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Listen to what we have heard from the President over the course of the last two weeks about the prospects for this agreement.
All I can tell you is that begging to make a deal, if there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plans. We have to have a deal that's acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil.
So for more we turn to Republican Congressman Nicole Malia Takis of New York, who is in our New York headquarters right now joining us on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Congresswoman, is wonderful to have you back on balance of power.
I think clearly there is a sense in the White House here in Washington that the hope is that diplomacy prevails, but the President maintains that there is the military threat still there that he is willing to use if necessary if no deal can be reached, and the absence of a diplomatic break through this weekend, would you be supportive of the President resuming military operations and specifically going as far in those as he is indicated He is willing to.
Well, look, we don't know the specifics of what he means by military action. What we do know is that he has three leverage points. Right. He has the economic, which we've implemented multiple sanctions sanctioning those who are providing support and equipment and missiles too Iran. We also have the diplomatic which is going to be taking place this weekend.
And then you have the military, which we've seen the decimation of so much of Iran's capabilities, whether it be manufacturing capabilities of drones and missiles, or whether it be the overall components of its military, naval, and air. So look, I think that we need to really just wait and see what happens this weekend, but I have faith that
we'll be able to get a good outcome. Obviously, the Strait is the most important thing right now for us economically, making sure there is that free flow of oil, making sure that these gas prices come down. That is critical for so many of our world partners as well. But we need to make sure that Iran is removed as
a threat. And we've already made a tremendous amount of progress in a short time frame, and we'll see now that they are weakened, if we will be able to make some more progress in these negotiations, because they are in a much weaker position today than they were just five weeks ago. And President did give them, Remember at the beginning of all this gave them an opportunity to negotiate, they wouldn't negotiate. Maybe now they're rethinking that.
Well, to your point, Congresswoman, about the importance of the straight off meus economically, you said specifically it is important economically for the United States, which is something that the President has disputed. His argument is that actually, when it comes to the energy flowing out of the Middle East, that is much more a concern for other countries European
Asian ones, not so for the United States. Is that a sentiment that your constituents would agree with, especially as they're looking at prices of the pump as you alluded.
To, Well, he's right in this sense that the oil that is going through that strait really goes to many of our partners in Asia, but it does affect the overall world market. So I think that it is kind of both a little bit of both. The reality though here on the ground here in my community as well as parts of the country gas prices have increased. We need to get those those prices back down. We were under three dollars a gallon, about two eighty nine was
the national average. And I think this is a temporary spike, and it is an important long term investment that is being made for the security of our country, for the Middle East and the world. The reality is we need to make sure Iran is weakened here and that there is regime change. That is important, I think because they
continue to try to kill Americans. They've attacked our military bases over the last decades, They've killed Americans, They've killed their own people, tens of thousands of their own people, And we need to make sure that there is a change there because they are the most destabilizing factor in that Middle East, which affects the entire globe. And so I think the objective here is to come out of this with some type of agreement to open up that straight.
If he can get them to turn over any enriched uranium, that's also critical. We need them to stop funding these proxies hamas Hesbela Huthi's as well, and that should be really the main objectives of this and I think again, they're in a much weaker position today than they were five weeks ago. So hopefully the United States and these negotiations can extract those concessions well.
And what roles should Congress play, if any? And ultimately the finalization of an agreement. As we know, the President didn't ask you in your colleagues first before launching these operations. You didn't have a direct say. But should there be a say in how this ends? Senator Lindsay Graham, of course, who has been an advocate for this war, says any agreement should have a vote in the Senate, that they should get to take a look at it. I wonder if you agree with that notion.
I don't know that we need to have a vote on a particular agreement. The President did abide by federal law. He gave the FED, He gave the federal government or his partners in the federal government Congress, the forty eight hours notice that was necessary. The President does have under the War Powers Resolution of nineteen seventy three, sixty days, and so I think after that sixty day period, he
certainly should come back to Congress. We should be briefed and updated on what is going on, and we should talk about the next steps together. But I think that we have faith in the president's negotiating ability here. We've seen what he's been able to do with other conflicts around the world, helping mediate conflicts around the world, and he is known as the deal maker. So let's see what comes out of this weekend before we discuss next steps.
