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On Thursday’s Mark Levin show, where is the conservative wing of the Republican Party in the Senate?

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Hour 1 rough transcription

Segment 1

Hello, America. Mark Levin is here. Our number 87738138118773813811. We will watch the United States Senate, because there are conservative senators in that chamber. Who has. The House voted against the agreement. I do not trash Kevin McCarthy. But I disagree with Dear Leader. It’s like I think that they should have worked on it for a few months longer because the ship wasn’t going down. I’m not sure if they are counting votes. I don’t need to count votes. It’s really interesting to see the original offer that was sent. To Biden. They passed that one. It was not the deal. Conservatives originally liked us. Supported. It was a watered down version. You know that, Mr. Producer? I looked into it. Who’s more pure than pure? There were a few, not many, conservatives who voted no. One or two. We were not promised the end and be all. Why? Why? He got the votes. Still. It was not the version we were promised. We weren’t promised the end-all and be-all version. Why? This process. I don’t really care about the bill, the speaker, or the majority leader. I don’t care what the bill is, who the speaker or majority leader is. The end. In the end, it won’t be Congress. Unfortunately, the system has become too broken. If people don’t realize that. They’ll keep hitting their heads against a wall. You can also take cheap shots against this person or that person. It’s how it is. Moreover. As I said. What will conservative senators do? The House is a single body. It’s really fascinating. Today I am reading and researching. I don’t feel much pressure. The Republican senators are under no pressure to do anything. Mitch, have you noticed? Do you agree? You have looked, right? You’ve looked at, right? I don’t get it. This could theoretically be stopped in the Senate. I don’t even hear much noise. I keep seeing the same interviews looped over and again. We’ll see. There are other options than simply voting no. There are certain rules that can be used to slow down the process. Any conservative senator can call me Rick Scott, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee or any other conservative senator. Who else are there? Rand Paul. They know, and I know that under the unique Senate Rules Test, a no vote doesn’t matter a jot because the votes exist. There are really more chances. If they think this is terrible. If they agree with my opinion that it should take a few months longer, I truly believe that. They should stop it, or at least slow it down. I’ve never seen an event at which they all gather and talk to the media. Rich, have you seen this? What is the conservative side of the Republican Party? We are all columnists. Oh, the Tweedy birds. No one is pressuring these guys. The rules allow them to at least slow down the process and inform the American public. It’s not happening. It’s the weirdest thing ever. We attend a bi-cameral congress. You would think that we have only one body. We only have a majorit. They have parliamentary rules, which are in the minority’s favor, that apply to the Senate. In the House, it’s not so. Not all in the House. Has anyone spoken about this recently? Has anyone written about it? This whole thing is a heavy burden. The house is responsible. We have a small majority. By the way, liberal Republicans are in this caucus. Liberals. You and I both hate rhinos. You and I both dislike rhinos. So I’d like to ask you. I think you would have more success in the Senate if you were to get the votes together. Tim McClintock, I checked the roll-call votes. Tom McClintock I am very proud of you for voting for this. Claremont Institute days. Jim Jordan voted in favor of this. Thomas Massie voted in favor of this. So did several Freedom Caucus members. Including Warren Davidson. I mention him because he was the very first Freedom Caucus candidate to be elected a few years ago. Marjorie Taylor GREENE. Then I just stopped looking. There they are. Now, should we kick them out of the Republican Caucus? Do they have a vendetta? I then looked at the rest. As I said, you have Newt Gingrich and Steve Moore. The editorial pages of The Washington are available to you. Times. The New York Post. Ben Domenech is great. Steve Cortez was a Trump supporter, despite being a strong supporter for DeSantis. Kevin Haslett. Has held a senior economic role in the Trump Administration and Americans for Tax Reform. It’s hardly a liberal group. All of them supported it. I didn’t. They support it. So. Just wanted to make sure you knew. It’s not as black and white. These are things I think about. I don’t say, “Oh, no, that’s not what we’re going to do.” I do not believe that. We have a bill that has been passed by the Senate. Tim Kaine, a senator from Virginia, is the only one I’ve heard of. He is kicking up dust. Why? He wants to eliminate the pipeline provision of the debt ceiling agreement. This is one of the most important provisions in the bill. He introduced an amendment today, according to national media, which would strip out a provision in the debt ceiling legislation that would have expedited the completion of Mountain Valley pipeline. This bill, amongst other things, does. It streamlines the construction of infrastructure, such as roads. Tunnels. Bridges. The environmentalists will sue you for an average of seven to eight years, because they throw obstacles in your way. They then move on to another agency. This was simplified. It also streamlines approval of energy project. That’s a good thing, right? Well. In a conference call with journalists, top Republican negotiators said that expediting the completion of 303 miles of natural gas pipeline was a strategic victory. Democrats have voted to limit. Even conventional energy projects are subject to judicial review. This is very important. Tim Kaine was furious tonight. It’s frustrating, he says. There were other ways to accomplish it. It doesn’t need to be in the debt ceiling bill. There you go. Senate Minority leader McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Schumer are both in favor of the agreement, but have stressed that it must be passed quickly. If the amendments are approved it will be sent back to the House and a second vote is required, which would make an already challenging timeline almost impossible. Why are Republicans putting pressure on McConnell? Okay. Okay. Why aren’t we seeing any criticism or pressure on McConnell? His so-called “leadership team” Why are conservative senators not being pressured? McConnell in particular. Mike Lee has proposed an amendment. Section 265 is to be deleted. Act. Let’s see. This currently allows the Biden administration and director of OMB to unilaterally waive an administrative PAYGO provision. That’s bad. This requires administrative agencies to offset any discretionary administrative actions. Rand Paul is the one who proposed this amendment. The amendment would set caps on the total budget expenditures that are decreasing by 5% every year. These caps will be enforced by sequester. Okay. Will the Republicans support these amendments? Will they be under pressure? No, they’re not. The game is now over. Forget it. It’s too late. We don’t know the Senate numbers. We don’t know the number in the House but you can still make your voice heard. I think. I’ll be back in a moment.

