The Daily Signal - #377: A Freshman Senator Outlines the Reforms He Will Push in Washington

Episode Date: January 16, 2019

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., joins us to discuss how he's ready to change Washington, D.C. The businessman turned politician shares why he advocates term limits, and wants lawmakers to lose pay if they don't pass a budget on time. We also cover these stories:--Second Lady Karen Pence is under fire for teaching at a Christian school that holds traditional values on marriage and sexuality.--House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asks President Trump to postpone his State of the Union address.--The Democratic Party has officially withdrawn its endorsement of the Women’s March. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, January 17th. I'm Kate Trinko. And I'm Daniel Davis. Well, when it comes to smart budgeting and good spending habits, we don't typically think of Congress. But we do think of businessmen, like Mike Braun, who now represents Indiana in the Senate. Senator Braun comes to Washington with a lifetime of business experience, and he brings fresh ideas for reform. Our editor-in-chief, Rob Bluey and reporter Rachel Del Judas sat down with Braun, and we'll bring you that interview. Plus, First Lady Karen Pence is taking heat for daring to teach at a Christian school. We'll unpack that controversy.

But first, we'll cover a few of the top headlines. President Trump is set to deliver his State of the Union address on the 29th, but Speaker Pelosi once it postponed. On Wednesday, she sent a letter to the president asking him to postpone the speech until after the government is reopened or otherwise to submit the speech in writing. But she stopped short of officially withdrawing her invitation to speak, which she had already extended to him. Pelosi's move makes sense

because the state of the union does give Trump a national platform to make his case for the wall something Democrats haven't budged in opposition to. And of course the president has every reason not to postpone. An effective speech could change the course of negotiations. Andrew Wheeler, President Trump's pick to be Environmental Protection Agency administrator, had his congressional hearing Wednesday.

Unsurprisingly, there were protests. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. ranking member Carper and members of the committee. And thank you, Senator Inhoff, for the introduction. I'm honored and grateful that President Trump has nominated me for the position of administrator. Please remove, please restore order. The officers, please restare our order in the committee room.

Please restore order in the committee room. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont pressed him about climate change. Scientific community has said that climate, change is one of the great crises facing our planet. And if there is not unprecedented action to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy and energy efficiency, there will be irreparable damage in the United States and virtually every country on Earth. Do you agree with the scientific community? I would not call it the greatest crisis, no, sir. I consider it a huge issue that has to be addressed

globally. Well, you are, I found it interesting, Mr. Wheeler. You are the nominee to be head of the Environmental Protection Agency. You just in your opening statement did not mention the word climate change. Now, how does it happen

that the nominee to be head of the Environmental Protection Agency does not mention the words climate change at a time when the scientific community thinks that climate change is a great environmental crisis facing this planet? Should the American people have confidence that you're going to help us deal with this global crisis.

Yes, they should have confidence because we are moving forward to reduce CO2. Our ACE proposal will reduce CO2 approximately the same levels that the clean power plan would have if it had been implemented. And we're reducing CO2 from our CAFE standards. And we're also addressing greenhouse gases through our methane program as well. Wheeler is currently acting administrator of the EPA. ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed U.S. service members in Syria Wednesday. The troops were hit by an explosion during a routine patrol in the northern city of Mambige. The New York Times reports that at least 15 people were killed in total, though those don't all include U.S. soldiers.

Prior to the attack, only two U.S. service members had been killed in Syria since operations began there in 2014. The attack comes just weeks after President Trump announced U.S. troops would be withdrawing from Syria, though the pace of that withdrawal remains uncertain. While the left acts like abortion all nine months is the most sacred right enshrined in the Constitution, turns out that that is an extreme view. A numerous poll sponsored by the Catholic Organization Knights of Columbus finds that 75% of Americans think abortion should be limited to the first three months of pregnancy. Even 60% of Democrats agree. And when it comes to Roe v. Wade, 65% of Americans think that if the Supreme Court looks at the issue again,

There should be changes. About half of Americans would like to see the court allow states to decide what they want on abortion, while 16% of Americans would like to see the court ban abortion nationwide. Well, the Democratic Party has officially withdrawn its endorsement from the Women's March just two years after the March debuted. Party officials gave no explanation for it, but it's just the latest liberal group to withdraw support for the march after its leaders refused to condemn anti-Semitic remarks from Louis Farrak.

