January 14, 2025 • 13 mins
6 days prior to Inauguration Day, Rep. Andy Barr (KY-6) previews the fast-paced Trump agenda called America First. Fiscal, border, and military priorities will be top of mind for the incoming administration.
Rep. Barr visited with President Trump a few days ago at Mar-a-lago and reports on the momentum sweeping into power next week.
Rep. Barr visited with President Trump a few days ago at Mar-a-lago and reports on the momentum sweeping into power next week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now, let's take a minute and to speak with
Congressman Andy Barr. He represents the sixth Congressional district in
Kentucky's also a member of House Financial Services, Foreign Affairs,
and Select China Committees. Andy, going to talk to you again.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey, Terry, how are you doing a new year?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Happy New Year to you too. Okay, obviously lots going on.
We'll talk about the Trump agenda at large in a moment.
But since everybody's talking about the Pete Hegseth hearing today,
what is your takeaway from the venom thrown by the left?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, you know, I not being in the Senate, I
haven't been able to see a lot of the hearing
or the testimony today. I've had my own meetings with
the Speaker of the House and and my colleagues in
the in the on the other side of the Capitol.
What I can tell you is that I met I
have met with the Defense Secretary nominee Pete hegg Seth
(00:57):
earlier this month and was very impressed with, you know,
the vision that he has for the Defense Department. You know,
the Defense Department over the last four years has been
infected with wokeness, with diversity, equity and inclusion priorities which
really do not reflect the mission of the Defense Department.
(01:22):
The mission of the Defense Department is lethality. The mission
of the Defense Department is deterring our adversaries and our enemies.
The mission of the Defense Department is to make sure
that we have the most ready modern military force to
not only deter and I means, but in the event
(01:45):
that we were to go to war, that we would
defeat our enemies. And unfortunately, we have a readiness crisis
in the country. We have a modernization needs for our military.
And what I think Pete understands that I've made Pete before.
I actually first met Pete Hegseth when we were in
Israel together. We were there for different, totally different reasons.
(02:08):
I was there on a national security mission. He was
there he was working for Fox News and was doing
some reporting over there. But I can tell you he's
a patriot. He served his country, and I think it
actually would be refreshing and helpful to reform the Defense
Department to have someone like Pete who really comes from
(02:30):
the rank and file and understands that recruitment and retention
has been a challenge when all of this wokeness has
infected the Pentagon. We need a major overhaul, and I
think a guy like Pete hex Sith could actually reform
the military in a way that would advance national security.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
He took a lot of heat from Senator julibrand Tim Caine,
Tammy Duckworth. I mean, they were all firing away at it.
But it looks like, and you probably know this already,
he has the numbers to get it done. So is
this just a chance for people to showcase and get
clips for their next re election campaign.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I think that's probably true. I think there's probably a
lot of grand standing and the left circling the wagons
and trying to show that they are standing up to
President Trump. Opposing President Trump. You know, you've had some
questions from Republicans. My friend and colleague Joni Ernst, who
served in the military in Iraq. I think she had
(03:34):
some questions about the secretary nominees statements in the past
about women in the military. But I think this provides
an opportunity for Pete to clarify that, in fact, he
does support women serving in the military. In fact, women
are now increasingly an important part of the readiness equation
(03:56):
because women are performing very important functions in our military,
whether as fighter pilots, as drone operators, and yes, even
combat combat infantry personnel. So you know, Pete's going to
be able to clarify that, and I think ultimately he
will earn Republican support, and there may be partisan opposition
(04:17):
to his nomination, but at the end of the day,
I do predict that he will be confirmed and that
he will make a fine Secretary of Defense.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Speaking of Congressman Andy Barr from the sixth districts here
in Kentucky, So give me your view of day one,
Day two, day three in the Trump administration. What are
they going to do with boots on the ground right away?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Well, I had the opportunity to visit with President elect
Trump at mar A Lago two nights ago with several
of my colleagues, and let me tell you, he has
fired up, he is ready to go. I really think
this is such a providential moment. Really, if you think
about it, with the with President Trump's survival of that
assassination attempt, we have an amazing and maybe once in
(05:05):
a generation opportunity to save our country. There's a reason
why the vast majority of Americans say that the country
is on the wrong track, and they and that they
made the change that they did in November. They know
that with the affordability crisis, the inflation crisis that we face,
the thirty six trillion dollar national debt, the crisis that
(05:28):
we have in our national security with threats emerging everywhere
in the world, and the readiness crisis that we have
in our military, the open southern border, that we have
to make major changes in our country to get our
country back on the right track. President Trump recognized this.