Segment 2

There’s an interesting mix of people in the Republican Party. It is strange in many ways. People are separating, creating their own views on conservatism and rejecting it, or hyphenating conservatism. We have a different kind of theory. This is not a new theory or it really dates back to World War Two. Then in the 1950s with Taft, conservatives, and others, they had a more isolationist viewpoint, but have always denied this. Then there are the hawks. By hawks I mean. Interventionists, who have never been in a conflict where they didn’t think we should get involved. So, labels and names are thrown about because that’s the easiest way to win discussions. I don’t want to win anything. You should hear the facts. Even though I always win Mr. Produce. What am I talking about, now that you know what I’m saying? Here’s Lindsey Graham in the Senate. Lindsay Graham is a Republican who has a different viewpoint. I know that many of you will say, “Oh, it’s Lindsay.” But, Lindsay Graham does not represent a Republican Party position that is completely rejected. You can be a supporter of a strong national security doctrine and a strong military. Quote unquote. Without being an Interventionist. And without supporting endless wars. Reagan was a neocon. He fought against the Russians (the Soviets) in Angola. Nicaragua and El Salvador. Push them in. Other places around the world. No. He defeated the Soviet Union. That was pretty impressive. You think so? You thought it was great? Over the two years of his presidency, you also increased the economy by about 25%. This country hasn’t experienced economic growth this high since the Industrial Revolution. By the way, it was the Industrial Revolution. I know that we were taught to hate monopolists, and even populists do. I don’t like monopolies. I’m a big fan of history. Rockefeller’s wealth is the reason he was once the richest person on earth. He would still be the richest person on earth today. He looked at. Based on his. Inflation. He created. We use the energy system we have today. Fossil fuel system. It would not have happened if his capital had been invested in the same way. It would not have happened. It was very dissimilar. The industry was very regionalized. His genius was the whole idea of pipelines. His genius was the whole idea of pipelines. The natural gas that was being burnt off. His genius was that. His genius made possible the automobile. Or steel. Or steel. No one had capital. Except Carnegie. And I could go on for hours, and certainly improve this nation. The Industrial Revolution, and beyond. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they were the best, or that they were perfect. But it does mean that they brought us many, many things we would not have received otherwise. In some cases, it is good. It’s not good in those cases, but it is in others. I’ll be back in a moment.

