Meet the Press - April 2, 2023

Interview

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Hey, Chuck. It's always good to be with you.

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Chuck, it's a very sad time for America. And I feel like other people do. It's very sad for our country to have to go through this. And a segment of society who believes that maybe it's biased, that the system doesn't work for all, I would have to wait and see what comes out next week, but I would hope and pray that whatever comes forth, that they've done due diligence, they're very, very accurate in what they're doing and understanding that the rule of law is that basically no one's above the law, but no one should be targeted by the law. And we've just got to make sure that we understand that we have to come together. This country cannot, you know, we cannot be a house divided. As Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided cannot stand." And we've got to come together. And the rule of law makes us different than any place in the world.

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Well, yeah. They have to understand, we -- again, I say, we must come together. American people want us to do our job. The more you talk about that, the more you make people pick a side -- "Are they right or wrong?" -- you give more credence to basically, "Is it biased or not? Does the rule of law work for all of us?" Let's wait until what comes out next week. Let's see the direction this goes. But the bottom line, it's a very sad time in America. You know, you have geopolitical unrest around the world. Just think of the people that don't wish our society or our form of democracy to work, whether it be China, Russia, or whoever. They're looking and saying, "Oh my goodness. Let's just sit back and kind of watch this melee unfold." Well, I want to show them that as Americans, we can work together. We can meet the challenges. We can basically lead the free world and come to the aid of our allies that have the same thirst that we have for the freedoms with democracy. And that's what I keep working on, and I keep saying -- I talk to people around the country. They can't take it anymore. They're just tired. They're wore out. "Enough is enough. Please, do your job. Get a budget. Live within your means. Start getting this crippling debt down. Get rid of inflation. Give me energy that basically gives me security, but also be able to invest in the new technology of the future." That's what we've been trying to do, Chuck.

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Well, first of all, Chuck, if you look the last 40 years I've been involved in public service through my great state of West Virginia. And since I've been a senator representing the state of West Virginia, it's always been about being a centrist in the middle. I tell people I'm fiscally responsible and socially compassionate, which I think most Americans. They've been driven to the corners to pick a side. When you're asking me what I'm going to do and what my political ambitions would be, it's to make the country work together and be a United States and not the divided states. And that's what I've seen happen over the period of time. I'm going to do whatever I can to have a voice in that middle, that we can basically force both sides to say, "Wait a minute, you've gone to extremes. You've got to start coming back. You've got to find ways to solve problems." You can't solve them from the extreme right and the extreme left. You can't make people, make a -- pick a side. "Which side are you on?" "Well, I'll choose the left or the right, or the D or the R because this one's not as bad as that one." Neither of them are doing the job the way we should do it, but one's not as bad as the other, so you pick a side. I think we can do better than that, and if we can change that dialogue and have a movement, Chuck, then we've done our job.

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Chuck, let me just tell you this. I've always said this. No matter who my president is, whether it's a Democrat or Republican, whether it's someone I voted for or not, whether it's in the same political party or not, doesn't make a difference. Once the people of America speak, and that's our president, then I'm going to do everything I can to help them be successful, whether it's Donald Trump or whether it's Joe Biden. I've known Joe Biden for quite some time. And I've tried everything I can, and I will continue to try to be a productive senator and try to help my country move forward. But I've got to speak truth to power when I know that we can do better. When I know a piece of legislation that we wrote was intended to give us energy security and lower prices and make us much more able to help our allies around the world, and it's going a different direction because they want to interpret it differently than what we --

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Yeah, Chuck, I'm not saying that the president lied to me. I'm saying that basically, what we agreed on, the president and I agreed on, that what this bill would do, it would give us energy security. It would bring manufacturing back to America as quickly as possible. We would not be relying on foreign supply chain, such as China, to run our transportation mode. We talked about all of that. We would pay down debt for the first time in 20 years. We talked about all of that. We agreed exactly that's what it should do. And now to have different parts of his administration basically administering it, and writing rules and regulation that are totally foreign to what we did, is wrong. And I'm going to fight that. You need to speak truth to power, but basically hold people accountable. And I'm hopeful that the president will step forward and tell his administration, "We will follow the law. We will do what the bill was intended to do."

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I'm not ready to do anything this year. Only in America does the next election start after the day after the last election ended. I don't do that. I've got a lot of work to do this year, and I'm going to work with everybody. Come on, let's get our budget under control. Let's get our spending under control. Let's make sure we bring down inflation. Let's do all the things that we're supposed to do. And if you're just throwing bombs and attacking everybody for two years, I think next year, when it starts in January, one year would be enough to attack. You don't need an extra year.

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My filing date is January 15th in 2024. And I will make my decision maybe a little bit before that, but not until the end of the year, I can assure you.

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Well, you know, the party identification is not going to change me. Democrat, Republican. I mean, having a D and R should not change you as a person. I'm going to still fight for the things I do. Can't I be a moderate centrist with whatever identification, or no identification? I would think. I'm not going to be changing as a person. I've been doing this for a long time. I'm going to continue to fight for the people of West Virginia and the people of my great country. I'm proud to be an American.

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I would never intend to be a spoiler of anything. I would like to basically be a promoter of united -- united government. A united government that basically has provided the greatest opportunities in the world. My great-grandparents came to this country for the opportunities it provided. I'm a product of that. I'm very, very, very appreciative of that, and I'm going to continue to try to offer that to people -- countless people in America and around the world.

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Well, it's good to be with you, Chuck. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

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