December 17, 2025 • 38 mins
Today on the Scott Jennings Show: Scott is LIVE at the White House and he has an incredible lineup of guests today! Scott will be joined by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Administrator for the Small Business Association Kelley Loeffler, Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett, and the White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair! You won’t want to miss today’s show!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, cheers. It's Scott Jennings.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hey, it's Wednesday, December the seventeenth. It's Scott Jennings Common
Sense for the American People, broadcasting to you live from
sixteen hundred at Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, d C. We
are emanating this broadcast from the White House, the People's House.
I want to personally thank President Donald J. Trump and
(00:28):
his staff for allowing us to bring common sense for
the American people from the White House today. The Scott
Jennings Show is sponsored by EA's Total Health. Health insurance
is broken. We know that, and we're going to talk
about that in just a moment. But Ease fixes it.
No deductibles, no red tape, real benefits from day one.
(00:51):
Go to easefoeveryone dot com slash Scott to find out more.
We are in the White House today on a day
that the President will address the nation tonight at nine
o'clock about what's been happening with his agenda this year
and what he predicts for the economy in twenty twenty six.
The President is also today at dover overseeing the Dignified
(01:13):
Remains transfer of three American Service personnel. And we're also
here on a day after the President has ordered a
blockade a blockade around Venezuela. We expect to hear about
all of this today from the President when he speaks
to the nation tonight. We are going to start the show, however,
(01:34):
with Capitol Hill. There's news on Capitol Hill. Welcome into
the show. Tom Emmer, the Republican Whip, a member of
the leadership team for the Majority Republican Party. He's from Minnesota,
Congressman Emmer. There's been all sorts of activity on the
Hill today. There have been votes. There have been Republicans
(01:55):
like Mike Lawler of New York who have sided with
Democrats regarding Hill. Karen fac let's hear from a Lawler.
I want to get your response to this, and then
I want to get an update. Here's a Lawlers.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I am hosked for the American people. This is absolute
good and it's absurd that we are in a body
with four hundred and thirty five members. Everybody has a
responsibility to serve their district, to serve their constituents.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Here's Tom Emmer from Minnesota, Congressman. Thanks for joining us today.
What's going on up there? Today, just give us the report.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Well, first off, we've got the lower health premiums for
all acts, Scott, and by the way, thanks for having me.
I was listening to you right. There's a whole bunch
of activity. We got the speed Act that we're working on,
which is NIPA Reforms Environmental Permitting that is thirty years overdue.
That will streamline projects, still protecting the environment, but allow
(02:48):
people to get shovels in the ground and get things moving.
And you know now that the President has signed the
Working Families Tax Cut Act into law. Those permanent tax
policies going to effect on January. And if you don't
have a permitting process that works where for instance, in
my state, Polly met mine up in the northern part
of Minnesota, or twin medals, one has waited like fifteen
(03:11):
years and the other one is over twenty Scott. We've
got to get back to producing things in this country.
So that speed Act is one of the things that's
moving yet this week. And then you've got the healthcare bill.
You know, Democrats just want the issue, they want a
campaign issue. They're talking about these subsidies as if they're
going to solve the problem. You know what's got. Three
(03:33):
hundred million Americans got a twenty percent minimum increase in
their premiums this year. The enhanced premium tax credits they're
talking about would only apply to seven percent of Americans,
about twenty one of the three hundred million people. And
by the way, it would only reduce even if it
was the right thing, it would only reduce it by
about five percent. So the answer is what Republicans are doing.
(03:56):
Republicans have this, are looking at the the Unaffordable Care Act,
and this is what we got to remind people of.
Democrats passed this fifteen years ago. They called it the
Affordable Care Act, and they said that it would do
three things. One you can keep your doctor, Two you'll
have more choices, and three it's going to lower your premium. Scott,
They're O for three. They broke the healthcare system. So
(04:19):
Republicans want to lower cost, give patients a choice, and
get to the root cause of the healthcare crisis. It's
really not a crisis in our healthcare system. It's a
crisis with our healthcare insurance. The co conspirators in writing
this bill, it is the health insurers that have been
making money hand over fists while Americans get less and less.
(04:39):
The bill that we're going to be voting on here
in the House, it would increase PBM transparency. Those are
private benefit managers that negotiate the middleman.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
They're the middle man.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Yeah, yes, the middleman. Give you transparency so the consumer
knows if they're being ripped off appropriate cost sharing red
duction payments to lower premiums, which, by the way, this
would absolutely lower premiums immediately by at least twelve percent.
We had it in the Working Family Tax Cut Act,
but Democrats in the Senate fought to have it taken out,
(05:13):
so we're passing it today here in the House. In
addition to allowing small businesses to offer employees more tailored
and affordable health care options, and we're expanding access to
association health plans. The list goes on and on.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So let's just separate these issues out because I want
our audience to understand the news of the day. The
House Republicans are going to put a bill on the floor,
is it this afternoon that will address all of these
healthcare issues that you just mentioned, And if I'm not mistaken,
the Congressional Budget Office, the CBO has scored this and
the Republican plan will reduce health insurance premiums by I
(05:48):
think eleven or twelve percent, which is more than they
scored the Democrat plan. Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
That is correct?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Okay, that's number one.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I believe the bills being I believe the healthcare bill
scots being voted on to morow morning.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
It'll be tomorrow morning.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
I believe it's this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yes, Okay, so that'll be here within the next twenty
four hours. So that's what the legislative vote is going
to be. But I want to go back to this
other issue. Some Republicans signed a discharge petition today, I guess,
siding with Democrats on their bill to extend Obamacare subsidies.
We saw that news this morning. Is that actually going
(06:25):
to happen? Have some Democrats helped of some Republicans excuse me,
help Democrats take control of the House floor on this
healthcare issue today?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Yeah? And by the way, I was just corrected. Apparently
Steve Skalie is our majority leader who's moved the vote
on the healthcare bill up.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
To tonight tonight.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
The idea that if we can get if we get
our work done, people will be able to leave Thursday night.
So on the issue of discharge petitions, the answer is,
we do have several Republicans who have signed on new
a discharge petition. They've been frustrated by the delay. And
now let's keep in mind when we talk about these
(07:03):
things that Democrats are the ones who set this expiration date,
which is December thirty first, when they passed these COVID
era subsidies without a single Republican vote. As I told you,
the subsidies don't even address the problem, and Democrats stripped
out of provision that we would have lowered premiums in
the big beautiful bill. That doesn't help some of our
(07:26):
swing district members. They need to go home and they
want to be able to talk about the fact that
they are addressing this directly. They're going to be able to.
I think what you saw was just frustration. Unfortunately, now
that issue probably becomes ripe after we come back at
the beginning of the year.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, so that was my next question. Procedurally, what happens next,
So because of this petition, when you return from the
Christmas break, there will be a vote on that. So,
as we said here today, then the Republican majority in
the House is going to pass a healthcare bill tonight.
It will do a number of things, and the CBO
(08:03):
says it will reduce health insurance premiums. What it will
not do. What it will not do is continue to
send billions upon billions of dollars to health insurance companies
which are failing the American people. We'll see that tonight.
We'll see permitting reform. So a flurry of legislative activity
in the House tonight, and then and then at nine
o'clock we'll see what the President has to say about
(08:24):
all of it when he addresses the nation. Congressman Tom Emmer,
member of the House Republican Leadership from Minnesota, thank you,
sir for coming on the show and getting us up
to speed. It's a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill
today and we here at the show are broadcasting live
from the White House. It's Scott Jennings Common Sense for
the American People, live from sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. When
(08:49):
we come back after this break, we're going to talk
to Kelly Leffler, who is the administrator of the SBA.
At the bottom of the hour. Kevin Hassett, the President's
top economic advisors coming by. At fifty minutes past the hour,
Deputy White House Chief of Staff James Blair, the president's
top political advisor, is going to come by as well.
