FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
U.S. Representative Jerry Carl - Jeff Poor Show - Friday 9-06-24
(upbeat music) - Welcome back to "The Jumpboard Shoulder" for talk 10065. Thank you for staying with us on this Friday. Good morning, broadcasting and Birmingham today. Four more hours of radio after this wraps up. So, prayers are appreciated. Coming up on the program, still about 30 minutes from now. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville making a surprise appearance on the program, and then we'll wrap it up with our returning champion state senator, Chris Elliott. So please stick around for that. But joining us now, another guest of honor here, always appreciative of his time. Our congressman here in the first congressional district, Jerry, Carl, Congressman, good morning, how are you? - Good morning, Jeff, I'm fantastic. I hope you're well, and I hope it's raining in Birmingham, just like it's raining here. - That's a little overcast, but yeah, it is maybe not the most ideal circumstances, but I hope it clears out of here before tomorrow, I don't. - Well, we needed it in my house, so I felt you'd just send it all to my house for a while. I'm good with it. (laughs) Let's start here, and we're gonna get into this with Senator Tuberville too, but this budget deadline looming, and it is such a strange timing, month out from an election. What are you here in? I hear some of your colleagues want to kind of add the Save Act as a writer, and some aren't really crazy about that idea, where are we as of today? - Well, as far as the Save Act, we passed it. It's a good bill, I'm for it. We passed it at the Senate, and it died at the Senate. So what they're wanting to do is add it on with the CR, so they have to, the Senate either has to deliberately strip it out, the Democrats will have to deliberately strip it out of the CR, and are a continuous resolution, and are voted through, which we know they're not gonna vote through, so the real question is, is once they strip it out, it comes back to us to vote on again, before it moves back to the President. So it's gonna be a lot of politicking, moving back and forth. Some of the stuff I found interesting, you know, the beginning of the 119th Congress, we negotiated with Freedom Caucus Group, and they wanted individual bills voted on. They didn't want any of these packages put together, but here we are going into the final days, and they're trying to put things together as a package. So we're going just the opposite of what we had negotiated on, but I don't look for it to be exactly the way we're talking about it right now. The appropriation side, we've had it ready. We hit our deadline, we've got all 12 packages put together. We can't get some of those across the floor, some of our own colleagues don't wanna vote for it. So it limits us 'cause we're not gonna get any help from the Democrats. So what will happen is we're going to offer a bill up, if it doesn't pass, we'll go into a shutdown, which I don't see that happening, a shutdown. I think they'll come up, 'cause nobody wants a shutdown right before election. It was planned to be right before the election. I know you say it may be an interesting time to have it come up, but this is the way it was planned back in January and February, which got advanced on I think till May, I know I got my months mixed up there, but it was planned to be a month out, put pressure on everybody to vote for it. So it's well thought out, now does it work or not? I really don't know. I'm for it, it will move, it basically will move into March of 2025, which should Trump win. Trump will have a voice in the rewriting of it and some changing in it, which I think would be a great thing for any administration coming in, which I truly believe is gonna be Donald Trump, but it'll get, can it get kicked down the road? And basically we'll deal with the same budget that we had last year minus 1%. - So you don't, I mean, you don't think the shutdown will happen, they're just not that. Because my fear is this, Congressman, that I mean, Democrats are pretty brazen with everything and they will have, I mean, they all, it seems like they always win, there were a couple of exceptions early on with Trump, but they seems like they always win the shutdown, the shutdown war and whoever gets the blame for it, even if the Republicans are in charge, our Democrats are in charge. - Well, if we have a shutdown, the way it's structured, it will be on the Republicans, I'm sorry, on the Democrats' hands, they will be the ones to shut it down. 