Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Keeping the hits coming. This is a very interesting show.
We already had Jasmin Harris, who's a mayor mayoral candidate,
wrapping up our mayor interviews. Well, let's dice up a
little bit of national Washington d C news from our
Senator deb Fisher joining us on the phone line once again.
Senator Fisher, thanks so much for being back on our show.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Great to be here. Emory, thanks for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah, absolutely so. I want to start with the biggest
story that's come out this week, because it's always something
this signal app leak situation.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I know you're not directly involved with what the executive
branch is up to, but certainly everybody's had to ask
answer questions about this in Washington, regardless of what their
job is. What is kind of your take on all
of this and how big of a deal this was.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I think it's a big deal. You know, the safety
and security of our service members is the most important thing.
That's paramount. We need to see if there truly was
any classified or sensitive information out there, you know, our
foreign adversaries, if they learn about the whereabouts or any
(01:05):
details of a mission that's going to be carried out,
that that puts our military and danger. So going forward, obviously,
the type of information that I've seen so far that
was included on that chat, it shouldn't be conveyed on
unclassified systems. What we're looking at on Armed Services Committee
(01:27):
is Chairman Wicker is asking the administration to have an
inspector General report on this and get it back to
the Committee, and we also want to be able to
have a classified griefing on it. You know, I don't
want to jump to conclusions here. We've got to have
the facts there, We've got to have the answers there
from an investigation and see how this happened.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
It's there's going to be hopefully more information as time
goes on. As far as you know, you mentioned our
service members, and this is something that you know, the
federal government is constantly thinking about as well. How do
you grade kind of the current relations after all the
things we're hearing about Ukraine, we're hearing about JD. Vance
(02:12):
and his wife in Greenland and what that visit might
have entailed, and of course we're reading more about what
Israel and its neighbors are kind of up to down
there in the Middle East. How do your best grade
nine weeks in what the foreign policy looks like for
the Trump administration.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I right, I tell you I had in the last
two days, I had four classified briefings in Washington. I
was outed off at Air Force Base this morning for
the setting up of the new wing that's out there.
Had a chance to visit with folks there as well
with our service members. So we're getting good briefings. I
(02:52):
would tell you that our military is in good shape.
We're seeing more young people interested in joining the military.
Number of recruitment numbers are up. I support the President
in his strong actions, for example against the hoo Thies.
(03:12):
We need a military that's going to be lethal, that's
going to be strong, that's going to be responsive to
our military members. I think when you know, when you
talk about our relations with foreign countries, I'm a strong
believer that it's better to friends and enemies, and so
I want to make sure that we have strong allies
(03:36):
around the world. This administration understands that there's obviously a
concern out there by other countries when the President talks
about tariffs that they for example, I think we've talked
about this before. Our ethanol producers here in the United
States when they export to Brazil, for example, it's an
(03:59):
eighteen tariff on it. But when we import Brazilian ethanol
made from sugarcane here to the United States, it's duty free.
So I want, I want the United States to be
on a level playing field, a fair playing field when
it comes to that, whether that's making sure that our
(04:21):
allies around the world are helping to carry that weight
that you carry when you are trying to make sure
that the free world has a strong deterrent, when you
make sure that we want to make sure we have
a safe world. But that is a shared burden of free,
(04:41):
democratic countries, and I think that's definitely where this administration's
coming from as well.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I was speaking with Senator deb Fisher, who is certainly
got a lot on her plate. One thing that was
brought to my attention this week is this letter that
you and other Republicans in the Senate sent to the
Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnik, involving the review of the
Broadband Equity Access in Deployment Program or BID. If you will,
(05:10):
can you kind of explain this to us for the
lay people like myself who might not know all the
details in what you guys are trying to do for
an adjustment on it.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, the BAT program was set up to make sure
that we can expand access to the Internet all across
this country and whether you live in a rural area,
whether you're here in Omaha and in an unserved community
in Omaha. We want to make sure that every American
has access to the Internet. And you do that by
(05:42):
to coin more broadband. So what we have seen though
from the previous administration, from the Biden administration, they added
a lot of rules, rules and regulations. This it focused
on climate, it focused on mandata rates, and they wanted
(06:02):
the same rate of cost all across the country. Well,
some areas the country it's cheaper to deploy broadband than others.
But they just created a morass of regulations. In fact,
I just I was just looking through x Twitter before
I called you, and there's there's a deal on X
(06:27):
that it shows discussion on this forty two billion dollars.
Not one home, not one home has been connected in
four years. And they went through like the fourteen steps
that this program required of states to do. Ridiculous. You know,
I've been working with State Nebraska, with our providers here
(06:49):
in the state for a couple of years now. I
had FCC Chairman car Out and we had a big
meeting in Omaha with providers and with the Public Service
Commission here in Therasca, and in this discussion over two
years ago, so a group of us yes, we sent
the Commerce Secretary a letter saying that this is a
(07:11):
program that can help stays like Nebraska if we utilize
it correctly as Congress intended, and we want to be
able to have him remove a lot of those Biden
air rules that went way beyond what was in the
text of that infrastructure law.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
What would be the steps that would need to take
place if that was kickstarted? Is that something legislatively that
you guys would have to do.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
He could obviously look at those rules and be able
to take unilateral action there in the Commerce Department. That's
what the Biden administration. They took a law, they interpreted it,
I believe incorrectly by putting all these rules in place.
