At today's Senate Republican leadership press briefing, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was asked about including tariff costs in item prices.
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00:00I haven't seen in decades.
00:01The White House Press Secretary called it a hostile and political act for companies like Amazon
00:06to display the cost of tariffs that they're having on consumers.
00:10Do you think consumers should know how much more they're going to be required to pay for these tariffs?
00:15Well, I mean, I think that's a conversation that the folks at Amazon will have to have with the White House,
00:21with the President.
00:23You know, I think at the end of the day, again, this administration is going to be judged by the results that they get.
00:28And if, in fact, they get better trade deals that change the way that other countries have mistreated us
00:36or treated us unfairly through the years, people will view it as a success.
00:41And ultimately, you will see the economic conditions reflect that.
00:45And I think in the end, you're going to have inflation.
00:48It will be under control.
00:50But I understand, you know, the short-term conclusions of people drawing
00:56or even some of the polling data that's out there.
00:57That is what it is.
00:59But the fact of the matter is that when you make policy decisions with a long-term outcome in mind,
01:05you've got to have some patience to get there.
01:07And I think that the discussion that they're having with Amazon is something that will be a discussion
01:13between the administration and the company and the company leadership.
01:18But I don't for a minute believe that this administration isn't making the right decisions
01:24that lead us to the policy outcomes that are going to make the American people more safe,
01:28more secure, and more economically prosperous.
01:31We saw that in the first term.
01:33And I think they're doing the right things right now.
01:36But we've got to wait, obviously, the outcome of what this tariff debate ultimately looks like.
01:41Leader Dupin, on reconciliation.
01:45Several of your Republican colleagues have asked you to take a very cautious approach
01:50when it comes to reconciliation and clean energy, IRA clean energy tax cuts,
01:56specifically some of those affecting your constituents, your farmers, sustainable aviation fuel, biofuels, biodiesel.
02:04So can you support a more surgical, cautious approach to reconciliation cuts in this area?
02:11Well, I mean, we're going to ultimately what gets included in a reconciliation bill will be determined by what there are 218 votes for in the House and 51 or 50 votes in the United States Senate.
02:25And obviously there are differences of opinion about some of the various provisions in previous legislation.
02:33And the one that you noted, and my guess is as we get further into these discussions, we will come up with a plan that gets us 218 in the House, 50 votes in the Senate, ultimately 51 if the Vice President has to be involved.
02:50But to preserve the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and make sure that we have the right incentives in place for American energy production.
02:59And whether that's in the renewable space, the conventional space, I think most of us up here agree that an all of the above energy strategy when it comes to American energy is the right one.
03:09And as we work through reconciliation, there will be some give and take and obviously conversations around some of the energy policies and provisions that are in place today.
03:19But at the end of the day, it's about making America energy, not only energy independent, but energy dominant.