Senator Tim Scott on "Face the Nation" | full interview

We want to go now to South Carolina Senator and Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott. Welcome back to face the nation Thank You Margaret good to be back with you, you know Friday's jobs number shattered Expectations it showed some economic momentum In fact restaurant hospitality hiring back to pre-pandemic levels that seems to undercut your argument that the economy is broken Well, all you have to do is talk to the average American family and ask them what they feel how they feel about by nomics The answer is very simple. We've lost over $5,000 of spending power since January 2021 you can also ask them about the price of gas 40% higher today than it was then 20% higher for your electricity 20% higher for your food For a guy who grew up in a household with a single mother mired in poverty When you see this kind of inflation over the last two years, it is devastating to the average American family We should always celebrate the creation of jobs that we should never forget that we went 52 consecutive paychecks 52 consecutive paychecks with a loss of spending power and you blame Political leadership not the Federal Reserve Well, if you think about the fact that over the last I guess year and a half We've seen a 16% inflation since Joe Biden's taken office Which led to 11 consecutive rate increases that downward pressure on our economy Certainly created cracks and fissures throughout the economy That was caused by Joe Biden's lack of leadership and understanding of how to create jobs in America the first quarter of this year We saw our growth of our economy at 1% as the next president United States What I will do is focus on creating jobs here in America My made in America plan is a bedrock of my build not borrow By having more than 3 million jobs created in the energy sector seeing 2 million jobs through innovation and jobs Because of bringing high-tech manufacturing jobs created in America by bringing our factories home. I'm sorry market. What did you say? I said jobs don't seem to be the problem though But but I want to bring up something specific about your economic plan because the Wall Street General Editorial Board is conservative leaning It did praise many parts of it But they zeroed in on your promise to offer the child tax credit to pregnant women Criticizing it saying that is social policy Masquerading as economics. Why are they and other Republicans wrong? Well, here's a question. Do we want to find a way to encourage life in this country? I think the answer is yes creating a culture that benefits a single mother like the one that raised me when she gets pregnant Why not extend the child tax credit to when you the mother understands that she's pregnant Let's give her that benefit every single thing that we do that encourages Family and encourages mothers to continue forward I think that's a good thing as a matter of fact if you look at the tax code of our country the one thing since the 1930s that we've seen in our tax code is having the tax code create the kind of America that we want It's one of the reasons why in 2017 I wrote the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act one of the things I did I took in consideration my mom Single mother the single mother in 2017 averaged about $40,000 per single mom cutting the her taxes by 70% produce more resources so that she could put more food on the table and keep the lights on I'll never back down from helping single mothers like the one that raised me and mothers overall Be in a better position to take care of their families. I don't care who disagrees with that I'm wondering here in Washington about the paralysis that we are seeing in the house now that they do not have a speaker and they can't move basic legislation on a defense bill or government funding until they sort that out The Senate is in recess until October 16th, and they haven't passed any spending bills So how confident are you Congress is going to avoid a shutdown next month? Well, you haven't on November 17th to figure that out Margaret I will say without any question the road to socialism runs right through a divided Republican Party when you have 221 members of the party in the house You need 218 to choose a speaker one of the things they should do is go behind closed doors Let's figure this out in advance I'm going to focus on creating a red wave where we have greater Majorities in the house and we have today went back the majority in the Senate and as the next president United States We'll get the job done. Do you have a speaker of the house in mind? I Don't one of the things I've noticed about those of us outside of the house The last thing we need are more voices in the house. You you you are in a brilliant woman You understand this as well as anybody else There are multiple factions in the house The last thing we need are more voices on the outside weighing in on the House of Representatives So it sounds like you disagree with Donald Trump on his decision to wade into that You know one of the sticking points on a do one of the sticking points is aid to Ukraine Which I know you have said is vital to US interests. How do you persuade? reluctant Republicans to sign on Well market one of the things that we saw in the last aid package that was absolutely missing was only four billion dollars to finish the construction of the wall Five billion dollars to use the available military military-grade technology to surveil our border to stop 70,000 Americans from losing their lives in the next 12 months because we saw that in the last 12 months so if you were to be able to so to speak walk and chew gum at the same time if you solved our National security issue on our southern border in addition to a to Ukraine You'd have the kind of package that most Americans and frankly most members of both houses Would sign off on so you're saying rather than make an affirmative case on Ukraine to persuade Republicans you have to offer them an incentive Based on the border. I'm saying that our border. I'm saying that our border is insecure Unsafe and wide open because that's just the way Joe Biden has wanted it in