Democrats push for more federal benefits for illegal immigrants
Fox News contributors Joey Jones, Emily Compagno and Sean Duffy weigh in on 'Hannity'
This is a rush transcript post from "Hannity," May 7, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
I'm Jason Chaffetz, in tonight for Sean.
And for the hour, we'll discuss how Biden's radical big government policies are fundamentally transforming our country, and not for the better.
As Dagen McDowell put it, Biden's recent joint address to Congress was a declaration of dependence. Not just because of what Biden said during his remarks, but also what he didn't say.
Despite speaking for over an hour, the president never uttered the words "entrepreneurship," "individualism," "liberty," and he used the word "freedom" only once during a section about China.
And this week, in his National Day of Prayer proclamation, Biden didn't even use the word "God". Not once.
That's because Joe and his radical base value of government dependence above all else -- dependence on government handouts, government programs, government solutions. According to Biden, government is the answer to all of our problems, and now, we're seeing the results.
After a disappointing jobs report, the unemployment rate just went up. According to Biden, we are right on track. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Listening to commentators today as I was getting dressed, you might think that we should be disappointed. But when we passed the American Rescue Plan, I want to remind everybody, it was designed to help us over the course of a year, not 60 days. A year. We never thought that after the first 50 or 60 days, everything would be fine.
Today, there is more evidence that our economy is moving in the right direction, but it's clear we have a long way to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAFFETZ: Believe it or not, it gets worse. Biden's own labor secretary does not seem to understand why people are disappointed with the rising unemployment numbers. Watch list.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why isn't a disappointment?
MARTY WALSH, LABOR SECRETARY: It's actually kind of funny when we're talking what 266,000 jobs added to the economy and it's a disappointment. You know, we're seeing that our economy is still growing and still recovering. If you look at the three-month average in the country over 500,000 jobs added every single month, and we are going in the right direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, kind of funny.
That's right. This is all going according to plan. There are now millions of available jobs, but no one to fill them, all because of massive state and federal handouts.
And if the Democrats get their way and pass the trillions in new additional spending and taxes, it's only going to get worse.
Joining us now with reaction is FOX News contributor Charlie Hurt, American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, and FOX News contributor Joe Concha.
Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining here.
Matt, I want to -- I want to start with you because Democrats are like a broken record. More government, more taxes, more government, more taxes, but that's not the solution to actually thrive in the United States of America.
MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: Yeah, that's exactly right, Jason. As a matter of fact, we spent so much money, so many trillions of dollars, that it is so counterproductive. You have Americans that are getting paid not to work. You of small businesses going out of business -- going out of business right and left because of the panic in these blue states over the Chinese corona.
You know, Jason, I think the coverage of the unemployment rate and economic growth should now be split into red and blue. I was on the phone today with Governor Abbott of Texas. Texas is booming. Companies are moving from California, New York, and other high tax and high regulatory and closed economies, to states like Texas and Florida and Tennessee and other places that are open. If you actually look at the economic circumstances of red states, despite the terrible Biden policies, they are thriving.
Now, Joe Biden's administration can throttle it and stop it, but it's blue states, these failed states, states like New York and California, Nevada and others, they are the ones people are fleeing. That is where you can really see -- they are the early indicators of what socialist economic policies and cultural policies would do to all of us if it were to happen.
CHAFFETZ: Now, Joe, Utah has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. We are less than 3 percent. We have been driving for a long time. But this messaging of the idea of going to work and actually going back to work, what is wrong with actually saying that? Because the American media, as I see them, they just don't even understand the problem, let alone the solution.
JOE CONCHA, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Right, and the problem is, and you mentioned it earlier, is that you have a jobs report that missed wildly on expectations, but when you look at interviews on the ground with business owners and shop owners, you see the reason why. They are saying they can't fill these positions because you have people sitting at home getting money from the government, sitting around in their pajamas watching "Captain Kangaroo" instead of going to work because they are actually getting more money from the government than they would if they actually put in the effort.
