Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: We have with this Congressman Josh Ri Keen from Regional
Speaker 1: District too here in Oklahoma. It's been a busy, busy
Speaker 1: time in Washington, d C. And first of all, how
Speaker 1: are we doing as far as the big vote to
Speaker 1: keep the keep the nation open, as far as the
Speaker 1: money's concerned.
Speaker 2: So I was in the Oval Office a few days
Speaker 2: ago with President Trump myself. It's about fifteen of us
Speaker 2: that are considered fiscal hawks, and the President was asking us,
Speaker 2: you know, can you support the cr And so almost
Speaker 2: all of us, you know, walked out of there saying,
Speaker 2: all right, we're willing to go with you on this.
Speaker 2: When I had a chance to speak to him individually,
Speaker 2: I related to him. I said, President Trump, thank you
Speaker 2: for not backing off of what Doge is doing. It's
Speaker 2: because of you know Rubio, now is it this morning
Speaker 2: saying we're eliminating eighty five percent of USAID funding will
Speaker 2: roll the other remaining fifteen percent under Secretary of State's office,
Speaker 2: the ability of RUSS vote at omb former Freedom Cocus
Speaker 2: member with me, Dan Fisher or a Dan Bishop brother
Speaker 2: that works with RUSS. They were both in that meeting
Speaker 2: and to be able to say to President Trump, thank
Speaker 2: you for not pulling your foot off the gas pedal
Speaker 2: on trying to find these efficiencies. And he said to me,
Speaker 2: is that's really the only reason you're willing to go
Speaker 2: to that said, Miss President, I can. I can stomach
Speaker 2: the cr because you've not taken your foot off of
Speaker 2: what Doze is doing. And and so the ability as
Speaker 2: I've been you know, on Budget Committee, and I've seen
Speaker 2: the hesitancy of Republicans to really go in and cut stuff,
Speaker 2: We've got the opportunity to do that now with Doge.
Speaker 2: And if we can hold our budgets flat for four years,
Speaker 2: some of what we're kind of trying to do with
Speaker 2: this reconciliation build. I want to make this too confusing,
Speaker 2: but part of the agreement of this framework that we
Speaker 2: set up about six of us with the Speaker on
Speaker 2: the Budget Committee and said, if you'll let us adjust
Speaker 2: the dials, we have to have savings to be able
Speaker 2: to do the things on the ways and mean side.
Speaker 2: When we cut that deal with the Speaker two weeks ago,
Speaker 2: with the Speaker that that big, one, big beautiful bill,
Speaker 2: we've got a minimum a two year freeze which to
Speaker 2: see our plays into on the discretionary side. If we
Speaker 2: can do that for four years, we can return our
Speaker 2: non defense discretionary spending levels back to pre COVID tom
Speaker 2: and that's huge, you know for all of us that
Speaker 2: we're putting amendments up for the last couple of years
Speaker 2: on the appropriation bills and saddened by the fact we
Speaker 2: could only get eighty to one hundred our colleagues to
Speaker 2: support taking arts and humanity funding back to twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: spending levels. There's a chance here, because you've got a
Speaker 2: gutsy president who's not taking his foot off of dose,
Speaker 2: that we're going to be able to accomplish some real
Speaker 2: spending reduction. And so that you know, again to have
Speaker 2: the ability to say, to encourage the president, just keep
Speaker 2: your foot hard pressed on this, and look, I think
Speaker 2: he sees it. You know that when he mentioned Elon
Speaker 2: at the State of the Union address, some of us
Speaker 2: were making sure the applause continued. We want the president
Speaker 2: to know that, regardless of what you're hearing from everyone
Speaker 2: saying they're against this, some of us see this as
Speaker 2: the way we're going to have a chance to spare
Speaker 2: this country from his history of other countries who fail
Speaker 2: for loose fiscal policy.
Speaker 1: Now, when we see some of these headlines, we see
Speaker 1: things of just really bizarre outlays of cash from USA
Speaker 1: that go to other countries for some of what seems
Speaker 1: to be pretty dark and silly and maybe even nonsensical.
Speaker 1: But we're also finding out that some of these things
Speaker 1: have a little bit of a oh well, let's call
Speaker 1: it a commission for somebody back home, usually someone who's
Speaker 1: tied to someone in Washington, d C. Maybe even a lawmaker.
