ICYMI—Hagerty Joins Mornings with Maria on Fox Business to Discuss Budget Reconciliation, Kevin Warsh, AI Competition with China

WASHINGTON-Today, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, joined Mornings with Maria on Fox Business to discuss budget reconciliation, Kevin Warsh, AI competition with China.

Partial Transcript

Hagerty on reconciliation and DHS funding: "The third reconciliation process that Speaker [Mike] Johnson talked about, we've also been discussing in the Senate as well. That is probably the most prime opportunity. And I think [Senator] Lindsey Graham, our budget chairman, is working at pace for that right now. We also have the National Defense Authorization bill coming up. Both of those will be opportunities to address this. We're going through this process right now to fund the Department of Homeland Security, that the Democrats have shut down now. They've shut down this department. The department charged with protecting us, the Counter-Terrorism department at a time when we are dealing with the world's largest state sponsor of terror. It's incredibly irresponsible that the Democrats have put us in this position. They basically are against law enforcement. Chuck Schumer says he doesn't respect them, I'm sure, but our law enforcement is absolutely critical at a time when the Biden administration encountered 1500 Iranians, that's the polite word. They use 1500 Iranians from 2021 to 2024; they released half of them into the country. We need to be very responsible at this point in time and the recklessness of the Democrats has brought us to this point. It's their shut down, their willingness to expose us to terrorism that is really hard to believe. We're going to address it very quickly."

Hagerty on President Trump's leadership on Iran: "President Trump has done an outstanding job using executive orders to bring our country back to the most competitive place it possibly could be. The reconciliation package that we passed last year, the Working Families Tax Cut Act, some call it The Big Beautiful Bill, that put in place more incentives for capital investment than we have seen in our careers. So, we've got great economic momentum right now. President Trump is dealing with the world's largest sponsor of terror. I think that's going to happen post-haste. Time, as he said, is on our side here. The Iranians are running out of options immediately. They're running out of storage capacity for their oil. If they have to cap their wells, if they have to stop production it is going to create massive damage. Again, time is running out. They need to take the off ramp."

Hagerty on the 2026 midterms: "If we do wind up in a situation [losing the Republican congressional majority], and it's going to be close, and I think the races for the House and the Senate are going to be very intense. The Democrats have decided that resistance, that favoring crime over law enforcement seems to be their play. I don't think the American public are going to buy that. I think the economy is going to be moving in the right direction. I'm optimistic that we won't have a problem in the midterms but we're going to fight hard. The Democrats have indicated that they're going to resist at every turn. They're going to try to bring the government to a grinding halt. They've already demonstrated that with the shutdown last fall and with what they're doing with Homeland Security. I do not think we'll lose the Senate. We'll be able to maintain the fight, but they'll make it certainly a lot more difficult for the American public."

Hagerty on the Virginia redistricting amendment: "Democrats have demonstrated that they can't win the hearts and minds of the American public so instead they're going to try to change the rules. And this is exactly the playbook that they've deployed in the past. If you think about some of the states where Democrats can win, there's states where there's no voter ID where they've got very loose rules. That's what the Democrats seem to want everywhere. They're trying to change the rules now for the allocation of Congressional seats and districts. Every single Democrat voted to continue counting illegals in the process of allocating congressional districts and electoral votes. [Illegal Aliens] flooded the border, [Democrats] brought all these millions of illegals into the country. They go to these sanctuary cities, and now they want to count them. They've all voted to do just that, to count them in the allocation of seats and districts. The Democrat's playbook is, is to change the rules, to break the rules, to certainly go well against the intent of the founding fathers."

Hagerty on Kevin Warsh's committee hearing: "I'd say Kevin Warsh delivered a textbook performance. He's absolutely the man for the job at this moment. I think everybody saw that in full display when he appeared before the banking committee. Every person sitting on that banking committee, whether they be Republican or Democrat, can vote to move Kevin Warsh forward. Every Democrat there, many of them already voted for Kevin Warsh when he was up for Fed Governor. They [Democrats] have the opportunity to support this. I've spoken with Senator Tillis, and I've spoken with Senator Scott just as recently as yesterday about moving this forward. I think there are a number of options to get this moving, but we need to see Kevin [as Fed Chair] by mid-May. I certainly hope that we'll be in that position very soon to put Kevin into that role. He'll do a great job, and we're ready for him."

Hagerty on Warsh's confirmation process: "[Kevin Warsh's Nomination to be Fed Chair] It could be imminent. Conversations are underway. I don't want to get ahead of those conversations because they're fragile, delicate. But again, on our side, I think every Republican realizes Kevin Warsh is the most competent person, a terrific candidate that President Trump has selected, and he's ready for the position and well prepared, ready to go at a time when we need the sort of certainty that he can help deliver to get the Fed back into its lane. So, there's no question about his competence, his qualifications, and I'm very optimistic that we're going to have a vote soon."

Hagerty on the CLAIRTY Act: "I feel like we're at the one-yard line on this one. It's up to Chairman Tim Scott to decide the timing of when we do the markup [to the CLARITY Act]. But I think we're very close to being ready to do that. In my view, it could happen in a matter of weeks. I've been optimistic that we were ready in the past and other things come up. For example, the situation in Iran, the Democrat's decision to shut down the government, to shut down Homeland Security. But we're moving at pace, and I think we're very close to being ready to move on the CLARITY Act."

Hagerty on The AI Race with China: "It is quite alarming [that China is attempting to steal innovation and intellectual property from the United States] but it's not surprising. Michael Kratsios [Science Advisor to the President of the United States] is extremely competent and a good friend and he is putting his finger on the button here. This is the most important, most incredible advancing technology that we've seen in decades. Right now, the Chinese, again, are trying to steal intellectual property, and this is a playbook they have been executing for decades. I've had my intellectual property stolen when I was in the private sector by the Chinese. So, this is something we've got to be on guard for. We have to be prepared for it. Most importantly, we must stay ahead of it, meaning the United States needs to continue to lead in AI. And I understand the concerns and I've watched very carefully what the Florida Attorney General is doing right now to deal with some of these concerns that are quite alarming. But at the same time, I think what we need are the appropriate guardrails to maintain American liberty but also maintain American dominance, the development of AI that happens right here in this country. We need to lead here."

Hagerty on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's leadership: "I applaud Secretary Bessent for bringing the banks together. These AI tools can be utilized to find any type of vulnerability. They can do it much more rapidly, much more effectively than humans can do it. And the fact that we're getting ahead of it, staying ahead of it, and acting on any of these vulnerabilities I think means the tools can be used for very productive and constructive means. Particularly, when we have adversaries like China that would try to exploit those vulnerabilities."

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