'We're Paying Them To Lobby Our Government': Ricketts Rails Against IRA Funding
Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) spoke with the press on Wednesday to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Transcript
00:00and see his perspective on this.
00:02Well, thank you, Senator Capito, for highlighting this
00:05and showing some transparency and some sunlight on what's
00:08going on here with regard to these grants
00:10through the Inflation Reduction Act.
00:11But as you all more aptly named it,
00:13the Investment in Radical Activists Act,
00:15because that's exactly what we're doing here.
00:18When you're giving money to organizations like the Climate
00:21Justice Alliance, and they are funding the March
00:25on Washington, and they are waving the free Palestinian
00:30flags and so forth, we're paying them to lobby our government.
00:37I got to tell you, everyday Nebraskans
00:39don't think that's a good idea, that our tax dollars should
00:42go to radical organizations to lobby our own government.
00:46That's just crazy.
00:47And you're talking about the NDN collective
00:49and the things they want to do, like abolishing the military,
00:51abolishing the police, abolishing Customs and Border
00:54Protection, abolishing Immigration and Customs
00:56Enforcement.
00:58Again, everyday Americans think those organizations
01:00are important organizations.
01:01And we want to keep them to keep us safe.
01:04They are way out of step with what everyday Americans
01:07want to see.
01:08This is really, really radical stuff that they're promoting.
01:12And then we have organizations like the social and environmental
01:17entrepreneurs who are spreading climate alarmism and, again,
01:22funding left-wing groups.
01:24This is not what our tax dollars are supposed to go for.
01:27And to your point about the EPA, because all this money
01:29is going through the EPA, I was just
01:31talking to a company yesterday who said, hey, we need more
01:33help with getting permits done.
01:35We can't get permits fast enough, frankly,
01:37for some of these environmental projects, even.
01:40And it's because the money is going
01:43to fund these radical organizations,
01:45and nobody's paying attention to how many people have got work
01:48in their different regions to be able to help
01:49get these permits processed.
01:51So on the one hand, the EPA's got legitimate business.
01:53They're not getting done.
01:54On the other hand, they're funding
01:56these radical environmentalists and other sorts
01:59of organizations.
02:00And again, it just gets back to everyday Americans,
02:04that's not how they want their money spent.
02:06They want their money spent here in Washington, DC, wisely.
02:09And when you see the frustration that people have in Washington,
02:12DC, this is a prime example of why they have that frustration.
02:16So I want to, again, thank Senator Capito
02:19for highlighting this, for shining some sunshine on this,
02:23so that we can get some changes made.
02:25We are now sitting at $35 trillion in debt.
02:31We have got to get our spending under control.
02:33And spending on this kind of radical activism
02:35is not the way we should be spending our tax dollars.
02:37I'll turn it over to you.
02:38Well said.
02:38Well said.
02:39So any questions?