Editors note: U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., stopped by the Register office last week to speak with managing editor Josh Linehan and senior reporter John Kubal. What follows is a transcript of that conversation, edited lightly for style and readability.
John Kubal:
Have you already been out to StoneyBrook? How were the residents out there? What were their interests?
Dusty Johnson:
There were questions about and I maybe induced this question. I only gave five minutes of opening remarks, but I did mention that I thought the three biggest challenges facing this country right now were the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, the border and the $35 trillion debt. And so, the first couple of questions were about Social Security. But again, I kind of, I kind of asked that. There were questions about America’s role in the world, about what was going to happen in the election two weeks from today, about how my opponent and I kind of get along, which is very good, a fair amount of questions about the ballot measures, yeah, just they didn’t necessarily know what I thought, but just kind of help us understand exactly what the landowner bill rates does as an example.
Josh Linehan:
That is one thing I wanted to ask you about is, you know the pipeline and the landowner bill of rights. You have experience with the PUC: What are your thoughts about that one?
Dusty Johnson:
Generally, statewide elected officials try not to talk too much about the statewide ballot initiatives, in part, because the whole purpose of them is to bypass the politicians, right? But this
Josh Linehan:
I mean, this one did come from the legislature, but yes.
Dusty Johnson:
Yes. Again, that’s not a federal issue, but you’re right. I’ve got some pipeline expertise. It’s interesting. The thing that people are most animated about is eminent domain, yes? Which is not directly addressed in law 21 and ultimately, a limited domain will be decided by a court that will have to determine whether or not Summit Carbon is a common carrier or not. And I don’t: I’m not an attorney, and I don’t know whether or not they’re a common carrier, right? I do think we want, I mean, clearly, if the project is going to get built, they have the burden. The burden of proof is on the applicant. They have to protect landowners. They have to protect the public safety. And if they can’t prove, through provisions in the law, if they can’t prove that they’re going to protect landowners in public safety, they should not get their permit to build. The entire burden should be on them.
John Kubal :
What’s the atmosphere in D.C. as we get close to this obviously, very, very major election of our lifetime.
Dusty Johnson:
I mean, I would say for the last 10 years, it’s been a pretty toxic political environment in America. I think that’s unfortunate. I don’t think that’s becoming of a great nation, and I don’t think it helps to solve problems. I, like most every American I know, Im kind of frustrated by the chaos for the last bit. We need a few more adults in the room. And for the last six years, I’ve been an adult in the room. You don’t need to take my word for it. I’ve been named by the University of Virginia as the number one most effective House member when it comes to agricultural issues, the fifth most effective on transportation. The fifth most effective on public lands, the ninth most effective on Native American issues, to a far greater extent than anybody else. I score high on these listings of actually getting stuff done. And I’ve been in the room when we’ve gotten the important pieces of legislation done. But I clearly am close with Speaker Johnson, and was close to Speaker McCarthy, and I’m an insider making things happen. So the vibe is very toxic. In the toxic environment, you still need to have the big boys and big girls that are willing to roll up their sleeves and get things done.
Josh Linehan:
You mentioned getting things done and agriculture, and you guys are going to come back to the farm bill after the election. What does the climate as of now do to stuff like that, where you’re gonna have to find some sort of bipartisan path forward?
Dusty Johnson:
Well, it’s literally impossible to pass any bill in Congress without votes on both sides of the aisle. Everything we do has to be bipartisan. That’s the rules we operate in the Constitution under and, you know, we passed a House farm bill. Committee had bipartisan support. I was one of the six authors of the House farm bill. We really have just been trying to get our partners in the Senate to do anything. They haven’t released text, they haven’t scheduled a markup, and it takes two to tango. So we continue to try to amp up pressure to get the Senate to do anything. And for whatever reason, democratic chair Debbie Stabenow doesn’t appear to be all that interested in moving anything. And until she decides she wants to play ball. We just we don’t have a magic wand. We can’t force them to act. There is no good reason we can’t get a farm bill done yet this year, we absolutely should act.
John Kubal:
Is it going to happen? You said it should, do you think it will?
Dusty Johnson:
I don’t have any more insight into the feelings of Debbie Stabenow and Chuck Schumer than you do. Okay? I mean, I don’t to me either. I would have thought Chuck Schumer would have wanted to give Montana and John Tester and Ohio and Sherrod Brown an opportunity to vote for a farm bill before the election. I,for the life of me, I cannot understand why the Senate refuses to engage. So, if theyre willing, we’ll get a farm bill done this year, and if they don’t, it’s going to be I mean, we cannot do it unilaterally. We don’t. Constitution does not give us that power.
Josh Linehan:
What else would you like to focus on when you come back after the election, and what, what do you think is plausible, given that probably, things are going to be evenly divided, roughly.
Dusty Johnson:
Yeah, I think it’s been very busy period of time again. I think we should get the farm bill done. I think we should and most likely will resolve the appropriations for fiscal year 2025. I think we should, and likely will get done the annual defense bill. That that will be quite a little bit and then in the first few months of 2025 we’ll need to deal with the debt ceiling, which comes due. We have the expiring Trump era tax cuts, and we’ll need to get a game plan for fiscal year 2026, appropriations.
Josh Linehan:
What’s your position on the Trump taxes, the expiring tax cuts?
Dusty Johnson:
I don’t think anybody. I shouldn’t say anybody. I’m unaware of any leader in Congress that feels like raising taxes on Americans by $4 trillion is the right move. So, you know, clearly, some, maybe all of the tax cuts are going to be extended. To the extent of, you know, how much and for how long and in what way is what will really be debating. But remember when the Democrats had, when they did their own reconciliation package, when Biden was in the White House, Pelosi was the speaker, Schumer was the head of the Senate. They didn’t roll back those tax cuts. Nor should they have. So even the Democrats are not inclined to increase taxes by $4 trillion dollars, or it seems to me that at least the Democrats aren’t inclined to increase taxes $4 trillion that would have a disastrous effect on the economy
Josh Linehan:
And a little bit longer term. Past next year and beyond, assuming, you win your re-election, then what? What priorities do you have?
Dusty Johnson:
Again, I do think the border, a $35 trillion debt, Social Security and the solvency of Social Security and Medicare. I mean, those are the real issues that we have we’ve got to tackle. So let’s say it is too easy to get here illegally, and it’s too hard to get here legally. Yeah, both sides of that equation have to be tackled.
The second half of this interview will appear in Tuesday’s edition of the Brookings Register.
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