But then we have to start fact-checking this president a heck of a lot more. We concentrate on all this other stuff with Joe Biden, but we have to look at his words, and his words are simply lies. For instance, he says that his America Jobs Plan will create 16 million jobs. He doesn't say exactly where he is getting that number from, but then you look at Moody's, and had an April report that just came out that says the U.S. economy would add roughly 13 -- I'm sorry, 16.3 million jobs through 2030, regardless of whether this jobs plan of his passes.
In other words, he is taking credit, like without me, we would not create 16 million jobs, but already, the economy was on track to do so, and now, it's stalling because people aren't looking for work because they don't have to because they are making more money sitting at home doing nothing.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, and you know what, I love "Captain Kangaroo". I haven't seen it in a while, but you are right. You know, it's a good show, but you can still get back to work and do that too.
So, Charlie, it's always, always, always about more government and more dependence and more government. There is -- it's insatiable for these Democrats. And yet, I don't understand why they think that is going to resonate long term.
CHARLIE HURT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, and also, I think the more alarming thing about all the numbers that came out today was to look at the Dow reach historic highs. It was up 230 points today, and the reason for that, the reason for that excitement on Wall Street, I think it's probably the same reason that you hear a lot of the excitement among Democrats, is because they don't care if Americans go back to work, because what they are doing is there looking at the southern border and they are seeing thousands and thousands of people come across the border. They look at that and they see cheap labor.
They don't care if Americans go back to work. That's not their interest. They would rather pay Americans to stay home and get cheap labor across the border, and you raise a really interesting point. Why does the government, of course, the government is borrowing money to make these payments to people, but why does the government pay people more than they would make at their job?
Well, the reason is because they have allowed so much cheap labor to come across the border in the first place. That is what has suppressed wages over the past 20, 30 years. And, of course, both parties are guilty of this.
So I think Wall Street and Democrats are sitting back, they don't care about American unemployment rates. What they care about is all that cheap labor coming across the border and Joe Biden isn't doing anything to stop any of it because it is good for Wall Street, and what is good for Wall Street is good for Joe Biden and the Democrats.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, I really am concerned about that.
Now, Matt, one of the things I'm also concerned about is quite frankly, Republicans and conservatives have somewhat lost in the mantle and the argument of the discussion about fiscal discipline because it's really hard now to come back and make the case that we need to spend less when at other times, we had the opportunity and didn't spend less.
SCHLAPP: No, that's exactly right. I think that is a very fair criticism. I mean, the trillions of dollars we have spent over the last couple years, it's mind-boggling. I think back to Obamacare and we were talking about, you know, a fifth of the economy, $1 trillion, and we were clutching our pearls over 1 trillion -- 1 trillion, my gosh, that is like a tip on the table with the amount of money we're spending to nationalize each and every problem.
And of course, as I said, the spending that we are talking about now, you cannot spend this amount of money. Every bill that they passed, all these recovery bills and such, they don't even spend it before they have the next one all proposed, and the economy is so juiced that the dollar is becoming more and more meaningless, which means we are having so much inflation.
Everyone knows what the staples in their life with food, with gasoline, that the prices are going through the roof. And, look, Trump had this economy humming at America was competitive once again. We have chucked that out the window. And that is a very, very scary thing for men and women across this country that don't have a lot of savings to get through the rough times.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, Joe, I remember when Obama and Biden put forward a $787 billion stimulus and we about fell off our chair at how big it is, but Democrats want to go out and sell even trillions more in stimulus. How in the world are they going to do that and justify it? They -- Joe Biden says it is paid for, and you want to just kind of laugh and say "come on, Joe."
CONCHA: Yeah, it's justified I guess because, A, obviously, there is a Democratic House and Senate and Democrat in the White House, but also, it is the way these bills are presented through the media that makes it easy to sell, so you when you hear COVID relief and you think there should be more money toward COVID relief? Of course, any human being is going to say yes, like asking, are you against cancer? Yes, I am against cancer.
And then you hear about infrastructure. Hey, do you think that we should improve our infrastructure? You're always, like, you know, my road and my town, there's potholes everywhere and bridges are falling apart, the power grid -- look at what happened to Texas, I'm all for that.
But what's not explained by our media is peeling the onion, COVID relief only means, what, something less than 10 percent actually went towards COVID, or infrastructure, where it's only 6 percent goes towards roads and bridges and the rest of it just goes toward, obviously come all of that pork that everybody hates so much.
