Trump administration officials hold news conference on Tax Day

[0:00] We're going to talk a little bit about Seafood 2 and the announcement we just had, but really [0:03] we're here today to talk about, again, the incredible work that has been done and as [0:10] we're moving forward to celebrate a new day in America. [0:14] Very grateful to have my partner from the Cabinet, the incredible Secretary Doug Burgum [0:19] is here. [0:20] Thank you, sir, so much. [0:22] Along with Congresswoman Kat Kamek and, again, some of our great fishermen, our Deputy Secretary [0:28] Stephen Vaden is here and others. [0:30] So grateful. [0:31] So a couple of quick top lines before I turn it over to Secretary Burgum and we move through [0:35] the program. [0:37] This is the first tax day since the working families tax cuts went into effect, tax cuts [0:44] that President Trump promised, that Republicans in Congress Kat delivered, and that all of [0:50] us across the administration, including here at USDA, are implementing. [0:55] The working families tax cuts are the largest tax cuts in history for working and middle [1:01] class Americans. [1:02] And Americans are already seeing real relief. [1:06] More than 53 million filers claimed at least one of the new tax cuts, 53 million Americans. [1:14] The average refund this filing season is more than $3,400. [1:20] The Trump administration has delivered more refunds and larger refunds than in any one year in American history. [1:29] These are really important. [1:36] Over 6 million filers have claimed no tax on tips and over 25 million filers have claimed no tax on overtime. [1:46] Over 100 million filers have claimed the now permanent double standard deduction. [1:53] This is promises made and promises kept. [1:56] So thank you, Mr. President. [2:03] The working families tax cuts are also the largest investment in rural America in history. [2:10] And they are breathing new life and new opportunity into the heartland and into rural fishing communities [2:17] for our fishermen here by giving them the relief and the support that they deserve. [2:22] There are so many wins for rural America in that working families tax cut act that it would [2:28] take me a really long time to go through them all. [2:30] But to just name a few, number one, averted the death tax exemption sunset by exempting 2 million [2:38] family farms in America from the death tax. [2:47] The act made it easier to invest in the family farm by making permanent 100% immediate expensing [2:55] for capital intense business investments. [2:58] It allowed farmers to defer capital gains taxes over a four year period instead of all at once [3:05] when selling qualifying land if they sell to another farmer supporting a new generation [3:12] of farmers that could that family working family tax cut act also committed $50 billion in [3:18] rural health transformation program Dr Oz is running that for generations to come. [3:24] It also drives $100 billion in rural investment again y'all this is unprecedented. [3:31] Never before has there been an effort focused on rural America and rural communities and our [3:36] agriculture communities as was this last year with this tax cut act. [3:41] The 100 billion moving into opportunity zones in rural America no longer just an urban America [3:49] project and it will change everything. [3:51] For our farmers who had been waiting more than a decade for an increase in reference prices [3:57] from 10 to 21 percent for many and most of our commodities corn, soybeans, wheat changes [4:04] that provide up to $13 billion in additional revenue and price protection for our farmers starting [4:11] this October is a game changer for a struggling rural economy. [4:17] And finally building on I believe one of the most important and impressive wins of this president [4:24] our administration over the last year and that is in trade and opening reopening the markets [4:30] around the world for a great American agriculture products. [4:34] This bill invested at a time I remind people that a big focus cat was to shrink government return power to the people to cut taxes. [4:44] At the same time this administration with our partners on the hill invested significant [4:50] funds in rural America including $280 million a year in addition to what we're already spending [4:57] to support opening the markets in international agricultural trade in just one year. [5:03] President Trump brought what we inherited which was a $50 billion agricultural trade deficit cut it by 40 percent. [5:12] No one thought that was possible but the 18 new trade deals have made it possible thanks to President Trump's leadership. [5:19] And finally I'll say in addition to tax day this week also represents the 50th anniversary of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the primary law governing our fisheries in U.S. federal waters. [5:39] There are so many representatives as I mentioned here today from all over this country representing their seafood industry. [5:47] In fact I think one behind me is an 8th generation fisherman from Maine, from Maine and I asked in our conversation what year does that mean? [6:00] So we can put it into context and he said his 7th grandfather, 7th generation ago grandfather, father began fishing in America in 1806 off the coast of Maine. [6:12] Y'all this was revolutionary times for our country and as we celebrate the 250th birthday of the greatest country