podcasts. >> now, republican senator tom cotton gives a keynote address at the annual judge joseph story dinner, hosted either republican party of story county in cambridge, iowa. he talks about a number of issues, including the supreme court decision overturning roe v. wade, and the state of the economy. this is just over an hour. >> ok. welcome, everyone, thanks for coming out. my name is brett berger and i am privileged to be the chairman in story county and we are excited about the judge joseph story dinner. it's a tradition we started over 10 years ago. we've had an awesome list of people who have come in for this event. it is something we are proud of and we are excited to have senator cotton with us to speak to you and add to this long list of distinguished guests. the reason we do what we do is to make sure we elect republicans from the top of the ticket all the way to the bottom. you will hear from some excellent county candidates tonight we are excited about and we want you to get to know. our awesome county recorder is all by herself at the county administration building and we need to send her some friends. that's where you come in. we need your time, your talent, we need your funding. if you have a skill set we can use or some funds, we need those. you do have envelopes on your table and we would love if you would throw some donations in there. all of the money we raise is used to help the bottom of the ticket to make sure they have staff that can go out, make sure advertising is done, materials are done. that is what our funds are used for, to focus on county level races and folks that need those resources. we would love your support. i also want to thank our group that helped tonight. our cochairmen, our treasurer, and our events chair are phenomenal. they let me go on vacation with four kids and they handled all the details of the event and did a phenomenal job you did we have a fantastic team. around of applause for those folks. [applause] i would be remiss if i did not point out the save the date on your table, we have a keynote speaker identified for the fall, our chilly supper that we've been doing for about 10 years as well. we have a florida congresswoman. she is phenomenal, and excellent speaker, incredible life story and background. one of the issues she cares really strongly about our pro-life issues and obviously that is timely with the supreme court decision. we are looking forward to hearing from her. we would love if you could mark your calendar. we will send out more information with information -- with the venue and logistics. you can sign up for more information on our website. with that, we have an emcee's evening a lot more entertaining than i am. i'm going to hand over the microphone to state representative robert bacon. [applause] >> you didn't do anything like i wrote the introduction for you. [laughter] it is good to see all of you here tonight. look at each other around the table right now -- seriously. look at each other and notice how you are all smiling. it's because we are republicans and we are happy people. [applause] now look the other way and say god loves you and i do too. god loves you and i do too. shave that weird. before we get started, were going to have an indication and then followed by the invocation, the pledge of allegiance led by nico. where is the flag? behind me. the committee did a great job tonight, everything is where it is supposed to be. we even have the senator at the head table. if you would bow your heads -- do you have a question? you are welcome. from here on out, there are no questions. our father in heaven, tonight we come to you and we are thankful we can live in a country where we are still free to come and worship you. we are free to defend ourselves and say what is on our mind. we thank you for our constitution built upon the scriptures. we thank you for each person here tonight, for the love of freedom they each have, and as we hear our candidates tonight, here what is going on in washington but ask you be with us and be with the people who prepared the food, bless it to our bodies and us to their service, for it is in your name we pray, amen. >> good evening. if you could stand for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] >> a combination of oversight and spending power -- you also see the benefit of having a new supreme court majority. i know the abortion case made a lot of news but the epa was really big. to stop the epa from trying to regulate and shutdown fossil fuel production, but also a warning shot to all of the bureaucracies in washington -- that they have the power to regulate sweeping sections of our economy. i think you will see the courts continue to put guardrails -- [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] when we were at the border last year as the border classes -- crisis was getting really bad, a bunch of senators and uniformed order patrol agents, i just wandered off and spoke to another group of migrants and i asked how did you come here and why did you come here? not a single one said anything about persecution. not in fear of their lives. every one of them said a better job, a better life and joe biden would help them get in. >> and they know they will get free stuff. >> yeah. [indiscernible conversations] the border patrol is overwhelmed and they need more people, and this is key, not to stop the migrants but -- sending the guard and the military to stop them from coming. [indiscernible conversations] there's not enough housing on the order itself to keep 2 million migrants for an 18 month span so they're doing everything they can to move them as quickly as possible. everywhere. [indiscernible conversations] you could tell who they