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 Kudlow on Fox Business to discuss the devastating fires in Southern California, along with Senate Republicans’ meeting with President Donald Trump this week.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on the fires in Southern California: “Larry, when you were in the Trump Administration back in 2020, President Trump signed an emergency order that would’ve allowed California to address this. [Governor] Gavin Newsom decided not to abide by that, not to fill the reservoirs, instead to support this Smelt, at some part of the Pacific Ocean, and divert all the water that otherwise would’ve gone to Southern California into the reservoirs—and into the fire hydrants, by the way. Gavin Newsom decides that’s not important. It’s a matter of priorities, Larry. And the Democrats’ priorities, particularly in the far-left coast state of California, are way out of alignment with what the American public needs. I feel so sorry; my heart goes out, my prayers go out, to the people in Southern California who are suffering. I’ve spoken with a number of my friends by phone over the past couple of days. It’s devastating. But this is something that’s made much worse by the fact that politicians in California have made terrible choices, prioritizing the environment, prioritizing these far-left causes that really are way outside of the bounds of reality.”
Hagerty on the reconciliation process: “There’s great unity among Republicans here on both sides of Capitol Hill, the House and the Senate. We want to see our energy sector put back into business. We want to see our border secured, and we want to see our economy take off again, Larry. And it’s policies like a 15 percent corporate tax rate that’s going to put us back in the position of having our economy skyrocket above all other major economies in the world. We’re going to see more investment here. You recall back in the first Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we saw our economy grow at twice the rate of any other major economy. We saw our tax revenues come in at 30 percent above what the CBO predicted. We saw lower unemployment than we’ve ever seen. We need to get back to that place again. We need to make it happen—I agree with you—as quickly as we possibly can. That’s what the American public has voted for. I’m looking forward to working with…all of my colleagues here, and President Trump to make certain that happens as quickly as possible.”
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