WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations, Banking, and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, today joined Varney & Co. on Fox Business to discuss his legislation to stop the Biden-Harris Administration’s effort to sell border wall parts, and Americans’ optimism about the incoming Trump Administration.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on his legislation to stop Biden-Harris Admin’s effort to sell border wall parts: “It’s certainly a step in the right direction. I think it just amazes the American people how out of touch the Biden-Harris Administration is. They didn’t listen to the result of November the fifth at all; this is just a slap in the face of the American taxpayer, selling off the border at five cents on the dollar. It’s a disgrace. It’s just another disgraceful capstone to the Biden-Harris Administration, which I think will go down as the worst presidency in modern American history.”
Hagerty on the Biden-Harris Admin’s attempt to hinder the incoming Trump Admin: “I think [the Biden-Harris Administration is] going to do a lot of things to try to make the incoming Administration’s life much more difficult. In that light, I sent letters to every Administration official, all of the departments, all of the agency heads, and to their inspector generals, demanding that they follow the law, that they not divert funds, that they not do this type of thing. This border wall is a little bit different, but to not do the types of things that we expect they will do, to try to frustrate the success of the Trump Administration as [they] come into office.”
Hagerty on Senator Fetterman’s openness to Trump’s cabinet nominees: “It’s not unreasonable at all to take a look. I met with Biden’s appointees as they came through, many of them by phone because it was during Covid, as you may recall. But I think it’s important that we take an open mind as we look at these particular nominees. And I think that the Democrats should consider that […] Fetterman certainly should [consider Trump’s nominees] because he comes from Pennsylvania. I might remind him that Trump won Pennsylvania. If he wants to represent the citizens of his state, he certainly better take an open mind. And I hope he can find his way to confirm our nominees, because the people of his state have spoken. I think other Democrats need to do the same thing. They need to get the message. Three quarters of the American public think that our nation is on the wrong track right now. Democrats have had the pen up here with the legislation, and they’ve had control of the White House, driving us in that direction. It’s a wake-up call for Democrats, and I hope they’ll come around.”
Hagerty on Americans’ optimism about the incoming Trump Admin: “I feel a sense of relief across the nation. Every time I go and speak in public events, you see optimism. Now, if you look at public sentiment, consumer confidence is up, small business confidence is up. If you saw the NFIB survey a couple of weeks ago, corporate CEOs’ confidence is up. Investment plans are kicking up. People want to invest in America’s economy. Again, that will get more jobs, more economic activity, and more strength for America. We’re going to be back in the posture that we want to be. You just saw [SoftBank] announce 100 billion dollars of investments over the next four years. He co-announced that with incoming President Trump, and President Trump promptly encouraged him to double that number. So yes, I think we’re going to see a lot of optimism here.”
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