The leader of Nation of Islam. Three of the marches leaders had expressed admiration for Farrakhan in the past, and co-presidents Tamika Mallory and Bob Bland refused to condemn Farrakhan's comments when given the chance to this week on The View. Other liberal groups to withdraw their support include the Southern Poverty Law Center, Emily's List, and the National Council of Jewish Women. Next up, we'll feature Rob and Rachel's interview with Senator Mike Braun. Want to get up to speed about the Supreme Court?

then subscribe to SCOTUS 101, a podcast about everything that's happening at the Supreme Court and what the justices are up to. We're joined on the Daily Signal podcast today by Senator Mike Braun of Indiana. Senator, welcome. Thank you. You've been here in Washington for just about two weeks now, and I want to begin by asking you to share with our listeners your path to Congress, because in some ways it's an unusual path, having started in the private sector. and how do those principles that you learned in the private sector motivate you to try to change the things then that are functioning or not functioning here in Washington, D.C.? Well, I've signed a term limits pledge when I did make it as a campaign statement. Of course, I will stick with that. I really believe that, and it's happened in gubernatorial races where people have come from the outside and outmaneuvered the odds.

here it's not been done often at the Senate level and I don't think ever in Indiana. So I did it because I think we need to get more people that have had real world experience. It sounds kind of simple and general, but I do think you take the money out of politics when you don't make a career out of it. And all I can tell you is I've made budgets on a school board in a state house and most importantly, year after year in my own business and accomplished, you know, good things and sometimes maybe I'd even call it better than good, but you don't work in the bizarre world of the federal government where you get nothing done and you run trillion dollar deficits and pile it on 21 trillion now in debt. I'm going to hopefully weigh in on that. If I don't

make any progress legislatively, I'm at least going to talk about it often. Well, looking ahead and to this new Congress and this new year. What are some of your conservative principles and priorities that you want to advance? A couple things. I'm interested in kind of reforming the system in ways that will make a difference. There is a term limits bill out there, and I think it at least has a sense of grandfathering the people in that to some extent that we need to vote for it. I think that solves a bunch of problems. I tried to, you know, a campaign that I would not accept a senatorial pension. I get here, you can't even opt out of it. Yes, believe it or not, and I'm working on trying to make

a technical correction there so I can do what I said I was going to do. If not, I would just have to forego it when I actually, you know, earned it, which I would. But now, if you do not participate in the pension, you can't be on a 401k plan here or use health insurance. And I no longer them all my companies. So it was just a bizarro there. And I'm going to try to change that technically. And then I'd love to see someday where senators and congressmen do not get pensions. Nobody else does. They're almost universally underfunded and you can't support them. Those kinds of things need to change. I don't like the fact that you can lobby almost immediately. I think it's a one-year gap. But I'd like to see that either not being able to do it or a five-year separation so that there's more accountability to how this whole system works.

I'm sure that's going to be kind of excruciating for some here that have nestled into here, but I'm going to talk about it. When it comes to things I'd like to see get done, we're so polarized on any of the major issues. You don't get one Democratic vote or you don't get one Republican vote. I'm thinking that with the cost of health care, Democrats, I think, I think, own the issue currently. It was manifested through Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. It was not affordable. It's falling apart. I took on insurance companies in my own business 10 years ago to lower costs to make it sustainable. And my employees have not had premium increases for nine or 10 years. I tell people that they just think you're telling a fib. But it's true if you know

how to tackle it, put the right systems in place. So I think that's, I think that you're telling a fib. I think there'll be some Democrats that listen to that. How do you do it? Infrastructure, we took on that hard issue in Indiana, passed a long-term road funding bill that keeps our bridges and roads in repair and adds some, but we are a state that lives within our means so we can afford to do it. Passed a regional infrastructure bill that helps local areas like mine initiate a road project and help pay for it to control your own debt. not asking for everybody else to pay for whatever you want to do. I'd like that they rub off here.