He recognizes that this is a key moment in American history,
(05:51):
and he's ready to hit the ground running. I think
he's got a great cabinet that he's assembled, and Republicans
in Congress know we have to take advanceantage of unified
Republican control of the House, the Senate, and the White
House and make major policy changes to deliver on the
election mandate that the American people gave us.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
There's no doubt it's a short wick because obviously the
cycle changes in two years, and he's talking about a
massive overhaul in so many different directions. What do you
think will go first? Is it the border? Is that
is that item one.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I think where the President is, where the Speaker of
the House is, and where most and I say most,
not all, but most House Republicans are, is that we
need one big, beautiful bill, as the President likes to say,
a big beautiful bill, and I believe one bill is
important for efficiency. We need to put everything in this bill,
(06:52):
in this reconciliation bill as much as we can, because
I think time is fleeting, and I think when you
break it up into multiple bills, you give members of
Congress the opportunity to vote against it. I think it
should be a binary choice are you with the America
First agenda or are you not? And force all Republican
(07:16):
members to make a choice whether they're going to be
with the President not. Look, we have a very thin
majority and we don't have a lot of time, and
so we need to be big. We need to be bold,
we need to be ambitious, and we need to save
the country. And to do that, I think we need
to put everything in a single reconciliation bill. We know
we're not going to get Democrats support for border security.
(07:39):
We know we're not going to get Democrats support for
tax cuts. We know we're not going to get Democrats
support for increasing defense spending to secure the national security
objectives that we have, and we know we're not going
to get Democrats support for the important reforms led by
(08:00):
DOGE and more government efficiency measures and reform of some
of these unsustainable mandatory spending programs that can help put
our country back on sound fiscal footing, and that's regrettable.
I think we should attempt to get Democrats support for
these initiatives. We should attempt to earn bipartisan support. But
(08:21):
we have to be realistic, and that's why we have
to use the reconciliation procedure bypassed the filibuster in the
same way that Democrats did when they had uniformed, unified
Democrat control, when they spent us into oblivion with the
ARPA Bill and with the so called Inflation Reduction Act.
(08:42):
We need to undo a lot of the damage that
those bills and those pieces of legislation did to our country.
It was spending us into an inflation crisis the way
they did. And so I expect one bill. The President
wants one bill, and that way, our thin majority will
have a choice. We either stay unified support the President's agenda,
(09:06):
or you know, a handful of Republicans can take down
that agenda, and I think at the end of the day,
we will pass this bill hopefully, you know, late spring,
early summer.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, the last Congress did have a few renegades, more
than a few. We saw the like McCarthy's speaker voting
over and over again, all the different things that went
on that last one with certain characters that seemed like
they want their personalities out there individually. Do you feel
like there's more cohesiveness with your Republicans in Congress in
this next Congress.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I think there's more cohesiveness, largely because because President Trump
was elected with a mandate, and members understand that if
they go their own way and they let the perfect
be the enemy of the good, they're going to undermine
the mandate that President Trump has to fix and save
(10:00):
the country and to make America great again. I think
that is really the message of the election. And this
is what I have said through this, you know, the
motion to vacate debacle from the last Congress to even
just to you know, when we had the vote for
Speaker Johnson earlier this month, that unity is our strength
(10:21):
and our leverage, and disunity is the enemy. Of the
America First agenda. Disunity is the enemy of the conservative cause.
