The opinions expressed on this show are those of the host and not of I- Good morning. It is finally Friday, April 4th. Current time is 6.05 a.m. Daryl, it's going to be a great day. I'm looking at temperatures. It is already warm. It's 46.1 degrees right now in Palm. I thought I had you beat today. I honestly thought I had you beat today. 41 degrees here in Anchorage, and it's beautiful. I mean, it's balmy.
Yeah, no, no, no. You do not. Right now, Palmer, my weather station at my house is checking in the warmest. It is. I'm looking around town, or around the state, I should say. Kenai is 42, Big Lakes 37, Fairbanks 26. You know, Fairbanks is expecting to break 50 today. Their projected high is 51. Yesterday I had 6.30 at night when I was heading home from work.
It was 55 going across Palmer Hay Flats. Wow. That's, I mean, like I said, you're right. We are now in spring, summer. If you got relatives, have them come now, hopefully before the volcano pops. Right, exactly. Yeah, so it's supposed to be, as I was looking at the temperatures across the state today, I mean, multiple locations are supposed to breach 50, so it's going to be a little warm, but I will say this.
We need the rain. So I'm driving across the hay flats last night, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that noticed it. But you know how when it's fire season and it's very hazy? Oh, yeah. I mean, the entire valley looked just hazy. And what it was was dust blowing around. Yeah, because it is so dry out there. Now, I was going to ask you if you guys had wind because I had 10 to 15 mile per hour gusts last night at my place in Spenard.
Yeah, it was a little breezy out here last night. I could say that. But when you looked, like I said, you look throughout the whole valley as you're coming across the flats, I mean, it just looks super hazy, and it was all dust being blown around. It is very dry right now. Here in Anchorage, same thing. Lots of dust. Which, of course, means high fire danger, right? But it's supposed to rain today. Palmer, Big Lake. I'm seeing rain projected in Anchorage.
I can't remember if I saw it in the Kenai or not. It's my fault. It's my fault. I watched my car. Oh, well, I'm glad you did because my allergies have been going crazy the last week. Well, I haven't washed my car since September, so. Oh, well, no, I wash my car a lot. A lot. So do I, at least once a year, at least. I used to do that, not wash it all winter, because I'm like, what's the point? All right, I'm looking at Kenai for today, and Kenai for today...
It does not look like they're supposed to get rain today. It's just going to be cloudy, but the high of 48. So there you go. But the rest of us here in South Central are supposed to get rain today, which I'm looking forward to because it will knock down some of the dust. We actually need quite a bit of rain because it is. It is really, it's really, really dry out there.
But, you know, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? I suppose I should do some public announcements. I shall do it. I shall do it now. All right, let's do it. So, first thing for the Matsuboro. There is a Transportation Advisory Board meeting this morning at 10 a.m. It's going to be in the Conference Room 203 at the Borough Building, which is located at 350 East Dahlia Avenue in Palmer.
The Animal Care and Regulation Board appeal hearing that was scheduled for 10 a.m. this morning has been canceled, so that's not happening. If you'd like to follow what's going on in the Matsu borough, all you have to do is go to matsugov.us.
and you'll be able to find your information there. As far as the city of Wasilla goes, there's a couple announcements I want to remind people of. The city of Wasilla... is going to be accepting applications to fill the council vacancy for seat C. That vacancy that occurred a couple weeks ago. The Wasilla City Council will be accepting applications to fill the City Council seat C. The appointed individual will serve until its successor is elected.
in the regular city council election on October 7, 2025. The documents for your application needs to be delivered to the city clerk's office. It says during the business hours of 8 to 5 between April 7th and April 18th. So it looks like they're going to have a two-week period where you can drop off your paperwork. To be eligible, you have to be registered.
You have to be registered. You have to be a resident of the city of Wasilla or a territory annex to the city one year immediately prior to the election or appointment to fill the vacancy. Council members may not serve as members of the school board or the borough assembly. Council members may not hold any other elected position in state federal government while in office. If you need more information including the packet to apply,
Just go to cityofwesilla.gov, and you'll be able to find it there. In their announcements section, they have the information there. Also, I want to thank Dr. Favre for pointing this out to us yesterday. This weekend is the 2025 Alaska Homestead Expo. It's going to be at the NARD Center starting today at noon. It'll go through the weekend.
Common Ground Alaska presents the 2025 Alaska Homestead Expo with vendors, workshops, and speakers for homesteading subjects including raising and processing livestock, canning, cooking with whole foods, gardening, holistic living. Herbalism, self, sufficiency on small acreage, and so much more.
If you want more information, just go to cityofwassala.gov, and in their events calendar, there's a link. You can click on it, and it'll bring you to... information or you can go to common ground alaska.com and you'll be able to find how to buy tickets there as well So they'll have over 50 workshops, ice cream social with keynote speaker Kelly Foreman, full course animal processing, kids that are in youth classes, vendor booths and food trucks, Daryl.
Square dancing lessons for the whole family. And Sunday there will be a bluegrass worship service with Joel Salatin leading the church time. So there will be lots going on. At the Menard Center this weekend, if you wanted to learn about how to be more self-sufficient, Senator Hughes is always talking about Alaska food security. This seems like a great place to go and check it out.
Again, you can go to commongroundalaska.com, and you'll be able to find more information on it there as well. All right, for the city of Palmer, the only thing we have that I see on the calendar here... is the mayor is going to be appointing somebody for the vacant city council seat that is there. So if you want to apply, you have to have your application in by noon on Thursday, April 10th to the city clerk's office.
Again, you have to be a registered voter in the state of Alaska. You have to reside within the city of Palmer city limits at least one year prior to filing for office. If you need more information, you can just go to palmerak.org, and they have a banner right across the top. It's in red. Just click on it, and it'll bring you to that information. All right, moving on to the city of Anchorage. The only thing we have going on today is some assembly work sessions.
First up is at 11.50 this morning. They have a work session on AO 2025-38 and AO 2025-40. amending Anchorage Municipal Code Title 21 to update the appeals process and create two new rezoning procedures. That will be in conference room 155, followed at 1 o'clock by a work session regarding visit Anchorage briefing. And then at 210, they have a work session on AO 2025-25 and AO 2025-28, amending Anchorage Municipal Code Title VIII to expand liability of minors' possession.
Those were the three work sessions on the Assembly's docket for today. If you need more information, just go to muni.org, click on the Assembly tab, and you will find it there. And that's really it for our public announcements today, because there was nothing that I saw on the calendar for... Kenai, the city of Kenai is sold out in our homer for today. So it's going to be pretty straightforward today. Usually Fridays are kind of low-key.
Today is tracking with that. We're going to go ahead and take our first break in the morning. When we come back, it's Freeform Friday. We'd be happy to take your phone calls. All you have to do is give us a call, 522-0650. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on a Friday morning. Traffic's moving. 907-522.
