Sen. Scott and Chairman Whatley Discuss Jobs Agenda On Campaign Trail

Yesterday, as a media availability after a roundtable discussion with industry leaders, Senator Tim Scott and Chairman Michael Whatley discussed Republican’s jobs agenda.

In his opening remarks, Chairman Whatley said, “The real conversation that we're having today is how do we create more jobs? How do we create better jobs? How do we make sure that people are going to take home more money? And how do we make sure that people are going to keep more money that they could use for their households in North Carolina?”

Whatley continued, “The economy is obviously a significant part of the conversation that we're having with every family, with every community across the state. And really very happy to have Senator Tim Scott here. In addition to serving in the Senate leadership team, he's also the chair of the Banking Committee and has been a leader in creating opportunity zones and economic opportunities all across this country.”

Senator Tim Scott added, “Maybe the easiest way for North Carolina to experience keeping more of the money that they make is to send Michael Watley to the Senate. Frankly, the clear answer to affordability is having more senators like Michael Watley in the United States Senate. He understands North Carolina. He's from North Carolina.”

In response to a question from a reporter, Whatley contrasted his tax cutting agenda versus former Governor Roy Cooper’s tax hiking agenda. In response to a question about the war in Iran, Whatley stated his support for ending the threat to America’s national security, in contrast to Cooper’s relative silence on the issue.

The Blue Ridge Times asked Chairman Whatley and Senator Scott, AI innovation is going to dominate the next century. What can the Senate do, what can Congress do to unlock innovation, artificial intelligence, and how can North Carolina benefit economically?

Chairman Whatley responded, “I think what you need to do is have a regulatory framework that's going to allow for that growth. We certainly need to make sure from an infrastructure standpoint that they're going to have the energy, that they're going to have the permitting capacity, that they're going to have the workforce to be able to actually build the facilities that are being done with it. And you need to also have a regulatory framework. I would say Senator Scott has kind of been at the forefront of developing the regulatory frameworks in the conversations that are going to be happening.”

Senator Scott added, “I think actually the future is getting brighter and brighter as we think about the AI future. A couple of things that we need to tackle is making sure that as we see the consumption of energy go up, that they are taking care of the costs themselves. And one of the things that we thank God that President Trump has already done, signaled great clarity, is that those folks in the AI world, whether it's Google or a couple of other companies, they are going to be responsible for the increase of the load and paying for that. That is great news for ratepayers. So keeping the focus on affordability means making sure that everyday Americans understand that as the energy consumption goes up and the cost goes up, those costs must be absorbed by those companies in the AI world.”

The press conference continued with Whatley contrasting his support for stopping illegal immigration and removing dangerous criminals, with Cooper’s veto of bills requiring sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration officials.