00:07 - US representative Dan user

00:09 - Columbia county as part of your

00:11 - legislative district

00:12 - for someone who hasn't

00:13 - been there what would you like

00:14 - pennsylvanians to know.

00:17 - Well.

00:18 - It's a wonderful place

00:19 - we have

00:20 - some of the

00:21 - best restaurants.

00:23 - We have some of

00:24 - the best sports bars.

00:26 - We have a some local breweries

00:28 - which are which are which are

00:30 - fabulous.

00:31 - Bloomsburg.

00:33 - Is one of the most idyllic.

00:36 - Towns in.

00:37 - In Pennsylvania

00:38 - in fact it's the

00:40 - best town because

00:42 - it is actually the only town.

00:43 - In all of Pennsylvania.

00:44 - Others are referred

00:45 - to as townships or or

00:47 - or boroughs or cities.

00:49 - Berwick is a beautiful place.

00:51 - To live there

00:52 - our school system

00:54 - is I think fantastic.

00:57 - We we we are from

00:58 - southern Colombia.

00:59 - To.

01:00 - The other high schools.

01:02 - As well a bloomsburg

01:03 - university is

01:04 - tremendous we have

01:05 - a we have a great.

01:07 - Football tradition from the

01:08 - berwick bulldogs up to the.

01:10 - The bloomsburg

01:12 - huskies at at the university.

01:14 - So that there's.

01:16 - Just a lot of

01:17 - pop positive.

01:18 - Aspects of what's become

01:21 - the center of

01:22 - Pennsylvania ninth congressional

01:24 - district that I have the honor

01:25 - of representing.

01:26 - So congressmen what drives the

01:29 - economy there in

01:29 - Columbia county.

01:30 - Well I think first and

01:32 - foremost agriculture

01:33 - we've got some great farms.

01:35 - We we we grow

01:36 - all kinds of produce.

01:38 - We have large farms we

01:39 - have smaller family farms

01:41 - from from

01:42 - from dairy to.

01:43 - Cabbage fields

01:44 - and pumpkin fields

01:45 - and radish fields as far as

01:46 - the eye can see.

01:48 - We we have some

01:49 - great manufacturing.

01:51 - We we we build various

01:53 - car parts as as well as.

01:56 - Various.

01:58 - Other fabrications and and.

02:01 - Products.

02:02 - We were also very big

02:04 - in in the energy field.

02:06 - From the Marcellus

02:07 - shale natural gas

02:09 - but also we have talent energy.

02:11 - Based in berwick

02:13 - which is a

02:14 - nuclear power plant.

02:16 - Which has some.

02:17 - Significant expansions

02:19 - taking place.

02:20 - Bringing in data centers.

02:22 - It's really just a phenomenal

02:24 - organization that safety

02:26 - records are tremendous.

02:28 - They have some

02:29 - really high paying jobs.

02:31 - You go on a tour

02:32 - there it looks like a.

02:35 - The the central command of a

02:37 - of a of a of a aircraft carrier

02:40 - and what which it

02:41 - which is good because

02:42 - they have a number

02:43 - of.

02:44 - Of Annapolis graduates.

02:46 - That that run.

02:48 - The

02:49 - command center there

02:50 - so it's really a perfect

02:52 - the Pennsylvania.

02:54 - Area for manufacture factoring.

02:57 - For agriculture

02:58 - and like I said

02:59 - the quality of life

03:00 - continues to improve.

03:02 - With many many new opportunities

03:05 - coming along the way.

03:06 - And what have your legislative

03:08 - priorities been since you took

03:10 - office.

03:12 - Well you know

03:13 - I have my district.

03:14 - Priorities and I have my

03:15 - Washington

03:16 - priorities mean overall.

03:18 - It's first and foremost about

03:20 - following my oath of office is

03:22 - following the constitution.

03:23 - Secondly it is about

03:25 - national security.

03:27 - And strong.

03:29 - Defense.

03:30 - But as important is is economic

03:32 - growth my background was in was

03:35 - in business.

03:36 - I served as the revenue

03:37 - secretary for the

03:37 - commonwealth of

03:38 - Pennsylvania.

03:39 - And

03:40 - my focus is on trying to help.

03:43 - Pennsylvania.

03:45 - United States but Pennsylvania

03:47 - become the most

03:48 - competitive place in the world

03:49 - to do business

03:50 - I tend to say what's

03:51 - good for penn sylvania

03:53 - is good for the country

03:54 - and I I think I can say what's

03:56 - good for Columbia county

03:58 - is is good for our country.