Speaker 1: When are the names going to come out?
Speaker 2: Look, there are these and creases, non government organizations that
Speaker 2: pass money around. And when Rubio, when Rubio was saying
Speaker 2: eighty five percent of what we were spending money on
Speaker 2: is nonsensical, there's a report I haven't confirmed it. It was
Speaker 2: floating around on substack. Someone sent me about how you
Speaker 2: got equities for Oklahoma, which is this group that's pushing
Speaker 2: the LGBTQ stuff in Oklahoma. That it shows you the
Speaker 2: spider web of USAID funding going to different organizations who
Speaker 2: then are funneling that money to Oklahoma's for equity, and
Speaker 2: it appears again just needs We've got to get confirmation,
Speaker 2: but as appeers our tax dollars, when many of us
Speaker 2: thought some of these things were being pushed by private donations.
Speaker 2: Are organizations tied into the left receiving tax money, federal
Speaker 2: tax money that was in in a spider web, usa
Speaker 2: ID being the component funneling to organizations who would then
Speaker 2: funnel in the organizations like Oklahoma's for equity and it
Speaker 2: wasn't private donors, right, and these things are pushing counter
Speaker 2: to the virtues of Oklahomas. People have to be infuriated
Speaker 2: with that.
Speaker 1: Now with mister Musk doing his duty there with Doge,
Speaker 1: we've been hearing of people with eleven Social Security accounts.
Speaker 1: We've been hearing the people who are three hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty years old getting solid security money. And Social Security,
Speaker 1: of course wasn't around until like nineteen thirty five.
Speaker 2: Can I clarify this because Eloon was with House members
Speaker 2: last week he please do so. When President Trump is
Speaker 2: going through the numbers of people going oh, it's not
Speaker 2: social Security, they're not getting those checks. What Elon said
Speaker 2: is you're missing what President Trump. He didn't say this.
Speaker 2: That's President Trump is describing that because they have a
Speaker 2: secret or Social Security number they're eligible for other programs.
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean they're getting the money through Social Security. It
Speaker 2: means because they stay on Social Security. There's one example,
Speaker 2: eline pointy two where you've got three thousand, twenty one
Speaker 2: when the the COVID money was being dispensed, you have
Speaker 2: three thousand loans at the tune of three hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty million dollars going to people over one hundred and
Speaker 2: fifteen years of age because they had a Social Security number.
Speaker 1: WHOA.
Speaker 2: So the fact that solid security keeps them on their rolls.
Speaker 2: It might not be receiving Social Security benefits, but because
Speaker 2: so many other programs say you get a soci Security number,
Speaker 2: you're eligible for our programs. That's what's happening. These people
Speaker 2: are receiving government funding through other government programs because they're
Speaker 2: using their Social Security number to look balid.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for that clarification, because there are a lot
Speaker 1: of folks that kind of upset that you know we did.
Speaker 1: That's kind of gray and nebulus. I'm glad that you
Speaker 1: parse that out a little bit, cleared that up. Wonderful Now,
Speaker 1: a lot of things going on here too. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: were there, of course, and you mentioned at the President's speech.
Speaker 1: What was that like? Was that kind of surreal?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I was actually in the back. I had lots
Speaker 2: of people from from Oklahoma staying where are you? We
Speaker 2: can't see you. I was in the back, and let
Speaker 2: me say this. People started at two o'clock taking their wallets,
Speaker 2: even taping them to their chairs so they could reserve
Speaker 2: a spot. I've been working on because I'm on the
Speaker 2: Budget Committee recommendation, I've been working on some things to
Speaker 2: try to show the President where there's more savings and
Speaker 2: cuts to be found to be able accomplish this one big,
Speaker 2: beautiful bill. So I had my binder. I was in
Speaker 2: the back row studying before the State of the Union
Speaker 2: started because we were going to go into White House
Speaker 2: and meete with the President of the day the next day.