in the history of the world that preserved and ignited the fire for freedom and for liberty. [6:25] It was the families of these fishermen standing behind me, the families of the farmers that we know today that were the heart of that effort and that is what we fight for every single day. [6:36] So again what a joy to have you all here, we just announced the launch of the first ever USDA Office of Seafood to support our Farmers of the Sea. [6:54] For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will have an office and a team fully dedicated to advancing, to honoring, to elevating and to supporting our great Farmers of the Sea and what a joy it is to be able to lead on that. [7:12] Again, thank you everyone. [7:13] I'm going to turn it over to my great partner Doug Burgum for some thoughts and then you'll get to hear a little bit from some of our fishermen, but what a joy to be here and then we'll open it up for some questions from our press in the back. [7:22] Thank you so much. [7:23] Secretary Burgum. [7:24] Thank you, Brooke. [7:31] Great to be here with all of you and great to be here with our incredible fishermen from around the country. [7:38] We just got done with a round table with folks from Alaska to Florida and from Maine to the Gulf Coast. [7:45] And what a day. [7:46] Congratulations, Brooke. [7:47] Congratulations, everybody at USDA. [7:49] Congratulations to Secretary Howard Lutnick who was here with us working together. [7:54] Again, the Commerce, of course, has got the National Marine Fisheries and NOAA and the idea that we're going to be bringing ag programs to support our fishermen of the sea is really incredible. [8:04] It's an achievement. [8:05] Senator Dan Sullivan was here. [8:07] He's had this idea for over 10 years, but you're going to hear from all of them. [8:10] Let's give one more round of applause. [8:12] This is a really historic day for the thing. [8:14] Way to go, Brooke. [8:20] And it is tax day and, of course, as Brooke said, I mean, kind of odd that we're celebrating. [8:26] This used to be the day that was the black day on the calendar, the mark that you'd put through and like you dreaded this day would come. [8:33] But here we are and it's actually a day of celebration. [8:36] It's a day of gratitude. [8:37] And the gratitude goes out to everybody in Congress, both the House and the Senate, who voted for this bill. [8:44] I think all of you know who those folks were. [8:47] And, you know, passed very narrowly, but it passed. [8:50] But by doing that thing, this is part of, again, President Trump's agenda, which was going to cut red tape. [8:57] We're going to lower taxes. [8:58] We're going to reinvigorate the American dream. [9:01] We're going to make sure that if there's trade going on, that it was truly fair trade and that the country stopped getting ripped off. [9:08] All of those things have happened. [9:10] And so what's happened in a short 15 months, our economy, the foundation of having lower taxes, less regulation, [9:18] record amount of investment coming into our economy is going to be an explosion, an explosion of jobs and capital investment. [9:26] It's an exciting, exciting, exciting day for our country because when people are looking at their refunds this year, [9:34] on average, the ones that have come in so far have been an average of $3,500. [9:39] People are getting a refund today of $3,500 because of that. [9:43] That's a boost for all of them. [9:45] And, of course, Brooke talked about this, how fantastic our seniors. [9:49] Seniors paying into Social Security their whole life only then have to pay taxes on their earnings coming back to them. [9:56] But now 51 million seniors, 88% of all the seniors on Social Security will pay no tax on their Social Security. [10:05] How about that? [10:07] And, of course, on the no taxes on tips, I mean, this is a huge thing. [10:14] And President Trump can take full credit for this. [10:16] I mean, he shared the story. [10:17] We've all heard it. [10:18] But he was talking to a person that was waiting tables at a restaurant that he was at asking about what he could do when he was campaigning. [10:27] And they said, I have to pay taxes on my hard-earned tips. [10:30] And he came up with this idea, drove it through, got it passed. [10:34] And, you know, a sampling of this going out right now that the people that work professionally or part-time [10:41] are seeing anywhere between $3,000 and $10,000 of savings of their hard-earned money are staying in their own pockets. [10:50] I think the economists are saying, on average, it's about $7,000. [10:53] But, you know, what a gift to America for people that work hard. [10:57] And the no tax on overtime. [10:58] You know, many of you, I'm sure, did. [11:01] When I was a kid, man, I couldn't wait to get past 40 hours, [11:04] because that's when you finally started making a little bit of money, getting time and a half. [11:08] But now to have no tax on overtime, the incentive for people to work harder [11:12] and begin their own steps towards the American dream. [11:15] So, again, common sense policies. [11:17] But I do want to say, in terms of gratitude, I want to say thank you to President Trump. [11:23] Thank you to the fellow cabinet secretaries like Brooke Rollins that are here today. [11:28] The team of people that we're working for, we're working for a president that works 20 hours a day, [11:33] gets up every day fighting for the