04:00 - But but

04:00 - but more specifically

04:02 - we help with the

04:03 - the bloomsburg fair.

04:05 - Which

04:06 - begins.

04:07 - September the end of

04:08 - September September twenty first

04:10 - I believe people gotta

04:10 - come out it's probably the.

04:12 - Best fair and.

04:13 - Eastern united

04:14 - states if not the.

04:16 - All of the United States.

04:19 - But we work on

04:19 - various projects to.

04:21 - Continue and improve

04:22 - the quality of life.

04:24 - We had had some flooding issues

04:25 - over the years so I I I've done

04:27 - work there

04:28 - and we did get a

04:30 - community funded

04:32 - Grant for the berwick y m c a a.

04:33 - Which is the center

04:35 - of a good portion of

04:37 - Columbia county for so many

04:39 - families they do

04:40 - an incredible job.

04:41 - There in up in burleigh

04:43 - county at the berwick y m c a.

04:46 - So.

04:47 - And and then of

04:47 - course through coven

04:49 - we did a lot with the.

04:52 - With the people pay

04:53 - and helping

04:54 - businesses stay open.

04:56 - I made a lot of friends during

04:58 - the course of working for them

05:00 - from bankers to small businesses

05:03 - and

05:04 - we we did a big.

05:05 - Event at the forge

05:07 - restaurant.

05:08 - Where we did a take out on US.

05:11 - Event.

05:12 - And there are mic and

05:14 - and the owners and the

05:16 - the the staff.

05:18 - We served almost two thousand

05:20 - individuals.

05:21 - With that with free meals.

05:23 - During the course of that

05:24 - so it's just a place.

05:26 - Where

05:27 - people come together

05:28 - and it's up you know it's like

05:30 - something out of a Norman

05:32 - Rockwell most.

05:34 - Congressman which of your

05:35 - legislative accomplishments have

05:37 - benefited Columbia county eons

05:39 - the most.

05:42 - Well you know the the

05:43 - macros are again fighting for

05:46 - funding going in

05:47 - the right directions.

05:49 - Doing what we can

05:50 - to make businesses

05:51 - as competitive as possible

05:53 - I would say during the course of

05:54 - coven once again they probably

05:56 - had the biggest impact.

05:57 - US just working

05:58 - from seven in the

06:00 - morning to eleven

06:00 - o'clock at night

06:01 - frankly.

06:02 - Helping businesses stay open.

06:04 - As well as assuring that

06:05 - they that they get the ppp.

06:08 - The community funded

06:09 - projects as mentioned.

06:10 - Have also passed

06:11 - some bills that.

06:13 - Were related to opioids

06:15 - and drug addiction

06:16 - and

06:17 - many of the

06:18 - US

06:19 - city police.

06:21 - The

06:22 - offices

06:23 - I've worked with

06:24 - to.

06:25 - Provide not only just funding

06:27 - but as well.

06:28 - To work with them on the on the

06:30 - different needs that they have

06:31 - to to fight

06:32 - and help

06:33 - with drug addition

06:34 - something called the the

06:36 - soft hand off

06:37 - with the local hospitals

06:38 - including geisinger.

06:40 - Geisinger health syst Adams

06:41 - plays a major role there so

06:43 - we do what we can to

06:45 - keep the.

06:46 - Work with them to

06:47 - assure the highest level of.

06:49 - Of of healthcare.

06:50 - So I mean those are

06:51 - those are a few areas.

06:53 - Now you've mentioned business

06:54 - several times congressman I

06:56 - understand you're on the small

06:57 - business committee in Washington

06:59 - so

06:59 - what are you working on there.

07:02 - Well you know we're trying to.

07:04 - Make the sb a as a

07:06 - as

07:07 - effective

07:08 - and available

07:10 - as possible small

07:11 - business administration

07:12 - and again back to the ppv they

07:14 - they wait in quite a bit there

07:16 - and I and I really have to

07:17 - hand it to the Pennsylvania sb a

07:19 - team particularly the leadership

07:21 - in there the staff they were

07:22 - they were.

07:23 - Very.

07:24 - Attentive to what we what

07:26 - we needed to get done.

07:28 - But you know there

07:29 - are other other bills we.

07:31 - We want to make the

07:32 - tax cuts permanent.