Infrastructure, health care, basic reforms. You have so much that you want to do. I want to ask, though, how has the partial government shutdown affected your start to the 116th Congress? Well, at the speed they operate here, it's not going to make a lot of difference. I have to almost slow my metabolism down to, you know, be at a rate that's even close to what it was like as a business owner or a state. legislator. So we will get through that. We're simply in my no budget, no pay bill that's out there would say that if you don't, you don't get a budget done within a year with all that time to prepare for it, that those of us that are here don't get paid. So I'm hoping that has some leg to it.

But no, there's plenty of other stuff to learn. I'm going to be one that, is going to speak up on the stuff I know something about and try to learn a lot more about things I don't know. But it was just like being a state legislator after we accomplished long-term road funding, which was a big deal to southern Indiana, and was able to get a regional infrastructure bill passed. We've got teed up in our area now to talk about a road project we've been talking about for 40 years. I hope to do a few of those things. And believe me, six or 12 years will be plenty of time to see if that's going to be. happen. So as a Friday, we're now in the longest government shutdown that we've been in. What are your

thoughts about where things stand with Democrats and how they failed to work with Trump to open the government? I think the reason it's extending a little longer than any before is because 75% of the government is funded. Here, there are going to be some services like TSA and others that, you know, might start to suffer that will have real consequences. I think Democrats are in a tough spot in, and, you know, and, you know, I'm not one that likes to read a poll every time I need to see what's happening, but I think there are more people now that view border security is a big deal than what there was a year ago. And the president and Republicans are asking for nothing more than what almost every Democrat agreed to just a few years ago, and at a magnitude level a lot higher than $5.7 billion.

You obviously coming from the private sector, I'm sure, have had your share. share of negotiations. What is your take on how these negotiations are playing out between President Trump and Congress? Well, I think a lot of times negotiations have more nuanced subtleties to them. Here, I don't think it's very nuanced. If you believe in border security, which apparently Democrats don't now, even when it comes to spending money outside of a barrier or a wall, which they all said they would be okay with that, you know, very recently. I think that it's, again, part of what Ailes, D.C. Things get so political and you leave a real problem out there like border security unattended

to because in one case, you know you needed to have border security and national security to some degree, and Democrats now don't think that that makes sense. You just mentioned the importance of border security to national security. Was this a big issue for your constituents back home? During the entire campaign through the primary and the general, border security, the cost of health care, people actually worried about the integrity of Medicare and Social Security were even with jobs in the economy. And jobs in the economy would normally be above all three of them. That's because jobs in the economy are doing so well. conservatives need to do a better job of explaining how good tax reform has been and how it's benefiting

people across the board and companies. I challenge business owners every day. You're sending less money to the federal government. If you're successful, share those benefits with your employees. I'm glad you mentioned that issue because obviously as a successful and winning candidate, you were able to break through in terms of your communication. What advice do you have for other conservatives when talking about issues like tax reform and some of the benefits that have come from that. My first piece of advice would get out there and communicate. I did a podcast with Major Garrett that was nearly 50 minutes and knew up front that it was going to be no editing. It was just let's talk. And he indicated that he has trouble getting Republicans or conservatives

to do it. And I can see why, because a lot of times you're set up for a gotcha moment, but you need to know how to avoid that. And if somebody's doing it, you know, kind of tell him, hey, you want to have a real discussion. Let's be a little better in your presentation. But I think we've got to do that. When it comes to tax reform for conservatives and for the average American, it's more than crumbs, but for it to really hit home, I think you're going to have to do what we did in my own company. And what many did early on is invest in your employees to the best you can with better benefits, higher wages so they don't look to government to do it.

And that's a failed promise if you think you're going to go there and get anything done that you're going to pay for. So Friday will be the 45th annual March for Life. Why do you think this event is important? How do you think it's played a role in the public movement largely? So, you know, I was been a pro-life proponent and ran on it. You know, it was endorsed by the Indiana Right to Life, National Right to Life, and Susan B. Anthony, they knocked on, I think, close to half million doors for me in Indiana. It's because it is important.

