Texas Responds in Washington Interview Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne

Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

Rey Treviño III [00:00:00] Well, as Iran has already made threats and made a few action, Texas is ready to respond with me today with all the things going on. I cannot think enough. Congresswoman Duyne, how are you, ma’am?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:00:15] I’m doing well. How are you doing? I’m just being in the video with you.

Rey Treviño III [00:00:21] Guys, I can’t hear. Thank you so much. And I tell you what, with everything going on, thank you for the time right now. With all that’s going on obviously here in the last hour and a half, we’ve seen retaliation for what President Trump did. Let’s just start there at the most current thing, what you’re hearing, and we can go from there.

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:00:41] Well, it sounds like Iran felt like it had to respond and retaliate. They attacked our air bases in Qatar. When I say attacked, it was very muted. They gave warning that they were going to do it. We had already evacuated. No one was harmed. And it just seems like they felt like the need to be able to do for symbolic reasons. That being said, I think the attack that our military did to Iran was very targeted. It was very strategic. It was very deliberate and I think was a complete success and probably one of the best attacks that we have had in the history of America. And I want to praise not only our military but also this administration and President Trump himself for having such decisive actions and for it being such a success.

Rey Treviño III [00:01:29] You know, you were there even during the last administration and how precise and I mean, and this you are correct. This was such a precise, successful mission. Nobody was hurt from the from the American side, which you know, God bless that. What do you think is one big difference right away from the last administration to President Trump actually doing this? And keep in mind, he sent those planes to Guam Saturday afternoon, and we could talk about that fun thing in a minute. But what’s your biggest difference so far?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:01:59] Well, I mean, obviously you’ve got an administration that actually would set up deadlines and do nothing. You had an administration under the Biden. A Biden regime that instead of sending bombs over to Iran, they sent cash, they sent billions of dollars, you know, and they had everything that was leaking out. This president, you had a very strong military stuck together. You know, you comment about the B-2s going to Guam, you know, that was on purpose, you know, where the B2s actually came in that did the bomb strikes. Against the uranium enrichment plants in Iran was very strategic. And God bless them for not having any of that be leaked, because I think it came as a complete surprise to Iran. But today we are much safer under the Trump administration on taking decisive action. When he said you’ve got 60 days to negotiate Iran, you had agreed for decades that you would never have the enriched uranium that we had witnessed that you actually were creating. It was weapons level for a reason. You have said you have claimed your number one mission is down with Israel, down with the USA. This was an immediate threat, and I think it was well within the U.S. President’s constitutional ability to be able to have this targeted, very targeted, strategic, and very short-term attack.

Rey Treviño III [00:03:20] You know, with that being said, and you talking about how this was a strategic attack, I did find it interesting that on social media on Saturday, we saw that the B2s were going over to Guam. And I was like, is President Trump sitting those over there to just let the rest of the world know like, hey, we haven’t forgot about you. That’s what I was thinking. However, like you said, it was a great strategic move to allow them to get where they needed to go. I heard that those B2s did like a 30 hour flight to get to Iran is what I heard. Have you gotten any information from the president other than that you can share? Have you got any other information than what we have all heard on the civilian side?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:04:03] It’s a flying day and obviously we’ve gotten some information. We’re going to have much more of a briefing tomorrow on some of the specifics. But again, I praise this administration for taking action when it needed to be taken, for not having meaningless deadlines and not holding these regimes accountable for their actions. And I think that is a positive thing. I think the world is safer without having an Iran that’s constantly threatening to go to war with nation after nation after nation. And we’ll see where it goes from here. But I would also remind people. Who are very critical of the Trump administration and saying that it’s unconstitutional. I would look at the over 26,000 bombs that President Obama dropped on Libya and Afghanistan, on Somalia during his time, not a peep out of the Democrats. And you look at thousands of bombs that Clinton dropped during his times. It actually had… Boots, American U.S. Soldier boots on the ground without authority from Congress, and yet not a peep out of the Democrats. The fact is that there’s not a declaration of war on the Iranian people. This was an attack on a immediate threat not only to the U. S. But also to the region. That was very clear, very strategic, and again, I praise this administration and our military for taking the action that it did.

