Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us on that phone line right now is Representative
Adrian Smith, the third Congressional District of Nebraska. Representative Smith,
thank you so much for being on our show today.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good afternoon, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I got to start with what I think the biggest
talking point is on a congressional basis, at least over
the last couple of weeks, and that is trying to
avoid a government shut down and getting a budget bill
figured out and all of the controversy, especially when Chuck
Schumer said we should just vote for this bill. From
your perspective, can you take me through what the process
(00:31):
looked like as the new Congress trying to figure this
out over the last couple of months.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, you know, part of the challenge here is that
the appropriations you know, the government spending process has broken
down over the last few years. And that's very problematic
as we look at, you know, examples of where the
Appropriations Committee actually comes up with better ways of spending
our money, but we can't quite muster the votes on
(00:58):
in the full House, for example, to get those those
new policies putting into place, and ended up having to
do the continuing resolution. So that's kind of what's gotten
us to this point. It's unfortunate, but certainly the continuing
resolution that was that was for the vote, you know,
(01:19):
the last few days, that has been very reasonable. And
you know, I think Chuck Schumer and folks that he
has typically been friendly with, you know, they're mad because
he's perceived as not fighting back enough. And yet I
would say there's plenty of fighting back that I've been observing.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
When you talk about fighting back, however, what's that conversation
like when it comes to having that kind of discourse
knowing how important this particular type of bill is and
how much it seems like every time one of these
pops up, there's always the threat of a shutdown actually occurring.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Right, Well, there's you know, the spending amounts that are
in a continuing result, those are not the drivers of
our nation's debt, as expressed by the concern of a
lot of conservatives, you know, and then you know on
the left, you know, they're pushing for more spending, more
government jobs, more IRS auditors, you know, send send the
(02:19):
IRS auditors after more taxpayers to squeeze more money out
of them. And so there's just it's a disagreement some
fundamental disagreements on what the role of the government should be.
And meanwhile, we are tackling tax policy and the Ways
and Means Committee, for example, where we want to make
permanent the tax policies that we adopted in twenty seventeen
(02:44):
that have proven very effective in terms of generating revenue
so that we can pay our bills. But let's face it,
this growing debt that we have is very problematic and
we need to address the biggest drivers of our debt
as well.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Seeing with the Representative Adrians Smith on our phone line here,
another thing that you've done with some of the other
delegation of the state of Nebraska was a press conference
at Capitol Hill last week and you talked about year
round nationwide sale of E fifteen. Now, certainly people on
the coast may not understand why this is such an
important thing for us here in the Midwest. What was
(03:20):
the feedback that you've heard from that, with you know,
Deb Fisher and Mike Flood also being a part of that.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Right, we've been working on this for some time and
it's actually an opportunity to simply allow the sale of
the higher blends on a year round basis. Both presidents
of Biden and Trump have issued executive orders in this direction,
but the best approach moving forward is to get an
in statute adopted by Congress. We've been gaining momentum and
(03:46):
I think that there's a lot of interest in this,
especially among retailers who are engaging with their customers, you know,
the public and the marketplace, knowing that this is actually
a way for consumers to be to save some money
at the pump and to have a good domestic source
of energy that is appreciated by a lot of folks.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And this is another thing that common sense wise, you
would imagine. Why would people disagree with this, especially when
you're looking at it from even a liberals perspective. Who
wants everybody to drive electric cars? I mean, this is
kind of moving in a direction that is compromising in
that direction even just a little bit, and having the opportunity,
(04:28):
as you mentioned, to stimulate the American economy in a
completely different way. Is there a legitimate opposition against this
and who would that be from?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, they're the opposition right now, what little there is,
because we've really worked hard to bring people together on this.
It's kind of some of the accounting for the renewable
fuel standard that is on the books has been for
some time, and so I think we're making great progress
(05:00):
working all of that out. But when you look at
ethanol production today and what all is extracted out of
a kernel of corn is really impressive, and it's far
different than ten and twenty years ago and more because
you know, the efficiencies are absolutely incredible. We are seeing
(05:22):
more products, like I said, being squeezed out of that
kernel of corn, and you know, consumers are benefiting up
and down the line from this, and we in Nebraska
are celebrating the fact that we can offer so much
to consumers. But certainly whether it's fuel at the pump,
whether it's pharmaceutical products, whether it's starch based plastics and
(05:45):
other products that there's some very impressive things underway already
here in Nebraska based on the efficiencies of breaking down
a kernel of corn.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Pretty incredible stuff. And you talk about just having so
many different ways that you can utilize that to not
only just allow us to grow, but also to continue
to have states like Nebraska be at the top in
terms of agriculture and all the different places that that
could touch.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Speaking of there's more more commonality on liquid fuels, whether
it's petroleum or bio fuels, interests are coming together realizing
that blending the two is really is really the solution
for the future, and it.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Makes a lot more sense than it is cleaner in
a lot of ways. Speaking of clean the EPA is
you know that has been something of note. I know
that this is something that you're very knowledgeable about how
the EPA is doing everything that it can do to
kind of get in line with what this presidency and
what this entire administration, including Congress, wants to try to
(06:49):
move forward in a conservative way. What are some of
those adjustments that you think are really notable that we're
going to notice.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Well, we're looking at the permitting process, and you know,
and some of this is that the some of it's
with other agencies, and there have been such delays that
stand in the way of our economy more efficiently delivering
various things, whether it's building a road or developing new
sources of energy. There are just these barriers that exist
(07:20):
that a lot of reasonable folks agree we need to
work on this, and so the EPA is part of that.