I think that I've also know it's a divisive issue. And I think we need to keep, we need to stay out there and talk. about it, not be afraid of the issue. Don't demonize anybody along the way that disagrees with you, but we can't be shy about any of things we believe in, whether it's right to life, whether it's border security, or, you know, defending why, keeping more of your own resources make sense. So we just need to articulate it in a way that shows that we do have the ability to see the other point of view and try to, you know, find some ground where it's a win-win. This is the first time in a number of years that Indiana has two Republican senators.

What priorities do you have for the delegation for the people of Indiana that you're hoping to, you know, focus on in terms of their constituent needs? Well, you know, it's really nice when you come from a state like Indiana that is probably got one of the best business environments in the country where I live in southern Indiana. In fact, Jasper just got named as one of the best towns in the state, if not the country, to live there, do our low cost of living and higher than average incomes. And, you know, Indiana is a place that I think will keep doing well because it's based upon certain principles that make sense.

Live within your means. be very engaging when you try to get enterprise into your state, be a real champion of everybody having a great opportunity to succeed and do it all in a context where it's not falling apart, you know, as you try to do these good things. And that's the difference between a state like Indiana and the federal government. And I think a lot of it will be to make sure that the federal government doesn't impact a great state like ours in a way that,

takes us away from how well we've performed. You briefly mentioned earlier the no budget, no pay legislation that you introduced with Senator Mention. Why is this legislation so important? To me, one of the things that I said, I'm going to focus on reforming a few areas. I think when you're an institution that's got a 15% approval rating, that's just one of a few things that would lend towards that. And I think that you've got to have real consequences other than just lips.

service or saying that, gosh, I wish we got a budget done. All I know is as a CEO of my company, if I couldn't find ways to reduce costs in such a modest way as all it would take to make this to where we get our budgets in order. And the fact that we don't get one done when, you know, that's a primary responsibility of the Congress, you need to have some repercussions. if that doesn't happen. So I think there's plenty of notice over a year's time. If you don't get it together, we can't keep running the government on continuing resolutions

and a structural budget deficit that we're now losing close to a trillion dollars a year that we finance on top of $21 trillion in debt. That's got to change. And finally, Senator, you know, at a time of divided government in Washington, Democrats controlling the House, one of the focuses that is on the Senate, it certainly comes in, as Mitch McConnell says, the personnel business.

You have a number of appointments for the Trump administration, the Attorney General, the EPA administrator, both coming before the Senate this week. A record number of judges confirmed last Congress with a whole lot more awaiting. What can you tell our listeners about that and the role that the Senate can play over the next two years when it comes to judicial nominees and other appointments? Well, we have at least two more years where that, you know, will happen. And I think that has gotten so political as well. We know the consequences if we don't win the presidency in 2020. You know, we'd be in a defensive mode. And, you know, it'll go the other way.

I think that, you know, that is something you take advantage of when you've got the position to do so. I want to quickly segue to an area where we talked about it a little bit earlier. but I think the real pivotal issue is going to be health care. I think conservatives have been too apologetic for the industry. You know, I had to deal with it myself, and I think there's going to be some real common ground if we can take that issue, which I think the Democrats own Republicans and conservatives

have got to focus on how we lower costs, the Affordable Care Act did something I've always believed in. You should never go broke because you get sick or have a bad accident and built that end of the plan I offered my employees, and I held premiums flat for 10 years. We've got to get that done. I don't think Democrats really care about controlling costs other than if it just happens.

And I think that if you do migrate to a one-payer system, like they think will solve that issue. we won't like it. You may in the long run lower some costs, but I'm going to think the quality of health care will suffer too. Well, Senator, I'm glad you brought that up because I had a conversation with a couple of freshman congressmen last week on the House side,

both of them who were enthusiastic about health care as well. It seems there is an appetite among Republicans and conservatives to return to that issue. There is, and I think conservatives and Republicans are often seen as defending business. And I think we defend it for free and open markets and robust competition. And it's what's made the country great. It's a productive side of our economy, entrepreneurs and enterprisers.

