SKUNK IN THE SWAMP
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Summary
Speaker McCarthy has betrayed the conservative wing of his party, independents, and the American people. Paul Ryan s hand-picked successor has aligned himself and the Republican majority with Marxist Dems and their brutal anti-America agenda. We ll get his take on what is next for McCarthy and the Freedom Caucus.
Transcript
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First Republic, PacWest, Silicon Valley Bank, just a few of the latest casualties in the banking
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crisis. Don't wait for the email reading, sorry, your account has been frozen. Your accounts aren't
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safe. Call American Alternative Assets at 866-3USA-GOLD to claim your free gold and silver
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guide today. Once again, call now, 866-387-2465. Hello everybody, I'm Lou Dobbs and this is The
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Great America Show. Welcome, great to have you with us. Speaker McCarthy has betrayed the conservative
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wing of his party, independents, and the American people. And rhino Paul Ryan's hand-picked successor
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aligned himself and the rhino majority of the House Republicans with the Marxist Dems and their
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brutal anti-America agenda. Yesterday, it wasn't just a reversal of fortune for the Republican Party.
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Take a listen to McCarthy on Fox News when asked about getting the budget through without those
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conservative members vote. How do you get this done without those 35 votes? Oh, we'll get it done
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overwhelmingly. Look, people have different opinions. Before this, I had 17 Republicans who have never
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voted for a debt ceiling, period. To govern is not easy, but I don't want to be on the wrong side
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of history. Every single one of those members who vote no will miss the opportunity to vote for the
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largest cut in American history. Can you get it done without them? Oh yeah, we'll get it done without
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them. That's not a problem. You'll get enough Democrats to come on board? Look, the president
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came to an agreement. I think from that point is that we found every time you've ever had two
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agreements made like that. Both sides come together. What happens as one of the other side comes on,
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some people will fall off because they think it's a free vote that way. Paul Ryan's successor revealed
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himself for exactly the rhino fraud he was thought to be by most of the conference and possessed precisely
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the same light level of talent and character. In just a few moments, our guest is one of the Republican
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leaders who McCarthy betrayed. Congressman Scott Perry, head of the Freedom Caucus, joining us today.
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We'll get his take on what is next for McCarthy and the Freedom Caucus and the Republican Party itself.
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Just how much damage has McCarthy and the RINOs done to the GOP and their investigations of the Biden
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regime? Let's turn now to Chairman James Comer's investigation into the Biden crime family.
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Comer has started the formal procedure to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress
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for blatantly defying the House Oversight Committee's subpoena for documents held by the FBI.
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Those documents are confidential whistleblower complaints regarding the Biden crime family that
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Wray is refusing to turn over. Wray's corruption has been on display, of course, throughout the
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political persecution of President Trump for years. Now Wray is obviously protecting this corrupt
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Biden White House. Biden's Attorney General has ordered up another politically motivated investigation
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that is outright electoral interference by the Justice Department and FBI. It's an investigation of
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West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, who is running for Senate against Marxist Dem, an essential swing vote in
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the Senate, Joe Manchin. Garland has filed a civil complaint against the Justice family with regard to
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their family coal empire. The family has more than a dozen coal businesses that are run by Jim's son,
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Jay Justice. Biden has turned the full force of the federal government against the Justice family,
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citing repeated violations of the law, as they put it, and the DOJ is seeking penalties that they are owed
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as a result of those violations. Dirty, crooked politics as only the Biden regime can play.
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Let's go to our guest now. Joining us is the leader of the Freedom Caucus and a great congressman,
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a great American, Congressman Scott Perry. Congressman, good to have you with us here on the Great America
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Show. Thanks for being with us on what I know is a tough and very busy day for you and your colleagues.