were, they were tearing a manila folder like this and written on it were the words "please help me, i don't speak english, my number is 1234, my destination is --" in many cases, they are following on previous waves of migration and they have brothers or sisters or aunts and uncles. [indiscernible conversations] sen. cotton: we are not going to let nancy pelosi -- she has violated almost every precedent there is. [indiscernible conversations] >> thank you so much. sen. cotton: absolutely. i don't want to interrupt you now that you are eating. i recognize you because of your shirt. [indiscernible conversations] sen. cotton: any time the democrats are in charge, it's good not to be in d.c. we will get back on monday. [indiscernible conversations] sen. cotton: stopping bad democratic deals is almost as important as passing good deals. we have to reflect our conservative faith and narratives at the local levels and state levels. don't just do something, stand there. [laughter] [indiscernible] [indiscernible conversations] >> get rid of the 17th amendment. sen. cotton: part of what we will do is stop the federal government's overreach. require girls to have biological boys compete in boys sports. pronouns, what have you. if we can stop some of that -- he always see the benefit of having a congressional majority -- the epa case last week was a very big case not just for the epa and energy production but it was a warning shot across the bow of all the bureaucrats in washington. you can't go back to laws with previously undiscovered powers that give you the ability to regulate vast swaths of society. >> can you explain how people can explain if the constitution is a living document -- sen. cotton: what they really mean -- the point of the constitution is not to change with the time, it is to keep the time with the constitution. the opinion in that gun cases a great example. every court in america is getting it wrong by applying a very fluid, treating the second amendment at it -- as if it is a second-class right. the second amendment says what it says in the founders meant what they meant and that's that. the democrats, because of the living constitution, they invent rights that are not in the constitution, like abortion. and they go for things in the constitution they don't like like the second amendment. [indiscernible conversations] >> they are liars and they are people and republicans have been sitting on the couch. sen. cotton: we are going to change that. [indiscernible conversations] >> the epa, the department of education -- [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] [indiscernible conversations] sen. cotton: house that? >> thank you so much. that will make her day. [indiscernible conversations] she thought she was going to be back up in no time and ended up with a pinched nerve, so she could not come back tonight. sen. cotton: tell her i missed her and i will see her on my next trip through. [indiscernible conversations] sen. cotton: we had a good lieutenant but they had their eye on -- they started running early last year [indiscernible] ran into primary opposition. [laughter] sen. cotton: she knows iowa very well. she will have a very different experience as governor. which meant our lieutenant governor became governor. it's been a one-party democratic state for a long time. in the summer of 1993, he was the only republican running. they beat each other up and this time of year, they were working out in the field and did a great job. [indiscernible] he had a three quarters democratic majority and they did not take well to losing the governor's office for the first time for 14 years. like iowa, we had a tough time in 2006 but we went from being a one party, democratic state to republican state. [indiscernible conversations] i think we are going to win and most of the states. the biggest gun issue is not what past the senate, it was the supreme court decision out of new york. [indiscernible conversations] he was on tv the other day -- [indiscernible conversations] my five-year-old has started complaining about joe biden's bad taxes. [laughter] >> you are raising them right. sen. cotton: who is clarence thomas? we talked about the three parts of our government, there is the congress where daddy works in the supreme court and senate -- and justice thomas is one of the justices on my five-year-old said if -- can he beat joe biden and stop all of joe biden's bad taxes? [laughter] he could definitely stop him but we don't want to lose him on the court. >> their minds are absorbing everything. >> what a wonderful story. sen. cotton: at my second swearing -- i had a first swearing in, but my second was not quite as contentious. my then four-year-old [indiscernible] my wife and four-year-old are walking into the field of vision of the camera. [indiscernible] [indiscernible conversations] >> now i have to introduce one of my great friends and i wanted to get this right. i want you to listen to this great gentleman. i've gotten to know him over the last years and he's the most authentic person i know and i really mean that. tom cotton is a principled conservative, army veteran, accomplished harvard law school graduate who has served the people of arkansas since 2013 in both the u.s. house and senate. tom grew up with his family on a cattle farm, thank you in arkansas and shares christian conservative values he holds dear to iowa. this is the most important line -- following the terror attacks of september 11, -- think about this -- september 11, 2001, tom left his private law practice and joined the u.s. army as an infantry officer for five years, bravely fighting for our country in the fight against terrorism. i want to say thank you. i look forward to