Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt Holds Press Briefing

last year

Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) holds press briefing.

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Transcript

00:00 Welcome, everybody. Happy Friday to you. I want to welcome Rabbi Goldman here. Oklahoma

00:12 stands with Israel and just thank you for your leadership here in our great state and

00:17 hope everybody has a wonderful, kosher Passover. I just got through speaking at the 29th anniversary

00:25 of the bombing that happened on April 19, 1995 and was able to be there. They had Secretary

00:32 Holland from Department of Interior, the Secretary to the Biden administration. So every year

00:39 our leadership in the country has come to help us remember what happened when terror

00:45 and hate tried to, you know, terrorize our country and our state specifically. So it's

00:52 still the most deadliest terrorist attack, homegrown terrorist attack in our country's

00:57 history. And the Oklahoma standard was born out of that. And the Reverend Billy Graham

01:03 came to Oklahoma to share some of his faith during that, during that time shortly after

01:09 the bombing happened. And he said times like this will do one of two things. It will either

01:15 make us hard and bitter and angry at God or it'll make us tender and open and help us

01:21 to reach out in faith. And it's clear what the people of Oklahoma chose to do. And, you

01:30 know, when, when faced down with evil, Oklahomans stood as one and the Oklahoma standard was

01:35 born out of that. And so it's just something really special for me as governor. It's my

01:39 sixth one to speak at. And it's something that really brings our state together as we

01:45 teach that next generation how to come together as, as, as neighbors, helping neighbors and

01:51 really the whole nation has learned from, uh, from the Oklahoma standard that was born

01:55 out of that, uh, that tragedy. So let me open it up to questions and comments and what you

02:00 guys would like to hear more about. Governor, how do you, um, just, just off the top of

02:10 my head and as possible, you just said, you know, I think that, that Tim McVeigh, uh,

02:15 is a spouse of anti-government rhetoric, uh, obviously part of the federal building. We

02:21 hear a lot of strong troubling rhetoric sometimes from people who are mad at this building,

02:28 mad at the Biden administration. You have your criticisms, but how do you try to, what's

02:33 your message to people in terms of how to tamp that back? Like, what, you know, how

02:39 do we avoid having repeats and having a rhetorical culture that fosters that type of hate and

02:45 fear? Yeah, I think that's a, it's a, it's a good question. And, and, uh, I'm, uh, in

02:51 the, in the leadership of the national governor's association and national governor's association

02:56 is a bipartisan group of Republican and Democrat governors across the country. And our chairman

03:02 this year is governor Cox out of Utah and his whole initiative is trying to address

03:07 exactly what you're talking about. Uh, and it's, uh, and it's called disagree better.

03:12 And so I've signed that pledge. You guys may have seen that, but it's really to say, uh,

03:17 listen, we don't have to be hateful. We can have their disagreements. Uh, we can talk

03:22 about policy. We can debate the best things. Uh, but we don't have to be disagreeable.

03:28 We don't have to be, um, uh, you know, hateful and, and, and degrade people. We can just

03:36 have some common sense debates. And I always tell people this, and I truly believe it,

03:40 that let Washington DC play politics. Uh, you guys know me well enough now at my six

03:45 years governor, I'm just trying to make Oklahoma top 10 state. And I invite you to join me

03:50 and debate with me and talk to me. Why do you think that's a better policy? Because

03:55 I truly believe that no matter where we are in the state of Oklahoma, we all really want

04:01 the same things. And we want the best education for our kids. We want the best infrastructure

04:06 and roads and bridges, the best healthcare, uh, the best outcomes, the best access to

04:12 the best doctors, and we want the best economy. And if, when we focus on those four things

04:18 and that's what I try to lead, and that's what I try to tell the legislature, let's

04:21 look at what States are doing it better than us. And let's implement some of those policies

04:26 here. Um, and, um, but I think that's how you do it. I think you lead and you, you try

04:30 to, uh, you try to talk policy and not talk personalities with people. Yes, sir. Um, do

04:39 you have any thoughts about, uh, the initiative petition that we're going to see circulating

04:46 soon, uh, proposed to raise the state's minimum wage? You know, uh, not really. I know there's,

04:51 there's always, there's always a kind of rumors of different people collecting signatures

