The Daily Signal - 'Fight Hard on Principle,' Says Freshman Republican Lawmaker

Episode Date: February 2, 2021

Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., a former wrestler, defeated an incumbent Republican on his way to becoming a freshman member of Congress. Good, who won Denver Riggleman's seat in Virginia's 5th Congressional District, joins the podcast to discuss not only his unusual background but his thoughts on immigration and what he saw on a recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.     We also cover these stories: Senate Republicans propose a $618 billion COVID-19 relief bill as an alternative to President Biden’s $1.9 trillion bill.  President Biden speaks disapprovingly of a military coup in Myanmar, formerly Burma.  A group of House Republicans demands that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., apologize to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for essentially accusing him of trying to murder her.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, February 2nd. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. Congressman Bob Good is a freshman member of Congress from Virginia. He joins the Daily Signal podcast on a recent trip to the U.S. Mexico border that he and I were part of. We discuss his career before running for Congress, including his former wrestling career, and his thoughts on immigration and reflections on what he saw on a recent trip to the border. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave

a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top News. Senate Republicans have proposed a $618 billion COVID-19 relief bill as an alternative to President Biden's $1.9 trillion bill. Biden met with 10 GOP members on Monday evening to discuss the package. The $618 billion bill would provide $160 billion per personal protective equipment, testing, and vaccines. It would also send a $1,000 check to low-income Americans. and extend $300 weekly unemployment insurance checks until July. In a statement to President Biden, the 10 Republican senators said, we recognize your calls for unity and want to work in good faith with your administration to meet the

health, economic, and social challenges of the COVID crisis. Some Senate Democrats have already voiced concerns about the GOP bill, lamenting that it does not include state and local funding and is, nowhere near Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said per Politico that the package outlined by 10 Senate Republicans is far too small to provide the relief the American people need. In particular, a three-month extension of jobless benefits is a non-starter. An extension of benefits for at least six months is essential.

President Joe Biden has spoken disapprovingly of a military coup in Burma that began Monday morning. Biden spoke against the Burmese military taking into custody the leader of the National League for Democracy, Aung Suu Kai, and other leaders, as well as the Burmese military taking over power for one year in their declaring a state of emergency. In a statement via the Hill, Biden said, the detention of Aung San Suu Kai and other civilian officials and the Declaration of a National State of Emergency are a direct assault on the country's transition to democracy and the rule of law. A group of House Republicans are demanding Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, apologize to Senator Ted Cruz for accusing him of essentially attempting to murder her. Last week, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that the stock trading platform Robin Hood should be investigated for its actions around the game-stop trading frenzy.

Cruz responded to Ocasio-Cortez's tweet, saying he fully agreed. Ocasio Cortez quickly responded to Cruz, writing, I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there's common ground. But you almost had me murdered three weeks ago, so you can sit this one out. She tweeted referring to the Capitol riots on January 6th. On Monday, Texas Representative Chip Roy and 13 other GOP members sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking for a formal apology from Ocasio Cortez. The letter to Pelosi reads, it has come to our attention that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent out a tweet which she accused Senator Cruz, in essence,

of attempted murder. We believe this is completely unacceptable behavior for a member of Congress, they wrote, adding, we ask you to call on her to immediately apologize and retract her comments. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Congressman Bob Good of Virginia. Now, this interview is recorded late at night in a hotel lobby following a long day of touring the border, so please forgive any background noise or chatter that came through. What the heck is trickle-down economics? Does the military really need a space force?

What is the meaning of American exceptionalism? I'm Michelle Cordero. I'm Tim Desher, and every week on the Heritage Explains podcast, we break down a hot-button policy issue in the news at a 101 level. through an entertaining mix of personal stories, media clips, music, and interviews, we help you actually understand the issues. So do this. Subscribe to Heritage Explains on iTunes, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcast today. I'm joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Congressman Bob Good of Virginia at Congressman. Thank you so much for joining us today on the Daily Signal podcast.