For example, you know, you have to post a note
(08:00):
notice of opportunity, and then you have to post a
letter of intent from the States, and then you have
to ask for a planning grant before you even get
the money for deployment. You know, you have to have
a five year action plan. All of these just pile
on you. As you grow through the list, it just
(08:20):
adds more and more and more to it, and the
Secretary of Commerce needs to take a really hard look
at that and make sure we can start getting that
funding out there and reach the unserved areas across this
country and here in state.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Nebraska, Senator dev Fisher joining us. Last thing for you, Senator,
one thing that you certainly have on your radar are
the recent reforms that have happened with the EPA. And
this has been a pretty polarizing agency for I think
probably the last several years, especially in the last three
or four presidential administrations. So what can you tell us
(08:58):
about the changes that have been made and what kind
of grade that you give those changes?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
You know, I was lucky a couple of weeks ago
I had a meeting on a fifteen year round sale
of B fifteen with the EGG Secretary Rollins and Lee Seldon,
who's the EPA administer administrator. He was there as well.
He kind of hinted that there was going to be
some changes here and we saw those and I'm happy
(09:27):
that we have an EPA that's going to take another
look at lotus waters of the US reconsider that. They're
going to look at the Clean Power Plan two point zero,
They're going to look at tailpipe emissions. That and a
lot of these rules, like the tailpipe emissions those were
put in place by the Biden administration. That rule to
(09:49):
try and force people to drive evs, force it on
the public, force it on the automakers. That was That's
not the purpose. That is not the purpose of a
clean power plan. That's not the purpose of clean air
rule that was passed, the law that was passed years ago,
(10:12):
clean water. We can go on and on about this,
but to have an administration put in effect rules to
drive a political agenda is it's wrong. And so I'm
really pleased to see that the EPA is going to
reconsider all of these.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Certainly something we're going to continue to monitor as the days, months,
years go by. Senator deb Fisher representing Nebraska in the
United States Senate. Senator, thank you as always for the
time today, and try to enjoy yourself as it starts
warming up.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You bet good to busy with you, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
They're always great to talk to the movers and Shakers
in Washington for our state,
Keeping the hits coming. This is a very interesting show.
We already had Jasmin Harris, who's a mayor mayoral candidate,
wrapping up our mayor interviews. Well, let's dice up a
little bit of national Washington d C news from our
Senator deb Fisher joining us on the phone line once again.
Senator Fisher, thanks so much for being back on our show.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Great to be here. Emory, thanks for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah, absolutely so. I want to start with the biggest
story that's come out this week, because it's always something
this signal app leak situation.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I know you're not directly involved with what the executive
branch is up to, but certainly everybody's had to ask
answer questions about this in Washington, regardless of what their
job is. What is kind of your take on all
of this and how big of a deal this was.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I think it's a big deal. You know, the safety
and security of our service members is the most important thing.
That's paramount. We need to see if there truly was
any classified or sensitive information out there, you know, our
foreign adversaries, if they learn about the whereabouts or any
(01:05):
details of a mission that's going to be carried out,
that that puts our military and danger. So going forward, obviously,
the type of information that I've seen so far that
was included on that chat, it shouldn't be conveyed on
unclassified systems. What we're looking at on Armed Services Committee
(01:27):
is Chairman Wicker is asking the administration to have an
inspector General report on this and get it back to
the Committee, and we also want to be able to
have a classified griefing on it. You know, I don't
want to jump to conclusions here. We've got to have
the facts there, We've got to have the answers there
from an investigation and see how this happened.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
It's there's going to be hopefully more information as time
goes on. As far as you know, you mentioned our
service members, and this is something that you know, the
federal government is constantly thinking about as well. How do
you grade kind of the current relations after all the
things we're hearing about Ukraine, we're hearing about JD. Vance
(02:12):
and his wife in Greenland and what that visit might
have entailed, and of course we're reading more about what
Israel and its neighbors are kind of up to down
there in the Middle East. How do your best grade
nine weeks in what the foreign policy looks like for
the Trump administration.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I right, I tell you I had in the last
two days, I had four classified briefings in Washington. I
was outed off at Air Force Base this morning for
the setting up of the new wing that's out there.
Had a chance to visit with folks there as well
with our service members. So we're getting good briefings. I
(02:52):
would tell you that our military is in good shape.
We're seeing more young people interested in joining the military.
Number of recruitment numbers are up. I support the President
in his strong actions, for example against the hoo Thies.