04:56 to put different things on the ballots. Uh, if you, if specifically on the policy of increasing

05:01 the minimum wage, uh, that's something that I think limited government, we should let

05:06 businesses decide. So an employee and employer relationship, they should decide what that

05:12 labor is worth and the government shouldn't automatically come in and set these minimum

05:18 standards. I'll give you an example. You know, California, that's what they believe is the

05:22 right way to do it. And I think California has passed a minimum wage of, um, I don't

05:27 know if it's 20 or $18 an hour. You, you may know. Uh, but what you're seeing is then all

05:33 the goods and services just get increased. The price has increased and you actually have,

05:39 you actually have a fewer services, fewer options. People are leaving, uh, those, those,

05:45 some of those, uh, some of those companies are saying, Hey, we just can't compete. So

05:48 we're going to have to shut our businesses down. And then you have a situation that pricing

05:54 gets more expensive. So when you get government involved, putting their finger on this or

05:59 telling business to do this or that you, you limit competition, you limit people coming

06:04 in, you limit the free market. That doesn't work that in my opinion, the best system is

06:12 a free market system. Uh, businesses will come in and, um, they compete for labor. That's

06:18 why if we get our economy going, we want wages to go up. I want every single family, uh,

06:24 to make, to make more and more money. And if we get our businesses going, uh, that will

06:28 actually happen over time. But you also look at, uh, an entry level job is supposed to

06:34 be an entry level. You're not supposed to stay there. So if you have, uh, if you enter

06:39 after high school and you're learning life skills and how to show up on time and how

06:43 to say yes, sir, and no, sir, to your boss and a no ma'am and yes, ma'am, and beat show

06:49 up on time and be part of a team. That's what you, that's what we want for our young people.

06:54 And so you're supposed to get raises after that. And you're supposed to learn a skillset.

06:58 But for the government's coming in and artificially say, Oh, you've got to pay this amount. I

07:02 think that's a, that's bad for business and it's bad for consumers. And it actually would

07:07 drive the cost up for everyone and increase inflation. And it's just, it's pretty, pretty

07:12 common sense economics one-on-one to me. I want to get you over all the wrong conditions.

07:21 We got some deals, we got joint resolutions, we discussed the rates for petitioners. Um,

07:26 we got to put restrictions are being placed on background checks and whatnot. You need

07:31 to be against more fees and more things like that. And then what's your view when it comes

07:39 to making people decide for that, that issue? Yeah. You know, a hundred percent we're for

07:45 the people to make some of these decisions. We want the people to vote for their representatives.

07:50 We want them to be more engaged in the, in the process. Uh, but you also have to understand

07:54 that the way some of those words are written, um, and you take the marijuana issue, I bet

08:00 you if you would go back to Oklahomans today and ask them the same question and show them

08:05 what the, what the medical marijuana industry has turned into an Oklahoma, they may vote

08:10 differently. But when you only have a small paragraph and you're voting and you're seeing

08:15 these 32nd commercials tell you, um, you know, Hey, this is going to help someone, uh, that

08:21 Oklahomans are obviously we're going to allow a medicine to help somebody. But we had no

08:26 idea that we were going to have 10,000 growers way more than they have in California and

08:32 all these other States. And anybody with a hangnail could get a, a medical card. And

08:37 it really is recreational. And I don't think that's what Oklahomans thought, but those

08:41 were some unintended consequences. So, um, if, if you can truly be transparent, let's

08:46 literally let's have those conversations. Let's let Oklahomans, uh, debate that. I think

08:51 what the legislature is concerned about is, um, you know, coming in and hiring outside

08:57 people to come and stand at, uh, uh, you know, in the Oklahoma city fairgrounds and collect

09:02 the signatures and people aren't really understanding what they're signing up for. Um, and so just

09:07 making sure that, that it's just fair for everybody in Oklahoma, before you get something

09:11 on a ballot, other States do things so different, uh, than, than we do in Oklahoma. But as a

09:17 general rule, we want Oklahomans to be more engaged in what happens. And if we have an

09:23 informed citizenry, that's good for all of us. I wish Oklahomans, I wish all 4 million

09:28 Oklahomans could sit on my couch and could hear the bills and the debate. And we could

09:33 talk about all the things that I see. And I, I would love that. And I think, uh, but

09:38 that's so what's hard. And that's why we love the media. You guys just report the facts,

09:43 just let Oklahomans know what's happening. And I think that's, uh, that's what the media's

09:47 job is. And then let them decide what they, what they, you know, what they think is the

09:51 right way to move forward.