Segment 3

Lindsey Graham in the Senate today. Cut forego. We will cap our spending so that we can’t expand the Navy. In the same time period, China will go from 310 to 440 ships in a period of ten years. Let’s just stop there. It’s one of my problems. This is also one of my problems. As well. Yet I asked one my conservative friends from the House. You’re not an isolateist, I told you. Why? Why? He said, “Well, if you can offset that with domestic spending, and I told this to you.” I replied, “But they can’t do that because the liberal Republicans and the left will not allow it.” He replied, “Well, we won’t increase it.” But this doesn’t remove the threat of communist China. Come on man, I mean. To quote Joe Biden. Communist China’s rise is apparent. They are not playing around. Our military must be strengthened. We need to be able defend ourselves. When Reagan left office we had 600 ships in our Navy. We’re now under 300. He says 310. We will be below 300 ships. The Chinese will have over 400 ships. Okay, go ahead. Less ships for the Navy slows down the money we spend on the Marines. Less money to the Army. Navy ships are reduced. Do you care about this? Did you hear anything about this? It’s true. Now we conservatives are concerned. This is not a concern. This is a new form of conservatism for me. This is nothing new. They said pre-World War II 1930s. The United States were hardly an isolationist nation. The enemy grew stronger. The conservatives of America. Not just conservatives but also liberals. The nation did not want to hear anything. Churchill. Churchill. He was called a kook. He was right. Go ahead. It’s a conflict. This bill does not include a single penny to help Ukraine defeat Putin. As I speak, they’re on the offensive. We need to make it clear to Putin that we will support the Ukrainians in order to prevent his invasion of Ukraine. We’ll be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory if we don’t. This is controversial. This was not controversial ten, twenty years ago. But it is now. To support an ally. To defend against an invader. China, Russia and Iran are also important. North Korea. You can access North Korea. A SARS. You have your modern access, the prelude to World War Three and there will be a World War Three. Sorry for being the messenger. In many ways, it’s already begun. China is moving. China is building up its arsenal. They won’t act until they believe they can defeat us, cower us, or cut off our economically navigable areas or routes. They’re in our hemisphere. While the location of Monroe Doctrine as well as Russia. Our friends. The Russians. The Russians are a major force in our hemisphere. It’s incredible. They’re already in Pacific. The Pacific. West coast of Africa Why? To defeat Taiwan. Now. Taiwan has nothing to do. It has to do with us. They are building and building an alliance with certain nations. Brazil and the South are included in this. Nicaragua. Other countries Venezuela. Venezuela. Yet. We are not capable. We are not able. We are not capable. The test for military spending used to be how much military spending, as a percent of the budget, was. As a percentage, it is much lower now than in the past. It is much, much less than in the past and will be even worse. This is also a strike against the deal. McCarthy did not sell us out. He got what he hoped to get. He has the Republicans. It’s a question of judgement. They hung on for another month or so. We wouldn’t go bankrupt. Money keeps flowing into the federal budget. Doesn’t stop. Continue to pay your taxes. Keep paying your taxes. Continue to get tariffs. Keep getting tariffs. It never stops. Mike Leigh appeared on Fox and Friends. Today is my very close friend. We may not always agree but we cut the three years ago. We knew our best chance was if the house produced something good. The fact that the House of Representatives backed down after putting forward a good idea and instead produced something anemic and deficient, which falls well short of the claims they made, has me feeling hesitant to support this bill. There is also the impression that this bill will automatically reduce spending by 1%. They wrote it so that it would actually encourage more spending. A bigger omnibus resolution or continuing resolution will be passed at the end. This will lead to more spending and not less. It’s difficult to know what you can believe any more. I read the bill. I hear my trusted coach, who is one of the most intelligent people I know. I then hear people say, “No, that’s incorrect.” You are hearing the same thing. What are you still going to believe in terms of interpretation? Jim Jordan was the person I spoke to. He does not agree with Mike Lee and does not mention Mike Lee in particular, but he believes that it does the things Mike Lee does. It’s really interesting. You have it. This is not going to change anything, people. The conservative, Republican, or even the Republican proposals were not going to alter the course of events. I agree, you must fight wherever you are required to fight. You fight on all the battlefields. The fact is that if we want to really fix things, I spoke about this in great detail yesterday and will continue to do so on Sunday’s FOX show. It’s a fact. All of this will not change the trajectory. This is just a side note, Mr. Producer. Would you open your microphone? Do I promote my podcast a lot? You should do it more often. You don’t. Do I promote this a lot? Not at all. Do I do it every day? No. Do I promote once a week or more? Not at all. Maybe twice a week, but ideally twice a week. The promotion is done twice a week, or maybe even three times per month. Not very often. Someone writes a note. Westwood One, I am busy promoting my podcast. This is a letter that comes from someone who represents a person who promotes his podcast endlessly. Such liars. They’re brews to cruisin, the cruisin of bruising. I’m fine with that. I’m fine with that. What’s the matter, Mark? It will become clear. It will become clear. It’s very odd. It’s just very odd. I’ll be back in a moment.