So, you know, this thing is getting sold and getting pulled well because it is presented as COVID relief and infrastructure relief when those bills are almost everything but, and that's incumbent on the media to report those facts, and instead everybody -- not everybody, but many outlets are cheerleading this president, and therefore not telling the American people what they should hear and where all this money is going, Jason.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, absolutely.
Charlie, I've only got 15 seconds, but I want to give you the last word.
HURT: Every bit of it is borrowed or printed money, and that is why the price of goods -- not to mention housing is going up. And that hurts lower income people more than anybody else.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, you combine that with the Biden-Harris energy plan at the Green New Deal, and you've got a recipe that makes it very difficult for a young, up-and-coming family, or a struggling family, or somebody who is on a fixed income, that is where the cruelty really hits.
Charlie, Matt, and Joe, thank you very much for joining us tonight on "Hannity." Do appreciate it.
All right, well, Democrats used COVID to implement their socialist wish list, many red state governors lifted restrictions months ago, and the results have been incredibly positive.
Eight weeks after Governor Abbott in Texas lifted all statewide mandates, the COVID numbers remain incredibly low.
In Florida, just saw its lowest positive rate since March. Now, Governor Ron DeSantis has a message for those receiving unemployment in his state: start looking for a job.
Joining us now with reaction is former Trump White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is a board member to the newly announced Election Integrity Alliance.
Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us.
Mr. Attorney General, I want to start with you, because Texas has helped lead the way in many of these facets, including getting rid of the restrictions. From your point of view, how is it going, and why should other states do what Texas is doing?
KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, other states should do what we're doing because it works, both from a job standpoint and an economic standpoint. People of our state are benefiting, people are moving to our state by the droves from the states that are not open, and then from a health standpoint, we're doing just as well. You've seen the numbers, you've cited the numbers.
We're doing really well and as vaccinations have gone up and we have more herd -- we have more immunity.
It's just going really well in Texas, and I think you can see it just by those people coming to our state for jobs and for opportunity.
CHAFFETZ: Now, Reince, you look at Montana, Governor Gianforte. You look at Governor McMaster there in South Carolina, they're also telling people, get up off the couch and get back to work.
How do you think that is going to be received by the general residence within those states and across the country?
REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, thanks, Jason.
Well, I think, first of all, like your last panelist said, this is one of the very few opportunities that is so easy to show what happens when government interferes in the free market economy. When you have the president of the United States saying, we the people are the government, it's no surprise that you have 7.4 million jobs that are available, and only -- less than 300,000 people found work. And that's because our Democrats thought it would be really generous to provide people more money to remain unemployed than to go find a job.
Now, think about what we are saying. In order for these businesses to be successful, they have to be able to talk people out of receiving free money, and instead, going to work. And on top of it all, schools are closed, which is something that was not mentioned yet. When you add all of that up together, you have exactly what Thomas Jefferson said when he said government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have.
And that's really where we are heading in this country, and it's pretty frightening, and today was a classic example for everyone to see, with so many people like Ronald Reagan and others have warned us about, when government gets too big.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, the foreshadowing of that was absolutely, truly remarkable. Mr. Attorney General, it does scare me, this approach toward socialism.
Now, I got a technical question because it really does bother me, the catch and release program that the Biden-Harris administration has put into place is allowing by the hundreds of thousands of people to come into this country who haven't adjudicated through their asylum claims, or they may be here illegally, and they just got released into the homeland.
But what are they supposed to do for jobs and income and food and shelter? They are now competing with legal, lawful Americans, aren't they?
PAXTON: Absolutely, and this is what happened during the Trump administration. He was able to slow that down by starting to build the wall, by letting border patrol and customs and immigration do their job, and having the stay in Mexico program.
So what the result of that was higher wages for almost everyone. And now, with cheap labor coming in, illegals coming in, that will definitely have an impact on people's ability to have higher wages and to have jobs.
So it's shocking and unfortunate that President Biden hasn't followed the policies that have worked for my state and for most states across this country.
CHAFFETZ: Well, I'm sure that's exactly why, you know, Vice President Harris just got down to the border just as quick as she could come and go talk to Texas and find out what was happening.