09:52 You mentioned your support at the beginning, right, right now, uh, Israel's strapping back

10:01 against Iran. Talk about amidst all this conflict, the support you've had for it as well as what

10:07 you were voting for.

10:08 Yeah. So, uh, we're, we're, we're obviously seeing that part of the world and kind of

10:12 conflict right now. Um, myself and governor Abbott from, from Texas on October, November

10:21 7th, November 7th, the war started, uh, on October 7th, we went to Israel on, on November

10:26 7th and met with, uh, prime minister Netanyahu, president, um, Herzog. Um, and then really

10:35 just to, just to come back and let Oklahomans know, I've shared this with Oklahomans and

10:39 governor Abbott, let the Texans know what we saw over there, but Hamas.

10:43 And that's, what's so weird to me is you have people on the East coast and people at different

10:48 universities chanting death to America right now. This is, this is unbelievable to me.

10:55 They are also saying that they stand with Hamas. Let me tell you something. Hamas is

10:59 a terrorist organization. Uh, they're well funded, uh, they're, they're, uh, well trained,

11:06 they're a military, but they have no morals. They literally came in at a concert, that

11:14 a concert. And I saw with my eyes, I went there, I saw, I met the, I met the people

11:19 in the hospital in Tel Aviv. So these young people, so think about, think about in prior

11:23 Oklahoma. Um, what's that called? Rock, Lahoma, right? Rock, Lahoma. Am I saying that right?

11:29 Prior Oklahoma. We got a bunch of young people out there to concert and you have terrorists

11:33 come in with machine guns and start mowing them down. That's what happened. All right.

11:38 Uh, they went into a bomb shelter. It looked like a tornado shelter and people were throwing,

11:42 uh, grenades in there on them. So these are bad, bad people. And, uh, and Israel has the

11:48 right to defend themselves and they're our strongest ally in the middle East. We should

11:52 stand with them and, uh, we should all be, uh, adamant, 100% resolved that we're not

11:59 going to allow terrorism to win in America. Period. End of story.

12:06 Yeah. You know, uh, the, the immigration bill that's kind of working its way through the

12:28 house and the Senate. Um, you know, I think there, there, for, to answer your question,

12:32 I think there's some, uh, uh, exemptions for DACA people that have been here. What they're

12:36 trying to do is like Texas and like a lot of these other States is we have to stop the,

12:43 the flow of, uh, uh, the mass migration coming into the U S think about this for a second,

12:48 just when, since president Biden has been in office, just since 2021, there's been 10

12:54 million people come into the U S okay. Illegally 10 million. Okay. There's 41 States. Okay.

13:04 How many States we have total 50 States. There's 41 States with populations of less than 40

13:09 than 10 million people. That's a lot, a lot of people. All right. And, uh, we don't have

13:14 the resources to take care of and give free medical care. Um, we do that with our U S

13:19 citizens. We, we don't have the resources, uh, to do that, uh, for 10 million, um, illegal

13:27 folks. There's also just in just from 21 to 23, you can roll your eyes all you want at

13:34 me. Uh, but this, this is, uh, this is unbelievable. There's 37,000, 37,000 Chinese nationals caught

13:43 at the Southern border. And I mean, that's, this is unbelievable to most Americans. And

13:50 the fact that president Biden is not using the tools in his tool belt, uh, to secure

13:55 the Southern border. Uh, so yeah, States are stepping up to say, um, you know, we're going

14:02 to, we're going to make it very difficult, uh, to come here illegally, not follow our

14:07 rules. And so that's the border part. And I will rightly agree with you that we have

14:13 a great Hispanic population in Oklahoma. Uh, we have great, um, entrepreneurs. That's not

14:20 what we're talking about. I'm an advocate for more H one B visas at the state level.