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We're delighted to have you with us. Well, Lou, thanks for giving me the opportunity and thanks
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for bringing the truth to America, because let's face it, you can't count on too many other folks
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to do that for you. Well, thank you for that. I appreciate it. The Freedom Caucus, again, at the
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forefront of bringing reason and principle and responsibility to our federal government. I frankly
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don't know, and I'm not in any way, as you know, I'm pretty straightforward. Without you and your
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caucus and those members, I don't know where we'd be in this Congress. Well, look, we call ourselves
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and consider ourselves to be the conscience of the Republican conference. Our mission, among other
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things, you know, including speaking on behalf of the millions of Americans that Americans that feel
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like Washington, D.C. has left them behind and doesn't speak for them. You know, our job is to
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make sure that Republicans kind of do what they said they were going to do when they campaigned.
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And we do that by showing the way, by voting that way, by talking that way. And quite honestly,
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at times, it's necessary making sure that we show the difference between those who not only say they're
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going to do it, but those of us that do do it. And so it's really not all that hard. All you do is
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just do what you said you were going to do. Well, it seems to be a little difficult for Speaker
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McCarthy. He has said that the debt ceiling, by the way, the debt ceiling deal, as he calls it,
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offers the biggest, biggest budget cut in American history. Your thoughts?
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Well, the bar is pretty low, Lou. Just remember that there probably haven't been any budget cuts
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in any of these other ones. So if we cut $1, that would be the biggest, maybe. But even at this,
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and I think, look, on the best day, this is, I think, $12 billion. But understand, as you do,
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Lou, the other end of the arrangement is a wide open blank check to unlimited spending for essentially
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two years under the Biden administration. That's the tradeoff. So you can say, well, look, we saved
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$12 billion, or, you know, they're out there talking about $2.1 trillion, which is quite honestly
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a farce, and I can explain that to you. But what we know for sure is that there's an unlimited blank
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check written for essentially 20 to 24 months right now. And that's probably going to total around
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$4 trillion or north of that. And north of that, and to make this very clear for our audience,
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there is no debt ceiling as of right, as of the moment this is approved by the House and the Senate
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and sent over to the back to the president. There is no limit. McCarthy goes over to negotiate a debt
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ceiling, and he walks out without even the nomenclature. There's no longer a debt ceiling.
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It's wide open. We talk $4 trillion as we go through these numbers, and I understand that.
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But theoretically, it could be $40 trillion. And based on his rate of spending so far,
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two and a half years in his administration, that shouldn't shock anybody.
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Yeah, the number is shocking. But the fact that the administration is doing it shouldn't be a
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surprise. And unfortunately, you know, look, this is the Washington, this is the swamp. This is the
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Uniparty getting together, telling us this is the best deal we could get. It's either this or
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something that's worse. They always tell us that too. And it's unlimited spending. Remember that
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President Biden said, I'm not going to negotiate. And I want, you know, a clean debt ceiling.
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I will tell you this, while people will say Democrats didn't get anything out of this,
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I will say they got two things. First of all, they didn't lose one thing that they have. Remember,
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they've been in charge, and they've been spending like crazy trillions upon trillions of dollars.
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So they didn't lose any of the policies. And now they get to continue to spend trillions of trillions
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of dollars. So while they didn't get anything, I would say, I don't know, it's not facetious,
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and it's not trying to be sarcastic. They have four trillion reasons to vote for this bill right
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now. Without question. And also, if they decide they want to take a holiday in la-la land with
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more spending, they can raise the ante. They could double that spending over the course of that
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lifting, that suspension of the debt ceiling without, there wouldn't be any way to stop him.
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And the caucus, the Freedom Caucus is promising that there will be a reckoning here
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over this deal. What, is it possible now to constrain it all as a result of this, if this happens?
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I can't personally see, Congressman, any way that there is a countervailing force opposing Biden,
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his Marxist-dem policies. I just can't see any way in the world to slow him down.
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Well, look, that's what we're grappling with right now. Ever since the first of the year,
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I think a lot of Republicans, conservatives, you know, just regular Americans that think that the
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country's way off the rails have been at least inspired a little bit or excited to see that
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something in Washington was happening other than the norm and that the Uniparty and the swamp wasn't
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winning every single victory. Unfortunately, with this deal, that paradigm has been broken.
