Sen. Deb Fischer on NPR Defunding & the Epstein Files

Sen. Deb Fischer on NPR Defunding & the Epstein Files

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Senator Fisher, as always, thank you so much for being
on our show today.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm great to be here again. Emory, thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Yeah, no problem, I was. You know. I love that
we get a chance to talk every few weeks about
different things, and a lot has happened since the last
time that we chatted. Last time we spoke, you guys
were in the Senate still in the midst of a
pretty hefty debate about whether or not this big, beautiful
bill is going to be something you're going to be
able to pass, and that indeed has passed. I want

(00:26):
to ask you specifically, right because there's over nine hundred
pages in this bill, what are the things in it
specifically that you want Nebraska to know that was in
here that you voted for and this is why that
you think this is a good idea for Nebraska.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I think it's a great idea for Nebraska, and it's
a great idea for family s memory. You know, by
passing this bill, we blocked a four trillion dollars tax
hide and we saved the average Nebraska family over twenty
four hundred dollars a year. That is huge. We were
able to not just preserve the child tax credit, but

(01:02):
increase it per child. Otherwise we would have seen seen
that decrease that would have hurt families when you get
into looking at the egg portion of the bill for example,
and let's not forget the egg economy is the economic
engine of the state. It is necessary to keep our
state going. And we were able to get in a

(01:24):
lot of policies there that not only promote research, promote trade,
but also protect that shafety net that agg producers need
because of the risks they faced with weather. You can
have you can have a storm, go through a hailstorm
and just ruin a crop for the year. If we

(01:49):
didn't have that crop insurance that most egg producers buy,
that that would have a direct impact on those families
and on our state as a whole. We were able
to get in border funding. We were able to get
in about one hundred and fifty some billion dollars for

(02:09):
our military men and women and the resources that they need.
And I'm just really proud that we were able to
make permanent my family paid Family and Medical Leave tax credit.
You know, that's not a government mandate. It doesn't establish
another entitlement program, but it helped small businesses get a

(02:34):
tax credit when they can offer their hourly workers the
ability to have paid leaves so they can take off
and help with children with family for medical reasons. So
there's just a lot of really good things in this bill.

(02:54):
And I put out a weekly column and this last
week we focused on on the eg economy and the
good things that we're in it for that we're going
to be talking about national security, and a column we're
going to be talking about the tax relief that's there

(03:14):
that's going to help grow the economy even more. So
we're trying to get that message out with details so
Nebraskans she what really is in it, not just the
soundbites that are thrown out there.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, Senator Deb Fisher is joining us, And if you
go to Senator Fisher's website and Fisher dot senate dot gov,
or even just to her ex account, you can actually
see the column that she's mentioning that kind of outlines
a lot of this stuff, so you don't have to
be wondering what is in here, you can actually hear
it from the Senator herself. Now, a couple other things
that I definitely wanted to touch on. There was a

(03:48):
lot of talk this week about the funding for the
public broadcasting, public radio, and public television, and it seems
like there was a lot of people, especially in rural areas,
that has some questions about what this would mean for
them in different ways, and there were a few different
Republican senators that voted against this. Can you talk to

(04:10):
me about the discussion that was had for this particular
bill that we saw passed yesterday and also kind of
what your personal thoughts were on this before you cast
your vote.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, I'd be happy to you know, I serve on
the Appropriations Committee, that's one of my six committees, and
on Appropriations, we had rest Folk come before the committee
and were able to question him, and at that time
I asked him about the public broadcasting and my concern

(04:45):
was with weather alert when you have emergencies like that
and what would happen. Some of my colleagues asked about
tribes in areas, reservations, tribes concerns they had if that
was gone, that was addressed, and what I learned was

(05:06):
there's there's a lot of different ways that we get
weather alerts. You know, we get it from local news,
we get it from social media, we get it from
direct alerts on our phone, and when you when you
look at NPR, either radio or TV, you have to

(05:26):
realize you've got to have that on in order to
get those alerts. So I felt reassured, as as many
of my rural colleagues did, that those alerts would still
take place and rural areas would still have it. When
you look at the overall recisions bill, it was it
was nine billion dollars that we count that we cut.

