Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) to the newsmaker line to discuss Congress’ habitual overspending and advocate for strong legislation in the event of a Republican House takeover.
Leahy: Good morning, Congressman Burchett. Thanks for joining us today.
Burchett: Hey, it’s a glorious day here in Washington, D.C.
Leahy: (Laughter) What’s on the agenda today in Washington, D.C., Congressman?
Burchett: I’m sure it will be taking away some of your rights and taxing you and telling you that you’re going to defeat inflation by spending more of your great grandchildren’s money. (Laughter) Something along those lines.
Simon: Up is down and down is up.
Leahy: Yeah. That is crazy. Congressman, yesterday there was this bizarre press conference where Joe Biden, the president, said something. It was designed to honor the late Jackie Walorski, your colleague who died in August.
And he was not aware of her death, apparently, and said, “Where is Jackie?” It was a debacle. How do people in Congress respond to something like that?
Burchett: Just another day dealing with him. This guy is not with it, and his brain waves are not functioning correctly. I mean, whatever you want to say; it’s dementia, anything else. It’s a very scary time, actually. The Democrats admit it.
They openly admit it. It’s just a matter of fact. And they’re all hoping that the vice president doesn’t assume the helm because that could be a disaster for them, even worse.
Simon: This is like a comedy … . You know, it’s hugely funny at the same time as it’s like a nightmare.
Burchett: Yes. I was telling somebody I guess 80 million people are saying “whoops” right now.
Leahy: Exactly. So, let’s talk about the electoral elements here and the challenge that you face. It looks like the Republicans will take back the House. We’ve got five weeks and five days.
Things could change, but that’s what it looks like right now. What sort of damage do the Democrats in the House and the Senate intend to do to the country between now and Election Day?
Burchett: They’re going to spend, more so than ever. They’re going on what they call their victory lap right now. The committees are basically shut down to the point of all they do is bring in so-called expert testimony telling how great all these programs are and so on.
And basically, they’re just running for re-election on the taxpayer’s dime. We’ve seen it before. And of course, the major media will be telling how great things are if you drive an electric vehicle.
They’ll be pushing that and their woke agenda. That’s basically all they’re doing, and that’s all we’re doing up here and they’re going to do a continued resolution and continue funding the government.
I will not support that, of course, but I’m sure they’ll have enough votes. And hopefully the country can survive through this next election cycle. And I would encourage people, this is not a done deal.
These pollsters are, I don’t know how they stay in business, actually. They’ve never predicted anything. They said Reagan wouldn’t win. They said Newt wasn’t going to take over the House. They definitely said Trump wasn’t going to win and now they’re saying that we’re going to win.
And that scares me just a little bit, because I’ve been in these cycles before. And I’ve told people too, once we do take the majority, hold us accountable. Don’t let a bunch of left-wing Republicans change your mind. It’s not over, and that’s the trouble too …
Simon: It sure is. Are there any plans for what to do when you actually do get a majority, assuming you do? Even the commitments by McCarthy seemed pretty wishy-washy to me. I was disappointed in Gingrich, actually, for allying himself with that.
Burchett: The devil’s in the details. We’ve got to have strong legislation to back that stuff up. We’ve got to fix the border. We’ve got to get economically on some sound ground, which we’re not on right now, and the devil is in the details.
But I’m convinced by my conversations with him. I said, look, we’re going to lose our country. This isn’t some Archie Bunker kind of nonsense. This is the reality. Openly Marxist people.
People say oh, Burchett, you don’t understand Marxism. Marxists, they just worship the state. They have no religion other than the state. And that’s what they have up here right now. Everything they do.
Leahy: Your Republican colleague Claudia Tenney and several others have introduced a bill that would redirect the monies that have been appropriated to add 87,000 new IRS agents to the Border Patrol folks.
I think we could use 87,000 new Border Patrol agents instead of IRS agents. Are you familiar with that legislation, and is it something that you believe you’ll support?
Burchett: Yes, I’m familiar with it. I haven’t read it yet. The money is what I’m worried about, 87,000 people is a heck of a lot.
I think what we’d better do is, if we’re spending money that we didn’t have any way for the 87,000 IRS agents that we hired – and you’ve got to realize, too, they were hiring them, and then they had their staff, and then the buildings and the computers and everything else that will house them.
And the largest union in the country is our federal employees union, which they would be a member of. So you got to counter all that. I think I’d slow-step that just a little bit. I think we need border agents. I don’t know how many we need. I don’t know [if it’s] 87,000.
I think if we could just let the ones we’ve got do their job and build the wall like we said we were going to do. You know, the sky was going to fall when I think Trump wanted to spend $3 billion and then we just dropped $40 billion at one drop on Ukraine, plus probably $30 more billion. No telling what else he’s done by executive order.
Simon: But that all stops inflation, doesn’t it?
Burchett: Yes. Absolutely. Sure it does, Mr. Pelosi. Thank you, Congress. (Laughter)
Leahy: Congressman Burchett, if you win re-election, which we believe you will, and if the Republicans take over the House of Representatives, do you have a particular committee assignment that you’d like to have?
Burchett: I’d like to get on the intelligence committee, but I don’t know. Here’s the trouble with Tim Burchett, me. I don’t kiss enough butt and I don’t raise enough money. The millionaires and the billionaires are usually for me the day after the election.
Before it, they were not for me. They say I was with you all along. I say, yeah, I really felt you all there right towards the end.
But this system up here is broken. Both parties. And it is generally just a bunch of butt-kissers and money-raisers that move up. (Leahy chuckles)Â
Simon: I love your candor.
Burchett: It’s the truth. I don’t care. They never called me to the woodshed for it because they know it is the truth. I’ll never make an A committee.
Generally, the people that do that come from money or they’ve got big money behind them. Unfortunately, not too many Burchetts have been at the head of the helm.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Tim Burchett” by Tim Burchett.Â