'Cause we're gonna offer them a package that should pass through, even though we've got the amendment to it, when it gets to the Senate, they can strip it out. They strip it out, it's gonna be the Democrats stripping it out. But I think it's very important in this country that we have ID, that citizens of the US are the only ones that vote, we have ID to back up who they are. I think that simple enough, I mean, that's what that bill is about. And for the Democrats to strip that out and say, no, we don't want that in it, I think that speaks volumes for what they're trying to do, here at the race, in the race. - So when that's stripped out, I mean, is it expected that you'll have enough Republicans and maybe even a few Democrats to go along to keep the shutdown from happening? - Well, if it comes back with that stripped out, imagine all the Democrats would vote for it. I can't speak for the Republicans as far as myself. I mean, I'd have to see it when it got back. I wouldn't commit to voting for it or against it at this point, I truly wouldn't. But we'll be headed back in Sunday. Monday, we'll hit the ground though. They'll start whipping us and I'm part of the whipped team. So we'll start seeing who's for it and who's against it. And we'll have a good idea by Tuesday morning and we'll see if we have enough votes to bring it up on the floor this week. We'll be in session for the next three weeks in a row. So we've got time to get it done. And it's going to, I mean, I like I've told you Jeff, and you know it better than I do, DC loves drama. So don't expect them to do get anything done until the last minute. Yeah, well, I wonder though, like, well, they try and are, well, either side for that matter. Is there a political advantage with the election coming up to do it this way? I mean, the chess board's a little different with what's on the line. - Yeah, it was originally was not the bill was not gonna be attached to it. And that's gotten added on. I know Chip Roy and a handful of folks are wanting to attach to it. Again, I don't have a problem with that. I think us to have a positive idea of who's voting and being American only seems like something very normal and reasonable to me. But for some reason, the Democrat party didn't think so and they're pushing back. There may be some crossovers. I doubt it very seriously, 'cause they're very good at following the line, following the party and what they're encouraged to do. - Well, I mean, sorry if I'm being repetitive here, but if the Senate strips it out, it comes back to the House. Are you worried about, I mean, number one, where would you be without the Save Act on this as an amendment? And number two, I mean, without it there, how many Republican votes do you lose and what the very narrow, narrow margins you guys got? - I think if it comes back and it's been stripped out, I think you're gonna see the Republican leadership push to pass it just to keep things open, being an election time. I think that's my good feeling. Again, I'm not gonna speak for anybody else on that and I'm certainly not gonna commit myself one way or the other till I see what's in it, 'cause the Senate can send it back just as, you know, with something in it that we don't want. So we have to be careful, I wanna be careful on that. Doing the Senate's a different creature and I know you got Tommy coming on. I mean, they, you know, there's Democrats, Republicans and then there's the Senate. I mean, it's just, it's tough to deal with them some time and this might be one of those that, that the Senate wants to add something goofy on there coming back. - Well joined by Jerry Carl here on the program, Congressman for the First Congressional District. Congressman, election season, I guess we need to talk about that. What are you hearing? I know you're on your way out, so maybe you're not as employed in or maybe you are, I don't know, but how do you feel about top of the ticket and then control of the House? - I think Trump's gonna win. I think Trump's gonna win by a two or 3% margin which is huge in the presidential race. It doesn't sound like much, but it wins a win and two or 3% is huge. I think the Senate, I think we're gonna take a couple if not three seats in the Senate. The House has got me a little worried. We have been in such a turmoil among ourselves, the Republican Party. I think people have lost a little bit of confidence in us. We should win. We should, I mean, that should go without saying. We've certainly got the strongest message and we got, you know, we're leaning into that. We'll just have to see how the voters are. You know, voters are fickle. We're all playing for those independent votes and that's where it's gonna rest with House members too. But we got some strong races. You see California shifting a little bit. I know it's gonna seem a little crazy, but we may even pick up an extra seat in California. You've got some seats that we'll probably, one more in Arizona that we lost two years ago. We shouldn't have lost it, but we lost it. She's running again. She's a strong candidate, a great person. So I think we may pick up, you know, I think we'll pick up some. The question is how many we're gonna actually lose. I know for District two, if folks don't get out and vote and conservative folks don't get out and vote, we're gonna lose District two. I've been watching some of the polling. I mean, my race, for example, if they had me