A quick word from our friends at the International Fellowship
(09:11):
of Christians and Jews. It's cold and Ukraine comes early there,
especially for elderly Jews like Olga, and that cold can
be deadly. She's seventy nine. She's in a small village,
no indoor plumbing, no bathroom, no heating. She's pumping water
from a well in subzero temperatures, and her meager pension
(09:32):
is not enough to cover food, medicine, and heat. Poverty
consumes her life. However, she's not alone. Thousands of elderly
Jews across Ukraine and all across the former Soviet Union
face similar struggles. And they're also not alone because they
have help from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
(09:53):
They help these folks who are in need. And if
you want to learn more about it, I encourage it,
go to Urgent dot org. That's Urgent IFCJ dot org
again broadcasting live from the White House today. It's Scott
Jennings coming up. Kelly Leffler from the SBA, Kevin Hassett,
James Blair, tons of action on Salem Today. It's common
(10:16):
sense for the American people. Stay with us. Hey, it's
Scott Jennings. You know I spend all day long preparing
for my debates on CNN, and you know it's not easy.
I'm out there four on one debating folks, and I got
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(11:22):
news in your everyday life.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
When he's time, the Oval Office are owning the lebs
on CNN, he's here with us.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
It's the Scott Jennings Show.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And it's Wednesday, December the seventeenth. Common Sense for the
American people. Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network. We
are at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. We're in the White House.
You might have noticed by the way, I'm not alone.
The administrator of the SBA, Kelly Loffler, is here from Georgia.
She's come by the first of three administration guests. We
have Kevin Hassett coming at the bottom of the hour
(11:58):
and James Blair coming at fifty minutes past the hour.
Before we talk about the SBA. Kelly, I did want
to bring up an issue and I know you're involved
in it and you just did something on it. Today.
We have a great sponsor of the show called Americans
for Free Markets. They're really worried about the d banking issue,
where people are denied financial services based on politics and
other issues, and their website, by the way, is four
(12:21):
free markets dot org. But effectively, they support the President's
executive order to stop debanking and they want Congress to act.
But you're doing something on this right now.
Speaker 6 (12:30):
Well that's right, Scott. First of all, great to be
with you and thank you. Just a real honor to
be on your show. Look, d banking is a serious issue,
and it didn't just start in the Biden administration. It
started with Obama under Choke Point Operation Choke point two
point zero, continued under Joe Biden, and thanks to President
Trump's executive order, we were able to send out to
five thousand banks and demand that they disclose any de
(12:52):
banking issues and then reinstate customers that were unlawfully debanked.
And so those responses are due by January fifth, so
more to come. We're working with the OCC, the FDIC,
and the FED to make sure that we have all
the responses back.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
What do you hear from Congress on this? You think
there's interest in legislating on it.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Well, look, I think first of all, the regulators, the
bank regulators were most affected in terms of we now
have a Michelle Bowman in at the FED, who is
overseeing supervisory matters and ensuring that Americans aren't unlawfully debanked.
That regulators were actually asking banks to do that. In
some cases, the banks were on their own debanking. But
(13:33):
then some of the penalties capital charges related to banking
what they called reputational risky industries. So she's peeling that
back already. So under President Trump, he's already making a
big difference for consumers. Whether they're two A pro live
Christian organizations, they're getting access to banking services.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Now, fantastic report. Okay, let's talk about the Small Business Administration.
You yourself are a bank. That's what the BA is,
and the President put you in charge of it. Obviously,
the economy a hot topic. He's speaking to the country tonight.
You're talking to small businesses across the country. What are
you hearing from folks about the President's policies, the state
of the economy, and what you expect in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 6 (14:15):
Well, as the President likes to say, Kelly, small business
is big business, and it absolutely is. It's ninety nine
percent of all businesses in this country. They create two
out of every three new jobs. I was just walking
factory floors yesterday, which I've done from Alaska to Maine,
and we're seeing that this economy is spring loaded in
twenty twenty six for hiring. That's small businesses number one
(14:37):
concerned is finding that skilled workforce. But they're grateful to
this president for passing the Working Family tax cuts, for
really creating rocket fuel for investing in this country. We're
bringing manufacturing back, and then we're deregulating because under Joe Biden,
about six trillion dollars in regulations were heaped on the
backs of small businesses, and we've already started rolling them back.
(15:00):
In fact, we just announced a task force to we
really call it a strike force because we have a
most wanted list of regulations. A lot of it's Green
New Deal stuff. It affects housing, transportation, energy, but at
some of its healthcare. Our small businesses want to make
sure that government REGs aren't making healthcare more expensive, which
(15:20):
we know they are.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So the President and the Congress, through the Big Beautiful Bill,
made tax cuts permanent. They did deregulate on energy issues.
Over here in the executive branch, you all are working
to repeal and get rid of regulations that prevent hiring
you use the word spring loaded for twenty six. I've
heard the Treasury Secretary Scott Besant predict a boom in
twenty twenty six. Is that what you're feeling from small
(15:43):
businesses out there? Do you feel like we're going to
see the kind of growth that the President and the
Treasury Secretary are predicting in the year ahead.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
We are, because, first of all, small businesses have something
they haven't had in a long time, which is certainty
on taxes. And so that twenty percent passed through deduction
big businesses had they knew their tax rate year to year.
Small businesses had to guess what was going to happen
in the tax bill that Democrats holistically across the entire
group said, we need to raise taxes on the American
people to the tune of four trillion dollars that would
(16:12):
have fallen on the backs of hardworking Americans and small businesses.
They now know they have the one ninety nine A,
they have the one seventy nine one hundred percent expensing,
so that way when they buy a farmer, bise a tractor,
or someone builds a factory, they can expense one hundred
percent of it and then r and D expensing one
hundred percent, So made in America is back thanks to
President Trump.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
And where we find the SBA SBA dot gov.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
If you're a small business and you think you might
need help from the SBA. This is the boss, Kelly Leffler,
the administrator of the SBA. The Pride of Georgia is
here and she's doing great job for President Trump. And
we're glad you stopped by it today. You're our first
administration guest here on our big broadcast from the White House,
so we really appreciate you coming by to give us
(16:56):
a report.
Speaker 7 (16:56):
Thank you. Scott.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
All right, coming up at the bottom of the hour're here.
We'll take break Kevin Hassett to talk more economic conditions
when we come back. It's common sense for the American people.
Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Common Sense for the American people. This is the Scott
Jennings show.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Angeltree Christmas campaign with our friends at the nonprofit Prison Fellowship.
You know, there are literally thousands of children all over
America who have a mom or a dad in prison.
That means they won't see their parent on Christmas. That's
why Angel Tree is so important you can put smiles
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(17:42):
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(18:03):
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Speaker 5 (18:25):
Man who made CNN safe for conservatives. Again here Scott Jennings.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
It is Wednesday, December the seventeenth, Scott Jennings Common Sense
for the American people, broadcasting live from the White House today,
and in just a moment, the President's top economic advisor
is here, Kevin Hassett, my old friend, and we're gonna
talk about what's going on in the economy today, what
we predict for twenty twenty six, and what we're gonna
hear from the President tonight when he addresses the nation
(18:53):
at nine o'clock. First, and quickly, I want to go
back to this the Angel Tree Christmas campaign still going
on here. We have eight days to go before Christmas,
and boy, we are reaching thousands of children who have
a mom or a dad in prison. And every time
I tell somebody about the Angel Tree campaign, which by
the way, I am a personal donor too, they say,
(19:14):
this is the greatest thing I've ever seen. Including earlier
this week, I was talking to legendary college basketball coach
Bruce Pearl on this show. He heard the Angel Tree
appeal and he said, I'm going to do that. Let's
hear from Bruce Pearl.
Speaker 8 (19:28):
Listen, brother, Before I comment on what happened in Australia,
I want to tell you that the Bruce Pearl family
is going to donate to the Angel Tree campaign and
I'm going to call that eight eight number as soon
as you and I are done with this interview and
help some fathers that are in prison show that kids
that they still love them because it's so important. So
thank you for doing it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Don't take it for me, Take it from Bruce Pearl,
who you hear now on college basketball broadcast, and you
know he has been a mentor to thousands of young
men in his career and he's dealt with a lot
of families who've had similar situation. A child with someone
in prison through no fault of their own. Christmas is
a rough time. And with the Angel Tree Campaign, thirty
dollars you sponsor one of these kids, they get a
(20:09):
gift from their parents, they get a personal note, and
they get the Gospel. They get a Bible, they get
the Gospel of Christ. The number that Coach Pearl referenced
is eight eight eight two o six two seven nine
three eight eight eight two six two seven nine to three.