American people. [11:36] It's so inspiring and so motivating to see the policies actually in action coming together. [11:42] And so with that, and with Brooke, my great partner, as it relates to the fishermen that are up here, [11:47] be like, why is the Secretary of Interior talking about, you know, oceans? [11:52] I mean, this is the interior. [11:53] But let's all remember a couple things. [11:56] Between Brooke and I, between agriculture and interior, 700 million acres of land, [12:03] 700 million acres of subsurface. [12:06] But when you throw in the interior where we've got responsibility for federal offshore, [12:10] 3 billion acres of offshore. [12:12] And I can tell you what we've turned around in the last 15 months, the prior administration had strangled [12:18] every industry that you could manage that depended on public lands, whether it was timber, [12:23] whether it was mining, whether it was critical minerals, whether it was oil and gas, [12:27] and whether it was fishing in federal waters. [12:30] All of those industries were being choked to death by regulation. [12:33] Listening to those people that are out there, getting ideas from the people that are trying to, [12:38] you know, again, you're going to hear, it's not just eighth generation, third, fourth, fifth generation. [12:42] And eighth generation, of course, it was the first one I've met that was family was actually fishing during the War of 1812. [12:49] You don't get to meet that every day. [12:51] But it's incredible that now we're listening to the people that are actually the thing. [12:56] And that's why it's so important, the working families tax cut. [13:00] Because if you're talking to farmers or ranchers or timber or miners, they're working families. [13:05] These are the people of America that build things. [13:07] And now that we're supporting them with the tax cuts, but supporting them with, like, the new Office of Seafood. [13:13] Great day for working families in America. [13:15] And, again, thank you all. [13:17] Thank you, Brooke. [13:18] Thank you, USDA. [13:19] And thank you, everybody up here that's making it happen. [13:21] Beautiful. [13:24] Beautiful. [13:27] Very quickly, our incredible congresswoman, who represents a lot of fisheries, [13:31] but certainly represents the Make America Great Again tax cuts, [13:34] and has just been such a warrior on all of it. [13:37] Kat Kamek. [13:40] Well, I just want to echo the comments of what has been said here already. [13:46] As the lone representative for the free state of Florida on House Agriculture, [13:52] with a whole heck of a lot of coastline, including the Gulf of America, [13:57] this is an amazing day for our fishermen. [14:01] We have, yes, yes. [14:05] Now, it was said in the round table earlier, we know the juggernaut that Alaska is in this space, [14:14] but as the representative of the lower 48, of the tremendous oystermen, clamors, crabbers, shrimpers, you name it, [14:24] this is a fantastic step forward because we know that food security is national security. [14:30] And this has been an issue that we have been pushing for, fighting for. [14:35] And to have a team of cabinet secretaries who not only get along and genuinely like each other, [14:42] but take action instead of just talking about an issue, they deliver. [14:47] And not only have they delivered today, but they have delivered previously. [14:51] We'll continue to do so. [14:52] And on tax day today, we are here living proof that President Trump is very, very serious when he says, [15:01] we're going to make America great again and put America first. [15:04] Thank you. [15:05] Thank you. [15:06] Thank you, Secretary Rollins. [15:07] Thank you, Secretary Burgum, to our amazing fishermen that are here today representing an industry [15:14] that has been a little overlooked but no longer will be. [15:18] Thank you for everything that you're doing. [15:20] Today is a new day as we look forward to continuing to make America great again. [15:25] Thank you, guys. [15:27] All right. [15:29] A fourth generation fisherman and also the fisherman in residence at NOAA, Dustin Delano from Maine, [15:35] to talk a little bit about the tax cuts. [15:37] Dustin, thank you. [15:41] Thank you, Madam Secretary. [15:42] It's an honor to be here and a privilege. [15:44] Again, my name is Dustin Delano, and I serve as a fisherman in residence at NOAA. [15:48] But before that title means anything, before Washington, before policy, I'm a fourth generation [15:55] lobsterman. [15:56] I grew up in a small fishing village that depends almost entirely on commercial fishing. [16:03] It's not just what we do, it's who we are. [16:05] I grew up watching my dad, a single father, work all day on his lobster rope, hauling traps, [16:12] battling weather, chasing a living that most people will never understand. [16:17] And then he would come in, he'd grab a quick bite, and head back out to catch the evening [16:22] tide to dig clams. [16:24] That is what shaped me. [16:26] I understand hard work as a way of life. [16:30] I'm a living example of the grit and resilience that comes from making a living on the ocean [16:36] as a farmer of the sea. [16:38] And that is why today matters. [16:41] Because for the first time in a long time, commercial fishermen are being recognized for [16:46] what we truly are, food producers. [16:50] So today is tax day, and for generations, fishermen have carried the