NASHVILLE, TN—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, joined Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News to discuss the fires in Southern California, Congress’ role in implementing President Donald Trump’s agenda, and the Biden Administration enabling the Mexican government to seize Vulcan Materials Company.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on the Southern California fires: “At this point, we still don’t know the full extent of the damage, and we may not know for some time. But what we can see is the failure of policy there and the failure of leadership in California that’s been egregious. Whether it’s [Governor] Gavin Newsom prioritizing some sort of obscure fish over his citizens, or whether it’s a leader like [Mayor] Karen Bass, the mayor there, who prioritizes DEI initiatives over the readiness of first responders. It’s absolutely pathetic what has happened there, and I think we’re going to have to have real accountability. We need to have hearings to understand, to get to the bottom of what’s taken place, what the failures have been. When we get a new FEMA director in, when Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk take a hard look at how we efficiently deploy, how we effectively deploy resources here, we’re going to have to see some very real changes. I hope California wakes up. Certainly, this White House hasn’t woken up. Joe Biden flies out for a photo op and shut down the airspace, grounding the helicopters that were responsible for putting the fires out, just so he can brag about being a grandfather. Talk about being out of touch, whether it’s the President, and whether it’s Gavin Newsom or Karen Bass, we’ve got to bring accountability to bear here. And before we put funds into place, we’ve got to find out exactly how we’re going to hold these leaders accountable and what sort of policy changes are required […] And I think [the amount of funding needed] may continue to rise. You know, one of the concerns I’ve got is that from a policy standpoint, California came in and basically inserted Marxist price controls on the insurance industry there. What does that lead to? Well, of course, that led to the exit of private sector insurers. So, many of the people that I’ve spoken with over the course of this week in Southern California are either uninsured or underinsured. This pain is going to be felt by the taxpayers, by the rate payers there for some time to come. And if you think about the time to rebuild, given the heat that has been rolling through these neighborhoods, the intensity of the fires, the destruction, I talked to an insurance executive early this morning that told me about the contamination of the soil that’s going to have to be remediated. And if you’re in the Palisades, you have to deal with the coastal commission permitting there, [which] will take years. This is going to be devastating. It will take a very long time to rebuild; significant policy changes are going to be required here.”
Hagerty on Congress’ role in implementing Trump’s agenda: “Maria, when I saw that interview between you and [Speaker] Mike [Johnson] last week, I was very pleased to see the pace of play that he’s got in mind. We need to be moving expeditiously. When the Senate met with President Trump this week, there was a very unifying meeting there. We talked about the various strategies to get there. The main point is we need the entirety of this agenda implemented as quickly as possible. We need to get our border repaired. We need to get back into the energy business. We need to extend the tax cuts so that we don’t see the most massive tax hike in history. We’ve got to get this done quickly, and I think all of my colleagues understand this. We’re going to work night and day to make certain that that happens.”
Hagerty on the need to quickly confirm Trump’s cabinet: “I think the most important aspect of this, Maria, is the fact that we need to move quickly. And if my colleagues don’t grasp the gravity of this, just look at the crises happening in California right now. Look at what’s happening around the globe from a national security standpoint. Our border is still collapsed. We have very urgent crises that have to be dealt with. President Trump needs his cabinet in place right now. So, my greatest concern is that the Democrats don’t use procedural opportunities to slow us down. We need to be moving quickly. Every one of these cabinet nominees needs to get a fair hearing, and we need to get them in place as quickly as possible, so President Trump can move now. You’ve seen President Trump make many, many steps already to be ready to go and hit the ground, on January the 20th, running. And we need to have his cabinet in place to support all of that.”
Hagerty on Trump’s executive orders on day one: “There are a number of things he can do with executive orders right away, for example, to deal with the crisis at the southern border. But we need legislative action as well to help fund these activities, to make certain that he’s got every arrow in his quiver that’s available to make certain that we get America safe again—we bring crime down, we get our economy moving full board, and we get back into the energy business.”
Hagerty on the Biden Administration allowing Mexico to seize Vulcan Materials Company’s assets: “I’ve absolutely been zeroed in on this, Maria. It’s an absolute shame what Joe Biden is willing to do. So much for a smooth transition. He’s trying to make it as difficult as possible, not only for the incoming Trump Administration, but for the American economy and for the private sector. And whether it’s banning our ability to have gas water heaters, or barring lands that can be used for exploration, or freeing criminals without any sort of concern for the families who’ve been forever scarred and marred by what they’ve done. Joe Biden is taking every opportunity to wage war on the American economy and on the private sector. So, in this case, you’ve got Vulcan Materials, an iconic American company, that has used American dollars to build a massive quarry operation and a deep-water port. For decades, they’ve been operating. What America needs to do is stand up for its private sector. What Mexico has done is stepped in and stolen this property. It’s expropriated it. And what the Biden Administration is doing here, at the 11th hour, is trying to hand this over to Mexico. It’s amazing that they would let the Mexican government come in and expropriate a strategic deep-water port that I’m certain if Mexico is able to get this for nothing, it will become for sale to the highest bidder. It could be a crown jewel in China’s Belt and Road [Initiative]. And if you think about the criticality of the stone that comes from that port, we rely on this in the entirety of the southeastern United States to build our infrastructure. What Biden wants to do is allow Vulcan Materials to be crushed by the Mexican government, again, with impunity. This type of thing, at the 11th hour, just underscores the fact that this Administration and the radical left believe in central government control of every asset. They’re happy to surrender our sovereignty, to surrender the rights of the U.S. private sector, in order to see central control, even if it’s in the hands of an unfriendly government, like Mexico, that has allowed fentanyl across the border, has allowed criminals to come into our country, that has allowed the mass influx of 10 million, 15 million or more, to completely invade our country during the Biden Administration. They’re going to reward the Mexican government for this. I’m going to spend every moment I can this next week to try to stop them in the 11th hour, so this does not happen in America.”
###