"Face the Nation" on April 30, 2023
Interview
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Good morning, and thank you for having me.
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Well, I think any presidential candidate, anyone running for office at the federal level, including members of Congress, incumbents and people that are running to flip seats in '24, need to have a position, need to articulate that position.
And what I have been trying to do since Roe was overturned is show a road map. I represent a swing district in South Carolina, but show a road map for winning states that are very purple or districts that are purple, and articulating where we stand on the message.
And we have to show -- and I'm pro-life, but I'm a conservative who reaches across the aisle and works with the other side. I work with Ro Khanna. Great to see him this morning on your program. I work with Democrats all the time on issues where we can agree on.
And there's so much when it comes to protecting life and protecting women that we can agree on, in terms of gestational limits. That's something that can happen at the state and the federal level. And I talk to and listen to my constituents all the time. And I read a letter from a woman who's no longer a Republican. She's an independent voter now. She's pro-choice. And her gestational limits are 14 weeks. Well, I'm a pro-life legislator. Mine are 15 to 20 weeks and want to make sure there are exceptions.
So, there's so much, I think, in how we talk about the issue, but we have to, as Republicans, show compassion towards women and life. I mean, you can do both and win. I did it overwhelmingly in November, when we won by 14 points, overwhelmingly in a swing district.
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Right.
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Well, I think 15 to 20 weeks is the sweet spot here, because Democrats often are at 24 weeks. And that's too far for a lot of people. No one wants zero. No one wants zero weeks, yes.
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It can be. I mean, I think there's a role for the state government and for the federal government. If it's gestational limits, certainly, we can find some agreement. That's why I say 15 to 20 weeks.
That's something even pro-life groups like Susan B. Anthony's List, although they're against it now, two years ago, they were for 20 weeks with exceptions. They have just moved the goalposts. But, for years, Republicans have been for 15-to-20 week bans, with exceptions, including both my senators from South Carolina at the federal level. And I think most -- 80 percent of America would agree with that.
But they want us to protect women and girls who are victims of rape, victims of incest, women whose lives are at risk. We also need to make sure that we're making -- that -- that birth control -- that women have access to birth control...
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... particularly in rural areas.
In South Carolina, we have 14 counties in our state that don't have a single OB-GYN doctor. And then what do we do with the babies who are born who are unwanted? What about our foster care system, adoption care, birth control?
There are so many things that we can work on to show that we're pro-women.
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Rape kits. We have over 100,000 rape kits in this country that have yet to be processed. We can do both. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.
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Yes.
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Well, we're going to see how the race shapes up that -- not everybody is in. I'm watching very carefully.
I love Nikki Haley. I have not been quiet about that. She was the only person to endorse me in my election last year. And I do want to see a woman on the ticket, but I also want to see who jumps in. I want to give everybody a shot. But I am cheering her on. She's a constituent. And I love what she's doing.
I love that she gave a speech last week on women's issues. That's very important. Women are watching,
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I would love to see her move on, yes.
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In dead of night, by the way, yes.
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It's the -- well, it's the number two issue in my district. Number one is inflation. The debt ceiling is an important issue.
Number two is abortion and finding a middle ground. Signing a six-week ban that puts women who are victims of rape and girls who are victims of incest -- incest in a hard spot isn't the way to change hearts and minds. It's not compassionate.
The requirements he has for rape victims are too much, not something that I support. It's a nonstarter. I am a victim of rape. I was raped by a classmate at the age of 16. I am very wary. And the devil is always in the details. But we've got to show more care and concern and compassion for women who've been raped. I don't like that this bill was signed in the dead of night.
And it puts him in a very difficult position for a general election in my opinion, which is why I have been so vocal on this issue. I would like us to win. I would not only like us to win the Electoral College. I want us to win the popular vote. And if we can show the middle ground, which shouldn't be controversial -- birth control shouldn't be controversial.
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It keeps the number of abortions down if women have access to birth control. It shouldn't be controversial.
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Yes.
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It is. And we don't want to play chicken with the economy.
And when I sat down with Kevin McCarthy, the speaker, on Wednesday, we talked about us leading a balanced budget amendment. I believe we need to do that. As you mentioned, as Ro mentioned earlier, the last time we balanced the budget was under Bill Clinton. Republicans in '94 put together a plan to balance a budget in 10 years.
They did it in '98, four years later, with a Democrat president and a Republican majority. It is not out of -- out of the thinking that we can do this together, with a Democrat president, Republicans in charge. We did it again. We had cut, cap and balance in 2010 with Obama as president. So...
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Well, certainly, the fear tactic of default is a red line. That is not going to happen. We get 11 times the revenue that we need to pay the interest on the debt. The president can also prioritize spending.
We don't -- no one wants to cut veterans benefits or Social Security or food stamps. That's not what this is about. But we have $31 trillion in debt that was started by both sides, under President Trump, $8 trillion added to the debt, under President Biden, $4 trillion. That's $12 trillion in six years.
The president needs to come to the table, take a look at what we have offered and start negotiating. This is a serious problem. And, as Ro mentioned earlier, families are living paycheck to paycheck. They have to balance their checkbooks every week. So too should the federal government. Our tax revenues last year were $4.7 trillion, yet we're spending over $6 trillion every single year.
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