Station:   KOA, 710 AM

Guests:    Robinson

Link:        http://dancaplis.podbean.com/

Date:        January 19, 2018

Topics:

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GUEST HOST STEFFAN TUBBS: [00:00:04] Senator Cory Gardner, [it is] very nice to have you on, on a busy evening in Washington D.C.

U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO, CORY GARDNER: [00:00:11] Thanks for having me on, Steffan!

TUBBS: [00:00:12] Yeah, it’s a different station but you know what, my voice sounds the same, I would assume.

GARDNER: [00:00:16] Well, it’s a four –it’s a four letter station instead of a three letter station.

TUBBS: [00:00:20] That’s very very true. What is going on? I mean, you’ve got this eight o’clock Mountain time, 10:00 Eastern vote. What’s gonna happen, do you think?

GARDNER: [00:00:28] Well, it sounds unfortunately — I think I’ve seen several tweets now from NBC News and others — where Senator Schumer is — and others — are acknowledging the fact that they now do have the votes necessary to shut the government down and it sounds like that’s what they want to do, which I think is a irresponsible action. And certainly when we’re trying to solve some of our country’s biggest problems, when we’re trying to make sure our men and women in uniform have the resources and support systems they need to protect themselves and our country, shutting down the government for political purposes is simply unacceptable.

TUBBS: [00:00:59] You know, the Colorado coalition — the delegation — you know, I know you all work together, both in the House and the Senate. But Michael Bennett earlier this afternoon says that he will not vote for the C.R.. What kind of conversations have you had with him personally?

GARDNER: [00:01:13] Well, Senator Bennett and I have been working together to try to meet the President’s four-part objective he put together on immigration: ending the Diversity Visa Lottery, funding the border wall and border security, addressing the issue of DACA, and addressing the issue of chain migration. SoM we continue to work to find a solution that meets those four objectives that the President can support. But you know, when it comes to — for whatever reason — Senator Schumer and his side of the aisle that wishes to shut the government down, I think it’s unfortunate.

TUBBS: [00:01:44] Is this a bunch of gamesmanship and playing? I mean, this, to me, from the outside, a lot of people would say, you know, “There they go again!”

GARDNER: [00:01:57] Yeah! “Second verse, same as the first,” I think I said on the floor today.

TUBBS: [00:02:00] Exactly!

GARDNER: [00:02:00] If you if you look at the legislation before us right now there’s no substantive objective objection to the legislation. In fact it contains a six year authorization of chip something that many people have been saying needed to be done. Months ago I agreed with that that’s why I cosponsored it months ago. This provides health care to 8.9 million women and children across the country. And in Colorado, it’s thousands of people who would be, you know, very concerned if this authorization is not agreed to. It’s the longest term authorization this program has seen since it was created. And yet, there is a desire to shut the government down. And it’s not a desire because of concerns within the funding bill. It’s because of concerns that we continue to work on and have had very productive discussions. And so, you know, we have time to continue to work out a solution. But why jeopardize the CDC flu program, men and women in uniform support system — six thousand civilians in Colorado Springs who could be furloughed as a result of a shutdown? It makes no sense.

TUBBS: [00:03:02] How many have you gone through?

GARDNER: [00:03:05] This is — I think the first one was in 2013. Of course, this was in 2013 when Chuck Schumer said that, you know, shutting the government down over policies is taking the government hostage and would create governmental chaos. Apparently, that doesn’t apply here.

TUBBS:[00:03:21] Right. Well, it seems like that’s exactly what’s going on. Senator Cory Gardner, kind enough to join us here on 710 KNUS, as we’re now within four hours, I want to ask you this — I think you kind of just alluded to — that there’s still some time or whatever. Break it down as simply as you can. What will happen? And again, your time is valuable. I won’t keep you on long. But what happens in the next two hours?

GARDNER: [00:03:44] So, there is negotiation that’s taking place. You know, I think the President was with Senator Schumer today. I think he tweeted about it a couple of hours ago, about the content of the meeting. And you know, rumor has it that Senator Schumer is demanding a one day continuing resolution which is — you know, last night on the floor he was talking about how bad continuing resolutions were and now he wants an even shorter continuing resolution to lead to then another continuing resolution. So it’s a little confusing about what it is they want. And I think they’ve struggled with that message all day, which is why I think they are trying to find a way out of this government shutdown. And I hope that they do get out of it, and I hope that there is an agreement. This is, you know, a bunch of kids in the playground throwing temper tantrums. And you know, I think the people of this country are tired of Washington Bozos who can’t get their job done.

