Congressional Ethics And A Blueprint For Change
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Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz. Thanks for giving us so much of your time. You're going to really like it. This is going to be a special one because if you have followed at all in Congress, a guy named Tim Burchett, he's the congressman out of Tennessee. There's probably in Congress right now, at least in the House of Representatives, there is nobody more candid. You stick a microphone in front of him, there is nobody more candid than

about the realities of what's happening and more importantly, what's not happening in Congress than this gentleman. And we're going to get him on the horn. We're going to talk to him. We're going to ask him a little bit about the realities of Congress and what's going on a little bit. Want to learn more about his background because guys like these, they fascinate me, right? They rise to the top and people love it and they vote for him and they put him into office. And yet they aren't necessarily...

you know, right out of central casting or exactly what you think is going to happen, but then they do happen. But anyway, I just, I'm really looking forward to this conversation with Tim Burchett. And I think you're going to, I hope you really like it. So I want to talk a little bit about some of the things that are in the news. And one of them I mentioned last week, you know, we record this a couple of days before it actually comes out. So things will inevitably change. But,

Hopefully not for the worst, but as I highlighted before, India and Pakistan really does scare me. Now, again, both have nuclear weapons. A lot of these regional conflicts, you think, ah, that's a world away. I can't even point to it on a map. If you told me what Kashmir is, I'd say Kashmir.

Oh, yeah. Isn't that the material we put on a really nice sweater? No, this is, there is a place that is connected to,

With Pakistan and India. And if you look it up on a map, it's a little tiny place. Now, when I was in a as a member of Congress, I was elected in 2008 and I served through till 2017, mid 2017. And I tried to go there because I wanted to better understand the conflict. We were spending a lot of money, a

Our military was USAID. We were trying to understand this. And one thing I will say that our government does really, really well that not everybody is cognizant of, not everybody sees. But one thing that our government does do and be glad that we do do it.

is we pay very close attention to people with nuclear weapons and tracking those nuclear weapons. I would argue we probably, as a government, do a better job tracking nuclear weapons than many of the countries themselves do. And so that is a very tough and difficult job. In fact, when I went to Pakistan, they had me meet with, I believe his name was General Kalani.

He was in charge of the nuclear weapons for the Pakistani government. So he was a Pakistani general. And we went into this room. We spent an hour with him, a couple other members of Congress. He smoked cigars and cigarettes the whole time we were in this small room.

And we had this nice conversation with him and we had this really good working relationship. You could tell there were some members of our of our government and of our military who were very close to this general. And that is a good thing. And so.

You want level heads to prevail because we cannot do not want a nuclear bomb going off. But I'm just telling you the fact that, you know, they'll argue about who started it first. But there's a volley going on right now where somebody will shoot and, you know, kill dozens of people, if not more than that. Then somebody will fire back. And you just hope that.

Cool heads prevail. But if you're paying attention to the world, this is something that should be on your radar that we got to be very careful of. We also have discussions now starting with China. That is really important. I think the markets, it'd be interesting to see how they react. But I want to remind people, and the reason I bring this up, we can't just be beholden to the daily gyrations of the markets. They're up, they're down, they're up, they're down. And

There's a longer term play here that I give Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, a whole lot of credit for. I think he's playing long ball here. It would have been easier to just kind of bypass some of this stuff.

But you can tell from his heart, he really does believe that we have to get in a better trading position for the United States of America. And while there may be some short-term pain and some gyrations in the market, I think he understands that long-term, this is what we structurally have to do to put the United States on better footing. And I remind people, build it.

Trade it in the United States? Guess what? There are no tariffs. So that's going to portend well for us, I think, down the road in an understanding that we're going to be... The president has already lined up trillions, trillions of dollars of commitments to better employ people, build manufacturing. I had a chance earlier this week to interview the governor of Mississippi, and they have this Mississippi power play.

And very articulately said, look, those that can fuel our future are going to win the long term game. And I think what you're going to see is you're going to see Donald Trump coming up with trade deals and announcements around the globe that will really drive down the price of oil and gas and those things that we need to fuel our future.

