Senator Marshall: We Have Solutions to Bring Down Costs – Now we Have to Finish the Job

Senator Marshall Joins Mundo in the Morning

Kansas City - U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined Pete Mundo on Mundo in the Morning live in his KC studio ahead of Vice President Vance's visit to Kansas City to discuss the importance of the city's manufacturing industry and its role in the national economy.

Senator Marshall also discussed his focus on the cost of living, highlighting his work to address healthcare costs, credit card swipe fees, and year-round E-15.

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On Vice President Vance's visit to Kansas City:

"Yeah, Pete, great to be with you. Big day for Kansas City. Folks across the rest of the country need to understand that Kansas City is more than barbecue and the Kansas City Chiefs. Over 100,000 people have jobs in the manufacturing industry in Kansas City, so it's a major manufacturing hub. Think about Garmin, Panasonic, GM, Ford - all the usual cast of characters. And when you think about the Vice President's story in Hillbilly Elegy, the story of his life is really about manufacturing jobs leaving the Rust Belt. So, he's here to tout the Working Family Tax Cuts bill, which gave manufacturing some huge tax breaks to encourage manufacturing jobs."

On the manufacturing industry:

"Well, certainly, manufacturing is one of the big three pillars of any economy, along with agriculture and mining. If you don't have those three right, you're not going to have a good economy. We've been in, I think, 95 or 96 counties already this year alone - this is our seventh visit - and I'm telling you, manufacturing jobs and manufacturing companies are dealing with a huge backlog right now. Boeing is investing another billion dollars in Wichita. China just ordered another 200 planes. In a typical year, Boeing is only making about 600 planes, so another 200-plane order in a year is a pretty good day for Boeing as well. So I go back to the Trump policies here and the Working Family Tax Cuts bill. Bonus depreciation is probably the biggest one for manufacturing. As we move toward more automated manufacturing jobs, being able to write off those big machines that do all the heavy lifting is a major benefit. I think that's a big part of it - the bonus depreciation provision in the Working Family Tax Cuts bill. But don't forget overtime. That was our gig - we wrote the portion of that bill on no tax on overtime. We don't have enough workers in this economy right now, so enticing people to work overtime can help us fill some of those manufacturing orders."

On manufacturing in Kansas:

"Well, certainly, when you think about the Kansas economy, it is agriculture, quite a bit of oil and gas as well, and then manufacturing would be the third leg of it. There's a much bigger presence from GM and Ford. GM has had a hiccup here lately, thanks to the Biden EV policies, but at the end of the day, these tariffs are forcing GM to build more of their next car line here as well. So I think manufacturing across the state is on the uptick. I don't have an exact number for you, Pete, whether it's 10 or 20 percent of the economy, but it's very significant. When you have a manufacturing plant - I think in Wichita it's around 14,000 employed in aerospace - every one of those jobs supports another three to five jobs tied to that manufacturing plant as well."

On tariffs:

"Without any doubt, America is now the third-leading producer of steel thanks to these tariffs. We have the first aluminum smelter in my lifetime - I think a new aluminum smelter is being built down in Oklahoma as well. And I certainly think of a window manufacturer over in Fort Scott that, all of a sudden, is seeing big construction companies wanting Kansas, American-made windows as well. So really, the limiting factor for these manufacturing jobs is people. We don't have enough people for the jobs. But what a great place to come to - Central Kansas, and just the affordability across the state. Certainly, housing is expensive here, but it's nothing compared to what it's like on the coasts."

On the use of AI and its effect on jobs:

"Well, I think there's going to be - and I go back to these manufacturing jobs - I'm not sure they're AI-proof, but they're much more AI-proof than entry-level management, white-collar jobs, or even mid-level positions as well. You just have to look at Facebook and Google and the thousands of people they're laying off from white-collar-type jobs. But on the other end of the spectrum are these STEM-related jobs and manufacturing jobs. Again, I'm probably most familiar with the aerospace industry down in Wichita. They're doing very fine labor that takes a good head on your shoulders, precision work that has to be exact. Then they're using AI to go back in and check their workmanship, so they're bringing AI in to make those manufacturers - those workers - more efficient."