Department of Interior would be another part where today's technology
can protect the environment, protect our air and water, for example,
and the land, and also be able to deliver a
reliable source of energy as an example. So I'm encouraged though,
(07:44):
in terms of the realization among reasonable people that we
can do better at the federal level to deliver a
more efficient permitting process.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Very interesting. I want to finish real quick, Representative Smith
with this question. And I guess this is more so
a just kind of a generality because it's been two
months essentially since Donald Trump took office, and you've been
in Congress for a while now, so you've seen a
lot of the ebbs and the flows and the changes,
and when the Republicans are in charge and when the
(08:16):
Democrats are in charge of the chamber, what is the
vibe through two months right now versus maybe what the
vibe felt like even two years ago, four years ago,
eight years ago, and kind of the way that the
Republicans seem to be unifying right now behind this agenda.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, Well, you saw President Trump Canada, Trump, you know,
six months ago and more tell us what he wanted
to work on, and he's making good on that. And
I think that's important to note. Now. I know that
this government spending an efficiency thing is getting a lot
of attention, certainly from the critic. So you know, I
(08:54):
encountered a government worker last week who said, you know,
only a government employee can employee can truly appreciate what
the DOGE effort is delivering. And yes, I want to
be very vigilant about the impact of DOGE on Nebraska,
on you know, agriculture industry for example. We also know,
(09:17):
though that government workers themselves can tell you that making
substantive change, even when it seems common sense, becomes nearly impossible.
And so that's why I think we are seeing a
lot of success that that Elon Musk is working on
(09:38):
very transparently. I will tell you it's online, what is underway,
what is being looked at, and what these results are.
You know, this is a lot different then the last
four years, when you know, we're finding out that the
autopan in the White House was the busiest mechanism, you know,
signing Joe Biden's name to things, when I'm not sure
(10:02):
it was it was fully disclosed what was going on
or who was calling the shot.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, it's one of those things that we may never
know every single detail from the previous administration, but we're
knowing pretty much every detail from the current one and
helping us with that is Representative Adrian Smith. Representative Smith
is always a pleasure. Thanks so much for calling us today.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Thank you
Joining us on that phone line right now is Representative
Adrian Smith, the third Congressional District of Nebraska. Representative Smith,
thank you so much for being on our show today.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good afternoon, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I got to start with what I think the biggest
talking point is on a congressional basis, at least over
the last couple of weeks, and that is trying to
avoid a government shut down and getting a budget bill
figured out and all of the controversy, especially when Chuck
Schumer said we should just vote for this bill. From
your perspective, can you take me through what the process
(00:31):
looked like as the new Congress trying to figure this
out over the last couple of months.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, you know, part of the challenge here is that
the appropriations you know, the government spending process has broken
down over the last few years. And that's very problematic
as we look at, you know, examples of where the
Appropriations Committee actually comes up with better ways of spending
our money, but we can't quite muster the votes on
(00:58):
in the full House, for example, to get those those
new policies putting into place, and ended up having to
do the continuing resolution. So that's kind of what's gotten
us to this point. It's unfortunate, but certainly the continuing
resolution that was that was for the vote, you know,
(01:19):
the last few days, that has been very reasonable. And
you know, I think Chuck Schumer and folks that he
has typically been friendly with, you know, they're mad because
he's perceived as not fighting back enough. And yet I
would say there's plenty of fighting back that I've been observing.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
When you talk about fighting back, however, what's that conversation
like when it comes to having that kind of discourse
knowing how important this particular type of bill is and
how much it seems like every time one of these
pops up, there's always the threat of a shutdown actually occurring.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Right, Well, there's you know, the spending amounts that are
in a continuing result, those are not the drivers of
our nation's debt, as expressed by the concern of a
lot of conservatives, you know, and then you know on
the left, you know, they're pushing for more spending, more
government jobs, more IRS auditors, you know, send send the
(02:19):
IRS auditors after more taxpayers to squeeze more money out
of them. And so there's just it's a disagreement some
fundamental disagreements on what the role of the government should be.
