[laughs]

... um, Julie gets on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has both, [laughs] both responsibilities.

And so we have the intellectual and, and the, um, the tools, if you will, the, the position to actually make a little bit of a difference.

But what that means is because the three of us are right here and we see you all on a very regular basis, you have a disproportionate affairs over the, you know, it, it, uh, influence over the affairs of the country as it comes to environmental and energy policy, and aren't we glad you do.

Um, because what John's talking about with Crack Code 2.0, given our history, you guys, I, I've been over to the EPA more often as a, a, a senator in the last two years than, um, all the other years added up, because why would you ever wanna go over there? Except, except that because I served six years with Lee Zeldin, because I have former staff that I've embedded over there, um, I, I get, I get called over there a lot because of this.

I was there when, when Lee announced the, the beginning of the repeal of, of, uh, o-of, uh, th-the Clean Air Act 2.0.

I was there when Lee announced the, uh, the, um, the repeal of the MATs, um, rule.

[laughs]

So what, you know, in your world, I mean, how does this post-ELN world looks like? And I'm asking that coming from, you know, to someone who comes from this ELN world and made a living out of that.

Yeah, we have LIMS and ELN in a unified platform.

ELNs traditionally were basically like sophisticated file shares.

People would just drop files in their experiment and say, okay, I tracked it, I'm good.

But if you really want to extract data, you need structured data.

You need structured data.

And you need to be able to, the FAIR compliance as they call it, you need to be able to search it and pull it out.

So how do you see that happening for scientists? And then I think maybe an even more philosophical question is that as you're doing that, as scientists now are moving from, you know, like doing things to managing agents who are doing things for them, Don't we risk also to have scientists even losing context of what they are doing or starting not to understand what's happening, what the agents are doing?

you've seen

them.

When you drive down the highway or the gravel road, you see these little gray divots, and that's right.

They're basically just salty, and So you don't grow a crop on it, and it doesn't hold water very long, and certainly a duck doesn't want to hang out in it.

So you've literally hurt your own mission if you're in the mission of keeping the duck factory in North Dakota.

So we did get some changes, you're right, in the first Trump term of the mapping.

And it's interesting, at the end of that term, I remember the person who is now the Deputy Secretary of the Interior said, Kate, she said to me, boy, we did some good work, didn't we? And I said, well, we did, but what you did, the best work you did is set us up for a class action lawsuit because a lot of good it does to have better mapping if you're just going to screw the farmer with the map.

So, yeah, we've got a lot of work to

What else is going on that the American people should know about on a Friday at 5.30?

Yeah, well, there's a lot going on in the Senate because we passed a number of bills this morning and parts of bills this morning to include, by the way, the confirmation of 74 of Donald Trump's nominees.

And after we get Tom Blanch confirmed today...

We will have zero backlog of nominees ready for confirmation.

We're on a record pace, and that's been great.

We started the process of the continuing resolution to fund the government through December 11th.

I can't remember a time in my 14 years in the Congress that we've actually done this early.

Talk about what's changing.

What else is going on that the American people should know about on a Friday at 5.30?

Yeah, well, there's a lot going on in the Senate because we passed a number of bills this morning, and parts of bills this morning, to include, by the way, the confirmation of 74 of Donald Trump's nominees.

And after we get Tom Blanch confirmed today...

We will have zero backlog of nominees ready for confirmation.

We're on a record pace, and that's been great.

We started the process of the continuing resolution to fund the government through December 11th.

I can't remember a time in my 14 years in the Congress that we've actually done this early.

Talk about what's changing.

What else is going on that the American people should know about on a Friday at 5.30?

Yeah, well, there's a lot going on in the Senate because we passed a number of bills this morning, and parts of bills this morning, to include, by the way, the confirmation of 74 of Donald Trump's nominees.

And after we get Tom Blanch confirmed today...

We will have zero backlog of nominees ready for confirmation.

We're at a record pace, and that's been great.

We started the process of the continuing resolution to fund the government through December 11th.

I can't remember a time in my 14 years in the Congress that we've actually done this early.

Talk about what's changing.

What else is going on that the American people should know about on a Friday at 5.30?

Yeah, well, there's a lot going on in the Senate because we passed a number of bills this morning and parts of bills this morning to include, by the way, the confirmation of 74 of Donald Trump's nominees.

And after we get Tom Blanch confirmed today...

We will have zero backlog of nominees ready for confirmation.

We're on a record pace, and that's been great.

We started the process of the continuing resolution to fund the government through December 11th.

I can't remember a time in my 14 years in the Congress that we've actually done this early.

Talk about what's changing.

Do you understand that the C- Canadians, when they see Donald Trump escalate this, that there is a sentiment across this country that people wanna dig in and fight back?

Oh, I g- I understand it.

Believe me, being a, a senator from a border state, I was once the tourism director in North Dakota.

We, we, uh, welcomed about a million Canadian visitors a year in that, those days.

