Sen. Josh Hawley on DHS Shutdown, SAVE America Act, Gas Prices

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Senator Josh Hawley / (R) Missouri Q: Do you think there's a pressure point at which this breaks? How long is this gonna take? :15 HAWLEY: (begins offcam)Well, I mean, we should have passed the pressure point long ago. You think about these THS operators, that these are folks with families. I mean, I don't know how they're going to be able to make rent. I don't know how they're going to be able to put food on the table. I mean this is ridiculous asking them to show up and work and not paying them. So I just urge my Democratic colleagues to, to drop this. I mean, I just think this is ridiculous. This is the 2nd time they've done this in 6 months. I mean. People are going to quit their jobs and go find other jobs pretty soon because they need to eat. So I, I just think it's wrong. I think it's wrong to treat people this way. I understand that. Democrats want the border open. They hate law enforcement at the border, all that stuff, all the things. But you know what? It's wrong to treat people like this, especially law enforcement who are keeping people safe in the air, and it's, it will lead to a crisis. It is leading to a crisis, and I hope that we don't soon start having, you know, major issues at airports, I mean, 4 and 5 hour lines are outrageous, but what's it gonna take, a major security incident before Democrats realize. It's wrong to not pay law enforcement in our airports. Q: Senator, the Senate is set to pass a major bipartisan housing bill today. Like you said, DHS, you know, we're dealing with that crisis. Is it smart for the president to basically solely focus his messaging strategy on passing the Save Act? 1:37 HAWLEY: Well, I, I think the president has a lot on his plate. I mean, to your point, he's doing a lot of different things, and the Senate can too, and I think we should pass the Save Act. I mean, I'm a co-sponsor. I'm for it, and I would just say to my Democratic colleagues, if they want to filibuster, go ahead, but I think they should have to hold the floor to filibuster. 1:58 HAWLEY: Well, I think that nobody wants to see higher gas prices. I think Congress should do something about that, you know. I mean, for one thing, the gas tax is like 20 cents on a gallon. That's about 2/3 of the increase right now. We should suspend the gas tax. We should do something rather than just sitting back and saying, well, we hope for the best. Let's take some action. To your point about things we could do in the Senate, the Senate could be legislating and we could also be doing things on prescription drug costs. The president's proposed capping them. Great idea. We ought to legislate that. We should lower the cost of premiums. We should lower the cost of out of pocket expenses. We should deduct. We should have no taxes on healthcare at all. I mean that would be something great we should do. So I think, should we be doing things? Yes, we should be quickly. 2:57 HAWLEY: Well, I think, I think it's It's not moving. I mean, that's the problem. It's completely stuck. And for those who say, oh this is wild, this is extreme, no, it's not. This is what we do in my home state of Missouri. We have voter ID we have had for years. We have citizenship requirements we have had for years. So this is not nuts. This is what most states do. It's just a few states who don't want to do it because they want illegals voting. I think the Senate should pass it, and I think, as I said a second ago, if Democrats want to stall this and don't want to vote on it, they should have to go hold the floor like it used to be in the old days. They can go and talk as much as they want, but sooner or later. They're going to run out of time and then we would vote and that's what I think we need to do. Q: But it seems like Thune specifically is, you know, reluctant to move forward with implementing the talks. _______________ Follow KRCG on social media: KRCG CBS 13 News on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/krcgtv/ KRCG CBS 13 News on Twitter: http://twitter.com/KRCG13/ KRCG CBS 13 News on Instagram: http://instagram.com/krcg13news Subscribe to KRCG on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/KRCGNewsroom/?sub_confirmation=1 Watch more top local news stories: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHs2_IaMRAQ1buw_H3u6fzZRRv_KSNt-L For all of the day’s top local and national news, visit http://www.krcgtv.com/ Watch our live newscasts and other live video at https://krcgtv.com/watch Have a news tip? Send it directly to us: Email us: [email protected] Call the Newsroom: 573-896-5144 KRCG CBS 13 News offers coverage of news, sports, weather and local events in the Columbia and Jefferson City, Missouri area, including the community of New Bloomfield. #krcg #krcgnews #missourinews #cbs13news