The Biden administration recently announced it’s considering declaring a “public health emergency” on abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in June that overturned Roe v. Wade.
“This stupidity never ends with this administration,” Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., told The Daily Signal when asked about the possible “public health emergency.”
“I’m sorry. That is just absolutely ridiculous,” the Florida lawmaker said.
“Of all the things going on today,” Cammack said, “the fact that you’re paying upwards of $12 for a dozen of eggs … . And they have really enforced this unconstitutional [vaccine] mandate across the board on health care workers, on federal employees, on our military, and now they want to declare another national emergency around abortion, around the issue of taking someone’s life.
“It really speaks to the priorities of this administration and how truly disconnected from reality and the American people and their priorities that they truly are.”
The Daily Signal spoke with Cammack on Capitol Hill on Monday and asked her about Biden’s performance during his first two years in office. If giving him a grade, the lawmaker said, she would give the president an “F-minus.”
Cammack’s conversation with The Daily Signal is featured on today’s edition of the “Problematic Women” podcast.
Also on today’s podcast, we discuss what China might have been looking for when it sent its spy balloon over America. And Tuesday night saw Washington’s version of the Super Bowl—the State of the Union address. We will break down a few of the big moments of the night. And as always, we’ll be crowning our “Problematic Woman of the Week.”
Listen to the podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript of the Cammack interview:
Virginia Allen: It is my pleasure to welcome to the show, Congresswoman Kat Cammack of Florida. Congresswoman, welcome back. Great to have you.
Rep. Kat Cammack: Hey, thanks so much. It’s always great to be with you guys.
Allen: So let’s start by talking about a pretty pressing issue, no pun intended, with the debt ceiling.
Cammack: Yes.
Allen: Pressing down on us. So, lawmakers have until June to come to an agreement. Biden says he’s not going to compromise on that. He doesn’t want a debate over that. And Republicans, meanwhile, say, “Well, we need to rein in spending. We need to cut federal spending before we raise the debt ceiling.” What is the path forward here?
Cammack: Well, I think, one, it’s pretty irresponsible for the president to say, “No, we’re not going to negotiate,” especially when he has been a significant contributor to us getting to this point. You can’t spend nearly $10 trillion in two years and then not accept responsibility for it. Not to mention that at this point, he’s over a month late in delivering his budget, so he has to come to the table as an adult.
He doesn’t get to stomp his feet and cross his fingers or his arms and say, “I’m not going to play anymore and take my ball and go home.” Doesn’t work like that. So, he broke it. He needs to come to the table and help fix it. And so, Republicans, we’re being the adults in the room. We have a couple of things that we need to do.
First, we need to define success. What is a successful negotiation and a path forward? And then from there, you have the short-term aspects. What structural reforms do we have to lock in so that we never end up in this place again? How do we put together a package that addresses the regulatory regime, which is really, truly a silent American dream killer.
You’ve got 1.3 million [regulations] on the books, $2 trillion is what it costs us annually. That’s a huge element that we can take on.
We need to put to bed the fears that Republicans are cutting Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. We are not. But we have to make some structural reforms, particularly in the waste, fraud, and abuse that is embedded in those programs. That’s an easy, target-rich environment for us to go after that actually preserves those programs.
And then you got to look at the long term, right? How can we structurally format this deal so that we can start bringing down the debt, bringing down the deficit, and doing it in a way that eventually we balance the budget. That is doable, but it’s going to take some really tough discussions, and it’s going to take the adults being in the room, not the party politics that the Biden administration loves to play with people’s lives.
Allen: Are Republicans largely in agreement over the cuts that need to be made? Or are you all sitting down and having these discussions and saying, “Yes, we can all agree that X, Y, and Z needs to happen. We need to rein in federal spending here, here, and here“?
Cammack: I think the No. 1 thing that every Republican agrees on is that we have to rein in the spending. We’ve got to cut the spending. When we get down into specifics, then everyone starts to deviate. But that’s the great thing about what we’re doing. We’re having these really, really engaging, long conversations about what needs to go, what constitutionally do we have to do, and then what are some of the things that are pet projects that have been snuck in and continue to be funded without being reauthorized for decades.
These are things that are ways that we can address this, but it’s going to take a lot of communication. And again, going back to my first point, we have to define success. What does a successful negotiation look like, because the American people will not know what that is unless we agree, first and foremost, what a win is.
Allen: Is there a certain number that you would say, “OK, we would be willing to raise the debt ceiling to this, if Democrats agree, yes, we will cut spending here, here, and here“?
Cammack: I think it’s way too early to even put a pinpoint on a number or a specific program. I think we have some general framework issues that we’ve got to work out, but the more important issue here is not the number. It is the process and procedural changes that need to be made so that we don’t continue to come back into this position ever again. So, that, I think, is where the wins and the specifics should be focused on.
Allen: Let’s talk a little bit about an issue that I know is of great interest to our audience, and that’s the issue of life. Now, we recently saw that the Biden administration, that they announced that they’re considering a “public health emergency” around abortion. What is your response to this?
Cammack: This stupidity never ends with this administration. I’m sorry that that is just absolutely ridiculous. Of all the things going on today, the fact that you’re paying upwards of $12 for a dozen of eggs, where you have folks on fixed incomes that are trying to figure out, do they pay rent or do they put gas in their car? And they have really enforced this unconstitutional mandate across the board on health care workers, on federal employees, on our military, and now they want to declare another national “emergency” around abortion, around the issue of taking someone’s life.
It really speaks to the priorities of this administration and how truly disconnected from reality and the American people and their priorities that they truly are.
For me, this is pretty simple. I am pro-life, and I think that we as a nation, we need to take a stand. Earlier in the year, one of the first bills that was brought to the floor, I’m really proud of myself and [Reps. Ann Wagner of Missouri and Steve Scalise of Louisiana]. We worked together to advance the Abortion Survivor Protection Act, which simply said that if a child survived an abortion and was outside the womb, that medical professionals had to deliver lifesaving care.
Democrats voted that down. They voted against that, and I repeatedly said, “This is not about pro-life, pro-choice. This is about a child that is outside the womb that is breathing, that is struggling for life, and you want to deny it basic care.” That says a lot about us as a people, as a nation and who we are as a society.
I don’t like where we’re heading. We have a complete disregard for life, and it’s got to change. So, as a result, my team and I were working as the co-chairs of the Pro-Life Caucus announcing the Sanctity of Life Project, which is a compilation of legislative initiatives that not only protect life in the womb, but beyond.
We’re talking about supporting families, encouraging adoption and fostering, combating human trafficking, protecting the special-needs community, really going above and beyond to make the case that life is valuable, it’s worth protecting and saving, and that it is who we are as Americans.
Allen: I love that. Last question before we let you go: The president says that he’s going to officially end the state of emergency around COVID-19 in May. How can you schedule an end to an emergency?
Cammack: Well, that’s the funny part. Republicans announced that we were going to be voting officially ending legislatively the emergency declaration, and that was on a Thursday. Well, then the White House gets wind of it, and they say, “No, no, no. We want to end it, and we’re going to do it, but not until May.”
It’s a little bit curious that they just have a lot of money, about half a trillion dollars that has been obligated that they have yet to get out the door. It almost seems like they want to make sure that that money gets out to the blue states before we end the declaration, because once the declaration is made and passed, they can no longer continue to spend billions and trillions of dollars.
So, I think that it’s really more about the money and following that money trail than it is anything else.
Allen: If you had to give Biden a grade for his first two years in office, which grade would you give him?
Cammack: An absolute F-minus. Is there anything lower than an F?
Allen: Congresswoman, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.
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