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Taxes and fees extra. See Mintmobile.com. Hi, one, Brian Kilmead here. Thanks so much for listening. TI come to you from 48th and 6th, Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country and around the world.
Ian Bremer at the bottom of the hour, the president and founder of Eurasia Group. Great perspective on our challenges overseas. President of the United States is meeting right now to announce the building from his own pocket of two flagpoles on either side of the White House. But then he does what he does best, opens up the phone and takes any question possible. I don't need to tell you how different he is than President Biden, but for four years, you get one question with the chopper in the background.
He talks to you three or four times a day when he's in town.
So uh and when someone like Rachel Scott Who tried to destroy him at a campaign event for black journalists? And Dana Bash, who beats up on him almost every single day. When they need to speak to him, he picks up the phone.
So at one point the press is going to say Yeah, he's tough on us. But at least he gives us access and you know exactly what he's thinking. Joining us now is Senator Majority Leader John Thune. Senator Thune, your life's changed dramatically taking over from Mitch McConnell. I got it.
But how different is it? Being with this administration on a daily basis and with the job, and factor in the new job you have.
Well, Brian, every day is a new adventure, and there isn't hardly a day goes by where you don't have something coming at you that you didn't expect to happen. And I think that's obviously what the President and the White House have been dealing with, with what's happening on the global stage. obviously a lot going on here at home as well. But the thing I'll tell you is the President is somebody who thrives under pressure, has a tremendous amount of stamina and willingness to do the hard work to get good results and good outcomes for the country. And I think right now you're seeing the effects of that as he continues to navigate and manage what is a very difficult, complex and dangerous world and at the same time, balance everything that's going on here at home, including the work that we're doing up here in Capitol Hill.
He's enormously involved in just the day to day aspects of trying to make sure that the agenda we're putting forward is a good one for the American people. The Aito is not only not surrendering, he basically insulted the President's intellect with his statements, says he has no intention of backing off. And if we get involved, they're going to go for our assets, according to two separate people.
So Khomeini, even though Khomeini, even though he has almost no cards to play, if I could use the President's term, is just as belligerent as ever. How do you characterize it? I think that's right. I mean, I think he's very defiant, very belligerent, and he's cornered right now. His offensive capability has been dramatically diminished by the Israelis, and I think increasingly he is feeling cornered.
So I'm hoping what that leads to eventually is an acknowledgement and realization that their current strategy isn't going anywhere, and it's just going to lead to more death and destruction for his people. And the way to achieve a positive outcome here for his countrymen is to actually come to the table and negotiate a deal that ends their nuclear program. And that's what the President, President Trump, wants to achieve. But we'll just see how willing he is to do that. But every day they take more of a beating from the Israeli Defense Forces, and it seems like it's only a matter of time until they have no choices.
But at least right now, I think the President is keeping his options open and prepared to do what it takes to ensure that nuclear or that Iran never has a nuclear capability. Senator Thune, lastly, when it comes to the War Powers Act, Senator Tim Kaine says, if you're going to go in, mister President, you have to get permission from the Senate first, your thought and the House. Your thoughts about the President getting permission if we're to maybe blow up Fordo? You know, I think my view on that, and I think that this is probably the view I would say probably of most of legal scholars, obviously the Democrats here on Capitol Hill probably have a different view, but that's grounded in their partly their what is a part of their Trump derangement syndrome. They want to strip him of all the powers.
I think that in this particular case at least, the President has all the authority he needs. I mean, he's responding to a time of national crisis where American troops, service members, are very possibly could be in harm's way under attack, and he has tremendous latitude as the commander in chief to respond to circumstances like that.
So, you know, the Tim Kaine resolution is maybe good politics for him and the progressive left in the country. But for most of Americans who are concerned in a safer, stronger, and more prosperous world, and certainly a safer, stronger, and more prosperous America, I think they have a lot of confidence that the president will make the right decision.
So, Thomas Massey is somebody else teaming up with members of the squad to say this is not our war, and he wants the president to come to him. He's a Republican. Yeah, I mean, and there are going to be some voices like that. You know, we have a few like that in the Senate. There are some folks who are in the isolationist wing of our party.
Who don't believe that the U.S. has a role when it comes to what's happening on the world stage. But we very much have a role, particularly when it comes to Israel, our most trusted ally, certainly in the Middle East, arguably in the world. And we have a vested interest not only in their success and security, but also how closely that's related to ours. As it's been very clear from the outset that Iran sees and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has said this, the only thing standing between Iran and the United States is Israel.
