WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.589 Obviously, it's a very busy week. Senator Mitch McConnell returns in the other chamber. You got to see a couple photos of him. Your thoughts on his return today. It was somewhat expected. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:18.070 >> Well, welcome back to the swamp. Um, glad he's healthy and um able to vote. >> Is there anything else you'd like to add 00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:26.950 on his return? The significant I know the farm bill is stuck over there. He's expected to vote in that committee. Eventually, you'll probably need Democrats, but that's a huge bill for 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:35.910 for you as well and for your constituents. his impact there. >> Well, there's an important provision in the House in the Farm Bill that I hope they'll put in the Senate Farm Bill, 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:45.030 which is My Prime Act, which is very timely because we were talking about beef prices. My Prime Act would let people in Kentucky use a local processor 00:00:45.040 --> 00:00:54.950 and sell meat by the cut to their neighbors instead of having to go through one of these oligarchs. So, hopefully McConnell can like he came through uh so many years ago on hemp to 00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:03.430 get that legalized in 2014. Maybe he can help get that prime act in the farm bill. >> He only has a few weeks left. Anything you want to add to what we said just 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:11.510 now, just to his return in his final weeks. >> Um, well, his term's going to end the same day as mine on January 3rd at noon. 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:20.870 >> So, I guess we maybe we'll both be looking for a job then. >> Yeah, obviously a lot this week in the House. All the talk is AI right now. I mean, we're talking about kill switches. 00:01:20.880 --> 00:01:30.149 We're talking about AI developers are saying it's going to kill us all. I mean, where do you land on this issue? And ultimately, do you think Congress should act here soon? >> Well, I think what you're seeing is the 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:40.630 tech oligarchs are trying to circle the wagons. They want to get government protection. Anybody that says they want to be regulated by the government, you should uh ask what they really want. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:49.910 They're trying to pull up the ladder and keep the small guys from competing. And they know that if they're up here talking into the ears of the regulators, then they can use that as another 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:59.190 barrier to entry. Um because ultimately I think artificial intelligence is going to be democratized. Some people look at it like they look at nuclear energy that 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:07.510 that's something the government has to regulate or maybe the military can use it but it's not for regular people. I think AI is more like the discovery of 00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:15.750 fire and it should be in everybody's hearth. Everybody should be able to have a fire. And yeah, there's going to be there's dangers with fire and there's 00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:26.229 dangers with AI, but we shouldn't treat it like nuclear energy or nuclear weapons. It's not that's not how it's going to roll out. Look, at the end of the day, it's math. It's ones and zeros. 00:02:26.239 --> 00:02:35.350 This is this is what I went to school for. I studied at the MIT AI lab. It's just ones and zeros at the end of the day. It's math. And you can't ban math. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:44.150 You're ultimately not going to be able to regulate math. Anybody can do it. And so, I would take with a grain of salt what the tech oligarchs are telling you. 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:52.550 >> So, you think they can move forward in this current culture and and just kind of keep moving? I think I think the little guys are moving forward and that's what the big guys are worried 00:02:52.560 --> 00:03:01.190 about. >> Gotcha. Data centers. I think there's a bill that's going to be uh on the floor tomorrow dealing with the rateayer protection uh act, I believe, dealing 00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:10.070 with utility costs. Where do you land on that? Any thoughts there? >> Again, anything that happens up here is only going to happen because somebody's 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:19.830 got some money, uh a big company, and they're causing it to happen. Um, I think the concerns that people have with data centers are bigger than their 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:29.589 electric rates. Okay? It's the noise, it's the other externalities, it's the water, um, and it's just a change in their communities. And so, these should 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:38.470 all be local decisions at the end of the day. Maybe this is probably just a pre-election thing. The Republicans have kind of stepped in it with some of the 00:03:38.480 --> 00:03:46.949 Republicans running for Senate, some of them who are running for governor. Even our own president says he likes the data centers. Um that you would be backwards 00:03:46.959 --> 00:03:55.110 if you didn't adopt them. It's a midterm messaging bill is what this data center bill is. And it's not going to it's not going to do much. And frankly, we 00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:04.949 shouldn't be doing the work. It should be left it should be local decisions. >> Final question before you go. I know we only have three days left before the House adjourns until after the midterms. You've been very vocal on how hard it is 00:04:04.959 --> 00:04:13.270 to get things done. and any updates on legislation you've been trying to push forward and whether you believe there's a chance they move forward before November 3rd. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:21.749 >> Well, I've got a a breaking news for you that happened just in there. I don't know that anybody's reported this. I just got the third Republican signature 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:31.110 on my Epstein discharge petition >> from who? >> Uh from Ralph Norman >> in South Carolina. And >> so that makes Nancy Mace Norman and 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:40.150 >> Ralph Norman and myself. I only need one more Republican. And I told the public last week that Mike Johnson would end 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:49.430 Congress early to keep me from getting 218 signatures. He denied it, but then he cut two weeks off our calendar. This is our last week. It's not supposed to 00:04:49.440 --> 00:04:58.870 be our last week. We're supposed to have two more weeks. They're afraid that I'll get to 218. Watch that number this week because I'm only one Republican shy. We 00:04:58.880 --> 00:05:07.350 It's mechanically we have to get every Democrat in there. Half of them have signed it. They're all willing to sign it. So, we'll see if in the next two and 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:16.310 a half days whether I can get to 218. >> Do you think you can get that extra Republican in the next few days? Do you have some in mind? >> I think I can. But what what the 00:05:16.320 --> 00:05:24.790 Republicans really don't want to do is to go into this election cycle 7 weeks before the election with the Epstein's 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:33.909 files covered up. Todd Blanch is still covering them up having every Democrat on this discharge petition and three Republicans and needing only one more 00:05:33.919 --> 00:05:42.950 Republican. What that means is that every Republican who's campaigning this fall is the hold out if we don't get to 218 because I only need one more 00:05:42.960 --> 00:05:51.510 Republican. And so what I'm offering in here to my colleagues is be the hero. Be that last Republican signature that that 00:05:51.520 --> 00:06:00.070 gets Epstein Files Transparency Act 2 across the finish line. Here's what it does. It lets the state attorneys general prosecute these crimes that 00:06:00.080 --> 00:06:08.950 happened for instance on Zoro Ranch in New Mexico or in Florida or in New York where the US attorney has failed to act. It also gives the survivors standing to 00:06:08.960 --> 00:06:17.430 get their own files. Can you believe this attorney general won't even give the survivors their own files? That's how much they're still holding these files back. So, this is an important 00:06:17.440 --> 00:06:24.160 bill for transparency and justice. We're just one Republican short.