working with him as we advance our strong conservative agenda as we take back the house and senate. what's give a warm welcome to senator tom cotton. [applause] sen. cotton: thank you very much. thank you. thank you all so much. thank you. thank you so much. thanks for that great introduction. i may have to take you on the road next time in iowa so you can do all my introductions for me. thank you for coming out. thank you for supporting the county gop. thank you for your leadership in the county. i want to thank the dinner committee. i got there early this morning and they worked hard to pull off an excellent dinner, so let's give them a round of applause as well. [applause] i want to thank all of the great legislators you have here, rob and dave and jesse and thanks to the local and county officials, to the candidates as well. it is tough to put your name on the ballot sometimes. we need good republicans and i'm sure you are going to win this fall and inspire a lot more good republicans to run in the next election as well. [applause] most important, i want to thank all of you who have been loyal, hard-working republicans for many years. many of you in iowa, like in arkansas, seemingly toiling in the vineyards without adducing a lot of fruit but you see the fruits of your labor by the great elected representatives you have at the state capitol and united states congress. you are the backbone of the republican party. you perform the most important mission we have, which is to elect republicans to every office from city council to the white house. because the american people count on us to protect our nation and our way of life. that is what americans depend on the republican party do. the republican party in iowa has done a great job. you sent sue of the -- sent two of the very best senators -- chuck grassley and joni ernst i know you will send chuck grassley back later this year. [applause] i can tell you between randy and ashley and mary, you have a great group of freshman congressmen who have taken the capital by storm. you are going to have an entirely republican congressional allegation. and that is what we need because the majority in the house and senate runs straight through iowa. we cannot have a majority without all three of your representatives reelected. lord knows we need them because of all the failures of the biden democrats. there are semi-failures we have to set up jars at your dinners and there are not of jars. joe biden didn't just cause nations problems, he has no solutions for them. zero. maybe i should be fair. he does have some solutions. he knows inflation is hurting working families and prices are going up. he just doesn't understand why all of you can't have your son make some finger paintings and sell them to a bunch of rich them a kratz for $500,000. crime is rising all across america. unfortunately, it's rising in cities like washington dc but joe biden did tell me he's going to stop white house -- stop crime on the white house grounds. he says we took money laundering and drug dealing 20. i said how did you do that? he said i told hunter biden to get out. but seriously, people, joe biden and the democrats have no solution because they are the problem. that's why the american people turned to the republican party to protect them, protect our country and protect our way of life stop i'm going to talk about what we are protecting and what it means and how we do it we just celebrated the fourth of july and i know a lot of you celebrated the fourth with your kids. that's what i did and it's a little hard. they are seven and five, to get them focused on the true meaning of the fourth of july. it's a little hard to get them focused on the true meaning of christmas when presence are under the tree. but i was reading eight kids book about the declaration to my seven-year-old. we read about the french and indian war and the tax act, the rebellion and declaration and he was really into it. he's into war stories and he said daddy, when you are in the army, did you serve with george washington? i said i'm not quite that old. he's like oh yeah, right. you served in vietnam. i said no, that was grandpa that served in vietnam. he said that's right, you are in iraq. we continue to read about the declaration and the war for independence and what the fight for freedom meant to our founding fathers. he said daddy, do they celebrate the fourth of july in england? i said no, they are pretty sore about that. what are they going to do tomorrow? i said they are going to go to work because it's just another day but here, we are celebrating our birthday, which is a strange thing for a country to have. not many countries have birthdays, certainly not many great countries have birthdays, but we do because we were born, as abraham lincoln said, conceived in liberty, dedicated to the proposition all men are created equal. i'm proud of my son that after six tries from my seven-year-old, i got to sit through an entire reading of the declaration of independence. it wasn't easy, thank you. give them a round of applause. it wasn't easy. they interrupted a lot. there is a lot of work -- what is usurpation. what is quartering of troops. there's one word the seven-year-old did understand. when they got to the end and they got to the closing sentence and it said that with a firm reliance of divine providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. he turned and looked at me and said the last word is honor. i said pretty cool, isn't it? he said it is. i said 56 men signed that document. think about what they were doing. they were rebelling against the mightiest nation on earth. some of them lost their lives. a lot of them lost their fortunes. not a single one