So this has enormous security implications for our country and for the world. And the U.S. rightfully has an important leadership role to play in that. I hope you do take action. Let's talk about the Big Beautiful Bill.
You're working hard to get something, I guess, back to the House because you're making changes by the 4th of July. The CBO yesterday estimated that it would increase the budget deficit by as much as $2.8 trillion, slightly up. They released a dynamic score of President Trump's one big, beautiful bill.
So that means the deficit's slightly higher under what they're seeing that you guys are putting out. Your thoughts?
Well, you know, Brian, I think that the scorekeepers around here, the Congressional Budget Office and others, have been notoriously bad in terms of the record when it comes to making predictions about things like this. And they're never going to give you credit when you cut taxes. The bias in the scorekeepers here in Washington, D.C., as you would expect in Washington, D.C., always favors, there's always a bias in the favor of spending. And clearly, what they're saying is that because we're not going to allow taxes to go up at the end of the year, that that's somehow going to be able to reduce the deficit. And we just don't accept that premise.
What happens when you reduce taxes, you incentivize and increase the incentives for investment, is people invest, they make money, and they take those realizations and they pay more taxes, and government revenue goes up. The standard rule of thumb is for every 1% growth in the GDP, in our gross economic product in this country, we get about $3 trillion in additional tax revenue.
So growth leads to revenue, and these are pro-growth policies, and the CBO is never going to give credit for that.
So this is the biggest spending reduction in history. Coupled with these pro-growth economic policies, that's a recipe, in my view, for a very successful future for our country.
So let's talk about right now some things we have changed. Wanted to be able to write off $40,000 when it comes to the SALT, writing off local taxes, you're like at $10,000.
So that's going to be a reduction of Mike Lawyer on the House side already said that's a non-starter for us. You're also, when it comes to Medicaid expansion, you're looking at the rate in which on reimbursements, you're looking to adjust that. Do you worry about Senate? Have you checked with Senator Josh Hawley, who said, please don't touch Medicaid, who says, refer to the president, he backs me. Maybe you want to clarify where you're going.
Well, what we said, and this is what we are doing, Brian, and I think that as you see, the policies and the numbers around it reflect that. One, we're not cutting Medicare, we're just slowing the rate of growth. It's going to increase year over year for the next ten years. It's just not going to grow at as fast a rate. And what we are doing is doing away with the Biden era waste, fraud and abuse that was embedded into that program.
There are a lot of people today, illegal immigrants, people who aren't eligible for the program, able-bodied male adults who should be working who are benefiting from Medicaid. Medicaid was not intended for that.
So this is getting back to its core mission and making sure that it's serving the population it was designed to serve and reforming and strengthening it in a way that was long overdue from, like I said, many of the failed policies of the Biden administration.
So Rand Paul says, I am not a no yet. He says there's insufficient spending cuts. He's ejected provisions that raise the debt ceiling by five trillion, but he says he's willing to work. Have you seen any indication that Rand Paul is doing is willing to work with you?
Okay. I'm hoping that in the end Rand will come around to see this as a dramatic improvement over the status quo. This is the first time, literally in probably a couple of generations, Brian, certainly in several decades, that we're actually starting to spend the growth of the federal government down and that trajectory of leveling it off instead of having it dramatically increase, which is unsustainable. We've got an unsustainable debt. That's good.
That's one of the things that obviously people like Rand Paul care deeply about. He couple that with, like I said, the pro growth policies on taxes and regulations and energy, the generational investment in border security, modernizing our military. There are so many things in here that I think are priorities for a lot of folks. And hopefully, in the end, we'll be able to keep Our Republican team united. And I'd certainly love to see, I'd love to see Rand come around in the end to where he feels he can support this.
And I think it's consistent with many of the things that he believes in. And I hope that's the view of all of these Republican United States senators. We'd love to have a united team when it comes time to vote. Senator, where are you at with the vote now? We have a week left, right?
Yeah, we're not there yet, Brian. I mean, it's a work in progress. And, you know, some of the text is out. Everybody is reacting to it. We're getting suggestions and input and feedback.
And we're continuing to work to try and get to that sweet spot that enables us to get 51 in the Senate and that will allow us to get to 218 in the House. And we understand on that salt issue that you mentioned earlier, obviously we have to negotiate that out, and we'll find a way of getting that done. But at the end of the day, failure is not an option. We have to succeed. This is the President's agenda.