eight points ahead, we can't afford my race. And if people don't get out and vote, those polls mean absolutely nothing. So right now, I think the polling I've seen has got figures in the lead, the last one that I saw, it's gonna be neck and neck on that one. So please, folks, get out and vote. Get your family and your friends and get out and vote. Please, if you're especially in District two. Very fine, obviously everybody else in the state is gonna be fine on real life. But I think the House is, and I'm probably a little more worried and we're all working towards helping the House. I'm staying very active. As active as people are letting me raise the money and doing what I can do to help the other House members. - Well, and here's the thing. I mean, we'll talk AL2 for a moment. I've seen very little polling. I don't, the Southern Poverty Law Center poll is not a legitimate poll. But beyond that-- - Yeah, I agree with that. - I look at the district and, you know, and I mean, you know, at least part of it 'cause it's your district, but Congressman, I don't think the pollsters really, I don't think there's a good methodology there. I don't think any of the polling, when people try, there's not really a good model, a good science for a survey there. So there's a lot of unknowns about AL2. - Yeah, there he is. And honestly, we're pulling for Dobson as far as we can. I don't see figures out. I don't see him as active as her. She's everywhere I go. She's there. She's running a Katie Britt type, like campaign. She's everywhere. And that, you know, usually the one that works the hardest wins. So if that's the case and it holds true with her, she'll win. You just don't see him out much. You know, figures are gonna be relying obviously on his family's name and, you know, his history and the family's history in this district too. But is that enough to get people to get out and vote? We're gonna find out here pretty soon about 60 days. - Yeah, all right. - But if folks don't get out and vote, folks don't get out and vote. Hey, we're gonna lose it. You're not gonna have a representative from Mobile 'cause I'm telling you, figures live in Washington, D.C. and he has for a while. - Bethesda, Maryland is the word on the street there. But, yeah, I mean, he's from Obama era and he worked for Obama and he's worked for Biden also. So, I mean, he's, if he's deeply entrenched with the Democrat party, then he's a great guy. Stupid guy to talk to. But for as far as politics and what we need in South Alabama, I just don't, I'm not comfortable with it at all. - Isn't that remarkable how that turned out? And you look at the slate of candidates, I mean, especially on the Democrat side, everybody ran from somewhere besides within the boundaries of the 2nd Congressional District. - Yeah, well, maybe nobody wanted to share it, yeah. - It's a tougher job than people give it credit for. - Well, I mean, you had all these people. - Well, you had all these people. - The Democrats specifically running from, how many candidates from Birmingham running in that race? - And there was one from Huntsville that ran. - Anthony Daniels would go from on Monday if he had won representing North Huntsville the Tuesday after he was sworn in representing Tillman's Corner, like how crazy is that? - Well, but you don't have to live in the district to run. That's the way it was set up many, many years ago. But it doesn't hurt to live in the district that you're running for. And, you know, I don't know why they couldn't find a better person and why, you know, we had some strong Democrats that ran in the original primary from Mobile, but I thought should have ran. I should have won that. I thought might win other than figures. You know, figures obviously got so much momentum because of his mother and his father too for that matter. I mean, his dad was quite connected politically. So we'll see. It's all going to be based on turnout. And I'm really keeping my fingers crossed and people listen to me and please get out and vote. I don't care what you got to do, get out and vote. Vote early. You know, if you know you're going to be gone, call into the permit courts office. They'll send you an application, you fill out an application out, you send it in, they'll send you about to vote. Follow the directions on the envelopes, please, because if any of those steps are not followed, they throw them away. They're very particular and I appreciate them being that way. So I encourage people to vote early if they can or need to. - Cars, we've got to leave it there, but I always appreciate you coming in and give us kind of an update about what's here and out there. - All right, Jeff, we'll see how the CR turns out. - Yeah, we're looking forward to that. - And we have a conversation after that. All right, buddy. - All right, I'll see you later. That was Jerry Carl there. We'll be right back. This is FM Talk, one of those six-five. ♪ I'm in my hand ♪ ♪ And I'll be waiting in Jackson ♪ ♪ Behind my J-Pand plan ♪