weight of taxes, regulations, [17:05] and rising costs while continuing to show up every day to feed this country. [17:10] Now we are seeing meaningful change. [17:13] Because of the working families' tax cuts and broader reforms, fishermen are getting real relief. [17:21] We can now fully deduct meals on vessels and expense equipment, engines, gear, and even vessels, [17:30] making it possible to reinvest and stay competitive. [17:33] We are also seeing stronger support for small, family-run operations through expanded business income deductions. [17:42] And I can't forget to mention one of my favorites, eliminating subsidies for offshore wind that was slated to kill our fishing industry. [17:53] These are long overdue steps toward fairness. [18:04] But what matters even more is what comes next. [18:07] Bringing commercial fishermen and the seafood industry into the USDA is a milestone. [18:13] Because access matters. [18:16] Access to marketing, to risk management tools, and to financing that can strengthen this industry and support coastal communities across America. [18:24] This did not happen by accident. [18:27] It happened because of leadership. [18:30] Because President Trump made seafood competitiveness a priority through his seafood executive order. [18:37] Because leaders like Secretary Rollins, Secretary Burgum, Secretary Lutnik, and others, they didn't just listen, they took action. [18:48] And for the first time in decades, fishermen are feeling something we have not felt in a long time. [18:54] Hope. [18:58] And many of you in this audience fought for this long before me. [19:01] You refuse to let this industry be forgotten. [19:04] So yes, today is a milestone, but it's also a starting point. [19:09] For me, this moment means a great deal. [19:13] But what matters more is what it means for the future, for the next generation. [19:20] For the boy in Sitka, learning to mend twine with his grandfather. [19:25] For the girl in Gloucester, watching her father haul traps before sunrise. [19:31] For the kid in Galveston, stepping onto a shrimp boat for the first time. [19:37] For the young fishermen in Kodiak, wondering if there's still a future in this life. [19:43] This is not just about policy, folks. [19:46] It's about people. [19:48] It's about preserving a way of life. [19:50] It's about ensuring that the American fisherman, the farmer of the sea, has a future in this country. [19:59] And today, that future feels just a little bit closer. [20:03] Thank you. [20:04] Well, maybe we just finished there. [20:14] No, I'm just kidding. [20:15] That was incredible. [20:17] How inspiring, Dustin. [20:18] Thank you. [20:19] Another great fisherman with us from Alaska, Sterling. [20:22] If you wouldn't mind joining us, we added them at the end. [20:25] But he and Jason represent just so many remarkable, again, patriots. [20:30] And what a joy, Sterling, to have you here. [20:31] So thank you for joining us. [20:32] And tell us what you think. [20:39] He said, I'm going to pass it to Jason. [20:42] This is Jason. [20:43] Again, like I said, our eighth generation fisherman from Maine and has been such a stalwart [20:49] on this issue and the fight in front of us and the righteousness of this work. [20:55] Talked about how Peter in the Bible was a fisherman. [20:58] And this goes back a really, really long way. [21:01] So, Jason, thank you so much for being here. [21:06] Yeah. [21:09] Wow. [21:10] This is amazing. [21:11] Sterling's a good speaker. [21:12] I just met him about 15 minutes ago and he can talk up a storm. [21:16] Wow. [21:17] And Dustin, proud of him. [21:19] Man, what a nice young man. [21:20] He grew up in a fishing family and I'm very proud of him. [21:25] To be able to have this opportunity to be here today, thank our president. [21:29] I was mentioned to them in there. [21:31] I showed up six years ago to speak at the RNC to endorse our president. [21:37] And six years later I'm here witnessing a change and creation of a seafood office at the USDA. [21:47] It's amazing. [21:48] And we cannot thank him enough. [21:51] As a lobsterman, I don't know where I'm going to go with this because no one told me I was going to speak. [21:55] I would say to the American people, if you ever hear anything about ropeless fishing with lobstering, stay away from it. [22:00] That's bad stuff. [22:01] It is so dangerous. [22:03] It is so dangerous. [22:04] And to, you know, within the bill, the one big beautiful bill there, to take away that funding from all that offshore wind, oh, those people are so corrupt. [22:17] They are so corrupt. [22:18] And we're so happy as fishermen from the east coast to the west coast to see that stuff defunded. [22:24] And I don't know how long do you want me to talk. [22:32] So I'm probably good right now. [22:34] So thank you. [22:35] Thank you for being here. [22:36] And thank you to our president. [22:37] Okay. [22:43] Okay. [22:44] All right. [22:45] Well, what an encouraging, incredible day. [22:47] We are going to open it up for some questions from the press. [22:50] But as we move into this portion, again, I just want to thank the amazing USDA team that is here, all the work that's been done on this. [22:58] I just couldn't ask for more incredible people to work with every single day. [23:03] So I think we've got some of our USDA-ers here. [23:05] I just want to thank you all. [23:06] It's my honor to serve you every day. [23:09] Every