Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Emory Songer. We're going to start this
hour being joined by the Senator representing the state of Nebraska,
Deb Fisher, joining us on our phone line. Senator, thank
you so much on a difficult day for still find
a time to join us today.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Thank you, Emory.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
We got to talk about Charlie Kirk and the incident
in Utah. This was a conservative commentator. This is a
person that has really done I think a lot of
a lot of good in building conservative base for a
generation that Republicans historically have had a hard time reaching.
(00:36):
And today, while he was visiting a college campus, he
was shot. What are your emotions of hearing the news
and how the reaction has been with some of your
colleagues in Washington.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, first of all, it's heartbreaking, it's horrific. My sympathies
go out to his wife, to his children, and his
family as they're trying to navigate through this unspeakable tragedy.
We just can never allow violence to become the norm
(01:10):
in our political discourse. You know, I grew up came
a aide during the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther
King Junior and Bobby Kennedy and it's hard.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I was talking about this also because now that you
mention it right, like, you can go through different eras
of American history, and this has always kind of been
a lingering threat to people who seemingly have quite a
bit of power and a lot of name recognition. Is
that there's always a crazed individual or a group of
individuals that don't want to talk. They literally just want
(01:50):
to inflict violence for some reason. What makes this time different,
what makes this particular situation maybe a turning point for
this country as far as maybe we can get some
of the people on both sides of the aisle to
plead with the American people that this is not the
(02:10):
way forward.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think you're exactly right. You know, hopefully, hopefully people
across this nation are going to take a step back
and they're going to stop with the attacks on social media.
They're going to stop with the attacks on cable TV
and every news outlet that's out there. People just say
(02:38):
the sometimes the most ridiculous things, but also the most
harmful things about others personally, and that can stir up
those who are who are not stable, who are prone
to violence, who are prone to having their emotions go
(03:01):
off the rails, and if somebody, if somebody truly gets
stirred up and drops over the edge on this, obviously,
we're going to see violence. Happened more and more and more.
You know, I saw President Trump on the news last
(03:23):
night when he went out to dinner at a place
here in Washington, and you know, he got out of
got out of his vehicles. He had some of his staff,
some cabinet folks with him, and he was trying to
show that the Washington DC is safe now. But what
(03:43):
struck me, first of all, you know that people watch,
obviously when you watch the Advanced team come in here
in Washington. You know, somebody, somebody who has a details
going to show up someplace, and when it's the President
and they're gonna they're gonna be there and uh uh
(04:03):
protest or cheer or whatever. But what bothered me was
when they showed him in the restaurant and there were
protesters in the restaurant and they weren't diners. So how
did protesters get in the restaurant so close to the
President of the United States. And as we saw with
Charlie Cook Kirk today, you don't have to be close
(04:27):
to to have an attempt on someone's life, and so
it just yeah, we need to all watch our our words,
our discourse, and we need to continue to point out
that we we work together here in Washington. And it's
(04:47):
a few, a few on both sides of the aisle
like to uh sture things up, and that is that's
gotta stop. That's got to stop. And the vitriol that's
out there, the intentional hate mongering that's out there, it
(05:10):
has to stop.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
We're joined by Senator Deb Fisher. You're an elected leader,
you have been elected multiple times out of the state
of Nebraska. You represent this state, and you are in Washington.