If you call yourself a conservative, if you truly are
a conservative, if you believe in border security, if you
believe in deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility, if you believe
in in tax cuts, pro growth tax cuts. If you
(10:42):
believe in unleashing and unlocking our capital markets, in our
free enterprise system, and enabling small businesses to create jobs
and innovators to do what they do best. If you
believe in all of those things, and you believe in
limited government, then you need to stick together. You need
to support this president and and stop letting petty personal
(11:06):
agendas get in the way. Look, we all have our
policy preferences, and we should fight for those policy preferences
during this process of reconciliation. But at the end of
the day, regardless of whether we get all of our
preferences included in the bill, we have to stay unified
to deliver on the mandate that the American people gave us.
(11:26):
I think we will at the end of the day.
And I think what will help more than anything else
is President Trump in the White House enforcing that party discipline,
because we're not going to we understand we're not going
to get any help from the Democrats. And I say
that as someone who has a record and a history
of working across the aisle. I come from the seat
(11:50):
in central Kentucky that was once represented by Henry Clay.
I represent a seat with a legacy of beneficial compromise.
I believe in that. I've I work in a bipartisan
working group, and I work across the island. There's many
examples of that. But in the cases of border security
and tax cuts and big, ambitious, bold agenda to reduce
(12:12):
the size and scope of government and force the government
to live within its means, we've got to be realistic
and we're probably not going to get many Democratic votes,
and so we have to use this reconciliation strategy and
we have to stick together behind President Trump.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Congressman bar I appreciate it. Hope your seat. They keep
moving you forward. Each time you want another term, you
get closer to the elector. And when they're doing the
inaugural speeches, well.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I look forward to it. It's going to be a
great celebration of our country, the greatness of our country,
and I look forward to working with President Trump to
make America great again in the next four years.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You bet your grand Inauguration Day and then a national
championship in college football that night. Who could ask for more?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
There you go, great and great. Talking to you too, Terry.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
You bet your Congressman Andy Barr live from Washington. He
represents Kentucky's sixth district For Back in a minute.
Right now, let's take a minute and to speak with
Congressman Andy Barr. He represents the sixth Congressional district in
Kentucky's also a member of House Financial Services, Foreign Affairs,
and Select China Committees. Andy, going to talk to you again.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey, Terry, how are you doing a new year?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Happy New Year to you too. Okay, obviously lots going on.
We'll talk about the Trump agenda at large in a moment.
But since everybody's talking about the Pete Hegseth hearing today,
what is your takeaway from the venom thrown by the left?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, you know, I not being in the Senate, I
haven't been able to see a lot of the hearing
or the testimony today. I've had my own meetings with
the Speaker of the House and and my colleagues in
the in the on the other side of the Capitol.
What I can tell you is that I met I
have met with the Defense Secretary nominee Pete hegg Seth
(00:57):
earlier this month and was very impressed with, you know,
the vision that he has for the Defense Department. You know,
the Defense Department over the last four years has been
infected with wokeness, with diversity, equity and inclusion priorities which
really do not reflect the mission of the Defense Department.
(01:22):
The mission of the Defense Department is lethality. The mission
of the Defense Department is deterring our adversaries and our enemies.
The mission of the Defense Department is to make sure
that we have the most ready modern military force to
not only deter and I means, but in the event
(01:45):
that we were to go to war, that we would
defeat our enemies. And unfortunately, we have a readiness crisis
in the country. We have a modernization needs for our military.
And what I think Pete understands that I've made Pete before.
I actually first met Pete Hegseth when we were in
Israel together. We were there for different, totally different reasons.
