Let's get some angles here.
Bye!
Alright, if you guys have
questions we can start down here if
you'd like, work our way over.
There's been a big call for unity
today.
Are you seeing a divide in the
party? And I guess what's your
message to folks in Wisconsin?
There's always slight ideological
differences. Some people are focused
more on tax policies, some people
are more focused on strict freedom
of speech or other nuanced
aspects of policy.
But at the end of the day, we're all
Republicans, and we want
to make sure that our agenda,
the conservative agenda,
moves forward.
Over 77 million people voted for
Donald Trump to have four
years in office,
effective years in And
if the house flips, which it's not
going to, but if it did, there's
already been three of my colleagues
that have put in articles of
impeachment for President Trump.
That's not what the American people
want. The American people, want us
to move together as citizens and
have our country become the
best place in the world, which under
Donald Trump's leadership is moving
in that direction. I'm very happy
with that.
How concerned are you about a blue
wave?
Blue wave.
Here's what I do.
I get up in the morning and I
work like 16 hour days in Washington
DC crafting outstanding
public policy that helps my
constituents and helps
Wisconsinites and Americans.
Is anybody going to ask me about the
farm bill that just got passed?
You should ask me about that.
How about year-round E-15?
We've been working on that for years
to get it done. We're using science
from the 21st century.
So when we ask things about blue
wave this or that...
Why don't we actually focus on the
policy that affects American
citizens? This E-15 year round, it
gets done. That's like 30 cents a
gallon less for Americans to
pay at the pump.
Those are the important things we
should be discussing.
With regard to E-15, was that
split up from the farm bill as a
separate bit measure, and is that a
problem for a cast?
No, not at all, we already got it
through the house.
So we decoupled it from the farm
bill, intentionally because there
are some members of my conference
that don't like E-15.
Well, guess what?
If you say you're all above for
energy, ethanol is
an energy source, it's domestically
produced. So you're either all or
above or you're not.
There are some concerns about the
different size refineries.
We got all this stuff hashed out and
it's fantastic.
I mean, that was a red letter
day. For Wisconsin farmers
and farmers around the country.
Also, I'm waiting for the details,
but President Trump did a
trade deal for soybeans with
China, which again,
is fantastic for the American farm.
These are the things that are
important to Wisconsin.
We got Whole Milk for Healthy Kids
signed into law.
Guess what? That just reopened all
of the domestic dairy markets
that were shut during the Obama
administration.
That's fantastic for our American
farmers. We got Prop 12 gone.
You know why? Because Gavin
Newsom isn't a king, and if he can
tell people the square footage for
farrowing hogs, that means that he
can my cranberry verus what they
cannot use for nutrients.
These are the important public
policy issues we should be
discussing constantly.
In regards to policy, one of the big
issues in your district right now is
health care and affordability.
What kind of policies are you
working on right now to help your
constituents afford health care
coverage?
So we got a $50 billion
rural health care infrastructure
fund. That's done.
That's in law.
So that's going out.
Stand by for some very, very
good news.
Stand by some very very good new on
this front also.
Like really, like really really good
news
What do you think Republicans need
to do to turn out new voters in
Wisconsin?
Keep telling the truth.
Listen, the generation now, I
don't talk smack about these, the
younger people. Our youngest child
is 27.
But these are the young people
that were locked in their homes.
They were forced to wear masks.
They were force to get an injection
that they didn't agree with, or they
would not be able to go to college.
They were told if they read
something wrong on the internet,
that they would be banned from
everything.
They saw their hero, Charlie Kirk,
assassinated live on television.
So, the younger generation is
completely motivated because they
want freedom, and they look at the
Republican Party as the party of
freedom because we are.
We didn't want to do any of those
things.
And so these kids, and I call them
kids because, again, our youngest is
27, they
just want freedom.
And we're going to do everything we
can so that they have freedom.
I don't want tell anybody what to
do. And the Democrat
Party's been...
Become the party of the nagging
mother-in-law, which by the way I
love my mother- in-law her name is
Virginia she's 93 and she's a
blessing so let's make sure that
that's a stereotype not my
personal experience.
