Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: We're joined now by Democratic Senator Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire,
Speaker 2: an important voice as she is ranking member of the
Speaker 2: Senate Foreign Relations Committee and also serves on the Senate
Speaker 2: Appropriations Committee. I should mention the Senator is joining us
Speaker 2: from a rare Earth's processing plan run by Phoenix Tailings
Speaker 2: at Exeter, New Hampshire, and Senator, we're looking forward to
Speaker 2: hearing more about why you're there. I want to ask you, though,
Speaker 2: first about this situation with Iran, as the State Department
Speaker 2: calls on American citizens to leave the country immediately. Is
Speaker 2: this the prelude to war?
Speaker 3: Well, I hope not. I think the talks and Aman
Speaker 3: are a very good sign. I think there is great
Speaker 3: concern about Iran, both their attempt to get a nuclear
Speaker 3: weapon and they're very close to that, as well as
Speaker 3: all of the support that they provide to terrorist groups
Speaker 3: across the Middle East. So negotiations are always better than fighting,
Speaker 3: and I hope that these negotiations will lead to something.
Speaker 2: Well, I do hear you on that, but the President
Speaker 2: of course has kept military options on the table. We
Speaker 2: have a massive armada, as he likes to call it off.
Speaker 2: The coast of Iran prepared to strike. The USS Lincoln
Speaker 2: Carrier strike Group is there, and we've put a number
Speaker 2: of other assets in the region. The President has repeatedly
Speaker 2: said things like help is on the way to protesters.
Speaker 2: He said this week that Iran should be very worried.
Speaker 2: Some have suggested that every time the President has assembled
Speaker 2: this much hardware, he has intended to use it. How
Speaker 2: about this time.
Speaker 3: Well, we don't know. I don't have any insights into
Speaker 3: the presidents thinking about this. But again, that's why these
Speaker 3: talks are so important. If we can reach some agreement
Speaker 3: around around support for terrorist groups in the region, if
Speaker 3: we can reach some support around slowing down their effort
Speaker 3: to get a nuclear weapon, that will be positive not
Speaker 3: just for the region, but for global security. So there's
Speaker 3: a lot writing on these talks. I hope they're going
Speaker 3: to stay at the table and come to an agreement.
Speaker 2: Can I ask what you think about who's at the table?
Speaker 2: These are being framed as indirect talk, Senator, but we
Speaker 2: once again see the President, Special Envoy Steve Whitdcoff and
Speaker 2: his son in law Jared Kushner speaking for the United States.
Speaker 2: So those the two people who should be in the room.
Speaker 3: Well, I hope they've got some backup from the State
Speaker 3: Department as well. But the fact is it's important to
Speaker 3: have somebody who can speak for the president, who's close
Speaker 3: to the president, so that they have some credibility as
Speaker 3: they go into talks. And I think both Steve wood
Speaker 3: Coff and Jared Kushner have that credibility.
Speaker 2: Well, in the spirit of national security, we've been talking
Speaker 2: a lot about critical minerals in rare earths here in Washington.
Speaker 2: This week, the President gathered a number of countries in fact,
Speaker 2: to start work on what is at least beginning as
Speaker 2: a twelve billion dollar critical minerals stockpile. And it's something
Speaker 2: that you've been leaning into as well with your Secure
Speaker 2: Minerals Act. I'd like to ask you what you're looking
Speaker 2: at here. It's a bipartisan piece of legislation as you
Speaker 2: join us, as I mentioned from Phoenix Trailings, a rare
Speaker 2: earth's processing plant with its eyes on American minerals and
Speaker 2: processed here in the United States, what would your legislation
Speaker 2: do to add to what the President's up to.
Speaker 3: Well, Phoenix Tailings is a company here in Exeter, New
Speaker 3: Hampshire where I am. As you can see from my
Speaker 3: backdrop right now, I've had a great opportunity to talk
Speaker 3: to the folks here. They're one of just a handful,
Speaker 3: a very small, less than five companies in the United
Speaker 3: States that are actually doing the processing of rare earth minerals.
Speaker 3: And why that's so important, as you know and so
Speaker 3: many of your viewers understand, is because those are elements
Speaker 3: that are in everything from our appliances to our cars,
Speaker 3: to our missiles and our aircraft. So they are critical
Speaker 3: to everything we do. And right now, ninety percent of
Speaker 3: the processing of those elements is being done in China,
Speaker 3: and so we are subject to whatever China's whims are
Speaker 3: about whether they're going to continue to sell us those
Speaker 3: rare earth elements. And that's why companies like Phoenix Tailings
Speaker 3: are so important, and what our legislation is designed to
Speaker 3: do is to try and support that domestic industry in
Speaker 3: the United States. What Phoenix does is to take mine tailings,
Speaker 3: so what's left over when mining is done, and they
Speaker 3: have a process here to develop those into one of
Speaker 3: this some of the seventeen rare earth minerals that are
Speaker 3: so important in all of those appliance's everything appliances to
Speaker 3: missiles to everything else that we use computers in the
Speaker 3: modern world. So it's really important for us to develop
Speaker 3: that domestic industry, and that's what our legislation does.
