'The Man’s Got Oranges': John Kennedy Gives Blunt Take On Elon Musk's Campaign Against GOP Budget

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Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill.

Transcript

00:00Okay, Eddie, what is your message to Elon Musk who says it's time to kill the bill?

00:06Look, I have great respect for Mr. Musk.

00:18Man's got oranges.

00:20He plays outside the pocket, and I like that.

00:24His efforts were the most impactful that I've seen since I've been in Washington

00:34to try to reduce the spending, and he has helped to change the debate.

00:43For four years under President Biden, the question that was always asked up here

00:49was who needs to pay more in taxes?

00:51And thanks to Mr. Musk and others, the new question is,

00:56what the hell happened to the money?

00:58And I think that's healthy.

01:03My response to Mr. Musk is that I feel your pain.

01:10He worries that we're becoming debt slaves.

01:13He wants Congress to learn or relearn the magical healing power of no.

01:21And I agree with all that.

01:23I'm not prepared to throw in the towel on this bill.

01:29I mean, here's where we are with the bill.

01:32We're in what I call the lively discussion stage.

01:36And this thing can go in one of two directions.

01:41It can go in a positive direction, where nobody's completely happy,

01:49but we put together something that we can all support.

01:52Or door number two is it turns into a crime scene.

01:57And I'm an optimist.

02:00I'm an optimist who worries, but I think we'll ultimately end up with a bill we can pass.

02:06If I were – I'm labor, not management, but if I were running the show,

02:14if I were the majority leader, I'd say, look, folks, we're going to have to work really hard.

02:20We're going to have to adult real hard.

02:23That means work on nights and weekends.

02:26And you say, well, why is that important?

02:28When we get together for three and four hours to discuss this bill

02:33and people can voice their concerns, it helps.

02:38I can't explain why.

02:40It's like explaining love or Bigfoot, but it just helps.

02:47We met about an hour and a half yesterday, and it was very productive.

02:53People can get it off their chest.

02:55They feel like their ideas are being heard.

02:57And we need to do that.

02:59And we need to do it three and four hours over the weekend, every day over the weekend.

03:04And if we do that, I think we'll get something worked out by July 4th.

03:11I mean, this is what I – I'm going to make a prediction on it.

03:14But, you know, I could be wrong.

03:20But I think we'll end up getting 51 votes for this bill.

03:23I think there are two people, I'm not going to name names, who will not vote for this bill under any circumstances.

03:30But I think every other vote is gettable.

03:33Where do you think Senate Republicans go when it comes to salt?

03:36We're going to make changes to salt.

03:39It's my best guess.

03:42How substantial those changes will be, it's to our hotel.

03:47You know, concerned about the New York Republicans' warning that they'll kill this in the House,

03:51that you guys can make this occur?

03:53Well, they've got to do what they've got to do.

03:54We've got to do what we think is best.

03:56And I don't – I don't think anybody votes on the basis of blackmail.

04:06What specifically do you need to see change from the House?

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