North Carolina Republican Senator Ted Budd told Breitbart News on Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has “done an incredible job” serving in the Trump administration and hosting leaders at the G20 Finance Ministers meeting.
Budd sat down to discuss coming to Asheville following Hurricane Helene and how important the Working Families Tax Cuts have been to rejuvenating the economy since it was signed into law last year.
He addressed the far-reaching legislation and talked about items he ensured were added.
“There’s 500 unique pieces of legislation inside. That’s what rolled together to make it as significant as it was. One of my pieces was the Pell Act, which is about high quality, low cost, and short term education to get folks right into the workforce. Not everybody needs a four-year degree. Some folks don’t even need a two-year degree. They just need a workplace-recognized credential to get traction in the workforce. That’s good for the economy, and that’s good for their personal economy,” said Budd.
Budd said he hears from many trade workers saying no tax on overtime is incredible and incentivizes work.
“That’s what part of our dignity as humans comes from, our work that we do, and that’s what this encourages,” he said.
Budd addressed his home state’s top industry, agriculture, speaking to the contrast of the Biden-era price increases and where they are today.
“If you look at 2022 under Joe Biden, energy prices were sky high, input prices were sky high, and that was just bad policy. There was no trying to solve the Iran problem in 2022 under Joe Biden. In fact, it was getting worse. These price bumps right now, that’s temporary,” he said.
Budd rattled off the current prices of crude, noting $85 is much less than $130 or $150, which he says would be current prices if Biden were still in office.
“We’ve got such energy abundance in this country and pro-energy policies under President Trump that even when we are dealing with Iran, energy is relatively stable.”
He quickly added, “We want natural gas to be cheaper, which lowers the price of fertilizer. We want diesel to be cheaper, which helps our farmers. That’s all going to help consumers. We lower energy prices and to get this Iran issue behind us, it solves problems for everybody long-term. Even with the current situation, which is temporary, we’re in a great place because of President Trump’s policies.”
Budd also talked about the blockbuster report in Breitbart News last week about a veteran DNC staffer working in Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government and how concerning it was to see the country turn trade talks into a political fight.
“It shows their ideology, they should not have turned this into a political fight. They’ve increasingly drifted left. That’s not helped any part of the world. Why they would want to go down the failed pathway and bring in more left-wing policies, making this a political fight and running left, I don’t understand it. We want a great trading partner and they’ve just chosen not to be at this point.”
Budd also said it was important to remain vigilant against foreign influence in American elections — which the Canadian government appears to be engaged in to weaken President Trump and Republicans in the midterms. Budd said when it comes to elections and politics, this doesn’t play well for them in the long-term.
“Our economy is 13 times larger than they are. They need us more than we need them. Of course, we still would like to have them as an important trading partner,” he added.
The senator addressed the topic of data centers and how foreign influence has been an issue. Budd said in the big picture, it was important that AI does more work with the same people and not the same work with less people. He said people are fearful for their jobs, and anything new can be fearful.
“It’s another technical revolution. The workplace will shift, but ultimately, it’s going to need more people, not less people. I think once folks understand that, and they realize that it’s actually going to end up paying for their base load, it’s gonna pay for their infrastructure nearby. It’s going to be great for blue collar ongoing maintenance jobs,” said Budd.
He added that data centers will help pay for property taxes, police departments, and nearby schools.
Budd also pointed to recent reporting that social media platform X found 200,000 Chinese bot accounts fomenting anti-data center sentiment. He said to him it does not seem like an organic movement but more of a political operation from Chinese and Russian influencers who want to divide Americans. He said China would like nothing more than for us to fall behind in the AI race.
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