Senator Marshall: I Hope We Can Land This Plane

Senator Marshall Joins Pete Mundo on The Vince Show

Washington - U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined Pete Mundo on The Vince Show to discuss the conflict in Iran and its effects on the cost of living for Americans, dealing with rising input costs in agriculture, bringing down costs for Kansans and freeing up the housing market, what Americans care about heading into the midterms, and more.

Click HERE or on the image above for Senator Marshall's full interview.

On the future of the conflict in Iran:

"Yeah, Pete, well great to be with you. I think it's important to frame this conversation that we're dealing with this irrational, toxic, theocracy, driven by religious hate, so we don't trust them, right? So my expectations are very low. I hope that we can land this plane, somehow. We've achieved our military missions here - we've destroyed a significant amount of their nuclear arsenal, their navy, their missiles, their ability to wage war as well. You know, at the end of the day, we got to open the Strait and hopefully have some type of a long term peace arrangement. But I'm just, I'm not totally optimistic yet."

"Yeah, well 47 years I've lived this Pete. I'm a little bit older than you, but I remember when Iran took the hostages and the 400 some days that they were held, I remember the day 241 marines were murdered by Iran when I was in medical school. The last 48 hours, they're still attacking Israel and other places and kind of all the different things still going on. You know, Israel is saying, 'Well Lebanon is off the table, we're going to keep attacking Lebanon.' So that's a pretty big miscommunication - 241 people killed by Israel in Lebanon in the last 24 hours. So it seems like there's still some loose cannons out there."

On the effects of the Iran conflict on Americans:

"Yeah, Pete, well certainly I've focused on doing the right thing and the long game especially. You and I've talked before, President Eisenhower is such a hero to me, and he made decisions that had long term benefit in so many ways. You know he started NASA, he started the Interstate Highway System and all those took decades to come to fruition. So you're right - every day I wake up and say, 'Is my family safe? Is your family safe? Are Americans safe? And what can we do for their safety and security for decades to come?' And then number two is the economy, typically, to me. So you're absolutely right, I'm focused on the long-term safety and security of Americans and I'm just grateful that, gosh, we're drilling now 13 million barrels a day, which is up so much from where we were a decade ago as well. So at least there's not gas shortages as well. So you're right, I'm asking Kansans to hang in there; let's be patriots, let's do the best to get through this time. No one said life was going to be easy, and no one said that freedom was going to be free. So certainly, I am focused on the long-term safety of Kansans and Americans."

On rising agriculture costs:

"Right. So you hit the nail on the head that input costs - the price of fertilizer and fuel and seeds and chemicals - are the biggest challenges that Kansas farmers are seeing. But the good news is, we saw an 80% increase income in 2025; agriculture income in Kansas went up over 80% last year. Under Joe Biden we saw record drops in net farm income, so we have turned this agriculture economy around. A lot of it is due to beef and Kansas has a lot of a lot of income from the cattle on the beef industry as well. Our ethanol and corn exports are going to be up 25% this year. When American farmers make money is when we turn corn into beef, or we turn sorghum into ethanol, we turn soybeans into diesel fuel. That's when American farmers make money. So that continues to be my focus is, how can we make those value added products? But you're right, I do have empathy, the input costs are high. Nitrogen based fertilizers come from natural gas, and that's the challenge that we're seeing."

On bringing down the cost of living in Kansas:

"Yeah, so you know the cattle rancher is having the best economic time of my life after years of being poor. But the herd is so small right now because of years and years of drought, so they're all trying to build their herds back up, Pete. But I think the big picture to me - and we've been in, I think, about 80 counties so far this year; we've been in every county, this is our sixth trip now in six years as well - but what I've heard from Kansas is that truly the cost of living is absolutely the main issue. That under Joe Biden, we saw 50% increase in housing and healthcare and childcare, and groceries went up at least 25%. Inflation is cumulative, so those folks out there under the age of 40 that haven't bought a house yet, cannot get in a house. So you know, beyond the Iran war, what my focus is: how can we bring down the cost of living? What can we do for the price the cost of housing and healthcare and childcare? So my cattle ranchers are doing great, but many parts of the economy are not doing great. Folks over the age of 50, I call it the fast line: we built our we bought our houses, paid them off, maybe we're doing great. But boy, those under 40 are struggling, and that is my focus. What can I do to help bring the cost of living down for those people that are still struggling out there?"