Welcome back. Current time, 618. It is Freeform Friday, so if you'd like to call in and talk about anything that's on your mind, we're always happy to do that. The number to call, 522-0650. Let's just start. Daryl's pointing at me. What did you want, Daryl? Oh, no, actually, I was just wiggling my fingers. I was finishing playing off the music that you couldn't hear.
I was literally just finishing and you got the final note. I'm sorry. I thought I missed something. No, you're good. I thought I missed something. Like that happens. You know, what can I say? What can I say? That happens. All right, let's go to the phones and Randy is with us. Good morning, sir. Good morning, Amy and Daryl. Sorry, no joke, because I'm really feeling sick. Oh, sorry. in regards to, everybody's talking about HB11.
We really need to talk about HJR007 that Representative George Roush submitted back in January 31st. It really goes down and explains how much the state of Alaska, especially the legislature, really wants to support everything President Trump's doing. And I really ask everybody to have an opportunity to look at it, download it. But the last of six pages, because he goes item to item, you know, where is this, all this stuff. But the last two wherefore, further resolved, is really stating about
The legislature is really supporting President Trump. And the other one is urging everybody... state and local individuals to support what President Trump's trying to do. Yeah, no, I'm looking at it right now. You know, house joint resolution number seven. A resolution supporting and expressing gratitude to President Donald J. Trump for the executive order titled Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential.
and for the president's recognition of the role of the federal government in revitalizing the state's economy, energy production, and resource development. And that particular measure... uh was was let me just get to actions here that particular measure was read across the floor on January 31st, referred to resources on the same day, and sat there. Nothing has happened. on it at all whatsoever since January 31st.
You think the damage they're trying to kill it? Oh, yeah. They're not going to pass that. Anything that makes Donald Trump look good, there's zero chance it's going to make it out of the Alaska legislature. Okay. I'm just being a little pessimistic, but, you know, I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But why is it sad? This should be a no-brainer, right? This should be an easy one. This should have been in and out in a week.
And they've done nothing on it since January 31st. It sat there for two months. It's pretty obvious to me. You want to see something really interesting about this, Randy, if you look at this? So it's got 19 sponsors. You got Rousher is the one who put it forward. Then it has 18 other sponsors behind it. But the final person to sponsor on is who?
Chuck Copp. Chuck Copp, who is the person who wrote the one against Trump or supporting Canada. So he knew completely about this bill because he literally signed onto it. And then he turned around and wrote one that trashed Trump. Interesting, interesting. Well, Randy, thank you for bringing this one up. This is a good one. HJR7, again, the primary sponsor is George Roucher. I would encourage people to go back and read it. I mean, to your point, Randy.
As you look at this, this is a very long resolution. The sucker is six pages, seven pages long. But as they talk about it, they talk about the role of the president the efforts the president has made to really unleash Alaska's potential, and the Alaska legislature won't even take it up. I mean, what does that tell you? Yeah, that's why it's so long.
Yeah, yeah. It's so long because it lists literally every executive action that Trump just did that helps Alaska. I mean, as you go through, literally, it's the King Cove Road. Every single thing that Trump has done in his executive orders to help Alaska since he's been put in. We're thanking him for, and they're not even picking this up. Wow. Talk about ingratitude. Wow.
Yeah, I'm telling you. Randy, thank you for calling this morning and sharing this with us. I'm sorry you're not feeling great. I hope you feel better. Get some rest this weekend. Lots of liquids. Remember, liquids and lots of rest. Thank you. Bye. You're welcome. All right. Bye-bye. Well, I do have a joke this morning. It may not be a good joke, but I have a joke for you, Daryl. Are you ready? Yes. What do you get when you cross a vampire with a snowman?
I don't know. Frostbite. I'll give you a rim shot on that one. I don't have anything in my head right away, but we'll wait for one just to pop up. I saw another one. It's not like it's not like a it's just like a quippy funny thing. OK, so last night I saw I saw. These two chickens telling each other jokes, which is always hilarious to me when they use animals to do it. But one chicken says to the other chicken, I renamed my toilet Jim instead of John.
That way people are always impressed when I say I go to the gym every day. Oh, now I like that one. That one, I don't have anything good enough for that one. I will be stealing that one. I gotta get that. This is what I do when I'm doing show prep. Not only am I looking at news stories, but I'm also looking at... I'm also looking at...
Jokes. What can I say? I don't get out much. I can imagine your poor husband, Ben, he's in another room doing something, and he hears the news stories going on of this and that, and all of a sudden he hears you cackling to a joke, and he doesn't know it's a joke, so he's just literally like... Why is she laughing at that? I know. It's so funny. It's so funny. It cracks me up. It cracks me up. So, Joe, you know I've been doing CPR classes for the last three months, right? Yes, absolutely.
And so at work, you know, I work at a senior living facility. So everybody there basically is CPR certified. And so we are going through our process and updating everybody and stuff. So, you know, I recently last year became an instructor. I laughed yesterday. My husband, who's been a fireman, like he was with AFD for 25 years, but he was a fireman before that. So he's probably been in EMT for 30 years. He's texting me. He's like, hey.
to do aed training and i was like well it's part of the cpr class and no i can't give it to you because it's proprietary but yeah and he's like yeah you have to be an instructor i'm like yeah you have to be a cpr instructor So now my husband, and he comes back from the slope, literally I'm giving him CPR class.
So then he can go get his instructor served so he can do the classes, you know, because that's part of his job. He's a safety guy on the slope. Excellent. But also, you've got to explain to people, Amy. CPR, if you've taken a CPR class, say, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, it is not the same CPR. You know, they always change it. So we've gone through this evolution. So I've been in health care.
I think my first CPR class was probably when I was a teenager doing babysitting stuff. Me too. But when I'm thinking about health care, you know, it was probably 95 when I took my first CPR class. And then I've had to take them like every couple years forever, you know. And then when I got to the senior center, I had let my CPR lapse because I hadn't needed it for the last few years.
When I went back to take it again, I mean, they don't really teach two-person CPR anymore. Nope. It's pretty much standard. And it's 30 and 2, so it's 30 compressions, two breasts. And because they've gone back over the years where it was like 15 and 2 for kids and now it's 30 and 2. And then they had a stretch during some point where they didn't even do rescue press. Exactly. And they told you to focus on compression.
It is different if you haven't taken one in a long time. I think there's still good tips and tricks from the old time classes, but I thought it was hilarious that now I'm going to be shipping my husband, who's an EMT3, actually. He's an EMT3. I'm running him through a basic CPR class. And I'm like, okay, there's no special treatment for you. You have to go through the whole class just like everybody else. We can do blended learning where you can do, you know.
the online portion but you gotta do it and I have to see you demonstrate the skill and I'm laughing because like He's done CPR on lots of people, you know. In reality type CPR. Do they also teach you to use that little weird breather cup thing? Because that's the other thing that's totally new to me. Well, they show you different barriers. So, like, when I do the class.
