WASHINGTON – United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) joined The Sean Hannity Show Wednesday to discuss the Biden Border Crisis and the Senate filibuster. They also spoke on their shared love for the great state of Tennessee.
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Partial Transcript Below:
Hagerty on the Biden Border Crisis: “This a crisis of Biden’s own doing. He invited them, just as you underscored and playing back his own words from the campaign. He’s even created incentives now. If you look at what’s inside this quote ‘COVID relief package’: illegal immigrants are going to get a check. So all the wrong incentives are in place. He’s stopped all border enforcement. And it’s amazing, they want to see schools shut, but they want to keep our borders open. I find it just incredible… My fellow Tennesseans see [the effects of] this all the way in Tennessee. It’s not just at the border, Sean. I was talking with a couple of sheriffs yesterday in Tennessee. They’ve already seen a surge in crime, particularly illegal drug usage. And these drugs are coming right across that open border in Mexico. This is something that’s got to be dealt with. You mentioned Biden’s removal of the Migrant Protection Protocols – the Stay in Mexico plan. That was working. President Trump’s plan was working, keeping people there in Mexico and dealing with the problem, in that regard. Letting them come across the border, as they’re doing right now, and failing to adjudicate this. They’re just letting them cross the border… at every point. They stopped building the wall, as you mentioned. Today, along with 39 of my colleagues, we sent a letter to the government accounting organization about this, because we believe that this is an infringement of Congress’s power of the purse. If the monies were appropriated, the Biden Administration doesn’t have the authority to freeze border wall construction, stop funding it. We appropriated the funds. They’ve got to come back to Congress before they can stop it. We’re going to push back on this as hard as we can.”
Hagerty on the Senate Filibuster: “We’re in the middle of a pandemic, a global pandemic, we’re in the middle of a recession we’re trying to recover from, and as you so clearly articulated, we’ve got a border crisis going on. Yet, [Democrats’] number one priority is to shove through this H.R.1 and they’re willing to destroy the Senate filibuster to do it. And that would turn the Senate into a body just like the House of Representatives. It would take away the long standing history of open debate here. And I am extremely concerned that that’s the direction they’re going to go, because it’s all about power to the Democrats.”
Hannity on the great state of Tennessee: “I love Tennessee. I have a heart for Tennessee. I lived 90 miles South of Nashville when I was broadcasting on a radio station in Huntsville, Alabama, early in my career, and I used to go up to Nashville all the time. I loved Music Row and I loved the city. I think it’s amazing, and I love the state.”
Hagerty on the great state of Tennessee: “Thank you for acknowledging what I believe is the best state on earth, Tennessee, and I encourage everybody to visit early and often, because we’re open for business in Tennessee. I think most of your listeners know that, but we’re open for business and we’re open for tourism there… Tennessee is one of the best managed states in the nation. We’ve had a conservative legislature that has kept our tax rates among the lowest in America. We’ve got a great business environment.”
Hagerty on former President Trump’s Blue Collar Economic Boom: “[The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act] was the beginning of President Trump’s blue collar boom. That, and deregulation, put our nation on the fast track in terms of economic growth. You remember Barack Obama saying, ‘How are you ever going to get these jobs back? You must have to have a magic wand?’ Well, abracadabra, President Trump brought it back.”