Good morning. It is Monday, April 7th. Current time, 6.06 a.m. Good morning, Daryl. Well, good morning, Amy. Isn't it a lovely day out there? We definitely needed the moisture. I like the way you phrased that. I would have preferred it not to be snow.
But you know, it can't last. I'm telling you, spring is here, so it can't last. By tomorrow, it'll be gone for sure. I'd like that we clarified that for tomorrow, because right now, temperatures are hovering at freezing or just below, so it's actually sticking. I have to tell you, I was looking at today's daily high, and today's daily high for Anchorage is only 30.
Yeah, that's about right. We're 29 right now, so. And it's showing snow, actually, in Anchorage's forecast today, tomorrow, actually through Thursday. I'm so glad I washed my car. Oh, poor Anchorage. Well, I'm super glad that I changed my tires. Actually, I still don't regret it. So I'm looking today. They've already updated it because when I started doing my prep this morning, it was only showing that...
that Palmer was going to get to about 32, and now they've upped it to 35 today, high tomorrow, 43 on Wednesday. So they've already readjusted the forecast in the last hour. I will tell you, temperatures are hovering just below freezing in most places or around freezing. Right now, Palmer's at 29.6. I can't get that detail, but I can say 29 for Anchorage. So we're basically tied. Yeah. Kenai's 31, Big Lake 30, Fairbanks 18.
And like I said, the highs for today are lingering around 30 to 32, depending on where you are. It's going to be one of those days. I'm looking at Big Lakes High for today. It's going to be 33. It might thaw, might freeze in here. So on the Glen Highway itself, out on the flat,
It's light snow coming down out there, but it's melting almost immediately. The roads are just wet. But the further you get in towards Anchorage, it starts to stick. Roads aren't necessarily excessively slippery, but they are a bit sloppy. So do be careful on that. Yeah, yeah. Good reminder to make sure you have windshield washer fluid because you may need it. Oh, yeah. Definitely need the windshield wiper fluid today.
You know, welcome to breakup. You know, if it was an easy breakup, I mean, it wouldn't even be Alaska. I was going to say, my life never has easy breakup. Oh, oh. Well, I can't compete with that one. I was going to say, you're already on it. I haven't even had my coffee yet this morning. I've just been drinking water. I've been trying, you know, I listen to Dr. Kiesling and I've been trying to drink more water. I'm not very good at it, but switching my morning coffee for morning water.
It's a little tough. So if you actually listen to Dr. Kiesling, though, that morning water you should be drinking when you first wake up, first 30 minutes, have that water. Yep. And then he says, after that, go ahead and have your coffee. Yeah, but see, I'm still trying to get my water down. I'm not good at that. It's like you can't do both. You've got to do one or the other. You know what they say. What? You can lead Amy to water, but you can't make her drink. Oh.
Oh, see, I've got to get on my game. I'm going to have to break out the cup of coffee a little bit later. All right, well, let's get into some of our public announcements, shall we? Let's start with Matsu Burrow. For today, Monday, April 7th, there's a Fish Hook Community Council board meeting. Tonight it's at St. Herman's Church. That's off of Endove Road. There's also a Southlakes Community Council meeting at 7 p.m. tonight. That's at the Matsu Midwifery and Family Health Clinic.
which is located at 5000 Shenham Drive in Wasilla. And then last but not least, the Taukina Community Council has their meeting tonight at the Taukina Public Library. They do have a Zoom link, so if you want to attend virtually, you can do that. Just go to matzugov.us, then just scroll down to the calendar. There you have it. And that's it for the Mat-Su Borough. Now, as I sneak on over to the city of Whistler, we have a couple different things going over. First of all,
The City of Wasilla is opening up the application process right now for the City of Wasilla Council vacancy. This is for seat C as in Charlie. If you're interested in applying, just go to cityofwesilla.gov and you'll be able to find the link there. They have an application packet you have to fill out. And you can turn in your application April 7th through the 18th, Monday through Friday, from 8 to 5 in the clerk's office. So, again, if you need more information, just go to cityofwesilla.gov.
Also coming up this weekend... I'm very excited about this. The Matsu Outdoorsman Show, April 11th through the 13th. Of course, this will be over there at the Menard Center. Tuesday will be noon to 6, Saturday 10 to 6, and Sunday 10 to 5. Admission is $10 for adults. If you have a military ID card, it's $5, and kids under 12 are free. Of course, they have all kinds of stuff going on. What I just saw here too is Sunday from 10 to noon they have free admission.
It's brought to you by your friends at Frontier Auto and RV Sales. So if you want to go, you can go on Sunday for free from 10 to noon. Not a bad deal. What show was this again? This is the outdoorsman show at the Matt Menard Center. I'm waiting for the couch potato show. That's the indoorsman show. That's the one I'm waiting on. No, no, no, no. So this is always a great event.