And we're going to be, as the United States of America, more in control, not only from our homegrown products, but I think you'll see a deal struck with a variety of different governments, some of which have not been necessarily very friendly with the United States of America. But Donald Trump understands the power of these types of relationships and the power that energy brings, trade brings, and it often brings peace. And that will put...

the United States of America, and in even more dominant positions. So I'm proud of the direction he's headed. I really do believe in it. We're moving in the right direction that way. All right. So now it's time to bring on the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. All right. This one comes from the New York Post. New York Post does a really good job of bringing this stuff up. Here's the headline.

South Carolina man hid in ex-girlfriend's. Now, this is the key. Ex-girlfriend. Okay? Hid in ex-girlfriend's shower and put knife to her head in alarming prank to lighten the mood.

Oh my goodness. Are you kidding me? This guy wanted to lighten the mood by putting a knife to her head in the shower of his ex-girlfriend? I'm not really buying this story. And oh my gosh, I bet she can't believe that this was actually supposedly her boyfriend at one time. Yowzy, if that's true. Just an allegation. I'm just saying.

The Associated Press printed this out. Don't know if it's true, but this is just another allegation. Kentucky man who won Powerball jackpot lands in Florida jail days later. This person won $167 million. And supposedly James Farthing, who goes by Shannon...

Found out Sunday that he won the state's biggest ever jackpot after his mother called him, according to media release by the Kentucky Lottery. But he was in Florida jail by midweek, according to media reports. He's been charged with battery of a police officer and resisting arrest after he was attempting to break up a fight between Farthing and another person in a hotel when he kicked an officer in the face. Oh, my goodness. You're off in the wrong direction.

You win $167 million. Relax. Life's going to be good. That's pretty stupid to get yourself thrown into jail. That's the allegation. Maybe it's not true. Just saying. That's how it was reported. All right, that's the stupid. Now we're going to get to reality because we got somebody who really does know how to call balls and strikes. You're going to get tired of me saying that, but...

When I mean calls, balls, and strikes, they actually just give you the naked truth of what's going on. And that's why I'm thrilled to bring in Tim Burchett. He is the congressman from Tennessee. He's been there just a couple of terms now. But if you're paying attention, watching the news every once in a while, see him pop up with some amazing quote. And you're like, yeah, I think that's right. Good.

Because he just tells it like it is. So let's bring in Congressman Tim Burchett from the great state of Tennessee. Congressman, thrilled to have you on. Really, really excited about it. Thanks for joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. I'm completely honored, guys. Thank you all. So you've been in Congress a few years now. We want to learn a little bit more about you. I want to get your perspective on what's going on, what's not going on. But

You know, now that you got a couple of years under your belt here, what's different about Congress than maybe how you anticipated? I guess my biggest surprise is that I wasn't surprised. You know, it's broken and folks are crooked as a dog's leg. And I guess it just reiterated that fact with me that that is exactly the way Congress is. We have...

We refuse to fix it because we don't have any guts. Honestly, brother, we are... People are broken and this system is broken. We... You know, you...

And the structure of it is, and it's the allowance of the day-to-day corruption that really brings the whole system down. I think I'm going to write a book. It's going to be called Compromise. You know, to be a chairman in a committee, you have to raise so much money or to go up in stature, you have to raise so much money. I

I'll never be a chairman of a major committee because I don't raise enough money. I don't kiss enough butt. And that's just the bottom line. They send you a bill and tell you how much to raise. And both parties do it. It's completely legal. I don't think it's ethical, but it's completely legal. And, you know, and then you wonder,

Why can't we get anything done? Well, I mean, if you're a chairman and you want to stay a chairman, you got to raise the big money and to raise the big money. You got to have the big lobbyist support and to have the big lobbyist support. You've got to, you know, it comes with a cost. So.