I have different mask barriers. We don't use one of those cups things that you're talking about. Like, that's what they use at the fire department, right? They don't ever do mouth-to-mouth like CPR. Because they have one of those little, you know, things. Yeah, that's you. It's like, I forget what it's called, but it's basically a mask that has like a bubble on it and they squeeze it, right?
And the other cool thing that AFD has is they have like a backboard that has straps on it that does the compressions for them now. What? I know, it's, look. technology right guys technology but back in the day I mean it is it is something but I had to laugh last night because my husband's sitting there asking me if I'll give him a CPR class and I'm like Sure. I don't know what to say. Like, he could teach the class. I mean, he's an instructor, actually. He's like...
I think he got his, what was it? He got his fire officer two or three. I can't remember. But he's legit a state instructor. And I'm laughing because here you have Senior Center Amy. Amy, I just figured it out. What? He's using this as a date night idea for you. Oh, yeah. Ben, you are a smart man. This is the way to do it. Hey, honey.
There's a dummy that does nothing out there. This is a G-rated show most days. I was going to say, I take offense at being a dummy. Well, actually, no, I guess I don't. No, but to my point. We're going to, now that we've got through all of our staff here at the Senior Center, at the Chugac Senior Center, we'll be reopening for the public to do CPR classes. So if this is something that you're interested in, just watch for our newsletter that comes out. The April newsletter is already out.
Maybe for next month we'll put another little ad in there. So if you want to sign up and take a CPR class at the CHIAC Senior Center, I don't know that it's a good thing. you know I'm the instructor so if you've ever been interested in taking it you know they say oftentimes with CPR
That it's going to be somebody that you know, a friend or family member, that you're going to be using CPR on. Because oftentimes it's not a stranger that you walk across. Oftentimes it's somebody that you know. Same with the Heimlich, just like the Heimlich. Yep.
You guys got that letter you put out. I tend to read it when it's been out for three or four months because I like the old letters. I'm not really big on the newsletters. That's so sad. I love that you try. But it's so cute that you try. All right, let's go ahead and take a quick break. If you'd like to call in and be part of the show, 522-0650. The latest results from Tuesday's elections in Anchorage show yes votes leading in 12 of the 15 propositions.
Yes, votes have at least a 20 percentage point lead in four propositions. Proposition two on Anchorage roads. Proposition 7 on fire protection. Proposition 10 on snow response vehicles, and Proposition 13. Stray dog missing in Alaska after he was transported to her new home. Jackie, a German Shepherd husky mix, managed to escape her home in Genoa just a day after arriving. The dog has avoided any traps for nearly two months as the Genoa Animal Control attempts to bring her back to safety.
Officials there say that bears emerging from hibernation could become a real threat to Jackie That was a quick look at the latest news. I'm Jason Campadonia from the iHeartRadio newsroom. What happens next happens here. News Radio 650 KENI. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on a Friday morning. Traffic's moving well around now.
Welcome back. Current time is 635. You know, Daryl, I kind of chuckled this morning when I saw this article in USA Today. This is why I don't trust the media. I was listening to Lindsey Graham last night on... And Lindsey Graham chairs basically finance in the Senate. And so he was on Sean Hannity's show saying that they're going to have basically a Votapalooza tonight, and there's a mechanism that they can use to effectively keep the Trump tax cuts as permanent. Right.
Before I tell you what he said, I'm going to tell you what the USA Today article says. Because you're going to say, what? This is why you can't trust the media. I'm sorry, but it's a propaganda machine. And, you know, I've seen it on both sides. I'm not trying to pick on the left or the right. But I've seen stuff go across Fox that I'm like, hang on a second. Or other agencies.
And I'm like, yeah, that's not entirely accurate. But the left does it in breakneck speed. Let's just put it that way. So this is the USA Today headline. Senate Republicans breaking norm to advance Donald Trump's tax cuts.
and it's not right senate republicans are taking a big step forward in their effort to put president donald trump's agenda into law and they're breaking some norms to do it The chamber's GOP leaders unveiled a new version of a blueprint for sweeping legislation that will eventually include Trump's priorities for border security, energy policy, and taxes. So going on, you know, I'm just going to skip ahead. And so it goes on and says,
Here we go. The Senate plan would make the 2017 tax cuts permanent and allow for an additional $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, leaving room for Trump's plans to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and the administration. Other tax priorities. Love it. You know what they're not saying? What they're not saying, they do have a quote in here from Lindsey Grant.
Lindsey Graham says, I have determined the current policy will be the budget baseline regarding taxation. That was his quote. But you know what they're not telling you? They're not telling you that when they were able to keep Obamacare, when they were able to do Obamacare, this is the process the Democrats used. You know what else they're not telling you? They're not telling you.
that when they passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which actually was just a massive spending bill, this is what the strategy that the Democrats used to pass that. So they just really used it just recently. So my thing is, when you see a U.S. today saying that the Republicans are breaking norms, to advance Donald Trump's tax cuts. What they didn't tell you is the Democrats have done it on two major pieces of legislation that redefined our economy and our health care sector.
This isn't new. The Republicans are just using the tactic of the Democrats. This is why mainstream media, frankly, pees me off. Because I get to see I'm doing better. I'm really trying to watch my mouth This is why you just can't trust them because again Lindsey Graham was on Sean Hannity's show last night, and he's the one who's like, look, they did this with Obamacare. They did this with the Inflation Reduction Act. As the chair of this committee, this is my right to do this. And again,
You know, yes, tax on tips is new. Yes, or no tax on tips is new. Donald Trump doesn't want to tax overtime. Can you imagine what that would mean to a lot of people's paychecks? You worked in food services. Oh, you don't know how happy servers in front of house will be from this. But I realize that actually the Democrats are telling you the truth. That newspaper article is telling you the truth, Amy.
They are breaking norms. Usually the Democrats, when this procedure is used, it is to increase taxes. It is to increase costs to you. It is to force things through that you don't want. I love it. The Republicans, they're going to cut your taxes with this. They're going to give you things that you want. I love it. I love it. You know, thank you for it. You know, maybe USA Today isn't completely off. But, you know, again, the propaganda machine is strong. Let's just put it that way.
The propaganda machine is very strong with this one. And when I saw, like I said last night, one of the last things I watched was Lindsey Graham talking on Sean Hannity's show. And he said, watch, he's like, they're going to go gangbusters today and tonight. He's like, you know, we could be there until 3 o'clock in the morning. But basically what they're doing is they're setting this up to be, these tax cuts to be permanent, which I think is.
exactly what needs to happen and because remember if they let these tax cuts expire that were issued back in 2017 what what year was it it must have been around 2017 back in 2017 If they let them expire, what it means is they're raising your taxes. So I don't want to hear about all these tax cuts. They're no longer tax cuts. This was the reset tax level. If they let them expire, they're willingly, knowingly raising your taxes.
