WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) today joined Mornings with Maria on Fox Business to discuss today’s Banking Committee hearing where Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Fed Chair Jay Powell will testify on the state of the American economy, Democrats’ inability to govern, and the Biden Administration’s disastrous policies.
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Partial Transcript
Hagerty on today’s Banking hearing; Omicron variant: “Jay Powell has heightened the concern about this new variant, the Omicron variant coming out of Africa. We’ve already seen this administration shut down travel from Africa. You’ve seen countries like Japan shut down all foreign travel. I’ll just remind you, Maria, we need to take the time to let the science take hold. It takes about 10 days for scientists to get their arms around this. And I hope that what we’ll hear is not only the effectiveness of the vaccines, but also the implications for those that already have natural immunity. It’s interesting that the scientific community remains silent about that, but natural immunity is a factor that we’ve got to take into account, too. I’m seeing the downdraft in the markets right now, but I think it may be a bit premature.”
Hagerty on the American public’s mistrust of Doctor Anthony Fauci: “It’s very difficult to put faith in anything that [Anthony] Fauci says at this point, given the way he’s discredited himself. And I think the disinformation that we’ve seen coming from Fauci has gone across this Administration. It really has crushed the American public’s confidence in what we’re hearing regarding the science, and that does not bode well for people getting vaccinated. And I agree with you—we need to look at all of the science, including natural immunity, to get to the bottom of this.”
Hagerty on Democrats’ misplaced priorities and big-government socialism legislation: “It’s a legislative malpractice that we’re watching right before our eyes, Maria. The fact that Leader Schumer would let everything stack up into December, and we’ve only got half a dozen or more legislative days on the calendar. I’m sure that will get extended, but we really have a very limited amount of time to make sure that we keep the government open and running, to go ahead and deal with the debt ceiling. The Democrats have had the tools in their hands to deal with this. They don’t need Republicans to do it. They’ve certainly not had any difficulty spending trillions of dollars without Republican help. They certainly should be able to deal with the debt ceiling. They’ve not found the courage to do that yet. They’ve got to get the National Defense Authorization bill through, that collapsed again last night, that’s getting kicked down the road. And then they want to put through the most massive transformation of our economy in history. I mean, I don’t think the American public is ready for this. Joe Manchin is echoing those sentiments. But can you imagine allowing the Biden Administration—this Administration that has delivered a collapsed Southern border, inflation beyond anything that we’ve seen, an energy policy that actually gives more and more power to Putin and to OPEC and to Iran. Look at the collapse in Afghanistan. The American public does not have confidence at this Administration to quote, ‘transform our economy,’ particularly under Bernie Sanders’ blueprint. This is going to be very difficult for them to get through.”
Hagerty on Americans awakening to Democrats’ deleterious policies: “Well, I think the Republicans are going to stand strong at this point. The environment has changed significantly since the Virginia elections when Glenn Youngkin was elected. I think the American public had the opportunity to digest these policies that the Biden Administration has put forth. I think the environment has become much more difficult, and I think Republicans have heard that loud and clear. I can tell you this, Maria, when I was home for Thanksgiving, people in Tennessee are hurting. They feel the inflation in everything that they’re buying, whether it’s their turkeys that are over 20 percent higher, as you mentioned, gas at the pump is enormously more expensive, and every good that has to be transported has gone up tremendously. And frankly, there’s just a feeling of discord, because they see us becoming weaker and weaker as a nation. We’ve got to step up, we’ve got to turn course. And the last thing we can do is put more trust in this Administration, particularly not hand them the keys to the economy.”
Hagerty on Biden’s radical Comptroller of the Currency nominee: “When I questioned [Doctor Saule Omarova], I couldn’t even get her to acknowledge that high gas prices are bad for America. I think in her world, high gas prices mean it’s easier to cost justify these new alternative energy sources. Again, she wants to destroy the fossil fuel industry by using the banking system. What’s next, you know, in terms of disfavored industries? They want to abuse the financial institutions and the regulatory bodies that oversee them to de-bank industries that they find out of favor. Right now, it’s climate. Who knows what is next? I cannot imagine that she gets through confirmation.”
Hagerty on Democrats’ agenda and impending ramifications in the 2022 elections: “You know, you’re hitting a very important point. It’s going to be probably in January the way the schedule is shaking out right now. Again, we’ve got to get the continuing resolution to keep the government open, that has to be done in December. That defense authorization bill has to be done, and the Democrats need to figure out how they’re going to manage the debt ceiling. But I think we’ll start back in January, we may have, I hope we’re not still dealing with the defense authorization bill at that point. It will be a huge embarrassment if we are, sends a terrible message to our allies, but it would start them. But as you mentioned, we’re getting closer and closer to an election year where the actual voters are going to hold these Democrats accountable for this quote ‘transformation of America.’ They need to be held accountable for crime in American cities, for the collapse of our Southern border, for Afghanistan, and for destroying our energy policy. And I think the closer we get to Election Day in November of 2022, the harder it’s going to be for them to vote on this massive transformation of the economy.”