You know, I'm not knocking my chairman. I have some great chairman, but the reality is that is that is what Washington is about. It's about raising money. It's about staying in power and it's not about doing what's best for America and we are we are losing. We're losing that battle. We're 36 trillion in debt and neither party has a really has a plan to fix it. People want to please the president.

but they don't want to cut spending. And honestly, $36 trillion in debt every 100 days, we're going to add another trillion to the debt. We're just going downhill incredibly fast. And until...

We've got the guts to fix that structure. You'll never see it happen. And just keep going in that direction. I want to I want to tell you a little bit of a story, because I think you're right. When I ran for Congress back in 2008, I ran against and beat a 12 year incumbent Republican, which is not what you're supposed to do. Right. That's no, that's like, you know, you're not supposed to do that.

So I do that. I win. It had nothing to do with the party. I can't think of, well, anything that the party did to help me win. But as soon as I got here, they told me about my dues. And I said, wait, my dues? Like what you mean to get to the Capitol Hill Club or something like that? What is that? 300 bucks a month? What are we talking about?

So they hand me that. And at least back then it was fifty thousand dollars. And I said, wait, fifty thousand dollars for the party to do what? Keep recruiting moderate candidates that give us a three person majority. You know, that's another thing I was I'm always amazed at when everybody talks about our great majority. And I said this day one, I said right after the inauguration, Trump sworn in.

we've already done the victory lap let's get to work and here we are 100 days in and i just feel like we missed a great opportunity and i i always tell this story and i'm not sure where i heard it but it's um this old farmer's up on a tin roof you know and he's up there with his ladder and he's got his bib overalls on and he starts to fall off the roof and he says lord help me lord help me and then

and a nail grabs his bib on his bib overalls. He says, nevermind, Lord, I got it. You know, that's sort of what we're doing right now. We've been given a great opportunity with Donald Trump. I don't think he's the Messiah. I don't want him teaching my daughter's Sunday school class, but I sure love him in the White House.

And I think we're on borrowed time right now. And we better start moving ahead with his agenda. And we better start implementing some of these doge cuts. And I just think we're missing too much opportunity and blaming it on the committee structure or whatever. I think it's just a cop out. You've got too many members that have their wife and or girlfriend works for one of these agencies or one of the

or one of the quasi corporations that are associated with them. And, you know, it's just like insider trading up here. It goes on. Everybody knows it. There's no, there's nobody in America that can do 300% year in and year out. And yet members of Congress just continue to do that. And, you know, that's why you'll never see a stock trading bill that'll pass probably. Yeah. No, it's,

Peter Schweitzer, who I do a lot of work with at the Government Accountability Institute, I mean, he has pointed this out time and time and time again. And the stock trading platforms and groups that are formed to follow Nancy Pelosi and her stock trades and how she outperforms the market time and time again. It's just... She's not even the worst. I mean, there's so many of them that do this stuff. It's just...

There's a site on X called Unusual Whales, and it lists the top 100. When they put that new list out every year, my wife always checks to see if we're on it. She's like, dadgummit, honey, can't you

We need a new stockbroker. I always call my buddy Tommy Seiler and joke about it. He's my broker, you know, and he manages my $11,000 portfolio mutual fund because I don't do individual stock trades. I just think it's wrong. It is wrong. It is wrong. For members of Congress, I didn't do that either. I'm like, no, sorry. I just...

It's just anyway, let's go back because I think I mean, a lot of people love your fresh voice. You're obviously being real candid and just calling balls and strikes the way you see them. But let's go back to I want you to start with, you know, I was born in and I'm not talking about the year I'm talking where and what was walking through your early life.

Knoxville, Tennessee, I had two wonderful, and I told this at both their funerals, my parents were not bumper sticker Christians. They were the real deal. Daddy fought in the Second World War in the Pacific in the Marine Corps. He had a very high IQ, unlike his youngest son, me, who does not have a very high IQ, obviously due to my chosen profession. But they told Daddy they wanted him to become an officer.