Or go to Scott Jennings Show dot com, click on
the Angel Tree banner and you can make a donation
(20:29):
that way. It's Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network.
We are broadcasting live from the White House today and
I'm honored to be joined by Kevin Hassett. You are, sir,
of the President's top economic advisor. You see Kevin out
there on the Sunday shows and on cable talking about
the President's economic agenda, talking about the decisions that are
made and what's going on in our economy. Kevin, thanks
(20:52):
for joining us here, Sir, appreciate having you in. I've
come to your office to do this today. So let
me just level set. We're at the end of twenty
twenty five, the president's been in for almost a year.
Where are we in the American economy and where.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
Are we headed? Yeah, well, where we are in the
American economy is that we've had an amazing run already.
And you know, I'm not going to go too deep
into what the President's going to say todnight, but we've
been working out the speech all day yesterday and today,
you know, more than that, but really finalizing it today.
And there's so much good news about what we've accomplished
(21:28):
this year. What are the things that we've been looking at,
for example, is just I know people are concerned about
electricity prices and you know, it's one thing to wind
about electricity prices and blame Joe Biden, but the president's
a band of action, and so what he wants to
see is what have we done about it and the
(21:48):
amount of new power plants that are coming online over
the next year or two. Because President Trump has worked
with Doug Bergh and Chris Wiles to get like the
permits accepted and so on. So I expect there's a
chance that tonight he's actually going to talk about all
the things that we're doing to get electricity prices down
next year. So we're going to be talking a lot
(22:10):
about the things that we've done this year, but we've
also got plans for next year that are just through
the roof. In terms of how the economy's doing. We
are growing back about four percent since the President took office.
And the thing I remember most about this when I
started being working being the top advisor for the President
in season one back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Grants on being not getting killed off at the end
of the first season.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
I thought that would be Christmas special for season two.
But we'll see how it goes. It's not Christmas yet,
right right, It'll be still. But the point is that
when we came in and we ran the numbers, so
we said, mister President Barack Obama and his people, Larry Summers,
all those guys have told us that we're in the
new normal. And the new normal is that growth has
(22:55):
to be like one percent and there's nothing we could
do about it, and wages are gonna people are their
wages are stagnant, real wages are declining. People are worse
off because that's the new normal. That's the way the
world is. And the President's like, no, it's not, that's
not the way the world is. What you know, Let's
go in and change some policies and then deliver for
the American people. And so we came out after talking
with the President and picking out he picked out the
(23:17):
best policies, and I came out and starting to go
on TV. You remember, and I said, we're gonna have
three percent growth, yep. And the President said, we're going
to have three percent growth, and wages are going to
go up by four thousand dollars actually ended up being
sixty five hundred. But when we did that, When we
did that, you might recall the amount of abuse we got.
Oh yeah, those Obama people. And my favorite one from
a person who's a little bit on the ropes right now,
(23:38):
Larry Soemmers a little bit, but he said this about me.
He said that I'm either a liar or stupid or
both because I said we could have three percent growth,
that we could be you know, great again. And so
the thing I want to say is that we were
ridiculed for three percent yep, and we'll be ridiculed for
what a Secretary Besset and I and the President are
saying now because we're highly confident we're going to be
(24:00):
above four next year and for the years to come.
And if you'd like, we could talk about the nuances
of why that's true. But we're just as bullish as
we could be because of what we've seen, the promises
that have been made, the groundbreakings that we're looking at,
the power that we're generating, all of that stuff is
going to make really, uh, next year, what are the
best years you've ever seen?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
So I go on seeing in a lot, as you know,
and have to fight four or five people at.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
The Stace contributor. I see, I know, I know, you
know you know why I quit because they would never
put beyond. So they hired me as a contributor so
that I couldn't go out other places. But then they
did not ever use me. And so it's like it's
it's money, but this and now they have to use you,
but they don't pay me. They pay you.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So so I here's what I hear.
Speaker 7 (24:42):
Uh you know uh.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
And in these these liberals, they sort of forget what
happened during the Biden years. They forget the inflation spike,
they forget the affordability. They love the word affordability, but
they sort of forget what happened during the Biden years.
And what they really want everybody to forget is the deep,
deep hole and really being on the brink in our
economy that you and the President and Secretary Bessent inherited
(25:06):
back in January. Maybe sort of take us back to
that moment when you got here, were we on the
brink and then the immediate moves that were made. Are
you surprised that the President's been able to sort of
begin to build a ladder out of this hole as
quickly as he has.
Speaker 7 (25:22):
Yeah, things are moving fast in the right direction. But
the president won clearly for lots of reasons. But One
of the main reasons was that Americans saw their lives
fallowing up, their economic lives falling apart under Joe Biden.
And you know, we could talk about immigration later, but
the point is just on the economics. They mailed chucks
(25:44):
to people and the Fed printed money, and so it
was like what we economists call a helicopter drop. And
everybody knows that helicopter drops cause inflation because all of
a sudden, everybody has at extra thousand dollars in their
pocket that fell out of the sky. Then wherever they
go they want to buy stuff, but everybody shows up
all it was, and so the price goes up. And
that's what happened. And the official statistics really are misleading
(26:05):
on this too. It is way worse for people's lives.
Then it looks like if you just look at the
consumer price Index, which is always what people talk about
of the news, and here's why, it doesn't include interest rates.
So when they're measuring inflation, they don't include interest rates.
And so think of this for a typical person, middle
(26:26):
class person buying a home in a sort of starter home,
then the annual I won't do monthly, I'll do annual.
The annual mortgage payment for the person buying that home
went up because of Joe Biden's policies from when President
Trump left office until just now, say, last January, by
(26:47):
fourteen thousand dollars. Wow, that's an annual payment went up
by fourteen thousand dollars. If you look at gasoline and
food and everything else that went up twenty percent, then
you're basically looking at you know, to be like round numbers.
The typical family had to spend twenty or twenty five
thousand dollars more to tread water because of Biden's inflation.
(27:10):
And when you buy stuff, you might recall that's money
that's after tax, right, and so if you're gonna have
twenty five thousand dollars for to spend and tread water,
you actually got to make like forty thousand dollars because
the government takes so much. And so if your income
didn't go up by thirty or forty thousand dollars in
the Biden years, you're hurting. And so there are a
lot of people that genuinely were harmed, and we're fixing
(27:34):
it fast, but we're also aware of the depth of
the gravity of the problem that Joe Biden created.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So we've cut taxes here. The big beautiful bill locked
in the President's tax cuts and added new tax cuts
for working families. Energy prices, gas prices are at a
four or five year low. Right now, that's a good
thing for people to drive around.
Speaker 7 (27:54):
And remember eggs and eggs. Eggs.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I know that I had to fight about and not
by the way, I'm a chicken farmer. I had to
fight about eggs all year long. Now they don't want
to bring up the egg.
Speaker 7 (28:02):
I got to tell you this though, that said you're
a chicken fiber. So I go into the first meeting
with all the careers they're talking about eggs, and said, well,
why egg price so high? They said, well, we got
the Avian flu, and so we've been culling a lot
of chickens. And they say, we would go and we'd
find the chicken that had the Avian flu, and we'd
kill every chicken with twenty miles. They killed millions and
millions of chickens. And so I said to the staff,
(28:24):
these are career people that were advised of the Democrats.
And I said, so if a chicken is sick over here,
then you go twenty miles away, you kill the other chicken.
Have you ever seen a chicken fly?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Barely?
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Barely? Well, if the dog goes after the chicken, take
it to the ceiling for about a minute.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
But when this was all going on, you know, the
Biden and the Democrats last year during the campaign, they
were always using the word blood bath, blood bath. I'm like,
the only blood bath that happened in America was all
the great chicken slaughter of twenty twenty four that Joe
Biden foisted upon the American people.
Speaker 7 (28:54):
I could go on about avian flu forever because one
of the things that was the number one talking point
of the fire left. What we got it is egg prices,
egg prices, It's all our fault. Then we just stopped
killing the chickens, and then the egg prices kind of.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I got to tell you something, though, are you telling
me if you leave chickens alive, they will lay egg,
They will lay eg.
Speaker 7 (29:10):
Oh but but I got to tell you the worst thing.
