Sen. Fischer on Latest Threats from China

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Talking about Senator Maizie Herono. You know what mensa is right.
I think she's a member of DENSA. In fact, she
may be the founder. It's unbelievable. She's on that committee
and they were grilling Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, yesterday,
and she is every time I see her at yazy.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Please again, just look up Ben sass and his questions
in a judiciary committee meeting, or go back away's Daniel
Patrick moynihan. Look him up and then compare their questions
to hers, and then tell me there's no gas.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
So the burning question for us Nebrassa is Deb Fisher,
who joins us for a minute this morning. How dense
actually is Maisie Herono. Deb, that's not morna.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Ask good morning, Jerry.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
How are you well? I can't take her though. It's unbelievable.
I would I.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Reduce the word eccentric for a sender. Herono. How's that?

Speaker 4 (00:59):
Yes, you're very very diplomat. It's very very impressive.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
I try, Hey, I tried.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
That's one of the great escapes I've ever seen. Right there.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Okay, you we may get to shut down here in
a bit. Although the shows no sign of ending. But
you were just in talking to our Asian allies over there, right,
Taiwan in particular, And I'm a little nervous about what
China might be up to with Taiwan. What can you

(01:27):
tell us, what update do you have on that, and
what would be our response if China decided to get
really aggressive with Taiwan.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, I was really fortunate. Roger Wicker, whose chairman of
the Armed Services Committee. He and I went over for
a couple of weeks and we were in Guam, Palau, Philippines,
Taiwan trying to get a better idea with their governments
on well, first of all, with the and then how

(02:01):
that jives with what they need. And I feel pretty
good about it. I saw a change when we were there.
I had not been to any of those countries before.
I had met with obviously members of their government here
in Washington that I hadn't been before. But I did

(02:21):
feel a change, especially in Taiwan, that they are I
think more realistic in what they need in terms of
weaponry munitions instead of what they want. You know, a
lot of times it's the cool stuff that these governments want.
But I think we've made a good impact in working

(02:46):
with the Taiwan government our military on looking at the
defense of that island, and so they're looking at purchasing
from the United States a lot more of what they
need with regards to the strategy that's out there for
the defense. Obviously very worried about China, very very worried

(03:10):
about China in that area and how it affects the
United States. You have to remember, Guam that we've got
over one hundred thousand US citizens on that island and
we're doing quite a bit of build up there in
that first and second island chain to give time for

(03:34):
the rest of our defensive structure to be able to
have an impact against China.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
I have to ask you as a member of is
it the Armed Services Committee, Senator Yes, And I know
you pay a lot of attention to our nuclear arsenal
and all of that. What would God forbid, what would
a shooting war with China look like? If they decided
that they were going to actually invade Taiwan, we would

(04:02):
have to respond what would that look like?

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Well, the importance of our triad, our nuclear arsenal is
that it's a deterrent. We can reach anywhere in the
world with any amount of force with our deterrent, and
our adversaries know that. Now that being said, the Chinese
are moving at breathtaking speed in advancing their own triad.

(04:32):
They have ICBMs, they have subs, they have bombers as well,
not to the precision in the ability that ours are,
but they are moving and they are building that up.
But we have to remember, nobody wins if it's you know,

(04:54):
a one on one with nuclear weapons, nobody wins, and
that's why deterrence works. That being said, yeah, well we are,
as I said, working with the Taiwanese, We're working with
other allies in the area, Japan, Australia. I happen to

(05:17):
meet with the New Zealand ambassador yesterday and they have
now finally stepped forward in publicly recognizing the threat that
China is. So it's good to have have them step
out publicly as well. We would not be able to
do this on our own. We depend on allies, We

(05:41):
depend on partners, We depend on friends who are in
that area and who have obviously a lot of a
lot in this in this conflict that's at stake, and
they realize that and they're stepping forward to just.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
A minute left here are we are we saying another
boat today on the budget and a shutdown thing. You bet.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
We've got a very simple bill that funds the government
through November twenty. First, we want to be able to
open up government so we can work on our appropriation bills.
That's what John Suon has promised us on the Appropriations
Committee and the entire Senate that we're going to do
appropriations bills. The taxpayers deserve to have a transparent process.

(06:30):
They deserve to hold us accountable for what we fund
in government, and that's what appropriations bills do. And so
we've already passed three here in the Senate. We've got
five more on the floor ready to go, and we've
done the negotiation with the Democrats in the Appropriations Committee.
Those bills passed out with a strong, strong majority. So

(06:56):
that's what the American people deserve to see appropriation process
that is transparent and accountable and it works. And really
we have to go home then and justify votes. That's
what it's about.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
And I understand that Schumer has told his people to
be prepared for a long stand off here, Senator, thank you,
Senator deb Fisher here on kfab's morning news