(02:08):
I was there on a national security mission. He was
there he was working for Fox News and was doing
some reporting over there. But I can tell you he's
a patriot. He served his country, and I think it
actually would be refreshing and helpful to reform the Defense
Department to have someone like Pete who really comes from
(02:30):
the rank and file and understands that recruitment and retention
has been a challenge when all of this wokeness has
infected the Pentagon. We need a major overhaul, and I
think a guy like Pete hex Sith could actually reform
the military in a way that would advance national security.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
He took a lot of heat from Senator julibrand Tim Caine,
Tammy Duckworth. I mean, they were all firing away at it.
But it looks like, and you probably know this already,
he has the numbers to get it done. So is
this just a chance for people to showcase and get
clips for their next re election campaign.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I think that's probably true. I think there's probably a
lot of grand standing and the left circling the wagons
and trying to show that they are standing up to
President Trump. Opposing President Trump. You know, you've had some
questions from Republicans. My friend and colleague Joni Ernst, who
served in the military in Iraq. I think she had
(03:34):
some questions about the secretary nominees statements in the past
about women in the military. But I think this provides
an opportunity for Pete to clarify that, in fact, he
does support women serving in the military. In fact, women
are now increasingly an important part of the readiness equation
(03:56):
because women are performing very important functions in our military,
whether as fighter pilots, as drone operators, and yes, even
combat combat infantry personnel. So you know, Pete's going to
be able to clarify that, and I think ultimately he
will earn Republican support, and there may be partisan opposition
(04:17):
to his nomination, but at the end of the day,
I do predict that he will be confirmed and that
he will make a fine Secretary of Defense.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Speaking of Congressman Andy Barr from the sixth districts here
in Kentucky, So give me your view of day one,
Day two, day three in the Trump administration. What are
they going to do with boots on the ground right away?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Well, I had the opportunity to visit with President elect
Trump at mar A Lago two nights ago with several
of my colleagues, and let me tell you, he has
fired up, he is ready to go. I really think
this is such a providential moment. Really, if you think
about it, with the with President Trump's survival of that
assassination attempt, we have an amazing and maybe once in
(05:05):
a generation opportunity to save our country. There's a reason
why the vast majority of Americans say that the country
is on the wrong track, and they and that they
made the change that they did in November. They know
that with the affordability crisis, the inflation crisis that we face,
the thirty six trillion dollar national debt, the crisis that
(05:28):
we have in our national security with threats emerging everywhere
in the world, and the readiness crisis that we have
in our military, the open southern border, that we have
to make major changes in our country to get our
country back on the right track. President Trump recognized this.
He recognizes that this is a key moment in American history,
(05:51):
and he's ready to hit the ground running. I think
he's got a great cabinet that he's assembled, and Republicans
in Congress know we have to take advanceantage of unified
Republican control of the House, the Senate, and the White
House and make major policy changes to deliver on the
election mandate that the American people gave us.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
There's no doubt it's a short wick because obviously the
cycle changes in two years, and he's talking about a
massive overhaul in so many different directions. What do you
think will go first? Is it the border? Is that
is that item one.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I think where the President is, where the Speaker of
the House is, and where most and I say most,
not all, but most House Republicans are, is that we
need one big, beautiful bill, as the President likes to say,
a big beautiful bill, and I believe one bill is
important for efficiency. We need to put everything in this bill,
(06:52):
in this reconciliation bill as much as we can, because
I think time is fleeting, and I think when you
break it up into multiple bills, you give members of
Congress the opportunity to vote against it. I think it
should be a binary choice are you with the America
First agenda or are you not? And force all Republican
(07:16):
members to make a choice whether they're going to be
with the President not. Look, we have a very thin
majority and we don't have a lot of time, and
so we need to be big. We need to be bold,
we need to be ambitious, and we need to save
the country. And to do that, I think we need
to put everything in a single reconciliation bill. We know
we're not going to get Democrats support for border security.