On the cost of housing and regulations:

"So Pete you're spot on. See, the more the federal government gets involved, the more complicated we make it. We pass a bill, we pass a law, then we got to find another law to fix that problem we made. But the regulatory environment is absolutely one thing that we can all work on. If you talk to any builder across the state of Kansas, you say, 'Why has the cost of housing went up so much in the last seven, eight years?' And they're going to point to the regulatory environment first and foremost. And sometimes those regulations are out of Washington, DC, but very often they're at the state, the county and the city level. If you buy a piece of ground, you're waiting two years before you can turn dirt on it, because you're going through the regulatory hoops that drive up the cost of housing. There are some things we can do at the federal level, the Senate just passed a bill on housing just start rolling back some of those regulations as well. So across the state of Kansas, some communities are solving the problem, and some aren't. Those ones that are looking to the federal government, waiting for us to bring in the federal housing, those are the ones that are struggling. But the ones that have figured out ways to work with the federal government and use local monies to match up with the federal government, those are the ones that are winning and building houses right now."

On what is important to Americans heading into the midterms:

"So Pete, number one is we got to get this Iran war wrapped up. Look, I hate war, I think Americans hate hate war. I do believe in peace through strength, I do believe President Trump made the right decision to go forward with this, but hopefully we can have a positive outcome out of this long term. We need to get Iran behind us, right, and then we've got to get this economy going in the right direction. And I truly did think it was starting to turn around, and then, bang, we had this Iran war. And then there's no doubt that the price of gasoline, the price of oil, that always leads us into inflation, and that's what brings us out of it, when it starts coming down. So we have hit a hiccup right here, we've got to get the economy going back in a better, stronger direction, and bring these people up back into the fast lane, or at least the medium lane out there - going the speed limit, if you will. We need to bring these folks - they're in the slow lane - bring them in up to the speed limit, that's what we got to be focused on. And again, it goes back to the cost of housing and healthcare, childcare; those are the ones that I hear the most about."

"Without any doubt, it's always the economy. People forget - I've already forgotten what it was like to have an open border, and the number one defining issue last election was the open border. 10, 20 million people coming into our country illegally and worse, by the way, that's also driving up the cost of housing and other social resources as well. But now that's under control, they forgot about that, and now they're back locked in on the economy. I think that's numbers one, two and three. And they do all this polling, they ask different questions, but the questions - when you put put them all together - point towards the economy one way or the other. Whether it's inflation or the price of gasoline or housing, it's absolutely the economy. And I couldn't even tell you - everything else is a very distant second and third now."

"So you're absolutely right. What drives the Democratic Party right now is, it's not just Trump Derangement Syndrome, it's now a Trump Psychosis. They are absolutely obsessed with Donald Trump, to the point they won't let us do the right things, whether it's funding DHS, or passing voter ID, all those types of things. But again, I think it's really simple, we don't need a rocket science plan, we need to execute a very simple plan. We need to execute a plan that, we need to get DHS funded, we need to check that box one way or the other, and then work on that economy, getting the economy going back in the right direction. There are still so many regulations that we could roll back and set this economy free, but we need to reach out and help those people that are struggling in the economy. And I know I sound like a broken record Pete, but that's really it, it's not complicated, we just need to deliver a strong economy. The jobs - making sure that people are employed and that we have a decent wage out there. You know, again, across the state of Kansas, I'm seeing these manufacturing jobs grow because of the tariffs. And, you know, no one gives Trump credit for that, but a lot of these manufacturing jobs are coming back to Kansas, they're small companies with two or 300 employees. Secretary Bessent said 'Last year we set the table, and this year we should have the banquet.' So I just think it simply comes down to getting this economy back on the right track."

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