The health care industry doesn't fit into that classification in the way that it should. It's been shrouded with so much lack of transparency through an insurance system that doesn't make sense anymore. in the industry, which I'm going to really encourage, you need to fix these things yourselves, or you'll be part of a one-payer system, and you know what the problems are. Get with it. I'm going to encourage that and go with them to do it. Senator, thanks so much for joining the Daily Signal. You're very welcome. Liberals have pretty much cornered the market on 101-style podcasts that break down tough policy issues in the news. Until now, did you know that every week Heritage explains intermingles

personal stories, news clips, and facts from heritage experts to help explain some of today's hardest issues from a conservative perspective. Look for Heritage Explains on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. Karen Pence, the wife of Vice President Mike Pence, is under attack from the left because, get this, she's teaching art at a Christian school. Huffington Post headlined an article. Karen Pence is working at a school that bans, LGBTQ employees and kids. And the notorious human rights campaign tweeted, The Pence's never seemed to miss an opportunity to show their public service only extends to some.

Pence spokeswoman, Kara Brooks, said in a statement to Politico, Mrs. Pence has returned to the school where she previously taught for 12 years. It's absurd that her decision to teach art to children at a Christian school and the school's religious beliefs are under attack. So, Daniel, what do you think? So this is, again, I think another repeating of the mistake that the folks on the left make, that sexual orientation is not about identity. It's really about behavior.

And that's what this school is doing. This school has every right to have certain ethical code that students have to follow. Basically say, you know, you're paying into this school. You know, you're choosing to be part of this community. And so we want you to agree with our ethical standards. That's why we have a separate school. That's why, you know, the government's not paying for this school is so that we can have our own community that, you know, runs according to its standards. And that means that, you know, yeah, one of the things that one of the standards is that, you know, we don't believe homosexual, you know, activity is moral.

That's just part of our faith. Also, you know, sex outside of marriage between straight people. You know, I actually went, I think obviously you did too. I went to a Christian school, not in high school, but in college. Oh, for college. Okay. For college. And, you know, we weren't allowed to, yes, you know, things like same-sex relationships

were not, same-sex sexual activity was not allowed, but also, you know, straight couples weren't allowed to do that. So would we say my school banned straight people? We weren't allowed to drink alcohol. Does that mean we banned people who enjoyed alcohol? it wasn't about banning the person. It was just about acknowledging that our community has the right to have a certain ethical code that is in line with our faith and with our conscience. Right.

And, you know, when I was looking over the school's rules, you know, I think Politico had them. Yeah, it did seem very much that if, you know, a high school student or a teacher thought they were homosexual or gay, but, you know, was not acting on that. It seemed like that wouldn't be a problem for the school. And I mean, that's the distinction that you were bringing up. And, you know, I think, you know, there are celibate Christians who never get any coverage by the media, but who feel that, you know, the way that Christian values work that because they are same sex attracted, they need to be celibate. And they've chosen to live that way. And I mean, nothing I read in the schools things meant that someone like that couldn't teach there. Right.

And also, it's a bit removed anyway from Karen Pence because she's just teaching there. It's not even like she didn't make these rules. Right. She didn't make the rules. And it's not even like she's even voicing an opinion, although tacitly, like she does endorse it because she's going to teach there. But again, like, it's unacceptable opinion these days. I also think it's interesting, you know, we should turn this around a little bit because this is a Christian institution where you would expect, okay, at least there you can do your thing as, you know, people of faith without interference. But what the secular left is really wanting to do is exclude people like Karen Pence from, it seems like people who hold her views from being first lady.