This is what he ran on. This is what people voted for. And it's incumbent on all of us to try, as much as we may not, get everything we want in this thing to keep rolling in the same direction and get a positive outcome for the country. Senator, in the big picture, I know you can't look past the big, beautiful bill this summer, but if you do want to get the deficit in order and get past the 30 and find a way to pare down the 37 trillion in debt, you've got to go to entitlements. That's a very unpopular thing to do for a politician, not for an economist.
or for somebody who wants to be a pundit. Is there a game plan? To do that as the President's term limited out, to go back at the entitlements in a way that's going to effectively get our country solvent again or on the course to solvency again?
Well, we don't have any choice, Brian. We have to. And it's just like what we're doing with respect to Medicaid. It's waste, fraud and abuse. It's ways in which these programs have been gamed.
And when Democrats are in power, they continue to game them. A lot of the pandemic spending hasn't been unwound. And when Democrats have power, they grow government, they increase spending, they get more people dependent upon government programs. And so now we have to come along and unwinding it, this stuff isn't easy, but we have to do it because the future of the country depends on it. We can't sustain the kind of debt load that we're carrying today and expect the future generation to have any kind of hopes or aspirations or dreams that those who come before us have enjoyed.
So, I mean, we should always look for ways to make government more efficient and effective. And we will be doing that. And if there are ideas that come up, when we can say we get this thing done, we get it behind us and pass it, it'll be a huge first step. But there's a lot more to do. And as long as our focus is getting a leaner, more efficient, more effective federal government that rids these programs of the waste, fraud, and abuse that have been embedded in some of them for some time, that's a win for the American people.
And I think that's what the taxpayers in this country ought to expect. I want you, the other thing I want to talk to you about is what happened last week with Senator Alex Padilla. I didn't even know what the guy looked like either. I guess he was appointed when the vice president became vice president, Kamala Harris. But he went on Capitol Hill, went to Christine Gnome.
Security ends up putting him in cuffs. Here he is. Talking about where he thinks the country's at right now, CUT 29. It's because the American people have always been willing to speak up. and exercise their First Amendment right to protest.
especially when our fundamental rights have been threatened. And it's a proud son. of immigrants from Mexico. It's that same right. that I came to revere when marching through the streets with My family and my friends in 1994.
All right, so he says it's a bigger picture, the way ICE treated him. If they're treating illegal immigrants like that, it's terrible for the country. How do you view what Padilla did and how he was treated?
Well, I mean, first of all, I think a lot of I'm a grandson of an immigrant. I think a lot of us have an immigrant heritage in this country, but we're a nation of laws, and those laws have to be preserved and protected. I mean, first and fundamentally as a country, that's what differentiates us from every other country in the world, is we adhere to the rule of law. And yes, we have constitutional protections to free speech, which everybody has the opportunity to take advantage of in this country. What happened out there obviously was unfortunate.
We're still getting the facts and the details, the information around it. But clearly, I think it was a case of mistaken identity. People didn't realize who he was. And but I think we all have a responsibility, Brian, to do what we can to lower the temperature and the emotion around some of these debates in this country. But we have to recognize that law enforcement and people who are enforcing all our laws, including our immigration laws, have a job to do.
And that's not an easy job. But we have to respect them when they do it. And obviously, I think as a nation, we are a better place when people understand that the rule of law applies to everybody equally. I'm pretty sure you should not get that close to the Secretary and start screaming. I would expect to be restrained too.
And I think obviously there is a I think there were just he did people didn't realize who he was and when they recognized it, who he was, they adjusted. But I think that this was an unfortunate incident, but there's an awful lot of I think too much probably being read into it, too many conclusions being drawn from it that perhaps aren't entirely consistent with the facts. I'm always interested in what the facts are. And right now, the fact of the matter is, we've got a lot of law enforcement officials in this country who are trying to do a job. And especially in the weekend, it's not easy being a lawmaker these days, too.
Senator Majority Leader John Thune. Senator, thanks so much. It's going to be a big battle. Finally, do you predict you're going to get something done before July 4th? I do.
And but then I'm kind of a I'm always an internal optimist, Brian, but I it's and this stuff is hard. There's a little it's there's a lot of work ahead of us, and we're continuing to sit down, listen, work with. But in the end, we got to get fifty one. That's the goal. Go get him.
Senator Jon Thune, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Busy time. Thanks, Brian. Good to be with you.
And our audience really appreciates the time you give us. Back in a moment. You're with Brian Kilmead. This week on the RepAir podcast, my all-star panel weighs in on the top stories at home and abroad with Francesca Chambers, Fox News senior political analyst Juan Williams, and host of the Big Ben Show podcast, Ben Dominich. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com.