Segment 4

Well, you heard Mike Lee. He is against it because the spending is too high. Lindsey Graham opposes the bill because it does not include any extra defense funding in response to a rising communist China. This is an excellent example of the difficulty in assembling votes. If Lindsey Graham was satisfied, then the complaint would be met. Spending would increase. Mike Lee’s request would result in less defense spending. Kevin McCarthy is here. Kevin McCarthy says: “Look.” Here’s what we did. Cut one. Go. Before I voted for the speaker, I thought about this day because I knew that debt ceiling would be coming. I wanted to create history. I wanted to make history. We would literally turn around the ship. First time. In quite some time. We would spend less money than the previous year. Tonight. This is the largest cut and saving this Congress has ever approved. It’s not just that we vote for it. It’s going to take a long time, $2.1 trillion. There are analysts who believe that this is correct. There are also those who disagree. You know what? In a year we’ll find out, won’t you? We don’t need to guess. It was a year. It’s been a year since I was last there. He was not given credit for his potential as a public speaker. First, they said it wouldn’t be possible. It happened. They say that he is a sellout. It’s not a sellout. He’s not a sellout, even if you disagree with the events that have taken place. Then you hear the Democrats attack him. You can then look at the results. It’s been reported that 70 or 71 Republicans voted this down. As the vote was taking place, I watched it. What did I see? When I recall, 40 or 45 people voted against the bill right away, but then changed their minds when it became clear that it would pass. Some Republicans who were watching the proceedings jumped up and voted against the bill. If their votes had been needed, they would have probably voted in favor. But it’s been seven years. Voted against it. What was it? 149 or 150 votes for it. There you have it, the split. They split. You’re in trouble if you’re at a dinner table, trying to work out the problem. And. Again, my complaint is that they should have been more patient. They let Yellen’s phony deadlines pass. One has already done. June 1st. It was going to happen without a hitch and we looked at, among other things, how the Reagan administration handled it. Was able use the funds available when the shutdowns ended. That would have worked, I believe. He didn’t, however, have the support of the Senate Republican Leader. He was there. He was standing pretty much on his own. He’s popular with you, based on your comments. But I can’t see how the attacks will do anything. He says that it is a step in the right direction. Great. Second step. I heard Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller is a sellout. Everyone is a sellout if they don’t agree. It was said that this is how it works with some of these people. Stephen Miller has done a lot of good with his legal group and immigration issues. I have known him for a long while. He is a huge fan of Kevin McCarthy. I had no idea. He claimed to have known him for seven years. He used to be a Hill staffer. He said it on TV yesterday night. I believe that was on HANNITY. This is the first step. This is a good start. It’s still not what we wanted but it’s a step in the right direction. You’re getting mixed signals. That’s why I am here to tell you. We will fight everywhere we can. This fight is not the answer. This is not going to bring us back our country. Even if it was all. Were cut to the extent we wanted. Social Security and Medicare are not mentioned. We’re speaking about 11%, 11%. You can see the GAO report, the OMB Treasury Department report, the CBO report and even me. I told you about them last night. We are heading for a cliff. This vote yesterday had nothing to do, or almost nothing to deal with. We owe money for these so-called entitlements. The amount we own and the areas in which it is located, as well as the untouchable zones, are all included in the budget. It’s so monstrous. It’s unbelievable. It’s difficult to see how this can be resolved. Even if. Matthew Rosendale from Montana was responsible for this process. It would not be enough. It would literally not be enough. The system is utterly broken. The system of borrowing, spending, and funding is all broken. To some extent, I just shake my heads and will be back.

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