You know, I will say, I think in the last couple years, the Matsu Outdoorsman Show has been better than the Anchorage Outdoorsman Show. And not that I have any bias or anything. Pretty much ever since COVID. Yeah, I agree. The one in here has kind of slimmed down a bit. They kind of changed their venues out, and it's just... It doesn't feel the same. It just doesn't feel the same.
No, no. I think ever since COVID, really, I've been digging the Mat-Su show more than the Anchorage show. And I, for years, have gone to both. I'm just a fan. But if you want more information, you can go to mattsuoutdoorsmanshow.com, and you can find more information there. But, again, that will be this weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Moving over to the city of Palmer, remember we do have a vacant city council seat. The application process is closing on Thursday at noon. That's this Thursday at noon. So in this one, you still have an application you have to fill out. You have to live inside of the city limits of Palmer.
And this one, the mayor is going to pick the person to fill the seat until the October 7th election. So, again, if you want more information, just go to palmerak.org. They have a banner across the top, and you can go ahead and... You can just click on the link and you'll be able to find it. Also tonight in Palmer, there is a Board of Economic Development meeting tonight at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, which is located at 231 West Evergreen Avenue in Palmer.
If you want more information, again, just go to palmeraka.org and you'll be able to find it there. As far as the municipality of Anchorage goes, the planning and zoning commission that was scheduled for tonight has been canceled. So there's nothing on the city of Anchorage's calendar for tonight. They do have a regular assembly meeting tomorrow. So if you want to see their agenda, just go to muni.org, click on the Assembly tab, and then you'll be able to find it from there.
I didn't see too much going on in the Kenai. There is a school board meeting tonight for the Kenai Peninsula Borough that will be from 6 to 8 p.m., 144 North Binkley Street in Saldotna. Also at 6 p.m. tonight, there's a Seward-Bear Creek Flood Service Area Board meeting from 6 to 8 at the Kenai Peninsula Borough-Bear Creek Fire Station. That's located at 13105 Seward Highway in Seward.
And that's really it that I see on the calendar for the Canine Peninsula Bureau. You can track what they're doing, though. All you have to do is go to kpb.us, and you'll be able to find it there. As far as the city of Kenai and Saldana go, I didn't see anything on their calendar today, so we'll skip on down to...
The city of Homer, the only thing, actually, you know what, I have it backwards. I didn't see anything on Homer or Saldana. The only other thing I saw was the city of Kenai. They have a Harbor Commission meeting tonight. That's going to be at 6 o'clock at City Hall, which is 210 Fidalgo Avenue in Kenai. So that was it. If you want more information, just go to Kenai.city, and then just go down to their calendar and click on it, and you'll be able to see everything for today.
That's really it for all the announcements for today. If you notice something fun going on or an announcement that we should plug, I'm always happy to do that. All you have to do is give us a call, 522-0650. We're going to go ahead and take our first break in the morning. We'll be right back with the headlines of the day. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday morning.
Welcome back, Current Time 620. You know, it's been fascinating for me watching the media melt down over these tariffs. and this dip that we have in the stock market. And I will tell you, You know, we watched over and over again with Biden's inflation, and we watched the silence that happened for a long time. I mean, they kept trying to convince us that the economy was great and that. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't, oh, it's not a big deal. No, the economy is good.
Everybody going to the grocery store could feel it during Biden's administration. We were talking. for like a year, Daryl, about the price of groceries. 10% inflation, man. I mean, come on. It was crazy, and it was no big deal. And then all of a sudden, you know, when Trump starts talking about reciprocal tariffs, and he starts talking about... you know, what in the world, you know, we're going to do to rebalance it. Look, you can't have,
trillions of dollars in trade deficits with other countries, and look at the spending that's happening in our country. You can't. fix the economy without fixing every facet of it. We talked about it, you know, briefly last week. I mean, it's going to take a lot. It's going to take, you know, cutting a trillion dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse, you know, or the budget in general.
You can't do $2 trillion in deficit spending every single year. Then it's going to take economic revitalization, which the tariffs are key to doing. Because what is it doing? It's driving manufacturing, production back to the U.S. And it's giving us a fair shot at other economies with tariffs being balanced. And then, of course, you've got to develop your resources. I mean, this is kind of ant.
Frankly, once you start doing that, you'll start seeing the economic boom that's going to come. But, you know, one of the things a lot of people don't think about, you know, as we look at what are the actual tariffs? So I pulled up passportglobal.com, and it's U.S. tariff rates by country in 2025. So first I'll read to you what they charge on our stuff going into their country. versus what we charge them okay so first will be what is being charged to the US so China 67% 34% US reciprocal tariff
European Union, 39%. We charge them 20%. Vietnam, 90% tariff on U.S. goods going into Vietnam. Imagine that. And we charge them 46%. Taiwan, 64% they charge us. We charge them 32%. Japan, 46%, 24%. And these are just basically averages, but you know there are certain things, like vehicles, for example, that you will see 100% tariff on in some of these countries.
