BENSON BYTE: Sen. Joni Ernst - "(Democrats) Hate the President More Than They Love America"

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crippling new restrictions on ice. So where does this stand right now, Senator? Well, what we saw roughly around probably noon or 1230 is that yes, the Democratic leader Chuck Schumer actually rejected what was close to being a breakthrough amongst the Democrats, the Republicans, and the White House. and instead insisted on additional demands. So, you know, I was with Roger last night. I mean, we were all together, and it was like, wow, you know, we're voting. We're going to be moving forward. We'll have this thing wrapped up. We'll be able to fund TSA or Secret Service, the Coast Guard, FEMA, on and on and on. And it all fell apart. with Leader Chuck Schumer. And what it brings home, I think, to all of us is that they love this issue, which is ridiculous, of defunding the ICE. They love this issue, and they hate the president more than they love the United States of America and are men and women that are out there trying to protect the homeland. So just to make sure that we're crystal clear on this, Senator, the Democrats 40 days ago shut down DHS using the filibuster power that they have. They're in the minority in both houses of Congress. They don't have the presidency. They got wiped out in 2024. They might have a resurgence this year in the midterms. But right now, they are largely without power. But they do have the minority power of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate. And they've used it. Now for the second time in the last six months to shut the government down, this one is more limited because you guys actually funded 11 twelfths of the appropriations bills. Republicans were able to pass those, but this was the one last sticking point. A bipartisan bill had been agreed to and passed through the House. But because Democrats in their base decided we really want to stick it to ice, that's what our voters are demanding. They want us to fight on this. Chuck Schumer does not want to lose his leadership position. He learned that lesson last year. So they decided, all right, we're going to shut down DHS. And using that filibuster, they have maintained that blockade for 40 days, over the course of which there have been four Homeland Security jihadist attacks. That has not made them blink. There are these horrible four-hour lines at airports all across the country. That has not made them blink. Their thing is we don't want to fund ICE. We'll fund DHS, but not ICE, and usually they shouldn't be able to make any demands. That's their own shutdown. framework, actually, when Republicans are doing shutdowns, they say we won't negotiate with hostage takers. You don't get to determine or dictate any of these terms. But that's what they're trying to do here. They said, we don't want to fund this part of DHS, but we will fund the rest of it. And then finally, the Republicans with so much harm and pain out there caused by the Democrats, Republicans said, okay, yes, let's do that. And the Democrats said no.

Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of Unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills. But it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Up front payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. Meanwhile, they're very upset at the same time that there are now ICE agents helping out at the airports with these very long lines caused by the DHS shutdown. You have record high callouts and resignations from TSA agents. So people are languishing travelers in these lines three, four hours at some of these airports. ICE has been brought in to help with crowd control and other things. Seems like a lot of the travelers are perfectly comfortable with that, but the Democrats are not only furious that it's happening, they're saying that now ICE might come in and start murdering Americans inside airports. This is what they think of federal law enforcement. It is exactly what they think of federal law enforcement, and it's how they think about our military subject for another day. I just came out of the skiff. I'm telling you. The left-leaning politicians here in Washington, D.C., they so badly, whether it is ICE, whether it's our military engaging in operations in Iran, you know, no matter what the circumstance, again, they hate Donald Trump so much that they want to see our country lose. I mean, they want to see ice loos. They want to see our military lose. They want to paint us in this just awful, awful light. And I don't get it. What has happened to being proud of your nation and wanting to uphold the laws? I just had a tweet that was sent to me. And it was Chris Murphy, Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, talking about how the Democrats' goal is to protect their number one population, which is undocumented people here in the United States. Yeah, we played that clip yesterday. He said it in 2024. He talked about the population that they care the most about in his party. Undocumented Americans is what he called them. Which they're not Americans if they're undocumented here. You know, let's get that straight.