Rey Treviño III [00:05:19] I’m glad you brought that up because Congressman Jeffreys has been on air in the last 45 minutes. And if you’re not aware, I know you’ve been waiting on me. But he was saying that there wasn’t even a courtesy to Congress. Now, in this scenario, I don’t see that a courtesy was needed. Do you feel offended by the actions and not maybe knowing 100% of what was going to happen as a congresswoman there in Washington, D.C.?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:05:45] I think the fact that there were no leaks is proof why you can’t let all of Congress know within moments. They let us know that we’re getting briefings. We found out as soon as they left Iranian airspace about the specifics of the attack, which is normal. That’s what past presidents have done. Again, this was an immediate threat. And by the way, Schumer had been contacted. Jeffries had been contacted. So I’m not quite sure where they’re getting off by saying that that was not the case. They absolutely were. And again, they had no problems when previous Democrat presidents took even worse and more severe action. So again, I think it’s politics. I think they’re just playing political expedience, throwing out red meat to their base. And I don’t think it makes a whole lot of sense unless you’re in D.C.

Rey Treviño III [00:06:34] Well, Congresswoman, as we’ve been able to meet and we’re live right now, I definitely titled this Texas is Ready to Respond. We obviously produce over 40% of the oil that’s produced here in America, and now Iran is threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz. I don’t see it going to close, and I’ve got another show I’m going to do to talk more about that. But here in Texas, how is it that we are ready to respond from an oil and gas to even a military if we have to, because I don’t think everybody really even understands the military presence that we have in this great state.

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:07:09] Well, I’ll tell you, if they do close the Strait of Hormuz, who is it going to hurt the It’s probably China that relies 90% of its energy from Iran. So I think Iran would be biting its nose off to spite its face if it did that. But if it does, that’s something that we’re going to have to decide how to move forward there. Texas, we are trying very aggressively to make sure that we unshackle the regulatory environment that the Biden administration put all of our American energy producers on. Part of our big, beautiful bill is actually looking at that. It’s deregulating a lot of the unnecessary permitting, strangulation of this industry. We need to be able to produce energy here. We haven’t decreased the demand for energy, but we have decreased the amount of output strictly by having overregulation. So we’re looking at EPA, part of this bill is looking at permits, allowing drilling on some of our federal lands. Making sure that we can have all of the necessary resources that we need, as well as being able to export those to our allied nations that right now are facing some constraints due to this potential war.

Rey Treviño III [00:08:19] You mentioned the big, beautiful bill, and it’s kind of gotten lost here over the last few days for obvious reasons, from the moment Israel went ahead and first launched the bombs onto the nuclear facilities. But what is it that’s going on? Now, it’s on the Senate side, is that correct?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:08:42] Okay, so now we’re waiting on the Senate to get it. We passed it out of the House, and look, this was a compromised bill. This was a big bill, and the reason why it was large is because you only have one to two shots on reconciliation, which means that the Senate only needs to have 51 votes. We do not have 60 Republican members in the Senate. We would not be able to break this down into dozens and dozens of bills as some of our critics have identified. That’s what we need to do. We don’t have an opportunity to do that. There was too much negativity done during the Biden administration that we’re trying to clean up now. We have to put it in one bill because we only have by law one or two shots at the reconciliation package. So that’s what we’re trying to do. This is also extending, we are up against a deadline because we’re at a point at the end of this year where the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions for research and development, for depreciation, for expensing, all expire. And so what we’re trying to do is make sure that we have an opportunity for our small businesses, our manufacturing businesses, to be able to flourish. They are facing horrible inflation right now as a result of the last administration. And we are trying to help them as much as possible to be be able grow the economy. That is one of the main reasons why I supported this bill. Now, are there cuts that could be made? Absolutely. Medicaid, I think when you look at the waste fraud and abuse in that, having the work requirements that we are attaching to that is very key. It’s going to be very important. Looking at the incentives that we’re adding to have manufacturing brought back from overseas back onto our nation’s lands is going to be important, the job opportunities, the growth. All of that is in this bill now. There’s a lot of spending that I’m really looking forward to the Senate being able to cut. I’m really hopeful working with the White House on our decisions package that we will be able to cut the spending. But we had a three member majority and you’ve got Republican representatives who represent much different area than Texas. Those in New York, those in California. And in order to get the provisions that we needed passed, we did have to make some compromises. I don’t like that word, but the fact is, is that that’s what you have to do when you live in a representative democracy. And that’s where we’re doing right now.