Great to be with you, Rachel. Thank you for having me. Well, it's great to have you with us. So you're a freshman member of Congress. can you start off just by telling us about why you decided to run for Congress? Well, I really answered the call. My home district, I was recruited to challenge an incumbent Republican who folks in the district did not feel that he as a first-term congressman was reflecting the majority conservative values in the district, and I was among those who believed that the Republican Party principles are best for America, our vision of low spending, low taxes, economic opportunity,

standing on our Judeo-Christian principles, standing up for the family, standing up for faith, the importance of faith, and the importance of the sanctity of life. And frankly, reforming immigration in a way that puts Americans first was critically important to me as well. Well, so before your Congress, you had a career in wrestling that spanned four decades. You were a competitor, a coach, an administrator, and a mentor, too. Can you tell us a little bit about all of that? Yeah, wrestling, I began to do that when I was in elementary school, continued through middle school and high school, went on to wrestle,

University and earn a partial scholarship there. And wrestling is a very demanding sport. It's a grueling sport that really teaches discipline, sacrifice, perseverance, toughness in a way that few sports do. And my boys would go on to become all-state wrestlers as well. We're a wrestling family. And so I had a chance to coach along the way and invest in young men's lives in the sport. And it really helped shape me in many ways into the individual that I am today.

Well, going back to Congress, you're coming in at a time where tensions are really high in a political landscape where Republicans are in the minority with a Democrat in the White House and the House and majorities in the White House and Senate, how do you think conservatives should respond to this unique sort of situation we find ourselves? And it happens every so many years, but how do you think, in general, conservatives should respond at a time where they're in the minority? Yeah, I think we've got to fight hard on principle and do one of two things, either be able to stop the Democrats by gumming up the works or peeling off a few maybe reasonable, more moderate, if any of those exist on the Democrat Party, to try to stop the radical leftist socialist agenda of Biden and Pelosi and Schumer and do our best to stay united on true

Republican conservative principles that offer the best opportunity for our country, for economic opportunity, for energy independence, for a strong national defense, for a strong border, and for jobs for Americans. And so we stand united in stopping the radical Democrat agenda, or if we lose, if we lose on the votes, we lose on principle by standing united, but exposing the Democrats for who they are, and then hopefully the American people will rebel against that

or reject that at the ballot box come 2022. Well, some of the things Democrats have talked about, they've talked about ending the filibuster. We know different of those in the House and Senate want to pass things like the Equality Act and the Green New Deal. How do you think, first of all, I guess, what are the dangers to those pieces of legislation that you see in particular? And then how do you think conservatives, even though their minority, should respond to that?

Well, it's really clear to me that the Democrat Party has declared war on the American people. After Joe Biden ran at times claiming to be more of a moderate, claiming to want to bring people together, claiming to be a uniter and a healer, he has really declared war on the people of America in terms of declaring war on their jobs, canceling the Keystone Pipeline, which will cost 11,000 jobs, it's estimated, canceling the border wall, which will cost tens of thousands of jobs also, declaring war on American energy, which will reduce, eliminate American energy independence. It'll radically increase utility gas, oil prices. It'll cost, again, thousands and thousands of jobs. Clearly on his immigration policies, he's putting illegal immigrants ahead of American citizens.

He's putting illegal immigrants ahead of the safety of Americans and just one issue after another with executive order, Joe Biden with his allies and the Democrat Party cheering him on, or really is declaring war on the American worker, on the American family, on the American citizen, and the safety and security of our country. We've talked a lot about what Democrats want to do. What are some things and policy areas that you're really passionate about that you want to work on in these first days and weeks and months in Congress? Well, I'm a born-again Christian, so my most important issues would be issues related to the same. sanctity of life. You know, I've signed on to, I think, at 16 pro-life bills. And the capstone of that, my friend Alex Mooney from West Virginia's bill, the Life at Conception Act, which would recognize and protect all life. There is no more greater responsibility of government than to protect life and to protect those who cannot protect themselves. And that begins with innocent,

precious life. I also believe very strongly in the founding Judeo-Christian principles. Our nation was established upon the importance of faith and family as cornerstones to who we are as a country and also just recognizing the importance of the Constitution or the Democrat Party does not believe in the sacredness of the Constitution or the rule of law. And so fighting to protect that. And I think the most pressing issues beyond life would be attacking the national debt and the deficit and the spending, which is we will be the first generation to leave a legacy of debt to your generation and those who come behind us and for Republicans to return to true fiscal conservatism. Secondly, attacking the federal government's overly oppressive influence on education

across our country. As our kids are being indoctrinated, K through 12, continuing through college with a humanistic, frankly, atheistic worldview that's anti-American, that's anti-family, that's really changing how our young people think. Things like rejecting the 1776 initiative and replacing it with the 1619 initiative, really dangerous to our families. to our young people. But I would like to see the Department of Education abolished, but short of that to reduce the federal government's control of our education system, to return control and power

to the family, to the parents, and to have local control of our schools. So education, fiscal responsibility, and then finally immigration reform. Immigration reform is critical to our country's future, especially eliminating illegal immigration. You would think that we could come together and be unified. That would be where we could reach across the aisle

and work together with Democrats on protecting our nation from an illegal immigration standpoint, but we don't even have unity on that issue. Well, on that issue, we actually just got back from a trip to the border. A couple of your different Republican colleagues, and I was able to join you all, and we visited different spots, and I want to talk a little bit about what we saw, but just top line, what's on your heart and mind coming away from this trip? What did you see and learn and what's most on your heart after, you know, thinking about this strip a little bit? Well, comprehensive immigration reform from a conservative standpoint of putting the Americans first, American workers first, and protecting America first.