They have entered the country illegally. They are not Americans. So when he's calling them undocumented Americans, it's a falsehood. It's trying to lead people down the wrong path by thinking that, oh, these people belong here simply because they crossed over the border. That's absolutely incorrect. Again, we are a nation of laws, and I know some people don't like that, but it's why we are an exceptional nation because we have laws and we follow and enforce those laws. That's what ICE is doing. They are following and enforcing our laws passed by not just Republicans, but Democrats and Republicans through the years. Is there any escape hatch out of this? Because the Democrats were saying, we want this. And then they basically, for the most part, got it in this new offer. And then they immediately said no. It seems to me that in their mind, they're going to go on TV. They're going to post on social media. And I've seen it. They say, well, the Republicans control all of Washington. So if there's chaos, it's their fault. They ignore the fact that they're the ones doing the shutdown with the filibuster, that's sort of this arcane detail. And they sort of wink at their friends, the journalists, like, we're not going to talk about that too much, aren't we? Okay, great. So they're going to blame Donald Trump. They're going to blame congressional Republicans, put it all on them. And you might say, gosh, we've had four terrorist attacks on the homeland, jihadist attacks in the last couple of weeks. What if there's a fifth, God forbid, or a sixth? I think their attitude is they'll blame that on Donald Trump as well. Yeah, they will try and blame anything they can on President Donald Trump. But what I would encourage everybody, go back and look at the vote tallies. Just look at the vote tallies. You see every single Republican is voting to fund the Department of Homeland Security. And look at how the Democrats are voting, minus John Fetterman. God bless him. But look at how they're voting. They can't say it's Republicans shutting us down. And I know people don't understand the filibuster and that mechanism. But if you just ask them, just honestly ask them, okay, go to the Senate website. Look up the vote tally. Republicans. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Democrats. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, tell me who is not funding the Department of Homeland Security. They can't ignore that. You just look at the vote tallies. So it's... Well, and especially now, because this is what I'm kind of flummoxed by. The Republicans, and I expressed some skepticism about this yesterday to Senator Marshall, because if you're giving the Democrats what they want... And I understand the argument is Republicans would then try to fund ICE even longer through a second reconciliation bill along party lines, which I would support. But if you're going to allow the Democrats to dictate the terms on what part of DHS they're willing to fund, I thought that was rewarding, extremely irresponsible behavior that they themselves.

have called legislative terrorism and hostage taking in the not that distant past. You're then giving into them to some extent. But the decision was made. Listen, we have to be adults in the room. We have to fund this. Let's fight another day and we can fund ICE in a reconciliation bill. So we're going to basically give the Democrats what they've been insisting upon. And so then that offer was made. And the answer was no anyway. Because now they're like getting super greedy. They're like, no, no, no. Actually, we want to fund none of DHS until we get quote unquote reforms that would defund and cripple and handcuff ICE's ability to enforce federal immigration law. That seems to be what they are now tripling down on after insisting that's not what they were doing for weeks. No, exactly. No, you are absolutely correct. You know how to read a room. So we did decide to go ahead and move forward with what we thought was the offer on the table last night. And then they came back today and said, oh, just kidding. Kind of like Lucy in the football, you know, if anybody has ever looked at the peanut comic strip. So, you know, they yanked it away and said, oh, so sorry, we've got other demands. So lesson learned there is that just simply don't trust the Democrats. Just don't do it. We'll go ahead and fund ICE through a second reconciliation package. And believe me, if you want us to do a second reconciliation package, we're going to find other things that we can do in there too and make sure DHS, you know, if you're looking at TSA agents, make sure they're funded for the long term. Look at maybe the Coast Guard making sure they're funded for the long term. If we need to move all of that to mandatory spending, hey, great, we can do that. So we're looking at other ways that we can make sure that we are able to protect our homeland and protect those really incredible men and women that have put up with so much pain and agony through these shutdowns. Let's protect them as well. We've also had discussions about, okay, well, let's revisit some of the bills that we've had in the past where we prevent government shutdowns. You know, if we can't fund these departments on time at the end of the fiscal year, then let's immediately roll into a continuing resolution. I mean, there could be arguments made against it as well. But I think that there was also a push, if I'm not mistaken, to withhold the salaries of senators and members of Congress. during shutdowns. If you are withholding paychecks from federal workers because you refuse to do your job and you're playing your political game, fine, but put your money where your mouth is and you're not going to get paid at the same time. The Democrats block that as well. They want to get their paychecks flowing, but they don't want like the frontline Homeland Security officers getting their paychecks.

And the sad thing is, you know, honestly, if you look at the federal wages that are paid for different jobs, you know, the TSA agents, the men and women that are working security at our airports, they're not getting rich. They are not rich federal employees. These are men and women that are... really just getting by, especially if they live in areas like Washington, D.C. You know, they're not making a lot of money. And we've lost about 400 agents during this particular shutdown, this 40-day shutdown. They've quit because they've had to take other jobs. And in the last government shutdown, I believe we had about 1,000 agents then. that left federal government employment. Well, I mean, you can't count on your paycheck coming in because of these games that get played. And now it's happened multiple times. So it's hard to blame them for that. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, a Republican, our guest here on the show, also a combat veteran, by the way, one other element of her bio that seems relevant, especially in this conversation. Senator Ernst, thank you for the update. We appreciate your time. Always. Thank you, Guy. That was yet another Guy Benson bite. For full episodes of Guy Benson, go to Guy Benson. Or wherever you get your podcasts.

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