(07:39):
We know we're not going to get Democrats support for
tax cuts. We know we're not going to get Democrats
support for increasing defense spending to secure the national security
objectives that we have, and we know we're not going
to get Democrats support for the important reforms led by
(08:00):
DOGE and more government efficiency measures and reform of some
of these unsustainable mandatory spending programs that can help put
our country back on sound fiscal footing, and that's regrettable.
I think we should attempt to get Democrats support for
these initiatives. We should attempt to earn bipartisan support. But
(08:21):
we have to be realistic, and that's why we have
to use the reconciliation procedure bypassed the filibuster in the
same way that Democrats did when they had uniformed, unified
Democrat control, when they spent us into oblivion with the
ARPA Bill and with the so called Inflation Reduction Act.
(08:42):
We need to undo a lot of the damage that
those bills and those pieces of legislation did to our country.
It was spending us into an inflation crisis the way
they did. And so I expect one bill. The President
wants one bill, and that way, our thin majority will
have a choice. We either stay unified support the President's agenda,
(09:06):
or you know, a handful of Republicans can take down
that agenda, and I think at the end of the day,
we will pass this bill hopefully, you know, late spring,
early summer.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, the last Congress did have a few renegades, more
than a few. We saw the like McCarthy's speaker voting
over and over again, all the different things that went
on that last one with certain characters that seemed like
they want their personalities out there individually. Do you feel
like there's more cohesiveness with your Republicans in Congress in
this next Congress.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I think there's more cohesiveness, largely because because President Trump
was elected with a mandate, and members understand that if
they go their own way and they let the perfect
be the enemy of the good, they're going to undermine
the mandate that President Trump has to fix and save
(10:00):
the country and to make America great again. I think
that is really the message of the election. And this
is what I have said through this, you know, the
motion to vacate debacle from the last Congress to even
just to you know, when we had the vote for
Speaker Johnson earlier this month, that unity is our strength
(10:21):
and our leverage, and disunity is the enemy. Of the
America First agenda. Disunity is the enemy of the conservative cause.
If you call yourself a conservative, if you truly are
a conservative, if you believe in border security, if you
believe in deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility, if you believe
in in tax cuts, pro growth tax cuts. If you
(10:42):
believe in unleashing and unlocking our capital markets, in our
free enterprise system, and enabling small businesses to create jobs
and innovators to do what they do best. If you
believe in all of those things, and you believe in
limited government, then you need to stick together. You need
to support this president and and stop letting petty personal
(11:06):
agendas get in the way. Look, we all have our
policy preferences, and we should fight for those policy preferences
during this process of reconciliation. But at the end of
the day, regardless of whether we get all of our
preferences included in the bill, we have to stay unified
to deliver on the mandate that the American people gave us.
(11:26):
I think we will at the end of the day.
And I think what will help more than anything else
is President Trump in the White House enforcing that party discipline,
because we're not going to we understand we're not going
to get any help from the Democrats. And I say
that as someone who has a record and a history
of working across the aisle. I come from the seat
(11:50):
in central Kentucky that was once represented by Henry Clay.
I represent a seat with a legacy of beneficial compromise.
I believe in that. I've I work in a bipartisan
working group, and I work across the island. There's many
examples of that. But in the cases of border security
and tax cuts and big, ambitious, bold agenda to reduce
(12:12):
the size and scope of government and force the government
to live within its means, we've got to be realistic
and we're probably not going to get many Democratic votes,
and so we have to use this reconciliation strategy and
we have to stick together behind President Trump.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Congressman bar I appreciate it. Hope your seat. They keep
moving you forward. Each time you want another term, you
get closer to the elector. And when they're doing the
inaugural speeches, well.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I look forward to it. It's going to be a
great celebration of our country, the greatness of our country,
and I look forward to working with President Trump to
make America great again in the next four years.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You bet your grand Inauguration Day and then a national
championship in college football that night. Who could ask for more?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
There you go, great and great. Talking to you too, Terry.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
You bet your Congressman Andy Barr live from Washington. He
represents Kentucky's sixth district For Back in a minute.
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