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So we're going to have to go back to the drawing board and see where we stand. Are we going to go
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back to the coalition where the Freedom Caucus was involved and we were getting conservative policy
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victories and at least out of the House? You know, we can't control the Senate, certainly can't
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control Biden, but we can control what we push out. Or is the new coalition, the leadership in the
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House and and Hakeem Jeffries and, you know, the members of the Democrat Party and the minority over
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here, is that the new coalition? And we're going to see the size of that coalition likely later this
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afternoon or this evening when this bill comes to the floor.
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I was going to ask you about exactly that issue, which is, is the is the Republican conference now
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the Republican Dem conference and the conservatives and moderate Republicans move to the side?
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Boy, I sure hope not. I wouldn't say that we had a perfect thing going. It was a lot of work.
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There was a lot of oftentimes tense conversations and sometimes some hurt feelings. But over the last
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couple of months, just remember, we passed a historic border bill and and we passed a very
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conservative, even even by any by any standards, certainly by the standards. Now, we passed the most
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conservative debt ceiling bill with conservatives, moderates and liberal Republicans. That was a recipe
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for success. We were all working together. But if they're just going to throw the the right flank
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overboard and and choose to go to Democrats immediately without even trying, boy, we are in a
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tough we're in a tough spot for the next year and a half or the remainder of the Biden administration,
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Do you think that that McCarthy had that in mind during those 15 rounds of votes for the
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speakers? Do you think he had already made a deal with and I'm not saying explicitly, but at least
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implicitly with the with the White House and the Democrats that if push came to shove, he was ready,
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willing and available to be not only a rhino, but a a Marxist, dim collaborator.
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Look, I've known Kevin McCarthy for a long time, and I wish he would be more conservative from a
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foundational standpoint. Certainly, I think his district would support it. But I don't think
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he's he's that I think he's more of a, you know, he likes to put an agreement together. It's not
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necessarily conservative foundationally, but it's an agreement. He, you know, he sees he's he I would
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think he would consider himself more pragmatic. And, you know, these are the these are the
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circumstances you have to work within. And certainly, I don't think he could he would
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believe that he could have been speaker immediately going over to the White House or Kim Jeffries and
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the Democrats that that that there was no path for that to happen for him or anybody else, nor should
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there be on the Republican side. If you're going to do that, just go be a Democrat and be honest with
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the with yourself and the rest of the world. So but look, Lou, as you know, and you've been around
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this, this exercise for some time, there's a lot of people that come to Washington with the best of
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intentions. And some take three months, some take three years, but it consumes a whole lot of people
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that just find some way to say, you know, well, I just got to get in line here with what happens here
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and to be productive and to be successful or something. They rationalize their actions and
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they don't they don't they no longer see the distress, the abject distress that our country's
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in. And in this case, look, we're obviously already economically in horrific peril. We have to borrow
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money just to pay our bills. I mean, essentially, you could already say we're in default under those
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circumstances and to not to not recognize that peril and to add, you know, we're 32, just short of 32
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trillion dollars in debt right now. And to know in two years, we're going to be at 36 trillion dollars
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because of this deal. And everything is off the table. All of our leverage with the president is now
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gone for the remainder of his term. It is stunning to me that we would make this deal.
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It is. It is stunning. And when we come back, we're talking with Congressman Scott Perry, the head of
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the Freedom Caucus. We're talking about well, we're talking about a country that's spending a government
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that's spending 100 billion dollars of a month on interest only. And yes, guess what? This
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administration may have a clear path to spending zillions more. We're talking again with Scott Perry,
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Congressman Scott Perry, the head of the Freedom Caucus. Please stay with us. We'll be right back.