And effectively, what does it do? It makes it virtually impossible for U.S. cars to be sold in a lot of these countries. So this is just, I think, an average. As you go down the list, it doesn't change. I mean, Thailand, 72% on U.S. goods, and we charge them 36%. This is just stupid business practice. This is what happens when you have bureaucrats in charge. And they don't know anything about business. Laos, 95% on U.S. goods. We charge them 48%.
Are you kidding me right now? It's called protectionism Well, exactly. And here's the other very common sense thing. You know, when you hear all these other countries bellyaching that tariffs are so bad, well, why are your tariffs on U.S. products so high then? If tariffs don't work and bring in money for your country, why are they so high? See, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. And at the end of the day, they're going to blame Trump and say, oh, he sparked a trade war. Look.
And we've had nobody, frankly, with a backbone to deal with it. Maybe has either the political will to deal with it or frankly, the business acumen to deal with it, until now. Well, you know what they say, Orange Man Tariff's bad, anything is going to be that way.
I mean, it's just natural. And as you said just a second ago, though, it's okay for the other countries to have these tariffs when Trump tries to, quote, bring us even with them or maybe make them negotiate down on their end so we're not pumping everything up? Well, he's crazy. He's wrong. These other countries, they're all right. They're just protecting themselves.
Again, big U.S. bad. Exactly. Everybody else. And it's just nonsense. And at the end of the day, Trump is flexing his muscle. We're the biggest economy in the world. And what we're doing is we're saying, wait a second, we're done being screwed. We're not doing this economically anymore. You are not going to, we're not going to be...
We're bargaining from a position of weakness. We're bargaining from a position of strength. And Trump knows it. And they know Trump knows it. And they know Trump means it. So that's why. Within the first 24 hours of these things going in effect, you probably had 50 different countries already reach out to Trump. and say to Trump, hey, hang on a second, let's have a conversation. And I think that's exactly what this was designed to do. It was designed to bring business back to the U.S.
But it was designed also to put, you know, to rebalance the power structure. Why are we basically giving it away for free? Why are we doing that? Well, because we've got to give everything to the rest of the world because we're bad. We're just bad innately. It's a globalist mentality, right? The U.S. is big, and the U.S. is the baddest guy on the block, so to speak.
And so they're going to, you know, we've had these weak politicians, frankly, on both sides, that have been in power for years and years and years, and they don't have the Constitution to actually look. You can walk softly, but carry a big stick, and that's the U.S. in general, right? I don't know that the U.S. does anything softly, but. The reality is, is Trump's efforts already, the Epoch Times has, White House officials says, more than 50 countries reached out for tariff talks.
They're doing it because they understand that they bear a lot of tariff. That's what it says. It says the top White House economic advisor said on April 6th, There are more than 50 countries that have contacted the Trump administration to initiate negotiations over a broad swath of tariffs that were announced in the first week of April. It says they're doing it because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff. That's right.
Hassat, the White House official that was speaking, didn't say which countries have started talks with the administration. President Trump wrote on Truth Social. that Vietnam's top leader said the country would reduce its tariffs with the United States to zero. Trump also announced a minimum 10% tariffs on all trading partners, as well as higher levels on about 60 nations, typically half of what levies against the United States. The higher tariffs are due to take effect April 9th.
So we've heard a lot about Canada and Mexico, but even some of our own, you know, very close allies, frankly, have been raking in the U.S. cash. and frankly treating us very unfairly. And I think it's time that it gets addressed. And I think it's been good. We saw Israel come out very strongly in the very beginning saying, you know what, it's more important for us to solidify our relationship with the U.S. and let's eliminate our tariffs.
And you've seen other countries. Japan has reached out. Vietnam has reached out. You've had a bunch of them already reach out saying, hey, can we have a discussion? And that's good. I mean, I saw another article where Marco Rubio is in discussions with multiple countries as well. And that's exactly what needs to happen. Because at the end of the day, as you look at what has been happening, for a very long time I think People have taken advantage of the U.S. And that time is over.
So wait, let me get it straight. All these countries want to reduce the tariffs they're charging on us so that we reduce the tariffs we're charging on them so everything's, quote, equitable. Yet our dearest friend, our best neighbor... They don't want to play that game. They want to put up more tariffs. What, you hit us with tariffs? They want to go for a war with it.
understand this, Canada. I really don't. They're not going to survive it. I mean, the reality is, I'm not saying Canada is going away, but I will say, when you're playing chicken with a train, You have to recognize the U.S. is the train. We're the largest economic engine in the world. And the reality is U.S. residents pay more money on foreign goods than anybody else does in the world, any other country in the world.
As we see it, well, we're seeing this morning, I've been watching the markets. The markets are already rallying this morning. It was up about 400 when I started the show this morning. So the reality is, again, Trump's not only playing hardball. But he has the Constitution, I think, to stick with it. And I think he's going to outlast the market-driven globalists. I think because at the end of the day, you know what they're going to notice?