I'm sure it's more than that.

Um, although, so we feel it.

To, to, to your point, the personal level of, of concern and angst, we feel that from the Canadian people.

When was the last time you, you brought this up with the president, and what did you say to him?

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, New York made that decision for us, so.

But yes, you're right, and, and, um, b- because we were, we are dealing with a lot of federal lands around here, obviously.

It took a bit...

We had to do some legislation to get a swap.

It's still paid for, don't get me wrong.

Yes.

Why should I trust anything in regards to Iran's capab- capabilities or in regards to this war if I'm gonna be lied to every day?

Well, I don't know that you're being lied to every day, but I do know this, that you understand one truth that you've stated and that I think I agree with you, and I probably agree on, that is that what you can't trust is Iran.

And I think our president has a tendency to see a- all leaders through the lens of, of a, a rational, negotiated, uh, you know, trans- you know, sort of a transactional leader, and clearly with, with the r- the regime in Iran, that is not true.

They are religious zealots that have a philosophy and a doctrine and a theology that supersedes, um, even their own self, self-preservation in many cases.

S- having said that, the, the, the, you know, the elimination, if you will, the annihilation of their n- uh, capabilities to develop a nuclear weapon were certainly true for the moment, but a- as they started trying to reconstitute their n- their military, clearly they weren't, they didn't learn their lesson, and I think that's one of those things where, quite, quite honestly, President Trump fails to understand their commitment to that, and, and thought certainly any rational leader is gonna, you know, get, get the point here, and hoped that at some point the, the Arab nations in the neighborhood, and, and Israel, would eventually, you know, remove from below the, the surface, uh, some of that, the enhanced nuclear, um, capabilities and the, and the, uh, the uranium that's been enriched and those kinds of things.

That clearly wasn't gonna happen.

They were never gonna let people in to do that, and so, you know, another wave was, was required of it.

What happened here with the Strait of Hormuz, do you think they thought that through?

He s- he said something like, "Well, where in New York is the library gonna be?" Right.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, New York made that decision for us, so.

But yes, you're right.

And, and, um, because we, we are dealing with a lot of federal lands around here, obviously.

It took a bit...

We had to do some legislation to get a swap.

Yes.

He said something like, well, where in New York is the library going to be?

Yeah.

Well, New York made that decision for us.

But yes, you're right.

Because we are dealing with a lot of federal lands around here.

Obviously, we had to do some legislation to get a swap.

It's still paid for.

Well,

Yeah.

They got to learn how to take a joke sometimes.

I told the National Post, and they quoted me.

It was kind of a funny sort of feature story about me being a Canadian whisperer in Washington.

But they said, do you have any advice for Canadians? I said, yeah, don't be so sensitive.

I said, just remember, it's always warmer in Miami than it is in Winnipeg.

So don't rob yourselves of the joy of a vacation to Florida just because you're mad at the President of the United States.

And I also did well with the new trade, Tom Clark, I think his

I love the Canadian people, but

they're too sensitive.

They've got to learn how to take a joke sometimes.

I told the National Post, and they quoted me.

It was kind of a funny sort of feature story about me being a Canadian whisperer in Washington.

But...

They said, do you have any advice for Canadians? I said, yeah, don't be so sensitive.

And I also did well with the new trade, Tom Clark, I think his

I love the Canadian

people, but they're too sensitive.

They've got to learn how to take a joke sometimes.

I told the National Post, and they quoted me.

It was kind of a funny sort of feature story about me being a Canadian whisperer in Washington.

But...

They said do you have any advice for Canadians? I said, yeah, don't be so sensitive I said just remember it's always warmer in Miami than it is in Winnipeg So don't rob yourselves of the joy of a vacation to Florida just because you're mad at the President of the United States I hate the messages on the outside of my mug at Starbucks, but I love the coffee, so I have a gold card.

And I also did well with the new trade, Tom Clark, I think his

Why not some tax

relief? Because it's the art of the possible, and we have 53 Republicans, and a lot of them are vulnerable in the election this year.

So if we can get 3.0, and I'm a big advocate.

I think we have to do 3.0.

I think we have to beef up our military.

We have to replenish munitions, and 3.0 will certainly focus on that.

If we can put something like Representative Fedorchik's Save America Act piece, I had her on the show.

Why don't you expand? Why don't you just reopen some of that stuff and then add your inflation indexation on capital? But reopen the chips, reopen the overtime stuff.

And just kind of give us a tutorial.

Yeah, I've noticed that when somebody complains about the price of gasoline, saying, well, it's a globally traded commodity, isn't a great answer anymore.

It's not a great answer.

Yeah, even though it's totally true, right? I mean, that is part of the dynamic.

I remember that I hadn't thought about this until just looking at you, thinking about when we were together in 2015 and in 2017 when we lifted the oil export ban.

Thank you very much, Speaker Paul Ryan, who insisted that it be part of a nominative spending bill.

