Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome,
And it's time now to speak with US Congressman Josh for Keen from our
second congressional district and first of all, Congressman, good morning, Good morning,
Tom. How's the world finding you today? It's not a hundred degrees
yet, it's still much improved over near Miami, Oklahoma. This morning we're
hitting different town hall stops. We'll be at sixty town halls Tom by the
end of this uh of this week, some total, and so get to
see a lot of second Congressional districts. That's a lot of engagement. I
know you've also been working engaging with the Senator James Lankford on something that kind
of concerns a lot of people around here. Your guys are looking for some
answers. After playing Parenthood received about twenty million dollars in COVID relief. How
was that money spent? If you've gotten an answer to that, No,
they've not responded. The letter was sent a HS and we received no response
thus far. COVID was about, you know, the COVID relief as I
wasn't there, but COVID relief people thought was going to keep places open.
I don't think people had any intention that they were going to continue to fund
the abortion industry. And so Senator Lankford and I are asked you for questions,
how in the world at HHS send this kind of allocation to plan parenthood.
Another thing you've been working like, you've been working with Eric Burlison on
the America Works Welfare reform package. Tell us a little bit about it and
tell us how it's going. Well, there's a number of things that burls
and I've been talking about over time. You know, as a farm bill,
it's coming in before us. It's the five year reauthorization and eight Most
people don't realize that eighty percent of the total expiniture on these farm bills is
related to SNAPS Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, which is food stamps historically, and
so you know, if you look it's the total economic impact of a farm
bill and the number of jobs created, it's forty million. That's both you
know, direct and indirect. The number of people were supporting because the food
stamps is forty million, so it's a one to one ratio of the jobs
created within the agricultural industry. And that bill also empowers, you know,
part of this dependency culture. And so what Derik and I are saying is
we've got to change this dependency culture. This administration in two years has increased
the food stamp total dollar value when it's already at eighty percent of the farm
bill, and they've increased just the total formula twenty seven percent with someone is
a thrifty food plan. So one of the builds I put forward is number
one. There's a reason the Article one, Section one says that all legislative
powers to be vested in the Congress, and it's not upon the President of
States have the ability to plus up the dollars. That's the we, the
people discussion the members. So that elected, you know, like across as
I went through recently and all four hundred and thirty five of the House,
one hundred U S Senators to make decisions what's the dollar value, and that
for the president to say we're gonna plus it up twenty seven percent in his
administration without going to corners ridiculous. So I've got to build it. Says
we're going back Tom. So much of what we've got to do to turn
this country around is we've got to go back on the baseline to pre COVID
spending on so many different fronts, this is one of them. One of
the other areas that many of us and the Freedom Contus keeps talking about.
We've got to have enhanced work requirements. There used to be, you know,
a belief in America that you can't tell people but by doing for them
what they could and should be doing for themselves. And we've got to make
sure that these these programs are leading us to have a full workforce, not
a lesson workforce because of a defendency culture that the federal government says the federal
government spending is creating. So we're trying to bring about some some good changes
there. I've also i think made news several weeks ago. I want to
see us change the allocation of how much of the foreign bill ten percent of
it just soft drinks, on the food stamp allocations. Whine in the world
are we paying for things that are going to cause people when they get older
to also on Medicare and medicaid to pay for the negative health outcomes. You
know that what diabetes and predisposition to diabetes, especially kiddosh sugar diabetes, water,
soft drinks, ten percent of all foodstamps spending is going there, and
so I want to see that change. I followed the bill to do that.
There's a famous song kind of in your world of music. I hope
they may be talking about what those people in Richmond doing that. He actually
has a line in his song. It's kind of becoming. I don't know,
hope if it's famous, but it's sure enough being talked about the last
couple of days. This guy, I think he's got a Tennessee where he's
got the line in the saal it talks about the amount of ole beets.
Either we're propagating through through this type of spending foodstamp specifics, so the common
senses, let's change this very good. Now we've kind of it seems like
I'm a two tier system of prosecutions going on. We've got hunter Biden,
now we've got somebody looking into President Biden, and of course the recent indictments
with former President Donald Trump. Where would you like to start on this merry
go around? I think I look merry go around circus, I mean we
could use Look. I think most people their hearts getting and their years are
getting calloused by hearing all of this, you're going, let's let this be
a vote of the people. I mean, what what what people see and
just common sense tells you is that the word weaponization is being thrown around because
it's what's going on. Public tax dollars are being used by by different attorneys
across the nation and this Department of Justice to go after their political opponents.
I mean, there is a foul motive involved with this. And you know,
you on one hand, you've got the FBI, the d J offering
these sweetheart deals to Hunter Biden and and you know, tipping the FBI off,
the FBI tipping off hundred Biden's lawyers to say, hey, go go
deal with this. We might be coming to you know, the scout out
and gather information. And so they got trying to reshuffle on his home premises.