They're going to notice if you start investing in American companies and companies that are investing in America, you're going to make a whole lot of money. That's what they're going to realize. And guess what? They always go where they can make money. That's just the reality of it. So this will be fine, but don't believe the sensational headlines. Like, it's going to be fine. Yes, you may see a dip in your 401K, these things, but I do believe.
I believe we're going to be in for just a fine time. It's all going to rebalance. It will all be fine. All right, we're going to go ahead and take a quick break. When we come back, Congressman Nick Begich is going to be joining the show. Stay with us.
Protesters are calling for justice for an indigenous teenage boy who was shot and killed by police in Anchorage's Mountain View neighborhood last October. Demonstrators gathered outside the Anchorage Police Department Saturday demanding answers about the killing of 16-year-old Kenyon Baker. tells Alaska's news source police have not answered any of her questions about an investigation into her son's death.
An Alaska financial advisor is helping explain how last week's stock market plunge will affect Alaskans. Speaking to Alaska's news source, Al Bliss says Alaskans should keep an eye on oil prices since they directly impact the state budget. Bliss also suggested patience.
saying that he doesn't think this is going to be a sprint, rather a marathon. And some Anchorage residents are demanding freedom for Palestine. Members of the group Anchorage for Palestine held a bike ride demonstration Sunday in Anchorage. Members of the group decked out their bikes with signs saying Free Palestine. News Radio 650. KENI. Depend on it. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday morning. Currently light traffic inbound on the Glen Highway.
Light snow falling all around the egg. Reach out to Amy now. Welcome back. Current time is 6.35. Joining the show now is none other than Alaska's own Congressman Nick Begich. Good morning, sir. Good morning, Amy. How are you doing this morning? Oh, I've got to tell you, I feel like we're winning. I'm doing pretty well. That's good. That is really good. There's certainly a lot going on. It's not boring right now.
Oh, it is not boring. You know, every single time I turn around, I see a headline with you doing something else. I mean, I'm seeing you talking about the VA and access for veterans. I'm seeing you talk about the Coast Guard. I'm seeing all kinds of good stuff coming out of your office. Thank you. Yeah, we are working on a number of issues. There are some opportunities to make the VA better for our former service members, and we're looking at ways to make sure that people don't have to wait.
for their appointments, that they have the ability to go out into the non-VA healthcare system and seek care. and we're trying to reduce the wait times that former service members have in the VA system. A lot of times what we've seen is that They'll be given an appointment date and that appointment date might be 30 or 40 days out. And, you know, that's reasonable when you're trying to reach a specialist.
But then the appointments might be canceled and then kicked down the line. And this can happen several times. And it's a practice that we've heard is occurring in parts of the VA system, and we just don't want that to be the experience that... veterans have when they need health care. And so there's opportunities to resolve that. We've introduced a bill that will help to resolve that. If we can get that through the house and on the Coast Guard side.
You know, one of the challenges that the Coast Guard has had for so long is that the Coast Guard is not considered part of the Department of Defense. And as a result. the funding that the Coast Guard needs.
is simply not available. And we need to make sure that the Coast Guard has a seat at the table, and so that's why this last week I was proud to co-sponsor the introduction of a bill that would allow... a new secretary of the Coast Guard position to be created so that the Coast Guard does have a seat at the table and can advocate. for itself and its role in defending our nation.
I think that surprises a lot of people when they hear that the Coast Guard isn't part of the DOD. I mean, because most people think Army, Air Force, Marines. Navy, and they also generally, a lot of people think of the Coast Guard, but That's definitely an interesting nuance that I think a lot of people didn't realize. You know, the other thing that caught my eye, because like I said, we have all the big headlines we can talk about here in just a minute.
But you're really looking at Alaska and some of the different issues, not just that will impact our state, but maybe our national security. You've been talking about space recently as well. Well, yes, that's right. I'm on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and we have one of the nation's huge space boards. In Alaska, a lot of people don't realize that in Kodiak,
We have a pretty incredible space port, and it gives Alaska a seat at the table when it comes to space. And so I have been speaking more about that. I think there are some good opportunities for us to build that industry. In Alaska, there's no reason why it should all be in central Florida. We should be able to do some of these launches up where we are. And we actually have a really interesting location.
in Kodiak because of the unique orbital characteristics that launch vehicles have when they launch out of Alaska. It puts them into a more favorable orbit for certain orbital mechanics and dynamics. And we just need to continue to market that and promote that so that people down here understand that Alaska provides some unique advantages when it comes to space technology.
You know, it really does. And I think that was something that I didn't even realize until I heard you starting to talk about it. And I thought, oh, look at that. I feel like you're kind of everywhere. You have not. I don't know when you sleep, to be honest with you, because constantly I'm seeing pictures and videos of you and floor speeches that you're giving.