So we just tell them the truth let
them know that we want to give them
as much freedom as possible to live
their lives as they want as
Americans.
Speaking of freedom, economic
freedom is a big concern for
millions of Americans,
Wisconsinites.
Inflation's the highest it's been
since 2022.
What policies are you?
Inflation is not as high as it was
under Joe Biden.
That's what the PPPI says.
Inflation is not as high as it was
under Biden.
Gas prices are still lower than they
were under Biden,
one of the largest things for home
ownership, like that's the American
dream.
You're about $100-plus
thousand dollars into building
a home before you even break ground
because of regulations.
Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the
EPA, has done the largest
deregulation package in the history
of the country. That's imperative to
make sure that we can build homes
that are affordable for our young
people. Right now, we're working on
a 21st century.
Home bill.
It's we got the version back from
the Senate. We're still tweaking it
We want I want people
to be able to buy a home in their
20s not their 40s And
that's a huge thing for Americans
So the gas groceries and grandkids
all these input costs are gonna
start going down again The reason
that they're up a bit is because
Donald Trump has decided to end a
war that Iran declared on us 47
years
Congressman, there is a lot of
high court immunity today.
We've got a lot candidates in a
different congressional district,
voting right up against yours.
Any thoughts on that?
There's an endorsement of the
candidate.
There's been events with you and
other members of Congress.
Any thoughts about the overall state
of the play?
Okay, Jesse Eben, Kevin Hermann,
and Michael Alfonso are all
outstanding Americans.
I endorsed Michael Alphonso quite a
while ago because we have to
understand that we're growing the
party still.
And you asked me earlier about
getting in touch with younger
people, well, he is a younger
person and I think he's going to
make an outstanding congressman.
I'm not speaking poorly about Kevin
or Jesse at all, they're both my
friends also. I just want to see our
party continue to grow.
A lot of folks in the Republican
party have hair this color, you know
what I mean? I didn't bleach this.
So we've got to make sure that we
have more people with your color
hair than mine.
We have time for a few more,
if anybody has anything else.
I mean this race in
the third is going to be so
expensive.
There's a primary there too.
We care to weigh in on the
situation with...
Well, let me tell you this, man, I
got elected in the first meeting
that I took officially as a member
of Congress was with Emily Berge
because she was in charge of her
cleric and it freaked them out.
They're like, what are you doing here? I said,
look, I'm your congressman.
I know that you campaigned against
me, but I don't care.
I want you to look me in the face.
You understand me. I brought my
district director here.
There are private phone numbers.
If anything comes up because you
are, you're working for the largest
city in our district and it's
incumbent upon me to put politics
aside and make sure if I can help
you, I do.
And so Emily and I have known each
other for quite a while.
And Rebecca Goon, she's
pretending to be a waitress.
She is on several
different George
Soros funded think
tanks.
Look at her filings.
If you guys did a little bit more
investigative stuff, she's made
hundreds of thousands of dollars as
a political
insider.
She worked for the guy up in the
Monaco Brewing Company as a
fundraiser. So she out-raised me.
This last quarter because she's a
professional fundraiser.
She's not ginning around the block
working as a waitress three days a
week. That's just a lie and
it would be helpful if you guys help
educate the
folks in Wisconsin about who this
this person is.
She came out and called all of her
people racist because they're
Caucasian.
So just because 90% of this
district is Caucasian doesn't mean
we're populated by a bunch of
racists. That's not true and the
days for that woke crap are over.
I look at you as a person.
What are you bringing to the
table? I don't care what your gender
is, I don't care what you're skin
color is, I don't care what to do
with your privacy, it's your own
home. I don's care about any of that
stuff. I wanna look at you as a
fellow American and move out with a
purpose.
Our state motto forward.
The only way we're gonna do that is
if we start looking at each
other for what we are, and
that's Americans.
And she is the antithesis
of that. Let's be super clear.
She's a professional insider
and fundraiser.
