Energy News Beat
Energy News Beat Podcast
Victoria Spartz: Saving the Republic Through Courage and Reform
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Victoria Spartz: Saving the Republic Through Courage and Reform

Victoria Spartz: Saving the Republic Through Courage and Reform

In the Energy News Beat – Conversation in Energy with Stuart Turley, interviews Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana's 5th District. They discuss her efforts to address structural issues in Congress, emphasizing the need for responsible governance, fiscal discipline, and sustainable energy policies. Spartz critiques the inefficiency and corruption in Washington, highlights the importance of enacting lasting policies through Congress rather than executive orders, and underscores the urgency of reforming legislative practices. She touches on international issues, including the Ukraine conflict and energy strategies, while advocating for American energy independence.

Spartz strongly supports President Trump’s leadership and the need for courageous and integrity-driven politics. Reflecting on her upbringing under communism, she stresses the value of freedom and accountability, urging Americans to hold politicians to higher standards. The discussion concludes with a call to action for public engagement and support to preserve the republic.

This is my second interview with Representative Spartz, and I really enjoyed our time together. Our republic is at a critical junction, and we need more leaders like her.

Follow Victoria on her X account here: @RepSpartz

Victoria, thank you for stopping by the podcast, and I look forward to more updates from you. - Stu

Highlights of the Podcast

00:00 - Intro

01:18 - Energy Policy and Budget Challenges

03:49 - Reforming Congress

06:23 - Leadership and Accountability in Congress

06:41 - Background and Perspective

13:10 - Energy Policy and Ukraine Conflict

15:59 - Public Accountability and Party Responsibility

17:58 - Vision for America’s Future

19:24 - Closing Remarks and Call to Action

Full transcript:

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:00:07] Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Energy News Beat podcast. My name's Stu Turley, president and CEO of the Sandstone Group. Today we have an exciting guest today. I mean, this is an all time fantastic return to this show. We have Congresswoman Victoria Spartz. She is with Indiana's fifth District. And I was doing a little research on all the stuff that she's been doing in this Congress. And she has sponsored legislation, 31 pieces of legislation co-sponsored 269 and Remarks in the Congressional Record at 73. And you are running around trying to save our republic. Thank you for stopping by. Thank you.

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:00:53] Thank you for having me. I think republic is in trouble, but we're not going to let it fail. And I think we had a good election in November and they have a mandate from the American people to govern. And now is my job to make sure is that my institution will stand governing, which is a very, very difficult task. I'll be honest with you. It's been mismanaged. And, you know, add this country and our responsibilities for a very long time.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:01:18] Our listeners are so concerned about President Trump's mandate to cut energy prices in half. And when we have the budget going on right now, I'm going to tee up a couple of different questions here and then let you kind of rumble with them. Have you been able to do you know, the new energy secretary of energy? Have you ever met Chris? Right. He is a cool cat. So I don't know if you've met him or not, but you have Doug Burgum, you have a secretary. Chris Right. Hopefully coming in and then you have Lee Zeldin. You have energy that has to be cut in half. But how are we going to get our congressional leaders to cut the budget? And I'll just leave it for that, because you're in the middle of this is if 1500 page budget issue.

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:02:06] Follows, then I actually work with Lee. He's the great guy, Mad Dog. But I think what really is very important and we need to point out that if we want to have the great policies that President Trump wants to bring to the country, we want to have them. A long term effect They need to have happens through the codes, through the United States Congress. You know, if you do things through executive order, administration, you store all great things that he did before this administration came and went to hell. You know, I got much worse. So the only way you can have long term effects, stability, predictability and really help the economy, if you actually get these things in the code, in the books through the United States Congress and unite as Congress hasn't been doing its job now for decades. So we have been abandoning the American people. We are not authorizing spending. We're not passing a budget. We do a lot of messaging bells and talking points. Well, that doesn't matter. People. That doesn't feed the family, that doesn't create job, that doesn't make good economy with messaging and talking points. It might get you reelected, you know, unfortunately. But I think that is not going to be helping the country. So this is going to be a big challenge. Now, how do we can grow the backbone and have a car edge to be able to implement the great policies and put it in the cloud? And that is going to be only happen, unfortunately, through reconciliation, which doesn't require 60 votes in the Senate. So insistent that we're going to put in the Senate, you know, it's going to become the law through the, say, the reconciliation that will become the law of the land. And that will be very important. That's why this is going to be very important six months for us to deliver.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:03:50] Wow. So do you think we're going to pass the omnibus bill just to get it by so that it will pass the Senate? Is that what I heard or.