It's it's actually somewhat tragic, but fairy tragic for one person.
But there were about sixty cases of avian flu in humans. Uh,
and one person sadly passed away. We went back and
looked at You know what caused the avian food have
spread to the chickens. It was mostly caught by the
(29:31):
people who are paid by Biden to kill the chickens.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Oh no, so Biden sent people out to kill the chickens.
They catch avian flu egg prices.
Speaker 7 (29:40):
If you try to kill a chicken and you're not careful,
he's going to scratch you or something.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Right, Oh, I know about that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.
We got about a minute left. And I don't want
to be labor this and I don't want to put
you on the spot, but a lot of folks are
talking about you. We're going to see the fed chair
job come open, pals out. A lot of folks are
talking about you as a candidate. Do you want to
have a comment on it? What can you say about ay?
(30:05):
What can you say about it? Up yourself and be
How soon will we see the president make a decision?
Speaker 7 (30:09):
The President will make the decision very soon, probably by
the first of the year, maybe a little bit after.
He's interviewing a bunch of candidates. I'm honored to be
in that group. I've worked closely with the president since
twenty seventeen as one of his top advisors. I of
course talked to him about everything, including monetary policy, almost
every day, and I think that I'd be very good
(30:31):
at the job. But I love the job that I
have here, and I think that the President and I
will work together to think about whether the best place
for me is here or there. But if the President
decides to send me there, then I'll be honored and
I'll serve. But the thing I got to say is
that there are a lot of really, really great candidates
the presidents interviewing, and you could go to like Chris Waller,
who's already at the FED, who's a Notre dame, a
(30:53):
professor who wrote a lot about monetary policy, and so
he and the other candid that it's are really qualified.
Uh at So I think I want everybody. What I
want everybody to know is that don't worry about the
decision because the President isn't making a tough choice. He's
got nothing but good choices.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Good choices, and you would be one of them. Were
honored that you took some time out to talk to
us here at the White House today. That voice you're
hearing is Kevin Hassett, the President's top economic advisor, maybe
he's getting a new job title in the new year.
We'll find out from the President. Uh when we come
back from the Christmas break, quick word from our friends
at Relief Factor. I'm just gonna boil it down for you.
(31:35):
If you have aches and pains, which Kevin, you do
from the attacks that you suffer on cable news all
the time. When you have eggs and pains, there's only
one thing to do about it. Do something. Get relief
Factor relief factor dot com. Why I'd hudred four relief
You don't have to live with it. I'm not sure
if relief Factor would solve your problems, Kevin, not be honest.
I mean what they're doing to you, this would not
solve But OK, if your joints are sore and things
(31:57):
like that, it would solve your problem. Maybe go to
relief Factor dot We use it.
Speaker 7 (32:01):
We like it.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
When we come back, the president's top political advisor just
walked in. James Blair is here. It's common sense for
the American people. Scott on the Salem Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
He's the author of the best selling book A Revolution
of Common Sense.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Pierson Scott Jennings.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Wednesday, December of the seventeenth live from the White House.
It's Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network. Tonight, President
Trump speaks to the nation at nine o'clock and with
me right now. Is the President's top political advisor. He
is Deputy White House Chief of Staff. He is in
charge of the legislative and political strategy here at the
White House. His name is James Blair. James, thanks for
(32:50):
coming on the show, Scott.
Speaker 7 (32:51):
Jennings show, Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Okay, first question tonight the President speaks to the nation.
What are we going to hear from the president? What's
the framework of the speech. It's really about what we
have done in the first year with the President has
accomplished and also where we're going. The President has made
progress in a lot of the areas that are important
to voters that everybody is talking about, things like the economy, affordability,
(33:15):
and he will highlight the successes that we have that
we have had, and I think he will also talk
about going forward. The President really wants to make the
American people whole after Joe Biden and the Democrats for
the last four years really stole from them through terrible policy,
through inflation, the highest in our country's history. You know,
(33:37):
people were hurting, Wages were not outpacing inflation they are now. Obviously,
prices were rising, all of these things, and so it
was a big hole that they dug us into. The
President is trying to get us out. We're making progress,
but there's still more work to be done, and that's
what this speech will be about. Yeah, it seems to me,
heading into the election year, drawing a bright line between
(33:59):
what they the Democrats did to the country and what
Trump the Republicans are trying to do to fix that
is critical. I'm not sure that was. You know, folks
weren't really thinking about that. And of course, you know,
you turn on your cable TV and you got every
Democrat out there who sort of has amnesia about what
happened during Biden. But you all inherited an economy in
a country in many ways on the brink, and so
(34:20):
the policies that you had to implement were drastic because
we were on the brink of some even worse outcomes
than people had already suffered.
Speaker 9 (34:29):
Absolutely true. And look, the Democrats, I don't think, have
a lot of credibility on this topic. Ultimately, and once
we get really into campaign season, I think they are
going to find it hard to stick the landing with voters.
So when the Democrats are out there and say we
want to make life more affordable, well, first of all,
they are the ones they're spending policies primarily are the
ones that drove prices through the roof, through inflation, and
(34:51):
then everything President Trump and the Republicans in Congress have
done to try to put money back in the American
people's pockets. So the big one, obviously is our working
families tax cut package passed over the summer. Every single
Democrat in Congress voted against that. So as we turn
into January and people start to adjust their withholding when
they redo their forms for the year if you know
you're a wage worker, or when we get to April,
(35:12):
where people are going to see some of the biggest
returns they've ever had. Every Democrat in Congress voted against
all of those things. And you see in a bunch
of blue states, actually, which is really remarkable, Scott, A
bunch of blue states, states like New York right here
in the District of Columbia, Illinois, have started to emergency
rewrite their own tax rules to try to capture the
(35:32):
tax cuts that were given to them by the federal government.
No tax on tips, no tax on social security, no
tax on overtime pay. What a lot of those blue states,
blue governed states are saying is that our people are
not going to get these tax cuts. We're actually gonna
put a new tax into state law that captures that
money back. I don't think that's going to play well
for them in the election cycles. So look, I don't
(35:52):
think Democrats have a lot of credibility to stand on,
and I think we'll be able to make that very
clear throughout the.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Next year, and you raise a specter of Democrats arguing
this out in the election, the economy will be a top,
if not the top issue. I still think immigration is
one of the President's greatest successes. I'm still flabbergasted at
how Democrats handle this, spending way more time trying to
do things for illegal aliens than American citizens. I assume
we're going to continue to see aggressive immigration enforcement policies
(36:20):
out of the administration in twenty six.
Speaker 9 (36:21):
Absolutely, look, the flood of illegal immigration competes with Americans
for government services, just for things like housing. I mean,
there was a report that just came out that said
sixty percent of the increased rental costs were driven by
illegal immigration. I mean, there's competition, right, and so when
you flood the country with twenty million new people, well
(36:42):
they're going to live somewhere, They're going to get on
government services, and there's only so much to go around.
And something that's a great achievement of President Trump in
the first year is that all of the net new
jobs have gone to American born workers, whereas under the
Biden administration, all of the net new jobs went to
foreign born workers. This is a great sign, and that's
one of the main reasons that wages, real wage growth
(37:05):
income is outpacing inflation. That's because cheap foreign labor is
not competing as much for the jobs that Americans have
in lowering the overall wages for the American people.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
So gas prices are way down. You've shrunk the size
of government. The new jobs that are being created are
going to American workers. And in twenty twenty six, because
of the policies implemented Bessentt, Hasset, and Blair, I assume
predicting economic boom in twenty six.
Speaker 9 (37:30):
Absolutely, I think economic boom besn't just posted the deficits
down twenty percent, interest rates are going out, taxes are down.
Things are going to be great next year.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
That's James Blair, the President's top political advisor. I'm Scott Jennings.
Were live from the White House. The President speaks tonight
at nine o'clock. You should watch it. I'll be on
CNN analyzing it. After common sense for the American people
join us again tomorrow. It's Scott on Salem three
Ladies and gentlemen, cheers. It's Scott Jennings.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hey, it's Wednesday, December the seventeenth. It's Scott Jennings Common
Sense for the American People, broadcasting to you live from
sixteen hundred at Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, d C. We
are emanating this broadcast from the White House, the People's House.