You seem like you're everywhere right now working. And, you know, I don't know if people realize this, but coming up, I was told that April 13th is your 100th day in office. I mean, it feels like it's just zipped right by. It does feel like it's just right by. There's so much going on down here in D.C. and so many opportunities.
For Alaska, you just can't sleep on it. And as we've said many times, there's 435 members of the House, but Alaska only has one member of the House. And so at a time like this, when the window of opportunity is... So wide, you want to take advantage of every single minute, and that's what I'm trying to do for Alaska. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Let's dive into the world of tariffs. What are your thoughts when we start talking about economic opportunity and the strategy?
that has been taken to try to realign some of these tariffs globally? Well, I think tariffs is, you know, there's a lot there. Okay, so let me try to break this down into some components. So for many years, the United States has allowed relatively free access to our market. for the rest of the world. And the idea was in a post-World War II environment that access
The United States consumer for all of these various nations around the world would provide them with a pathway to rebuild their own nation. And so we opened our markets up and we sort of looked the other way when it came to tariffs. for our companies entering their markets. In exchange for this idea or alongside this idea, the United States dollar became the world's reserve currency.
and established dominance as that currency. And so we were able to trade and have been able to trade our dollars for those hard goods that come out of these nations around the world. Well, World War II was a long time ago. And so now here we are, decades later, and this post-World War II regime remains in place. And the problem is, of course, that it has hollowed out. America's ability to produce hard goods.
We don't have the domestic supply chains. We don't have the resource supply chains. We don't have the manufacturing plants in the United States anymore. And we're starting to see that the United States dollar is starting to fade a little bit. And people are talking openly around the world about replacing the U.S. dollar with potentially another currency.
What you realize is if we do lose the United States dollar as the world's reserve currency, we'll no longer be able to trade those dollars for the things that we need on a daily basis, those hard goods that we've. need to experience a great way of life, the American way of life in our home country. And so what people have recognized, what President Trump has recognized is that you've got to restore that domestic manufacturing capacity in the United States.
not just because of economic security reasons, but also for national security reasons. We've seen China because they have concentrated so much of the world's supply chain in their nation. decide as a tool of policy to restrict the flows of key inputs into manufacturing processes, things like cobalt and anemone and germanium and gallium and so many other critical minerals in rare earth.
They've said, look, we control it. You're not going to have it because we don't like what you're doing this week. And so we can't allow that to continue. And so the tariffs are a way to encourage. companies to move those supply chains out of adversarial nations back into domestic locations, again, not just for economic reasons, but for national security reasons.
I think it makes a lot of sense. And we saw during COVID, right, when we started talking about so much of our PPE coming from China and when we started having conversations about antibiotics and so much of our medicines being made in China.
Just from a national security standpoint, it doesn't seem like it's the wisest choice. And so I think people are a little bit... apprehensive because we don't have a lot of conversations around tariffs and economics and how how they kind of interplay but What I see is since Trump has been there and we look at The number of companies that I've already pledged, I mean, we're well over a trillion dollars now.
that have pledged to come back to the U.S. and build their products here. I mean, Honda's already building a plant, I think, in Indiana right now. I mean, so I feel like, you know, we're trending in the right direction. And now news is coming out over 50 nations. have reached out to the White House to begin negotiations and discussions about these reciprocal tariffs. I feel like we're kind of doing the hard work right now.
I think we are, and I think it's encouraging to see just how many of those nations have come to the table, as you point out, more than 50 nations already coming to the administration saying, hey, we're ready to negotiate. How many of these nations were ready to negotiate three weeks ago? Zero. President Trump has a unique way of creating a shock to the system that people didn't expect.
Now, I'm not sure why folks didn't expect it. These are things that have been on the table for discussion for the last several years. Republicans across the country ran on these issues. Now, I don't think anyone expected the tariffs to be at the level that they're at, but the direction was clearly telegraphed.
And again, three weeks ago, folks not really ready to have a conversation. Today, half the world is ready to have a conversation. So it's been effective at starting the dialogue. And I think now the question is, what are they going to offer up? If they want to continue to access our markets, are we going to have access to their markets? Will an agreement be durable? How will it be enforced? And what do we do about the decades of time that have passed?
during which many of these nations have taken advantage of our market access. So those are questions that we're going to be working our way through. over the next several weeks and months, I'm sure. But I think what is abundantly clear and is being talked about on all the major networks is that we are entering a new era. where we are moving beyond that post-World War II environment, and we're going to make sure that the United States...
consumer and working families in the United States continue to have opportunities. It wasn't long ago when folks, and I'm just talking in the last couple of months, you know, you would have heard, and I certainly heard on the campaign trail, from young people worried about the ability to find a job, to be able to buy a house, to be able to start a family, to be able to do the basic thing that we all would love to do that kind of defined the American experience.
They're concerned about their future. We need to make sure that they have jobs. We need to make sure that rates are low enough so they can get into a home. We need to make sure we're building in this country again. And that is what is happening.
