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.