Look, I've only got about 20 seconds left, Reince, but this culture of dependence, this dependence that the Biden-Harris administration is putting upon America, how do you think that's going to play out in the election in 2022?
PRIEBUS: Well, I mean, if we continue down this road, what you said before, in your last panel, is the other piece of this, which is the trillions of dollars that Biden spends on the COVID relief package which has created now this mess is only going to be followed up with another trillions of dollars, and the selling point is going to be we need to spend trillions more to create more jobs that the last trillions of dollars that we spent didn't create.
I mean, this is spiraling out of control. And hopefully, you know, no one wants this to continue and hopefully maybe things will even out, but businesses are hurting. You know what, obviously, it is going to hit everyone eventually, and it is going to be a bad deal.
CHAFFETZ: Yes. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us tonight.
I want everybody at home to remember, if you spend a million dollars a day, every day, it takes you almost 3,000 years to get to 1 trillion, and we are about $30 trillion in debt. That's the number we are approaching. It's very scary times.
All right, shocking spikes in crime. Yet, Democrats still want to defund the police. Leo Terrell, you've got to hear what he has to say. Kim Klacik, you want to hear what she has to say. And Brandon Tatum, you might not know what you want to hear what he has to say, join us next on the special edition of "Hannity."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHAFFETZ: Welcome to the special edition of "Hannity".
Now, some of the largest cities in our country seem to be rapidly deteriorating, as incidents of crime and acts of targeted violence are growing.
This week, a nurse who was getting ready to start a new job in New York City decided to pack her bags and leave town after she says a stranger randomly punched her in the head. So sorry she had to go through that.
And in Portland, which has been rocked by violent riots for months, a new video has emerged that appears to show armed individuals stopping a man in traffic at gunpoint and attacking him.
Now, FOX News has not independently verified the video, but have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You better knock. You better (EXPLETIVE DELETED) knock. You better (EXPLETIVE DELETED) knock. Put your gun down. Put your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) gun down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAFFETZ: Ay, ay, ay, that's terrible.
Meanwhile, in Baltimore, more seemingly random acts of violence as two elderly Asian women were brutally beaten in a liquor store. But according to former First Lady Michelle Obama, the real problem in America's cities, that her daughters might get profiled. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: We can't sort of say great, that happened, let's move on. I know that people in the black community don't feel that way because they -- many of us still live in fear as we go to the grocery store or worry about our --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Walking our dogs.
OBAMA: Walking our dogs or allowing our children to get a license. I mean, just imagine --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are your girls driving?
OBAMA: They are driving, but every time they get in a car by themselves, I worry about what assumption is being made by somebody who doesn't know everything about them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAFFETZ: Joining me now for reaction is former congressional candidate Kim Klacik, FOX News contributor Leo Terrell, and former police officer and author of "Beaten Black and Blue: Being a Black Cop in America Under Siege," Brandon Tatum.
Thank you so much for joining me tonight.
Kim, I want to start with you because I want to get your reaction to the former first lady and her comments and perspective. What say you?
KIM KLACIK (R), FORMER CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, that's very interesting. First of all, Jason, thank you so much for having me. But her daughters are one or two of the most recognizable black women in America, and I find it interesting that Michelle Obama, who still travels with the Secret Service, I'm sure her daughters still have bodyguards, and she finds that her daughters could be profiled.
In what planet she is living on, I don't really understand, but her daughters are living in a gated community in Martha's Vineyard. They visit their rich friends within the gated communities, and they are not going to be profiled. People know who Malia and Sasha Obama are. But this is another way to basically project fear onto other people.
Now, I did notice that Michelle Obama had never given up a horror story where she has been caught by police and then somewhat profiled in some way, so, you know what? A lot of this is about fear, and unfortunately, she is pushing it just as any fearmongering out there.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, the former First Lady Michelle Obama, you know what I never hear? I never hear her talk about how grateful she is for the United States of America. They have one of the greatest success stories ever and you never hear them say "thank you" or "I appreciate it." Because they have had unparalleled success.
Now, I want to say -- Michelle Obama and turn unique experience in life and her family, I want to set that aside.