day. [23:10] All right, Alec, we'll take some questions. [23:13] Yes, ma'am. [23:14] Hi, Madam Secretary. [23:15] Hello. [23:16] Grace. [23:17] Hopefully you can hear me okay. [23:18] Thank you for taking my question. [23:20] I wanted to ask about your message to farmers who are seeing higher prices of fertilizer and fuel recently. [23:25] I know you've said you've been in contact with fertilizer companies and you posted that any sleight of hand from fertilizer companies will not be tolerated. [23:32] How are those conversations going? [23:34] And how is the administration prepared to act in response to any price gouging? [23:39] And what kinds of solutions are on the table there? [23:41] Well, thank you. [23:42] Will you just first ask one quick question about seafood just so we can check that box and then we'll talk fertilizer? [23:48] Okay. [23:49] Well, could you walk me through now that the office is open? [23:51] Yes. [23:52] What's priority number one for you guys? [23:53] Oh, thank you so much. [23:54] Way to go. [23:55] Grace from Politico. [23:56] What a great question. [23:59] Listen, here's the beautiful thing. [24:01] I don't have the list in front of me, but everything from crop protection tools to prioritizing seafood on the international stage. [24:08] You know, you think about it and probably a lot from the press or maybe any of you don't fully understand. [24:13] Our seafood industry has been crushed by what we call the communist fish from Russia and other parts around the world where a lot of it is toxic and it doesn't get inspected enough, if at all. [24:25] One of the numbers we talked about, I think Jason brought it up in our round table we just finished, is that currently incoming seafood, only one tenth of one percent is inspected. [24:36] And of that one tenth of one percent, one third of it passes the inspection. [24:42] So, or one third of it doesn't pass the inspection. [24:44] So these numbers are crazy. [24:46] We've got to refocus on how we're supporting American agriculture, how we're supporting American seafood. [24:52] When you think about it in the context of the Make America Healthy Again movement and what this particular industry means for making America healthy again, all of those come into play. [25:03] And so for me, this seemed like such a no brainer. [25:06] I was a little startled that USDA has never had an office for seafood. [25:10] We've never had an advocate for seafood for all of the programs that are at USDA, all of them from beginning farmers and ranchers to risk mitigation to the various programs. [25:21] When there's weather incidents, etc. [25:23] Now, all of that is on the table. [25:26] We have a lot of work to do to get from point A to point B, but that's very important. [25:30] The second thing I'll add is, it's got to be more than just the next two years and nine months and a couple of days. [25:35] Most of this, if not all, has to be codified. [25:37] And I, and I think I speak for Secretary Burgum and our administration, will work day in and day out with this industry to get this codified so that they don't have to go through another fight and another fight. [25:53] In another couple of years to get this done. [25:55] So what a joy. [25:56] So thank you, Grace, for that question. [25:59] Now we'll talk fertilizer. [26:02] Clearly, the current conflict happening across the world has had significant negative impact on the price of fertilizer just in the last 35, 40 days since the conflict began. [26:13] Fertilizer has increased 40% on average. [26:16] That is in addition to the four years under the Biden administration where fertilizer increased then on average 40%. [26:24] One day I think it increased 99%. [26:26] So we've got a big short term problem for our farmers. [26:29] We also have a long term structural problem for our farmers that has to be solved. [26:34] The short term this administration, we waived the Jones Act. [26:37] We opened up lines of fertilizer from from Venezuela. [26:40] We entered an MOU on some critical minerals thanks to Secretary Burgum. [26:45] We're doing everything we can on the short term. [26:47] But the bigger question is the long term and two hours ago, make a little news. [26:53] I had a handful of CEOs from some of the world's largest fertilizer companies sit right up there in my office, which is right over my left shoulder. [27:01] And we had a very frank discussion. [27:04] The challenge is only a handful of companies in the world supply fertilizer to the world. [27:10] It is a worldwide market. [27:12] The good news is, especially with nitrogen, which is really the key issue right now as we're moving into planting season, [27:20] that in America we have enough LNG thanks to President Trump's energy independence agenda. [27:25] We've gone from a net importer just a decade ago to a net exporter on nitrogen. [27:31] But we don't have the infrastructure. [27:33] We don't have the plants, et cetera, here. [27:35] But it is a new day. [27:36] And again, this is more long term. [27:38] We're focused on the short term. [27:39] But I will not leave this building in two years and nine months if we have not made significant progress to build out that infrastructure. [27:46] And the final thing I'll say is part of that meeting was our incredible Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick. [27:51] And clearly with this president's focus on reshoring, some friend-shoring. [27:56] Canada