And meanwhile, we are tackling tax policy and the Ways
and Means Committee, for example, where we want to make
permanent the tax policies that we adopted in twenty seventeen
(02:44):
that have proven very effective in terms of generating revenue
so that we can pay our bills. But let's face it,
this growing debt that we have is very problematic and
we need to address the biggest drivers of our debt
as well.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Seeing with the Representative Adrians Smith on our phone line here,
another thing that you've done with some of the other
delegation of the state of Nebraska was a press conference
at Capitol Hill last week and you talked about year
round nationwide sale of E fifteen. Now, certainly people on
the coast may not understand why this is such an
important thing for us here in the Midwest. What was
(03:20):
the feedback that you've heard from that, with you know,
Deb Fisher and Mike Flood also being a part of that.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Right, we've been working on this for some time and
it's actually an opportunity to simply allow the sale of
the higher blends on a year round basis. Both presidents
of Biden and Trump have issued executive orders in this direction,
but the best approach moving forward is to get an
in statute adopted by Congress. We've been gaining momentum and
(03:46):
I think that there's a lot of interest in this,
especially among retailers who are engaging with their customers, you know,
the public and the marketplace, knowing that this is actually
a way for consumers to be to save some money
at the pump and to have a good domestic source
of energy that is appreciated by a lot of folks.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And this is another thing that common sense wise, you
would imagine. Why would people disagree with this, especially when
you're looking at it from even a liberals perspective. Who
wants everybody to drive electric cars? I mean, this is
kind of moving in a direction that is compromising in
that direction even just a little bit, and having the opportunity,
(04:28):
as you mentioned, to stimulate the American economy in a
completely different way. Is there a legitimate opposition against this
and who would that be from?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, they're the opposition right now, what little there is,
because we've really worked hard to bring people together on this.
It's kind of some of the accounting for the renewable
fuel standard that is on the books has been for
some time, and so I think we're making great progress
(05:00):
working all of that out. But when you look at
ethanol production today and what all is extracted out of
a kernel of corn is really impressive, and it's far
different than ten and twenty years ago and more because
you know, the efficiencies are absolutely incredible. We are seeing
(05:22):
more products, like I said, being squeezed out of that
kernel of corn, and you know, consumers are benefiting up
and down the line from this, and we in Nebraska
are celebrating the fact that we can offer so much
to consumers. But certainly whether it's fuel at the pump,
whether it's pharmaceutical products, whether it's starch based plastics and
(05:45):
other products that there's some very impressive things underway already
here in Nebraska based on the efficiencies of breaking down
a kernel of corn.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Pretty incredible stuff. And you talk about just having so
many different ways that you can utilize that to not
only just allow us to grow, but also to continue
to have states like Nebraska be at the top in
terms of agriculture and all the different places that that
could touch.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Speaking of there's more more commonality on liquid fuels, whether
it's petroleum or bio fuels, interests are coming together realizing
that blending the two is really is really the solution
for the future, and it.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Makes a lot more sense than it is cleaner in
a lot of ways. Speaking of clean the EPA is
you know that has been something of note. I know
that this is something that you're very knowledgeable about how
the EPA is doing everything that it can do to
kind of get in line with what this presidency and
what this entire administration, including Congress, wants to try to
(06:49):
move forward in a conservative way. What are some of
those adjustments that you think are really notable that we're
going to notice.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Well, we're looking at the permitting process, and you know,
and some of this is that the some of it's
with other agencies, and there have been such delays that
stand in the way of our economy more efficiently delivering
various things, whether it's building a road or developing new
sources of energy. There are just these barriers that exist
(07:20):
that a lot of reasonable folks agree we need to
work on this, and so the EPA is part of that.
Department of Interior would be another part where today's technology
can protect the environment, protect our air and water, for example,
and the land, and also be able to deliver a
reliable source of energy as an example. So I'm encouraged though,
(07:44):
in terms of the realization among reasonable people that we
can do better at the federal level to deliver a
more efficient permitting process.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Very interesting. I want to finish real quick, Representative Smith
with this question. And I guess this is more so
a just kind of a generality because it's been two
months essentially since Donald Trump took office, and you've been
in Congress for a while now, so you've seen a
lot of the ebbs and the flows and the changes,
and when the Republicans are in charge and when the
(08:16):
Democrats are in charge of the chamber, what is the
vibe through two months right now versus maybe what the
vibe felt like even two years ago, four years ago,
eight years ago, and kind of the way that the
Republicans seem to be unifying right now behind this agenda.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah, Well, you saw President Trump Canada, Trump, you know,
six months ago and more tell us what he wanted
to work on, and he's making good on that. And
I think that's important to note. Now. I know that
this government spending an efficiency thing is getting a lot
of attention, certainly from the critic. So you know, I
(08:54):
encountered a government worker last week who said, you know,
only a government employee can employee can truly appreciate what
the DOGE effort is delivering. And yes, I want to
be very vigilant about the impact of DOGE on Nebraska,
on you know, agriculture industry for example. We also know,
(09:17):
though that government workers themselves can tell you that making
substantive change, even when it seems common sense, becomes nearly impossible.
And so that's why I think we are seeing a
lot of success that that Elon Musk is working on
(09:38):
very transparently. I will tell you it's online, what is underway,
what is being looked at, and what these results are.
You know, this is a lot different then the last
four years, when you know, we're finding out that the
autopan in the White House was the busiest mechanism, you know,
signing Joe Biden's name to things, when I'm not sure
(10:02):
it was it was fully disclosed what was going on
or who was calling the shot.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, it's one of those things that we may never
know every single detail from the previous administration, but we're
knowing pretty much every detail from the current one and
helping us with that is Representative Adrian Smith. Representative Smith
is always a pleasure. Thanks so much for calling us today.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Thank you
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
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
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.