During a 50-minute joint interview with Senator Peter Welch, D-Vermont, Alabama Senator Katie Britt discussed working across the aisle with Democratic senators, reiterated her calls for more regulation of social media for children, and supported economic sanctions on Russia.
Hosted by Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum and aired on FOX Nation, the interview was the seventh incarnation of The Senate Project, a debate series cosponsored by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute and Orrin G. Hatch Foundation to honor Kennedy and Hatch’s collaboration in the Senate.
Discussing the benefits and potential for cross-partisan collaboration in the modern Senate, Britt pointed to the similarities in the problems facing residents of Vermont and residents of Alabama, like natural disasters.
“I would say working across the aisle doesn’t mean that you’re a moderate,” Britt said. “I think one thing about Peter and I both is we stand very firm on our values. We stand very firm on the principles and the way in which we view politics. But to his point, we believe where you share a common goal with someone on the other side of the aisle, you have a duty to the people you serve to get in a room and try to figure out a path going forward.”
As a specific example of a common goal, Britt pointed to social media. As a senator, she has repeatedly called for additional regulations on social media meant to keep young kids off of the platforms.
“The social media one is the one where I think that we are really failing America,” Britt explained. “Honestly, I think Congress has been feckless, and I think what it’s doing to the next generation is something that will unfortunately be studied, and and the impact of it is something we’re going to feel on the next generation, for decades to come.”
MacCallum asked both senators about their thoughts on a proposed meeting between President Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on a potential resolution to the Russo-Ukrainian war. Trump also recently waived sanctions on Russia that were approved in the Lindsey Graham Russian Sanctions Act, passed by the Senate shortly after the South Carolina senator’s passing.
“Essentially, what you’re seeing is the president taking Putin’s side instead of Ukraine’s side,” Welch replied. He said recent legislation should have made economic sanctions on Russia mandatory and called the proposal a “dead end.”
Britt did not directly criticize the president, as Welch did, but said that the U.S. should be using sanctions to pressure Russia to end the war.
“I want to see us use the economic firepower that we have,” Britt said. “I want to see that peace through strength. I believe that Russia is at the weakest point they have been in this war, I believe we’re at that moment where if we are able to utilize those tools, we can drive Putin to the table, ending this war.”
When pressed by MacCallum on whether the sanctions should have been mandatory, the Alabama senator said she thought Trump “has to have that flexibility” but that the sanctions should be used.
Both senators were also asked about recent politico-economic unrest in France and the national debt.
“I think the one part, too, that is missing in this is the fact that I think the immigration and illegal immigration over the border has a lot to do with what we’re seeing in France and other places,” Britt said.
She also stated that addressing the national debt would mean reconsidering entitlement programs. “I want to make sure that when you have a safety net program that it’s still there to help people get back on their feet, but I don’t want to see it turn into a hammock,” Britt quipped.
The panel concluded with both senators discussing their parties’ prospects in the upcoming midterm and Elon Musk’s recent comments that only robots and AI can “solve the national debt.”
