02.240 has asked for a line item veto.
00:30:04.900 And, you know, I think that could help things, but here's the problem.
00:30:09.320 The Supreme court already ruled the line item veto unconstitutional.
00:30:12.920 With what the president wouldn't need a line item veto to exercise his discretion.
00:30:20.120 If we would pass these bills as separate bills instead of one big giant bill, if we would
00:30:25.620 pass them as we're supposed to as 12 separate bills, then the president could say, you know
00:30:30.300 what?
00:30:30.560 I like the border wall that's in this bill.
00:30:33.200 And so I'm going to, I'll sign this one.
00:30:35.440 But this other bill has funding for Planned Parenthood.
00:30:39.260 And so I'm not going to sign that one that would give the president the ability.
00:30:43.960 And frankly, it'd be a more responsible way for Congress to use the power of the purse instead
00:30:48.940 of throwing all these bills into one giant bill.
00:30:51.520 Is that ever a possibility that we could get there rather than these omnibus bills?
00:30:56.240 It's a possibility.
00:30:57.560 The last time we passed 12 separate appropriations bills was in the 1990s.
00:31:03.640 And what happened is they would they would get like maybe eight of the 12 passed and then
00:31:07.940 they would do an omnibus for the last four.
00:31:10.500 And then they might get only four of them passed and they would do an omnibus for the last eight.
00:31:15.680 And then now what we've devolved into is not just an omnibus for 12 bills.
00:31:19.520 But now that the omnibus has to pass, it's a vehicle to stick stuff in there that you want.
00:31:26.880 You know, Ali Beth, I just remembered this when I first got elected to Congress in 2012.
00:31:32.120 There was an NDAA that expanded abortion coverage for members of the military.
00:31:40.280 And my staff found it.
00:31:43.200 It was one of those bills where you just had like, you know, less than 24 hours to read it.
00:31:46.940 That's the other problem with these giant bills.
00:31:48.600 You can't read it.
00:31:49.580 Right.
00:31:49.780 And my staff found that provision in there.
00:31:52.580 And, you know, it was in special circumstances, rape, incest, life of the mother.
00:31:58.000 They say the military, if you have military health care, it will cover your abortion.
00:32:03.080 Now, this is it seems to me like a violation of some of the restrictions, you know, the Hyde Amendment.
00:32:11.240 That's what I was about to ask.
00:32:12.480 Right.
00:32:12.720 But they decided it wasn't and they put it in the NDAA in 2012.
00:32:17.880 And I tried to at the last second, because there wasn't much time to alert people to this.
00:32:23.000 I tried to rally some of the groups, but they just didn't have time to rally.
00:32:28.040 And it became law.
00:32:29.840 It's part of the law now.
00:32:31.160 And that's the problem with these big, giant bills.
00:32:33.240 And if you guys don't have enough time and not every congressperson is aware of the bills that they are signing, we can bet that the majority of the American people have no idea what is being written into law.
00:32:49.240 And that's a huge problem.
00:32:50.380 That's why they do this.
00:32:52.740 That is exactly why they do this.
00:32:55.000 I'm under no illusion that if you gave some of these members of Congress 100 days, would they even read a three page bill?
00:33:01.560 Yeah.
00:33:01.760 OK, but their constituents could read it because it's online.
00:33:06.540 I mean, this is different than it was 20 years ago.
00:33:09.500 You can get all these bills online.
00:33:11.780 Constituents and groups that care about these things could comb through the bills and then call up their congresspeople and say, hey, don't vote for this.
00:33:21.420 You represent me.
00:33:22.920 But that's what they're short circuiting when they give us less than 24 hours to vote on a bill after we see the language.
00:33:29.280 They're not just short circuiting a member or a member staff's ability to read the bill.
00:33:33.620 They're making sure you all don't get to read the bill and give us a phone call.
00:33:37.900 So who and how could we change this?
00:33:41.680 Who would be responsible for changing this process, maybe splitting up the bill, like you said, for more transparency?
00:33:49.020 And what can what can we do?
00:33:50.900 What can we do as the American people to hold you guys accountable to try to to change the process?
00:33:57.560 It's it's hard to get people to care about process.
00:34:00.820 At the end of the day, they're just looking at the big fight and they say, Republicans, you need to try harder.
00:34:06.440 And what they don't realize is the game is so rigged that doesn't matter how hard Republicans try, whether in the majority or the minority.
00:34:14.080 If you put all these bills together, it's not going to work.
00:34:16.580 So I would say call your congressperson and your two senators.
00:34:20.660 And this is like a little piece of advice I'd like to give you, not just on these issues, but other issues.
00:34:27.020 Before I got elected, I always wondered what was the best way to to get a message to my congressman and my two senators.
00:34:35.040 And I thought, like, if I wrote a letter and heck, maybe if I take a long time and write it in cursive and show I really care that that would have the biggest impact.
00:34:43.580 But in fact, I don't believe that's true now that I'm elected.
00:34:46.880 I believe phone calls are the most effective way because, number one, they're quicker.
00:34:53.080 Number two, it takes less of your time.
00:34:55.000 But most importantly, a congressman's staff has to answer those phone calls.
00:35:01.680 And I've been on the floor voting and I'll turn to another member of Congress and I'll say, are you voting yes or no?
