Speaker 1: We are on day three of the DNC. Minnesota Governor
Speaker 1: Tim wallas Well headline tonight's convention. He is expected to
Speaker 1: officially accept the vice presidential nomination. Joining us now from Chicago.
Speaker 1: Is I think is fair to say a good friend
Speaker 1: of his Tom Bilsek. Tom is speaking to Bloomberg open
Speaker 1: interest into personal capacity as the former governor of Iowa
Speaker 1: rather than his current role as Secretary of Agriculture. But
Speaker 1: I want to ask you first and foremost, mister Secretary,
Speaker 1: about these labor numbers. We got a drop in job
Speaker 1: creation of eight hundred and eighteen thousand in the year
Speaker 1: through March, and I wonder what would happen if we
Speaker 1: got even a lower job number coming forward. We hear
Speaker 1: the Republicans talk about a cut in immigration. They're also
Speaker 1: talking about more spending, lower taxes, and increased tariffs. Isn't
Speaker 1: that all inflationary?
Speaker 2: Well, certainly, when you shrink the supply of anything, it
Speaker 2: obviously has an impact on the price or the value
Speaker 2: of that thing, whether it's labor or whether it's goods
Speaker 2: and services. So I would anticipate and expect that folks
Speaker 2: would end up paying more for whatever it is the
Speaker 2: supply being shrunk. So if it's a labor supply, if
Speaker 2: it's goods, you're going to see higher prices. I think
Speaker 2: it's been suggested that the tariffs that President Trump form
Speaker 2: of President Trump is suggesting would increase the cost to
Speaker 2: the average American family of about thirty eight hundred dollars
Speaker 2: a year. So that's an indication of the impact and
Speaker 2: significance of some of the policies are being discussed in
Speaker 2: this presidential election.
Speaker 1: Well, they also want to I mean, if you saw
Speaker 1: the Republican National Convention, everybody holding up these signs mass
Speaker 1: deportations they want to get rid of. I think Trump
Speaker 1: has said fifteen million people from this country who may
Speaker 1: not have papers right, they may be illegal immigrants, but
Speaker 1: a lot of them are working in jobs. And what
Speaker 1: happens to the labor force if you take that many
Speaker 1: people out of the picture.
Speaker 2: Well, I think a better idea would have been for
Speaker 2: President Trump to lift his advice and command to the
Speaker 2: Republican Senate and House not to pass the toughest immigration
Speaker 2: reform bill that had been proposed, that was prepared for
Speaker 2: passage based on a bipartisan vote. That was the solution,
Speaker 2: that was the opportunity for us to solve this problem,
Speaker 2: and it's unfortunate that politics interfered and that President Trump
Speaker 2: believed it was more important to help his campaign than
Speaker 2: the country. So I think that's where you start. You
Speaker 2: don't start with mass deportations. You start with fixing the system,
Speaker 2: and you fix the system based on what I think
Speaker 2: was a very solid plan that was negotiating good faith
Speaker 2: between Republicans and Democrats.
Speaker 3: Let's keep talking politics, and let's talk specifically about the election,
Speaker 3: and of course the DNC and Kamala Harris picking Tim Walls,
Speaker 3: of course the governor of Minnesota as her running mate.
Speaker 3: Do you think that that will be enough to make
Speaker 3: states such as Iowa actually competitive for Democrats? And if so,
Speaker 3: I mean, what will it actually take.
Speaker 2: Well, I would say that Governor Walls is someone that
Speaker 2: you could put into any room in any community in
Speaker 2: any part of the country. He would be able to
Speaker 2: relate to the people in that room, which means that
Speaker 2: he can be a very powerful spokesperson for rural America,
Speaker 2: for the small towns and rural places in the country
Speaker 2: that oftentimes don't get the level of attention that they deserve.
Speaker 2: He understands that. I think that's why he's been successful.
Speaker 2: He won a very conservative district in Congress in the
Speaker 2: state of Minnesota. He obviously was elected and re elected governor,
Speaker 2: so he knows how to basically convey messages and policies
Speaker 2: in a way that people understand and appreciate and respect.
Speaker 2: I think he's going to have an impact and effect
Speaker 2: on the opportunity to attract Democratic votes in rural communities,
Speaker 2: in small towns across the number of key states, obviously Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 2: the key states in this race Arizona, Nevada. This is
Speaker 2: a guy who can talk, who can talk a rule,
Speaker 2: and I think that really matters. And I think it's
Speaker 2: a reflection of the decision and the difference in decision
Speaker 2: making between Vice President Harris's choice and President Trump's choice. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Senator Advance can speak to a specific, very well defined constituency,
Speaker 2: doesn't have as much of the broad appeal in my
Speaker 2: view as Governor Walls.
Speaker 4: Tom. I'm curious about your view here on Iowa. It
Speaker 4: has been a battleground, it has been leaning red, and
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, is Iowa gone for
Speaker 4: the Democrats? What would it take for the Democrats the
Speaker 4: Harris Wolls tickets to win it back.