And they sent Daddy to Georgia Tech, and he was afraid he was going to miss the Second World War. He loved the country, and he really, really hated the Japanese then, or their leaders anyway. And he wanted to get to the fight. And so he was afraid he was going to miss the war. And so he just didn't take his midterm exams and failed himself out. And eight weeks later, he was on a little island called Peleliu.

with a Thompson submachine gun, supposed to be a mop-up, and that's why I don't like military intelligence. It's a lot like congressional ethics. I don't really think it exists right now. And 30 days later, he was still in combat, the worst combat of the entire Second World War. He was in what's called the 1st Marine Division. His colonel was a man named Chesty Puller, if you don't know anything about Marine Corps history.

researched that in the Battle of Peleliu. And then Daddy was on the invasion of Okinawa. And then he went to China and fought the Communists over there for a short while after the war. Had some combat there. Then he came home and worked at the University of Tennessee and fought the Communists over there for about 40 years, I guess. And then Mama was a school teacher, but she's the youngest of seven, didn't have electricity until she's a senior in high school. And her

oldest brother roy who was too old to go all her other bro she was youngest to seven so there was there was uh boys and and two other girls beside mama so they all went to war and um and roy they sent him home because he was too old he was 31 or 32. and then they called him back up he knew they needed warm bodies and he went through basic i guess at 32 became a sergeant at 33

And was killed in the hedgerows right after D-Day fighting the Nazis. And so my mama decided what she wanted to do. She flew an airplane. She was 17 years old and was called the Civilian Air Corps. I got a couple of cool pictures of her with her airplanes and stuff. I'm friends with Kid Rock.

His real name is Bobby. And I was telling at lunch about a month ago, I said, I know your slogan is you're the American badass. But but I was actually raised by the American badasses because my parents were were pretty cool people. And they had me like me, my brother and sister. We were all very late in life. But my mama was actually ironing shirts one hour before I was born. Daddy said, Joyce, we got to go. And he left.

He drove her to Baptist Hospital in the BW Bug, I guess. And they brought me home. And I'm an unrepentant mama's boy. And my daddy was my hero. Both my parents, my parents were my heroes. They never made a lot of money. And I mean, during, daddy was on the school board in the 70s. And he fought everybody that I fought, the Chamber of Commerce and all the beautiful people and

And he wanted to name a school after a black lady named Sarah Moore Green. And I always remember the police car circling our house because of the death threats and stuff. And daddy wanted out. He he my daddy was a politically minded guy and he was but he was a realist. So he got some of the black ministers to call the chamber in the mayor's office, claiming that some of the radicals on the college campus wanted to name that school after Malcolm X.

And they couldn't name that school fast enough after Sarah Moore Green. And they they told that they wrote that story up in my dad's obituary about how cool that was politically and how smart my dad was. We're conservatives and conservatives.

and you know you didn't name schools after black women especially those that are living but daddy pulled it off and sarah more green the lady that named the school after was a was a hundred years old when my daddy died and she they brought her in in a wheelchair at daddy's funeral she wanted to pay her respects and and that's just kind of the folks i my daddy was a dean dean of student conduct the university of tennessee and

Mama was the schoolteacher, and she taught all over the place. At both their funerals, Daddy died first of a massive stroke, and then he lingered for a while. He gave me some great advice, though. He wasn't long before he was going to be meeting Jesus face-to-face, and Daddy said, I was mayor of Knox County, and I was fighting the big boys like I always did. Seems like I'm always tilting at windmills.

But and there was a big editorial against me in the front page article attacking me, you know, and I walked in there and daddy was laying in that nursing home bed and he couldn't speak very well. He could grunt out stuff. I could understand him and mama could understand him. So we'd always translate for the nurses and doctors. And and I walked in there and daddy grunted out. Are they after you again?