So, look, I'm not about raising taxes. I'm about cutting taxes. I think you unleash people's opportunities to invest in other things when they get to keep more of their own money. Alaska legislature. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So I'm glad, you know, I like, you know, I haven't always been a Lindsey Graham like fan, but more and more he's, he's.
you know he's settling in okay you know we can agree on some things you know but um yeah exactly we can agree on some things you know the other thing that was talked about was the resolution this week that was passed by the Senate. You know, basically opposing Trump's tariffs on Canada. and you know the four senators that voted against Trump's tariffs on Canada.
You know, some people would be surprised because they'd say, okay, wait a second, Lindsey Graham, not Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul was in there, you know, in the mix. It shouldn't surprise you because Rand Paul's really, yeah, Lisa Collins.
Rand Paul, and there was one more. I'm trying to think of who it was off the top of my head. Rand Paul and Lisa, the two main ones, and Susan that I remember. Well, Susan Collins, there was four. The other one was from Kentucky, too. Who was the other one from Kentucky? But those four basically voted against.
voted against his tariffs. And it's a Senate resolution. And my whole point with people, you know, I saw these news articles, the Senate votes against Trump's tariffs, da-da-da. It don't matter. Why? Because the House is never going to pass that resolution. So it was just basically outing which Republicans don't agree with Trump's basic economic policy. This is one leg in the stool, if you will.
to Trump's economic policy. Because in order to get this economy back going and get us back in line, what do you got to do? You've got to rebalance the budget. That's not going to happen overnight. That probably will take a few years to actually do. But you can't have a $7 trillion budget every year. Your deficit is spending on the federal level by $2 trillion every single year. So the first step is the doge step, right? They want to cut a trillion dollars out of the budget.
That's just one step, though, because you cannot be deficit spending to this level. The next step is tariffs, right? With tariffs, they're projecting bringing in trillions of dollars, but they're also, with tariffs, what else are they going to do? They've already, since Donald Trump took office on January 20th, They've already brought back in commitment back in of like $1.7 trillion in money, you know, investment.
into the U.S. in manufacturing and business investments. Look, Honda is building a new plant as we speak right now in the U.S. This is all a direct result of Trump's tariff. So he's bringing money. So he needs to cut spending. He's rebalancing trade negotiations. And he's forcing reinvestment in the U.S. So those three things together are all part of the whole plan. You have to realize not one thing is going to do it.
And he's already been wildly successful. If you look at, look, this is amazing to me. I saw this last night on Jesse Waters' show. Hang on, I've got to pull up the graphic. Oftentimes I have to screenshot stuff so I don't forget. So Trump, and this is the effect of Trump tariffs, right, or his threat of tariffs. Daryl, and by this time, from January 20th to April 1st last year,
There were 184,241 illegals, catch and releases, that had come across the border that the Biden administration let go. 184,291. Take a guess. The same time, January 20th to April 1st, 2025, guess what Trump's number is. Just take a guess. 23. Nine. Wow. See that blue? Nine. And eight of them? Eight of them, they said, were classified catch and release because either they needed medical attention and they were released, or they were a key witness in some other crime that was being prosecuted.
Okay, I don't know about the last one, but they have nine. I mean, you go from just that small window, January 20th to April 1st, 2024, 184,000. Trump's number nine. But Amy, nothing can be done about this. We were told for four years nothing can be done. There is no way to stop this.
Nonsense accepted you write nonsense, but this is this is why I say you know They can say a lot of things look the amount of fentanyl that has been coming across the border has significantly diminished It's like at the lowest level. They said it's been it in in 10 plus years. And so you look at the amount of illegals that are coming across the border, the number has just absolutely tanked. I mean, it is so low now. It's the lowest it's been in years and years and years.
And that one example is just one example. And you look at it, and so you look at the investment that's coming back, you know, the security that is now happening on the border. Look, I've got to be honest. It's already happening even with our friends. Like, Israel has already come out. As of, you know, the first day of tariffs, Israel already came out and said they don't believe they should have any tariffs on the U.S. They just want to reaffirm their relationship with the U.S.
But effectively, this is what we're talking about when we talk about reciprocal tariffs. You know, if you actually are a free trader, if you're somebody who's like, you know, I believe in free trade, and that is Rand Paul, right? If you really believe in free trade and you have reciprocal tariffs and you have countries that say, okay, we charge you 25%, so now you're going to charge us 25%? Whoa!
Why don't we just get rid of them? It doesn't make sense for us each to charge each other 25% for the same thing. Why don't we just get rid of them? I think you're going to see that result in a lot of different situations. And so, again, for Trump he's been saying, If you build your stuff in the U.S., you can completely avoid tariffs. But now with his whole next step of reciprocal tariffs,
I think what you're going to see is a lot of countries like Israel has already done it or is already saying they're going to do it. They're just going to drop the tariffs against the U.S. totally. And if that's the case, my guess is the U.S. will follow suit. So, I'm just saying. Donald Trump, there's a reason the guy is known as the art of the deal. There's a reason he wrote the book. I mean, he's good at this, and I will say he's not even been president six months yet.
And look, they don't even want to acknowledge it, but the proof is in the pudding. I mean, you can't say you've already in three months. In three months, he's already secured well over a trillion dollars of investment back in the U.S. I mean, the proof is in the pudding. Like, they're already building the Honda plant. I think it's in Indiana.
And you look at that and you're like, okay, so clearly something's working. You know, clearly something's working. All right, we're going to go ahead and take a quick break. If you'd like to call in 522-0650, we'll be right back. Welcome back. I'm 651. Well, Daryl, I saw an email that I heard media. has a thing going on.
Yeah, we were informed that we have got a couple of tickets to give away for iHeartMedia, and there's a contest going on. Basically, this is a chance to win a pair of tickets to Tom Segura, a pretty funny comedian. He's a... Not completely right, not completely left. He takes shots at everybody, but he's actually got some pretty good thinking humor.
