Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We are in Nebraska's used weather intraffic station, online everywhere at kfab dot
(00:03):
com, as well as all overthe free iHeartRadio app. We're honored to
be joined by one of the congressionalrepresentatives from this state, third Congressional District
to be exact, Representative Adrian Smithjoining us on the phone lines. And
Representative Smith, thank you so muchfor being a part of our show today.
You bet, thank you great tobe with you. We got to
start, probably, I think withthe Arbor Day tornadoes at the end of
(00:26):
last month. I know you guysare in Washington, DC a lot of
the time, but you're still veryclose to what is happening in your home
state of Nebraska. What was yourreaction as you saw those storms really run
through the eastern part of the state, and then also kind of what the
response has been in the four weeksor so since. Right, Well,
it was devastating and you to seethe loss of so many homes, one
(00:48):
hundreds, you know, in bothmy district as well as the Don Bakon's
district, and loss of property aswell in my Cludgs district. And I
have to salute broadcasters, especially forthe fact that you warned folks, and
they took heed, sought the appropriateshelter, and we saw a minimal loss
(01:10):
of life. It's truly impressive.But in terms of the response, I'm
glad to be working with the delegationwith Governor Pillen for that disaster declaration so
that we at the federal level canget that going, and appreciate that all
of the local officials coordinating with thestate so that we can ultimately act at
the federal level. I spoke aboutthis just before you jumped on with us,
(01:34):
and this has nothing to do withNebraska specifically, but obviously a lot
of tornadoes ran through western Iowa overthe last month or so as well,
including flattening a couple of small townsin western Iowa. And I saw Governor
Kim Reynolds, a very staunch andconservative Republican, and Governor Tim wall To,
who is very opposite, a veryliberal governor from Minnesota, and he
is sending help for first responders toIowa, and she is openly actively thanking
(01:59):
him for that help. Is thisthe kind of thing that could potentially unite
the two sides in a way.Obviously, it's always unfortunate when we have
disasters like this that we cannot control. But is there a way that this
could maybe start bridging a little bitof those gaps between the people who just
hate the other side versus you know, maybe being able to recognize that we're
all Americans at the end of theday. Yes, this is an opportunity.
(02:22):
And you know, the fact ofthe matter is there is more cooperation
happening in Washington than people often realize. I mean, I've been working on
telehealth, for example. I wasworking on telehealth for rural purposes before COVID.
Of course, COVID taught us thatthat access with telehealth is important to
all parts of our country, ruraland urban, and so we've been,
(02:46):
you know, looking at ways towork together on that because that's what our
constituents want, you know. Unfortunately, you know, I think our president
right now is the chief divider,and he's the one who uses a graduation
speech to divide our rather than inspirethe graduates who were sitting right in front
of him. That's unfortunate because thewhole country, the whole world sees that
(03:08):
rather than you know, some membersof Congress perhaps working together on important issues
for our respective community. Speaking withRepresentative Adrian Smith. It's a great point,
right, It's not sexy enough totalk about on the news all the
time about all the stuff that isbeing you know, worked on by both
sides together. But one thing thathas been incredibly divisive is the electric vehicle
(03:29):
mandate. And you heard Pete Bodhagichtalk about they have a total of something
like eight or ten electronic charging stationsthat they have put in or implemented in
the last three years. And itsounds to me like we're a little slow
on that trigger. Yet this administrationis trying to push us and force us
to get electronic vehicles or electric vehiclesin the next you know, within the
(03:51):
next decade or so. What isit about this that you're noticing and what
kind of complications could be popping upif this continues to be pushed. Is
that President Biden wants to mandate electricvehicles. They're not ready the marketplace.
We need to look to the marketplacerather than government mandate, you know.
And the fact that the Biden mandateshave led to giving China a competitive advantage
(04:17):
based on critical minerals and batteries andso forth, the components of electric vehicles.