order for us You need to deal with your national Emergency that includes our southern border. I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you. I was already talking. What did you say? I'm sorry I'm sorry. I know it's always hard on a remote. I said well Congress also hasn't legislated Well, we have I mean frankly the fact of the matter is that Joe Biden has left our southern border wide open on Purpose it was intentional. He has not lifted a finger to do anything other than Literally sell off the construction material for the wall that tells us Exactly how he feels about it. It's the mayor of Mayor Adams of New York City Governor Holcomb that has brought this attention to him because there's an election cycle coming up And so they're more concerned about the opinions of blue states blue cities than they are 70,000 Americans and those families who lost their loved ones because of fentanyl Something if we had a wall if we had the technology on the border We could save tens of thousands of American lives and as the next president, that's just what I'll do So but you are in Congress right now and it is Congress that would write and potentially move some of those border bills So, what is it that you want to see specifically bundled into the Ukraine aid package that you reference if border has to be part Of it. What is the bottom line for Tim Scott? Let me give you a few pieces of that number one ten billion dollars to finish the wall number two five billion dollars for the Military grade technology number three. Let's restore the remaining Mexico policy number four Let's reinstate some form of a title 42 Health emergency for fentanyl not for kovats so that we can continue to reduce the numbers and number five Let's change the asylum policy So that we in a better position for those seeking asylum to first seek them in a country contiguous with the one they're coming from So this week the Venezuelan government announced that they have agreed to accept Back into their country some of the migrants who crossed unlawfully into the United States that hadn't been happening for some time Do you support that Biden administration diplomatic initiative? Well, there's no doubt when the Biden administration decided to give work permits to those Venezuelans You would only expect for an acceleration of more Venezuelans coming to our country Frankly illegally and so to see the Biden administration find common sense is a good thing I wish they just would have found it in January of 2021 there are a number of things on that that we could dig into but I'm Cognizant of the time and I want to ask you You were at the Capitol during the attack on January 6th, and I remember vividly an image of you With your eyes closed in prayer holding hands with then vice president Mike Pence during the violence that day Donald Trump, of course, as you know didn't want that election certified just this week Liz Cheney was one of the January 6th investigators said Jim Jordan Knew more than anyone else about what Trump had planned Quote if the Republicans decide Jim Jordan should be Speaker of the House There would no longer be any possible way to argue a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution Does that revelation by her concern you? Well number one, I have no idea what Jim Jordan knew or didn't know I have no idea what Liz Cheney has said or has facts towards I'm gonna focus on the things I actually know something about and what I know is that preserving the American dream for the next generation is why I'm running for president So I will focus on restoring hope creating opportunities and protecting the America that we love the innuendos and the rumors I can't respond to those because I have no clue what in the world She's talking about or what he did or did not know. Well, she was one of the investigators So presumably it's more than innuendo. In fact when the lead investigators Are you at all curious about whether there were complicit members of Congress? Listen, I think there's an investigation that prior to the product that's part of the process. Here's what you're asking You're asking me to weigh in on something that I have no knowledge of I'm not gonna pretend to know something I just don't know Well having having been there that day and clearly concerned as that image captures I I wanted to know how you think of it given that's quite the allegation and this person is someone as Potential speaker you you'd be working with quite directly and if you are president Might potentially have to continue working with I certainly would continue to work with anyone who wants to put America's agenda America's priorities based on what the American people are talking about First that means looking at the Biden economy and finding a way to make sure that that doesn't happen during my administration It means creating jobs I'm willing to work with the house and the Senate frankly Hopefully a new majority in the Senate to not only finish the border wall But to make sure that we use the technology that you and I discussed earlier I'm willing to work with anyone on unleashing every single Energy resource that we have in this country and doubling nuclear production in the next 10 years What I'm not willing to do is to have a conversation about someone and something that they supposedly know But I don't have the ability to to discern understood if someone other than Donald Trump Like yourself wins this Republican primary Do you fear future political violence in this country? I don't listen One of the things that we should all appreciate and respect about America is that we are literally the city on the hill We have a polarized America in some part But every single place I travel every state that I go to every city I'm in the one thing I walk away is I'm marveling at the goodness of the American people Our people are strong. Our government is weak We just need to continue to bring this nation together And that's one of the things that I've been championing for the last five months And I hope to champion as the next president United States Tim Scott senator. Thank you for your time today Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am