This is for April 24th is when he is going to be here in Anchorage, and they are going to be giving away these tickets. What you've got to do is you've got to go to our website, the KENI, 650KENI at iHeartMedia.com. If you go to our main website on the KENI website,
page and look over at contest, you'll see a little picture of Mr. Segura. Click on it. It'll take you to the entry page where you just got to enter real quick. It's simple and easy. I do believe it says the fox on it, but don't worry about it. That's a great place to be. You can also listen to what they've got, but link into that.
and give it a chance. You should be able to enter in to win, I think, every day. I'm not sure how many times you're allowed because they just sprung this on us. But give it a try, man. Fantastic. So just go to our website, 650keni.iheart.com. And you'll be able to find it because I'm sure there's a nice little graphic right on the homepage, I'm sure. Got to look over on the left-hand side of it where it says contests and promotions. And, again, this ends.
next Friday. So you've got just this coming week to put these in. They'll announce the winners the following Monday. Very good. Very good. Well, thank you for that update. That's always fun when we're giving stuff away. I like that. Giveaways are always fun. Yeah, exactly, exactly. You know, Daryl, we were talking during the break, and I love it because, you know, we were just talking about the Trump tariffs, and you pulled out one of the oldies but goodies. You dusted off a little bit.
barack obama talking about donald trump without mentioning donald trump this is what happens when you get a community organizer who doesn't really understand economics but here's a blast from the past is barack obama and so what we have to do Folks are trained for the jobs that are coming in now.
Because some of those jobs of the past are just not going to come back. And when somebody says, like the person you just mentioned, who I'm not going to advertise for, that he's going to bring all these jobs back. Well, how exactly are you gonna do that? What are you gonna do? There's no answer to it. He just says, well, I'm going to negotiate a better deal. How exactly are you going to negotiate that?
And usually the answer is he doesn't have an answer. And what's funny is he's asking his competitor, so how exactly are you going to fix this? And his competitor is going, you know. I've got ways. Oh, he's got nothing he can do. He's not telling you so you can turn around and say, oh, I came up with this idea first. Well, and the reality is Barack Obama really had no idea. Remember when they told oil and gas workers you need to learn how to code? Oh, God, yes. Remember when they, like...
I will tell you, with the magic wand, he's doing it right now. It's called The Art of the Deal, my friend. It's called Terrace. Right. It's called, you know, the thing with Donald Trump. And this is the reason why I think he is so effective, because he is not a traditional politician. They have no idea. They're like, he's a little crazy. He'll just do it. He's going to do it. He's actually going to do it. He knows how to negotiate.
Look, and the reality is your opponent has to believe you're literally willing to pull the trigger. Look, you know, it's interesting. If you look over the last 20 years, you've seen a massive shift in wealth from the middle class. to really a lot of big corporations. You know, you look at some of these big corporations and the solidification that has happened with them gobbling up all these little companies.
And you really have a massive amount of wealth in the U.S. that's consolidated in the upper echelon. You're going to see it with Wall Street where they're going to rebel. They're going to push back against the tariffs because... At the end of the day, if you bring manufacturing back to the U.S., if you bring self-sufficiency back to the U.S., Donald Trump is, I mean, he's pushing for the little guy. He's pushing for the middle class.
And he's kind of saying, to hell with Wall Street, we're going to get this fixed. Excellent. And that's what you're seeing. They're going to throw a little temper tantrum. You're going to see the markets fluctuate. But at the end of the day, it's going to all work out just fine. or its employees. Thank you Welcome back to Hour 2 of the Amy Dobosky Show, broadcasting live and local every weekday morning from 6 to 8 a.m. Yes, we are early risers, but somebody's got to do it.
There you have it. If you want to listen to us live on the radio at 6.50 a.m. If you want to stream us online, there's two different ways you can do that. You can go to our website, 650keni.iheart.com. Or you can download the iHeartMedia app. And when you're on that beautiful iHeartMedia app, it lets you access podcasts.
radio stations music it has got everything you'd want and it's got a super cool feature called the presets you want to make sure you put your favorite stations on the presets makes it fast easy to get to either your podcast your show or the music you like it's the radio media Love it. And, Daryl, if they go to try to either download our podcast.
or listen to us on the website, 650kni.iheart.com. They can also enter to win the contest you were telling us about in the last hour. Absolutely. Tom Segura, he is actually quite the funny little comedian. I'm going to see you next week if I can find a clip or two from him. to give you guys an idea of what his humor is. I listened to some last night. He's funny. But yeah, go to the iHeartMedia site right there and go to contests. You'll see Tom Segura. Click on it and you can enter to win.
Two tickets. It's for the 24th, I do believe, is when the show is going to be. April 24th. So fantastic. There you go. All right. Joining the show now, look. I know I went on a rant earlier this week, last week, I can't remember which, when I was so frustrated about the way the legislature budgets because I felt like they're not doing the hard work. They're going the lazy route saying we're just going to drop from the CBR.
And they're not structurally fixing the issue. But I will tell you, there's always a ray of hope. Because the gentleman joining us now has been on this ticket. He has been actually doing the heavy lifting and the work to try to fix Alaska's structural deficit. And that is Senator James Kaufman. He is joining the show now. Good morning, sir. Good morning, Amy. Thanks for having me on.
Well, we always love to have it. You know, I kind of chuckle when I think about the legislature because I just wish we could duplicate you like 20 times over. Because when we talk about the budget, I don't think there was any surprise to anybody. And this was my expectation in the budget this year. It's always going to come down to, they're going to argue about how much the BSA should increase, should they go back to defined benefits.
How much is the PFD going to be? Because that's how they're going to pay for it. And should they draw from the CBR, the Constitutional Budget Reserve? And I've always advocated, look. You have to get your fiscal house in order. You have to have an actual functional spending limit. You've got to clean out the old accounts that are just sitting there and ineffective with money. I mean, and this has kind of been a rant you've been on for the last few years, actually.
Yeah, thanks. I've never promised very much other than just to be rational, try to go look at problems, solve them and live within our means. And so that's kind of my... my guidance with everything that I do in the legislature. And I think most of the folks listening by now, they've heard about the Executive Budget Act reforms that I have, the spending cap. We did pass legislation to close unused accounts.
And we actually have now a review process to look for accounts that are just sitting there, close them, sweep them, and move along. So, yeah, we've been working on that. programmatically in my office to try and do that. Now I'm on Senate Finance.
I have a seat at the table. I think I'm where I need to be at the right time. The irony of the budgets and the situation uh this year is that we're in a bit of a revenue pinch but it also coincides with some of the biggest spending uh plans that that people have brought forth if you stack up
education funding, defined benefits, more money for various health and social services. It seems like there's a spending plan for everything. That's culminated. The budget the governor dropped was about a... billion and a half upside down before the supplementals that we have to work for.
things that didn't quite pencil out for the year that we're living in. And then the House, they put together a budget, and they end up about $2 billion upside down, and we don't have funding sources for those things. It's a time of kind of high disconnect right now. Ultimately, it'll all come together. What I predict is that we should be able to pass the budget for the coming year.
and not have a draw from the CBR, but it won't be a budget that makes everybody happy, you know, with every dollar amount that's spent. Yeah, that typically is the key that you probably hit. an okay balance if everybody's a little bit irritated because not one side is just thrilled that they got everything they wanted. That's been my experience in politics.
