Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: It's time to set aside our political rhetoric and resolve our differences on border security

Interview

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SEN. JERRY MORAN (R), KANSAS: Well, that is certainly asking a lot of me, Maria.

The money is there. It can be found. In the overall scheme of things, while $5.7 billion for a wall, the amount that the president requested, is billions or lots of money -- and I would never say anything to the contrary -- within the overall funding of the federal government, this is a pretty minor, modest amount of money.

So it's not a question about spending the dollars. It's a question, I suppose, either politics, which I think dominates, when you have the speaker saying that no -- no money, not $1 for wall, and you have the president insisting on a wall, in part because that's what he campaigned on and was elected on, it becomes politics.

But it's not a financial, it's not a budgetary issue. It's a political issue in that sense. And then we all agree that we ought to spend the money wisely. And, again, I don't see how one can say that a wall is immoral. We have supported barriers, borders, border security in a physical structure way for a long time.

Presidents in the past have built structures along the -- along the border. So we need to set aside kind of the political rhetoric and resolve our differences.

Your question is, will that happen? I think the people who are on the conference committee, the Republican and Democrat members from both the House and Senate...

BARTIROMO: Right.

MORAN: ... they could reach an agreement, if they don't get undercut by their leaders.

And so I think that could happen. My request of them, could they please do it well in advance of February the 15th, when the funding for general government goes away?

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MORAN: And a shutdown is not a -- is not a desired outcome.

BARTIROMO: Senator, real quick on the money that he's using to -- he said that he has started to build the wall already. Where's that money coming from?

MORAN: Well, within the...

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: He said he's hoping that 115 miles of wall will be built within the near future.

MORAN: I mean, Congress has approved money for border security, including physical structures, for a long time.

And so the president, within the Department of Homeland Security, has those resources. The question, I think, again, is, in part, can we extend those barriers where it's appropriate? And do they need to be additional places?

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MORAN: Instead, this became a wall or nothing, and it became a no wall.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

MORAN: And those two things -- negotiations don't work whenever you just repeat your position.

BARTIROMO: Yes, I will tell you...

MORAN: ... unless something's happening behind the scenes. And I hope that's the case.

BARTIROMO: The American people do not want this playing with politics to continue.

Stay with us, Senator. I have got one question for you on China.

MORAN: OK.

BARTIROMO: And then we're going to talk with the man who's been called the oracle of A.I.

Back in a minute.

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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I am back with Kansas Republican Senator Jerry Moran.

And, Senator, I want to get your take on this upcoming China-U.S. deal. There's a March 1 deadline.

You shared a picture with us of this pile of grain that your constituents, farmers, in Kansas are saying that the tariffs on China are a major issue because they can't sell their grain, and they need to sell more grain.

Are you saying you want the president to do a deal, with China buying more grain and soybeans and other things from the United States, even if there's no agreement on the theft of intellectual property?

MORAN: No, I don't think I would say that.

First, I would start with the premise that China misbehaves in a terribly dramatic way that's damaging to the United States and the rest of the world. They do not play by the rules. They enforce technology transfer, steal our intellectual property.

This is something that the president is right to take on. China is among our greatest competitors...

BARTIROMO: OK. So, you wouldn't be...

MORAN: ... and, in some instances, our adversary.

BARTIROMO: You wouldn't accept a deal that only includes more stuff being bought by China, then?

MORAN: I think that would be a mistake, in the sense that we would have gone through a lot of pain, and not really resolved the overall issue.

But I do make the case to the president and his administration, Secretary Perdue, Secretary Ross, Ambassador Lighthizer, with that photo.

What that photo shows is grain piled to the ground. What we normally store grain in is an elevator. It doesn't -- it isn't piled on the ground in Kansas.

BARTIROMO: Right.

MORAN: But because the supplies are so great, there's no place to store grain. We need those markets.

BARTIROMO: Understood.

MORAN: Kansas is an export state.

And so -- but we need to have the victory. But the issue needs to be more than just tariff -- retaliatory tariff -- retaliatory tariff. We need to get this resolved if there's going to be farm income and a future for farmers in my state and across ag country and in the country.

BARTIROMO: All right, we're going to talk more about this.

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