Speaker 2: Well, the way you frame that is really important, Senator,
Speaker 2: because as we're constantly reminded in this conversation about finding
Speaker 2: rare Earth's critical minerals for anything from data centers to
Speaker 2: weapons to cars, as you put it, or even our
Speaker 2: cell phones, it's not so much finding the minerals, it's
Speaker 2: processing them. How will your legislation go to enhancing processing
Speaker 2: here in the United States.
Speaker 3: Well, it sets up strategic Resilience Reserve we call it.
Speaker 3: That's sort of based on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and
Speaker 3: very much like what the president's proposing in terms of
Speaker 3: his policies this week as part of this critical Mineral
Speaker 3: summit that he had in Washington, and so I think
Speaker 3: they complemented other But our legislation doesn't just set up
Speaker 3: that reserve that takes allows us to stockpile those critical minerals.
Speaker 3: What it also does is to support a domestic industry
Speaker 3: here so that small businesses can develop the industry that
Speaker 3: they can engage helps them with access to capital markets with.
Speaker 4: Funding.
Speaker 3: We would authorize two and a half billion dollars for
Speaker 3: the proposal, and we're working in a bipartisan way. It
Speaker 3: would create a seven member board that would function sort
Speaker 3: of like the Federal Reserve Board over banking and be
Speaker 3: independent and make recommendations for how we could continue to
Speaker 3: support this industry.
Speaker 2: Spending time with Senator Jean Shaheen of New Hampshire, and
Speaker 2: I have to ask you, Senator, about what's happening on
Speaker 2: Capitol Hill right now. And I know that makers are
Speaker 2: out of town at the moment, but we've got another deadline.
Speaker 2: We're going to be sitting here a week from tonight,
Speaker 2: possibly talking about the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Speaker 2: And I know you're familiar with the list of demands
Speaker 2: that Senator Schumer and Democratic Leader Jeffries have sent to
Speaker 2: Republican leaders. Demasking is a big part of this body cameras,
Speaker 2: as noted already by the Department of Homeland Security, but
Speaker 2: also restrictions on the use of warrants, for instance, and
Speaker 2: some other training ideas that have been rejected out of
Speaker 2: hand by a number of your Republican colleagues in the Senate.
Speaker 2: We've talked to several of them this week's Senator, including
Speaker 2: John Cornyn, Ted Budd and Ted Cruz. Let's listen to
Speaker 2: what they said.
Speaker 1: The reason that I say ages are having to wear
Speaker 1: masks is because the Left is deliberately dosing them. They
Speaker 1: are targeting them if they find out their identities. They
Speaker 1: are sending violent protesters to their homes, They're threatening their families.
Speaker 1: We've got them using body cams for their operations right now.
Speaker 2: I think that's a bypart.
Speaker 1: That's an idea.
Speaker 4: These ICE agents are being targeted by some of the
Speaker 4: anti ICE instigators, and I think in some instances their
Speaker 4: identity should be protected. But this is just to me,
Speaker 4: just a ridiculous request.
Speaker 2: Senator. I don't know how much of this is bluster
Speaker 2: at the outset of a controversial or difficult negotiation, but
Speaker 2: it sounds like Democrats and Republicans are oceans apart on
Speaker 2: these ideas. Does DHS shut down next week?
Speaker 3: Well, that's what the negotiation is about. And with respect
Speaker 3: to masking, obviously there would need to be a waiver
Speaker 3: to address any particular concerns about doxing. But I was
Speaker 3: governor in New Hampshire for three terms. The state Police
Speaker 3: in New Hampshire. Local law enforcement in New Hampshire never
Speaker 3: wore masks when they were going to a crime scene
Speaker 3: or going to arrest people. The fact is the American
Speaker 3: people are not only outraged, but many are afraid about
Speaker 3: the behavior of ICE. When ICE is able to kill
Speaker 3: American citizens with impunity on America streets, there is a problem,
Speaker 3: and what we need is reform that addresses the concerns
Speaker 3: about how ICE is operating. It seems to me that's
Speaker 3: in everybody's interest. It's in the population's interest, it's in
Speaker 3: Republican and democratic interests to try and reach some accommodation.
Speaker 3: I hope that's what these negotiations are going to be
Speaker 3: able to achieve.
Speaker 2: We've seen ICE deployed in the state of Maine, one
Speaker 2: of your neighbors, Senator, do you have any reason to
Speaker 2: believe that they would be deployed in New Hampshire.
Speaker 3: Well, We've had ICE agents here arresting people. I've been
Speaker 3: to facilities where I talk to child care center where
Speaker 3: I hear from those who are working there that they
Speaker 3: have parents who are afraid to come and drop their
Speaker 3: children off because they're worried about ice agents. There are
Speaker 3: people in school rules in New Hampshire who are worried
Speaker 3: about agents. Know that's not making our community safer, that's
Speaker 3: making people afraid. I don't think that's Most New Hampshire
Speaker 3: constituents that I talk to want a secure border. They
Speaker 3: want to send back the criminals who are here illegally.
Speaker 3: But what they don't want is people coming into their communities,
Speaker 3: disrupting their schools, disrupting their hospitals, disrupting their childcare centers.
Speaker 3: So we need to pass some reforms. We ought to
Speaker 3: be able to sit down like adults responsibly and get
Speaker 3: something done and stop the name calling.
Speaker 2: Joining us live from Exeter, New Hampshire, Democratic Senator Jean Shaheen,
Speaker 2: it's great to have you back, Senator. Good luck to
Speaker 2: your patriots this weekend.