Congress is on a two-week recess, and Republican Mark Amodei is spending time in his Northern Nevada district. So, he sat down with KUNR’s Bert Johnson to discuss the latest news out of Washington.
Bert Johnson: President Donald Trump set off a panic last week when he set sky-high import tariffs, then abruptly paused them for most countries, except China. This chaotic approach has already had a negative impact on businesses in Northern Nevada. Are you planning to intercede with the Trump administration on behalf of businesses in your district?
Mark Amodei: [It’s] been kind of a wild week, I agree with that. But history wasn't written in a week or two weeks, and so it's like, “Well, let's see how it goes.” The other thing that I think is interesting, when you look at the reporting on that, is they're going, “Well, how do we know when it's going to happen?” Well, I don't know any better than you do, but what I do know is, in less than a year here in Nevada, you have to sign up if you're going to run for public office. But it's like, hey, if Donald Trump breaks the toy, you would expect that, guess what? Republicans aren't going to be in the majority in the House of Representatives. And that, frankly, will be some of the discussion now. But it's a little bit early to go, “We've got all the facts, and it's as of last week, and that's the ones we're going with.” It's like, there's a few more weeks to come. Let's see where we end up.
Johnson: At the same time, critics, many of them Republican, say Trump's trade war will raise costs for American consumers in the long term. That includes housing prices, which he promised to bring down during his campaign. Do you think Trump's making a mistake?
Amodei: Not yet. How's that for a direct answer? When I think of tariffs, I think of two things. I think of China, and I think of everybody else. And so, not that China isn't a big impact on our economy, which is part of the problem, where you're going, you know, “I don't know whether they're good people, bad people, but I do know they are at least direct competitors, economically, strategically, and militarily.” I believe we need to be more self-sufficient. Will you be able to to throw a switch without having any vulnerability? Absolutely not. I mean, we look around the stables of our state. And if you're in the gold mining business, geez, it might be pretty good right now with gold at $3,200 an ounce. But if you're in the cattle business, anywhere in the ag business, stuff like that, tariffs impact everything. But I do think it's appropriate to go, “I think we need to true up kind of what these, what these financial arrangements are, in terms of, if you buy a car made in Germany, versus, can we sell Chevys in Germany?,” and that sort of stuff. Will it be disruptive? Obviously it will. The question is, “How long?” And when you talk, you know, the small business angle, whether you're selling, you know, whatever, “These tariffs are going to put Bob Smith out of business.” And it's like, well, they're going to be applied the same to everybody. So if Bob Smith's competitors are buying the same stuff from the same folks subject to the same tariffs, it's like, hey, prices are going to go up for me, the consumer. But the question becomes, well, does that help you get other sources in the U.S. that makes them competitive now? So I think, listen, is there instability as we sit here right now? Yes, there is. The question is, “What are we doing to go from where we started before the instability to where we end? And is that a better place for us to be at and what was the price that we paid, as ultimately, as consumers or business owners to do that?” And right now, I'm willing to give it a little longer than a month to see how that works.
Johnson: The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is planning to ask Congress to claw back more than $1 billion of previously approved funding for public broadcasting. Do you plan to defend that funding? And if you do, how will you convince your Republican colleagues that it's necessary?
Amodei: So, we'll take a look at where the $1 billion is supposed to come from, so that we are fact based. I have been a traditional supporter of public broadcasting. Part of that from being from Nevada, and I refer to a lot of the work that public broadcasting does as kind of infrastructure, which means that when all else fails, and all the technologies, whatever the heck, our Channel Five PBS, for instance, here in Reno — they are the go-to folks, and there's a lot of good public service stuff that goes on there. So that's the approach I'm going to take. It's not unexpected that the administration — and there are those in Congress, too, that just don't like public broadcasting — well, there may be some days when you don't like what public broadcasting is doing out of whatever affiliate, I get that. But that isn't where the discussion begins and ends. And so we'll take a good, close look at it, [and] be very transparent. We're in frequent contact with [the] folks here at Channel Five. They're important to us, and we expect to proceed that way.
Johnson: You haven't hosted a general town hall since 2017, and in March of this year, you called town halls a “code word for let's go bully the sh** out of somebody in public.” But many of your constituents want to hear from you in person, and they've even held protests outside your office. Would you ever reconsider your stance against town halls?
Amodei: Let me bring you up to date on town halls. The nuts and bolts of having a town hall have changed a heck of a lot from the old days where it was like, “Let's get people together and see what's on your mind. What are the veterans issues? What are the education issues?” So no disrespect to anybody, but when it sounds like, “We would like you to do an apology tour, because we hate the present administration, we hate the guy who does those electric cars, we hate the fact that you're registered as a whatever,” it's like, I got that. And by the way, I'm not going to apologize for getting elected by almost 20 points in the last election, or ones before that. So, what I've told people outside of my office that were getting ready to picket, I go, “What's your issue?” “It's education.” “Well, wait a minute, my education guy’s in the office right now, let me call him!” [I] called him in front of a group of teachers, and said, “Hey, there's some folks out here want to talk about education issues. Can you take them into the conference room and see what their issues are?” “Yeah.” So I said, “Go on in. He's expecting you.”
Johnson: At the same time, I think that there is a perception that a lot of Republican elected officials are dismissive of criticism. So for example, last week, leaked audio of Governor Joe Lombardo revealed that he said, “F*** you,” to people who criticize him. So what should Northern Nevada voters think, when two of their elected officials use profanity to dismiss some of their concerns?
Amodei: I’m not dismissing anybody's concerns. I'm just asking to have a civilized conversation about the issues. What isn't reported is when people come up to me and go, “Thank you for what you're doing.” And it's like, “Well, thanks for taking a minute.” It's public service. I think since it's public service, it ought to be completely transparent. But I'm not dismissive of anything. That might be your word, not mine. It's like, I'm the most accessible guy there's been from the first time up to the present.