You know, I'm excited to see it. I think the sky is the limit. And I'm very encouraged to see the House standing together largely on many of these really big issues. I did see headlines today about, you know, a representative introducing legislation to claw back some more authority on taxes and tariffs.
largely we're seeing the Republicans stand together, and I think that's really important because Trump's just doing what he campaigned on. He said he was going to do these things, whether we're talking about cutting fraud, waste, and abuse. or whether he's talking about unleashing Alaska's energy potential.
or securing our borders, all these are things that everybody knew he was going to do. So it's very encouraging. Well, Congressman Begich, as we close out here for this morning's discussion with you, Is there anything we should be watching for in the next few weeks? What do you think is going to be the big topic du jour for Congress? It's a good question. I think tariffs really have taken the oxygen out of the room for the moment, but we're going to be right back in it.
to budget reconciliation. I think you've got the Senate that just passed a budget resolution that amended the House version of the resolution that gives The Senate a little bit more wiggle room in terms of the degree to which we're going to be targeting the trimming of government this next. budget reconciliation package. You've got members of the House that
are concerned that that set of amendments that came out of the Senate don't really go far enough. And that doesn't fundamentally appear to be a serious effort. to cut government spending. So you're going to see, you know, sort of a battle, I suspect, unfold over the next several days and weeks around how much government spending will actually be trimmed in this next. set of budget reconciliation actions. I think President Trump is going to weigh in on that this week.
So let's see how that unfolds. I think that's going to be another additional story that that will start to appear in the news cycle here in the next. 48 hours. Well, we will break out the popcorn. It has been entertaining to watch, and we are excited to see you in action. I will tell you. If the rest of your term is anything like your first 100 days, we are in for some great representation in Congress. So we appreciate all your hard work, sir. Thank you, Amy. It's an honor to do the job.
All right, we will talk to you in the near future. That's Congressman Nick Begich. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday morning. Currently light traffic inbound on the Glen Highway. Light snow falling all around the Anchorage Bowl area. hour two of the Amy Dobosky show broadcasting live and local. Welcome back, Current Time 653. I want to thank Congressman Begich for calling in this morning.
to give us an update from a live, local, and always insightful Morning Drive Radio with Amy Demboski on NewsRadio 650. Welcome back, Current Time 726. I want to thank Representative Kevin McCabe for calling in and talking with us about some of the things going on in the legislature. You know, Daryl, that for me highlights the gamesmanship that happens in Juneau.
And this is the problem. And this is the problem I had with their defined benefits plan for a long time. From the first conversation I had, I knew they were full of it. Because when you come to me and you tell me we're going to add everybody on a fixed retirement system and there's going to be zero fiscal note, immediately everything else you say, I just don't believe you. Well, yeah. I mean, there's no way possible. Because it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.
But that's what they were peddling that session in 2000. It would have been the 2019 session. They were peddling it was going to have a zero fiscal note. In fact, it might save you money. I remember that. And I'm like, this makes absolutely no sense. And the more you push them. Then all of a sudden they come up with a fiscal note. But this is the problem. And Representative McCabe hit on something that I think is really important to realize.
In a lot of these departments, you have funded but unfilled positions. I'm not saying some of those positions are not absolutely critical and you need them. Let's take CBPL, for example, Corporations Business and Professional Licensing. They are people that deal with all professional licensing. They promise. So if you want to be a nurse. And you've got to go through the Board of Nursing. There's a little staff that supports the Board of Nursing, too.
They do investigations on people's licenses, and they process business licenses, and they process corporate paperwork. They do all that kind of stuff, so very important in my view. And that department has a really big time, a difficult time. maintaining staff because they're on the lower end of the scale for the state level.
In other departments, you can have the same grade employee who's making more money in a different department. So CBPAL turns out to be, like, the starting ground for a lot of people, so they have a lot of turnover. So it's not unusual to see a number of vacant positions because it's really hard for them to retain staff. Frankly, you know, if Johnny can make the same amount of money or more money in a different department doing less work,
A lot of times people are going to do it. And the other issue you have with some of these positions By their classification, they're stuck in Juneau, and you can't move them to other parts of the state. Well, you can, but you have to have the intestinal fortitude to do it. And when I was there, we did move a number of positions to different parts of the state. So you could hire in Anchorage where the population base is. But the unions will fight like crazy to keep those positions in Juneau.
And so you have complicating factors, but there's no doubt the vacancy factor, that's what we call it in budgeting, the vacancy factor is used to manage these departments. And the commissioners know how many positions they have. It's kind of their little slush fund. I'm telling all the dirty secrets right now, but it's true. And you're telling me out of 130 some odd positions that are vacant.
in the Department of Labor, you're telling me that you can't do away with six. Of course you can. Of course you can. Now, the question is which day? But you can move them around. I mean, this is my thing. So there's a lot of flexibility. And when you have, look. When you have a department, this is why I say the governor needs to pay attention to this one. What in the world? This is a no-nonsense, like, this is a common sense.