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:04:00] I'm talking about? Not this C.R. I'm talking about the reconciliation for next year. This is full of garbage. And, you know, we didn't it's not about the clean C.R. The least we could have done that list not too long. It was a bunch of work for Democrats. I don't think Speaker even talked to Republicans. They don't even do moderates. They were upset. They all kind of joke. And they will be joined in caucus now know because I had my frustration you know that we are not govern in here and we don't have a vision how we're going to be govern next year. We have talking points, we have presentations. But it's nothing is going to change unless you change structures and structural of a broken as an institution.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:04:38] Wow. So what do you see needs to happen? What caucuses are you on and what other Republicans are you working with to help solve this problem?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:04:49] Well, I have some good Republicans that, you know, have a variety of caucuses with no caucuses that people care. I work on the issues. I have some people in the Senate. I try to find some allies, you know. All wars and revolutions were not done by majority. But it takes more than one. You have to have a little bit more than one person. And I do have people that care. You know, tight majority will help us because it will just take one little few of us are going to say enough is enough. We're going to make a difference. We're going to start, you know, governing for the people and not to be afraid to challenge the machine. You know, and I think you can all this fine few and I've been talking to my colleagues, but I think we'll have to put pressure on the leadership of this institution to change some of this business as usual structures and help President Trump and his team to deliver. You know, and I haven't seen it here, but I'll be honest with you, we're still you know, muscle memory is very strong in Washington, D.C. I've seen a lot of promises. Well, of course, when people want to get leadership positions, they give you promises. I've heard that story like one speaker, you know, and then they don't deliver on their promises. And that's the challenge we have. And then you it's hard to have that the kind of ability for the speaker. That's what we had a motion to vacate because that's the only way you can actually put pressure on the speaker and say, well, you need to stop lying. You know, you have to actually do what you promise. Otherwise, as soon as they get elected to this position, they know that they can just sit there. You cannot get rid of that know, and then they do whatever they want and start making deals in the swamp instead of serving the people.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:06:24] You know, Congresswoman, you were born in Ukraine and you are a breath of fresh air for me. Thank you very much. I mean, this is huge. How do we get the rest of the people to have this much common sense?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:06:41] Well, listen, I think unfortunately, you know, you know, I grown up in the tyranny, grown up under communism and socialism. You know, you have appreciation for freedoms. And it's like you put in the frog in the boiling water. I think a lot of Americans have been boiled slowly and they didn't know and realized what is coming. And now they're like, OMG, how complicated it, you know, it became. And the government wants to make things complicated so they confuse us and then they do whatever they want. Why these bills have over thousands of pages for a reason, why they put in the last check and they try to jam that you don't even know what is in there, why they will try to follow you, even not follow 72 hour rule because they want to quickly that you don't even know. So you don't buy carpet like OMG and then try to sense like yeah, we'll give you some money so you can sell your boat. It's like you're so great, right? So just stay with me. We're going to make sure that tax are going to have, you know, good money for you. We'll put you on some committee that make it look like you're doing something there, but it's going to sound good. You're going to do presentation in the district that we're doing something right, so we're going to help you just vote for this garbage, you know, and then we can be selling lies to the American people, you know, and we'll give you money to tell lies. And that's became a sad reality. And it's been continued to the point that, like the republic is a huge trouble when a calamity cause it's like a Titanic. So we have to do something. And I think that is going to be a big tax for all of us. And unfortunately, we have really less than the year, really a year, but it's really less than the year to be able to deliver on this promises to the people.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:08:15] Right. What are your constituents in your fifth District in Indiana expect from you in this next year?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:08:22] Well, listen, I keep my promises and a lot of the promises I had that I have to work on fixing this institution and delivering and have good policies on good energy policy, good health care policies that we get debt under control, that we have a strong economy that we don't we have manufacturing job coming back to the United States and not subsidizing foreign entities and using our money to lobby against us or putting money in our pension plan to finance CCP. I mean, it's sad reality, but how corrupt Washington, D.C. became and how afraid of money we became. So, you know, I'm going to keep my promise to the people and fight for them. Know I was not elected by the leadership of my party, the establishment of my party, a lot of money. Both parties spent millions of dollars, but crazy things about me. I really was elected by the people and I truly owe everything to the people and I will stand with them and I will hold the ground for them because that's what they expect me to do. They expect me to be lobby for them and they'll have courage. If we don't have courage, we're going to fail. And I think it has been I've been very courageous institution for a while. This institution's been in a bad shape.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:09:34] You you're so refreshing. And I just appreciate your honesty. And if you had something. Have you been able to visit with President Trump since he's been elected?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:09:45] I just kind of saw him briefly few days ago, too, And I think he is busy. You know, I you know, I understand he has a lot of things. And my mind was a lot of people he has a great people that he puts around him that understand and more what's going on and how to deal. With that. But we need to be a strong ally for him. And I think he understands very well. And just talking to him what is the real swamp is here is and how to make sure to deliver. And he's truly one of the few politicians that doesn't do just the talk, but he actually does the walk and he wants to deliver what he says. And I think that's important for us to back him up.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:10:23] So what do you think of Ellen and Vivek Ramaswamy and DOD's coming in? The American people are excited about your vision of integrity and cutting things. How does Doge fit in? Are you excited about it?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:10:38] Listen, I'll be honest with you. Like there was so much Elan had such a reputation. Everyone was talking. Like he's just so like, you know, not friendly and this and this. And like, I have a delay of Connor's. They had the bug spoke about him labs and was saying the crazy stuff. So I actually had such a low expectations, you know, when I was so surprised I don't like what God is guys is actually very nice, very common sense, you know honest and anyway spectators and he's actually normal. You can talk to him and Vivek they're business people. I can run my business world. They get stuff quickly. They just don't want to like talk B.S., you know, which is like this place is absorbed with because they actually have a patience enough to listen to a lot of BS, which is like you have to give them credit. Bible Very humble, very nice, very sharp. Very bright. I think some things, you know, I was very impressed. I'll be honest with you. I was very impressed. I'm impressed in his desire to help and care enough about the issues and willing to educate because the swamp is can be only drain if we get the American people on board. And I think they will be very strong ally for President Trump and for us too. So I'm so glad that they got involved with that and they will be a great help. And I told them, you know, when trouble with You, I was kind of joking. But with them to the right, I'd nominated one of them for speaker. If you all got to get a travel satellite, if you gone to, you know, if we don't help us out. So we might have to do that, you know?

