Fox News "The Ingraham Angle" - Transcript: Braun: What Mitt Romney did had a political calculation to it

Interview

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CHAFFETZ: Well, I guess that wasn't true. It's perfectly clear that Romney doesn't take issue with Trump on policy. No, his focus is on Trump's personality and approach. To the good people of Utah, some of who will cheer these Romney comments, his job is to represent the state of Utah, not himself.

This is not a good look for an incoming Senator, in fact it's a selfish move, it does not help the state of Utah or solve a problem, it only creates one. But now we have a different newly minted Senator joining us. The one from Indiana, Mr. Mike Braun is hearing and congratulations Sir on becoming the next Senator from Indiana.

SEN. MIKE BRAUN, R-IND.: Thank you.

CHAFFETZ: A big move, you're coming into Washington D.C., you see what's going on with Mitt Romney and in the midst of a government shutdown, is this the picture you thought it would be when you're coming and got elected.

BRAUN: You know when you stick your neck out to do something like this, you never know what's going to eventuate but you know, I get it, back in 2017 when I started kicking the tires to you know, I was inspired by what I saw with President Trump and you know, I think when you talk about character and other things, it's important.

You know, I don't dismiss that. I think what Mitt Romney did have a political calculation to it that remains to be seen. I'm just anxious and would not have run unless I was inspired by the fact that it wasn't going to be business as usual and to me, for a main street entrepreneur like myself from a functional state like Indiana, we were looking for something refreshing that was different from the past two or three decades which Mitt Romney and others have been a part of.

You know, I will respect everybody that's here. I just thought it was peculiar timing for a freshman Senator you know, to make that kind of statement.

CHAFFETZ: Okay, so you're coming in, you're in the midst of a government shutdown, what is the first order of business?

BRAUN: Well, to me, we've got to get back to where we pass a budget under regular order and do things that I think most Hoosiers and Americans would expect. And that's not to have a, what is it, a $4 trillion budget that we cannot seemed to get balanced year after year.

And where I come from, when I was on the school board, when I was in a functional state government, and when I've run a business for 37 years, you'd been laughed out of any one of those institutions if you were operating like the federal government does. So I'm not going to cast any aspersions or stones at anyone, but I want to start seeing things work. And I think it's going to take more people from the mainstream, the main street of America if we are going to see something happen different in the dynamic of D.C.

CHAFFETZ: Where are you out of the wall? Indiana, a little far from the southern border. What is your take on the president and what the president is advocating?

BRAUN: And all throughout the campaign, primary and general, border security, including building a wall, where you need to especially, worries about Social Security and Medicare going to be around, that actually ranked up with the economy, and that's because the economy is doing so well.

CHAFFETZ: So are you willing to keep the government shut down until the president gets his wall?

BRAUN: Look at how long we have gone and border security has not been addressed by Republicans and Democrats. And I think, when would be a better time than now? Most of the government is funded. That is a misstatement that the government is going to fall apart. And we're going to have to get used to having less government in the long run anyway if we are ever going to balance a budget. And I think it's time to stake out your turf on, let's see where the Democrats are. We know they are against a wall. I'd love to see what they would be willing to spend any money on, and all I hear is that they would be for border security with no specifics.

CHAFFETZ: That's the problem is they don't have any specifics.

BRAUN: And how much money are you willing to spend?

CHAFFETZ: I've only got just over a minute, but I've got two questions I've got to ask you. What do you believe is the biggest threat to the country that Congress needs to aggress?

BRAUN: I believe, and we hear it all the time, that if we keep laughing off trillion-dollar deficits, and most people don't realize interest rates have gone up two, two and a quarter percent, on $20 trillion, that's $400 billion. We cannot run a government with that kind of dynamic. We don't do it anywhere else.

CHAFFETZ: We are spending more than $600 million a day just in interest on that debt. You have a great business background, you beat two of my colleagues from the House in Luke Messer and Todd Rokita, two good people, but you shot through the middle and came to victory. Last question I want to ask you, because I know you got a passion for this, but where do you want to focus your time? There are so many issues but where do you want to focus? What do you actually want to tackle and achieve as the new senator?

BRAUN: I've got a lot of things I'm interested in. Number one, we've covered it. If you don't get more people like me from the real world that have balanced budgets, run payrolls, and done things with balanced budgets and cash reserves, we are not going to do much as a federal government.

Specifically, health care. The Democrats basically got that issue right in the sense that you should never go broke because you have a bad accident or you get sick. But they teamed up with big health care, and we got Obamacare. We got to have something better there. I want to focus on infrastructure, which, hopefully, all of us believe that roads and bridges out to be sound in this country, and find a way to pay for them.

CHAFFETZ: Listen, we wish you the best of luck on both sides of the aisle. What's good for our country so that we should be prioritizing. And congratulations to you and your family. Tomorrow will be a big day, swearing in, sworn in as the nest senator for Indiana. So thank you.

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