Rey Treviño III [00:10:47] What is something from that bill that you are most proud of, especially something that you’ve been working on day in and day out to make sure it gets passed?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:10:57] I’m on both the Ways and Means Committee and on the Small Business Committee. And for the last two and a half years, I have been working with small businesses. I’ve been working with Ways& Means members to make sure that the tax provisions that we saw that were so successful and increasing our economy and increasing the productivity of our U.S. Businesses continues. One of the provisions that I would like to see happen that’s in the Senate bill is the permanence of some of these tax cuts, because while we saw some of some of the largest economic growth in our in our nation’s history, That growth could even have been more. We would have seen more private investment in the economy had those provisions been made permanent. So that’s part of what this bill is doing. It’s also making sure that we’re not held from a regulatory perspective, are shackling our American businesses so that we are at least competitive with the rest of the world. Again, some of the waste, fraud and abuse that we see in Medicaid would work requirements. I think most people want looking and making sure that people who are in our country illegally are not. Getting paid out with entitlements is so important. All of those things I think are positives in this bill and that’s the reason why I supported it.

Rey Treviño III [00:12:03] With all of those great tax cuts that were, and these were the Trump’s tax cuts from the first time he was in office, is that correct that you’re trying to make permanent? Okay, good.

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:12:13] And beyond that, and beyond that being a Texas representative? One of the things that this bill also does is it makes sure that the people at our border, our Customs and Border Patrol have the resources necessary to continue the work that is being so successful. The reason why we have seen over 90% decrease in illegal crossings since this administration took control. We have to make sure that they’ve got the resources because right now when we are a time of such uncertainty, even what’s going on in the Middle East, having over 2 million people who entered our country in the last four years that were known gotaways mean that they didn’t want anybody to know that they got here, that they went around. Of our Customs and Border Patrol agents specifically to avoid being captured. We have no idea what terrorist cells are in our country. So making sure that Homeland Security has the resources that it needs to be able to do its job is going to be an utmost priority for me.

Rey Treviño III [00:13:06] You know, I know that we are on somewhat of a high alert here in America, and I do want to let’s talk about the border and more importantly, at the moment, the necessity for the security with the high alert because we don’t know who came in. What are some things that us as Americans can do to keep an eye out and see something say something during this high alert time right now.

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:13:26] Well, I think, again, everybody needs to be on high alert and understanding that this is not an easy time. The work that we see Homeland Security doing, the work that see coming out of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement is so important. And we see that being politicized by sanctuary cities across the country. And it’s really, it’s shameful that they would rather stand up for people who are in our country illegally, those committing crimes. Those who are potentially terrorists in our country, that they are the ones that Democrats and some of our most liberal citizens are trying to protect instead of law-abiding Americans. But that is what you’re seeing. And I think as Americans, as people who just want to be able to survive, who want to able to thrive, who wanna be able to take advantage of the American dream. Who want our kids to be able to be in safe communities, it’s important that we support law enforcement. It’s important we support the partnership between local and state and federal law enforcement, all working together to enforce the laws that Congress members, that political appointees, that political elected officials actually have put on the books. And if you don’t like the laws, run for office, change the laws. But right now, we have laws that, again, you know, at the border, were working. They were simply ignored by the previous administration. Tom Homan said it during the Biden administration that we didn’t need any new laws coming out of Congress. That if you just enforce the laws that were on the books, that was enough to be able to protect our border. That’s exactly what he proved within the first 30 days of the Trump administration.

