Weekly Review With Clay and Buck H1 - Congressional Stock Trading

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – Weekly Review With Clay and Buck H1: Congressional Stock Trading

Date: October 4, 2025
Host: Clay Travis (solo; Buck Sexton reporting from Taiwan)
Special Guest: Congressman Tim Burchett (Tennessee)
Topic: Congressional stock trading, the ongoing government shutdown, and broader issues in U.S. politics.

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into two of the hottest topics on Capitol Hill:

• The ongoing government shutdown and its roots in broken healthcare and tax systems.
• The controversial issue of stock trading by members of Congress—featuring an impassioned interview with Rep. Tim Burchett, who calls out the rampant conflicts of interest and calls for reform.

Clay Travis brings his signature blend of intelligence and humor to dissect the news, calling out hypocrisy, inefficiency, and corruption in government.

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1. The Government Shutdown: Why It’s Happening

Segment Start: [02:27]

• Shutdown Background: Clay explains that while the government being shut down is a familiar “Groundhog Day” scenario, it ultimately gets resolved with little real-world impact for most Americans.

  • “Since 1976, the US government has shut down 20 times... In many ways it is [Groundhog Day].” – Clay Travis [03:08]

• Current Sticking Point: The central fight is over extending COVID-era healthcare subsidies.

  • Democrats want to keep in place healthcare policies from the pandemic that were intentionally underpriced to hide long-term costs.
  • According to the Wall Street Journal, maintaining these policies for 10 years could add $450 billion in spending, much of it deemed unnecessary by critics.

• Why Healthcare Is Broken:

  • “The healthcare system in the United States is broken. Every single one of you listening...is nodding along.” – Clay Travis [04:52]
  • Key Points:
    • No price transparency for patients.
    • Over-prescription by doctors, fueled by insurance incentives.
    • Health insurance often means paying more than being uninsured.
    • Tied to employment, making the system inefficient and convoluted.
  • “The fact that healthcare is connected to employment is crazy.” – Clay Travis [08:03]
  • He shares personal anecdotes about medical billing to highlight the absurdity.
  • Clay compares healthcare and the tax code as the “two most broken systems in America,” arguing both need to be rebuilt from scratch.

• Political Dynamics:

  • Once government creates a benefit, it almost never goes away. Many COVID-era policies (like extended Medicaid) are now the battleground.
  • “Democrats want to provide healthcare for as many people as possible, including many different illegal immigrants. And ultimately this is paid for by all of you out there...” – Clay Travis [12:20]

• Shutdown Impact:

  • For most listeners, there will be “absolutely no impact to your life whatsoever by the fact that the government has shut down.” – Clay Travis [15:56]
  • Clay proposes (tongue-in-cheek but serious) that Congress's pay should be halved during shutdowns to force accountability.

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2. Chuck Schumer and Shutdown Hypocrisy

Segment Start: [23:43]

• Clay plays a CNN montage of Senator Chuck Schumer’s past comments decrying government shutdowns as “idiocy” and political hostage-taking—contrasting them with his current support for the shutdown.

  • Quote: “Ah yes, Chuck Schumer, so terrified of AOC, challenging him in a primary and probably beating him and ending his political career, that he is now a huge hypocrite.” – Clay Travis [24:20]

• Clay laments the lack of leadership and rampant “moronic cowards” in Congress, stating plainly:

  • “Many of y’all are much smarter than the people on Capitol Hill. You know it. But it’s just pathetic to see. They’re not leaders. They’re cowards. And many of them are also morons.” – Clay Travis [25:03]

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3. Congressional Stock Trading – Interview with Rep. Tim Burchett

Segment Start: [27:00]

A. The Problem: Broken System and ‘Unfreaking Believable’ Gains

• Rep. Burchett joins to discuss congressional stock trading, agreeing strongly with Clay’s disgust at lawmakers’ lucrative stock “fortunes.”

  • Quote: “Congress is broke and it is crooked as a dog's leg, brother. There is no other explanation. When a congressman can make 600% return on their investment...” – Tim Burchett [27:09]

• He mocks members who claim to “sacrifice” for public service while making a killing by “just following Nancy Pelosi’s stock trades.”

  • “Warren Buffett needs to go to the front porch...and just turn it over to Pelosi. It is unbelievable.” – Tim Burchett [27:35]

• Burchett explains:

  • No true accountability or bipartisan will to pass even simple bans on individual stock trading for Congress.
  • His proposal: Only allow Congress members to hold mutual or index funds—banning individual stock trades for themselves and immediate family members.