You know, the President wants torespond with tariffs. Well, the
tariffs are really more of a responseto the mandate. You know, the
mandate is the bigger problem, andso we need to address our supply chains
(04:39):
so that we can not be soreliant on China. But a mandate is
not the way to go about that. And so there's so many opportunities we
have not seen the administration take interms of engaging on trade. There are
many glaring things that need to beaddressed, and yet the President has chosen
not to engage in and we needthe execut branch to be more engaging on
(05:01):
that, and we in the legislativebranch that can do what we need to
do. But the lack of engagementfrom the executive, whether it's on electric
vehicles or other products and supply chains, the lack of engagement from the White
House is really euthetic. Something certainlythat we have been hearing over and over
again on this specific issue more thananything else. You've also have been working
(05:25):
at least on, you know,trying to push back on some of these
new federal requirements, which could includeincreasing closures of nursing homes. Can you
explain a little bit of that inwhat your efforts are to try to combat
that. Well, once again,the White House is putting forth new regulations,
some staffing ratios and regulations on nursinghomes. And when you look at
(05:47):
the burden placed on them during COVIDfor example, and you know there was
a struggle there for a while,and we should not complicate matters with a
federal one size it's all approach thatwe are told that ninety percent of Nebraska's
nursing homes will be negatively impacted bythem, and when you look at these
(06:08):
rural facilities that are struggling to hangon, this could lead to their closure.
I'm very concerned, and I thinkit's important for communities to speak out
on this and to push back onthe administration. That's what I'm doing.
We passed a bill out of theway the Means Committee to address this.
Obviously, Senator Schumer has no plansto take this up let alone Joe Biden's
(06:30):
signing it. But we have toreally speak out on this because it is
likely to have such a negative impacton our communities. We're speaking with Representative
Adrian Smith of the third Congressional Districtof Nebraska, joining us on the phone
line. We talked about Israel alot earlier in the show, because you're
catching up on an entire weekend ofvideo and things that we're seeing from social
(06:53):
media. It's pretty jarring stuff comingout of Rafa, and there is a
split I think of people that aresaying Israel's going too far, and then
other people are saying that, youknow, Hamas is hiding within these camps
because they are using these civilians ashuman shields. Being in Congress, you
guys have to be talking about thiswith regularity of how to help an ally
(07:15):
in Israel, while knowing that thereis a growing sentiment from people who either
are not educated or not choosing tobe educated about exactly the details that are
happening. What is the kind ofconversation about Israel and where this conflict is
within Congress, knowing that there aresome colorful characters on the other side of
the Aisle as well well. Ibelieve that Israel has a right to defend
(07:40):
itself. They were attacked on Octoberseventh. They have chosen a response.
I think if we stand firmly behindIsrael, I think we can bring about
a more peaceful resolution and more quicklyby standing behind them rather than questioning their
moves. I'm very disappointed in thatPresident Biden's posture most recently, and especially
(08:05):
in terms of withholding the resources andthe arms that and the weapons that Congress
voted to provide, to pay forand provide. That is in violation of
what Congress intended. And that's aproblem in and of itself, but a
certainly as it relates to the strategyof standing with our ally Israel. Is
(08:26):
there any concern from a congressional standpointthat there are a growing number of countries
outside of the United States that areeither agreeing with the International Criminal Court and
them, you know, wanting tocharge Benjamin ettnyahuo in Israeli officials for war
crimes, or that certain countries likeSpain, Norway, and Ireland and maybe
even Slovenia are saying that they aregoing to recognize a Palestinian state. Is
(08:48):
there any concern that there's a growingsentiment that's turning the tide against Israel on
a worldwide front. I think it'simportant to let let Israel make the decisions.
I don't think we should pretend thatwe can make decisions for Israel and
they are our friend, they areour ally. We need to stand with
them. And the fact that othercountries might waiver, they've probably done that
(09:09):
in the past. I'm not tooconcerned by that. I think we need
to stand with our ally. IsraelRepresentative Adrian Smith. You can find him
anywhere as soon as you google allof his contact and information from his congressional
website. Is there representing the thirdCongressional District of Nebraska. Representative Smith is
always a true honor to have youon our program. Anytime that you need
(09:31):
to talk about something, you wantto be a part of the show,
please let us know. And wereally appreciate your time today. You've got
thank you. Take care. Yeah, for sure, we really appreciate representatives
time there. And not to patourselves on the back, but the first
thing that he said was well doneto the broadcasters during the during the storms
for what we did. And that'swhy you put on your what do they
call that the button the presets.You put your preset number one, Levnton
(09:56):
kfab. You're going to get thelatest in information win and you need it
when you're out there storm related newsrelated, fun related as well as far
as we're concerned. When you're listeningto us in the afternoons, but we're
gonna give you what you need toknow as well. We'll wrap up the
show on your Tuesday five point fortynine News Radio eleven ten KFAB
We are in Nebraska's used weather intraffic station, online everywhere at kfab dot
(00:03):
com, as well as all overthe free iHeartRadio app. We're honored to
be joined by one of the congressionalrepresentatives from this state, third Congressional District
to be exact, Representative Adrian Smithjoining us on the phone lines. And
Representative Smith, thank you so muchfor being a part of our show today.
