A new poll puts Ron DeSantis in 5th place in the Republican primary race behind President Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and Chris Christie. Merrick Garland takes a beating from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.
00:14:55.700Frankly, at this point, I am more concerned about the policy riders because the Senate is going to bring back a much larger figure in any case,
00:15:05.240and we're going to have to set down markers with the Senate that we are not going to budge either on the policy positions,
00:15:13.480the policy riders, or on the amount because I will tell you we must go back to pre-COVID levels of budgeting.
00:15:22.400We have had blowout years since COVID.
00:15:26.680These numbers are so inflated, we could probably cut 20 percent and not even miss it.
00:15:32.780Now, the administration will make any shutdown, any temporary pause in non-essential services as difficult, as painful as possible,
00:15:40.940but we have got to go back to pre-COVID levels because we are blowing through a trillion dollars every few months.
00:15:47.900We're looking at a Federal Reserve that is still got eight and a half trillion dollars on its balance sheet.
00:15:54.600We're looking at a Federal Reserve who's driving up the price of money through the discount rate.
00:15:59.620We're looking at almost all-time high levels of yields for the past 40 years, certainly.
00:16:08.560In the bond market, we are looking at punitive consequences here if the fiscal policy of this country isn't brought in order.
00:16:20.460And I frankly, no matter the best of intentions, and I know, Congressman, that you have the best of intentions,
00:16:27.640and I believe that most of your conference does,
00:16:29.800but I don't see how in the world we survive the Biden administration when they can come up with $1.7 billion omnibus bills
00:16:39.300with the leadership of the Republican leadership of the Senate, cutting deals there.
00:16:45.060Your speaker comes away with what we thought would be a terrible $2 trillion budget gap.
00:16:53.280He permits Biden to have a $4 trillion gap.
00:16:56.920The leadership of your party is out of its mind.
00:17:02.300Lou, I want to point to what I'm calling TNT.
00:17:53.980I think everyone would agree with that.
00:17:56.120And after Obamacare, 60 Democrats lost their seat in the House of Representatives.
00:18:01.260I don't see that same commitment in the Republican conference today.
00:18:05.100And the conference itself right now, we learned that Zelensky's meeting was Speaker McCarthy.
00:18:13.000This is after the Speaker denied his request to speak before a joint session at Congress.
00:18:19.660Who knows what your Speaker is going to do?
00:18:23.240And there is talk emanating from the Republicans in the Senate that your Speaker will unite with the Marxist Dems if necessary to move through a budget.
00:18:38.660Well, there's a small group of our conference that has said at a microphone that they will join the Democrats to pass a clean CR.
00:18:47.580To me, they effectively leave the Republican Party, and I think that we need to be thinking about how we replace them in vulnerable Democrat seats for the next election because that is unthinkable.
00:19:23.040I think that, first of all, I want to say amen, brother, because you're exactly right.
00:19:29.560And God bless you for taking that position.
00:19:33.680And I don't understand why somebody doesn't say that in leadership, that if you do step aside from the conference, that you're out of it.
00:19:42.280Not only the conference, but the party.
00:19:43.740But the leadership is so weak-kneed and spineless and unprincipled that I don't know how you extricate the country from what is the problem of the fractured Republican Party.
00:19:58.400Were it unified on the issues and the values, we could have, in prospect, prosperity, peace, or even a defense bill.
00:20:47.400But frankly, I think the people were going to have to speak to this issue before it's resolved, not the politicians in Washington.
00:20:55.560We're talking with Congressman Keith Self.
00:20:58.060We're coming right back after this quick message, and when we return, we'll be talking about the Congressman view of what is the solution and what will happen over the next eight days.
00:21:17.760We're joined by Congressman Keith Self.
00:21:19.820It is so nice to hear a voice of reason and principle, and you're thinking for a conference that desperately needs your thinking.
00:21:30.760Give us your sense of what you think the next steps are and what will happen, not what should, but what you think will happen.
00:21:37.780I honestly don't know, Lou, but I will tell you I heard the green shoots of desperation last night in the conference that we must start passing bills.
00:21:48.220Well, that may have been in danger during our vote this morning, and I understand that.
00:21:54.600But I think that's what causes people to put aside their differences and say we've got to do something.
00:22:01.080And I think passing bills is our strongest position with the Senate.
00:22:06.740Our conference is starved for leadership.
00:22:11.860But last night in conference, I heard some people step up and start giving leadership points.
00:22:18.220And, frankly, my military background tells me that in times of danger, in times of intense danger, unexpected leaders do step forward.
00:22:28.360They do start offering leadership because the survival of the unit depends on it.
00:22:33.660And I started to see those green shoots last night, and I hope that those are encouraged.
00:22:38.260And, frankly, I want to see some people step forward and provide that leadership to our conference that we need because we are starved for it.
00:22:53.040But, again, I was encouraged last night because we need that leadership.
00:22:58.900People that have been here, that they've been through the trenches, they understand just how desperate our situation is.
00:23:05.380So, as I look at what's going on in this conference, and I harken back to the mid-'90s with Newt Gingrich when he was Speaker,
00:23:17.440and much came from that rebellion, 2010, a small rebellion, but poorly managed, and some of it was astroturf, despite what some of the Tea Party organizations said.
00:23:31.460They became basically the property of the Republican establishment party.
00:23:36.660I personally do not see a way forward if you continue to fund the Biden administration.
00:23:48.020I'd like you to tell me what's wrong with it.
00:23:50.380The Biden administration is thoroughly and pervasively corrupt throughout the entire federal government.
00:23:55.540They have turned every policy choice that they've made against the United States and Americans.
00:24:02.600And to not meet them through the investigative committees as well as standing your ground on financing more madness from the Marxists, I don't know where you go, irrespective of leadership.