To me, that was perhaps the most significant energy policy change of decades, really.

Where is the sweet spot on this that you can go back and do your statewide radio shows that you do every week and you're talking to all of North Dakota and they go, good move, Senator, even though you've had to compromise on something?

And I spoke to a lady before, and I said, well, for those mothers that don't have children, let them respect their mother because they would not be here today if it wasn't for their mother.

There you go.

We all have one.

And like some of us, of course, our mothers are gone, have departed this earth.

But they're always in our hearts and our memories.

And most importantly, they're in our culture.

And yes, we think about them.

And I'm hopeful that the two of them want to create a more peaceful world and a better economics for both of them.

What is the best present a mother can get on Mother's Day?

Well, John, that's actually a great question for the Times, because one of the things that polls over the years and the decades have consistently shown is that for the mothers of America, the thing they want more than anything is a sense of safety and security for them and their families and their children, especially, and grandchildren.

And, you know, it consistently pulls ahead of things like taxes and inflation and all kinds of quality of life issues.

At the end of the day, they really want to feel safe and secure.

And oftentimes we think of that and we think, well, yeah, they want good police departments.

They want gangs off the streets.

They want their kids to be able to go to school and be safe.

And I'm hopeful that the two of them want to create a more peaceful world and better economics for both of them.

And let me tell you, it was an experience.

Well, that's a good word for it.

It's an experience.

Well, look at this guy, though.

Donald Trump, first of all, he always, as you know, and everybody in New York knows, he always negotiates from a position of strength.

And when he called for the launch of Operation Epic Fury and said it wouldn't last long, he was right.

Other people doubted him, but he was right.

I'm going to say, does that mean the Marines are going to come up with a new hymn? From the shores of Tripoli to the shores of Hormuz.

And let me tell you, it was an experience.

Well, that's a good way.

That's a good word for it.

It's an experience.

Well, look at this guy, though.

Donald Trump, first of all, he always, as you know, and everybody in New York knows, he always negotiates from a position of strength.

And when he called for the launch of Operation Epic Fury and said it wouldn't last long, he was right.

I'm going to say, does that mean the Marines are going to come up with a new hymn from the shores of Tripoli to the shores of Hormuz?

Do you agree with Senator Tillis? Should the DOJ drop its criminal investigation, i- if only to win over Senator Tillis's vote?

[laughs] Well, it's a g- great question because, um, uh, maybe that's reason enough for them to drop it.

I ha- I happen to think that the whole probe is a little bit unnecessary because, um, it originally was all about his testimony before the committee where he seemed to dodge, um, the questions about the, the overruns.

Um, I thought it was clumsy at best, but I also didn't think it was criminal.

I, I, I think that w- they should drop the probe, but I'm not, uh, you know, I'm not in law enforcement.

I'm not even an attorney.

Uh, that said, I do think that, as I've said, uh, maybe even to you, there shouldn't be more than about a second between the end of J- Jerome Powell's term and the beginning of Kevin Warsh's.

What gives you optimism that gas prices will in fact come down?

Um, do you, have you seen any evidence that the Fed chair did anything illegal here, and are you worried that President Trump's, uh, continued push for this probe is gonna prevent you from getting the Fed chair you, you like and you support?

He, yeah, I like, I support.

I, I like Jay Powell, although I do think that he's either incompetent or too arrogant to have done something when these cost overruns were so enormous.

Um, the fact that he didn't, d- didn't feel like he should inform Congress or that he should, um, you know, halt the project, get, you know, do an investigation himself, that's problematic to me.

Do I think he committed a crime? I do not.

I've said that from the beginning.

In fact, I think the best thing we can do for America's economy right now is to confirm Kevin Warsh and swear him in one second after the expiration of Jay Powell's term.

What, what did you make of this move?

Do you support it? Is it the right decision?

Well, I support it because it's his decision to make.

And, and, um, to be honest, I'm not on the judiciary committee.

I, I don't follow DOJ necessarily real closely, at least not her part of it.

I c- follow the environmental, uh, division much more closely.

And, um, it, you know, I- to be honest, this [laughs] may seem strange, I've never met Pam Bondi, so that, that goes to show how, how little I think about it.

However, it's his call to make.

... what do you make of those comments, Senator?

Do you support those amendments? What do they have to do with voting?

W- well, one of the things that that does do is it does add other issues that probably attract, maybe they attract some more votes, but it probably distracts as many as it, as it would attract.

I th- I support all of those principles.

Again, I would vote for the bill with those amendments in them.

I'd vote for the bill without those amendments in them.

Um, there's nothing in there that's a poison pill to me personally.

However, the goal of legislating is to pass bills, and, and so if it adds value to the bill, great.

Do you think it is time to get out of Iran, or do you agree with the argument Ambassador Bolton was making, which is that if the United States leaves before there's actual regime change, the outcome would be worse than if it hadn't gone in at all?