I said, yeah, daddy, they are. And he looked at me and this is some the most some of the you know, I remember a lot of things he said in life, but this is one that really caught me. He said, do you really want that bunch for you? And I thought, no, I really don't. Because and that's trouble a lot of us conservatives have. We think we're going to. Oh, I want the liberals. I want the media. I want the editorials. I want the you know, the.

university types to be for us. But if they're for us, then we've changed or we've turned. And I always remember that and I always have to remember that when my critics are on me because they're on me a lot. I mean, I get a lot of death threats and I've spent a lot of money on security at my house to protect my girls. And I made a lot of mistakes. I married the wrong person first go around and

And, uh, but if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have met my current wife. And, um, and she was a widow and had a beautiful little girl. I met her at a UT football game. My buddies, Ray and Lucy hand. They always, they were from my parents' hometown. It's funny. They own a beer distributor and we're not, Burchards aren't drinkers. I mean, we're Baptist, but we're,

Just, we don't, we don't, we don't stand in judgment anybody, but you know, we're not, we're not drinkers. I mean, I, I, I had to sneak in a beer can collection when I was in high school in my house. I collect everything, but anyway, and Lucy called me one day and said, Timmy, ball games at noon. I want you up in the skybox with us. And I said, Lucy, I was going through the, I'd gone through this divorce and had been in the paper and everything. I was mayor of the County, but, um,

They're never pretty, but it's, but when you're, when it's on the front page of the paper, it's even worse. Right. I said, you read the front page paper. And she says, Timmy, don't make me send Raymond after you. And she, her husband's Ray, but anytime she ever called him Raymond, it was like, you know, lightning bolt. Everybody's quiet. Yeah. And she said that. And I said, all right, Lucy, I'll be there. And so I went and halftime, I went down at the stadium and, um,

and kids laughter has always been something it just makes me happy and i heard this the sweetest little girl laughing and she was spinning around and she had these little red sparkly shoes on and i walked up to her i said sweetheart

you're the most beautiful little girl I think I've ever seen. And she smiled and said, thank you. And then about that time, mama bear walked up and it was, and I looked up and I thought, wow, that is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And, um, and a buddy of mine who's more country than I am said, you big lump head are, are,

because I thought he was with her, you know, and I thought, man, in fact, that big knucklehead can get a beautiful woman like that. I need to get out. I need to get out on the market. And he said, you big lunkhead. He said, my wife went to get the car. Our daughters are in dance together. And his daughter was the other little girl. She was dance Isabel. And I ended up marrying that woman and adopting that little girl. So God's plan, you know, I went through a horrible, horrible time and I would have gone. I'd go through it every day.

Cause I got really all in life. I wanted was a family. I'm, I pictured myself with a bunch of little boys cause Birch's are kind of roughnecks. We shoot guns and ride motorcycles and generally raise a lot of hell. And I got a little girl and she's a barrel racer and she's about the toughest thing, but tough as they say, tough as a hickory knot. She's,

And she's wonderful. I adopted her and, you know, that's how I'm here. Um, and I was, I had a, I know you don't want to hear all this, but I had a composting business. I got accused of taking toxic waste and, uh, I fought it, lost the business.

Kind of became a martyr, knocked on 6,000 doors and beat an incumbent in a primary. I know you did the same. And the only person to beat an incumbent in a primary in the entire state of Tennessee that year in house races, 99 house races, state race. And then four years later, I ran for the Senate and then spent 12 years in the state Senate. And then I was county mayor for eight years. So here I am. Stay with us. We'll be right back. You're listening to Jason in the House.

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Let's go back to being a little kid. Now, did you have brothers, sisters? Were you the only child? No, I was the youngest of three. I had an older sister and my sister was the oldest. She was the first and then my brother and then myself. And my brother and sister, oddly enough, are both good looking, smart and great athletes. And I was one of those, you know.

So when you're growing up, were you trying to play sports or were you like? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I was captain of the I was captain of the 1982 Bearden High School football team. We went five and five. You might have heard of me. What position were you playing? I was a wide receiver. I like to say I was slow, but I couldn't catch. But I was, you know, we were five and five. I worked.