Brandon, I want to go to you and get your perspective, because being a former police officer in this country, what's going on, and what should be going on?
BRANDON TATUM, AUTHOR OF "BEATEN BLACK AND BLUE": Well, Jason, again, thank you for having me. I think, you know, our country is having a real struggle and identity crisis because as you just mentioned before, you know, all of the crime that we see in these areas, people do not want to move to certain big cities that are riddled with crime, all of this goes back to law and order and the support of law enforcement in this country.
When you see individuals like Antifa, which I believe are a domestic terrorist organization, pulling people out of cars at gunpoint and all the chaos that we see, we need more police, we need to support our police officers, and if we want, you know, police officers to join the force, good, quality police officers to stay and to remain the guards of many of our big cities, we need to treat them with respect. And if we don't, we're going to lose our country.
CHAFFETZ: Now, Leo, I mean, it's tough. I don't know why somebody becomes a police officer right now. You know, I wish they knew that America loves and cares for them and need them, but what is the alternative? I mean, the Democrats rail against police, but what is the alternative, no police? I mean, that's where you hear some of the congresswomen talk.
LEO TERRELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, those congresswomen, if you're talking about the squad, they do not represent American value. There is no alternative to police. Police are there to protect and serve, and every one of those examples you gave, Jason, Democratic cities -- you see the reason why you don't see law and order and Democratic cities, because Antifa and Black Lives Matter represents the base of the Democratic Party.
You will never, never, never, never, never, never hear Joe Biden criticize Antifa or Black Lives Matter. They have given -- those two criminal organizations, a green light, and I find it disingenuous for Michelle Obama to even use the word "protesters" when talking about Black Lives Matter and Antifa.
They are criminals. They do not want a civilized society. They are there to destroy American values.
CHAFFETZ: Now, Kim, I mean, it was not very long ago that Kamala Harris, before she became the vice president of the United States, she was out bailing rioters out of prison as fast as she could to get them back out on the streets, and a lot of these Democrats have been advocating, no cash -- you know, cashless bail, all these types of programs that put people who are suspected of crimes or maybe got arrested back out on the streets as fast as possible.
KLACIK: No, absolutely. Unfortunately, that is not what they are thinking about. You know, right now, the trend is to be lenient on violent criminals and to be harsh on law-abiding citizens -- like myself and everyone else watching this show.
Unfortunately, we have people in charge, and I hope people follow the data when it comes to crime and violence, all of these progressives that are now in office, self-proclaimed progressives, they are the ones that we see in office, and unfortunately, crime and violence has rose by 20 percent in every inner city across this country.
And people need to understand that when they go to the ballot box, elections do have consequences, and unfortunately, is this costing a lot of bloodshed in the situation. And like you said, Kamala Harris, who was bailing out Antifa and other people that have been basically rioting and looting in our streets, hurting small businesses, destroying small communities, that need those businesses, and you know what? For her to be the VP, it is really disgusting, in my opinion.
CHAFFETZ: Now, Brandon, what are the solutions? How -- what do we do to support law enforcement and have them and gain the contents of the American people?
They do it in my neighborhood. They do it as far as I am concerned. But what are the solutions that America needs moving forward?
TATUM: Well, Jason, we've got to step up as law-abiding citizens and people who are Americans, who love this country, who love law and order, we have to step up and support our police officers. You know, I've started a fund where I raise money and help police officers that die in the line of duties and also police officers that are done wrong by their command staff because of political correctness.
So, we need to not just be talking about it, but actually physically do something about it. When you see a police officer, go up there and tell them thank you for your service and show them some love and respect. And here is the biggest thing that I think most people probably will not talk about to stop breaking the law.
The best way to support law enforcement in this country is to be a law- abiding citizen, to do the right things, and allow them to focus on the areas that they need to focus on and not be wasting their time with individuals breaking the law.
So I really think police officers are heroes. I love them. I think all of us do. Show a little love to them when you can, and I think it will go a long way.
CHAFFETZ: All right. Leo, bring us home. Tell us what America should be doing.
TERRELL: America, especially in these Democratic cities, should recognize, there is more crime, other than a black suspect and a white police officer. Every case is not a George Floyd case.