07:33 - We want

07:34 - to

07:35 - provide the type of community

07:37 - funded project dollars.

07:40 - That.

07:40 - Are based upon one improvement

07:44 - for quality life

07:44 - and economy for.

07:45 - Columbia county

07:46 - like for instance I've got a.

07:49 - An earmark if you will.

07:51 - In for.

07:52 - The.

07:53 - Improving and in advancing

07:56 - the floodwalls.

07:58 - In in the bloomsburg area.

08:00 - We did sponsor

08:01 - along with other

08:03 - members of the federal

08:04 - and state legislator

08:05 - and funding for that floodwall.

08:08 - But but we

08:09 - it needs to.

08:11 - It needs to be completed.

08:12 - So everything that's important

08:14 - to the commissioners who

08:15 - happened to be outstanding

08:18 - commissioners

08:18 - Republicans and democrats.

08:19 - Chris young rich

08:20 - Ridgefield that Dave kvetch

08:22 - but also the state

08:23 - representation

08:25 - in Columbia

08:25 - county has been phenomenal

08:27 - Dave malarkey.

08:29 - Kurt moss her

08:30 - and of course a

08:31 - state senator John gardner

08:33 - who lives in berwick

08:35 - looks after looks

08:35 - after Columbia county.

08:37 - In an incredibly.

08:39 - Strong way

08:40 - so you know it's it's wonderful

08:42 - to work with good people.

08:43 - You got to see the cog

08:45 - which serves as an

08:46 - economic conduit for.

08:49 - Fun being and for other

08:51 - a progress that

08:53 - is being made there.

08:54 - You've got the chamber the

08:55 - Columbia montour chamber.

08:57 - Fred gaffney and others

08:58 - we work with very closely so

09:00 - we all kind of work together

09:01 - we set priorities and we do our

09:03 - best to get the job done.

09:04 - I see her on the foreign affairs

09:06 - committee as well congressman

09:08 - what are the issues

09:09 - being debated there.

09:12 - Well.

09:13 - Unfortunately.

09:14 - There's some

09:14 - pretty serious issues

09:16 - related

09:17 - to foreign.

09:17 - Airs these days up from

09:19 - Afghanistan and the

09:20 - continued fall out there.

09:23 - To

09:23 - the Ukraine invasion

09:25 - by

09:26 - by putin and Russia.

09:28 - As well as all of the issues

09:30 - surrounding China Taiwan.

09:32 - It seems a little bit unless.

09:35 - We do have oversight

09:36 - of the state department.

09:38 - I've met many classified

09:40 - as well as unclassified.

09:42 - Meetings.

09:43 - And my my work is to

09:45 - create

09:46 - as much transparency

09:48 - to assure military strike

09:50 - also.

09:51 - True trade.

09:52 - Is

09:53 - something on

09:54 - my list of priorities

09:56 - and of course we do our

09:57 - best to bring that home to.

09:59 - Columbia county from

10:00 - an ad culture standpoint

10:02 - and and and even

10:03 - coal to an extent coal.

10:05 - Coal is being purchased

10:06 - worldwide right now.

10:09 - And we're we're

10:10 - trying to limit frankly

10:11 - rush.

10:12 - Imports.

10:13 - So as we utilize

10:15 - our domestic coal

10:17 - and other

10:18 - energy resources more so than.

10:20 - Men of

10:21 - foreign.

10:22 - Products being

10:23 - being shipped in so.

10:25 - Like I said I mean what we were

10:26 - saying my office atp all things

10:28 - Pennsylvania

10:29 - cause

10:29 - because as I

10:30 - stated I think I think I

10:31 - honestly believe that what's

10:32 - in the interest of Pennsylvania

10:34 - what's in the

10:34 - interest of Columbia

10:35 - counties in the interest of

10:36 - the United States.

10:37 - Let's talk about

10:38 - president biden's

10:39 - inflation reduction

10:40 - act he's calling it

10:42 - so let's try to narrow that down

10:43 - and consider what do you think

10:45 - of the the

10:46 - president's investment

10:47 - in fighting climate change

10:49 - within this legislation.

10:51 - You know we just spent about six

10:53 - trillion dollars over the last

10:55 - two years

10:56 - over our our budget.

10:58 - Our

10:58 - budgeted numbers

11:00 - over the revenues coming in

11:01 - we put the United States and

11:03 - sixty seven

11:04 - trillion dollars more

11:05 - of debt

11:06 - to deal with

11:08 - the covert.