is a big partner in this, by the way, based on some of their natural minerals, et cetera. [28:02] But we have to ensure that we're working across the cabinet. [28:06] Doug Burgum has a really big role in that as well. [28:09] So that has become a significant priority recently and we're going to stay on it. [28:14] So thank you for the question, Grace. [28:15] Thank you. [28:16] Good to see you. [28:21] Yeah, Steve Davies with AgriPulse. [28:22] Thank you for doing this, Madam Secretary. [28:25] If I can start off with a seafood question and then ask something else. [28:28] Yes, you can. [28:29] This is working great. [28:30] Just make everyone ask a seafood question first. [28:32] I follow the rules. [28:33] Good job, Steve. [28:35] How big will the Office of Seafood be and when will you stand it up? [28:41] And go ahead. [28:42] Well, thank you for that question. [28:44] It will, it's stood up as of today. [28:47] We have been working on it over the last almost eight months and wanted to get all of our T's crossed and our I's dotted. [28:53] Make sure that when we announced it, it wasn't going to be another year before it opened. [28:57] It is now open today, which is really, really cool. [29:01] Is Nick our... [29:05] He's right there. [29:06] He's right there. [29:08] Where are you? [29:09] He's right there. [29:10] Okay, there he is right in the back. [29:12] Yes, very good. [29:13] That's our new director, a 20-year employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which means he was here long before I got here and he'll probably be here long after I go. [29:22] But that's the consistency that we really wanted to put into place, a great career employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. [29:28] We're so grateful to you and as you build this team out and fight for these incredible people. [29:33] So thank you for being here. [29:34] Thank you. [29:35] Mike Ellenberg. [29:38] Forgive me for asking this, but the president's budget called USDA a bloated bureaucracy. [29:46] What are you going to do in the next year to reduce the bloat? [29:50] Well, this president has basically called all of the federal government a bloated bureaucracy. [29:55] And again, Doug may want to lean into this a little bit, too. [29:58] I'll let him offer some thoughts. [30:01] But there's no doubt that when this president first came down the escalator in 2015 and there were 17 people running in the Republican primary that year, [30:09] including several Texans that I know and were friends with and so many others, including some that are in the cabinet right now, [30:14] that the president really connected with the American people. [30:17] We, and I saw it firsthand, was the first president to really come down that escalator and said, you know, saying, [30:23] I'm going to go and fix Washington. [30:25] I mean, I'm going to bring my own programs, but instead saying, [30:28] I'm going to cut government in Washington that has grown too big. [30:32] Our founders envisioned under the 10th Amendment, our 250th year this year, [30:36] they, and George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, they, Alexander Hamilton, [30:41] they envisioned a very small federal government where the government closest to the people under the 10th Amendment, [30:46] the states and the locals, they should be the ones making the decision for the American people. [30:51] And that had gotten so big and so out of control. [30:54] And so here at USDA, part of that recalibrating the U.S. Department of Agriculture to actually focusing on agriculture, [31:03] to ensuring that instead of funding the studies of the menstruation cycle, [31:08] the menstrual cycles of transgender mice, which was actually a funded study by the USDA till we got here, [31:14] instead of funding the racism in the pest business, which was actually a study that was funded until we got here, [31:21] studying the habits of queer and BIPOC farmers, the name of the study, of San Francisco, [31:27] which was actually a taxpayer funded study until we got here. [31:31] So that's what the president is talking about, to ensure that we have every tool in our toolkit to support the American farmer, [31:38] the American rancher, to support our rural communities, to change the trajectory of agriculture in this country [31:44] so it's no longer going to be purchased and consolidated, especially by foreign adversaries in foreign countries, [31:50] no longer selling our farmland to foreign adversaries like China, which has been happening for a long time. [31:55] These are all existential issues for the future of America. [31:58] And so when the president talks about the bloated USDA budget or the bloated interior budget, [32:04] we have such a short period of time to fix it while we're here, but to make the first things first and a priority. [32:10] Doug, I know you may have some thoughts on interior, on the budget process. [32:13] We're going through that right now. But thank you for that question. [32:16] I just want to agree with everything that Brooke said and then add on, but it's fascinating when you dig in. [32:24] Of course, I was in the private sector before I became governor and then I was governor for eight years of estate. [32:28] And I had a chance to, you know, dig into the programs that are there. [32:33] Many of these things just grow and grow and grow and they get outside of what, not just their core mission, [32:37] but