You know, I didn't really have an agenda for today's discussion because I just thought, you know, I just want to hear what your thoughts are as this session kind of starts to unfold. I mean, you guys are in April now. We're going to be coming to the close here in just a few weeks.
What do you think people should be looking for? What do you expect to see? I mean, you kind of gave us an idea about the budget. Any other types of legislation? Or do you see any, you know, focused agenda for the legislature this year, what they really want to accomplish? Well, education has been a big issue, and HB69 has been the vehicle this year. And I have a lot of education-oriented people coming to my office to talk to me about the dollar value that they need for education.
What I'm cautioning them is that they're looking at the wrong number. The dollar amount for increased education funding doesn't matter as much as the... The number of people that you have to have supporting it in the legislature. I was a proponent of voting yes. on SB 140. I disagreed with the governor on his veto last year because I thought it was the best price tag for the best policy that we were going to get for a while, and I believe that proved right.
Now we're in more of a stalemate with a higher dollar amount and more resistance to policy. So we're going to have to see where that goes. It's a coiled spring. I believe it's going to be unfortunate on a number of fronts if we end up not passing. some reasonable reforms and some reasonable amount of funding to kind of help with the pinch that we're in. And I know that some... You know, don't want to put any money towards education, any increased amount right now, but...
All of this is a negotiation. If you want policy reform, you're not going to get anything without paying a little something. And the dynamic right now is to try and keep it where if you want funding, you've got to have some reform policy. So it's a tug of war right now. Sadly, it doesn't have the same consensus view that we had in the prior legislature.
Relations in the House have really broken down. They've become more polarized this session, and the mood of working together is not quite there in the House. In the Senate, maybe more so. But then there's also folks in the Senate that, you know, at the Senate finance table, There's not a great deal of division between the majority and minority members. At the Senate finance table, we all know that...
The key product that we produce is a balanced budget, and dipping out of savings is not an attractive option. You know, I found when you look at the Senate finance versus House finance, and maybe this is just an ignorant perspective on my behalf, but I've seen... Even though I don't always agree with what comes out of the legislature, I've seen a more steady-handed, long-term approach come out of Senate finance. That has been my perception.
of some of the people that have been in Senate finance for a long time, it seems like they're more realistic about what they're actually dealing with sometimes than what comes out of the House. And that's just my perspective. But do you get the sense that they understand that you probably I mean I just don't know how you're gonna pay
for this huge $1,000 BSA increase year over year and then have inflation built into it, like where are we going to sit in five years and how are you going to pay for that in five years? I think there needs to be some long-term thinking on this. And I'm getting actually the sense that some senators are thinking about that. Oh, absolutely. Well, I mean, you know, it's been floated around. Landfield had the memo, but. Our finance co-chair, Senator Hoffman, he chairs the operating budget.
He sent out a memo to all of his subcommittee chairs not to add to the budget, look for reductions. And so that's starting with the governor's baseline proposal, so looking for any opportunities. Sometimes the perception that, oh, Senate Finance, they're just crazy spending all the money, it's actually... probably the best governing source that we have to keep the budget.
Now, people may not like everything that the money goes to. We all have issues with how the money gets apportioned to different programs and projects and all that. But at least the high level... Budget must balance, and we don't dig into savings concept is there. So I don't anticipate a great deal of discord on Senate finance. I think it's going to have to be the...
The group that actually takes the political risk of making some people unhappy with some of the spending amounts. Well, that's called leadership. I mean, sometimes that needs to happen, right? And I'm glad to see it. And I think the interesting thing will be, ultimately, this is likely going to end up in a conference committee, so it will be interesting to see.
how the House and the Senate kind of negotiate with each other at the end of session, because that's what it always seems like it comes down to in the years of great, like, I would say not seeing eye to eye. It'll be interesting to see how that comes together. And I think that it's going to hang up all till the end because... If you've got bills that have spending in them, if you've got budget plans, line item proposals, adders, all of that.
folks can say oh they're just sitting there doing nothing but all of that stuff has to aggregate so that you can end up looking at the whole thing and then the decisions that you know the The cuts, the increases, all those things can be apportioned. Bills can be assessed for whether or not we can afford them. But that's another thing. This year, if you have a bill that... pulls money from the general fund to fund an increase, then it's...
It's not going to have a great chance of getting through the process because the money is just not there for discretionary capital projects or discretionary bills that we don't have to have even if they're good ideas or increases. When I'm sitting in my office, the stories that I hear of what the money is needed for for these programs is very compelling. I think there's a lot of good-hearted people with good ideas. The problem is you just can't afford everything all the time.
to be responsible and pull back in with our means, navigate through this time until the revenue picks up a little bit with the oncoming resource development projects that are going to start putting a little bit more money, more oil through the pipe. Well, it makes a lot of sense to me. I love it when I hear a legislator basically saying, Yep, that sounds like a great project. How are you going to pay for it? Like, that is the starting point for me.
It's music to my ears what I'm hearing. We're speaking with Senator James Kaufman. We need to take a quick commercial break. When we come back, we will continue to have this discussion with Senator Kaufman about this year's legislative session. Stay with us. Look at your Alaska total traffic. You're listening to live, local, and always insightful.
Welcome back. Current time, 723. We're talking with Senator James Kaufman. He represents District F, which is like Abbott Loop, Huffman, O'Malley, the lower hillside. And I will tell you, Senator Kaufman, you have one of my favorite websites. It's so easy, SenatorKaufman.com. But you keep it updated through the legislative session, and I go there for a lot of different information. I find it very helpful. If you want to get in contact with you, you're pretty easy to get in touch with.
Oh, yeah. We're out there. I would say we try to be one of the most accessible offices. So if you call, you come to town, I'll want to have a meeting, I'll try and have it with anybody. I don't shy away, and we put a lot of information out there for people.
You know, Amy, I wanted to chat a little bit. You know, when I call in, I'm always meticulous about sticking to state things and all that, but I'd like to go national and even global a little bit with you if you don't mind. Sure. Oh, I'd love it. Well, I guess what I hope that we can do a good job of navigating through this time of opportunity. We have a president that is very open to helping us do what we need to do to realize.
you know, the responsible development of our resources, and really do the things that will lift all boats. a more productive economy that was producing jobs and opportunity for people, the pressure on these social systems would be reduced. We often seem to forget that, that some of the problems that we're dealing with can be problems of a lack of opportunity.
And so I just hope that we can come together. We've got people that are so disturbed that President Trump got reelected that sometimes I don't think they can. really see the forest for the trees and maybe get a little lost in that. The gas line, that's a tricky prospect. That's a big, expensive project. only possible with geopolitical alignment. This is my opinion. The simple...