of them betrayed their honor or their country. we owe it to them, every generation that came since then to hand out to you, and the generation after you the same blessings of liberty they gave to us because they were willing to stand up and fight for it. that is what this holiday is about, that's what this country is about. that's what our founding fathers did and we are having a dinner tonight in honor of one of our great founding fathers who brought rate honor and credit to this country. it's pretty cool to have a county named after joseph story. you may be the only one in the country. in arkansas, we have a washington, jefferson, jackson, we even have a lincoln and a grant. two great republican presidents. you may be the only story county in america. joseph cap -- joseph story was a great jurist. he wrote those volumes out of his reverential attachment to our constitution. three volumes on our constitution. i have to tell you, a lot of people i work with could not read three volumes, much less write them. a lot of democrats haven't even read the constitution if you look at their ideas. but as we heard in the biography of joseph story, maybe his final -- finest moment came at the end of his life in the famous armistead case that was popularized in the movie of the same name. a group of africans pressed into slavery on a spanish slave ship and rebelled and came to america's jurisdiction in spain wanted them back. spain was a mighty empire that threatened the united states still. john quincy adams, after he had been a great diplomat, after he'd been the secretary state, after he'd been president, after he'd been back to the house of representatives come he took up their case. these humble africans that had no connection to this country. he argued the case to the supreme court and joseph story wrote the opinion and said we will respect their rights just as much as we respect the rights of all mankind. that's the promise of america here at home and that is what we have always promised all of mankind, to be that beacon of freedom, to protect the rights of all mankind and the rule of law, whether you are an emperor across the street -- across the seas or someone who has been pressed into slavery. a great moment for joseph story and a great moment for our country. you ought to be proud to live in a country named after such a great founding father. i'm proud to be here with you tonight. [applause] and i'm also proud to continue joseph story's work. because protect our rights and preserving our freedom for our kids and their kids is not just the work of judges, it's the work of every american. not just the work of elected officials like me or randy, it's the work of all of you, of tens of millions of hard-working americans who love this country and are willing to take the time to plan the dinners, to organize the committees, to knock on the doors, to make the phone calls, sacrifice and give money to people who needed to run races. you can see the fruits of those labors and not just see them in electing republicans to the legislature or county government. the same kind of work randy described his wife we have a constitutional majority on our supreme court that just a couple of weeks ago reversed the historic tragedy of roe v. wade after 49 years of misguided jurisprudence. [applause] the same way joseph story took a stand for those rights, donald trump, with very much the help of chuck grassley leading the judiciary committee and republican senators helped confirm three of the six justices who believes the constitution means what it says on the constitution should be understand as our founding father wrote it not what a bunch of liberals wish it said. that's what it means to protect our rights. but again, lord knows, there's a lot more we have to protect. just look around you and you see the harms joe biden and the democratic party is inflicting on america. you're living with it every single day with the cost of gas and groceries and every thing else you by. it's not an accident. it didn't just happen. it's not bad luck that joe biden came into office at the wrong time. this was part of their plan. this was their design. this is what they said they would do. joe biden said when he campaigned for august -- for office he would and fossil fuels. they said we need gas to cost as much as it does in europe. bernie sanders and alexandria ocasio-cortez want to illuminate fossil fuels, every bit of it for cars, tractors and electricity in 10 years. they said that two years ago. maybe it's just eight years. think about how bad they made things already. think about how bad it would be if they stayed in power. i heard from a grocer a few days ago you said sales of hot dog buns and hamburger buns were down in his store. sales of white bread was up. why is that? because so many families are stretched so thin at the end of the month that when they think about going out on the fourth of july, they don't pay three dollars for eight hotdog buns, they just make do with white bread. families have to make those kinds of decisions every day because the democrats intentionally inflicted this energy crisis on us and the inflation you see is not just at the pump, it is everywhere because of this crisis. everything you are eating, wearing, everything your kids are available with, it was maintained with energy and they intentionally waged a war on america's energy sector. they did this on purpose. they will keep doing it. look what their solution is when you see the inflation. they didn't say we got it wrong, we made a mistake. do they go and say can you pump some more oil? he goes egging to iran and venezuela for more. he looks down his nose at america's roughnecks and coal miners while he