B. Personal Anecdotes and Hypocrisy

• “I have to get a business plan approved just to sell my handmade skateboards—but if I want to do insider trading, just become a member of Congress, and it rains on you.” – Tim Burchett [29:07]

C. Concrete Example: Conflict of Interest

• Burchett gives an example of military committee members buying missile defense stocks just before lucrative, no-bid contracts were awarded, driven by confidential policy decisions on Ukraine.
  • Quote: "...members of some of our military committees that had access to that information had bought stock...in the missile defense companies over just a couple of weeks prior to it." – Tim Burchett [30:51]

D. Will Real Reform Happen?

• Burchett is skeptical, blaming “gutless” parties for refusing to act.
  • “We can’t even get the bill in committee. Neither party. They are gutless. And it is shady as all get out.” – Tim Burchett [27:46]

E. Broader Analysis: Why Shutdowns Happen

• Clay asks how the current shutdown will end. Burchett thinks Schumer will only compromise when his poll numbers drop, motivated by fear of an AOC primary challenge:

  • Quote: “Schumer is looking in his rearview mirror right now and all he sees is AOC and that big grin of hers bearing down on him. He knows that she can raise millions overnight...” – Tim Burchett [32:42]

• Washington, he argues, is addicted to power and access—not real leadership or service.

  • “All [Schumer] is about is staying in power. That’s what Washington D.C. is truly about in leadership.” – Tim Burchett [33:45]

F. Lighter Side: Skateboard Hobby

• Clay finds out Burchett makes custom skateboards as a creative outlet (and to avoid needing a therapist).
  • “I always tell people when I work on these skateboards, it’s cheaper than a psychiatrist. It’s good therapy for me, but people want to buy them, so I’m trying to sell them.” – Tim Burchett [28:46]
  • Regulatory red tape prohibits him from selling until he jumps through multiple ethics hoops, which he contrasts sharply with Congress's lax rules on stock trading.

G. Final Fun: Sports & Politics

• Clay closes the interview with a running college football and VP selection joke, asking Burchett to compare two “bad decisions”—an amusing, spirited riff on college football and Vice-Presidential picks.

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4. Notable Quotes & Moments

• Clay on Broken Systems:

  “They’re both so fundamentally broken that you would actually do better if you just tore them both down and built a functional, rational health care system and tax policy.” [09:53]

• Burchett on Congressional Incentives:

  “If I want to do insider trading, just become a member of Congress, and it rains on you.” [29:07]

• Clay on Real-life Impact of Shutdown:

  “I suspect many of you will be like me and there will be absolutely no impact to your life whatsoever by the fact that the government has shut down.” [15:56]

• Burchett’s Call for Sacrifice:

  “I get sick and tired of hearing people in Congress say, oh, I’m sacrificing so much. Well, dad gammit, go home and let somebody else do it.” [27:51]

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5. Key Timestamps

• [02:27] – Opening monologue on the government shutdown
• [09:50] – Clay’s comparison of healthcare and tax code as failed systems
• [15:56] – Real impact of the shutdown explained
• [23:43] – Chuck Schumer shutdown hypocrisy; congressional accountability proposal
• [27:00] – Rep. Tim Burchett interview: Congressional stock trading
• [30:51] – Example of missile defense stock trading pre-announcement
• [32:42] – Political dynamics: Schumer, AOC, and shutdown endgame
• [35:14] – Burchett’s skateboard hobby and ethics red tape
• [38:18] – Lighthearted closing with sports and political humor

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6. Takeaways & Tone

This episode is both a sharp critique and a comedic exposé of Washington dysfunction. Clay Travis blends irreverence with outrage, while Rep. Tim Burchett brings blunt, plainspoken insight and color.
Main messages:

• The most impactful and expensive debates in DC are often over deeply broken policy foundations.
• Congressional self-interest (especially via stock trading) goes unchecked, to the detriment of public trust.
• The real costs of government dysfunction rarely hit lawmakers—in pay or in reform momentum.

Closing Mood:
Sarcastic, exasperated, and ultimately skeptical about meaningful change—but unafraid to call things as they are.

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Those interested in government reform, accountability, and the reality behind D.C. drama will find this episode sharp, revealing, and occasionally hilarious.

Transcript

[Tim Burchett]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Bobby Bones]

Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bones Show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio music festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. How did Ashes come together? Diplo?

[Diplo]

I pulled up real quick. He was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus and we had like three hours.

[Bailey Zimmerman]

It was really cool. He literally just like randomly showed up to my house and I'm like, oh, hey Diplo, what are you doing? He's like, I have a song that I want to show you. And I was like, okay.

[Bobby Bones]

You can listen to the full episode out now, wherever you get your podcast. And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible. Had a blast cruising around festival weekend in the all new Palisade hybrid.

[Clay Travis]

Now you can stream Fox News live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen. All from the FOX voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[Buck Sexton]

Start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox one we live for live streaming now. Let me be blunt. Gold is up around 40% this year. If a portion of your savings isn't diversified into gold, you're missing the boat. But it's not too late. I recently bought more gold from Birch Gold Group and you can get in the door now. Birch Gold will help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA in gold. You don't pay a dime out of pocket. Just text my name Buck to 989-898 and claim your free info kit. There's no obligation, just useful information. Text Buck to 989898 Take a deep.