It's been a critical issue to me since I launched my campaign a year and a half ago and challenged an incumbent Republican. However, illegal immigration being the cornerstone of that or the chief part of that. And so to have an opportunity, though, for the first time, to go and visit the border myself, to be there right up close and personal as we looked at just miles and miles of the border here in Arizona. when we were there just recently. And to see what the border patrol deals with, to see what those folks who live along the border deal with, and to really learn that all immigration, especially all illegal immigration that comes from our southern border,

comes through the organized crime in Mexico, comes through the cartels, comes through them smugglers and through the coyotes, and just the danger that it puts these poor immigrants through, what they go through to try to reach our borders, and the danger that they encounter as they travel to women who are being raped, to children who are being abused, to just the physical toll that it takes upon those immigrants that are coming. And then how we are rewarding with our, the President Biden's lax immigration policy,

we're rewarding the revenue that's coming in through these cartels, we're enriching them by allowing them to cross our border in the manner that they are. And what a danger that is, how danger it is to our folks trying to patrol the border, and how necessary is to complete the wall. Folks can disagree, and I could not disagree with them more strongly, but folks can disagree and say, hey, we shouldn't have a wall because they think it's mean or they just think we ought to be more welcoming or more open or what have you.

But it is totally dishonest to say the wall doesn't work. It absolutely does work. It's a 99% success rate when you have that wall in place, that 30-foot-tall wall. We've completed nearly 500 miles under President Trump. We've got 300 more miles funded already, that it's a travesty that we wouldn't go ahead and finish that last, that's the last 300 miles that are already funded to secure our borders, to give the border

patrol the support they need. They've told us that with the new wall in place, they need one border patrol agent for every two miles. Without the wall, they need five agents for every mile. So really, it's one-tenth of the manpower needed to secure the border when the wall is in place. So really to see how dangerous it is, to see the control of the organized crime, and it just really illustrates how important it is that we secure the border and completely.

the wall. Well, as you had mentioned, President Biden did stop construction on the border wall. And I know that, you know, with a Democrat majority in the House and Senate, there's not a lot can be done. But how would you say a response from conservatives should be to that? I think, like it is on the many other issues, what we've got to do is our best to inform the American people of what's really happening, how high the stakes are, what the consequence is of stopping the border wall, not completing it, and do our best. to expose what the Democrats are doing and what the consequence of that is to the American people. Securing the border is a national security issue. It's an economic issue as our schools,

our social services systems, as they are already taxed at the limit to take care of our own citizens and the flood of immigrants that are coming across illegally. So it's a national security issue. It's an economic issue. But it's also a health care issue. Here we are in the midst of a serious virus. and here we are allowing more and more immigrants to come across. And Joe Biden has said, hey, 100-day freeze on deportation of anyone, including criminals, and it stopped building the wall. And he's promised amnesty and citizenship to the 10 to 20 million illegal aliens who are here currently. What a danger to the American people.

We've just got to expose that and do our best to fight against the Democrats' agenda in that area. Well, as we wrap up, you mentioned the pandemic. We've also had an election that had very high tensions over that. that as a man of faith, what would you like to tell constituents back in Virginia as well as across the country of what they should keep in mind during these times? Well, I think that what we've got to keep in mind, that we are blessed to live in the greatest country the world has ever known. Only 5% of the world's population gets to live in these United States, this wonderful first-ever self-rule government of the people by the people for the people. And we the people truly do have the power. You know, I get asked about term limits often.

We have the power to term limit our representatives, our congressmen, our senators, our state representatives. We have the power to term limit a president. So the power is with us to make our voices known, to make our voices heard, to fight and advocate for what we believe, to not allow the left to cancel us, to shout us down, to intimidate us, but to be bold and strong about what we believe. our country is worth fighting for, and the future of our country is truly in the balance, and we must not give up. We must continue to fight as those before us did. Well, Congress, been good. It's been great having you on the Daily Signal podcast. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you so much, Rachel. Appreciate it.

And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review at a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.