I just, you know, when I went out in junior high school, they had junior high schools, and I was cut my ninth grade year, and that was the most devastating thing of my life. It was awful. Because my brother was the star on the high school football team. He was a quarterback, good-looking guy, dating the homecoming queen. Right. You know, and he was it. And my sister was a great – she played college basketball back in the day. And so, you know, it seems like –

I told my wife I'm going to write a country music song. It's going to be about all those people that, you know, the women, they either shot me down, the bosses that fired me or the people that told me I wasn't going to succeed. And it's not a revengeful thing. I'm just going to tell them thank you. Because, you know, every time I get stomped, because, I mean, let's be honest, there ain't a lot of people like me in Congress. I don't come from money. I'm not particularly smart and I'm not particularly good looking and I wasn't.

And, you know, I didn't have anything other than politics. That was my building block and two great parents. And my brother and sister are overachievers and they're both brilliant, like I said, and good looking. And they could have done anything they wanted to in life. But anyway, so that kind of that's kind of what formulated me.

You know, it's interesting. There is that funny story, and you've probably heard it too, where the advice I got when I first got elected to Congress, there was a 22-year veteran of the House named Jim Hansen. He was chair of the Ethics Committee. He was from Utah, and he had retired. But I got elected, and I went up and saw him, and I said...

Sir, I don't know what I don't know, so tell me what I need to know. And he said, all right, a couple things. And he gave me some really good advice. And one of the things he said is, he said, you know...

About six months, you know, the moment you walk into the Capitol, you're going to get that chill down your spine. You're going to think, how in the world? Like, how did I get here? This is amazing. He said, if you ever lose that enthusiasm, that chill that runs down your spine, then, you know, it's time to leave. But he said, it'll happen to you every day you walk on the floor. But at about six months, it's going to change.

Because you're going to still think, wow, how did I get here? This is amazing. But then you're going to start looking around and you're going to think, how did they all get here? Like, you know, like, seriously, did anybody ever meet this person that got elected that somehow got, you know, 100 plus thousand votes? If you could change something in Congress...

And to make it more functional, more reflective, more responsive to America, what would it be that you would do? One thing. Single issue spending bill. Amen. I love it. In Tennessee.

That's what we got, and we got a balanced budget. And I've heard the old-timers say, "Burchard, we'd be here all night." Well, dadgummit, you pay us $170,000 a year. That's more money than most people in my district are going to see in four years.

And, you know, I said, I'm not knocking them. They're hardworking people. They're good, honest, God fearing folks. But, you know, it's to me, it's I get so sick and tired of hearing people saying how much this job is costing them. And, you know, well, don't do it then, dadgummit. Go back to your district and earn a freaking living like everybody else. Exactly. You're so valuable to the community.

the economic situation in this country, we could use you out making money, employing people. But, you know, I, but they don't do it because the corrupt nature of it. They don't want, they want to hide that spending bill in there. They don't want somebody to figure it out four years later until it's too late to unravel it. And that's,

The bills, you know, I always talk about that. People blast you on there. Birchick, why don't you impeach judges? Well, I'm one who brought it up in conference this week. I'm the one, you know, just because you bring it up or file a bill doesn't mean it's going to go anywhere. And that's the other corrupt nature of it. People are always mad at the legislators. They need to be mad at the staff. When the Republicans have committees they control and they have 50 staff members, don't you think a lobbyist could have one of those individuals involved?

And some of them are just mostly kids in some of these committees. And lobbyists could have their ear, maybe take them on a little trip or buy them a steak dinner or buy them a drink at a bar or something.

or get them a hooker or whatever else they're into. Cause that's, that's what, that's what turns the wheels and, um, and America needs to wake up about what's going on in this town. Yeah. You're so right about the single issue bills, you know, and, and I've, I've heard, I've argued that as well. And, and people say, Oh yeah, you couldn't possibly get through it. And I said, well, yeah, that's probably the point in it. But I kind of like what Texas does, you know, Texas, uh,

They do a two-year budget. I don't see any reason why you have to do like one Congress, one budget. That would make sense. And the clerk can sit there and go through so-called regular order with the 12 appropriation bills, read every line the way they're supposed to.