Speaker 2: I was with the speaker his staff relaying messages to
Speaker 2: Trump President Trump's staff. So I was actually preparing for
Speaker 2: the meeting with the president. So I was, you know,
Speaker 2: not in the best spot. I was having to stand
Speaker 2: as the speech started, stand up to be able to
Speaker 2: watch it. It was surreal, man, you know the fancy
Speaker 2: word for weird. It was weird to watch, you know,
Speaker 2: to watch democrats not stand when You've got a young
Speaker 2: man who's gone through six surgeries because of brain canching.
Speaker 2: They can't stand for that. You know, when when law
Speaker 2: enforcement is touted for the heroic efforts, they won't stand
Speaker 2: for that. I mean, just common civility that you saw
Speaker 2: running just the opposite direct when al Green did what
Speaker 2: he did. I had a meeting with the Speaker on
Speaker 2: the floor a couple of days ago. Some of us
Speaker 2: are saying it has to be more than just the censor.
Speaker 2: He raises money al Green. He raises money off of
Speaker 2: And I suggested to the speaker he delayed that al
Speaker 2: Green delayed an official proceeding. That is something that comes
Speaker 2: up with criminality charges. And so I've got my staff
Speaker 2: kind of looking at what we can do for rules change,
Speaker 2: and the Speaker kind of nodded his head and said, look,
Speaker 2: you know, I can see some validity, you know, us
Speaker 2: doing something on the delay of an official proceeding in
Speaker 2: addition to just how stupid you know, and look he
Speaker 2: made he made the Democrats look bad, he did, and
Speaker 2: that alone speaks for itself.
Speaker 1: My goodness. So it's been a bit since we've been conversed,
Speaker 1: and I know you've been very very busy, especially with this,
Speaker 1: you know, being a physcal hawk, I got to go
Speaker 1: back to this, you know, re faciliation bill. Did do
Speaker 1: you hear josh urkeeen and that in the same sentence.
Speaker 1: It almost takes your breath away. But like you said,
Speaker 1: everything has been put into motion to make it work
Speaker 1: for the people in this case.
Speaker 2: Correct, look impoundment and recisions with russ vote and what
Speaker 2: Dose is doing and part of what we So just
Speaker 2: make sure I'm not confusing people. No president wants a
Speaker 2: c R for the twelve appropriation bills, an annual yearly
Speaker 2: funding for twenty five percent of the budget. Seventy five
Speaker 2: percent of our budget is for Medicare and Medicaid, food stamps.
Speaker 2: Those are locked away. Those are mandatory spending programs. That's
Speaker 2: what the Budget Committe's been working on on reconciliation. That's
Speaker 2: the process. It doesn't require sixty votes in the Senate
Speaker 2: across fifty. Some of us are trying to show the
Speaker 2: President and his team and and this are other colleagues,
Speaker 2: here's how we get to real save to pay for
Speaker 2: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the things that
Speaker 2: President Trump is asking for, the ability to pay for
Speaker 2: tax on tips, and so that framework of reconciliation, we're
Speaker 2: going to plus up defense in that side, which is
Speaker 2: usually done in the normal discretionary budget side. But the
Speaker 2: trade off for us with the Speaker and it's backs
Speaker 2: in our reconciliation package. The framework we put the gun
Speaker 2: out of Budget Committee is it says we will let
Speaker 2: a minimum hold the discretionary side flat for two years.
Speaker 2: If we could hold it flat for four years, we
Speaker 2: can get it speaked up with pending levels. But even
Speaker 2: the two years, it's sizeable savings. It's hundreds of billions
Speaker 2: of dollars just on the discretionary side of the ledger,
Speaker 2: not not even to mention what we're trying to do
Speaker 2: on the mandatory side of the ledger.
Speaker 1: Now, once this is passed, and I understand it's going
Speaker 1: to be kind of tricky in the Senate, but once
Speaker 1: this gets past, some of these folks are going to
Speaker 1: have to grow a little bit of will to keep
Speaker 1: from going back to old habits when two years are gone.