I want to personally thank President Donald J. Trump and
(00:28):
his staff for allowing us to bring common sense for
the American people from the White House today. The Scott
Jennings Show is sponsored by EA's Total Health. Health insurance
is broken. We know that, and we're going to talk
about that in just a moment. But Ease fixes it.
No deductibles, no red tape, real benefits from day one.
(00:51):
Go to easefoeveryone dot com slash Scott to find out more.
We are in the White House today on a day
that the President will address the nation tonight at nine
o'clock about what's been happening with his agenda this year
and what he predicts for the economy in twenty twenty six.
The President is also today at dover overseeing the Dignified
(01:13):
Remains transfer of three American Service personnel. And we're also
here on a day after the President has ordered a
blockade a blockade around Venezuela. We expect to hear about
all of this today from the President when he speaks
to the nation tonight. We are going to start the show, however,
(01:34):
with Capitol Hill. There's news on Capitol Hill. Welcome into
the show. Tom Emmer, the Republican Whip, a member of
the leadership team for the Majority Republican Party. He's from Minnesota,
Congressman Emmer. There's been all sorts of activity on the
Hill today. There have been votes. There have been Republicans
(01:55):
like Mike Lawler of New York who have sided with
Democrats regarding Hill. Karen fac let's hear from a Lawler.
I want to get your response to this, and then
I want to get an update. Here's a Lawlers.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I am hosked for the American people. This is absolute
good and it's absurd that we are in a body
with four hundred and thirty five members. Everybody has a
responsibility to serve their district, to serve their constituents.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Here's Tom Emmer from Minnesota, Congressman. Thanks for joining us today.
What's going on up there? Today, just give us the report.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Well, first off, we've got the lower health premiums for
all acts, Scott, and by the way, thanks for having me.
I was listening to you right. There's a whole bunch
of activity. We got the speed Act that we're working on,
which is NIPA Reforms Environmental Permitting that is thirty years overdue.
That will streamline projects, still protecting the environment, but allow
(02:48):
people to get shovels in the ground and get things moving.
And you know now that the President has signed the
Working Families Tax Cut Act into law. Those permanent tax
policies going to effect on January. And if you don't
have a permitting process that works where for instance, in
my state, Polly met mine up in the northern part
of Minnesota, or twin medals, one has waited like fifteen
(03:11):
years and the other one is over twenty Scott. We've
got to get back to producing things in this country.
So that speed Act is one of the things that's
moving yet this week. And then you've got the healthcare bill.
You know, Democrats just want the issue, they want a
campaign issue. They're talking about these subsidies as if they're
going to solve the problem. You know what's got. Three
(03:33):
hundred million Americans got a twenty percent minimum increase in
their premiums this year. The enhanced premium tax credits they're
talking about would only apply to seven percent of Americans,
about twenty one of the three hundred million people. And
by the way, it would only reduce even if it
was the right thing, it would only reduce it by
about five percent. So the answer is what Republicans are doing.
(03:56):
Republicans have this, are looking at the the Unaffordable Care Act,
and this is what we got to remind people of.
Democrats passed this fifteen years ago. They called it the
Affordable Care Act, and they said that it would do
three things. One you can keep your doctor, Two you'll
have more choices, and three it's going to lower your premium. Scott,
They're O for three. They broke the healthcare system. So
(04:19):
Republicans want to lower cost, give patients a choice, and
get to the root cause of the healthcare crisis. It's
really not a crisis in our healthcare system. It's a
crisis with our healthcare insurance. The co conspirators in writing
this bill, it is the health insurers that have been
making money hand over fists while Americans get less and less.
(04:39):
The bill that we're going to be voting on here
in the House, it would increase PBM transparency. Those are
private benefit managers that negotiate the middleman.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
They're the middle man.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Yeah, yes, the middleman. Give you transparency so the consumer
knows if they're being ripped off appropriate cost sharing red
duction payments to lower premiums, which, by the way, this
would absolutely lower premiums immediately by at least twelve percent.
We had it in the Working Family Tax Cut Act,
but Democrats in the Senate fought to have it taken out,
(05:13):
so we're passing it today here in the House. In
addition to allowing small businesses to offer employees more tailored
and affordable health care options, and we're expanding access to
association health plans. The list goes on and on.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So let's just separate these issues out because I want
our audience to understand the news of the day. The
House Republicans are going to put a bill on the floor,
is it this afternoon that will address all of these
healthcare issues that you just mentioned, And if I'm not mistaken,
the Congressional Budget Office, the CBO has scored this and
the Republican plan will reduce health insurance premiums by I
(05:48):
think eleven or twelve percent, which is more than they
scored the Democrat plan. Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (05:54):
That is correct?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Okay, that's number one.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I believe the bills being I believe the healthcare bill
scots being voted on to morow morning.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
It'll be tomorrow morning.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
I believe it's this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yes, Okay, so that'll be here within the next twenty
four hours. So that's what the legislative vote is going
to be. But I want to go back to this
other issue. Some Republicans signed a discharge petition today, I guess,
siding with Democrats on their bill to extend Obamacare subsidies.
We saw that news this morning. Is that actually going
(06:25):
to happen? Have some Democrats helped of some Republicans excuse me,
help Democrats take control of the House floor on this
healthcare issue today?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Yeah? And by the way, I was just corrected. Apparently
Steve Skalie is our majority leader who's moved the vote
on the healthcare bill up.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
To tonight tonight.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
The idea that if we can get if we get
our work done, people will be able to leave Thursday night.
So on the issue of discharge petitions, the answer is,
we do have several Republicans who have signed on new
a discharge petition. They've been frustrated by the delay. And
now let's keep in mind when we talk about these
(07:03):
things that Democrats are the ones who set this expiration date,
which is December thirty first, when they passed these COVID
era subsidies without a single Republican vote. As I told you,
the subsidies don't even address the problem, and Democrats stripped
out of provision that we would have lowered premiums in
the big beautiful bill. That doesn't help some of our
(07:26):
swing district members. They need to go home and they
want to be able to talk about the fact that
they are addressing this directly. They're going to be able to.
I think what you saw was just frustration. Unfortunately, now
that issue probably becomes ripe after we come back at
the beginning of the year.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, so that was my next question. Procedurally, what happens next,
So because of this petition, when you return from the
Christmas break, there will be a vote on that. So,
as we said here today, then the Republican majority in
the House is going to pass a healthcare bill tonight.
It will do a number of things, and the CBO
(08:03):
says it will reduce health insurance premiums. What it will
not do. What it will not do is continue to
send billions upon billions of dollars to health insurance companies
which are failing the American people. We'll see that tonight.
We'll see permitting reform. So a flurry of legislative activity
in the House tonight, and then and then at nine
o'clock we'll see what the President has to say about
(08:24):
all of it when he addresses the nation. Congressman Tom Emmer,
member of the House Republican Leadership from Minnesota, thank you,
sir for coming on the show and getting us up
to speed. It's a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill
today and we here at the show are broadcasting live
from the White House. It's Scott Jennings Common Sense for
the American People, live from sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. When
(08:49):
we come back after this break, we're going to talk
to Kelly Leffler, who is the administrator of the SBA.
At the bottom of the hour. Kevin Hassett, the President's
top economic advisors coming by. At fifty minutes past the hour,
Deputy White House Chief of Staff James Blair, the president's
top political advisor, is going to come by as well.
A quick word from our friends at the International Fellowship
(09:11):
of Christians and Jews. It's cold and Ukraine comes early there,
especially for elderly Jews like Olga, and that cold can
be deadly. She's seventy nine. She's in a small village,
no indoor plumbing, no bathroom, no heating. She's pumping water
from a well in subzero temperatures, and her meager pension
(09:32):
is not enough to cover food, medicine, and heat. Poverty
consumes her life. However, she's not alone. Thousands of elderly
Jews across Ukraine and all across the former Soviet Union
face similar struggles. And they're also not alone because they
have help from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
(09:53):
They help these folks who are in need. And if
you want to learn more about it, I encourage it,
go to Urgent dot org. That's Urgent IFCJ dot org
again broadcasting live from the White House today. It's Scott
Jennings coming up. Kelly Leffler from the SBA, Kevin Hassett,
James Blair, tons of action on Salem Today. It's common
(10:16):
sense for the American people. Stay with us. Hey, it's
Scott Jennings. You know I spend all day long preparing
for my debates on CNN, and you know it's not easy.