Well, I'd also like to talk about the next steps for lawmakers, for you and your colleagues in the House, as you get set to return from recess next week. Pretty quickly, it seems you're going to have to take action on a reconciliation bill to fund at least parts of the Department of Homeland Security. The President wants it
on his desk by June first. What is your expectation as to how quickly this will get done, and if it is going to be narrowly targeted to just those specific components of the Department of Homeland Security or if other members may want to be adding things to this package.
I think it's important that we fund the entire Department of Homeland Security that does include ice and border protection.
Just over the last few weeks, we saw multiple American citizens and multiple states killed by people in the country illegally, and it is unfortunate that with the changes that have already been made to ice some of the de escalation that we've seen in cities, as well as the removal of Christinome from the agency, that Democrats will not work with us in a bipartisan manner to fund those critical agencies that do important jobs, know who was coming in
and out of our country and removing those who should not be here. We just saw any three year old man here in New York City killed being thrown on the subway tracks by somebody who should not have been here and had multiple prior arrests. There was a lack of cooperation between these municipalities and our federal government to have that person removed prior to this eighty three year
old veteran being killed. Completely preventable. We've seen that taking place again over the last few weeks of multiple states. So I think that we're going to go in there and fund this agency, and we're gonna have to do it with only Republican votes through reconciliation. Then we will work together to get that done. We were hopeful that the Democrats would work with us on a bipartisan matter, but clearly that has not happened, and the reality is
this agency needs to be funded. Is a twenty fifth anniversary of nine to eleven, you have the FIFA World Cup coming, you have all these America two fifty events happening. This can no longer be delayed. The agency needs to be fully funded, from Coast Guard to TSA, to ICE, to CBP, to counter terrorism to cybersecurity.
Well, and to be clear, Congress women, to get all of the parts of the agency fully funded. Are you supportive of the plan to pass the Senate pass DHS funding bill x IC and CBP and then handling those portions with reconciliation? That two track plan is that one that works for you.
That may be the only way we can get it done. But a lot of members, including myself, would like to see ICE and CBP funded first. Now, if the White House can reassure us that they have the necessary funding to fund those organs, because we remember we did this in the first reconciliation. We did put additional money in there so ICE can continue its operations and enhance those operations. If they have the resources, perhaps we'll be able to
do the other parts first. But I think a lot of members would feel a lot better knowing that we're funding ICE and CBP first or at the same time as the rest of the department.
Well, and of course, this is a reconciliation two point zero that we're talking about here. But congresswomen, I'm sure you're well aware that there's a lot of buzz about a third reconciliation package. In fact, to your chair on the House Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith, has suggested, if there's going to be one, there's going to be some tax measures included. What would you like to see
included in a third reconciliation package? Do you think achieving that as a realistic legislative outcome in a midtern election year.
Look, I think that well, first of all, what I think we really do need to do is address some of the expiring provisions. We have a film tax credit, there's a NASCAR tax credit. Things that are important for our local economies that have expired that need to be addressed, and that could be done in a bipartisan way. Doesn't necessarily need reconciliation, But no doubt that Ways and Means will play a big role if there is a third Reconciliation Bill. Look, we delivered a significant tax cut for
middle class families. We are seeing the benefits of that take place right now in my district. The salt deduction is helping New Yorkers. The Senior deduction are helping eighty eight percent of seniors across the country refunded to them what they paid in taxes on their Social Security Tipped workers are seeing an average increase of about thirteen hundred dollars in savings, so or over many overtime workers. So we delivered a significant product that was yes, tailored to
the middle class. But let's not forget the significance of what President Trump did going back to twenty sixteen. If you look at twenty seventeen, when he came in and passed that initial bill, you have seen tax revenue despite the tax cuts, tax revenue increase as well as our GDP significantly from eighteen trillion to about thirty one trillion dollars.
All Right, we have to leave it there. Thank you as always for joining US Republican Congress. From Nicole Molly Takas of New York on Bloomberg TV and Radio.