Little Davis Bacon bill that he's talking about so you don't have to pay these huge Davis Bacon wages on projects under $150,000. Dude, I've got to be honest with you. In the municipality of Anchorage, I think the threshold was like $2 or $4 million for Davis-Bacon wages, for contracted Davis-Bacon wages. And that's the municipality of Anchorage. So why does the state have it so much lower?
When it comes to these, and I'm talking about contracted projects, that's what the city requires once you start using a contractor. They have to pay a Davis-Bacon wages once it hits a certain threshold. But for a project that's $50,000, we're talking about maybe rehabbing a park or a playground, sidewalk.
Now you're telling me you have to pay Davis Bacon wages if it's over $25,000? I mean, $25,000, I've got to be honest with you, you probably couldn't repay a parking lot for $25,000. Oh, not even. So, I mean, I think that's really... This is why it's important to have the conversation about what they actually do and the nuance of it, because the games that are played internally are vast.
And they're done by both sides, to be honest. They are done by both sides. But when it comes to the fiscal notes, you should be able to rely on those to be accurate. If you can't, what ends up happening is they make a move, they institute a program,
and then the cost of the program comes out significantly higher, and then you have to figure out, okay, now where am I going to get the money? And where they've been going to get the money over the past many years is constantly out of your pocket. It's been out of your PFD. Why? Because now it's easy for them to access. That's it. They just need a simple majority, and they can take your PFD.
And that has been the problem. All right, I'm going to take a quick break. When we come back, we will take your calls, 522-0650. Turn up your radio. Here's the Sean Hannity Morning Minute. This is the establishment temper tantrum reaction to something new out of the box. that in the end is going to pay massive dividends for the country, or we could just stay with the old established way of doing things, and that means America remains a sucker nation. That's your choice here.
And there really isn't there is no other alternative. Either we stay strong, united together. and understand that we're being taken advantage of and say we're not going to take it anymore. Or you just get the crap kicked out of you every day and get taken advantage of by people every day. Now, I don't live my life that way. If somebody wants to punch me in the face, I'm going to punch him back. That's just the way I'm wired. Check out the Sean Hannity radio show later today, right here.
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Welcome back. Current time 740. We're going to go straight to the phones and Scott is with us. Good morning, sir. Hello. Hello. What's on your mind this morning, Scott? So I just want to talk about these... The tariffs? Tariff. Yeah. So I don't think most people realize that for the past 40 years, this country has been getting seriously ripped off. And there have been high-level people that... have been letting this happen because they're all making millions and billions of dollars.
I think that's what it always comes down to, is follow the money. Exactly. And I don't know if you heard the Treasury. secretary, but he said that the stock market, the top 10% own 90% of all the stock. Yep. And he said last year, more people took more trips to Europe, but then more people made more trips. to food bank. So their plan is to try to level the playing field. Yeah, no, I think you're right, Scott. I think you're making a really good point. I mean, look, Beth and...
Scott Besson, the Treasury Secretary, has been very clear on this point. And what you're realizing is when Donald Trump ran on this issue, He started exposing to people, before Donald Trump, did we ever really have significant conversations about tariffs? No. But, you know, you heard years ago, Nancy Pelosi, there's audio rolling out there right now of Nancy Pelosi talking about how we need reciprocal tariffs. And this might have been, you know.
15, 20 years ago, but she was talking about how we need reciprocal tariffs because You know, out of all the things that are happening is, you know, the tariffs between U.S. and China, for example. She was talking about how tariffs on our product. going into China has led to 10 million more jobs in China versus
Tariffs on their products here in the U.S. has resulted in about 100 and some odd thousand jobs here in the U.S. The reality is when you start looking at tariffs and you start thinking of more than just. You know a percentage charged on a product. What has it really led to it has led to the D? Manufacturing and it's led to jobs that were in the US going overseas for pennies on the dollar, right?
These big multinationals that own a lot of stock in a lot of these companies, what they're realizing is they can reap more of a product. profit, that's the word I'm going for, they can reap more of a profit if you can get the products made you know, at slave wages in China, in Taiwan, in Vietnam, versus making them in the U.S.
And I think this is more than just a profit discussion. I think it's also a discussion on national security. Because when we talk about COVID and we realize most of our PPE, antibiotics, and medicine was coming from China. And China was starting to threaten withholding those things. They're not our friends. If you're going to have security, you have to produce those things here in the U.S., and we have the ability to do it.
But we have to have the will to survive these discussions. And to Scott's point about the Wall Street reacting, you know, I've been watching my ticker as the show started, when I started the show this morning. We were about 400 points up. You know, the stock market was going up. And I've watched it swing 400 points down and then 10 points down and then up and down. I mean, this is going to happen for the next few weeks.