00:14:59.060
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silver guide today. Once again, call now 866-387-2465. We're back with Congressman Scott Perry. And
00:16:21.820
Congressman, again, I want to thank you for your time on what I know is a very busy day. Give us all
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a sense of what you think the odds are. You've got two votes still here today as we're speaking
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on rules. The whole floor will be voting on the rules. And tonight, the deal itself, your set of
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odds on it. Look, I know that there's going to be votes against the rule from the Republican
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Conference. And of course, that is legislative combat. That's seen as strictly out of bounds for
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the party in charge to vote against their own rule. But if you're opposed to this agreement, as I am,
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and vehemently opposed to it, because I think it's really bad for America, we have no choice except
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to do that if you're true to yourself. But I suspect that, look, leadership already knows that
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there were two no votes in the rules committee itself last night by two Freedom Caucus members
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that are on the rules committee. And so they know it's coming. And I imagine they're going to the
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other side to pick up those votes to move this along. It's also my understanding, Lou, and it's been
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reported that the Democrats are locked in a room without their cell phones. Think about this.
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The White House economic advisor praised this deal of fully funding their progressive agenda. And I
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think what's happening inside the Democrat caucus room is they're telling them to tamp down their
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enthusiasm. Don't be out there saying how great a deal they got because it's going to chill Republican
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votes. They want as many Republican votes as they can get for it. But I think you're going to see
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between 100 and 150 Democrat votes for this thing. That should be a signal to you that there's a
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problem here. When you got leftist Democrats voting for this so-called Republican bill, the only bill to
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come out of either chamber, out of a Republican House of Representatives, and you have a majority of
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That's a sign, and it's a sign we'll all be looking for. We also know that this is a tremendous
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victory for President Biden, a tremendous victory for the Dems. Schumer and Jeffries, they're clicking
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their heels right now. And also the American people know what's happening. Right now they know what's
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happening, and I can't see how McCarthy walks away from that deal having given up 2,000 agents for the
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Internal Revenue Service and calling that a victory. All right, no Republican will be able to campaign.
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We don't even know that, Lou. We don't even know that. Look, the IRS got a $80 billion advance
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appropriation. So just think about it. They get, I don't know, $9 billion a year in just their operating
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costs provided by Congress. But last year, under President Obama, they got $80 billion dumped into
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their bank account. And in this deal, we take back $1.4 billion. So they have $78.6 billion left to
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spend. All that means is at the end of 10 years, because that $80 billion was over 10 years, they end up
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with $1.4 billion less. But they have essentially $78.6 billion this moment to spend. Well, who knows
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what they're going to spend it on? But I bet it's not in leaving the American people alone.
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Well, I would support your view. And I was extrapolating, and I should not have done a
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straight line extrapolation. I just want you to be clear of what's happened here, because they're
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telling us, and they're telling the American people, look, we stopped the IRS. No, we didn't. We didn't
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stop anything. Instead of stopping this woke, weaponized government, we're fully underwriting
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and funding it with your tax dollars, Lou. And the way I've explained it to the audience is
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not only did the Republicans not stop the weaponization of the federal government against
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the American people, it's actually allowed the Marxist Dems to bring in reinforcements
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to continue the assault. And it's a sad, sad day, in my opinion. Americans were betrayed.
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The Republican conference was betrayed. There's no other way to say it, in my opinion. Your thoughts?
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Yeah, look, I wasn't on the negotiating team. And I can't say that I would do better. But I will tell
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you this, Lou, we passed a bill. I don't know why we negotiated with the White House. The White House
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can't pass anything. It is the Senate. To me, when they said, well, you have to negotiate with Joe
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Biden, I would have said, no, I'm not going to. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to send this
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bill to the Senate. And then I'm going to send my guys home so that we can stop meddling with America.
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And when you in the Senate pass a bill, since it's so urgent, and you don't want to go over the debt
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ceiling, you don't want to go over the edge, let us know when you can pass something. We'll come back
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town and then we'll work it out. But that never happened. Instead, the House passed a bill and then
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immediately began negotiating against its own position. And that's how you get what we have now.
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And that was the limit, save, grow legislation. Did you counsel the Speaker with that alternative
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approach? Because it makes all the sense in the world.
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I did. I did counsel him. And look, I didn't ask to be in the negotiating team. I don't want to hang
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around with Democrats and leftists. But if he would have asked, I would have done it, of course.