As you mentioned, it's a completely different environment there than
the people who are doing public service or in politics
here in Nebraska. I think those are two very different
(05:32):
conversations of what needs to happen on a national level
and also on a local level of the discourse that
we're having. But if someone were to ask you, Senator Fisher,
of what solutions that we could have and what you
would like to see moving forward from your colleagues on
both the right and the left politically, and how we
can try to use this as a come together moment
(05:53):
to really try to adjust the way that we talk
about this. I know there was a lot of talk
about that last year after Donald Trump survived that assassination
attempt on his life in Pennsylvania, but we never really
got past the talking the same way to each other
ahead of that election. What do you want to see
and what do you think is the right way forward
(06:14):
for people on both sides to try to cool the
temperature in the room.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, first of all, we should always point out positive
ways that we currently work together, whether it's in Nebraska
or whether it's here in Washington, DC. You know, we
we work together. We are able to get bills passed
in a bipartisan way. To put it bluntly, the media
(06:43):
doesn't care about that. They want to They want to
talk about the ways that were divided. They want to
get somebody on there to talk about how nobody works
together and nothing gets done and the roadblocks that are
constantly up there. You know, we had our Nebraska breakfast
(07:04):
here in Washington this morning, where the delegation meets on Wednesdays,
when when the House and Senator and Session and meets
with Nebraskaans that are here in Washington. We talk about
we talk about things that we get done. We talk
about policy, we talk about common ground. I was, I
(07:24):
was on NBC this morning talking about childcare bill that
I've just introduced with two Democrats, and it's it's a
way that you know, it addresses it addresses an issue
that affects everybody, every family in Nebraska and every family
in this country and this country. And you know, I've
(07:48):
I talked about how we work together to find common ground,
to be able to find solutions that are going to
help families. That's what I try to do. Sure, it's
easy to say, well, the Democrats are a bunch of
obstructionists right now, and yeah they are, Yeah they are.
But let's focus on the common ground as well. Let's
(08:10):
talk about let's talk about procedure and process and not personalities.
I never try, I never try to attack an opponent
or anybody in my party by going after them personally.
We can have differences on policies, but let's keep that
(08:33):
the discussion. When we get involved in politics. Let's not
make it personal, and let's certainly not lie and certainly
not try to stir things up. You know, let's address
the better angels.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Senator Dev Fisher joining us, it's so hard to talk
about anything else today the way things are going, But
I just do while I have you. It is important.
You still do have a job to do. You guys
are still doing work, and I don't want to go
without asking about a couple of different things real quickly.
I know that this week you guys are working. Senate
Republicans are working on You mentioned obstruction, about the obstruction
(09:16):
of nominations from the Republican Party and really slow playing
the confirmation process for a variety of jobs. Can you
explain what that legislation or what you guys are attempting
to do to try to kind of expedite that process
so we don't just spend so much time worrying about
combativeness while trying to confirm people of a variety of jobs.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well, one thing we've seen under President Trump this term
is that the Democrats are not willing to give any time.
They're not willing to have any voice votes. We've had
zero voice votes on any nominee when they come out
(09:58):
of a committee in a unanimous way. The Democrats are
still requiring the time allotments that they that they can demand.
But in the past, President Obama, for example, had ninety
percent of his nominees go by voice votes. On the
first Trump administration it was it was like sixty five percent,
(10:22):
and the Biden administration it was sixty seven percent, so
it had dropped. But as I said, right now, in
this Trump administration, it's a zero zero. So what we're
doing is looking for a rule change. And this was
proposed by Amy Klobachar and Angus King. Amy Klobachar's the
(10:44):
Democrats in Minnesota, who was rules chair the last two years,
and this is a proposal she had. It was to
be able to combine these nominations again and be able
to move them at a faster pace. I think it's necessary.
And as I mentioned that the Nebraska Breakfast this morning.
(11:08):
When when a president isn't able to get his people
in positions, and at this point in time, we're talking
about deputies to deputies and secretaries, these are positions nobody
really knows about unless you have to get something answered
(11:28):
by an agency. So this interrupts governments. Government can't perform
when constituents call up, call us up, and they have questions.
We can't get answers from agencies because the people who
are in charge of a certain portion of that agency.
They aren't in place now. Even these assistants to assistants,
(11:53):
you know, they're they're not in place now. So our
people in this country are being hurt by this. So yeah,
we are working to be able to combine and have
nominations done on a voice vote, and we're basically trying
(12:14):
to get back to where we were and work together
and for the American people. So that's what we're trying
to do now, Emory.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Senator dev Fisher, We're going to keep an eye on that.