00:35:07.520 And they will say, I don't know.
00:35:09.460 I got a lot of phone calls on this one.
00:35:11.740 I might vote yes.
00:35:13.040 How many phone calls did you get?
00:35:15.060 Yeah.
00:35:15.280 They don't ask me how many faxes or letters or emails.
00:35:18.420 They want to know how many phone calls.
00:35:20.140 I think it's more direct and personal.
00:35:21.600 So that's the thing you can do.
00:35:23.860 Be polite and be brief and maybe call every month or so.
00:35:28.360 Don't call every day.
00:35:29.740 Don't call once a year.
00:35:31.620 We have what we call frequent flyers here that, like, try to call twice a day.
00:35:36.640 Wow.
00:35:36.940 And the other thing is don't call another congressman.
00:35:40.580 Like, don't call.
00:35:41.660 That's not your congressman.
00:35:43.660 Yeah, because the staff might be polite, but they're not going to write down what you're saying.
00:35:48.640 Yeah, because they're not representing you.
00:35:50.020 Yeah, and you can't be mad at a congressman in California if you live in Kentucky because they don't vote the way you want.
00:35:58.200 I mean, they work for somebody else, frankly.
00:36:00.660 So everybody has one U.S. representative and two U.S. senators.
00:36:05.560 So just make three phone calls.
00:36:07.300 It's not that hard.
00:36:09.300 That's good, practical advice.
00:36:11.120 I appreciate that.
00:36:12.220 I have one last question, and I don't think I've ever asked a congressperson this.
00:36:16.640 Do you like your job?
00:36:20.020 Oh, gosh.
00:36:22.840 Whoa, do I have a deer in the headlights look?
00:36:25.220 Do you enjoy the day-to-day of your job?
00:36:28.100 It just seems like there's constantly so much going on.
00:36:30.640 There's no way that you guys can get sleep.
00:36:33.360 Can I tell you the best parts and the worst parts?
00:36:35.820 Yes.
00:36:36.940 Okay.
00:36:37.280 The worst parts are raising money, particularly if you're conservative.
00:36:43.940 You don't like to beg.
00:36:45.640 And so that's not a fun thing to ask for money.
00:36:48.640 And you can't win based on your good looks.
00:36:51.220 Like, that's obvious if you just look at these people in Congress, myself included.
00:36:55.300 And so this, but the really the worst part of the job is being away from my family four
00:37:01.740 days a week.
00:37:02.660 Yeah.
00:37:03.120 I go, yeah, I go back to Kentucky every weekend.
00:37:06.620 In seven years, I've only spent two weekends in Washington, D.C.
00:37:09.720 Wow.
00:37:10.600 So being away from family is the hardest part.
00:37:13.080 The honestly, the best part is when people thank you for giving them hope.
00:37:20.380 Mm-hmm.
00:37:22.140 When you stand up for something here and you're really disliked here, it's very difficult.
00:37:29.340 People will stare at you like they're, they have lasers in their eyes, like your colleagues.
00:37:33.640 Yeah.
00:37:33.900 And these are the people you're supposed to be having dinner with that evening.
00:37:36.660 And they're so mad at you, they would, you know, they would stare a hole through you.
00:37:41.260 And, but when you go back home and people thank you, that's rewarding.
00:37:45.280 It's also, I mean, this, I'll just admit this.
00:37:49.300 When I put my voting card in the machine and cast a ballot on every issue for 750,000 people,
00:37:57.640 it's a, it's a big responsibility, but I consider it a great honor.
00:38:01.960 Mm-hmm.
00:38:03.040 And I try never to forget that vote is for the people I represent.
00:38:07.820 It's not my voting card that I'm using.
00:38:09.540 It's really their voting card loan to me.
00:38:11.580 And that's the, actually the, the funnest part of being a congressman is casting that
00:38:17.260 vote.
00:38:17.620 Like, um, in addition to like all the people you meet in the places, the factories you
00:38:23.780 get to visit and the schools and stuff, that's, that's fun too.
00:38:27.360 That's a good answer.
00:38:28.580 Thank you.
00:38:29.220 Thank you for indulging me.
00:38:30.260 I just wondered, you guys have a big job, a stressful job, an exhausting job, and it's
00:38:36.780 obviously an honor to do it, but sometimes I'm like, but do you guys really enjoy it?
00:38:41.220 But you gave me, you gave me a good answer.
00:38:43.080 So I appreciate that.
00:38:44.180 And thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with us.
00:38:48.580 Thanks for having me on your show.
00:38:50.260 And thank you also for coming and being the lone witness, um, in a very hostile hearing
00:38:56.640 with many, um, hostile congressmen.
00:38:59.900 You know, it's one thing to sign up for this job and run for office.
00:39:04.880 It's another thing for you to, to volunteer and come be a witness.
00:39:09.420 Um, and, and, and, you know, swear an oath there in front of people and you, you didn't
00:39:14.880 let us down.
00:39:15.440 And so thank you so much.
00:39:16.700 You're always welcome in our oversight committee and all the committees here.
00:39:20.880 I appreciate that very much.
00:39:22.180 Thank you for, for what you do and for what you fight for.
00:39:25.240 Thanks, Ali Beth.