14:26 And I believe we need to know, we need to understand and have great workforce and be

14:31 able to have a better immigration visa process, uh, to do the jobs that, uh, um, that, that,

14:38 that we need done. I mean, I've got great relationships with the Pakistani doctors association.

14:43 We need to make it easier for more medical professionals to come into our, to our country

14:48 as well. Uh, and so that bill is going to make its way through. I think it's out of

14:52 the house. Maybe it's over in the Senate now. I don't know exactly where it's at. Uh, but,

14:56 uh, each state's trying to make sure we're doing what we can to stop that flow coming

15:00 through the Southern border. You know, I'm not going to make a decision right now whether

15:06 I'll sign it or not. There's too many variables on, uh, um, you know, what's in the bill.

15:11 Our team will, we'll, we'll look at it and we'll review that.

15:15 Yeah, well, first off, that's, that wouldn't be my, that wouldn't be my intent at all.

15:36 I'm actually going to, um, meet with the, uh, reached out to the, uh, uh, Mexican consulate.

15:41 You know, me, I went to Mexico city, I went to Monterey, uh, recruited the Mexican consulate

15:46 here to Oklahoma. So I'm going to meet with, uh, the consulate general on Monday to figure

15:51 out exactly how we can stop the curve, make sure that people are following the law. How

15:56 do we get more visas in, in the state of Oklahoma? How do we vet, know who's working here? Uh,

16:02 it's not our intent to separate families at all. And I think there are some provisions,

16:06 but hopefully I can learn from her and then speak and help the legislature design, uh,

16:11 the bill that they're trying to do. I don't know exactly who's, who's writing the bill

16:15 or what they're trying to get accomplished right now. Uh, but, uh, the Hispanic community

16:19 knows how much I appreciate them and the work that they contribute to our state. Uh, at

16:23 the same time, we have to be a law and order state. We're going to be in Oklahoma.

16:28 You know, if they're here, if they're here legally and they've got a, a, a work visa,

16:55 um, and they're paying taxes, you know, we want to make sure that they're safe and they

16:59 have the ability to drive. I know there's some people that are looking at that bill

17:01 right now. Um, but, but what we can't do is encourage and continue the migration and continue

17:09 the flow in of not knowing who's here and not coming through legally. So we have to

17:14 have a better immigration policy. And we want people that want to be part of the American

17:20 dream and be part of our culture and work hard. I think that's all something that we

17:25 want. And that's why it's such a head scratcher in DC that, that we can't fix the immigration

17:30 policy and also secure the border at the same time. Those are two separate conversations.

17:35 And, uh, um, I've said it, we have to have a strong border and we need an immigration

17:42 policy reform. I don't know if I could ask you a little bit, just an update on the negotiation

18:04 with the federal government. Um, are you willing to just play chicken with the end of that,

18:26 uh, compact and have all those tags be validated by the end of the year? There can't be an

18:30 agreement done. Is there another issue that is part of that beyond the money in terms

18:31 of the territory of that? What is the main issue for you on that? Well, for first off,

18:32 I'm not going to play games. I'm not playing chicken. Uh, but I will not sign a bad deal

18:36 for the state of Oklahoma. I think Oklahomans know me well enough, uh, that we're going

18:40 to do a good deal for Oklahoma. I'm a businessman and, uh, for me to give away and do something

18:47 that's bad for Oklahoma for, for the benefit of, uh, you know, one race, I'm not going

18:52 to do it. I think everybody should be treated the exact same way and should be treated fairly.

18:57 The big issue here that people need to realize, and I hope you guys report on this is the

19:02 turnpike authority, uh, just the Cherokee tags. Oh, the state of Oklahoma, $5 million

19:10 just since May. Okay. $5 million of tags that there's no way for them to charge that they're

19:16 running illegally on the turnpikes. I think that's weird. I think that's unfair. That's

19:22 just since may of last year. If you extrapolate that out and you think about, well, what's

19:26 happened over the last 10 years before we had the plate pay, I think it's over $50 million

19:32 that they owe the state of Oklahoma for roads and bridges. Okay. Um, listen, if we want

19:38 to make the turnpikes free, then let's do it. Let's pay off all the bonds. Let's make

19:42 it free, but don't make, don't make Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, Caucasians, everybody

19:50 except for people in the Cherokee tribe, uh, pay the turnpike fees and then not make them