Rey Treviño III [00:15:00] You mentioned that we’ve seen a decrease in 90% at the border since President Trump took office. How surprised are you at that size of a decrease? And last time I visited with you was before he became president again. What’s one of the biggest surprises that you’ve seen so far in his first several months of office?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:15:20] No, actually, I’m not surprised. I’m I’m, not surprised at all. If you know Tom Homan, Christy Noem, and the folks at Customs and Border Patrol and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, they know their job. They were very disgusted during the last minute from doing their job, laws were earning books. They just had to be enforced. So I was very pleased that the administration said what it was going to do and then did what it said it was gonna do. I think one of the biggest surprises is the reaction from some of my Democrat colleagues. Why are they not happy? That our border is the most protected and the most secure in decades, that should be something that they appreciate. Just for their communities alone. When we think about how fast this administration is going, they’re not doing anything that they didn’t promise the American people during their campaign, that they’ve got the support from the American People. They’re not do anything more than they said they were going to do. They are quickly looking at how to keep us safer, how to work with other nations at leading with peace or leading with strength and strength, getting to peace through strength. I mean, all of those things are important. And I think this administration is doing that looking at waste fraud and abuse, looking at ways that we can cut regulations. This is what was promised. This is was supported by the American people in November and this is what’s being produced. Promises made, promises kept. But I think the speed at which this administration is moving is breakneck compared to what people have just assumed government can move. This administration under the Trump leadership, they had four years while he was in office to come up with a plan. They’ve had four year while Biden was in the office to put together the key players to be able to actually administrate. Uh that that plan uh and to execute on it and that’s exactly what they’re doing and and I for one um I’m very excited I want to make sure that we are codifying those efforts in law I know I myself have introduced about half a dozen different bills I know that I’m sponsored dozens of bills that would codify the efforts put by this president so that it can’t get changed during the next administration if we happen to have a democrat in office that’s going to be important moving forward but I think what we’ve seen is breakneck speed and if it was in the private People would expect it, but in the government sector, we had gotten so complacent in non-action that they’re surprising and somewhat critical.

Rey Treviño III [00:17:38] You know, I want to ask you this. There are some on the left there of the Democrat Party saying that they would like to bring in articles of impeachment for what President Trump did Saturday evening. Is that even possible at this time to do something like that? Were any laws actually broken?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:17:56] Like I said, under Article 2, Section 2, I believe that this president was well within his rights to be able to stop Iran, which posed an immediate threat to America, to American soldiers, to our nation. Over the last several decades, you have seen over 1,000 Americans being targeted by the Iranian regime. It was an immediate thread. He has not caused war. I think what he’s done is he’s actually stopped a number of wars that were on the precipice of happening. So I think he was well within his constitutional rights to be able to do what he did. And again, we’re going to be getting more information this week on moving forward before anything happens, anything further happens. And, again, look at history. They had no problem. And I don’t remember my Democrat colleagues asking for impeachment of Obama, asking for Peter and Clinton, who did much more damage than President. Trump has done, you know, 26,000 bombs under Obama, 36 under Trump and yet they’re calling for impeachment. And I would think about history. Since the day this man was elected, all they have done is try to fight and try to impeach him for one excuse or another. It’s not going to stop

Rey Treviño III [00:19:09] You know, Congresswoman, I know that you are pressed for time and that you’ve got more debriefings to get into. But for everyone out there, can you just leave us with a little spark of hope in all of us Texans and what you see coming down the pipe?

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:19:23] Look, I think you’ve got a very strong chief in the White House right now. He is leading by strength, he is leading, leading. The rest of the world is listening and the rest of world is following. Not only are we looking at how we’re taking care of Iran, working with Israel, working with NATO. Getting other allied nations stronger and more prepared. We’re also looking at trade agreements and we’ve got a tax bill that hopefully we’re able to pass to get on his desk by July 4th that will be able to enlarge our economy, grow our economy have more job opportunities and we’re got a safe now border and we are moving forward. This is literally, you know, when we talk about a growing economy when we talk about the new age of enlightenment, this is it. So I’m excited for the next two and a half years to see what we’re able to accomplish. Next three years, see what we’re to accomplish in moving forward.

Rey Treviño III [00:20:16] Well, Congresswoman, again, I cannot thank you enough for your time today, especially on such a short notice on a busy time there in Washington, DC. And I’ll hopefully get you in studio here again soon during your next break, but I know you’re gonna be added here for the next couple of weeks. So keep it up, Congresswomen, and thank you as always.

Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne [00:20:37] So you take care and thank you for doing what you do.

Rey Treviño III [00:20:41] And we’ll see you all again. Thank you as always for tuning in to this live press breaking news section. Bye bye.

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