TUBBS:[00:04:33] I believe that “Bozos” comment was the soundbite of the day.

GARDNER: [00:04:37] [hearty laughter].

TUBBS: [00:04:37] It was. And I think you did that earlier this morning. So to your constituents that are listening to you right now — and some of them may support DACA, some maybe against, whatever — how do you– from from your mouth to their ears — how do you describe what the Democrats hang up is on DACA and so forth? Just as simply as you can.

GARDNER: [00:04:59] Well, you know, I really — other than not having the solution tonight, I don’t know what they want. And that’s the challenge. And so the President has set the date on March 5th, this deadline. I believe it needs to be done as soon as possible. I think there was unanimity in Congress, along with the President, to find a solution for people who themselves did not commit a crime or an act that violated our immigration laws. These are people who were brought here through no fault of their own. We don’t charge a 3 year old with trespass for walking across the neighbor’s lawn. But I don’t know — other than not getting their way immediately. I don’t know what it is that they want.

TUBBS: [00:05:39] Frustrating?

GARDNER: [00:05:40] It is frustrating because if you’re somebody who’s working on the border tonight, if you’re somebody whose spouse is serving in the military, how does this all play out, when they’re going to be serving, but they’re not going to get paid? Now, the government has backpaid — back-filled — every time we’ve done this but I’m sure a lot of people tonight are very nervous about what happens in the next four hours. And that’s why I’m going to continue to work my tail off to find a solution to this, so Republicans and Democrats can get out of their partisan corners, like I talked about all day, and find something that works.

TUBBS: [00:06:13] And as we wrap up with you, so, we’ve got this thing coming up at 10:00 your time, 8:00 Mountain, this vote. There’s negotiating going on right now. Even if things go forward, I mean when’s the next one? You know, I mean I think that’s a lot what the frustration with [this] — whether this is maybe not a true example of kicking the can down the road — but we’ve seen this! We’ve been there! We’ve done! You’ve done this at least two times.

GARDNER: [00:06:38] Well, if people agree — and that is asking for a lot around here. If people agree, they can act very quickly through unanimous consent. And so either prior to that 10:00 Eastern time vote or even after that there is time to move forward. It could be as simple as a date change on the continuing resolution. It could be as simple as actually saying all right fine we’ll move forward on this. But look, I think people are tired of Washington DC’s approach, where if somebody thinks there’s a bad idea out there, their answer is to put an even worse solution in place. And I think that the American people are fed up with that.

TUBBS:[00:07:10] Yeah. You know as well as anybody how much I respect and admire and love our military, our veterans, our active duty men and women. How is it that an active duty man or woman would not get paid, but the EPA will stay open?

GARDNER: [00:07:23] There’s a big question about that with a lot of people tonight. And like I said, every time that Congress has backpaid –. And that’s the other part of this! You can have a million people who are furloughed in the federal government who aren’t working but will get back pay. And so, I think in the last government shutdown it was billions of dollars that were at stake that people complained about, that[they] talked about. It seems like they’re ignoring it right now.

TUBBS: [00:07:46] And this — from your words again — this does impact Coloradans.

GARDNER: [00:07:51] It certainly does. Colorado Springs, the Buckley Air Force Base. I mean, you’ve got a number of folks at federal labs in Boulder and Golden. And just again, we can do better than this. And there’s nothing in the bill that people have objected to. It’s all things that are outside of the budget that people are objecting to and trying to include in this process. So, and I’m all for fixing it. I’m all for working together. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. That’s what I’m going to continue to do. But I think this sets us back, if there’s a lapse in funding tonight.

TUBBS:[00:08:20] Senator, always great to have you especially on a very busy night in Washington D.C.. I will tell you it was 72 degrees today in Denver.

GARDNER: [00:08:27] It’s what I hear! Our daughter apparently made a volcano in the sandbox today so–.

TUBBS: [00:08:31] There you go!

GARDNER: [00:08:32] She had a lot of fun.

TUBBS: [00:08:32] Well from her volcano to Washington’s volcano, let’s just hope it doesn’t erupt. Thank you so much. We’ll talk to you soon!

GARDNER: [00:08:40] You got it! Take care! Bye!

TUBBS: [00:08:40] All right. Senator Cory Gardner, from Washington D.C. You heard it there. We’re now three hours 47 minutes or so away from a possible government shutdown that does impact Coloradans. Give us a call tonight.