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But it just makes common sense. Look, if you're old enough to watch Schoolhouse Rock, you know,
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the House passes a bill. The Senate has to pass a bill. They put them together. They work out the
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differences. And then they send that to the president for a signature. At this moment, Lou,
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there has been no Senate bill. And there's never going to be a Senate bill because we left them off the
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hook. All these reporters come to me and they say, well, what are you willing to do? We did what we were
00:22:14.960
willing to do. It's called the Limit, Save, Grow Act. And we passed it over a month ago. We're not
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responsible for going over this fiscal cliff. But yet they gave the Senate Democrats a pass and they
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continue to do that to this moment. And apparently we did, too.
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Well, I just have the strong sense that Chuck Schumer has been the architect of much of what we've seen
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unfold. I don't believe that that McCarthy will ever be much of an architect, but he is sure a heck
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of a demo guy. And by that, I'm referring to demolition, because what he has demolished may be
00:22:53.860
the Republican chances in 2024. I think it's that stark. Your thoughts? Well, look, we should be
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painting a bright line between the leftists and the Republicans. And this does not paint that bright
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line. I know they're talking about trillions in dollars in savings, but, Lou, it just doesn't
00:23:10.620
exist. In the bill, it says targets. A target is another word for saying a goal. So we have a goal
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of saving money, but there's nothing. Look, this town, even when it ties itself legislatively
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to not spending money, they don't even abide by that. Do you actually believe they're going to abide
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by four years of goals? This money is not going to be saved. We're going to spend at least four
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trillion dollars, if not much more. And we're going to imperil America even further. Meanwhile,
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at, you know, a week ago, we had the Democrats and the leftists completely in a corner where they
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could not get out. We should have forced them to pass our bill or take up some bill that they could
00:23:48.200
pass. We failed to do that. And this is what happens when you fail. And the truth of the matter
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is that the political ramifications are significant. The idea, it seems to me,
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that the Republican Party now is so riven and divided, I just can't imagine going forward
00:24:10.680
what this will do to the investigation committees, that is, the House Judiciary, the House
00:24:17.360
Oversight Committee, the subcommittee of the judiciary that Congressman Jim Jordan is leading. I
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mean, this falls hard on what was so much momentum, so much initiative, and so much achievement on the
00:24:30.920
part of those committees. I don't know what the impact is going to be, because the Republicans
00:24:36.060
have lost a lot of credibility as of right now. I don't know what the votes will be, but it's the
00:24:41.060
way it looks to me. Your concluding thoughts, if you would, Congressman.
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I would agree with you. Look, Lou, for the past four or five months, we've seen unprecedented success
00:24:49.940
with a unified Republican Party, not only in the House, but in the Senate, too. As you know,
00:24:55.460
the Senate said they would not, the Senate Republicans said they would not vote for a
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clean debt ceiling. That's a unified Republican Party, and we were getting wins. The most impactful
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border security bill ever to come out of the House of Representatives with a very small majority,
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as you know, the Limits Save Grow Act, the most impactful and conservative debt ceiling increase
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ever in history, even though we didn't cause the bill in the first place. We were really doing well
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as a unified Republican Party. It's very, very powerful. This has served to fracture that.
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If we can, you know, whether we can put it back together remains to be seen. If we can put it back
00:25:30.680
together, Lou, I think we can reclaim some credibility, but we don't have any time to spare,
00:25:35.280
and they're just as big of fights coming in front of us, and we've got to get it together for that.
00:25:39.680
I sure hope we're not seeing the beginning of a new leadership Republican and Democrat coalition.
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That will be devastating to our chances and devastating to America, which is actually more
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important. Congressman Scott Perry, thank you very much for being with us, and God bless you for all
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that you're doing for this country. Thank you, Lou. God bless you and your audience.
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That's all for us today. Our guest here tomorrow will be Congressman Matt Rosendale
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on the dirty, rotten reversal orchestrated by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and what it means for
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the country. We hope you'll join us for all of that and more on The Great America Show tomorrow.
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Till then, thanks, God bless you, and may God bless America.