and his liberal buddies ignore the chinese slave labor made -- that makes these solar panels or the african child labor that makes their solar panels. joe biden will not protect this country from the devastation he has wrought on families budgets. he is the reason we are paying five dollars a gallon for gas. he's the reason people cannot afford groceries yet he won't take responsibility for it. he blames everyone but himself. he blames donald trump's tariffs on china. we had tariffs earlier than we had inflation. he blames putin's price hike. we had inflation much earlier than we had vladimir putin's were of aggression ukraine. joe biden is to blame for this but what are you going to do to solve the political problems? there's been reports he's going to lift the tariffs on china even though they didn't cause the inflation. why? because he doesn't have any other answers. he's panicked and desperate. those were designed to give us leverage over china and pressure them to buy more of the commodities you make here in iowa, that we make in arkansas and fundamentally, they were designed to force china to stop cheating, lying and stealing as they have been for 30 years. but joe biden is going to give it all away for nothing in return because he wants a political lifeline. what he should be doing is standing up to china and acknowledging what he refuses to say is happening -- that china is waging a cold war against the united states. he explicitly says we are not in a cold war. it is not our decision. if another country is waging a cold war against you, you don't have a choice whether it's happening or not will stop you only have a choice whether we win it or lose it and joe biden will lose to china because he's not tough enough to stand up to chinese communists. joe biden doesn't even think they are a real threat. he spent decades as a senator and vice president celebrating china's rise, saying a rising china was good for china and good for america. toasting xi jinping, the communist dictator of china when you go to beijing. just on the campaign trail for president, everybody knew what china had been doing, he said china is not a competitor of ours. whenever china unleashed a plague on the world but have our economy and has killed allison's of americans, he won't take the steps necessary to hold him accountable. joe biden will not protect america from communist china. republicans have to otherwise we will lose the cold war we are in against china. joe biden is not tough enough to protect us against any threat we face. look at our southern border. again, it is a crisis caused by the biden democrats. it's not an accident, it is not a mishap, not an unintended consequence. this is what they promised in the campaign. joe biden and kamala harris said they would decriminalize illegal immigration. they haven't quite taken the step because congress would not do it but they have done it in effect. 2 million illegal aliens have entered our country in 18 months adding to the 20 million already here. joe biden and the democrats claim they are fleeing persecution in central america. central america has a lot of countries that are less violent than democratic run cities. it can't be that bad there. but i have been to the border. i've seen hundreds of migrants huddled under the bridges. i talked to them. i asked them why, how did you get here, why did you come? not a single one to they were facing persecution because they were a woman or because they are christian or because they are in a political opposition party. every one of them said because i could get in. because joe biden and i wanted a job. why do you think those caravans wear a shirt that saved biden let me in? because that's the message they broadcast about the campaign and that's the policies they pursued for the first 18 months of their administration. it's not just a matter order security, it's a matter of national security. we've lost more than 100,000 of our fellow citizens in the last few years to overdoses stop all of those drugs come from cartels in mexico. our communities have faced terrible immigrants crimes as happened to mollie tibbetts here in iowa. there cartels are responsible for thousands and thousands of deaths every year in america. cartels are responsible for more deaths each year in america then we lost in the entire vietnam war over 20 years. and joe biden has no plan to protect america from the drugs and violence of those cartels. let me make one suggestion. ask yourself what would we do if al qaeda or isis set up shop in monterey or juarez or tijuana? whatever you think that is, that's exactly what we should do to the cartels until they are destroyed, until our border is closed, and we have protected the american people from the crime and drugs coming across the border. [applause] finally and most fundamentally, americans expect us to protect their rights and protect their freedom. the purpose of our free government, after all, is the freedom of our people, not the power and authority of petty little bureaucrats like tony fauci e. it's the freedom of our people, the freedom to worship your god and speak your mind and raise your kids and earn your living without the leave of government. only republicans will protect those freedoms. look at what the democrats do. they invent rights found nowhere in the constitution like the right to an abortion. yet they refused to defend rights that are explicitly protected like you're right to keep and bear arms. thank goodness we have that constitutional majority on the supreme court which struck down new york's gun grabbing law couple of weeks ago saying you as an american citizen have a right to carry a firearm to protect yourself, protect your families and you