Recapping the Congressional Baseball Game with Congressman Bill Huizenga

Congressman Bill Huizenga joins us to recap the Congressional Baseball Game and also discuss the Clear the Roads and Clarity Act legislation. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Another win last night for the Republicans in the Congressional
Baseball Game, extending their streak to five. Congressman Bill Heisinger
on the roster and on the phone with us this
morning from Washington, d C. Congressman, thanks for doing this today.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, no problem, and I'm a little sore this morning.
Playing shortstop at fifty six years old. It was an
interesting endeavor, but it was a great night. Lots of
people there. I mean, they had like thirty thousand tickets sold,
and it's pretty amazing when you're standing on the field

(00:37):
and you're seeing the whole lower bowl and the upper
deck I have people in it, and so it was
a lot of fun. Rett.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
We'll have a question for you in just a second,
but I want you to listen and get reaction from
a video that I got from a staffer at the
game last night's Congressman Heisinger connecting for a single once
again in lesson well done.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, we had, we had. We had a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Congressman. I'm curious did you feel any extra pressure this
year because you've been a standout performer for the Republican side,
and I just want to know with the white Caps
in first place and the Tigers in first place, and
you represent this state, in this area, did you feel
the extra pressure to really perform last night?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, you know, Brett, for those of us on the
big stage. Really yeah, I'd like to thank all my
coaches and the people that helped me get here. The Well,
here's the important part. These guys do it for real.

(01:43):
We do it for charity. And it was it was
pretty incredible. Two point eight million dollars was raised last
night for one hundred different charities, four scholarships. We had
a young man who was part of the nationals UH
Youth Athletics Center, and that's where the Republicans practice our uh,

(02:07):
you know, practice, our our our team practice is there
and it's a great facility out in Anacostia, which is
tougher neighborhood out here in d C. And Uh, this
young man's going to Swarthmore playing baseball. They've had another
young lady who's going somewhere to play softball. And that's
really the the idea. How how do you build community

(02:27):
but then also builds a little camaraderie, h not just
amongst ourselves the Republicans as a team, uh, but also
with the Democrats and when we can go and and
uh and and and have some fun. It's it's hard.
It's tough competition. I can tell you that. I mean,
nobody's uh, nobody's backing off. Everybody's sliding and tagging and uh,

(02:50):
you know, and and uh and hitting as hard as
they possibly can and and going after it. But uh,
it is certainly a way better than and then I
think some of the stuff that gets viewed out on
national television and and and in the news. You know this.
You have to have relationships to build trust. And it's

(03:13):
when it's in the middle of the crisis is not
a time to build that relationship. That's really when you
lean on those relationships and that trust to say, Okay,
you know what, we've got some differences, but we're going
to we're going to work through this, and you know,
you kind of get to know these people on a
very different level.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
I wanted to get your reaction and speaking of a
spirited bipartisanship House Committee on Financial Services passed through committee
this Clarity Act. Yeah, cryptocurrency creeps me out. Man. Talk
to us a little bit about you guys are jumping
in this thing and what are you hoping to do well.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
You say, we're jumping into it, but I've been in
Congress now for fifteen years, and we've been working on
it for fifteen years really, and now it's it's emerging
more into the public. It's emerging more with some of
my colleagues a couple of terms a go. Uh, the
AG Committee, which is in charge of all commodities, finally

(04:11):
kind of figured out and got clued in that they
actually are a part of this as well. And so
this was a two step element here where the the
AG Committee had to pass legislation and the Financial Services
Committee had to pass this legislation. And here's why it's important. Uh.
You know, crypto assets are another store of value. We're

(04:32):
not talking a collectible meme coin or some other thing.
We're talking about a digital asset. And and what has
been happening is the innovation that's been going on around
the world has been literally leaving the United States. At
one point, we were the absolute dominant force for all

(04:53):
of the development, all of the technology, all of the
innovation that was coming out of the inventors and and
the thinkers behind it. And because of our rules and
sometimes lack of rules, they've gone off to other places
around the world, and so what we need to do
is provide the clarity so that we here in the

(05:17):
United States are the innovators and the pace setters for
the regulation of it, because otherwise, you know, we're going
to be dictated to somebody by somebody else around the
world who's going to set those rules. And it's far
better if we are doing it, because we have developed
court systems, we have developed patent systems, all these things

(05:37):
that go into it, into this technology and the development
of it. So it was a very very bipartisan in
the Agg Committee, like forty seven to six, and then
we took the exact same language later that night. We
had a thirteen hour markup on it and we did

(05:58):
pass it to Democrats voted for it. In the Financial
Services Committee, wasn't quite as bipartisan, partially because of the
leadership on the on the dem side, Maxine Waters just
does not like this, and she is just adamant about it.

(06:18):
And but at the end of the day, this has
got to get done, in my opinion, because if we don't,
we'll be left behind and others will do it, and
we cannot be just digital deniers. We have to embrace
this and make sure it's done right.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
We will get a link to find out more in
the podcast section. Get back to that cold plunge. Congressman
Bill Heisinget, thanks for your time this morning.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Hey, thanks guys, dout youson