We've got to get law and order, and the only way we are going to get law and order is have a tidal wave with the 2022 election, both in national politics and in local politics, like in my state, in California. We need a change of leadership in these Democratic cities, which have been operated for the last 50 years with lawlessness. It has to stop right now.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, if you want different results, you're going to have to elect different people, particularly those people in these Democratic-run states and cities. They have been -- had control for decades, and it's getting worse, not better.
Thank you all for joining us. Really do appreciate it on this Friday night.
All right, directly ahead, Democrats doing their best to make sure illegal immigrants get U.S. tax dollars to pay for any COVID related funeral expenses. You won't believe this.
We'll bring you the story next, with Joey Jones, Emily Compagno, and Sean Duffy.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHAFFETZ: Welcome back to the special edition of "Hannity."
Tonight, the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris border crisis continues to be a serious threat to our nation, and an expensive one, too, reportedly now costing the taxpayers $3 billion and counting, and that is just from housing my grandchildren.
So, why don't you hear so much about a problem this substantial and expensive? Probably because the person in charge of it, Vice President Harris, has refused to visit the border, nor will she take any questions from the press about it.
But now, even some Democrats have had enough of this administration's games. Texas Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, had this to say about the infamous facility for migrant children in Donna, Texas, the one he leaked pictures of weeks ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D-TX): What they are doing now is they're moving the kids from the border patrol tents over to -- next door to the HHS facility. With all due respect, it's all just a show game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAFFETZ: Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, is actually using the word crisis to describe the situation on the border and vowing to, quote, "continue holding this administration accountable".
And Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, agrees that not enough is being done.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-AZ): Now what I am looking for, Mike, this will come as a surprise, is for the administration to take bold action to actually address these concerns. But communities like Gila Bend can't wait for folks to sit in meetings and talk about the solutions.
The problem in communities like Gila Bend is, they are getting last-minute drop drop-offs in there for communities, And they've got nowhere to put these folks. They've got nowhere to take them. And literally, the mayor is putting these folks in his vehicle and driving them to Tucson or Phoenix to get them to shelters. That's not acceptable.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CHAFFETZ: But some of their colleagues are still doing everything they can to make life easier for illegal immigrants in this country. For example, FEMA has launched a new program that reimburses Americans for the funeral expenses of family members or friends who died from COVID. Illegal immigrants are not supposed to be eligible for direct payments, but that has not stopped some on the left from bending over backwards to help them take advantage, anyway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Well, undocumented people cannot apply directly for the FEMA program, but if you -- we've made the rules as flexible as possible so that if you have a family member, if you have a friend, a loved one, a neighbor, you can work with them to apply to FEMA, if anyone kind of has a situation like that, just call my office directly, and we can figure out the path that is easiest for you, given the details of your case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAFFETZ: Here with reaction is an all-star panel, Marine Corps Veteran and FOX News contributor, Joey Jones, "Outnumbered" co-host Emily Compagno, and former Wisconsin Congressmen Sean Duffy, also a FOX News contributor.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Emily, I want to start with you because of this benefit that was passed by all Democrats, no Republicans, is stunning to me. If you died from COVID, you can get a $35,500 payment that will go to pay for your funeral expenses, and who knows what else, and you have AOC and the others working with Homeland Security to try to make sure that that benefit also goes to people that are here illegally, $35,000.
EMILY COMPAGNO, "OUTNUMBERED" CO-HOST: You are certainly not alone in your shock and disbelief, Jason, and also your disgust. And including that of Senator Mike Braun, who we anticipate will be voicing some concerns in a letter that he will be sending to the pandemic response accountability committee next week.
And he argues the same points you just said. He says, look, there are three huge issues. Number one, the obviously astronomical payment of $35,000 per person, secondly, the clear lack of direction by Congress, and third and most importantly, the guidance issued by FEMA that lends itself and the program ripe for fraud and abuse.
He points on the FAQ section of the FEMA website, it says how to amend a death certificate if the cause of death is not in fact listed as COVID-19. He also points out the conflicting guidance issued by FEMA on citizen recipients. We know, as you said in the intro, that illegal aliens are not eligible -- whether or not the decedent was a noncitizen him or herself.