19:57 pay it. That's completely unacceptable to me. Okay. I've signed a compact with the Chickasaws

20:03 sign it with the Choctaws. So now we know, and they, the state of Oklahoma understands

20:09 from a law enforcement perspective, who is driving that vehicle. It's a safety issue

20:14 for our law enforcement. And obviously they have to pay the same amount that everybody

20:18 else does if they want to utilize the turnpike system. So, uh, that's first and foremost,

20:24 we're doing everything we can to get that compact in line with the Chickasaws and the

20:29 Cherokee or the Chickasaws and the Choctaw compact. Uh, but you also, you have, I'm not

20:34 even talking about the Wyandotte and the Creeks and the Seminoles and, and the other 20 tribes

20:40 that have tags that don't have a compact either. Um, so maybe we need to look at a model compact,

20:45 uh, that would be similar to the, to the, to the Chickasaw and the Choctaws that we've

20:49 already, that we've already signed. Um, but we're trying to be fair. Uh, our general counsel,

20:54 Trevor Pemberton is doing an amazing job of talking to the general counsel of the Cherokees.

20:59 And, and I think they generally have a good working relationship and they're trying to

21:03 work through these things. Um, but Oklahomans need to ask themselves, what state do they

21:08 want? Do they want to underwrite the fees for all of the, for the, all the Cherokees

21:14 that drive on the roads or should everybody pay the same amount? And I think if you ask,

21:19 if you sit down 99% of the Oklahomans, they would say, no, everybody kind of should pay

21:26 the same amount. And I think that's pretty common sense to me.

21:29 If the legislature isn't able to come to terms with the compacts cut this year, would you

21:39 consider vetoing in the state budget plan if they were to be?

21:44 Sure. Yeah. Um, as you know, guys, um, here's the deal. We want to pay, we want to make

21:51 sure that reoccurring expenses. So the obligation that the state pays for all of our services

21:57 is in line with reoccurring revenue. What is our income and why would we make our expenses

22:02 higher than our incomes? That's one thing. And then if we're going to spend a billion

22:06 and a half or $2 billion or whatever, they're talking about spending out of savings. Um,

22:12 can we not do a quarter of a point cut, which annualized would be about $250 million. Uh,

22:18 if you, if you've really got enough money to spend a billion and a half, let's give

22:22 Oklahomans a quarter of a point, right? Let's give them, let's give every single Oklahomans

22:27 a, uh, a pay raise. It's their money anyway. So would love, would love to get that done.

22:33 We did the grocery tax, which helps a lot of working families would love to give a,

22:37 uh, give a quarter of a point income tax cut as well this year.

22:41 On that real quick, the state chamber has, has floated the idea that before cutting the

22:47 rate, it might be more reasonable to flatten the brackets and increase the standard deduction.

22:54 If there's some argument that that is a little more fair at the beginning, uh, not to impair

22:59 our incomes, but you know, uh, would that be an issue? I mean, is that a notion or are

23:04 you, or on the, or, or, no, listen, no, I mean, I'm not the, I'm not the stick in the

23:11 mud here. That would be perfect. That would be wonderful. Uh, we would give every single

23:16 Oklahomans if we, if we lowered and got rid of all those, uh, the brackets getting up

23:20 to the 17,000 or whenever the top bracket starts, we can raise that. We could squash

23:26 those down. That would give every single person a, a pay cut. I just think it's, it's important

23:31 for us, uh, as leaders just not to continue to grow government. Uh, if we can't do a pay,

23:38 if we can't do a tax cut now, when could we do it? That's, that's kind of the question

23:43 I keep asking everyone. Um, you guys have seen my charts that I have in here. We've

23:48 gone from 6.6 billion in appropriated dollars to last year was about, uh, 12.9 billion over

23:56 this, uh, 10 year period. But yet Oklahoma has grown population wise in a much, much

24:01 flatter trajectory. So, um, you know, it, it, it's time to, to give some of that back

24:08 to the taxpayers, but how we get there, that's something that the legislature can work on.

24:12 And, um, and I'd be, I'd be perfectly happy with that. That'd be great. Thank you all

24:16 so much. Have a great weekend.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt Holds Press Briefing

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