Speaker 2: Well, I was the first Democratic governor elected in thirty
Speaker 2: years in Iowa in nineteen ninety eight, so we've been
Speaker 2: down this path before and what it takes is winning.
Speaker 2: And I think Iowa actually in this cycle has a
Speaker 2: tremendous opportunity. There are a number of congressional districts that
Speaker 2: are very competitive in Iowa this year, and I think
Speaker 2: it's reflected in the amount of resource and investment that
Speaker 2: the House of Representatives on both the Republican and Democratic
Speaker 2: side are putting into Iowa and into Iowa candidates. So
Speaker 2: I think success this year, and I think the Harris
Speaker 2: Walls team basically has given us a jol of energy
Speaker 2: and enthusiasm that's going to allow us, I think, to
Speaker 2: deliver the vote for these congressional candidates. With a couple
Speaker 2: of wins, then the whole dynamic changes, and then of
Speaker 2: course we've got a key governor's race coming up in
Speaker 2: a couple of years. So I think the table set
Speaker 2: and I think these congressional races are critically important.
Speaker 1: I think we saw farmers that income fall some of
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five percent last year. Obviously, crop prices
Speaker 1: have been a real problem. Don't farmers need to make
Speaker 1: more money? Is there a way that the Harris Walls
Speaker 1: ticket can help that happen?
Speaker 2: Well, I got to be careful about this because I
Speaker 2: can't because of the Hatch Act, I can't really talk
Speaker 2: about what I'm doing, or what we're doing, or what
Speaker 2: could be done in the Department of Agriculture. Let me
Speaker 2: just simply say this, the three years of the first
Speaker 2: three years of the Biden Heris administration twenty one, twenty two,
Speaker 2: and twenty three cumulatively best farm income in the last
Speaker 2: fifty years, and arguably ever. In fact, twenty twenty two
Speaker 2: is a record year. And the reality is it's similar
Speaker 2: to Aaron Judge if he hit sixty two homers one
Speaker 2: year and his forty homers the next year, is he
Speaker 2: had a bad year? Not really, He's had a pretty
Speaker 2: good year. He just had a record year of the
Speaker 2: year before. And I think the key here is for
Speaker 2: us to continue to look for ways in which we
Speaker 2: can generate, whether it's farming or whether it's any business
Speaker 2: for that matter, additional revenue streams, diversifying and diversification of
Speaker 2: revenue streams so that you're not overly dependent on one
Speaker 2: aspect of your business to be able to prosper. And
Speaker 2: I think there are opportunities that have been created by
Speaker 2: the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation
Speaker 2: Reduction Act investments by the way, which will carry on
Speaker 2: for years to come, to be able to help build
Speaker 2: out opportunity both in agriculture and in other industries that
Speaker 2: impact rural folks in particular.
Speaker 3: Well, when it comes to these rural districts and rural
Speaker 3: voters in particular, how important do you think that boosting farmers'
Speaker 3: incomes will be? Whether or not, of course it has
Speaker 3: to do with the current administration's policies. Voters tend to
Speaker 3: look at how they're feeling right now under the current
Speaker 3: administration and that informs their next vote. So do you
Speaker 3: see boosting farmers' incomes as key to maybe putting some
Speaker 3: of these rural districts back in play for the Democratic
Speaker 3: partner party?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, the old saying is if farmers do well,
Speaker 2: the entire community does well. And I would say that's
Speaker 2: very very true in many, many rural areas across the country.
Speaker 2: So obviously it is important. But what we're I think
Speaker 2: the important goal here is to make sure that the
Speaker 2: rural economy is robust enough that it has a substantial
Speaker 2: number of new opportunities. The administration, this administration, the Biden
Speaker 2: Harris administration, has invested a great deal in clean energy,
Speaker 2: just to give you an example, and the clean economy.
Speaker 2: This opens up a whole new set of opportunities in
Speaker 2: rural places that can impact and affect farm income, but
Speaker 2: also can help create jobs, manufacturing jobs, processing jobs. The
Speaker 2: whole idea of creating more competition and more opportunity within
Speaker 2: agriculture and other industries critically important because it creates new opportunities.
Speaker 2: It creates new construction jobs, it creates new jobs in
Speaker 2: those manufacturing and processing facilities, all of which relate to
Speaker 2: a more vibrant rural economy, which obviously impacts and affects
Speaker 2: people's attitudes and sentiments. So people are beginning to see
Speaker 2: infrastructure being improved. You know, President Trump talked a lot
Speaker 2: about infrastructure when he was president. He never got it done.
Speaker 2: The Biden Harris administration is getting it done. And we're
Speaker 2: going to continue to see roads and bridges and rail
Speaker 2: systems and ports and a lock and dam systems, all
Speaker 2: of which impact it affected a positive way business opportunity
Speaker 2: in rural communities.
Speaker 3: Well, we have to leave it there, but we really
Speaker 3: appreciate you taking time out this morning to speak with us. That,
Speaker 3: of course, is US Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Governor
Speaker 3: Tom Vilsack.