Who raised money for a person that
was celebrating the fact that he
thought Donald Trump was going to be
assassinated.
That's despicable behavior, and you
guys have got to get these stories
out about it because I can't afford
to do it.
How are you feeling about your
re-election chances this fall?
I'm going to win.
I'll get outspent, but I'm gonna
win. You know why?
Because I've been working my tail
off in D.C. On very good
public policy that
is helping our farmers.
There's 40-ish bills or so passed
last year. Two of them are mine.
Both have to do with veterans, and
it's fantastic.
We're helping people out in the
right place, and I work very hard.
And don't get me wrong,
this is an honor to do this job.
It is.
But I hate politics.
And everybody hates a career
politician, until you find somebody
in this job that hates politics.
Well, I hate the politics, I love
the policy.
I love helping my constituents.
We save people's lives.
We've gotten millions of dollars
back from the federal government from
them. We've funded multiple projects
throughout the entire district to
make people's life better.
Saved, what, 300 homes or so,
over by Eau Claire?
That's what I enjoy about this job.
And that's why I'm gonna win.
Last one, right?
What do you think is the
biggest issue facing Americans
in this election in Wisconsin?
It's the same same thing.
It's gas, groceries, grandkids.
Gas is going to start coming down.
E-15 right now, that's up to 30
cents a gallon less.
The war that Iran declared on us
is going to end.
That's going down.
The input costs are already going
down for groceries.
So everything is predicated on
energy. Energy production is going
up. That means that the input costs
for agriculture going down the farm
bill when signed into law is going
help tremendously lower the Then
the grandkids think Donald Trump is
doing a fantastic job.
That implies the security.
The security for our nation, so
there hasn't been a single illegal
alien released into the United
States in a year.
We got the Lake and Riley Act
passed, so if you are a criminal
illegal alien, you know what?
You're getting deported.
This is the place we're at.
Over 150 of my Democrat colleagues
voted to not deport
criminal illegal aliens convicted
of raping and murdering American
citizens. That's a real number.
Okay, that stuff's gone.
So, the grandkids part, I think
President Trump's doing a great
idea.
Or a great job.
The Trump fund for kids,
that's fantastic.
So that these children have the
ability to accumulate wealth as
they grow older.
That's going to help into the
future. We just did, or he just did
an executive order giving folks who
are 1099 workers the ability to
have a TSP account with their
savings plan, which is
great. So those things are coming
along well.
That's what we work out every day.
In regards to the farm bill, what
about the impact that we're going to
see to hemp farmers once that
new poll is closed?
That seems like it's going to be pretty
big here in Wisconsin.
OK, let me tell you what.
I got written up at high times about
this.
So the federal government in the
2018 farm bill opened the
door for industrial production of
hemp. They didn't really think it
through.
And understanding that people are
going to synthesize cannabinoids and
make this Delta 8 and Delta 9 stuff.
And I've been very frank with all my
hemp farmers. I don't support these
products. But the federal can't
tell you you can do something and
then cut your legs out from
underneath it. People have invested
hundreds and hundreds of billions of
dollars around the country.
In an industry that was legal.
So there's something called the
Takings Clause in the Constitution.
And I firmly believe
that it's unconstitutional without
compensation.
So when you have imminent domain, if
they want to put a road through and
you don't want to sell them your
field, they can condemn the land
under imminent domain.
And they have to give you a fair
market price.
Someone's gonna have to compensate
these people for everything.
Brick-and-mortar buildings their
employees all the equipment all
those things have to be done or I
think it's unconstitutional okay we
got a wrap thank you thank you very
much have fun and have fun
here do you guys ever get up and
sneak around take off your press
matches so people know who you are
No, we don't do that.
Unfortunately, they still recognize
us.
We'll have a good day. I'm Meredith
Hackler, by the way. I'm the new
capital correspondent for CBS 58.
How's it going? It's going good.
I've only been here for a month, so
I'm learning everybody's names and
the Hoosiers and all that, so good
place to be for it, right?
It is a great place.
Take care, everybody. Thank you.
If you can get
the...