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:12:07] Did I hear that right, Congresswoman? Did I hear that right?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:12:10] And I just, you know, did I.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:12:12] Hear that right?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:12:13] I need to have someone. Hey, listen, anyone can be speaker. You don't have to be a member of Congress to be a leader of the House. You know, any person can be speaker. And I will take anyone who has the backbone and leadership and courage. You know, that's important for me. So but because that's going to be very important time.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:12:29] You know, having Vivek or Ellen as speaker of the House would be an absolute hoot.

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:12:37] I would be great not to get me in trouble here, but I think I don't know if they would want to take the job, but they would do a great job. I would have no doubt about that. You know, because they are looking outside of the box. They came from the.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:12:50] Worlds.

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:12:51] Of real world, of common sense, where in the business world, when you have to deliver and not from politics. And so I kind of, you know, enjoyed talking to them. And truly, they care about the country and how we can restore this republic back. And I think they understand that, you know, the time is running out.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:13:10] Do you see and this is a little bit off topic from Congress and they are rushing, Bill, I know we only have a few more minutes, but what I'm hoping that we see an end to the Ukraine war here really quickly and the de-industrialization of Europe has happened because it hasn't had cheap Russian natural gas. The Ukraine passed through pipeline is not looking to be signed in again. Zelensky President Zelensky said yes, he was going to sign it or look to renew it. Now it's not. That's a mess over there. And I hope President Trump and everybody gets that thing solved quickly. Do you have any insights there?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:13:50] Well, I obviously, you know, stuff that you need. It was not taken down by weapons. Right. You know, you have the energy policy and access to financial markets. And we did the neither one, you know, and we actually will launch one domestic energy production, which would help. Who is benefit from that? Would you put sanctions on Russian oil? But we definitely want to destroy American oil and gas. I mean, this is kind of as stupid as it gets, you know? So we're helping Russia to finance their bloodshed and China helping them to and we did nothing to China. So, I mean, it's almost like hypocritical what we're doing. So we have no strategy. We're not dealing properly to deter them and we don't have this threat. So I think Putin is now nervous. He understand that he needs to talk to President Trump. He understand that threat better than Trump is business and he is not going to let him continue this bloodshed. You know, it's a very difficult situation now because it was mishandled for such a long time. So he's going to inherit the mess. But we have to deal with that and figure out what to do. And then ultimately, it will be up to America and the Ukrainian people to who they elect. You know, people pay high price for leaders they elect. You know, we paid with money. They pain was blood. So they need to think about it. Who is really governing that?

