Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Kevin Cramer
Interview
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Let's ask one of those senators who voted yes to this bill.
Joining me right now is North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer. He sits on the Senate Banking and Armed Services committees.
Senator, why are you in favor of this bill? Are you betraying the Republican base?
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Not at all, Maria. And thanks for the opportunity.
In addition to those two committees, I also serve on the Environment and Public Works Committee and happen to be the ranking Republican on the Transportation -- Highway Transportation Infrastructure -- or Transportation Infrastructure Subcommittee.
And just to do a little math for Kim, who's generally very, very bright, we have -- in addition to the bill that came out of the -- out of the -- our committee, and then this compromise, of the $1.2 trillion, $450 billion -- that's over a third of it -- is not just infrastructure. It's roads and bridges specifically.
In addition to that, there's ports, waterways, railroads, airports, broadband, all of which are critical to the movement of goods and services around this country and around the world.
We couldn't get North Dakota soybeans to South Korea if we didn't have ports in the Northwest, Pacific Northwest. And we certainly couldn't get pasta to New York without trucks getting the wheat from the field to the bins and then off to the mills and the factories.
So, I like Kim Strassel a lot. I think she's very bright. She is just very, very wrong on this one, both in the math and in the purpose of it.
BARTIROMO: Well, wrong?
Let's look at what's in the bill.
CRAMER: Sure.
BARTIROMO: First of all, let me ask you, is there any money in this bill that goes to the border? Is there any acknowledgement from the -- acknowledgement from the Biden administration that we're in a border crisis and he needs to address it?
Any money here in the border? Because I see resilience and water storage, environmental remediation, Energy Department, power infrastructure, electric vehicles, nuclear companies, a lot of beginnings to the Green New Deal.
CRAMER: Well, first of all, cybersecurity and resiliency of the grid is not exclusive to the Green New Deal.
I think we have all experienced the problems with a lack of resiliency to our energy infrastructure. I mean, the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack was a pretty good example of that.
Now, are there some things that Democrats like? For sure. Are there some things missing that we would love? Of course there are. But this is a 50/50 Senate. Democrats have a majority in the House and the White House. So you're going to have to take some of those things to get all the other really good things.
And all of those other things that you have referenced aren't, again, exclusively Democratic principles.There are some other things that -- some of those things that contribute to the overall infrastructure of our country. And this is all hard infrastructure, Maria.
You might argue some of it. I don't like the electric vehicle charging stations, for example. If I was king, I wouldn't -- I wouldn't support that. But, fortunately, our founders gave us something other than a king.
BARTIROMO: Well, you're not a king. None of the Republicans are king. But it certainly seems like the Democrats act like kings.
In addition to all of that money beginning a Green New Deal, it also dictates roles in areas that have traditionally been managed by local authorities, like drinking water, even as it muscles in on private sector enterprises like broadband.
So, once again, we see the Democrats taking power away from the governors and putting it on the federal level. Is that fair?
CRAMER: It is not fair. It may be fair in a couple of areas in regards to broadband for example, but -- or water, for example.
But here's one thing that I fought really hard for, permitting reforms, such as maintaining the permitting reforms that we put -- Donald Trump put in as an order. He -- remember, he had the rule that created the one federal agency -- or one federal decision rule that took 10-year projects down to two years. Remember that whole 10-years to two-year argument.
Well, Joe Biden repealed that on the very first day in office. We have -- we're codifying it in this law for roads and bridges.That's a major reform to permitting, along with agency coordination. It's what allows us to -- agencies to do things collaboratively and collectively, rather than consecutively, shortening the time frame. It extends the permitting council that was implemented four or five years ago.
And that's for large private sector infrastructure projects that include water projects, large -- large highway projects, Corps of Engineers projects. So there's some major reforms there that would never been agreed to by Democrats.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CRAMER: Now, with regard to the Southern border, obviously, we're not going to get Democrats to agree to a bill that builds a wall.
I think that would be pretty cool, but...
BARTIROMO: Well, why not?
CRAMER: Why not? Because...
BARTIROMO: Why not? Why not just work for the American people?
We have got a wide-open border. We have got 6,000 people coming across the border every single day, 210,000 apprehended in the month of July. Why not demand that they fix the border before anything else?
And, by the way, are these pay-fors fictional? I mean, the Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget says that the infrastructure plan will add $400 billion to the deficit. Kim writes in The Journal that all of these pay- fors are actually fictional.
And let me just end this question with President Trump's commentary on it, because President Trump also had a statement on the infrastructure package.
And he says: "Joe Biden's infrastructure bill is a disgrace. It will be used against the Republican Party in the upcoming elections in 2022 and 2024. It will be very hard for me to endorse anyone foolish enough to vote in favor of this deal."
And you say?
CRAMER: Well, he didn't give one reason why it's a bad deal, other than its Joe Biden's.
And I understand that, and I understand his frustration. And he's obviously got influence and has a legitimate opinion. But the fact of the matter is, the American public, including the vast majority of Republicans, are very supportive of this.
Everybody from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable to my local convenience stores and labor unions support this bill. There's some nearly 200 organizations that have come out in support of this bill.
We need roads and bridges. And we're falling behind our competitors, particularly China...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CRAMER: ... with regard to transportation infrastructure.
It is what moves goods and services around the world.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
CRAMER: So, I think he's wrong on this issue.
BARTIROMO: No, I recognize there's a lot of support for this on both sides, definitely a lot of support in this. I get that.
Real quick on these amendments.
CRAMER: Sure.
BARTIROMO: How much of the revenue raise is coming from new regulations and fees around crypto?
CRAMER: Yes.
BARTIROMO: And tell me specifically when you are going to open the door for this debate on the $5.5 trillion spending plan? Are you trying to get this through by Wednesday of this upcoming week?
CRAMER: Well, we would like to get it through by Wednesday, preferably by Monday, and, better yet, today, if it's at all possible.
In terms of opening the door, the Democrats are going to do a much larger, jam it down your throat, tax and spending, reckless deal. There's nothing that's going to stop that from happening.
By passing this, however, we take hard infrastructure off the table for them, because that's part of the negotiation with the moderate Democrats. And we make the next deal much more difficult politically for moderate Democrats to support.
So, we actually, in passing this, I think have created a political advantage for moderates and for conservatives in this country, because, if we don't do this, the other -- the other outcome would be, why would moderate Democrats ever trust or negotiate with Republicans again while they're in the majority, when they could just blow up the filibuster? And we will be giving them every -- every argument to do so, Maria.
So, I think we're going to get this through. I don't expect that we will get final passage before probably late tomorrow, or maybe even Tuesday morning.
BARTIROMO: OK.
CRAMER: And it'll be a good move in the right direction.
And then they're going to -- they're going to open up the floodgates, I don't think there's any question, at which time we will use this bill and every other argument possible to fight against the real opponent here, and that is the progressives in the Democratic Party that are running their organization.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
All right, Senator, great to get your insights on this. Thanks very much.
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