And we just got to go ahead. And 543. Congressman Greg Stuber, thank you so much for joining us.
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Congressman, I want to get your thoughts here, drone attacks on American soldiers in Iraq and at the border of Iraq and Syria in Syria. Sure. This hits a bit closer to home to you as a Iraq war veteran, how alarming is this considering what is already taking place in the Middle East?
Yeah, I can guarantee you those are Iranian backed Militia units that are attacking our service members. And again, this is the Iran that the Biden administration just opened up $6 billion worth of payments, myself and my colleagues on the Republican side have asked him to try to freeze that money, but they also lifted sanctions. So now Iran can sell rockets and drones and all sorts of that kind of stuff out on the free market, because this administration, who cares nothing about the safety and security of the American people lifted sanctions on the Iranian regime. So it's not a coincidence that these things are happening. It's not a coincidence that weeks after they released $6 billion, that these attacks from Hamas were backed by the Iranians in Israel. None of this is a coincidence. This is all because of the horrible foreign policy decisions of this President and his administration. A
lot of interesting points, Congressman, all roads do appear to be leading back to Iran, but yet with very little fanfare, you're mentioning it, of course. How should Iran be dealt with right now?
Well, we shouldn't have the Biden administration shouldn't have lifted sanctions on them. We should reinstitute those sanctions, they should refreeze that $6 billion. So the Iranians don't have $6 billion to use to fund terrorist activities in the Middle East and across the globe. Those are just a few short things that you could do take strong stances against the Palestinians supporting Hamas instead of this president who's now saying he wants to give them $100 million of Americans taxpayer dollars that you know, darn well is going to go to fund Hamas is war against Israel. We're giving money to Lebanon, that's funding Hezbollah, we're giving money to the Iraqis. It's funding Shia militia militia groups that are backed by the Iranians, all of this. We're in the current state of wars all across our world because of the Biden administration. This would not be happening under a Trump administration, an administration that exuded strength, America first agenda, but they know just look at Afghanistan, what this administration is going to do. They there, they have an appeasement regime in the Biden administration to try to appease terrorists, appease the Palestinians supporting Hamas, appease the Iranians, and an appeasement strategy and foreign policy does not work. And you're seeing the complete implications of that on the world stage right now.
Once again, when you do take a high level overview of what certain things that have transpired over the past few years, whether it be the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was a disaster, you have what's taking place right now, many examples, the war in Ukraine, China, it really does beg the question, is it a policy issue and what needs to be changed?
Yeah, it's this administration's approach to foreign policy. It's this administration's approach to a not America first agenda. From an economic perspective to a foreign affairs perspective. I'm going back before the Ukraine War, where they lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream two pipeline, the Russian pipeline that the Trump administration had put in place. Solinsky himself has said that that those billions of dollars helped fund the Ukraine war, the decisions that this administration have made our funding our enemies and terrorists all across the world. If you took a strong economic stance against China, we would be depleting the money that they're spending on to beef up their military. If we weren't lifting sanctions on Nord Stream to and Russian pipelines, then then the Ukrainians wouldn't have been attacked. I mean, if we didn't live sanctions, the Iranians and given $6 billion, they wouldn't be funding Hamas and terrorist organizations. I mean, it's decision after decision that this administration has made that has put us in the predicament that we're in right now.
Congressman, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about the house speakership. What can we expect right now? Can you give us any insight as to how you see this playing out?
Well, it sounds now that the quote unquote leadership of our party has decided to pass a resolution on the floor that would empower McHenry, who is the Speaker Pro Tem right now with the powers of the speakership, without actually going through a speaker election. I think that is woefully unconstitutional. I think it'd be a horrible idea to move forward with that you would have a speaker acting with Speaker powers who hasn't been elected Speaker. I anticipate to vote against this. I would imagine that the majority of my conference is going to vote against this. So the only way that this limps across the finish line would be if Democrats are going to join When establishment Republicans to empower a speaker and give him powers that he should not have, because he hasn't been elected speaker.
Do you see a point where some of these Republican holdouts, the established ones that you mentioned, sort of become or start to be considered the extremists that those on the other end of your party have been called?
Well, I mean, they're dug in. I mean, they're not going to support Jim Jordan. I know Jim wants to do this to give McHenry time and us to be able to pass legislation till January to give him time to try to work some of these individuals. I don't think that's ever gonna happen. Scalise didn't have the votes on the floor. Unless the eight that ousted McCarthy, five of them changed their position. There's not votes for Kevin on the floor. There's not votes for Jordan on the floor. So either we need to come to an agreement on who's going to stand in the place for the next year and a half and actually lead the conference conservatively and be elected speaker and not change the rules and empower a speaker that's never been elected to that position.
Congressman Greg, stupid, really appreciate you joining us giving us some insight directly into the situation. Thank you. Yeah, good to see you. Thanks, Congressman Brown.