they actually get outside the guidelines of what the actual law is. [32:40] Recently, of course, NEPA has been weaponized to stop infrastructure in this country. [32:46] If you want to slow something down, use NEPA. If you want to kill it, use the Endangered Species Act. [32:51] I mean, we've got $1.5 trillion of capital spending that's been approved in our country that's waiting for a permit. [33:00] And it's often waiting for a permit because it's being challenged and litigated around some of these rules that were not passed by Congress. [33:06] Eighty percent of NEPA was not passed by Congress. [33:09] At Interior, we've just reduced the amount of things that people have to do to actually get to the 20 percent that meant the law. [33:17] The other 80 percent's in an addendum. You can look at it and go, those are interesting ideas. [33:21] But that's not actually the law. And the same thing, we're now going through that with ESA. [33:25] So part of getting rid of the bloat is to save taxpayer monies. [33:29] But actually, I know Brooke cares about the people that work here at USDA. [33:33] I care about all the people that work at Interior. [33:36] But we've taken federal employees and we've basically created mind-numbing, soul-sucking jobs [33:42] where all they do is follow a bunch of regulations that aren't literally something that Congress passed. [33:47] And so if people get into government because they want to make a difference in people's lives, [33:52] these roles done right can actually make a difference in supporting, like we saw today, [33:57] a group of cabinet leaders and all of our teams supporting an industry to have an opportunity to flourish [34:04] and not be buried under red tape. But when you get rid of the red tape, it not only helps the industry, [34:09] it helps the federal team members. It brings people back to life and say, [34:12] hey, I can actually do a job where I can make a difference in people's lives [34:16] and that they can be a participant in helping create the American Dream for America. [34:21] So there are so many ways. [34:24] I mean, I feel like the jobs that Brooke and I have are like get up in the morning [34:28] and it's a joy because you can attack in any direction. [34:31] And there's some, you know, waste, fraud, abuse, IT. [34:35] You know, on the IT side, man, we've got not just old technology. [34:39] We have an ancient technology. [34:41] We have stuff that should be moved, you know, out of our departments and put in a museum. [34:45] It is, and things that just add, that add cost and add time to, I mean, we had permits that were taking years [34:54] and we said what if a team of people just did that permit? [34:57] We did an environmental assessment in 11 days. [35:00] They normally take one to two years. [35:02] We did an EIS in 24 days. [35:04] It would normally, people didn't think anything at all if it took four years, four years. [35:08] An entire administration. [35:09] We did it in 24 days and we followed every aspect of the law to do it. [35:14] If I gave a judge the 24-day EIS and I gave them the one that took four years and asked them to tell the difference, [35:19] they would probably say, wow, this one looks like it's really well thought through. [35:23] That was the 24-day one because a group of people just had a chance to work on it. [35:26] So there is an unlimited opportunity to reduce costs and improve the services we deliver to the citizens in these jobs. [35:34] We'll do last question. [35:42] Hi, Secretary. [35:45] Elizabeth Elkin, Bloomberg News. [35:46] Good to see you. [35:47] Good to see you. [35:48] I'm also going to ask a fish question and then a fertilizer question. [35:52] Perfect. [35:53] We're just going to go on theme here. [35:54] I love it. [35:55] I love it. [35:56] I wonder how demand for seafood fits into the overall demand for protein that we're seeing. [36:03] Like how do you see fish demand as fitting into the protein craze? [36:10] Yeah. [36:12] Yeah. [36:13] No, that's right. [36:14] And it actually ties back to Steve's question too. [36:17] So as we work to make America healthy again, a report came out last week that said for the first time in American history, [36:25] the real food purchases were up seven and a half percent. [36:29] We've been trending away from quote real food, our kind of dietary guideline that Bobby and I put out a few weeks ago. [36:36] And so Americans are buying more real food as it becomes very apparent what has been happening over the last number of decades with what we're eating in this country and the chronic health problems that come with that. [36:49] So as we're looking to make America healthy again and looking to have proteins right eggs, beef, chicken, today seafood as part of that effort. [37:00] It's just a, it's an incredibly encouraging and exciting time. [37:06] I've said it before, but I'll repeat it. [37:09] USDA alone spends $400 million a day across 16 nutrition programs. [37:15] That's SNAP, WIC, school lunches, et cetera. [37:18] The opportunity to pivot toward more real food towards seafood and beef and chicken, et cetera, is, is just limitless from my perspective. [37:28] And then what that eventually means for our agriculture producers and rebuilding these smaller mid-sized family farms and being able to pass to the ninth and 10th generation continues to be a priority. [37:39] So I'm sorry, Bobby couldn't be here. [37:41] He was