On the cost of living:

"You know, Pete, I think it's kind of a two-tier economy. I mentioned that manufacturing is doing great. One-hundred-dollar-a-barrel oil is actually good for a lot of Kansas producers as well. People over the age of 50 - we've seen our retirement plans almost double here over the last seven or eight years as well. But there's also a group of people who are struggling - those under the age of 40. They've got two kids, maybe three kids, and they haven't bought their house yet. So those are the people I'm really focused on right now: the cost of living, whether it's the cost of gas, groceries, housing, or child care. A lot of those costs went up 50 percent under Joe Biden. Inflation is cumulative, so even though, generally speaking, wages are increasing faster than inflation, there's still a group of people out there - typically under the age of 50 - who are struggling. That's what we need to be focused on in Washington: how do we help that hardworking family out there?"

On the price of gas:

"Yeah, well, I think gas prices will go down as fast as they went up, because we do have the supply here and we're ready to go. Unlike Iran right now, even though they have the oil, they can't send it through the refinery process, so they're standing in line. We have the oil here in place as well. By the way, if we passed E15 year-round ethanol, it could save maybe 30 to 40 cents a gallon. Our credit card bill would lower the price of gasoline another 10 to 15 cents a gallon as well. On the health care front, you talk to any small business in town, and they'll talk to you about health care costs. Our Price Tags bill, which would force every health care provider to show prices up front, could lower the cost of health care by $1,000, maybe $2,000 a month. So there are things that D.C. can do, and we need to get locked in and get them across the finish line."

On year round E-15:

"Yeah, it's disappointing that year-round E15 is more important than the huge deal the president got done with China. Look, that was a great deal for the American farmer. He helped not only Boeing, he helped beef producers, he helped soybean farmers as well. But year-round E15 would be like doubling our export market for corn. In an average year, we export a little over 2 billion bushels of corn. If we went to year-round E15, it would consume another 2 billion bushels of corn as well. You know, this is big oil versus the farmer right now, and I'm going to bet on the farmer here. I know President Trump has put a big emphasis on this. No one has done more for the American farmer and rural America than the Trump administration. We have four, five, maybe six senators from big oil states who are holding us up."

On swipe fees and the Credit Card Competition Act:

"Well, I think we're probably treading water, the way I would look at it. Look, this is Main Street versus Wall Street. The Wall Street banks and the big credit card companies have dumped in, I'm sure, hundreds of millions of dollars attacking me on this particular issue. But what it would do is lower swipe fee costs. Look, there are two credit card companies and a handful of Wall Street banks that control 90 percent of the credit card industry. Because of that, Americans are paying seven times more than people do in Europe. And when you go to a convenience store, the second- or third-highest expense they have is their swipe fee. The second- or third-highest expense they have is their swipe fees. They're paying more in swipe fees than they are for electricity, more than they are for health care as well. That's how high a cost this is for them, and it's being passed on to the consumer. So we'll see. With the cost-of-living issue being a major focus for President Trump right now, when we see the opportunity, maybe we can get it across the finish line."

On healthcare costs:

"I think that, you know, putting blame where blame goes, the cost of health care has gone up because of Obamacare. But regardless, we have the solutions - I have the bills to get across the finish line. With my time in the Senate, we've gained some more, I'm going to say, power and control, so we're really close to getting those across the finish line. These are bills that I wrote six or seven years ago. It typically takes six or seven years to get major legislation across the finish line. So we've already talked about our Price Tags bill, but we also have a pharmacy benefit manager bill that would trim back those costs as well - more transparency. Prior authorization is a big, big issue for patients as well as doctors. We had this, one of our signature pieces of legislation, is poised to get across the finish line as well. So we need to finish the job. And I think I may be the only person in Congress that's actually helped run a hospital, let alone being a doctor and overseeing a county health department. So I do have a little bit of experience in it, and I know the consequences. His solution will probably be Medicare for All. He'll be joining the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrat Party."

"Yeah, so he's obviously a real opponent. He's going to be able to print money. I mean, he's a megachurch pastor - obviously a televangelist-type style. I think he'll have a challenge getting through the Democratic Party primary alone. But we're going to stay focused, Pete. We're going to stay focused on bringing down the cost of living. I'm going to take care of business, and we'll worry about the election more after the August primary."

On the Kansas City Chiefs:

"So you know the first month is one of the easiest schedules on in the NFL, and maybe that'll be a chance, maybe we can let Patrick get fully recovered, but then it's just a juggernaut of a schedule after that as well, I'm just excited. I'm excited that this may be the best rookie class that we've ever had in Chiefs land since going back to when Buck Buchanan was drafted back in the 1960s with a handful of Lynn Dawson was on board with that as well back in the 60s. So I'm just looking forward to getting it going again."

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