He goes on as well to point out the, quote, disconcerting, celebratory tone used by Senator Schumer when he was crowing about the million people that have already called the help line. And I will just conclude by talking about the three action items he has for FEMA. He said, number one, tell us exactly how many people have applied from every single state, and of those, how many of applied that are noncitizens.
He also calls come as well, for there to be transparent into the guidance issued to staff, what our staff being told? How are they told to help applicants succeed and how exactly to approve the applications. And third and finally, he says, we want to hear from you, FEMA, how you plan to deter the inevitable fraud -- Jason.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, Senator Braun is really taking a good leadership position on that, and next week, Secretary Mayorkas is going to be up in front of Senator Braun and other senators to answer some of these questions.
But Joey, I want to go to you. You are a veteran. You know a lot of veterans. A lot of people have suffered and served this country.
Are you getting $35,000 payments from the government to help you out each and every time? I mean, they are bending over backwards to help people that came here illegally, what about veterans? How are they going to react to this?
JOEY JONES, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, put the veteran aside, I buried both my grandparents -- both my grandmothers and my dad right before this pandemic started. It was in eight weeks, and all of that together didn't cost 35 grand. I know because I paid for my dad the most entire funeral.
Let me tell you something, when it comes to veterans, though, we have veteran families who sit and wait for weeks, sometimes over a month, to get their loved one buried in a veteran cemetery, because there's no manpower and time to get it done, right? And so, you're going to tell me a veterans family can be treated that way, we don't have the resources, the money, to bury veterans in Arlington or somewhere like that in a quick amount of time? But we can put out $35,000 a pop for people that are not even citizens in this country?
And even -- beyond that, I bet you can go into AOC's district and find a veteran, find a family, whose reached out to someone like me because I get this every single week, saying how do we get a military burial for my grandfather that served honorably because we can find his DD 214 and the V.A. won't help us or we can get in touch with someone.
Do you know who ends up bearing those veterans? Vietnam veterans volunteer their time, put on their uniform and do a 21-gun salute to the VFW or the American Legion, the government doesn't even get to play a role in that because they take too long and they are too hard to communicate with. But we have a congressperson bending over backwards to sent $35,000 to someone who came into this country, a criminal, it's beyond appalling. It pisses me off.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, no, it is infuriating, what is going on there.
Now, Sean Duffy and I got to serve together in the United States Congress, and, so, Congressman Sean, I do appreciate you being here.
It's got to be pretty bad for this administration, though, when you have Democrats on the border complaining, and I read reports from Governor Abbott's office, and also Governor Ducey there in Arizona, two of our biggest border states, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, they never reached out to these governors at any point.
So how in the world are they going to take this seriously?
SEAN DUFFY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, point is well made, Jason. The fact that Senator Kelly and Senator Sinema, both from Arizona, big Hispanic population that leans Democrat, those Hispanic Democrats are pushing back on this policy.
Henry Cuellar, congressman in Texas, has a hugely Hispanic district, and the problem is, Hispanics do not like this policy because they understand that little kids are getting raped, little kids are being sold into slavery, not 200 years ago, sold into slavery today, kids are being separated from their parents. Parents are in their home country and kids are being sent to the border on their own.
And so, the Hispanic community doesn't like this at all. They know this is cheap labor, immigrant labor coming into the country to compete with them. Bad news for everybody. But Joe Biden is disregarding the policy at the border because this is his plan at the border, to bring in new voters for Democrats in the future.
CHAFFETZ: Yeah, yeah. And Kamala Harris is a joke if she thinks she is in charge of this because she's done nothing.
All right, more of Sean Hannity's interview with Caitlyn Jenner, that you've never seen before. You're not going to want to miss it. It's coming up next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHAFFETZ: Welcome back to the special edition of "Hannity."
As you know, Sean sat down earlier this week for an exclusive interview with Caitlyn Jenner, who is running to unseat California Governor Gavin Newsom in a recall election.