(05:49):
You know, that's that's nine billion of the nine billion,
only one billion, only one billion, but one billion was
cut from NPR and PBS. If we can't make cuts
like that, if we can't just cut there, how are

(06:09):
we ever ever going to address thirty six trillion dollars
in national debt From that recision package, we only cut
one tenth of one percent of the federal budget. People
elected us to be good stewards of their money, of

(06:30):
the tax dollars that they send to run this government,
and we need to step up and do it. So
this was a good start. The other eight billion on
that recision package, I think everybody's heard of a lot
of that. It affected the State Department again, and it
was you know, like two point four million to make

(06:53):
international disasterate more considerate of sexual orientation and general identity.
What does that mean? It was for two point five
million dollars for teaching young children how to make environmentally
friendly reproductive health decisions. What does that mean? One million
dollars for voter id in Haiti, I worry about voter

(07:16):
idea in the United States. Twenty one million dollars for
wind farms in Ukraine. I mean, come on, give me
a break. I think people look at this list where
we tried to zero in on some of these accounts
and they and I hate to say it, but they
weren't all zeroed out because and in fact, in some

(07:37):
of them, they're still quite a bit of funding that's
been left in there. So again, get the facts on this, folks.
You need to get the facts on it, not just
buy into this. Oh my gosh, you know the sky
is falling. No, the sky is falling because we are
thirty six trillion dollars in debt.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Well senat dev Fisher joining us here, and I know
that there's a lot of key people out there that
you know, are talking about this next topic I wanted
to bring up with you, and I just wanted to
get your thoughts on it. It's very interesting how the
Epstein Files kind of narrative has changed. You know, earlier
this year, there was a lot of attention made to

(08:17):
a bunch of influencers getting invited to the White House.
They were given a binder that said Epstein Files Phase one,
and people were like, Okay, the transparency of this administration
is great. And then fast forward to last week and
you know, at the stroke of midnight, almost on the
East Coast, it was kind of tucked into the news
cycle that the Epstein Files that really wasn't anything left

(08:38):
in there. There was no conspiracy. He did kill himself,
and you had no client list. And it feels like
this has fractured the Republican Party and the supporters, and
then Donald Trump keeps saying, you guys are fools for
you know, caring about this. Still, I have to ask you,
being in Washington, being around people in Congress, You're seeing
the House kind of get people, including staunch Republicans, to

(08:59):
get other saying we want more answers on this. How
do you see this entire kind of topic. And as
it's been developing the last couple of weeks, I think.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
What everybody really wants to see is justice for Epstein's victims.
You know that. I think that is a driving force
behind that, and that's why we have a lot of
calls for full disclosure on what did happen there. I
think more transparency the better I can tell you. Here

(09:32):
in the Senate, we don't have too much of a
focus on what all the chatter is out there about
the Epstein files. You know, we passed the one big
beautiful bill focused on that. We did a recision package
on Armed Services Committee. We were able to mark up

(09:53):
and pass out a really really good National Defense Authorization
Act that that is a huge deal to be able
to do that. So we're we're really focused now on appropriations.
We've had a couple hearings, We've marked up four appropriation bills.
We want to get those to the floor so we

(10:14):
can have again a debate, a transparent debate, and a
counting of where taxpayer money goes and vote on those
and not end up with an omnibus, not end up
with another cr You know, we want to do that,
and so we've really been focused a lot on things
like that. So to be honest with you, you know,

(10:35):
I always I always want transparency, whether it's with appropriations bills,
whether it's with our national defense and the needs we
have there, the threats we face, or whether it's with
the Epstein files. Yeah, we need to We need to
know what's there and just get it out to us. Please.
That's where I am.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Hey, Senator Fisher joining us. Last question for you, Senator
Fisher mentioned the apropriations committees, the bills and moving forward.
If there was one or two things that you really
wanted Nebraskas to know that you're kind of pushing for
or that's on your radar next as you kind of
check these things off this summer, what would be those
things that you would say to be on the lookout
for for Nebraskans.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
You know, I'm really pushing to make sure that we
continue to fund our national security and that includes improvements
at off Of Air Force Base, making sure that our
nuclear deterrence is well funded. I've worked with the university
in getting funding for the ARS facility. We were able

(11:41):
to get in the EG appropriations bill last week another
sixteen million dollars. But that's a facility for innovation research
on precision AG that is going to be a huge deal,
not just for the university, but for the state as
a whole. You know, I try to look at what

(12:02):
can we really focus on that improves the lives in
Nebraska and continues to keep our country safe. So that's
where I am. Obviously, we need to get a farm
bill pass too. As I said earlier, we have a
lot of a lot of good things that we were
able to get in the reconciliation bill, but we need

(12:24):
a farm bill too. So those are things that I'm
going to continue to work on government funding, taking care
of families for the rest of the year.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Here, yeah, and go to Fisher dot Senate dot gov,
or you can just follow Senator Deb Fisher on x
and you'll see a lot of different information that she's
putting out for what is going on in Washington, d C.
For the people of Nebraska. Senator Deb Fisher, thank you
so much once again for your transparency and for the
time today. And I'm sure we'll talk to you again
very soon, you.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Bet, Thank you appreciate it. All right.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
That is the Senator from the state of Nebraska, Deb Fisher.
Very interesting stuff there.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Emery Songer