don't need a special reason or special permission from the government. the reason you get to do that is because you are a free american. [applause] the american people expect republicans to protect those rights. not just from government, they expect us to protect the rights from all of these left-wing corporations and big tech companies being used as an adjunct arm of the government to suppress your speech or police your conduct outside the work lace. or to interfere with our elections, to condemn our legislatures for reflecting the conservative views of our people . the american people expect and need us to protect their freedom. i know these things are a lot to ask. i know it's a tall order and it seems like things are going in the wrong direction right now in america, and they are. but things were going in a bad direction and the carter era as well and i don't see anyone around here old enough to have been there. maybe one or two. but look all it took to turn around was one big election with ronald reagan and a new republican senate. they were in a deeper hole. joe biden used to run around and talk about how he was going to be the next fdr. most of you would be happy if he could claw his way back to only being as bad as jimmy carter. but the american people expect us to protect them and to do that, we have to keep working hard and when this next election . here in iowa and all across the country and i will leave you with one final story -- a question i get about my time in the army. they would ask why does the flag fly in reverse on the soldier's uniform on the right shoulder? and it does. it flies with the blue field forward and i said because the answer is simple. in the old days, when the calvary was on course and charges, the colors would go at the soldiers. if you are on the right side, the flag would appear in reverse and that's why today come along since we got rid of all the horses, the flag flies in reverse on the soldier's uniform. it is a reminder to our enemies and reassurance to all of our friends that our army never retreats. it always advances. at a time when america is under assault and our way of life is under attack, that's a good lesson for all of us republicans. we will never retreat, we will never surrender, we will never back down, we will never quit in the defense and protection of this great nation. thank you all. god less you and god bless the united states of america. [applause] >> what did everybody think about that? [applause] we want some of you to think about what questions you may want to ask senator cotton. if you have questions, jeff will bring you a microphone. but to get started, i can ask a couple so we can get moving on them. with your military background and national security and intelligence experience in the senate, you mentioned putin's price hike and what's going on in europe. for people who say let's take care of things at home, why does ukraine matter to what's going on in the u.s.? sen. cotton: i would like to back up first and say how we got there and we got there because of joe biden's weakness and lack of leadership. from the moment joe biden took office, he signaled to vladimir putin that america would appease and conciliate him. he gave him concessions on arms control, he gave him concessions on the pipeline we sanctioned in the trump administration. he gave him a big fancy summit with nothing in return and there was the debacle in afghanistan last august. it was only a few weeks later putin began to mask troops on ukraine's border after he saw what joe biden was made of in afghanistan. and it continues. he kept telling vladimir putin -- and he keeps saying what he wouldn't do as opposed to letting putin worry about what we might do which was ronald reagan's approach in afghanistan and nicaragua and grenada and libya. then, went putin invaded, he was very nervous, like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs about what kind of weapons we are going to provide and would it be offense of or defensive? my view is simple. if russia invaded ukraine and ukraine was defending its territory, every weapon was by definition defensive. all that said, because of the bravery and skill of the ukrainian army and in many cases, the ukrainian people and the leadership of volodymyr zelenskyy, they stop the invasion that was determined to decapitate the government. it is a pretty grinding war of inches. russia has made some gains but ukraine is getting some of the advanced weapon systems into the country. we need to back ukraine to the hilt, in part because it is right in the heart of europe where we have a lot of interests . but also in part because the chinese communists are watching us. if xi jinping sees the united states or europe falter and flag here, he's going to think he can get away with anything in taiwan. i'm afraid if the course doesn't change in the next few years he will invade taiwan and that would be a huge disaster for america. much worse than what you see in europe right now. taiwan has always been a each head on chinese soil. a direct rebuke to the chinese communists. geographically, it's part of the first island chain from the alaska aleutians to japan to taiwan to the philippines which gives us a huge naval advantage and keeps the chinese navy somewhat hind. more recently, there is a company called taiwan semi conductor manufactory that -- manufacturing, that makes the most advanced semi conductors in the world and our economy is dependent on those chips. if you had troubles getting a tractor or truck or advanced piece of equipment because of chip shortages, imagine what it would be like if china controls the world supply of advanced semi conductor chips. so it's not just about ukraine itself