11:09 - Crisis

11:10 - so what

11:11 - the democrats for some reason

11:12 - thought it would be a wonderful

11:14 - idea to come in and

11:15 - continue that level of spending.

11:17 - Even though we're on the upswing

11:19 - and things are normalizing

11:20 - quote unquote.

11:22 - They spent one point

11:23 - two trillion with the.

11:24 - With the rescue plan they spent

11:26 - more money way over what was

11:28 - needed on the t and I plan.

11:30 - The chips plan

11:31 - which I supported and and

11:33 - helped helped design frankly.

11:35 - Ended up being

11:36 - two hundred billion

11:37 - dollars higher that is why I

11:38 - had a boat no.

11:40 - Upbringing

11:40 - semiconductors back to

11:42 - Columbia county or Pennsylvania

11:44 - what would be would

11:45 - be very important.

11:47 - So now they want to

11:48 - spend more money.

11:50 - Five hundred

11:50 - billion dollars plus

11:52 - and tack on

11:53 - seven hundred

11:53 - billion dollars in taxes.

11:55 - Over the next ten years

11:57 - I think it's a

11:58 - terrible terrible plan

11:59 - and what we're doing is

12:00 - we're engaged in spending

12:02 - you know we're going

12:03 - to bin will build windmills

12:05 - and

12:05 - la la lot of money is going

12:07 - towards towards windmills

12:08 - windmills are

12:09 - very controversial.

12:11 - Throughout throughout at

12:12 - the commonwealth and

12:13 - there's a place for them but.

12:15 - It's hard to find

12:16 - where that place

12:17 - is because without

12:19 - the subsidies they they wouldn't

12:19 - deliver a return

12:20 - on that investment.

12:21 - I mean meanwhile we have

12:23 - all kinds of natural gas in the

12:24 - Marcellus shale.

12:25 - So I find it I

12:26 - find it troubling.

12:28 - This bill taxes natural gas

12:30 - taxes.

12:31 - Crude oil

12:32 - it adds eighty seven thousand

12:34 - new ira agents.

12:36 - Or eighty

12:37 - doubles the size of the ira

12:39 - so it's much bigger than the

12:41 - department of

12:41 - defense for instance.

12:42 - You know as I said earlier I

12:43 - was the revenue secretary for

12:45 - Pennsylvania

12:46 - we considered hiring

12:47 - more auditors in order

12:49 - to close the tax gap

12:51 - but then we then we

12:52 - do just that it was a.

12:53 - It was a bad idea

12:54 - but we needed to do

12:55 - is invest in systems

12:57 - so we could

12:58 - have a better

12:59 - view of.

13:00 - Of tax cheats or tax evaders

13:03 - as opposed to just

13:04 - having an army out there.

13:06 - Rolling up to a small business

13:09 - and making a hit or miss.

13:11 - Audit taking place

13:12 - congressman terrible idea.

13:14 - Congressman we only have

13:15 - not won then left so let's just

13:17 - consider the the nomenclature as

13:18 - far as the public is concerned

13:20 - I'm sure they're interested that

13:21 - that the president's plan is

13:23 - called the inflation

13:24 - reduction act so

13:25 - my question to you is

13:26 - what can the president's

13:28 - plan do about inflation

13:29 - short term tried to tell

13:30 - me in less than a minute.

13:32 - I will.

13:32 - It's.

13:34 - Definitely going to increase

13:35 - inflation it's now

13:36 - or or have zero

13:37 - effect mean

13:38 - if you spend more money on

13:40 - creating more

13:41 - deficits as well as

13:42 - creating more demand

13:44 - and taxing

13:45 - the production side

13:46 - which is the supply side.

13:48 - It

13:49 - seemed simple arithmetic shows

13:50 - that that that that is what has

13:52 - caused inflation

13:53 - and that is what

13:54 - will continue to

13:55 - cause inflation.

13:56 - So unfortunately and even

13:57 - the drug reduction plan is three

13:59 - years off it's it's a.

14:02 - Boy oh boy it's really just.

14:05 - A lot of wishful

14:06 - thinking on the part of

14:07 - Joe biden and the democrats

14:09 - alright US

14:09 - representative dam user

14:11 - thank you very

14:11 - much for your time.

14:13 - Bachelor.

14:35 - I.