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Sen. Cotton blasts Biden's pick for HHS Secretary

2020-12-08 | 🔗
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., says Joe Biden's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, will be the president-elect's 'nationwide lockdown enforcer.'
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
The White House, thank you very much. Also in the d dot c area lets bring in Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, a member of the Senate Intel Committee Senator Good Morning to you good morning, good to be out with all of you Steve great to have you as well. Griff brought up a couple things we want to talk to you about. Where are we right now with the presidents? Many legal challenges to the election well, im, not sure where every single one of them stands. Obviously, there is a lot going on. They are moving forward in an orderly process. The president has lawsuits in multiple states. He has a right to contest the results in those states to expose potential irregularities and fraud. He has also, though, directed the General Services administration to release funds to the Biden team to plan for the contingency of their inauguration, as Griff said today is safe harbor day and the electors will cast their ballots on December 14th. This is moving forward in an orderly process.
Ainsley. I know Bidens to nominate Javier Becerra for Hhs Secretary. I know you have vowed no on this. You said you are not going to vote for that whats wrong for him for the job anxiously. I woke up this morning from a message from a friend in California who said that Javier Becerra is so far to the left. He makes Bernie Sanders. Look like a tea. Partier lets go through the problems with this nomination. First, he supports Medicare. For all, is he going to be responsible for running Medicare and Medicaid and Obamacare and many other healthcare programs? Is he going to use the discretion? The law gives him to try to take away your health insurance on the job to say, give less flexibility and control to families and states who are in charge of these healthcare decisions. Second, he is a true radical on abortion. He supported the lawsuits against nuns. He has gone after pro life activists in California who expose some truly grizzly crimes liked planned parenthood and third, look at what has
happened in California. During this pandemic. He has been on the forefront of locking down that entire state of preventing schools from reopening and people going to church of defending the kind of decisions we saw over. The weekend where the city of LOS Angeles will allow a well connected film crew to set up in the restaurant wont allow people to serve people outside their premises, Javier Becerra. Will the nations lock down enforcer? The Senate ought not to confirm Brian homage to Bernie Sanders. Give you somebody extremely liberal Obamacare said if thats who he wants. I will let him have it, but not with Tom Cotton, or I mean senator move on to something else a bit of a surprise. It looks as though Joe Bidens pick for Secretary of defense will be four STAR General Lloyd, Austin, four STAR Army general. I should say Lloyd, Austin now, obviously, for somebody to
get this high is going to be historic, first african American, to be Secretary of defense and to get this far in your career. Have you got to be an extraordinary intellect and war fighter? However, there are things in his past that are going to come up, for example, in two thousand and sixteen in the Atlantic. He was quoted as saying early in two thousand and fourteen Obamas intelligence advisers told him. Isis was of marginal importance. According to officials, that person was general Lloyd, you a Austin in twenty. Sixteen General Austin also testified that, out of all the syrian fighters that were strained for millions of dollars, only four or five were there were ready to fight and willing to fight against assads forces. So are those two things going to come up in your mind? Are those deal breakers? Well, Brian im sure senators will scrutinize those and many other things. I want to take a step back first and say I commend and respect General Austin for his four decades of service to our
nation. However, I, like many other senators, have real reservations about giving another a river waiver under federal law for a recently retired general to become secretary of defense. Remember federal law requires that any again has been out of the military for seven years before they can be confirmed. As secretary of defense, we granted a waiver to Jim Mattis for that in twenty seventeen. Can I tell that you, senators across the spectrum from liberal Democrats to conservative Republicans are opposed to doing that again. Jack Reed is the senior Democrat on the Armed Services committee. He said at the time in twenty seventeen that he didnt like giving this waiver. It should only happen once in a generation and he wouldnt do it again. A lot of Democrats voted against it as well. I suspect that many senators believe that, while general Senator Austin has served our country with distinction and might be a suitable nomination for many other cabinet positions, that it is time to restore proper civil military balance to the Pentagon and granting another waiver might put that at
risk. I will scrutinize that question very closely. I suspect most other senators will too Steve lets talk about something that is getting bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. That is a some sort of coronavirus relief package before the end of the year. Nancy Pelosi had wanted a gigantic amount of money, and now it looks like its just a little south of a trillion dollars, nine hundred dollars billion and it would add money to the paycheck Protection ACT. There would be one hundred and sixty dollars billion to local and stated governments, but you know a number of senators have said. We are not going to pass this unless there are checks for individual Americans. We have heard figures like every family would get at least a thousand dollars. One thousand two hundred bucks. There is no money in this. For those families there will be no individual checks. I heard that apparently Josh Hawley, your colleague from Missouri, called the president and said hey. You have got to
veto that unless there are checks going to go out to the people who are hurting. Where do you come down on this? Well Steve? First, I want to say its a real strategy that Nancy Pelosi was so cynical that she blockaded any new coronavirus relief for the last four months. She insisted for months before the election that she wouldnt come down a penny from her three dollars and thirty nine cents trillion bill, and just last week she said that she is ready to compromise. Why? Because she said we have a new president, so she revealed what she said. She had been doing all long, which is holding american workers and families hostage to the election, because she did not want Donald Trump to get any credit for an improoflg economy or the relief that we got to those families and communities now im very open to a new coronavirus relief bill. I have been in support of one for months, but you have to look under the hood to see what it says. Obviously, we need to help those workers who are still unemployed or still cant get the hours they need, because people like Gavin, Newsom and Xavier Becerra have shut down their restaurants or bars.
We need to help businesses that are struggling to keep their people on payroll. We need to make sure that schools can stay open, as is the case in Arkansas or reopen across the country. We need to make sure that we have the money to get the vaccine out as quickly as possible, rather that the total amount of spending in this bill, some of which will be money we didnt, spend in the Cares act and we have available to spend on these high priorities. I will be looking at what the actual priorities and policies are of the bill. Ainsley senator thanks for.
Transcript generated on 2020-12-08.