Because the last time I looked, the one time we actually did balance the budget, Newt Gingrich was the speaker. Bill Clinton was the president. And guess what? They balanced the budget because they went through regular order, each appropriations bill. But this is the dirty secret, I think, is that-

They don't want you to vote on certain things. They always protect their members. That's how we stay in the majority. And it's just the biggest lie. And it's so wrong. And yeah, you're going to have to take tough votes if you're in Congress. That's what you got elected to do. The gutless nature of this game is, is,

Just beyond belief. I can't stress that enough. And another thing is you talk to a chairman sometimes and they'll say some of these older chairman, especially they've been here way too long. Oh, I can't do that. My staff wouldn't allow it. Yeah. Who the heck elected the dadgum staff, man? I know exactly who do they work for? You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be right back.

How do you feel about term limits? I got a guess, but how do you feel about term limits? I'm on every day. I'm term limits bill, but they're never going to pass. Let me tell you what has to happen. And people always, Oh, Bert, you do. You're selling out. They need to grandfather all of us in and then, and say the next person who fills that seat is term limited. Yeah. But I have some, but if we had done this 20 years ago,

99% of them be gone. And these term limits groups, all they're doing is selling you a membership. Oh, send me 50 bucks. We're going to get to it. Guess what? I sponsored the legislation and guess who? They never visit me. They never talked to me about it. Cause it's like, it's like the TV show finding Bigfoot. Dadgum, if they found Bigfoot, there wouldn't be a show. If they fix the problem, there wouldn't be. And you know, the Democrats, Oh, abortion, abortion, abortion. Why didn't they, why didn't they, uh,

make it the law of the land when they were in charge. They didn't. It's the same deal. Everybody wants to have that money trough and they're not trying to fix anything. They're just trying to make themselves self-important and to stay in power. That's the game. I remember I had a

Chairman one time say we're in the minority when we get to majority, we'll get to set the agenda, which I like, and then we'll get to decide who goes on the codels, the trips overseas. And, and we'll get to decide, you know, the lobbyist money and all that. And I thought to myself,

What in the world, dude? How about we get to decide to save our country? How about that? And it's just, it just drives me crazy. And he's, and you know, and the speaker now, he's a good man. He's got a three person majority. I mean, brother, we are three, three people out. Maybe we're a flu season away from losing the majority. Let's face it. People die every day up here or it seems like every week really. And it's just a, with 435 of us,

That's what happens. It's just going to happen. You got some that are very old, not in good shape, probably on a whiskey cigar diet. And, you know, that ages a man or a woman. Yeah. I like to say we're three Big Macs away from, you know, from changing the power there. You're absolutely right. Look, I think what people really appreciate about you is just being a fresh, candid voice. And that's

That should be the norm, but it is a standout. And that's why we love hearing from you and getting your perspective because it's a reality check. And it's sad because I think if we just do what the American people elected you all to do, they would reward and Republicans would continue to be in power. But if they don't actually do those things, then they're going to say, all right, we'll give the other team another chance.

I say this every time though, and I don't know, it makes people mad. Every time I say something, get on one of these podcasts, you know, leadership, they send somebody to see me and they, and they sat with me on the house floor and I'm sure they did to you too. And I said, Birchit man, you got some people really upset with what you said. And I said, and I, and I said to the last time I said, but it's the truth, right? And he goes, oh yeah, it's the truth, but you just can't say it. Well, here's the truth. Members go home, Democrats and Republicans, uh,

And they feed their constituents the red meat, the Republicans. Oh, Nancy Pelosi this, Nancy Pelosi this. Nancy Pelosi is not in that gun power. And they say, we need to cut the budget. But then they never cut anything. We need to do this. We need to do that. And they don't do it. And then they come back to Washington and they sell you all down the river. We've got to start holding people accountable, brother. And that's the only way we're going to straighten this country out. Yeah.

That's absolutely right. All right. In order to get to know you a little bit better, we have some questions for you, some rapid questions. I hope you're ready. I am. All right. What was the first concert you attended? Wow.