(03:12):
We need a military that's going to be lethal, that's
going to be strong, that's going to be responsive to
our military members. I think when you know, when you
talk about our relations with foreign countries, I'm a strong
believer that it's better to friends and enemies, and so
I want to make sure that we have strong allies
(03:36):
around the world. This administration understands that there's obviously a
concern out there by other countries when the President talks
about tariffs that they for example, I think we've talked
about this before. Our ethanol producers here in the United
States when they export to Brazil, for example, it's an
(03:59):
eighteen tariff on it. But when we import Brazilian ethanol
made from sugarcane here to the United States, it's duty free.
So I want, I want the United States to be
on a level playing field, a fair playing field when
it comes to that, whether that's making sure that our
(04:21):
allies around the world are helping to carry that weight
that you carry when you are trying to make sure
that the free world has a strong deterrent, when you
make sure that we want to make sure we have
a safe world. But that is a shared burden of free,
(04:41):
democratic countries, and I think that's definitely where this administration's
coming from as well.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I was speaking with Senator deb Fisher, who is certainly
got a lot on her plate. One thing that was
brought to my attention this week is this letter that
you and other Republicans in the Senate sent to the
Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnik, involving the review of the
Broadband Equity Access in Deployment Program or BID. If you will,
(05:10):
can you kind of explain this to us for the
lay people like myself who might not know all the
details in what you guys are trying to do for
an adjustment on it.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, the BAT program was set up to make sure
that we can expand access to the Internet all across
this country and whether you live in a rural area,
whether you're here in Omaha and in an unserved community
in Omaha. We want to make sure that every American
has access to the Internet. And you do that by
(05:42):
to coin more broadband. So what we have seen though
from the previous administration, from the Biden administration, they added
a lot of rules, rules and regulations. This it focused
on climate, it focused on mandata rates, and they wanted
(06:02):
the same rate of cost all across the country. Well,
some areas the country it's cheaper to deploy broadband than others.
But they just created a morass of regulations. In fact,
I just I was just looking through x Twitter before
I called you, and there's there's a deal on X
(06:27):
that it shows discussion on this forty two billion dollars.
Not one home, not one home has been connected in
four years. And they went through like the fourteen steps
that this program required of states to do. Ridiculous. You know,
I've been working with State Nebraska, with our providers here
(06:49):
in the state for a couple of years now. I
had FCC Chairman car Out and we had a big
meeting in Omaha with providers and with the Public Service
Commission here in Therasca, and in this discussion over two
years ago, so a group of us yes, we sent
the Commerce Secretary a letter saying that this is a
(07:11):
program that can help stays like Nebraska if we utilize
it correctly as Congress intended, and we want to be
able to have him remove a lot of those Biden
air rules that went way beyond what was in the
text of that infrastructure law.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
What would be the steps that would need to take
place if that was kickstarted? Is that something legislatively that
you guys would have to do.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
He could obviously look at those rules and be able
to take unilateral action there in the Commerce Department. That's
what the Biden administration. They took a law, they interpreted it,
I believe incorrectly by putting all these rules in place.
For example, you know, you have to post a note
(08:00):
notice of opportunity, and then you have to post a
letter of intent from the States, and then you have
to ask for a planning grant before you even get
the money for deployment. You know, you have to have
a five year action plan. All of these just pile
on you. As you grow through the list, it just
(08:20):
adds more and more and more to it, and the
Secretary of Commerce needs to take a really hard look
at that and make sure we can start getting that
funding out there and reach the unserved areas across this
country and here in state.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Nebraska, Senator dev Fisher joining us. Last thing for you, Senator,
one thing that you certainly have on your radar are
the recent reforms that have happened with the EPA. And
this has been a pretty polarizing agency for I think
probably the last several years, especially in the last three
or four presidential administrations. So what can you tell us
(08:58):
about the changes that have been made and what kind
of grade that you give those changes?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
You know, I was lucky a couple of weeks ago
I had a meeting on a fifteen year round sale
of B fifteen with the EGG Secretary Rollins and Lee Seldon,
who's the EPA administer administrator. He was there as well.
He kind of hinted that there was going to be
some changes here and we saw those and I'm happy
(09:27):
that we have an EPA that's going to take another
look at lotus waters of the US reconsider that. They're
going to look at the Clean Power Plan two point zero,
They're going to look at tailpipe emissions. That and a
lot of these rules, like the tailpipe emissions those were
put in place by the Biden administration. That rule to
(09:49):
try and force people to drive evs, force it on
the public, force it on the automakers. That was That's
not the purpose. That is not the purpose of a
clean power plan. That's not the purpose of clean air
rule that was passed, the law that was passed years ago,
(10:12):
clean water. We can go on and on about this,
but to have an administration put in effect rules to
drive a political agenda is it's wrong. And so I'm
really pleased to see that the EPA is going to
reconsider all of these.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Certainly something we're going to continue to monitor as the days, months,
years go by. Senator deb Fisher representing Nebraska in the
United States Senate. Senator, thank you as always for the
time today, and try to enjoy yourself as it starts
warming up.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You bet good to busy with you, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
They're always great to talk to the movers and Shakers
in Washington for our state,
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