I also am going to speak with your colleague, Senator
Pete Ricketts later this week, and maybe that vote will
already have taken place by that point. But either way,
really do appreciate you still making some time with us
today and what is a very difficult day, and I
do appreciate your candor. I'm sure we'll talk again very soon.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Okay, thank you, and I hope everybody keeps Charlie Kirk's
family in their prayers.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Definitely one hundred percent
My name is Emory Songer. We're going to start this
hour being joined by the Senator representing the state of Nebraska,
Deb Fisher, joining us on our phone line. Senator, thank
you so much on a difficult day for still find
a time to join us today.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Thank you, Emory.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
We got to talk about Charlie Kirk and the incident
in Utah. This was a conservative commentator. This is a
person that has really done I think a lot of
a lot of good in building conservative base for a
generation that Republicans historically have had a hard time reaching.
(00:36):
And today, while he was visiting a college campus, he
was shot. What are your emotions of hearing the news
and how the reaction has been with some of your
colleagues in Washington.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, first of all, it's heartbreaking, it's horrific. My sympathies
go out to his wife, to his children, and his
family as they're trying to navigate through this unspeakable tragedy.
We just can never allow violence to become the norm
(01:10):
in our political discourse. You know, I grew up came
a aide during the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther
King Junior and Bobby Kennedy and it's hard.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I was talking about this also because now that you
mention it right, like, you can go through different eras
of American history, and this has always kind of been
a lingering threat to people who seemingly have quite a
bit of power and a lot of name recognition. Is
that there's always a crazed individual or a group of
individuals that don't want to talk. They literally just want
(01:50):
to inflict violence for some reason. What makes this time different,
what makes this particular situation maybe a turning point for
this country as far as maybe we can get some
of the people on both sides of the aisle to
plead with the American people that this is not the
(02:10):
way forward.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think you're exactly right. You know, hopefully, hopefully people
across this nation are going to take a step back
and they're going to stop with the attacks on social media.
They're going to stop with the attacks on cable TV
and every news outlet that's out there. People just say
(02:38):
the sometimes the most ridiculous things, but also the most
harmful things about others personally, and that can stir up
those who are who are not stable, who are prone
to violence, who are prone to having their emotions go
(03:01):
off the rails, and if somebody, if somebody truly gets
stirred up and drops over the edge on this, obviously,
we're going to see violence. Happened more and more and more.
You know, I saw President Trump on the news last
(03:23):
night when he went out to dinner at a place
here in Washington, and you know, he got out of
got out of his vehicles. He had some of his staff,
some cabinet folks with him, and he was trying to
show that the Washington DC is safe now. But what
(03:43):
struck me, first of all, you know that people watch,
obviously when you watch the Advanced team come in here
in Washington. You know, somebody, somebody who has a details
going to show up someplace, and when it's the President
and they're gonna they're gonna be there and uh uh
(04:03):
protest or cheer or whatever. But what bothered me was
when they showed him in the restaurant and there were
protesters in the restaurant and they weren't diners. So how
did protesters get in the restaurant so close to the
President of the United States. And as we saw with
Charlie Cook Kirk today, you don't have to be close
(04:27):
to to have an attempt on someone's life, and so
it just yeah, we need to all watch our our words,
our discourse, and we need to continue to point out
that we we work together here in Washington. And it's
(04:47):
a few, a few on both sides of the aisle
like to uh sture things up, and that is that's
gotta stop. That's got to stop. And the vitriol that's
out there, the intentional hate mongering that's out there, it
(05:10):
has to stop.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
We're joined by Senator Deb Fisher. You're an elected leader,
you have been elected multiple times out of the state
of Nebraska. You represent this state, and you are in Washington.