Simple arithmetic of, hey, we've got gas and we're going to get it to market. It's really challenged by distance and the logistics of that gas project. It becomes feasible when you start to have anchor tenants that are driven by geopolitical concerns, by partnerships, by the things that... president trump is doing and and so it's it's probably you know the only opportunity that we're going to have for perhaps decades to to monetize that resource
and bring it to market. But it is possible through a confluence of all the events. So, thankfully, you have, you know, a president that's in there that wants to create these economic linkages on a fair playing field with our partners on the Pacific Rim. And I think that... We just need to do everything we can to try and make that happen if it's going to happen. Now, even with these partners, if it's not economic and it turns into a boondoggle, we need to be careful about that.
or if there's anything that's going to kind of send the project sideways, we need to be on guard and not do another great Alaska boondoggle. But it's a rare opportunity, so I just want to say to all of it. You know, there's naysayers because of the simple economics. But it's not that anymore. It's a geopolitical thrust that has long been needed to propel that project into delivering. And it is a possibility now that we have to take much more seriously than we did in the past.
Well, I think you're hitting on something that has been one of my greatest fears this whole legislative session is Will the Alaska legislature be supportive of it, or will they throw a monkey wrench into it and effectively blow it up? And I hope the latter is not the case. I hope we don't squander this opportunity for this alignment.
on the federal level, on the state level, on the international level, because I do think this will be a huge national security issue, in my opinion, just Alaska resources in general. If we start talking about... You know, our independence, our self-reliance versus reliance on other countries for critical minerals, for oil and gas, for all of those things, I think as a country we're better off.
And I'm hoping there's the political will in Juneau to get in the game and be part of the constructive conversation to get it done. I'm hopeful that's the case, but I'm skeptical. Well, I'm going to just say I'm cautiously optimistic. Some of the people that question things, I know what's motivating them. They're just trying to make sure that we're not getting into another...
you know, false move that somehow costs money and doesn't produce. Yeah, and that's fair. That's fair. I mean, it's fair to... Look, I always welcome questions, especially... you know, the tough ones that have to be asked. So I think that's very fair. Well, Senator Kaufman, we do have a caller who has a question for you if you're game. Oh, yeah, always. All right. I think this is Michelle who's on here. Michelle, you're on with Senator Kaufman.
I just wanted to say I think that the reason that a lot of true conservatives are disenfranchised is because We're not getting honest answers. I'm speaking specifically about the school district numbers and the base student allotment. Those numbers are based on inflated numbers of students, not the true actual number of students that are actually in the school.
And when you have inflated numbers like that, instead of cutting the waste out and getting a true accurate number, it's based on an inflated number. That just makes everybody not believe anything. And I've said this multiple times before because I pulled my kids out of ASD because I did not want them being indoctrinated. My kids go to private school for half the cost of what the BSA is.
So instead of focusing on this big, huge, inflated budget, I think the Republicans should be focused on doing... moving forward school choice. Because if there was school choice, the numbers would go way, way, way down. And this is just one example. That's where you have a lot of true conservatives that are very disenfranchised with the process because we're just throwing more money at something. We're not fixing it. It's filled with inflated numbers and waste.
And we're not addressing the core issue of how we could cut that budget in half if we just had school choice. Well, Michelle, thank you for the comments. Great setup there. Senator Kaufman, do you have a response? I'll say yes. There's people who agree with you. I would say the challenge is that there's many people in the legislature that don't agree with you. The process is driven by the people who are elected and show up at the legislature.
the biases or concepts that they have and want to promote. Where we're at right now, if we're going to get any policy improvements, it's going to be leveraged against a cost increase, so additional funding. And so you just don't have it.
When I'm just sitting around having coffee with folks and talking about what I'd like to see happen, I can... I can speak more theoretically like that, but when you get into the legislature and you're actually dealing with all the lines of force, the people who got elected, who... You know, have roles of responsibility and authority in the legislature and the number of votes that you have to get.
You get where we're at right now, where you have to work to get the improvements. And in the end, it's going to be a tradeoff. And I say that we usually don't get to vote on perfect. And we don't. There's only been a couple of times, and that's been all of my bills, when we get to vote on a perfect bill. But it's a tug of war. Well, and what you're saying is, you know, conceptually you may be agreeing, but the reality in Juneau is the votes aren't there.
The votes just are simply not there. I mean, if you're going to get policy changes to improve educational outcomes, it is going to cost money because otherwise you're not going to get the votes is what you're telling us. That's what I'm saying. And the other thing to remember is that, so you take the numbers in the legislature, you have 20 in the Senate, you have 40 in the House, you've got the governor.
Grow our numbers of people that are willing to pull together over on the right side. And to do that, you can't be a purist. You have to work with people that don't agree with you. Sometimes 99% of the time, but you need to work to gently pull people over to your side. And that's the thing that will ultimately...
enable us to move an agenda that's more in the direction that we want. It won't be totally in the direction that we want, but it will be more so. And that's really the delicate art of... winning arguments gently, pulling people to your side, and moving forward in a direction that's generally acceptable to those that are more focused on common sense. And I would say reasonable costs than people who are so impassioned about institutions that they will just blindly throw money at it.
That's been the It used to be that the left, they were protesting the man, and they were protesting the institutions that were keeping them down. Well, they have taken them over. They are them now, and they support them. because they're largely doing what they want to have happen. Our job is to, we have to loosen that grip and pull things in our direction. To do that, we have to be...
friendly and cordial enough with people where we can start to pull people to our side because throwing rocks and shooting flamethrowers at each other is not going to get it done. We need to pull folks over. Senator Kaufman, let me ask you, are you going to be at the Legislative Town Hall this weekend? I will be. Wonderful. One of the things that I took on is to be the co-chair of the Anchorage delegation.
to pull everybody together so that we try to do the most common sense things we can to improve the state of conditions in Anchorage. So we'll be there at Cuddy Hall from 2 to 4. And it's really just a listening time. So I urge all who want to get their voice out there about particularly public education.
It'll certainly be dominated by that. That's the big issue that we're hearing right now. $1,000 BSA. And so if you want to have a voice on that, come talk to us. It'll be great to have you there Saturday. Yeah, Saturday 2 to 4. Well, Senator Kaufman, as always, educational conversation. Thank you so much for calling in this morning. I appreciate your time this morning, sir. Thanks. Thanks for having me. All right. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
522-0650. Welcome back. Current time is 742. I want to thank Senator James Kaufman for calling in and talking to us about what's going on in the legislature this weekend. This weekend, as a reminder, Saturday, April 5th from 2 to 4 p.m. at Cuddy Hall at UAA, there is an Anchorage delegation legislative town hall meeting.
And I think Denise is going to have the same perspective that I've been thinking about this particular legislative town hall. So before I spill the tea, let's bring Denise on. Good morning, ma'am. Good morning. How are you? I am fantastic. Good. Well, I'm sick, but I needed to say this. Listen, my husband and I decided we're not going this year. We tried going there to that Cuddy Hall, town hall. When we got there on time, in fact, before it started, the entire hall...
