Joco Today

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) appeared on Fox Business’ "Mornings with Maria" to address several current issues, including the recent death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, ongoing government funding negotiations in Congress, and concerns from Kansas constituents.

Discussing the passing of Charlie Kirk, Marshall said: “Cheryl, I think we’re all just mourning this horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. And you just can’t overstate how important he was to Gen Z’s and millennials, young conservatives, that he was the pied piper. You know, back in my office, it’s more than just flags at half mast. This is probably impacted them more than anything since I’ve been a senator. Everyone across the country, youngsters reaching out to us and saying, What is going on here?”

Marshall also addressed online content related to Kirk’s death: “Cheryl, you know this is one of the reasons we have this epidemic of mental illness among our children, because of what they’re seeing. But my advice, first of all, if you haven’t watched this video, don’t. I purposely have not watched it; let’s not glorify and give this killer any type of credit for that as well.

“But these companies should have some self-respect, too. They know how to turn this off as well. I don’t believe that their filters are going to work when Meta says that as well. And you’re right, we do have some legislation that would put some guardrails around what can be done, especially with young children or young adults, I should say.”

On federal budget negotiations and potential government shutdowns involving Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Marshall stated: “Chuck Schumer is the overlord of obstruction. He took another hostage yesterday in the battle keeping the government open. The latest hostage are the ACA subsidies. Look, this is a $40 billion a year tax that Americans are paying for to subsidize people making maybe 400% of the poverty level as well. So… he’s fighting for his political life. He knows he’s going to have to face a tough re-election. He’s going to get primaried all those types of things, but his goal is to shut the government down, and Republicans are going to do everything to work towards a balanced budget, but keep the government.”

Regarding strategies for passing a new budget bill before funding runs out: “As a Conservative, I want to spend the least money possible. In my opinion, a CR probably would be one way to do it. But this gives Chuck Schumer one more chance to hold things up, to gum things up. Every time we get to one of these deadlines, he’ll take another hostage as well, which ends up costing us money. And remember, people don’t get this, but it takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass this spending bill. We have 53 Republicans. Some of them are going to have to come across the aisle and vote with us if we’re going to keep the government.”

Marshall highlighted concerns about federal spending and debt: “This is one reason that interest rates are still high, and we’re still spending like drunken sailors. Look, we’re going to spend $2 trillion more than we take in this year, $2 trillion, and this is why, for the past two years, I’ve been working on a budget policy that would close the loopholes. Congress has not done a meaningful budget in decades. So what our legislation does would close all these legislative loopholes that they use to avoid that. How can you balance the Federal government’s budget until you actually have a budget? That’s step number one for Congress.”

When asked about economic conditions in Kansas: “I think it’s jobs, it’s the economy. I think we kind of have a mixed economy. Cattle is doing great back home but maybe my wheat and corn not as well. Oil prices are down a little bit as well. So it’s kind of this mixed economy—a little bit of uncertainty out there as well—but lots of manufacturing jobs coming back to Kansas is what we’re seeing. But we can’t find enough people for the jobs that we have.”

On immigration enforcement and amnesty policies: “So no amnesty; we’re going to follow President Trump’s lead. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this. Number one—we’ve secured the border—thanks to President Trump; we’ve secured the border so now we can have this conversation—it’s a very broken immigration system but as long as there’s no amnesty I’m very willing to work on it and address this problem—that we do have a lack of people for the jobs that we have.”