but the kind of lesson we may be teaching other enemies around the world, much like in the 1930's when terminally -- when germany, italy and japan continued to invade weaker countries and one drew a line like winston churchill said we had to and inevitably you got to the where they were invading companies -- countries and they ended up invading our own country in harbor. >> another question is roe v. wade and the decision with the supreme court is fresh on everybody's mind with a pro-life audience here. you go on social media and people act like abortion is banned across the country in the fight is over but obviously it is not. talk about what you see for the future of the pro-life movement and where we go from here. sen. cotton: roe v. wade was a historic mistake. for 190 years, the american people debated this question among themselves through their elected representatives stop that is where we are back to now . it means states like yours and states like mine and a lot of other states will be able to protect unborn lives. a lot of states are still finding their footing about how they are going to approach that. i think we let the process play out. i don't think the practical matter that either party will have 60 votes soon to pass significant were just legislation, i think you will see this debate occurring primarily in our state houses. sometimes there are ethical issues that touch on what we do in washington, like the efforts to up eat -- to repeal the hyde amendment. democrats have tried to repeal it twice. we have stopped them and we will stop them again this year. democrats have talked about allowing the department of defense or va hospital to begin performing abortions, especially in states that prevent abortions. we will not allow that either. you'll see some far left democrats say we start using federal lands as if you are going to open abortion clinics in federal parks. they're not going to allow that to happen. as a traditional matter, this traditionally belonged to the states. as a practical matter, i don't see 60 votes on either side of the question. i think you will see most of the legislation happening in the state capital. >> questions from the audience now that you have had some time to think. >> i have a question -- i don't know if this is fake news or real news, but they are saying china is buying up a lot of our land. sen. cotton: it's real news and it should stop. not just china, either. china has been buying up millions and millions of acres of fertile farmland all across the world, to include places like ukraine. that's because china cannot feed itself. this is another point i would say we've had leaders in washington and sometimes they have been republicans who have not appreciated the fact that china has been waging a cold war against us for decades. china cannot feed itself, it cannot process its own food. we, by contrast, are the world red basket. why would we give up that huge advantage on one of the most basic staples of life? china should not be buying our farmland they should not be buying our food processors or companies. >> biden continues to shoot us in our own feet. can you talk about the strategic petroleum reserve? is it true -- obviously he is selling it off and we are down way low and some of it has gone to china. if that is correct, how critical a mistake is it? sen. cotton: it is true and it is a terrible mistake. the reports you have seen are true that the united states and some of the recent early from the strategic trillium reserve has sold that oil to other nations to include china, which as with food, it is heavily dependent on oil and gas imports. why would we ever allow them to buy our oil? why would we ever try to abandon our own oil production and buy a bunch of solar panels and other so-called green energy from china since they have cornered the market on that in many respects through their economic theft and espionage and cheating and stealing. let's get to more fun to middle point about the strategic petroleum reserve. it's a strategic reserve, not a political reserve. joe biden should not be releasing oil from the reserve because gas prices are too high. he should reverse his own policy that makes gas prices too high. [applause] so when we created that strategic reserve in the aftermath of some of the oil embargoes in the 1970's, we had that in mind. fully, we are not nearly as dependent on foreign oil anymore as we once were. though if the democrats had their way, we would be again. that there are other reasons. if you had a major hurricane that hit some of our refineries and processing facilities in the gulf coast, if you had a war that broke out, that is why we have that reserve of oil. it is going to be costly to replenish it because a lot of that oil, most of that oil went into the reserve at times when oil was nowhere near $100 a barrel as it has been for many months because of joe biden's dumb policies. it reflects a deeper is -- deeper mistake done only to protect joe biden's political interests, not our national interest. >> do we have time for another question? >> what do we do about that epa, usda that are taking off and making their own laws for us to follow and doing it independently without you guys making the laws. sen. cotton: next time you see chuck grassley, give him a hug and thank him for those new supreme court justices. this is the way our system is supposed to work. if the american people want something long enough and deeply enough, they will get it. that's the way our constitution works. we don't have a system where you conduct public policy by polls. the fact that the american people wanted to drag the needle across the record in 2016 by electing donald trump, the fact they