Why? Because Wall Street doesn't want to lose money, right? And so Donald Trump is realigning, and he's saying, no, more of the wealth, we have to have jobs here in the U.S., because jobs in the U.S. lead to people being able to have upward mobility. It has the ability for people to be able to buy a house, buy groceries, buy a car. And when you start looking at some of these tariff rates, and I went over them earlier in the show, but as you're starting to look at tariff rates by country,
This is Trump reciprocal tariffs as of April 2025. So this is what he's outlining. They charge us versus we charge them. Just on average, tariffs charge the U.S. from China 67%. The U.S. reciprocal tariff, 34%. I mean, come on. That's not even reciprocal. Reciprocal would be 67%. European Union charges us 39%. We charge them 20%. Vietnam charges us 90% tariffs on American-made products going into Vietnam. We now are going to charge them 46%.
Right. I think before that it was like 10. But in Taiwan, 64 percent is how much they charge us. We're going to charge them 32 percent. I mean, when you start looking at these numbers, Bangladesh charges us 74% on American-made goods going into their country. We charge them now 37%. So when you start looking at these numbers, Sri Lanka, they charge us 88% tariffs on American-made goods. We charge them 44%.
Why are we giving them such easy access to the U.S.? I mean, when you start looking at these numbers that Trump has put into place, I've got to be honest with you. I think they're more than fair. I think they're more than fair. Trump just came out on Truth Social saying yesterday China issued retaliatory tariffs 34% on top of their already record-setting tariffs.
non-monetary tariffs, illegal subsidization of companies, and massive long-term currency manipulation, despite my warning that any country that retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional tariffs above and beyond their already existing long-term tariff abuse of our nation.
will be immediately met with new and substantially higher tariffs over and above those initially set. Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long-term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, The United States will impose an additional tariff on China of 50% effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated.
negotiations with other countries which have also requested meetings will begin taking place immediately thank you for your attention to this matter so trump's not playing and why i say this is working already is in his first 80 days in office. He's already secured well over, I think it was $1.7, $1.4 trillion of investment in the U.S. Multiple people are saying they're going to build manufacturing plants. Honda has already said they're going to reestablish a plant, I think, in Indiana.
So you're starting to see these numbers over and over again. But the reality is Donald Trump isn't just fighting to rebalance trade for American jobs and American national security. Donald Trump is fighting the power brokers in Washington, D.C. And he's fighting Wall Street, right? Because as Scott pointed out, just follow the money. People will fight when they think their money is on the line or their power is on the line.
I think Trump is right. He says the United States has a chance to do something that should have been done decades ago. Don't be weak. Don't be stupid. Don't be a panicking, a new party based on weak and stupid people. Be strong, courageous, and patient, and greatness will be the result. And, you know, it's already being reported today. Over 50 countries have already reached out to the Trump administration and said, hey.
We want to be in the negotiating table. We want to negotiate with you. Multiple countries have already come forward and said, hey, let's just get rid of tariffs. Israel, one of them. India, another country that has basically emerged as a massive economy, India has already come back and said, yeah, let's reduce our tariffs.
You have Switzerland coming to the table. The EU is coming to the table. Everybody is coming to the table because you know why? They all have huge tariffs on us. So clearly tariffs have worked to enrich their countries. to lift their countries up so why would it not work for us if this is how they're treating us and we're getting the short end of the stick for so long
Why is it you can have some countries that have 100% tariff on American-made vehicles? 100% think of that. What it's designed to do is keep American products out of their country. So if that's the case, why don't we keep their products out of our country? Just saying. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. And when Trump takes that position, it's working. Why? Because people know he means business. And when you're the biggest economy in the entire world, you have a little leverage.
So we just need the Republicans to stand firm. Don't be weak, need sisters. Stand firm because this will all smooth out. and we will be better for it. Not only will we have more jobs, but it will lead to more national security. I'm just saying. I think it's a good thing. I think it'll all work out. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Monday morning. Still light snowfall coming down here in the Anchorage area. If you see traffic problems on the road, dial pound 250 on your cell. Say total traffic. Traffic is moving well around the Anchorage Bowl. Not seeing any major stoppages or slowdowns.
From the Swickard Chevrolet Anchorage Traffic Studios, I'm Daryl Dean. This report is sponsored by Compassion International. Every day a child in poverty waits for a sponsor is another day of hopelessness. There are thousands of kids. It'll be fine. This is all going to work out just fine. And at the end of the day, America's going to be stronger. America's going to be...
and less reliant on hostile foreign powers. This is a good thing. And the fact that these people are already coming to the table less than a week after these have been put into place, it's a huge signal that Trump is... to something. Again, I need the hat. Trump was right about everything. I need to get that hat because I'm starting to feel like it may be true. Alright, that does it for us today. We will be back with you tomorrow morning, but right now on deck, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
followed by Sean Hannity at 11. And, of course, the great Mike Piccaro and Crash are live and local every weekday afternoon from 4 to 6. Daryl and I will be back with you tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Until then, stay safe. Bye.