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:15:05] What a great quote. What a great quote. Congressman, Congresswoman Branch, what a great quote. People pay for elections with their blood.

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:15:15] They do. It's a sad reality and we don't want to get there, too. So that's why we need to get things under control, because when you lose freedoms is very hard to get in the back. So we need to get under control, our spending and our policies and secure the country and be smarter. And I think President Trump is the right person for this challenge in times, because it will take courage and backbone.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:15:38] Do you have any I any home remedies? You know, we always hear these great home remedies when somebody has honey and coffee for a cold or honey and whiskey for a cold. Do you have anything that you can put in the congressional offices around there to put in people's coffee to give them some common sense?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:15:59] Well, I think, you know, I don't think it's treatable in Washington. Do the homeless thing, you know, as a chemical tea is very good, too. When you have cold and it's good, it has a lot of benefits. Camomile tea is very good for you. But I'll tell you, it's Samson. One of the things that I think the only medicine we have right now is the American people. American people are sick of this institution, and we need to kind of remind politicians they might be afraid of money. They might be afraid of their positions in job. But ultimately the power is with the people and the people are not happy. And if you're not going to deliver to the people where there are problems they created by the people and for the people, and if they're not going to be willing to be a lobby for the people and deliver for them, we need to get rid of them. They're not worthwhile be here. And I think we need to be very clear, not just covered themselves with a party. I am r y m d no, What are you doing for the people? Are you hypocrite or you actually trying to govern? You know, at least Bernie Sanders is out as if he's socialist. You know, we have a lot of socialist at our sides. Pretend like, you know, somehow conservatives don't try to fight for the people and limited government, which is a total lie. So the hypocrisy is really the most probably the worst of all of the traits, you know, at least honesty we have with some of the socialists and Democrats.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:17:18] Congresswoman, as Branch, you have hit on about 16 other major topics, and I would have not had Senator Bernie Sanders on my bingo card for being respectful and thoughtful and in line with Robert F Kennedy Junior's mom. I would have not had that on my bingo card, nor would I had Senator Fetterman being funny and almost. He's actually coming up with some good things. I'm like, Where did that come from? Wow. Now, how do people get a hold of you and how do people support you and donate for your next election? We need your war chest building now. How do people donate to you now?

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:17:59] Well, we just can sign up to my website now, as you can. You know, the best thing, the best thing to do, people just follow us so they can follow us on the access wrap sports, esp, r, t, v and stay informed and you feel like to support with appreciate it. But honestly, if you just can help us to spread the message and give people information that this is important, this is going to be a test to my party and if we fail, Mark's going to win. And that is that is truly a sad reality of that and will be our fault. We cannot blame this corners or that corners. And this Republicans have no excuses. We were given the Senate, the House and presidency. And if we're not willing to step up and actually here a republic is going to be lost. So I truly believe it's our last chance to save this republic. And I mean it. And unfortunately, that's a sad truth. So we better get our act together and quickly.

Stuart Turley - President and CEO of Sandstone Group [00:18:57] Thank you so much, Congresswoman. And as far as I so much appreciate you made my day today. I mean, honestly, we're going to get this podcast turned around. We'll have your websites and the show notes and we'll have your X account out there as well. And we want to be a resource for you and your staff. I want to give your staff a shout out for putting this together as well. So thank you for stopping by the podcast today. We do appreciate you.

Congressswoman Victoria Spartz [00:19:24] Thank you. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Thank you.

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