I'm out there four on one debating folks, and I got
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(10:38):
ever been in my entire life. The tool is called
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It is fast, it is private, it is unbiased. Free
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(11:22):
news in your everyday life.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
When he's time, the Oval Office are owning the lebs
on CNN, he's here with us.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
It's the Scott Jennings Show.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And it's Wednesday, December the seventeenth. Common Sense for the
American people. Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network. We
are at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. We're in the White House.
You might have noticed by the way, I'm not alone.
The administrator of the SBA, Kelly Loffler, is here from Georgia.
She's come by the first of three administration guests. We
have Kevin Hassett coming at the bottom of the hour
(11:58):
and James Blair coming at fifty minutes past the hour.
Before we talk about the SBA. Kelly, I did want
to bring up an issue and I know you're involved
in it and you just did something on it. Today.
We have a great sponsor of the show called Americans
for Free Markets. They're really worried about the d banking issue,
where people are denied financial services based on politics and
other issues, and their website, by the way, is four
(12:21):
free markets dot org. But effectively, they support the President's
executive order to stop debanking and they want Congress to act.
But you're doing something on this right now.
Speaker 6 (12:30):
Well that's right, Scott. First of all, great to be
with you and thank you. Just a real honor to
be on your show. Look, d banking is a serious issue,
and it didn't just start in the Biden administration. It
started with Obama under Choke Point Operation Choke point two
point zero, continued under Joe Biden, and thanks to President
Trump's executive order, we were able to send out to
five thousand banks and demand that they disclose any de
(12:52):
banking issues and then reinstate customers that were unlawfully debanked.
And so those responses are due by January fifth, so
more to come. We're working with the OCC, the FDIC,
and the FED to make sure that we have all
the responses back.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
What do you hear from Congress on this? You think
there's interest in legislating on it.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Well, look, I think first of all, the regulators, the
bank regulators were most affected in terms of we now
have a Michelle Bowman in at the FED, who is
overseeing supervisory matters and ensuring that Americans aren't unlawfully debanked.
That regulators were actually asking banks to do that. In
some cases, the banks were on their own debanking. But
(13:33):
then some of the penalties capital charges related to banking
what they called reputational risky industries. So she's peeling that
back already. So under President Trump, he's already making a
big difference for consumers. Whether they're two A pro live
Christian organizations, they're getting access to banking services.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Now, fantastic report. Okay, let's talk about the Small Business Administration.
You yourself are a bank. That's what the BA is,
and the President put you in charge of it. Obviously,
the economy a hot topic. He's speaking to the country tonight.
You're talking to small businesses across the country. What are
you hearing from folks about the President's policies, the state
of the economy, and what you expect in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 6 (14:15):
Well, as the President likes to say, Kelly, small business
is big business, and it absolutely is. It's ninety nine
percent of all businesses in this country. They create two
out of every three new jobs. I was just walking
factory floors yesterday, which I've done from Alaska to Maine,
and we're seeing that this economy is spring loaded in
twenty twenty six for hiring. That's small businesses number one
(14:37):
concerned is finding that skilled workforce. But they're grateful to
this president for passing the Working Family tax cuts, for
really creating rocket fuel for investing in this country. We're
bringing manufacturing back, and then we're deregulating because under Joe Biden,
about six trillion dollars in regulations were heaped on the
backs of small businesses, and we've already started rolling them back.
(15:00):
In fact, we just announced a task force to we
really call it a strike force because we have a
most wanted list of regulations. A lot of it's Green
New Deal stuff. It affects housing, transportation, energy, but at
some of its healthcare. Our small businesses want to make
sure that government REGs aren't making healthcare more expensive, which
(15:20):
we know they are.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So the President and the Congress, through the Big Beautiful Bill,
made tax cuts permanent. They did deregulate on energy issues.
Over here in the executive branch, you all are working
to repeal and get rid of regulations that prevent hiring
you use the word spring loaded for twenty six. I've
heard the Treasury Secretary Scott Besant predict a boom in
twenty twenty six. Is that what you're feeling from small
(15:43):
businesses out there? Do you feel like we're going to
see the kind of growth that the President and the
Treasury Secretary are predicting in the year ahead.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
We are, because, first of all, small businesses have something
they haven't had in a long time, which is certainty
on taxes. And so that twenty percent passed through deduction
big businesses had they knew their tax rate year to year.
Small businesses had to guess what was going to happen
in the tax bill that Democrats holistically across the entire
group said, we need to raise taxes on the American
people to the tune of four trillion dollars that would
(16:12):
have fallen on the backs of hardworking Americans and small businesses.
They now know they have the one ninety nine A,
they have the one seventy nine one hundred percent expensing,
so that way when they buy a farmer, bise a tractor,
or someone builds a factory, they can expense one hundred
percent of it and then r and D expensing one
hundred percent, So made in America is back thanks to
President Trump.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
And where we find the SBA SBA dot gov.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
If you're a small business and you think you might
need help from the SBA. This is the boss, Kelly Leffler,
the administrator of the SBA. The Pride of Georgia is
here and she's doing great job for President Trump. And
we're glad you stopped by it today. You're our first
administration guest here on our big broadcast from the White House,
so we really appreciate you coming by to give us
(16:56):
a report.
Speaker 7 (16:56):
Thank you. Scott.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
All right, coming up at the bottom of the hour're here.
We'll take break Kevin Hassett to talk more economic conditions
when we come back. It's common sense for the American people.
Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Common Sense for the American people. This is the Scott
Jennings show.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Angeltree Christmas campaign with our friends at the nonprofit Prison Fellowship.
You know, there are literally thousands of children all over
America who have a mom or a dad in prison.
That means they won't see their parent on Christmas. That's
why Angel Tree is so important you can put smiles
on the faces of children who, through no fault of
their own, are often struggling at a time of year
that's supposed to be full of joy. There is an
(17:42):
Angeltree banner up at Scott Jenningsshow dot com. You can
make a donation right there. It only takes thirty dollars
to bless a child who will receive a special present,
a gospel message, and a personal note from their incarcerated parent. Again,
the cost to help bless one child with Angeltree is
only thirty dollars, less than a pizza a diet coke somewhere.
Or if you're feeling generous, one hundred and fifty dollars
(18:03):
will bless five children of prisoners with an extra special Christmas.
Just go to Scott Jennings Show dot com, make your
generous gift online or phone our special donation number eight
eight eight two O six two eight five y five.
That's eight eight eight two O six two eight five
five and show the love of Christ through your donation
to Angel Tree, the.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Man who made CNN safe for conservatives. Again here Scott Jennings.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
It is Wednesday, December the seventeenth, Scott Jennings Common Sense
for the American people, broadcasting live from the White House today,
and in just a moment, the President's top economic advisor
is here, Kevin Hassett, my old friend, and we're gonna
talk about what's going on in the economy today, what
we predict for twenty twenty six, and what we're gonna
hear from the President tonight when he addresses the nation
(18:53):
at nine o'clock. First, and quickly, I want to go
back to this the Angel Tree Christmas campaign still going
on here. We have eight days to go before Christmas,
and boy, we are reaching thousands of children who have
a mom or a dad in prison. And every time
I tell somebody about the Angel Tree campaign, which by
the way, I am a personal donor too, they say,
(19:14):
this is the greatest thing I've ever seen. Including earlier
this week, I was talking to legendary college basketball coach
Bruce Pearl on this show. He heard the Angel Tree
appeal and he said, I'm going to do that. Let's
hear from Bruce Pearl.
Speaker 8 (19:28):
Listen, brother, Before I comment on what happened in Australia,
I want to tell you that the Bruce Pearl family
is going to donate to the Angel Tree campaign and
I'm going to call that eight eight number as soon
as you and I are done with this interview and
help some fathers that are in prison show that kids
that they still love them because it's so important. So
thank you for doing it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Don't take it for me, Take it from Bruce Pearl,
who you hear now on college basketball broadcast, and you
know he has been a mentor to thousands of young
men in his career and he's dealt with a lot
of families who've had similar situation. A child with someone
in prison through no fault of their own. Christmas is
a rough time. And with the Angel Tree Campaign, thirty
dollars you sponsor one of these kids, they get a
(20:09):
gift from their parents, they get a personal note, and
they get the Gospel. They get a Bible, they get
the Gospel of Christ. The number that Coach Pearl referenced
is eight eight eight two o six two seven nine
three eight eight eight two six two seven nine to three.
