Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Joining us now live from Capitol Hill is Republican Senator
Speaker 2: Roger Marshall of Kansas. As promised, he serves on the
Speaker 2: Senate Budget, Finance, and Agriculture committees. And Senator, it's great
Speaker 2: to have you back with us here on Bloomberg TV
Speaker 2: and radio.
Speaker 1: I'd like to.
Speaker 2: Start with the matter of Iran, and there are a
Speaker 2: few issues that we'd love to spend some time with
Speaker 2: you on here. The Washington Post, as you may have heard,
Speaker 2: is reporting that it could take six months to fully
Speaker 2: clear the Strait of horror moves. This based on a
Speaker 2: Pentagon briefing to Congress, knowing now that Iran is reportedly
Speaker 2: mining or has mined the Strait. Well, we've got gasoline
Speaker 2: at four dollars a gallon diesel with a five handle.
Speaker 2: How long can farmers in your state put up with?
Speaker 2: This is six months too much?
Speaker 3: Well, look, President Trump's going to announce this week some
Speaker 3: help with the fertilizer issue as well. And still today
Speaker 3: diesel prices gasoline prices less than they were significant amount
Speaker 3: of time under Joe Biden. But I am concerned. I
Speaker 3: want the gas prices to come down. I know there's
Speaker 3: a group of people out there that are hurting, and
Speaker 3: we're working on the cost of housing, of healthcare, of childcare,
Speaker 3: all those types of things. But look, this is hurting
Speaker 3: Iran much more than it's hurting us. I mean, we're
Speaker 3: basically embargoing their entire country that they can't even feed
Speaker 3: themselves right now. So if they have no income, no food,
Speaker 3: hopefully this war will come to a much.
Speaker 1: Of an end.
Speaker 3: Remember this, so if Iran had nukes, if they had
Speaker 3: nuclear weapons, then the gasoline would be ten dollars a gallon,
Speaker 3: and that straight would be would be blocked off for
Speaker 3: years as well.
Speaker 1: And not to mention just.
Speaker 3: The safety of Americans going forward for generations to come.
Speaker 3: Think about, you know, if North Korea had nukes along
Speaker 3: with the income of Iran, what they would look like.
Speaker 1: So, look, we need to stay the course here.
Speaker 4: Well, when we consider staying the course, Senator and you
Speaker 4: mentioned the nuclear threat from Iran as well as obviously
Speaker 4: the straight of for moves, what is your degree of
Speaker 4: confidence that a diplomatic resolution to this conflict is going
Speaker 4: to yield a guarantee that Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon,
Speaker 4: a guarantee that they will never again reclose the Straightupore
Speaker 4: News when Iran, at every opportunity frankly is countering President
Speaker 4: Trump's suggestions that they will.
Speaker 3: Well, look, what we know for sure is in the
Speaker 3: previous Obama agreement that Iran would as sure have had
Speaker 3: would for sure have had nukes by twenty thirty, maybe
Speaker 3: even sooner. I think it's a year to year thing,
Speaker 3: and sometimes it's whack a mole, But I think by
Speaker 3: us controlling the airway, by us destroying their missiles, bus
Speaker 3: destroying their navy, we can go in there and if
Speaker 3: we have to come back, we will. There's no guarantees,
Speaker 3: and this is why it's so hard to predict and
Speaker 3: negotiate with an irrational, emotional theocracy. They're just impossible to
Speaker 3: deal with. Seeing you're getting mixed messages out of Iran
Speaker 3: right now because they are having a challenge. They don't
Speaker 3: know who's controlling Iran right now. But we have the
Speaker 3: upper hand, and I think that's what's important to remember.
Speaker 3: We have our foot on their neck right now, and
Speaker 3: we need to keep it right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is there.
Speaker 2: Navy destroyed those Senator. We keep hearing about the threat
Speaker 2: from gunboats. They're laying mines. Obviously, there still seems to
Speaker 2: be a threat in the Strait that we have not eliminated.
Speaker 2: Why does the President keep saying that, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think that's a good point, that there are some
Speaker 3: small gunboats out there. I think it's fair to say
Speaker 3: we destroyed ninety percent of their navy, maybe more like
Speaker 3: ninety five percent. This last five percent maybe more difficult,
Speaker 3: but we need it. We're going to address that. But
Speaker 3: remember we've embargoed them that we've we put up this
Speaker 3: blockade to blockade them from getting any money as well.
Speaker 3: So I think we're winning this, you know, I just
Speaker 3: this analogy I've been.
Speaker 1: Thinking about all day.
Speaker 3: If today's national media we're covering the Gettysburg, the Ward
Speaker 3: Gettysburg after day one, we would acquit that, you know,
Speaker 3: is the is the price worth it or not? Sometimes
Speaker 3: freedom is not free, and it is time for American
Speaker 3: patriots to stand up. For forty seven years, Iran has
Speaker 3: been killing Americans and threatening us, acting the bully part.
Speaker 3: Right now, we have our food on their neck. It's
Speaker 3: time to finish the job. For the sake of future generations.
Speaker 3: We cannot have an Iran with nuclear weapons.