Standing room only into the hallway was filled with the teachers' union. People that wanted more money. That's all they wanted was more BSA. There was never any possibility of giving any testimony or any talk or anything Because it was flooded with this one side. And that's what they're going to do. They do this every time. And usually they all show up dressed in the same color.
Solidarity. Yep, yep. See, this is what I said yesterday I thought was going to happen. This is what they do all the time. They're trying to flex their muscle. The NEA, and this is the challenge I have with it. Look, number one, how are you going to pay for it? We know how they're going to pay for it this year and next year, but when they drain savings and your PFD is gone, they're going to build this into the formula, and five years down the road, then how are we going to pay for it?
You see what I'm saying? I mean, they're making it unsustainable, and they're not really going to improve educational outcomes because they don't want to talk about policy changes. They just want more money.
I think, Denise, you're right about this. I think there's going to be a strong NEA presence, no doubt. I think two things. One is maybe they could structure it so that if The people that are there to listen, the, quote, Anchorage delegation, could... structure it so that there's maybe a question or a comment pro-increased money, and then request one anti-increased money.
The second thing I think people should realize is that the NEA, the more money they get, the more power they have. They don't care about the schools, or they say they do, but it's all a power grab. Whenever you want to find out what's going on, follow the money. So the money is going to them so they can be more strong and have more influence, not so they can do better for our children.
Ultimately, that's what needs to be done. And the other thing is the Anchorage delegation needs to hear about something other than The schools desire for more money. There are other issues in this state that affect us, not just the schools. You know, Anchorage is putting on these new taxes. I'm sorry. I'm ranting. Anyway, thank you. You're exactly right, Denise. I hope you feel better soon. Have a good restful weekend. They need to give numbers where people can call them directly.
when they don't have this opposition all the time. Thank you. You're welcome. Oh, thank you so much for the call. All right, well, I will say, yeah, I'll take a quick break. I will say if you want to contact Senator Kaufman directly, you can do that. You can call his office. It's 907-465-4949.
and he'll be able to take your call directly if you want to call him and give him information. All right, I'm going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Looking at your Alaska Total Traffic cameras on this Friday morning. Welcome back. I want to thank one of my friends. He just sent me a Thomas Sowell quote. He is spot on with this one. Here's a quote from one of my favorite economists.
autonomous all schools exist for the education of children schools do not exist to provide ironclad jobs for teachers billions of dollars in union dues for teachers unions monopolies for education bureaucracies a guaranteed market for teacher college degrees, or a captive audience for indoctrinators, end quote.
Bingo. He's right. I tell you. Soul is one of my favorites. All right. Talking about somebody else who knows quite a bit about education and economics, a former economics teacher, Mr. Todd Smolden. Good morning, sir. Hey, Amy, good morning. I wanted to call in real quick, and I know you don't have a lot of time, but because I really appreciated both Michelle's frustration
and also Senator Kaufman's answer. And it's really important for people to understand that Politics is the art of compromise, and it would be really nice if the governor could slap down his legislation, you know, HB 76. If you want to look at it and just say, here's what I want. take it or leave it, but that's not how it's going to go. And people need to understand that, um, When you have such thin numbers in both the Senate and the House, hopefully legislation will be passed that includes...
sustainable funding, and also significant reforms. And Senator Kaufman is exactly right. Well, I appreciate you calling in, Todd. You know, you've been an educator for a long time, and I think you've been, you know, in your time of being involved in politics and in education.
You've seen a lot of these different town halls, and some of the frustration people have is they see the NEA being taken care of, but they don't see the results on the back end where the kids are being taken care of. And the focus really should be on results. And I understand it takes money to do that. And I think that's where you're getting a lot of people's frustration because Michelle can put her kids into private school.
for half of the cost of what it takes us to educate one kid in Anchorage, and she's getting much better results at the end of the day. And I think that's where a lot of people say this is insanity. Unless we deal with the power structure that is in Juneau. And you elect different people that are willing to make different choices. Unfortunately, as...
Senator McKinnon used to tell me, Amy, it takes 21, 11, and 1 to get anything done in Juneau. And what she was referring to is the number of votes it takes in the House, the Senate, and the governor's support, too. Yeah, and I'll put forward some other numbers, too, Amy, and that's 40. You know, 40, which is two-thirds. And which is probably going to be important. I mean, because and that's really where, you know, hopefully that's not what happens. Hopefully the legislature doesn't pass.
just funding without reforms and the governor has to veto it. But that's also really important. And so for people who have For people who have legislators that might be riding the fence, those are really the legislators that need to buck up and be strong in this. in this battle, and it really is a battle. Are we going to continue to fund the status quo and get worse and worse results, or are we going to actually look at some reforms that are having significant impacts in other states?
and improve outcomes? That's really the question. And so, you know, it would be great. Like I said, it'd be great if you could just say, here's what I want to do as governor and reform these things and, you know, go pound sand. and call legislators' names when they don't support you, but that's not how it's going to work. And people need to understand that. I watched Superintendent Bryant's presentation at the Cheekyak Eagle River Chamber.
this week, and all it was was give us money, give us money, or the sky's going to fall. I asked him a question. I said, given that the governor's been really clear that he's going to veto a BSA increase, essentially, if reforms aren't included, is ASD prepared to advocate? for reforms and funding.
And I didn't really get an answer from the superintendent. I'm sure you're not surprised. Of course. Of course not. No, that doesn't surprise me at all whatsoever, not even a little bit. And this is the frustrating part. How far are we going to drive this train off the cliff until they realize, you know, are we going to go down to a 20% proficiency rate in reading and math before we start to say we have to do something? Because I've got to tell you, 30%, 40% pretty much sucks.
I mean, it's still failing. You were a teacher. That would not be a passing grade. No, it's not good. You know what else? You know the other thing I didn't hear Superintendent Bryant say? I didn't hear this word mentioned once. He didn't hear that word mentioned once in his presentation.
Well, Todd, as always, we will continue to have these conversations. Thank you so much for sharing this morning and calling in. We do appreciate your time and your perspective. Have a great weekend. Thanks a lot, Amy. All right. Well, you know, I've got to tell you, the conversation is ongoing.
you to contact your legislators. There are certain legislators, frankly, that you should be reaching out to saying we need to have educational reforms. And one of them, number one on the list is a Republican, Julie Colon. Right? You need to call out Justin Ruffridge. You need to reach out to these
Republicans and say, wait a second, you guys, we need to get on board with actually improving the outcome for our kids, not just throwing money at the NEA. I think that's fair. That does it for Daryl and I today. We appreciate everybody who called in. Everybody who listened, as always, we hope you have a fantastic weekend. We will be back with you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Monday morning at 6 a.m. Until then, stay safe. God bless.