You bet, thank you great tobe with you. We got to
start, probably, I think withthe Arbor Day tornadoes at the end of
(00:26):
last month. I know you guysare in Washington, DC a lot of
the time, but you're still veryclose to what is happening in your home
state of Nebraska. What was yourreaction as you saw those storms really run
through the eastern part of the state, and then also kind of what the
response has been in the four weeksor so since. Right, Well,
it was devastating and you to seethe loss of so many homes, one
(00:48):
hundreds, you know, in bothmy district as well as the Don Bakon's
district, and loss of property aswell in my Cludgs district. And I
have to salute broadcasters, especially forthe fact that you warned folks, and
they took heed, sought the appropriateshelter, and we saw a minimal loss
(01:10):
of life. It's truly impressive.But in terms of the response, I'm
glad to be working with the delegationwith Governor Pillen for that disaster declaration so
that we at the federal level canget that going, and appreciate that all
of the local officials coordinating with thestate so that we can ultimately act at
the federal level. I spoke aboutthis just before you jumped on with us,
(01:34):
and this has nothing to do withNebraska specifically, but obviously a lot
of tornadoes ran through western Iowa overthe last month or so as well,
including flattening a couple of small townsin western Iowa. And I saw Governor
Kim Reynolds, a very staunch andconservative Republican, and Governor Tim wall To,
who is very opposite, a veryliberal governor from Minnesota, and he
is sending help for first responders toIowa, and she is openly actively thanking
(01:59):
him for that help. Is thisthe kind of thing that could potentially unite
the two sides in a way.Obviously, it's always unfortunate when we have
disasters like this that we cannot control. But is there a way that this
could maybe start bridging a little bitof those gaps between the people who just
hate the other side versus you know, maybe being able to recognize that we're
all Americans at the end of theday. Yes, this is an opportunity.
(02:22):
And you know, the fact ofthe matter is there is more cooperation
happening in Washington than people often realize. I mean, I've been working on
telehealth, for example. I wasworking on telehealth for rural purposes before COVID.
Of course, COVID taught us thatthat access with telehealth is important to
all parts of our country, ruraland urban, and so we've been,
(02:46):
you know, looking at ways towork together on that because that's what our
constituents want, you know. Unfortunately, you know, I think our president
right now is the chief divider,and he's the one who uses a graduation
speech to divide our rather than inspirethe graduates who were sitting right in front
of him. That's unfortunate because thewhole country, the whole world sees that
(03:08):
rather than you know, some membersof Congress perhaps working together on important issues
for our respective community. Speaking withRepresentative Adrian Smith. It's a great point,
right, It's not sexy enough totalk about on the news all the
time about all the stuff that isbeing you know, worked on by both
sides together. But one thing thathas been incredibly divisive is the electric vehicle
(03:29):
mandate. And you heard Pete Bodhagichtalk about they have a total of something
like eight or ten electronic charging stationsthat they have put in or implemented in
the last three years. And itsounds to me like we're a little slow
on that trigger. Yet this administrationis trying to push us and force us
to get electronic vehicles or electric vehiclesin the next you know, within the
(03:51):
next decade or so. What isit about this that you're noticing and what
kind of complications could be popping upif this continues to be pushed. Is
that President Biden wants to mandate electricvehicles. They're not ready the marketplace.
We need to look to the marketplacerather than government mandate, you know.
And the fact that the Biden mandateshave led to giving China a competitive advantage
(04:17):
based on critical minerals and batteries andso forth, the components of electric vehicles.