Speaker 4: Do you have an estimated price tag as to what
Speaker 4: exactly finishing the job will cost. Senators. Obviously, there is
Speaker 4: still not a supplemental budget request that has been made
Speaker 4: to your colleagues on top of the one and a
Speaker 4: half trillion dollar defense budget that the President has already
Speaker 4: asked for. How high is this tally going to go
Speaker 4: for American taxpayers?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't have a number for that, But what
Speaker 3: I do know is if Iran to get nukup, if
Speaker 3: we allow an Iran to get nuclear weapons, though, ghastly
Speaker 3: is going to go up to ten.
Speaker 1: Dollars a gallon.
Speaker 3: I think it's all. It's all a guesstimate. Is this
Speaker 3: war going to last a day? Is going to last
Speaker 3: a week? You'll all make it seem so simplistic. Again,
Speaker 3: look who we're dealing with right now. These folks, they
Speaker 3: have no respect for life at all. They treat children
Speaker 3: and women like animals.
Speaker 1: It's very difficult to tell.
Speaker 3: I'm sure it's going to be fifty billion dollars, one
Speaker 3: hundred billion dollars. It's a lot of money, But I
Speaker 3: still think at the end of the day, keeping I
Speaker 3: Ran from having nuclear weapons is our top priority here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're actually interested in the complexities of this whole standoff.
Speaker 2: To be honest with you, Senator, it was the President
Speaker 2: who said two to three days, then four to six weeks,
Speaker 2: and now it appears to be indefinite. I know that
Speaker 2: you're still waiting for a supplemental budget request on that,
Speaker 2: and we'd love to speak with you when we get there,
Speaker 2: but I'd like to ask you about some other matters
Speaker 2: as well, because it appears that potentially even by the
Speaker 2: end of this day, if not tomorrow, the Administration is
Speaker 2: going to reclassify our reschedule cannabis. Now, of course we'd
Speaker 2: only call you senator, we call you doctor Marshall. And
Speaker 2: I know that that's something that you have great issues with.
Speaker 2: Have you tried to counsel the President against making this move?
Speaker 1: Not personally, and I'm not sure.
Speaker 3: I've sent some messages to the White House and had
Speaker 3: some discussions with folks there, but I'll be disappointed and
Speaker 3: concerned about it as well. I think cannabis is a
Speaker 3: gateway drug. It does lead to mental health issues as well.
Speaker 3: It leads to just lots of challenges for folks. It
Speaker 3: decreases their purpose in light. They seem to lose any
Speaker 3: type of drive as well. So I'm very concerned about it,
Speaker 3: and it'll be disappointed.
Speaker 1: Speaking of.
Speaker 4: Things of your concern right now, especially this evening Senator,
Speaker 4: when it comes to the budget reconciliation effort moving forward. Obviously,
Speaker 4: there has been some concern from your colleagues, the likes of,
Speaker 4: for example, John Kennedy, about this potentially being kind of
Speaker 4: the last train to leave the station before the midterms
Speaker 4: and Republicans needing to seize on other opportunity besides just
Speaker 4: funding ICE and CBP. When all is said and done,
Speaker 4: is this going to be the narrow skinny bill that
Speaker 4: the Majority leader initially promised, not just when it leaves
Speaker 4: the Senate, but once the House is through with this.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm afraid it has to be that way.
Speaker 3: Look, I've been calling since we passed our Working Family
Speaker 3: tax cuts bill, which by the way, is leading to
Speaker 3: a record of in Americans getting a nice large tax
Speaker 3: refund this year. But I've been calling for this bigger
Speaker 3: bill since then. But right now, time is of the
Speaker 3: essence that we're going to run out of money to
Speaker 3: fund DHS and we've got to get this passed sooner
Speaker 3: than later. And I'm going to be out there pushing
Speaker 3: and fighting for a bigger reconciliation bill. Whether we can
Speaker 3: get that done before the November election, time will tell,
Speaker 3: But I think there's a lot we can do to
Speaker 3: work on to bring down the cost of health care,
Speaker 3: the cost of childcare, housing, There are lots of things
Speaker 3: that I do want to work on in the same token.
Speaker 3: We have bipartisan opportunities our transparency, our price tax bill
Speaker 3: forcing every health care provider to show you the price
Speaker 3: of something before you have health care done, we'll bring
Speaker 3: down the price of healthcare more than anything setting out
Speaker 3: there that should be done on a bipartisan basis. So
Speaker 3: I think there's bipart as an opportunity. But if that,
Speaker 3: if the Democrats refuse to do anything on a bipartisan basis,
Speaker 3: then let's do this third reconciliation bill as well well.
Speaker 2: With reconciliation at hand here, Senator, do you expect a
Speaker 2: vote rama tomorrow night? What can you tell us about
Speaker 2: the process of just about out a time?
Speaker 1: But it's tomorrow and all nighter. Yeah, yeah, maybe even tonight.
Speaker 3: I hear that folks are interested in starting it tonight.
Speaker 3: So whatever whatever it takes to get this reconciliation budget
Speaker 3: across the finish line. The sooner we can start paying
Speaker 3: everybody at DHS and then move on to other matters
Speaker 3: like fixing the bringing down the cost of healthcare, the
Speaker 3: cost of housing, and in the cost of childcare. So what,
Speaker 3: maybe tonight we'll get some coffee brewing here soon