Speaker 2: You got people right now that are trying to you know,
Speaker 2: protect the green new scalm, protect wind industry, trying to
Speaker 2: protect solar. So we put a framework together. The problem
Speaker 2: is we got people balking on it because they don't
Speaker 2: want to do what is going to have to happen
Speaker 2: to make sure Medicaid returns to what it was original mission,
Speaker 2: which was for the poor, the disabled, the elderly, pregnant,
Speaker 2: nursing mothers. We have grown the Medicaid population since twenty
Speaker 2: twelve sixty percent. Because of this expansion population, Obama started
Speaker 2: to where now, Tom, you have more people that are
Speaker 2: above the poverty line on Medicaid than below the poverty line.
Speaker 2: And you've got people who aren't willing to come on
Speaker 2: board and say, we've got to make sure Medicaid is
Speaker 2: not displacing the poor and the disabled for the services
Speaker 2: being provided, because that's what it's doing. The poor, the disabled,
Speaker 2: the elderly are having to compete for service providers for
Speaker 2: the able bodied guy who's able to work, who's living
Speaker 2: in his parents' basement and he's not out there hustling,
Speaker 2: and we are destroying this country. Our population is a
Speaker 2: country since twenty twenty twelve has only grown six percent.
Speaker 2: Yet since Obama and a Biden have expanded the mediciate population,
Speaker 2: it's grown sixty percent the Medicaid population. Wow, So what
Speaker 2: you what you see is is we got socialized healthcare,
Speaker 2: and Medicaid is a tool to do it. And so
Speaker 2: you got colleagues and they're not wanting to do anything
Speaker 2: to right size Medicaid. You got polls even right now
Speaker 2: saying people as a majority support right size in Medicaid.
Speaker 2: And that's not even limited Republicans. And the other side
Speaker 2: of we've got some colleagues that are trying to protect
Speaker 2: a green new scam, protecting these these wind and solar
Speaker 2: projects in their districts. I'm talking about some Republican colleagues.
Speaker 2: So I've been even this morning on the phone with
Speaker 2: an expert, Alex Epstein, trying to encourage us to do
Speaker 2: a letter to get the American people to understand if
Speaker 2: we don't roll back these green new scalm, even solar
Speaker 2: tax credits in this reconciliation process, we'll lose it. When
Speaker 2: President Trump said out he's committing in the Green New Scale,
Speaker 2: he was talking about the IRA Inflation Reduction actun put
Speaker 2: all these things in. And so we've got to repeal
Speaker 2: this stuff or it's gonna be with us in perpetuity.
Speaker 2: And that is going to be the demise of jobs
Speaker 2: in Oklahoma, specifically because the electric grid is moving towards
Speaker 2: all the growth on the electric grid. Super majority of
Speaker 2: all the growth now, according to the Energy Information Administration,
Speaker 2: is on wind and solar that's displacing natural gas. And
Speaker 2: they're using taxpayer credits, taxpayer subsidies to compete with natural gas.
Speaker 2: Oklahoma's the top five exporter on natural gas. This is
Speaker 2: stupidity that we're subsidizing industries that can't make it on
Speaker 2: their own, and we're moving our electric grid to be
Speaker 2: what the Energy Information Administration says in another twenty years
Speaker 2: to be a majority supported by wind and solar that
Speaker 2: are unreliable. I mean, we could be in a place
Speaker 2: where winter storms that we're on unreliable wind and solar.
Speaker 2: We'll be losing all and gas jobs in the process.
Speaker 2: It's just plain stupidity. So why if you look at
Speaker 2: Europe now, they're pulling most of their energy supplies out
Speaker 2: of Russia. Got Europe who's trying to fight against Russia.
Speaker 2: Yet they are spending more pain for all and gas
Speaker 2: coming from Russia than they are aiding Ukraine, and and
Speaker 2: and so. But Alana has to do with their energy
Speaker 2: system is in a mess in Europe because they've tried
Speaker 2: to go to being in this Green New Deal and
Speaker 2: it's not working for them.
Speaker 1: Josh, anything else you'd like to invite or tell folks
Speaker 1: about what's going on with you and how they can
Speaker 1: contact you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Probam. They can always reach out to our Clairemoor office.
Speaker 2: Always reach us in DC. We want to hear from them.
Speaker 2: We've got field reps that are out you know that
Speaker 2: being businesses that are gathering information, gathering data. They can
Speaker 2: always email us, find and encourage people to follow ourself
Speaker 2: some media page at Congressman Josh for Keen b R
Speaker 2: E C h T