really sad to miss cause he was very excited about this too. [37:44] He had getting ready for a hearing or he may be in a hearing right now, but this is an across the cabinet effort and one that I think is going to be so important to seafood. [37:51] So thank you. [37:52] Thank you. [37:53] And my fertilizer question, if Mosaic is unwilling to step back those countervailing duties that we've been talking about, what are next steps to bring release for farmers? [38:06] You know, we have so many different options that we're looking at. [38:09] As I mentioned earlier today, we had Secretary Burgum, we had Secretary Lutnik, we had Ambassador Jamison Greer, and several other key folks from the administration. [38:20] sitting down with some of these companies. [38:23] Mosaic was not one of them. [38:24] They did not come. [38:25] But understanding what it is that we can do together, hopefully to work to keep this fertilizer crisis in check. [38:36] And we're looking at additional more short term, as I mentioned, the long term is coming too, but more short term steps. [38:43] Nothing I can announce right now because we're still working through that. [38:47] But know that it is an across the cabinet effort. [38:51] I've talked to the president himself about it. [38:54] He truthed about it on Saturday, ensuring that there was no price gouging. [39:00] The Department of Justice is involved. [39:02] We are watching this very, very closely. [39:04] But the silver lining is it has shined a light that has long needed to be shined on this particular input. [39:12] And how difficult it has been for farmers as it has continually increased year over year over year. [39:19] And the last 30 days is, again, just one more, you know, check on the check marks and what's happening. [39:25] And we're going to get our arms around it and do everything we can to help solve for it. [39:29] Yeah, yeah, yeah, please. [39:31] And Doug Burgum. [39:32] And then we're going to wrap. [39:33] All right. [39:34] I just want to add, again, adding on everything Brooke said, but wow, what an opportunity for America. [39:39] When we have conflicts abroad, or if you have disruptions, even like COVID, you understand the supply chain, the supply chain risk. [39:48] What do you make nitrogen? [39:49] It's the number one component of fertilizer is nitrogen. [39:51] What is it? [39:52] What's the primary component? [39:53] Natural gas. [39:54] You know, 20 years ago, the U.S. was the world's largest importer of natural gas. [39:59] Under President Trump, we're the world's largest exporter of natural gas. [40:02] Natural gas, everyone's, I'm not, I'm talking about natural gas, which comes out of the ground when you're producing oil and gas. [40:09] The price of that at the beginning of this conflict was $3. [40:12] The price of it now is $2.60. [40:15] In the U.S., we have the most abundant, the lowest cost natural gas. [40:21] That's what you make nitrogen out of. [40:24] And whether it's a gaseous form like ammonia, whether it's urea, which is solid, or whether it's a liquid form, farmers can apply all three in different applications. [40:31] We don't have an issue with the resource. [40:34] We are blessed as a country with enormous resources and natural gas, which can be converted, you know, heat, light, or fertilizer. [40:41] It's an amazing, it's the, it's the superpower of energy. [40:44] And we've got it, we've got so much of it. [40:46] But what we need is we need, we need to manufacture those products here as opposed to import them. [40:51] So when you go through a situation like this, what's going to come out the backside? [40:55] And the companies that we're meeting with the Secretary, we're going to see companies that stand up and start making investments in developing more fertilizer here. [41:03] So just like with natural gas, instead of being a, instead of being an importer, now we're the world's largest exporter. [41:10] We have the same opportunity in fertilizer. [41:12] There's no reason why we have to be paying high prices when we could have the lowest prices for fertilizer because we have the lowest prices for natural gas in the world. [41:20] Under $3, I mean, in other places around the world right now, including Europe, it's $12 or $15 for natural gas. [41:26] So five times higher. [41:27] So incredible business opportunity for America. [41:30] I know that with Brooke and with Howard and the team that they meet with today, we're going to see solutions on this thing. [41:37] So again, there's going to be, again, I look at the future. [41:41] These are all solvable, American innovation, American greatness. [41:44] We're going to have the lowest priced, we do have the lowest priced energy in the world because of President Trump's energy dominance agenda. [41:50] And we're going to have the lowest priced fertilizer in the world under the same agenda. [41:54] So fantastic future for our farmers and for everybody else. [41:57] It will lower the cost of food, improve food security. [42:00] All right, everybody happy working families tax cut tax day. [42:07] So grateful to be fighting every day for all of our Americans returning the American dream to every corner of this country. [42:13] Of course, here at USDA to our farmers of the sea to our farmers of the land. [42:17] And we will never stop battling. [42:20] God bless you all. [42:21] Thank you. [42:22] And thanks to the press for being here. [42:23] Thank you.