You know, the President wants torespond with tariffs. Well, the
tariffs are really more of a responseto the mandate. You know, the
mandate is the bigger problem, andso we need to address our supply chains
(04:39):
so that we can not be soreliant on China. But a mandate is
not the way to go about that. And so there's so many opportunities we
have not seen the administration take interms of engaging on trade. There are
many glaring things that need to beaddressed, and yet the President has chosen
not to engage in and we needthe execut branch to be more engaging on
(05:01):
that, and we in the legislativebranch that can do what we need to
do. But the lack of engagementfrom the executive, whether it's on electric
vehicles or other products and supply chains, the lack of engagement from the White
House is really euthetic. Something certainlythat we have been hearing over and over
again on this specific issue more thananything else. You've also have been working
(05:25):
at least on, you know,trying to push back on some of these
new federal requirements, which could includeincreasing closures of nursing homes. Can you
explain a little bit of that inwhat your efforts are to try to combat
that. Well, once again,the White House is putting forth new regulations,
some staffing ratios and regulations on nursinghomes. And when you look at
(05:47):
the burden placed on them during COVIDfor example, and you know there was
a struggle there for a while,and we should not complicate matters with a
federal one size it's all approach thatwe are told that ninety percent of Nebraska's
nursing homes will be negatively impacted bythem, and when you look at these
(06:08):
rural facilities that are struggling to hangon, this could lead to their closure.
I'm very concerned, and I thinkit's important for communities to speak out
on this and to push back onthe administration. That's what I'm doing.
We passed a bill out of theway the Means Committee to address this.
Obviously, Senator Schumer has no plansto take this up let alone Joe Biden's
(06:30):
signing it. But we have toreally speak out on this because it is
likely to have such a negative impacton our communities. We're speaking with Representative
Adrian Smith of the third Congressional Districtof Nebraska, joining us on the phone
line. We talked about Israel alot earlier in the show, because you're
catching up on an entire weekend ofvideo and things that we're seeing from social
(06:53):
media. It's pretty jarring stuff comingout of Rafa, and there is a
split I think of people that aresaying Israel's going too far, and then
other people are saying that, youknow, Hamas is hiding within these camps
because they are using these civilians ashuman shields. Being in Congress, you
guys have to be talking about thiswith regularity of how to help an ally
(07:15):
in Israel, while knowing that thereis a growing sentiment from people who either
are not educated or not choosing tobe educated about exactly the details that are
happening. What is the kind ofconversation about Israel and where this conflict is
within Congress, knowing that there aresome colorful characters on the other side of
the Aisle as well well. Ibelieve that Israel has a right to defend
(07:40):
itself. They were attacked on Octoberseventh. They have chosen a response.
I think if we stand firmly behindIsrael, I think we can bring about
a more peaceful resolution and more quicklyby standing behind them rather than questioning their
moves. I'm very disappointed in thatPresident Biden's posture most recently, and especially
(08:05):
in terms of withholding the resources andthe arms that and the weapons that Congress
voted to provide, to pay forand provide. That is in violation of
what Congress intended. And that's aproblem in and of itself, but a
certainly as it relates to the strategyof standing with our ally Israel. Is
(08:26):
there any concern from a congressional standpointthat there are a growing number of countries
outside of the United States that areeither agreeing with the International Criminal Court and
them, you know, wanting tocharge Benjamin ettnyahuo in Israeli officials for war
crimes, or that certain countries likeSpain, Norway, and Ireland and maybe
even Slovenia are saying that they aregoing to recognize a Palestinian state. Is
(08:48):
there any concern that there's a growingsentiment that's turning the tide against Israel on
a worldwide front. I think it'simportant to let let Israel make the decisions.
I don't think we should pretend thatwe can make decisions for Israel and
they are our friend, they areour ally. We need to stand with
them. And the fact that othercountries might waiver, they've probably done that
(09:09):
in the past. I'm not tooconcerned by that. I think we need
to stand with our ally. IsraelRepresentative Adrian Smith. You can find him
anywhere as soon as you google allof his contact and information from his congressional
website. Is there representing the thirdCongressional District of Nebraska. Representative Smith is
always a true honor to have youon our program. Anytime that you need
(09:31):
to talk about something, you wantto be a part of the show,
please let us know. And wereally appreciate your time today. You've got
thank you. Take care. Yeah, for sure, we really appreciate representatives
time there. And not to patourselves on the back, but the first
thing that he said was well doneto the broadcasters during the during the storms
for what we did. And that'swhy you put on your what do they
call that the button the presets.You put your preset number one, Levnton
(09:56):
kfab. You're going to get thelatest in information win and you need it
when you're out there storm related newsrelated, fun related as well as far
as we're concerned. When you're listeningto us in the afternoons, but we're
gonna give you what you need toknow as well. We'll wrap up the
show on your Tuesday five point fortynine News Radio eleven ten KFAB
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.