I went to a BJ Thomas concert one time at a Christian group. He was a Christian for a while. And then, um, yeah. Ring drops. Yeah. That was him. That's one of my favorite songs. I think it was written by Burt Bacharach, but no, I think, um, I went to a Charlie Daniels concert, paid $7 when the devil went down to Georgia. Oh, wow. Me and my buddy, Matt Miller. He's,

Matt lives in Chattanooga now, and every time an old Charlie Daniels song comes on, he'll text me or something. But yeah, that was a lot of festival seating. The Who concert ruined that in 1978 when people got trampled at the door. Yeah, that's bad. What was your high school mascot?

A bulldog. No, see, that's legit. Some of them are pretty entertaining, but that's pretty... Yeah. What was your first job?

Oh, gosh. I mowed yards and everything. I guess my first paycheck job, I worked at the Ramada Inn, and a lady I knew managed the kitchen, and somebody quit, and they were in a bind, and they called me, and I came up and worked for about four days, and they found out I was underage, and then they fired me. I was like 15 or something. Back then, you couldn't do that, but I ended up mowing yards and

I'd sell cars. I remember one time I sold a 68 Pontiac convertible with the 400 engine and I sold it for about $3,500, which now you probably, you couldn't buy a rest of Hulk for that. But a guy came in from California and bought it. I paid $1,500 for it. My mama would always go halfers with me. She was a school teacher and,

And I remember counting that money out on that old indoor outdoor rug downstairs and, and giving her her half, which was about, it was a little over 1500. She was a school teacher. So, I mean, I just doubled her income for the month. And she looked at me and goes, honey, is there anything else we can go halfers on? And to the day she died, we, even when I didn't, it was just fun to do it with. Even when I didn't need, need, need her to go halfers with me, she would, uh,

But anyway, I can talk all day stories. I'm sorry. No, it's awesome. A few more questions. Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no? No. Oh, good answer. Judges like that answer. See, just further evidence. You got your head screwed on straight. That's great. What's the best advice you ever got? I guess in my dad telling me that before he died, you know, I mean, they just, their advice, they lived it. They, they took care of folks and, and,

They were always kind to people, custodians. You know, there's over 500 people at their funerals and they lived in their eighties. They outlived all their friends pretty much. Do you want that bunch for you? It was great advice my dad gave me. Well, you have an admiration. Um, you can just tell and just chatting with you for your parents and a reverence that, uh, that's very healthy. And, uh,

That's good. You know, we need more of that in this country. We had a lot of people who don't grow up in such a household. Well, they need a parent. Some of these kids don't have, you say they didn't have a dad. Now they don't have a mom or a dad. They got an aunt or a grandparent or somebody else raised them and that's need to be.

reinforcing those role models a little more, I think. Well, we also need people serving that are there for all the right reasons and, um, you know, calling balls and strikes, as I like to say, um, the way they see them. And, uh, you certainly do that, Congressman. And, uh, we, uh, we appreciate you taking some time, give us a little insight on your background and where you're going. And, um, we'll see how this one big, beautiful bill plays itself out. But, uh,

I hope it does cut spending. I do, too. Please don't call me Congressman. I always tell the custodians up here, no, y'all call me Tim now because they've heard me say Congressman, some 85-year-old guy that ain't heard the gun go off. I'm Tim. Well, Tim, thanks so much for joining us on the Jason in the House podcast. Really do appreciate it.

Thank you, brother. I'm honored and it's a real pleasure. And it's good to talk to you. I hope to see you soon. All of your career and everything. So thank you, brother. Thank you. Well, thanks to the Congressman. I really do appreciate it. He's a fresh voice, a unique voice there on Capitol Hill and exciting what he's doing. You know, he gets passionate about what he believes in. I

I love his impromptu style when he's just walking between the Capitol and his office and somebody throws a mic in his face. He just answers the question. And not everybody always likes it as we discuss. But I really do appreciate him joining us.

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or wherever you listen to podcasts. A lot of good ones out there. I'm Jason Chaffetz. Thanks so much for joining us. This has been Jason in the House. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along. Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at thequiz.fox. Then come back here to see how you did. Thank you for taking the quiz.