Or go to Scott Jennings Show dot com, click on
the Angel Tree banner and you can make a donation
(20:29):
that way. It's Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network.
We are broadcasting live from the White House today and
I'm honored to be joined by Kevin Hassett. You are, sir,
of the President's top economic advisor. You see Kevin out
there on the Sunday shows and on cable talking about
the President's economic agenda, talking about the decisions that are
made and what's going on in our economy. Kevin, thanks
(20:52):
for joining us here, Sir, appreciate having you in. I've
come to your office to do this today. So let
me just level set. We're at the end of twenty
twenty five, the president's been in for almost a year.
Where are we in the American economy and where.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
Are we headed? Yeah, well, where we are in the
American economy is that we've had an amazing run already.
And you know, I'm not going to go too deep
into what the President's going to say todnight, but we've
been working out the speech all day yesterday and today,
you know, more than that, but really finalizing it today.
And there's so much good news about what we've accomplished
(21:28):
this year. What are the things that we've been looking at,
for example, is just I know people are concerned about
electricity prices and you know, it's one thing to wind
about electricity prices and blame Joe Biden, but the president's
a band of action, and so what he wants to
see is what have we done about it and the
(21:48):
amount of new power plants that are coming online over
the next year or two. Because President Trump has worked
with Doug Bergh and Chris Wiles to get like the
permits accepted and so on. So I expect there's a
chance that tonight he's actually going to talk about all
the things that we're doing to get electricity prices down
next year. So we're going to be talking a lot
(22:10):
about the things that we've done this year, but we've
also got plans for next year that are just through
the roof. In terms of how the economy's doing. We
are growing back about four percent since the President took office.
And the thing I remember most about this when I
started being working being the top advisor for the President
in season one back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Grants on being not getting killed off at the end
of the first season.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
I thought that would be Christmas special for season two.
But we'll see how it goes. It's not Christmas yet,
right right, It'll be still. But the point is that
when we came in and we ran the numbers, so
we said, mister President Barack Obama and his people, Larry Summers,
all those guys have told us that we're in the
new normal. And the new normal is that growth has
(22:55):
to be like one percent and there's nothing we could
do about it, and wages are gonna people are their
wages are stagnant, real wages are declining. People are worse
off because that's the new normal. That's the way the
world is. And the President's like, no, it's not, that's
not the way the world is. What you know, Let's
go in and change some policies and then deliver for
the American people. And so we came out after talking
with the President and picking out he picked out the
(23:17):
best policies, and I came out and starting to go
on TV. You remember, and I said, we're gonna have
three percent growth, yep. And the President said, we're going
to have three percent growth, and wages are going to
go up by four thousand dollars actually ended up being
sixty five hundred. But when we did that, When we
did that, you might recall the amount of abuse we got.
Oh yeah, those Obama people. And my favorite one from
a person who's a little bit on the ropes right now,
(23:38):
Larry Soemmers a little bit, but he said this about me.
He said that I'm either a liar or stupid or
both because I said we could have three percent growth,
that we could be you know, great again. And so
the thing I want to say is that we were
ridiculed for three percent yep, and we'll be ridiculed for
what a Secretary Besset and I and the President are
saying now because we're highly confident we're going to be
(24:00):
above four next year and for the years to come.
And if you'd like, we could talk about the nuances
of why that's true. But we're just as bullish as
we could be because of what we've seen, the promises
that have been made, the groundbreakings that we're looking at,
the power that we're generating, all of that stuff is
going to make really, uh, next year, what are the
best years you've ever seen?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
So I go on seeing in a lot, as you know,
and have to fight four or five people at.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
The Stace contributor. I see, I know, I know, you
know you know why I quit because they would never
put beyond. So they hired me as a contributor so
that I couldn't go out other places. But then they
did not ever use me. And so it's like it's
it's money, but this and now they have to use you,
but they don't pay me. They pay you.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
So so I here's what I hear.
Speaker 7 (24:42):
Uh you know uh.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
And in these these liberals, they sort of forget what
happened during the Biden years. They forget the inflation spike,
they forget the affordability. They love the word affordability, but
they sort of forget what happened during the Biden years.
And what they really want everybody to forget is the deep,
deep hole and really being on the brink in our
economy that you and the President and Secretary Bessent inherited
(25:06):
back in January. Maybe sort of take us back to
that moment when you got here, were we on the
brink and then the immediate moves that were made. Are
you surprised that the President's been able to sort of
begin to build a ladder out of this hole as
quickly as he has.
Speaker 7 (25:22):
Yeah, things are moving fast in the right direction. But
the president won clearly for lots of reasons. But One
of the main reasons was that Americans saw their lives
fallowing up, their economic lives falling apart under Joe Biden.
And you know, we could talk about immigration later, but
the point is just on the economics. They mailed chucks
(25:44):
to people and the Fed printed money, and so it
was like what we economists call a helicopter drop. And
everybody knows that helicopter drops cause inflation because all of
a sudden, everybody has at extra thousand dollars in their
pocket that fell out of the sky. Then wherever they
go they want to buy stuff, but everybody shows up
all it was, and so the price goes up. And
that's what happened. And the official statistics really are misleading
(26:05):
on this too. It is way worse for people's lives.
Then it looks like if you just look at the
consumer price Index, which is always what people talk about
of the news, and here's why, it doesn't include interest rates.
So when they're measuring inflation, they don't include interest rates.
And so think of this for a typical person, middle
(26:26):
class person buying a home in a sort of starter home,
then the annual I won't do monthly, I'll do annual.
The annual mortgage payment for the person buying that home
went up because of Joe Biden's policies from when President
Trump left office until just now, say, last January, by
(26:47):
fourteen thousand dollars. Wow, that's an annual payment went up
by fourteen thousand dollars. If you look at gasoline and
food and everything else that went up twenty percent, then
you're basically looking at you know, to be like round numbers.
The typical family had to spend twenty or twenty five
thousand dollars more to tread water because of Biden's inflation.
(27:10):
And when you buy stuff, you might recall that's money
that's after tax, right, and so if you're gonna have
twenty five thousand dollars for to spend and tread water,
you actually got to make like forty thousand dollars because
the government takes so much. And so if your income
didn't go up by thirty or forty thousand dollars in
the Biden years, you're hurting. And so there are a
lot of people that genuinely were harmed, and we're fixing
(27:34):
it fast, but we're also aware of the depth of
the gravity of the problem that Joe Biden created.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So we've cut taxes here. The big beautiful bill locked
in the President's tax cuts and added new tax cuts
for working families. Energy prices, gas prices are at a
four or five year low. Right now, that's a good
thing for people to drive around.
Speaker 7 (27:54):
And remember eggs and eggs. Eggs.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I know that I had to fight about and not
by the way, I'm a chicken farmer. I had to
fight about eggs all year long. Now they don't want
to bring up the egg.
Speaker 7 (28:02):
I got to tell you this though, that said you're
a chicken fiber. So I go into the first meeting
with all the careers they're talking about eggs, and said, well,
why egg price so high? They said, well, we got
the Avian flu, and so we've been culling a lot
of chickens. And they say, we would go and we'd
find the chicken that had the Avian flu, and we'd
kill every chicken with twenty miles. They killed millions and
millions of chickens. And so I said to the staff,
(28:24):
these are career people that were advised of the Democrats.
And I said, so if a chicken is sick over here,
then you go twenty miles away, you kill the other chicken.
Have you ever seen a chicken fly?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Barely?
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Barely? Well, if the dog goes after the chicken, take
it to the ceiling for about a minute.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
But when this was all going on, you know, the
Biden and the Democrats last year during the campaign, they
were always using the word blood bath, blood bath. I'm like,
the only blood bath that happened in America was all
the great chicken slaughter of twenty twenty four that Joe
Biden foisted upon the American people.