twice into a republican majority to the senate in 2016 and 2018 knowing that one of those seats was at stake suggest they were tired of liberal judges in washington and all across our country telling us what to do. i know the gun case got a lot of attention. the epa case may be as important. this is the case in which the supreme court told the epa who wanted to regulate all american energy sources in a sweeping regulation, not just come in and say that plant has too many emissions or this plant is a little old, they wanted to regulate all american energy and the court said you cannot go find these dusty corners that are 50 and 60 years old, if congress intended to give you that power, congress would have said you have that power. as an immediate matter, that case and some other cases like it are going to clip the wings of some of these bureaucrats in washington. once we take charge, couple of more things we can do is use our oversight our to shine some sunlight on what has been happening at the epa or usta or for that matter the department of justice sicking feds on parents going to school boards because they don't like their kids being taught to hate america or their five-year-olds wearing masks in kindergarten at the same time he's allowing left-wing mobs to protest outside the homes of supreme court justices in direct violation of law. you have spending power to limit what these bureaucrats do. we did it once i was elected with joni ernst even before barack obama left office. in the trump era, we were able to rein in a lot of these bureaucrats by putting limits on what they can do with the money they get each year. >> i have this idea these alphabet agencies, the power goes to their head. one of the things congress ought to seriously consider is lopping off the tops of these agencies. fbi, doj, fda, all these agencies, lop off the managers and get rid of them and use it as a warning shot to the ones that are left like no, this is the way we wrote it, follow what we said. what are your thoughts? sen. cotton: there are a lot of career, permanent your crowd to have let the power go to their head. tony fauci he is the best example. nobody elected tony fauci to do anything. he can give advice. he's an expert, i guess, and epidemiology. but do you know what that makes him? he's not an expert in childhood development or small business management or supply chains or anything else. no one elected tony fauci or the bureaucrats of the agencies we've discussed. they elected me and randy and the rest of your senators and congressmen to make those decisions. another thing we could do -- we started in the trump administration, is to send these bureaucrats away from washington and out closer to the people they are trying to regulate. maybe if some of these ust agencies would see things differently if they lived in iowa and arkansas. we did that some of the trump administration -- moved the public lands agencies out west where they own 80% of the land and presumed to dictate to people how they could use those lands. just a couple of ideas of how we might rein in these bureaucrats. >> i'm a baby boomer. to reach those what are they called gen z or 20-year-olds, how are we getting them to realize the social climate we are in is wrong and get those principles back instilled in them? sen. cotton: joe biden is doing a pretty good job of that with the effects of his governance. i would say in part life is conservative, right? a lot of you are probably a little more left of where you are now when you are in your teens or 20's or 30's. you get out of school, get a job , have kids, get a mortgage, those are things that are inherently conservative actions. winston churchill, who himself shifted a few times but only because the party shifted around him, he said if you are not liberal when you are young, you have no heart, if you are not conservative when you're old, you have no head. as some of the people who probably voted for joe biden and 2020 see the results of his disastrous first year and a half of the biden administration are having second thoughts and buyers are more it's -- buyer's remorse, and they are going to vote for republicans and that's our job to keep persuading them and get them to the polls and make sure they do. >> one last question. >> both of my parents came from a socialist country, so there's nothing i fear more than socialism. but i think it would be very easy to reverse that trend, either reduce it or illuminate socialism in our country like privatizing social security or eliminating income tax and replace it with the fair tax. what are your thoughts on that? sen. cotton: socialism is the goal of a lot of the democrats. alexandria oak osseo cortez and these far left him a kratz -- far less -- far left democrats believe we should be a socialist nation. that's why we succeeded with winning a raider percentage of latino voters. a lot of those voters emigrated from countries where they were socialist like venezuela or had economies unlike the united states. i support social security. people have worked hard and paid into social security and should have those ones available in their retirement stop our income tax, all of our taxes are too high, so i support reducing taxes where we can, especially taxes on working families that are struggling to make ends meet and it their kids into school and put food on the table and find someone to watch them while they are working. there are things we can do to return more money and freedom to working families but what we can ever do is allow our nation to become a socialist nation. thank you all. god bless you. god bless the united states. i appreciate you coming out tonight. 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