As you mentioned, it's a completely different environment there than
the people who are doing public service or in politics
here in Nebraska. I think those are two very different
(05:32):
conversations of what needs to happen on a national level
and also on a local level of the discourse that
we're having. But if someone were to ask you, Senator Fisher,
of what solutions that we could have and what you
would like to see moving forward from your colleagues on
both the right and the left politically, and how we
can try to use this as a come together moment
(05:53):
to really try to adjust the way that we talk
about this. I know there was a lot of talk
about that last year after Donald Trump survived that assassination
attempt on his life in Pennsylvania, but we never really
got past the talking the same way to each other
ahead of that election. What do you want to see
and what do you think is the right way forward
(06:14):
for people on both sides to try to cool the
temperature in the room.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, first of all, we should always point out positive
ways that we currently work together, whether it's in Nebraska
or whether it's here in Washington, DC. You know, we
we work together. We are able to get bills passed
in a bipartisan way. To put it bluntly, the media
(06:43):
doesn't care about that. They want to They want to
talk about the ways that were divided. They want to
get somebody on there to talk about how nobody works
together and nothing gets done and the roadblocks that are
constantly up there. You know, we had our Nebraska breakfast
(07:04):
here in Washington this morning, where the delegation meets on Wednesdays,
when when the House and Senator and Session and meets
with Nebraskaans that are here in Washington. We talk about
we talk about things that we get done. We talk
about policy, we talk about common ground. I was, I
(07:24):
was on NBC this morning talking about childcare bill that
I've just introduced with two Democrats, and it's it's a
way that you know, it addresses it addresses an issue
that affects everybody, every family in Nebraska and every family
in this country and this country. And you know, I've
(07:48):
I talked about how we work together to find common ground,
to be able to find solutions that are going to
help families. That's what I try to do. Sure, it's
easy to say, well, the Democrats are a bunch of
obstructionists right now, and yeah they are, Yeah they are.
But let's focus on the common ground as well. Let's
(08:10):
talk about let's talk about procedure and process and not personalities.
I never try, I never try to attack an opponent
or anybody in my party by going after them personally.
We can have differences on policies, but let's keep that
(08:33):
the discussion. When we get involved in politics. Let's not
make it personal, and let's certainly not lie and certainly
not try to stir things up. You know, let's address
the better angels.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Senator Dev Fisher joining us, it's so hard to talk
about anything else today the way things are going, But
I just do while I have you. It is important.
You still do have a job to do. You guys
are still doing work, and I don't want to go
without asking about a couple of different things real quickly.
I know that this week you guys are working. Senate
Republicans are working on You mentioned obstruction, about the obstruction
(09:16):
of nominations from the Republican Party and really slow playing
the confirmation process for a variety of jobs. Can you
explain what that legislation or what you guys are attempting
to do to try to kind of expedite that process
so we don't just spend so much time worrying about
combativeness while trying to confirm people of a variety of jobs.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well, one thing we've seen under President Trump this term
is that the Democrats are not willing to give any time.
They're not willing to have any voice votes. We've had
zero voice votes on any nominee when they come out
(09:58):
of a committee in a unanimous way. The Democrats are
still requiring the time allotments that they that they can demand.
But in the past, President Obama, for example, had ninety
percent of his nominees go by voice votes. On the
first Trump administration it was it was like sixty five percent,
(10:22):
and the Biden administration it was sixty seven percent, so
it had dropped. But as I said, right now, in
this Trump administration, it's a zero zero. So what we're
doing is looking for a rule change. And this was
proposed by Amy Klobachar and Angus King. Amy Klobachar's the
(10:44):
Democrats in Minnesota, who was rules chair the last two years,
and this is a proposal she had. It was to
be able to combine these nominations again and be able
to move them at a faster pace. I think it's necessary.
And as I mentioned that the Nebraska Breakfast this morning.
(11:08):
When when a president isn't able to get his people
in positions, and at this point in time, we're talking
about deputies to deputies and secretaries, these are positions nobody
really knows about unless you have to get something answered
(11:28):
by an agency. So this interrupts governments. Government can't perform
when constituents call up, call us up, and they have questions.
We can't get answers from agencies because the people who
are in charge of a certain portion of that agency.
They aren't in place now. Even these assistants to assistants,
(11:53):
you know, they're they're not in place now. So our
people in this country are being hurt by this. So yeah,
we are working to be able to combine and have
nominations done on a voice vote, and we're basically trying
(12:14):
to get back to where we were and work together
and for the American people. So that's what we're trying
to do now, Emory.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Senator dev Fisher, We're going to keep an eye on that.
I also am going to speak with your colleague, Senator
Pete Ricketts later this week, and maybe that vote will
already have taken place by that point. But either way,
really do appreciate you still making some time with us
today and what is a very difficult day, and I
do appreciate your candor. I'm sure we'll talk again very soon.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Okay, thank you, and I hope everybody keeps Charlie Kirk's
family in their prayers.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Definitely one hundred percent
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