Here is a little bit more of that interview that we haven't shown you yet, where Jenner reacts to Sean's question about California's sky-high tax rate. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAITLYN JENNER (R), CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I had a bunch of meetings the other day, since I'm coming in as -- I'm new to this, I want to get as much information as I can. And there are certain things a governor can do and certain things a governor can't do. I can't say we're going to lower taxes and taxes are lowered, it's just not going to happen, it is a process.
But as governor, the first thing I could do is I can freeze everything, stop, okay? I don't want people leaving the state. I feel like I'm on a big white horse riding into the state, you know, and saying, hey, stay, stay, there is a little help on the horizon here, okay?
But we need to stop everything, okay? We can't have -- taxes, okay, we have the highest marginal tax rate in the nation at 13.3.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: New York is about to beat you. They're not far behind. Yeah, yeah.
JENNER: Yeah, yeah, and they are talking about going to 18. And we have the highest sales tax, 7.25 percent. We've got a gas tax right now which is a little over $0.50 a gallon. We're taxed everywhere we go.
A lot of people who think, oh, I don't pay taxes, I don't pay enough money, you're paying taxes as soon as you walk out that door all day long. You know, anything, you go to the grocery store, you buy a car, we're paying taxes all the time.
We take -- first of all, we -- on taxes, we stop everything, hold it. They have stuff on the books right now that they want to tax people for leaving for the next ten years.
HANNITY: Ten years, yeah.
JENNER: Yeah, next ten years. What are they going to do? Build a wall around the state and have two exits?
HANNITY: Yeah, all of a sudden, the left will support walls to keep you in?
JENNER: Yeah, they were there to keep the state -- you know, keep everyone in.
HANNITY: How do they charge you a state income tax if you don't live in the state?
JENNER: I don't know. They would have to build an enormous bureaucracy in Sacramento and around the country to try to collect that money. They would waste more money than they would actually wind up collecting, because nobody would pay it.
They want to do things like that, and I'm looking at this, those are some of the stupidest ideas. So let's just stop everything and take a close look at what we're doing. You know, regulations -- Sean, we have 21.2 million words of regulations. If you read 300 words a minute, worked a 40-hour workweek, it would take you three years to read all the regulations.
We have regulations on the books that were there before the fax machine.
HANNITY: Does the governor -- this is a great point. Does -- as governor, would you have the authority --
JENNER: I have the authority to freeze it. No more regulations.
HANNITY: And get rid of the old ones?
JENNER: I would start that process.
HANNITY: Okay.
JENNER: First thing I would do is a review board, okay? That's just going to through -- go through every regulation.
In the past, they would put out a regulation, you know, it didn't really work very well. What we need now is another regulation up on top, you know, of it. They are overlapping, over -- totally overreaching.
But if you can get a group that actually go through every regulation, it would be a tough job. Get rid of the ones that are just not -- you know, today, the world is so different with computers and how things work, every -- it's a different world today.
Which ones are actually good? Some regulations are good. We need a few, okay? But we don't need all these regulations.
And then, anybody comes in, once we lift this freeze on them, once anybody comes in, and wants to put another regulation, you have to get rid of probably at least three regulations that are already on the books.
We're just not going to continue -- we're the most regulated state in the nation. And it doesn't have to be that way. You need somebody up there that is going to change this.
Right now, after almost 40 years of -- you know, Democrat rule up there, Gavin Newsom, they're not doing anything about it, and we have to -- we're regulated to death.
You know, taxes --
HANNITY: Yeah.
JENNER: Yeah, they want to tax us when we leave and they want to tax us when we die. So any way out of this state is probably not a good idea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHAFFETZ: We'll be right back with a special message.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHAFFETZ: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity."
I'm very grateful to FOX News and Sean Hannity for allowing me to fill in tonight. I wish we had more time.
I'm also thankful to have a brand-new FOX News podcast, "Jason in the House: The Jason Chaffetz Podcast". Go to it wherever you listen to podcasts and type in "Jason in the House" to find it.
This week's guest is Dr. Nicole Saphier. Check out "Jason in the House" podcast, and I think you'll really enjoy it.
Also, finally, Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there, to my wife, Julie. Happy Mother's Day. And to my own mom who passed away more than 25 years ago. Happy mother's day. I love you and I think about you every day. Happy Mother's Day.
Sean will be back Monday night at 9:00 p.m.
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