That's the implication, I think, of what this, you know, they're saying, oh, you're first lady. So you shouldn't be working at a school that holds these views. I think the implication there is that if you hold those views, you're not allowed in this secular space. Right. And I think that's... And we've seen that with like, remember the CEO of Mozilla was fired Brendan Ike a few years ago just because he had donated money to the Proposition 8 in California, which passed. Yes, it passed. In 2008 when Barack Obama said he believed in traditional marriage. Right. And Prop 8, of course, was saying that marriage was between a man and a woman. And as I recall, the reason it passed in California was in large part due to minority voters.

who are coming out for Obama, but we're also very against legalizing same-sex marriage. Right. Yeah, no, I think it is disheartening to see that, like, you can't hold these views. You know, again, which relate to the activity, as you point out, a lot of Christian schools and colleges also limit the activity that straight couples can engage in, and those principles don't just extend LGBT people. But, of course, they never talk about that. And, you know, I think it's also, I mean, this is sort of the always elephant.

in the room, but a Muslim school would presumably have similar things. I'm not aware of any woke Muslim schools that disagree with their religion on these matters. And yet, you can't imagine that if Karen Pence had taught at a Muslim school, that she would be subject to this kind of attack. Right. I mean, this is, you know, this is what we have to accept in a plural society where not everyone's the same. I mean, we want diversity, right? I mean, if we want diversity, then we have to accept that there's going to be some contradictions in our society. Some people are going to have their views and they're going to set up their own institutions and they're going to adhere to that. And that's what actually diversity means. But it seems like at least the journalists who write

these articles saying that, you know, school bans gay kids, you know, don't seem to be very interested in that kind of diversity. Yeah. And I am sort of struck by, and you brought this up at the beginning, this whole idea of identity and it being so wrapped up. and your sexual orientation. And I do think that's something fascinating that's really, I mean. A lot of gay people don't buy that, by the way. Right. They'll say I'm gay, but that's not really the core of who I am.

Right. But I think it's also interesting how there's been such a push to do this in the past couple decades. And, you know, it's like such a big thing. And I always love it slash hate it when celebrities are like, oh, I'm coming out as bisexual or something. It's like, is this like what, like, I don't care. I don't understand why you think this is such a fundamental revelation about

you. And, you know, I think I've mentioned it before, but a couple of years ago in the now defunct weekly standard, Mary Everset had this article that I thought was really interesting about how in this era where families are so fractured, where so few people have religious adherents, that people are looking for any kind of identity to latch themselves to and be like, this is who I am. This is my deepest self. And I think you really see this with sexual identity that people really think it's, yeah, the most fundamental part about themselves, like the truest part. And it's just, of course, it is part of you. But it's such an odd thing to focus on exclusively. Yeah. I mean, at the very least, I think what we as a country have to realize

is that, you know, people shouldn't have to deal with, put up with this in the public square. You know, people like Brendan Ike and Karen Pence and others shouldn't have to deal with it in the public square. But at the very least, they should be able to go to their private Christian school and live according to their conscience. Well, and of course, remember the infamous case, and I think it was 14, the Indiana Pizza Shop. Oh, yeah. It was all hypothetical. Oh, yeah. And the owners said they wouldn't cater a gay wedding for pizza.

Like, I mean, one, this situation never happened. A real gay couple never came to this pizza shop. And yet there was such a national uproar over this that I don't know if they're still in business or not, but it certainly looked dicey there for a bit. Yeah. And they had massive protests. And, you know, I think it is telling. I mean, you know, I think every, there's so much division on so many issues in the United States.

Like, we have to coexist with people who disagree with us on a variety of issues. Right. And I do think it's interesting that on this particular issue, people really struggle to coexist from the left on. They really, you know, I mean, I think Tucker Carlson has a line, you know, that it bothers the person in Brooklyn that someone in Alabama disagrees with him. Right. But the person in Alabama is sort of like, well, the person in Brooklyn, whatever. It's not even coexistence. It's allowing someone to exist somewhere else in their own corner.

Yeah. But that's just abominable, apparently. the fact that you have a Christian school that has different ideas about sexuality anywhere is an absolute scandal. Right. And I mean, of course, you know, she's teaching art. She's teaching sexual morality.

I know. Art. Right, right, right. Right. Right. Right. Yes. Well, thanks so much for listening to The Daily Signal podcast brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud, and please leave us a review or rating on iTunes to give us any feedback. We'll see you again tomorrow. You've been listening to the Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis. Sound design by Michael Gooden, Lauren Evans, and Thalia Rampersad. For more information, visit DailySignal.com.