Rep. Flood: 'Trump is Undermining NE Workers'

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We welcome Nebraska first District Congressman Mike Flood back to
the program. Mike, good morning. This beef import issue really
exploded yesterday. The President has suggested importing bee for increasing
imports from Argentina, and you, I think all members of
the Nebraska delegation have urged the President not to do that.

(00:23):
What would be the big difference here? We already import
beef from many countries, Argentina included. So what's new here?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, first of all, I don't want to mince words.
This situation that we're dealing with here. Importing beef from
Argentina undermines cattle producers in Nebraska. I mean, we have
to look at the big picture here. The President said, Hey,
my tariffs in Mexico and Brazil are leading to this.
The reason cattle prices are high, the reason the industry

(00:55):
is doing well. First and foremost is consumer demand number
two in a drought in the Western United States. Number three,
and most importantly, we have the lowest herd size we've
had in decades. And the only way to fix the
herd size is to keep prices where they're at so
that tablet producers can use that money to invest and
grow that. And by the way, you don't grow a

(01:16):
cow in a monk. It's going to take a little while.
So on this one I see it differently. I think
we can we can get through this without importing any
of those sickly cow. The beef from Argentina, well.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
That's one of the issues, isn't that I've been reading about.
There are concerns about the safety of this beef from
that country.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well, that's a real deal, and you know country of
origin labeling. Mark my words, this is going to become
a hot topic. Americans want beef like it. It's in
high demand right now. And the idea of importing this,
you know, beef from Argentina into a market that's actually working.
This is the brightest spot we have right now in

(01:59):
agricul Sure. So I'm hopeful that as we go through this,
you know, we can make our case to the White
House that this is not the route to go.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Okay, So he must be talking about a significant increase
because when you look at what we get here from
Canada and Mexico, Brazil, I think New Zealand also we
import quite a bit really already.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, Well, the president flow of the idea of quadrupling
our imports from Argentina, and you can see the effect
that it's had on the cattle markets. It's really spookful
lot of folks and that's not what we need right now.
So I'm talking to folks in Wisner in West Point.
I talked to the folks at the Columbus Sale Bar
and yesterday they're rattled right now with this, and they'd

(02:45):
like this to calm down. Listen, We're on a good
path here. Consumer demand is high, we got to grow
our hurt. We're on a good trajectory, so I'm hopeful
that we can find a way through this.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
How optimistic are you? I know that many in our delegation,
perhaps you too, have reached out to the White House.
Are you getting any feedback? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
I talked to some of the senior White House folks
two days ago and they said this was at the
top of the agenda, that they are working hourly with
the president. Hey, and by the way, Brooke Rawlins, our
ex secretary, she came out with some kind of a
framework yesterday. One of the things that I really like
about what she's talking about is, you know, increasing processing.
You know, we've got that sustainable beef out in North

(03:30):
Platte outside of the big four packers. You know, the
idea that farmers and ranchers can engage in their own
beef processing with a kill facility like that, that's a
good deal for us. And while I'm for that, I
don't I still think that this importing beef from Argentina
does undermine what cattle producers in Nebraska are doing, and

(03:53):
obviously it's having a negative impact on.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
The market, right. Yeah. We obviously we have a vest
of interest here on our state and several others that are,
but we're the number two beef producer, I mean in
the country. Nebraska is in and there is enough stress.
In my mind, there's enough stress on the ag sector
already in our state without adding this on top. So

(04:20):
I hope that the President will will agree. By the way,
Mike Johnson says, you guys just stay home, stay in
your district if we if they ever open, if the
Senator decides to open the government, you can come back.
Are you hearing anything new?

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah, Well here's what I'm thinking. I really thought getting
past the protest on Saturday would relief some pressure. But
I think what's going to happen is you're going to
have air traffic controllers and TSA folks not get a
paycheck here at the end of the month. And you know,
I can. I think it's very reasonable to imagine that,
you know, they're not going to show up to work

(04:58):
in the numbers that we need and when that's it's
impacting air travels sadly, which I we could have avoided
all of this. We'll we'll find ourselves with a deal
in Washington. You know, the Democrat majority whip yesterday said, yes,
we know this is painful, but this is all we're
not from them. So it's inflicting pain on the American
people to increase your leverage. That that's a political solution

(05:23):
to a problem that's actually hurting people. So do the
right thing.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yeah, you cut out a little bit there, Mike Flood.
But what she said was, yeah, we know it's painful,
but this is the only leverage we have. This was
the House Minority whip, and that that right there is
to me the talking point for the GOP for the
next week.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Listen to her. She even admitted they're doing this on purpose. Absolutely, Mike,
Thank you, Congressman Mike Flood