US Rep. Hill on budgets, the Trump-Powell feud, ICE, and the Monroe Doctrine

U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock hopes Congress can avoid another government shutdown before Jan. 30 when a current continuing resolution expires. The House and Senate have been passing appropriations bills through regular order, which should be normal but hasn’t been in recent years.

“In talking to [Rep.] Tom Cole, our appropriations chair, and listening to the White House budget people, I don’t know of anyone who’s opposed to getting those bills completed and across the floor. So let’s hope that happens before January 30. That’s been our top priority coming out of the holiday,” said Hill.

Hill’s interview for Talk Business & Politics D.C. Edition also touched on a variety of hot button political topics that have dominated American politics for the last several weeks, including Trump’s feud with Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, U.S. foreign policy, and the ICE raids and protests in Minnesota.

On the Dept. of Justice considering prosecution of Fed chair Powell, whom Trump has expressed frustration:

“I disagreed with the process of the Department of Justice contacting Chairman Powell and saying that he was under investigation and that a criminal probe and grand jury had been opened under the assertion that he had, or under the accusation, I should say, that he had lied to the Senate about the reconstruction and building plans over at the Federal Reserve. I mean, this is not a new topic. It’s a topic that the Congress is doing due diligence and oversight of since the building plans were exposed and became a political issue last year.

“I thought it was wrong to have done that. The Fed’s independence and the Federal Reserve appointees are not immune from criticism, but this is the kind of thing that is best done by the Congress’s oversight about problems with spending or building plans, and to assert that Powell should be subjected to a criminal grand jury investigation I thought was terrible.

“I said so in a statement. I said it was a distraction from the good work that the Fed is doing and President Trump is doing in trying to roll back some of the spending and regulatory excesses of the Biden administration and work together to have a better, more prosperous economy. I hope that this bad advice the president got that saw this facilitated can be reversed so that we can get on about the business that I think is important to the American people.”

On the military action in Venezuela and the President’s threats to Cuba, Greenland and Iran:

“First, let’s stick with the Western hemisphere. I think it’s gone long under appreciated, strategically used in administrations, particularly since 9/11 and the president’s reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine encountering China, Iran and Russia’s presence, both malevolent and economic and military in the Western hemisphere. I think it is overdue no matter who the president is.

“I’m certainly supportive of the extradition of Maduro for drug trafficking charges. I think in my view, what I would’ve liked to have seen was at the time of the extradition, a clear direction and partnership with the democratic forces in Venezuela on how we’re going to get Venezuela’s elections redirected and secured and hold the Maduro government accountable. I don’t think that was as clear as it should be.

“On Greenland, I don’t really understand this issue personally. We have a base in Greenland. We have a good relationship with Denmark as a fellow NATO ally. And to the extent we want to do more, take more actions, be more involved in Greenland, I think that’s possible short of some ownership relationship there.”

On the ICE raids in Minnesota and ensuing citizen protests that have also resulted in ICE violence:

“I think Congress is engaged in oversight and conversation with Homeland Security, with CBP, with ICE on this. I’ve certainly expressed my view to leadership that some of the actions taken in the name of deporting bad actors, serious felony abusers and convicted criminals that are here in the country illegally seems to me to have gone beyond that mission. I think other members of Congress have shared that view and they’ve shared it with the administration.

“Any violence and any loss of life, of course, associated with any of this is terrible and I am regretful for it and we should be taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen. One of those steps is that local elected officials should be crafting an environment of cooperation and work with federal law enforcement and not encouraging citizens to confront federal law enforcement and interrupt that work.

“I think people should be respectful of law enforcement even when they disagree with it, whether it’s a domestic issue or an immigration enforcement issue or just a neighborhood dispute. I think it’s very important andto do otherwise is to encourage a very dangerous situation.”

You can listen to Rep. Hill’s full interview at this link.