Speaker 7 (28:54):
I could go on about avian flu forever because one
of the things that was the number one talking point
of the fire left. What we got it is egg prices,
egg prices, It's all our fault. Then we just stopped
killing the chickens, and then the egg prices kind of.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I got to tell you something, though, are you telling
me if you leave chickens alive, they will lay egg,
They will lay eg.
Speaker 7 (29:10):
Oh but but I got to tell you the worst thing.
It's it's actually somewhat tragic, but fairy tragic for one person.
But there were about sixty cases of avian flu in humans. Uh,
and one person sadly passed away. We went back and
looked at You know what caused the avian food have
spread to the chickens. It was mostly caught by the
(29:31):
people who are paid by Biden to kill the chickens.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Oh no, so Biden sent people out to kill the chickens.
They catch avian flu egg prices.
Speaker 7 (29:40):
If you try to kill a chicken and you're not careful,
he's going to scratch you or something.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Right, Oh, I know about that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.
We got about a minute left. And I don't want
to be labor this and I don't want to put
you on the spot, but a lot of folks are
talking about you. We're going to see the fed chair
job come open, pals out. A lot of folks are
talking about you as a candidate. Do you want to
have a comment on it? What can you say about ay?
(30:05):
What can you say about it? Up yourself and be
How soon will we see the president make a decision?
Speaker 7 (30:09):
The President will make the decision very soon, probably by
the first of the year, maybe a little bit after.
He's interviewing a bunch of candidates. I'm honored to be
in that group. I've worked closely with the president since
twenty seventeen as one of his top advisors. I of
course talked to him about everything, including monetary policy, almost
every day, and I think that I'd be very good
(30:31):
at the job. But I love the job that I
have here, and I think that the President and I
will work together to think about whether the best place
for me is here or there. But if the President
decides to send me there, then I'll be honored and
I'll serve. But the thing I got to say is
that there are a lot of really, really great candidates
the presidents interviewing, and you could go to like Chris Waller,
who's already at the FED, who's a Notre dame, a
(30:53):
professor who wrote a lot about monetary policy, and so
he and the other candid that it's are really qualified.
Uh at So I think I want everybody. What I
want everybody to know is that don't worry about the
decision because the President isn't making a tough choice. He's
got nothing but good choices.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Good choices, and you would be one of them. Were
honored that you took some time out to talk to
us here at the White House today. That voice you're
hearing is Kevin Hassett, the President's top economic advisor, maybe
he's getting a new job title in the new year.
We'll find out from the President. Uh when we come
back from the Christmas break, quick word from our friends
at Relief Factor. I'm just gonna boil it down for you.
(31:35):
If you have aches and pains, which Kevin, you do
from the attacks that you suffer on cable news all
the time. When you have eggs and pains, there's only
one thing to do about it. Do something. Get relief
Factor relief factor dot com. Why I'd hudred four relief
You don't have to live with it. I'm not sure
if relief Factor would solve your problems, Kevin, not be honest.
I mean what they're doing to you, this would not
solve But OK, if your joints are sore and things
(31:57):
like that, it would solve your problem. Maybe go to
relief Factor dot We use it.
Speaker 7 (32:01):
We like it.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
When we come back, the president's top political advisor just
walked in. James Blair is here. It's common sense for
the American people. Scott on the Salem Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
He's the author of the best selling book A Revolution
of Common Sense.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Pierson Scott Jennings.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Wednesday, December of the seventeenth live from the White House.
It's Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network. Tonight, President
Trump speaks to the nation at nine o'clock and with
me right now. Is the President's top political advisor. He
is Deputy White House Chief of Staff. He is in
charge of the legislative and political strategy here at the
White House. His name is James Blair. James, thanks for
(32:50):
coming on the show, Scott.
Speaker 7 (32:51):
Jennings show, Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Okay, first question tonight the President speaks to the nation.
What are we going to hear from the president? What's
the framework of the speech. It's really about what we
have done in the first year with the President has
accomplished and also where we're going. The President has made
progress in a lot of the areas that are important
to voters that everybody is talking about, things like the economy, affordability,
(33:15):
and he will highlight the successes that we have that
we have had, and I think he will also talk
about going forward. The President really wants to make the
American people whole after Joe Biden and the Democrats for
the last four years really stole from them through terrible policy,
through inflation, the highest in our country's history. You know,
(33:37):
people were hurting, Wages were not outpacing inflation they are now. Obviously,
prices were rising, all of these things, and so it
was a big hole that they dug us into. The
President is trying to get us out. We're making progress,
but there's still more work to be done, and that's
what this speech will be about. Yeah, it seems to me,
heading into the election year, drawing a bright line between
(33:59):
what they the Democrats did to the country and what
Trump the Republicans are trying to do to fix that
is critical. I'm not sure that was. You know, folks
weren't really thinking about that. And of course, you know,
you turn on your cable TV and you got every
Democrat out there who sort of has amnesia about what
happened during Biden. But you all inherited an economy in
a country in many ways on the brink, and so
(34:20):
the policies that you had to implement were drastic because
we were on the brink of some even worse outcomes
than people had already suffered.
Speaker 9 (34:29):
Absolutely true. And look, the Democrats, I don't think, have
a lot of credibility on this topic. Ultimately, and once
we get really into campaign season, I think they are
going to find it hard to stick the landing with voters.
So when the Democrats are out there and say we
want to make life more affordable, well, first of all,
they are the ones they're spending policies primarily are the
ones that drove prices through the roof, through inflation, and
(34:51):
then everything President Trump and the Republicans in Congress have
done to try to put money back in the American
people's pockets. So the big one, obviously is our working
families tax cut package passed over the summer. Every single
Democrat in Congress voted against that. So as we turn
into January and people start to adjust their withholding when
they redo their forms for the year if you know
you're a wage worker, or when we get to April,
(35:12):
where people are going to see some of the biggest
returns they've ever had. Every Democrat in Congress voted against
all of those things. And you see in a bunch
of blue states, actually, which is really remarkable, Scott, A
bunch of blue states, states like New York right here
in the District of Columbia, Illinois, have started to emergency
rewrite their own tax rules to try to capture the
(35:32):
tax cuts that were given to them by the federal government.
No tax on tips, no tax on social security, no
tax on overtime pay. What a lot of those blue states,
blue governed states are saying is that our people are
not going to get these tax cuts. We're actually gonna
put a new tax into state law that captures that
money back. I don't think that's going to play well
for them in the election cycles. So look, I don't
(35:52):
think Democrats have a lot of credibility to stand on,
and I think we'll be able to make that very
clear throughout the.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Next year, and you raise a specter of Democrats arguing
this out in the election, the economy will be a top,
if not the top issue. I still think immigration is
one of the President's greatest successes. I'm still flabbergasted at
how Democrats handle this, spending way more time trying to
do things for illegal aliens than American citizens. I assume
we're going to continue to see aggressive immigration enforcement policies
(36:20):
out of the administration in twenty six.
Speaker 9 (36:21):
Absolutely, look, the flood of illegal immigration competes with Americans
for government services, just for things like housing. I mean,
there was a report that just came out that said
sixty percent of the increased rental costs were driven by
illegal immigration. I mean, there's competition, right, and so when
you flood the country with twenty million new people, well
(36:42):
they're going to live somewhere, They're going to get on
government services, and there's only so much to go around.
And something that's a great achievement of President Trump in
the first year is that all of the net new
jobs have gone to American born workers, whereas under the
Biden administration, all of the net new jobs went to
foreign born workers. This is a great sign, and that's
one of the main reasons that wages, real wage growth
(37:05):
income is outpacing inflation. That's because cheap foreign labor is
not competing as much for the jobs that Americans have
in lowering the overall wages for the American people.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
So gas prices are way down. You've shrunk the size
of government. The new jobs that are being created are
going to American workers. And in twenty twenty six, because
of the policies implemented Bessentt, Hasset, and Blair, I assume
predicting economic boom in twenty six.
Speaker 9 (37:30):
Absolutely, I think economic boom besn't just posted the deficits
down twenty percent, interest rates are going out, taxes are down.
Things are going to be great next year.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
That's James Blair, the President's top political advisor. I'm Scott Jennings.
Were live from the White House. The President speaks tonight
at nine o'clock. You should watch it. I'll be on
CNN analyzing it. After common sense for the American people
join us again tomorrow. It's Scott on Salem three
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