Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome. We are here with Congressman Josh Rakeen and Congressman Braken. You've been a busy guy. You're gonna be all over the place. You're off to have some megs and issues here in Bartlesville. Off to Dewey, I believe, Chelsea, and then to Oolaga and places far and white. How many of these town halls have you done so I we're I think thirty two live town
halls across the second Congressional District in the last one hundred days plus. And and it's good time to get educated and keep under the understanding the pulse of the second Congressional District. Great. Well, you know, we got a lot of things going on here and a lot of things that folks seem to be concerned about. His money or lock of it. It seems like on paper there appears to be money, but it doesn't do much for us anymore. Yeah. Yeah, Inflation's been a tough row to hoe for most families
and most people I think Oklahoma know what they felt. The numbers are what they are. When when the average Americans spent eighty seven hundred dollars more in the course of you know, the full year of twenty twenty two, eighty seven hundred dollars more to buy the exact same goods as they did in just the year prior. Because of the devaluation of the dollar. Families they're feeling it. And Tom pun intended on the radio station broken record, I am,
we've got to get our physical house in order. If we're going to solve inflation, We've got to start living within our means and stop running up reckless spending bills on a credit card that you know, they're talking about an X date of this debt ceiling, but it's the X date of us going off a fiscal cliff as a nation. Every American needs to be more concerned about now we have that, like you said, the debt ceiling thing looming here. Rumor is that President Biden. I'm not talking to anybody. This
is going to be a clean bill. I'm not talking to anybody. Finally, just said, Hey, Kevin McCarthy, what do you say we get together on the night. Yeah, Well, I mean, look, the only the only plan that's been passed is because of a group of us who said we're committed to seeing us reduce spending. And so we passed the largest cut dollars fer dollars that I know of thus far that Congress has ever passed, and the Limit, Save and Grow Act. It will actually be real
cuts in year one if we call back everything. You know, almost a trillion dollars in cuts in that year one, inclusive of getting rid of Biden's student aid bill out, which is so against the American spirit of taking from from some and giving to others. And we're going after those eighty seven thousand rs agents in that bill. It restores energy independence, energy dominance type permitting
reform. We're looking at the highest home heating bills this next winner. Some say that it was as we've had in fifteen years because of this administration is waging war on the fossil fuel industry. It's because they are willing to sacrifice the prosperity of our families in America because of a radical religious cult falling towards a climate ideology, sacrificing prosperity on the altar of the Church of Nature.
And that's what we've been doing. And China and Russia are you know, they're laughing at us as we appease that ideology, you know, with they have no desire to go down that pathway. And if America even did everything that those who believe that way, you know, if America did everything that those who believe like that would want, you're only talking about a less than a degree change overall, and you're talking about less than an inch change in
the oceans. That's just if America did everything, that's almost obliteration of the fossil field. And so in China and Russia say we're not doing anything that. So we continue to fight with our arms behind tied behind our back when we have four hundred years of fossil fuel industry supply in this nation and its foolishness. We have to be able to cut government and grow our economy,
and Unelasian energy dominance is so pivotal to that. Um. The other things that we did in that build in addition to the cuts is we went after the work requirements. Go back to to what Gingridge and Clinton under divided government,
which is like we are today. We ought to be able to say, if you're able bodied and you have the means and the ability to work, don't ask the single mom who's got two or three kids to be supporting you, who's who's scratch scratching incline and who is working to support you? And Biden actually said in ninety six or ninety five when he voted for you know, Tanni Reform, that we need more, more work, brittle society,
less dependence was was his comment. And so we're saying to him, if you believe that years ago, then then why not now in divided government? And so we've got simple measures that I think the average American can go. I get that, I believe in that, and we just need the president and the Democrat controlled Senate to say that makes sense, and let's start doing something about these problems. Southern border always a kind of a messy situation, but now a titled forty two ending? Yeah, and what is it?
The eleven? Yeah? Wow, what's the score there? Well, so Biden's gonna send, you know, fifteen hundred troops to the border. And that's more or less admitting there's a problem. President Biden has been ever since he took office. One of the first things he did was he stopped the construction of a congressionally authorized physical barrier, saying, not another foot,
that was his comment, not another foot. I'm on the Homeland Security Committee, and I purposely ask Chief Royal Ortiz, his U lead patrol officer at a hearing, do you disagree with President Biden's decision to shut down that wall fully funded, two hundred fifty mile additional wall, fully funded, and by executive order he shuts it down his own administration. The guy who leads the nineteen thousand border patrol agent said, I disagreed, yes, or I disagreed
with that decision. And I asked Secretary of my orchists last a couple of weeks ago when he was before our committee, the same question, and he he said, he, you know, standing firm with Biden, and so their experts are saying physical barriers work. I found a quote that I utilized last week in the markup. We passed a bill last week that would continue
construction on the border wall a lot of other measures. We marked it up at the Homeland Security Committee, and the Democrats were trying to amend it and pull that provision out of physical barriers, and I said, I want you to hear your quote. I quoted President Biden who said in two thousand and six, during the Secure Fence Act vote, when he was a senator that I believe in fences, physical barriers because of the drug because the drugs being
pushed across the border, and so they're reversing course. Biden voted for the Secure Fence Act that included physical barriers. He was vice president of Obama who built one hundred fifty miles of border wall, Secretary of my Orcus was deputy Secretary of Homeland Security when they built one hundred and fifty miles of border wall,
and I asked him specifically, do you disagree? He went the Obama administration who believed in physical barriers, who built one hundred fifty mile and so he said, yes, you know, there's different caveats of security, and that's just one element of it. And look, it's not just one element. When they canceled the contracts, that costs three million dollars a day, that two hundred and fifty mile wall, it was approved by Congress. When
Biden takes over, he then shuts it down by executive order. That costs the taxpayer three million dollars a day for the rental space and the cancelation of those contracts, that's for the materials to rush and expire off the southern border. It's now costing on a daily basis still one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. It's like a common sense. Wow, Well, if you're gonna be busy today and folks can't catch your life, where can they get a hold
of you? Had to maybe you get some information from it or further some information towards you. Yeah, so you can go to broken dot house dot gov. B is in boy Urs and Ralph he is an echoc is in Charlie h Is and Horse he is an echo. He is an echo and is in Nike broken dot house dot gov. And you can also reach out for casework support to our Claremore office nine one eight two eight three six two six two. And then you also can show up to these town halls.
I love to see people turn out to the Dewey town Hall, the uh Ulagau Town Hall and uh and Chelsea and the Courts Eggs and yeah, and so we'd love to We'd love to have them attend and be grateful for it. I'd love to see people live. And again, if they can't get too me live, then they can visit with us, you know, via
electronic communication. And Tom I actually read when somebody, do you see a field reput out in the area representing us comment to those guys, Um, I actually read what what those those constituency take the time to share with those field reps when you call into the office and you leave commentary. When I'm flying back and forth, I'm reading the information so I can make sure I stay informed by the citizens of the Alkahoma second Congressional District.