Speaker 1: Going back to breaking with Brett Jensen here on this
Speaker 1: Wednesday night. Okay, so I've interviewed many congressmen over the
Speaker 1: last few years here, quite a few Congressmen and a
Speaker 1: couple Senators as well. One that I have not interviewed
Speaker 1: is Chuck Edwards, the congressman out of western North Carolina
Speaker 1: and District eleven, which is basically all of the mountains.
Speaker 1: So for the very first time, he's joining us right now. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, Congressman, thank you for joining us tonight.
Speaker 1: And second of all, I saw the other day that
Speaker 1: Speaker Mike Johnson said that he wants to have a
Speaker 1: very vigorous active you know, late summer, early fall, going
Speaker 1: into November and December, and so I'm just curious from
Speaker 1: that standpoint what kind of bills are voting or what
Speaker 1: to anticipate he meant by vigorous and what do you
Speaker 1: expect going on between now and the end.
Speaker 2: Of the year. Well, I wouldn't say it's only Speaker
Speaker 2: Johnson that wants an aggressive wrap up to the one
Speaker 2: hundred and nineteenth Congress. I recognized that we still much
Speaker 2: work to do for the people of North North Carolina,
Speaker 2: and the number one thing that we're working on right
Speaker 2: now is funding the next fiscal year. Our fiscal year
Speaker 2: ends on September thirtieth, and we've got to put a
Speaker 2: twenty twenty seven spending plan together.
Speaker 1: Speaking of a Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents all of
Speaker 1: western North Carolina, like all the mountains and right there
Speaker 1: in District eleven. So you just mentioned, you know everything
Speaker 1: talking about finances going forward, how do you think that
Speaker 1: will go? Because North cal Indians are very all too
Speaker 1: well informed about how budgets go between. You know, it
Speaker 1: took a year and a half to get the one
Speaker 1: just now passed in Raleigh, and we've heard about government
Speaker 1: shutdowns in the past. So how do you think this
Speaker 1: one will start going?
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's going to go much better than
Speaker 2: we've seen for the last several decades. An example is
Speaker 2: just how we finished up twenty twenty six the Appropriation Committee,
Speaker 2: which I sit on As a matter of fact, I'm
Speaker 2: the only appropriator from North Carolina in the House of Representatives.
Speaker 2: We passed all twelve spending bills. These were pre conferenced
Speaker 2: with the Senate, and we had a bipartisan effort to
Speaker 2: fund our government right up to the last minute when
Speaker 2: a number of Democrats, because of their resistance of funding ICE,
Speaker 2: pulled their support for the Department of Homeland Security. But
Speaker 2: we got twelve in excuse me, eleven individual spending bills
Speaker 2: passed outside of the CR process, which was absolutely unheard
Speaker 2: of for the past several years, and we're all to
Speaker 2: the same type of start this year. We've passed all
Speaker 2: twelve spending bills out of Appropriations Committee thus far.
Speaker 1: Congressman, almost your entire area was devis Hurricane Helen. Can
Speaker 1: you give the people you know east of you an
Speaker 1: update and how things are going up there? Are the mountains?
Speaker 1: Are they pretty much rebuilt? Seventy five eighty ninety fifty percent?
Speaker 1: Can you give us an update on how things are
Speaker 1: going up there from Hurricane Helen?
Speaker 2: Hi, I appreciate that question. You're right. I represent the
Speaker 2: sixteen western most counties in western North Carolina, every one
Speaker 2: of which was declared a natural disaster area after Hurricane Heleen.
Speaker 2: We saw unprecedented damage, and I'm really proud of the
Speaker 2: work that so many churches and volunteers and neighbors have
Speaker 2: done to help initially make sure that folks were taken
Speaker 2: care of. They had the resources and the shelter that
Speaker 2: they needed. We've come on strong in terms of rebuilding.
Speaker 2: About ninety eight percent of all of our roads are
Speaker 2: now reopened. The Blue Ridge Parkway be fully restored by
Speaker 2: the end of this year. All the water systems are
Speaker 2: now operational. We've repaired or replaced about one hundred and
Speaker 2: six thousand homes in North Carolina. About ten thousand, four
Speaker 2: hundred private roads and bridges have been restored. We don't
Speaker 2: have a good count on the number of businesses that
Speaker 2: are reopened, but many have. We've brought about thirteen billion
Speaker 2: dollars in disaster relief funding to Western North Carolina for
Speaker 2: the rebuild. Yeah, we've got We've still got work to do.
Speaker 2: It may take a few years before we look totally
Speaker 2: normal again, but I'm proud of the way that the
Speaker 2: people of western North Carolina have come together to get things.