That's David wats Is under his authority that that occurred. And now he's
going to sign a special Counsels only special about didn't tell you slow walks the
five years he's had to look at Hunter Biden. And then he lets the
statute of limitations run out where he can't be charged on some of the most
egregious stuff of the Brisma element, which is the Ukraine connectivity to where he
was influenced feddling nine different members of the Biden administration. We you know,
the bank records are showing the House Oversight Committee at seventeen million dollars going to
nine different members of the Biden coming. There's a foreign crup Foreign Practices Act
that was passing the seventies, federal law modified in the nineties. It talks
about it's it's it's bribery when family members received money. It's not just you.
So you know, Tom, I'm convinced that bribery is a I have
signed off an HR forty fifty seven, which was the resolution to bring about
impeachment. I believe that this admitting I believe that the President Biden has crossed
the line. And Article two, section four with discribus of presidency, it
lists three things high crimes and misbanus, treason and bribery and and uh,
this whole special counsel of designed to kind of cover like kittie litter, kittie
litter what David Washington's group have not been doing for five years, stead of
allowing the Oversight can continue to say, bring us through the bank records,
what what what what else have we not yet seen about the corrupt practices that
occurred here by using the influence of the United States own personal game. My
goodness sake, it sounds like a mess. And Congressman er keen once again,
you're gonna have what sixty town hall meetings by the time this, uh,
this little leg of the tour is through. You're doing a lot of
groundwork and you're listening to a lot of people. What what's the biggest response?
Again, what's the biggest And certain people are raising, who are you
that people feel the fact that they're spending eleven hundred dollars more per months this
month? What the stats show and what people know and they feel it?
You know, I asked you bought said, how many of you are having
a conversation with your spouse about the amount of money that it's taking, like,
where's this money going out of our bank account? And in the average
the statistics you're selling us right now that the average family of force spending eleven
hundrellars more per month by the exact same goods and services than they were in
January twenty twenty one, when when this administration took offered now to be fair.
It is under both Republicans and Democrats that are national debt rages on and
our gross dep increase. But under this administration it's been on steroids. And
people know that devaluations of currency, the runaway federal spending, unchecked, unbridled,
runaway federal spending is causing them to feel the pain in the pocket book.
And so whether it's the field, reps or out in the town,
which we're doing a good job going, you know, this is a business
getting information, seeing people in the communities getting information. This consistent theme of
man, it is costing too much. Restaurants telling us it's not. It's
not. Fifteen percent increased in January twenty one is what the stats say.
They're saying in a restaurant, we're having a thirty percent increased on just our
our costs to buy the food that we're having to pass on to the customers.
And so you want to deal with devaluations our currency, you want to
deal with inflation, then Congress has got to stop giving more than just lip
service to cutting federal spending. We have got to turn this thing around home.
It's not just the national debts, not just our kid's future it's right
now. People are been living in their pocketbook. Gonna cost the average family
four eleven hundred dollars a month, that's thirteen thousand, seven hundred dollars they'll
spend this year alone, and they get no increase in buy entower, all
because of Congress's historic over overspending. We got to cut spending. We people
have, you know, I get to DC and people say, all right,
we gotta do something about spending. All right, fine, then let's
go back to pre COVID spending list. Let's let's reset the baseline we can.
Can you not live on the amount of government that they're was, you
know in twenty nineteen, And that's the question I'm asking everybody in the town
hall. Still, absolutely, give our country a chance, give our kids
at ten. In five years, we're gonna be at a place because of
where we're are at right now. It just continual debt loading thirty two trillion.
Now we only reach one trillion in nineteen eight. We're in five years,
what we spend just on interest payment, no principle, just pay service
servicing the debt is going to cost us a trillion dollars. That is more
than what we spend on defense of our entire in defense of our entire country.
Right now, that's where we are in five years. That's a subjector
we're headed. We're in trouble, and we better have serious amount of people
in sizeable problems, our sizeable solutions to address the size of the problem.
Congresswomen, Besides attending one of your town halls, how can folks get a
hold of you burkein b R E. C. T. N. Verken
dot House dot gov, Verken dot House dot gov. They can, you
know, of course, get online, find our in state office and Claire
Moore, reach out to our our staff instate or in DC and they can
also you know, send me, send me an email, or to talk
to our field reps. We're encouraging to come to these town halls we've got,
you know, like I said, we're doing a full week here and
and those have been advertised as on our social media pages, uh Potishman Josh
mckin on Facebook, also Twitter, and that information is there as well.
Congressman Mikin, thank you very much for being our guests today. Thanks to
appreciate you. Man