Speaker 2: The federal government, there's no question, has been a bit
Speaker 2: slow in its response, and I have worked with three
Speaker 2: different femas since Hurricane Heleen. I worked with the FEMA
Speaker 2: under the Biden administration. I worked with a FEMA under
Speaker 2: Christy Noman. Now I'm working with a FEMA under Secretary
Speaker 2: Mark Wayne Mullen, each of which takes on a whole
Speaker 2: different set of personalities.
Speaker 1: Speak with North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents the
Speaker 1: District eleven, which is the Mountains of North Carolina. So, Congressman,
Speaker 1: one of the big things about a month and a
Speaker 1: half ago at the NCGOP convention was Republican motivation, getting
Speaker 1: them really motivated to show up in November to actually
Speaker 1: vote into counteract the motivation by the Democrats. Do you
Speaker 1: see that being an issue?
Speaker 2: Well, my focus actually serving as the representative of western
Speaker 2: North Carolina is continuing to serve the people of west
Speaker 2: in North Carolina and doing the job that I was
Speaker 2: hired to do. I've not taken a lot of time
Speaker 2: to campaign, but the reality is Republicans are fired up
Speaker 2: and we will must certainly make it to the polls
Speaker 2: in October and November. I think we're going to see
Speaker 2: record early voting turnout by Republicans this session or this election.
Speaker 2: Republicans are fired up. We'll must certainly make it to
Speaker 2: the polls because we understand what's on the line.
Speaker 1: So Congressman, I'll end it like this, and like I do,
Speaker 1: just about every single interview is there anything that you'd
Speaker 1: like to say that I didn't ask you about, or
Speaker 1: anything that you'd like to say to the constituents in
Speaker 1: your district or just to the people in North Carolina
Speaker 1: who are listening.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate that opportunity. First of all, I think
Speaker 2: folks would be interested in a couple of bills that
Speaker 2: we're going to see work on this week. In fact,
Speaker 2: last night, the House passed the Sunshine Act, which would
Speaker 2: eliminate the well it would keep permanent daylight savings time.
Speaker 2: While that seems like such a small issue, it's an
Speaker 2: annoyance for Americans to have to change their clocks twice
Speaker 2: a year, and I hear constituents over and over again
Speaker 2: telling me that they wish that we could pick one time. Well,
Speaker 2: we're going to give the states an option to do
Speaker 2: that through the bill that we passed last night. Also,
Speaker 2: I know there's a lot of interest about eighty five
Speaker 2: percent of Americans would like to see provisions of the
Speaker 2: Save America Act passed. Eighty five percent of Americans think
Speaker 2: only US citizens should be voting in federal elections, and
Speaker 2: the Save America Act provides for that. In addition to
Speaker 2: most Americans feel that there should be voter ID in place,
Speaker 2: and so the House is going to be working on
Speaker 2: another result this week. In fact, tomorrow, the Budget Committee
Speaker 2: begins to mark up a reconciliation package that I believe
Speaker 2: the Senate can get on board with and pass with
Speaker 2: a simple majority. That's two pieces of legislation I think
Speaker 2: folks in North Carolina would be interested in past that.
Speaker 2: I'd just like to say to folks out there that
Speaker 2: I always appreciate the opportunity when folks reach out to
Speaker 2: me to talk about what's on their mind. We have
Speaker 2: the Carolina Cruiser in every county every month, so follow
Speaker 2: my website and social media for the calendar there. We
Speaker 2: always look forward to folks climbing aboard the Carolina Cruiser
Speaker 2: and talking about what's important to them. And if anybody
Speaker 2: out there is still having problems with disaster recovery, I
Speaker 2: set up a special phone line. It's two two three
Speaker 2: fixed FEMA, and they'll be connected directly with one of
Speaker 2: my staff experts on helping folks navigate the bureaucracy of
Speaker 2: hurricane recovery. That's two two three fixed FEMA.
Speaker 1: Well, Congressman Chuck Edwards, I really do appreciate you taking
Speaker 1: the time for our very first interview with one another,
Speaker 1: and I look forward to doing this in the very
Speaker 1: near future. So again, thanks a lot for joining us tonight, all.
Speaker 2: Right, Thanks a lot, I've enjoyed visiting with you.
Speaker 1: All right. Once again, thanks to Congressman Chuck Edwards for
Speaker 1: joining us tonight for the very first time. Here, I'm
Speaker 1: breaking with Brett Jensen. Look forward to doing that more
Speaker 1: times in the future.