[Clay Travis]

Dive into the stories making the news headlines across the world. The News Agents.

[Emily Maitlis]

We're not just here to tell you what's happening. But why? From me, Emily Maitlis and me, John Sopel with Global's award winning podcast the News Agents Dropping daily covering everything you need to know about politics and current.

[Clay Travis]

Affairs and the newsagents USA listening to.

[Emily Maitlis]

The news agents on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free Iheart app and search the news agents to start listening.

[Clay Travis]

Our freedoms matter and Pure Talk proudly supports them. That's why they sponsor our show so we can share the truth with you every day. Switch to Pure Talk and get great 5G coverage on an extremely reliable and secure network, all with plans from just 25 bucks a month. Stand with companies who share your values.

[Buck Sexton]

Visit PureTalk.com buck to switch to my wireless company. Save an additional 50% off your first month.

[Clay Travis]

PureTalk.com buck welcome in Wednesday edition, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton Show. I hope all of you are having fabulous weeks so far. We are here hopefully to make that a bit better than it otherwise would be. The government is shut down. What is the impact we will discuss. Buck is not shut down, but he is in Taiwan right now and he is continuing to to travel around over there. He'll be back Monday on the program, just FYI. So you have got me as you have on Monday and Tuesday, solo. For the rest of this week, we will take your calls, we will take your talk backs. We will dive into a variety of different pertinent subjects. We're going to be joined by Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett. He was listening to our discussion about why congressional stock trading is not banned and he has some strong thoughts on that. I'm sure. We'll talk about the shutdown as well. And then at 2 o', clock, our friend tutor Dixon, I just saw her last week speaking when I was speaking up in Michigan. She will join us. She's part of the Clay and Buck Podcast network. We had a really good time hanging out up at Mackinac island where the Michigan Republican Party was having their bi annual event at the Grand Hotel up there. So that was a lot of fun. And I was there last week. I think I was there last week. Everything runs together, but I guess it was two weeks ago. We will dive into a lot of topics, but off the top, the shutdown is underway. And I gotta be honest with y', all, you know, and I think Buck and I have talked about this quite a bit on the program. We are not of the opinion that the shutdown is ultimately that big of a story because eventually it will get resolved and we'll just add on more debt. But I do want to give you some historical analogy of where we are. Since 1976, the US government has shut down 20 times. So if you are out there and you're thinking this just feels like the same plot over and over again, Groundhog Day. In many ways it is. There were no shutdowns between 1995 and 2013, but three have occurred in the 12 years since. The longest one was in Trump 1.0, and that lasted 34 days back in 2018. Really, the essence of this shutdown, just so you know, is a battle over whether there should be an extension of COVID healthcare policies which were put in place by Democrats as part of their massive blockbuster out of control spending bills that they forced through in the COVID era. And the reason why this spending cost is up now is because they pegged it for a relatively short period of time so that it did not continue to cost money going forward. Now, this is me, and you have heard me go off on this quite a lot. The healthcare system in the United States is broken. Every single one of you listening to me right now is nodding along because it is just a broken marketplace. It makes no sense the way we have designed it. It is the most inefficient and the least effective part of, I would argue, the American economic system. It is anti capitalistic in many ways. It is profoundly broken. This spending package that the Democrats are insisting on continuing would add up over the next decade, according to the Wall Street Journal editorial page, to around $450 billion. And much of it is a subsidy to that is in a large extent unnecessary. And so this, let me give you a little bit of a background of exactly what's going on. Try to simplify this for you. So we begin with the foundational point that the health care system in this country is broken. And anybody who's ever had to get on the phone with their insurance provider knows exactly what I'm talking about. Studies suggest that one reason our healthcare system is broken, probably the primary one, is nobody has any idea what anything costs. And so you can't make a rational decision in your life about whether or not you need an MRI or whether you need a need to go to the hospital or not, because a lot of times you don't have the information as you're not a doctor as, as necessary. And what has happened is doctors wildly overprescribe because much of this is paid for by insurance. And patients to a large extent are not making choices that are rational. I'll give you an example that that happened recently in my family. I think it was a few years ago. My wife was in a car accident. She was fine. She was able to get to the hospital and make sure everything was okay without needing an ambulance. But the ambulance, the police officer told her, hey, the ambulance can take you, but it will end up costing you thousands and thousands of dollars. Or you can take yourself to the, to the hospital on your own. How many people actually make that choice? How many people actually in much of your life? And I've talked about this in my own life, when it came to having our kids, we Went to go tour the hospitals. Nobody could tell me what a delivery cost. Went to all these different hospitals. They're competing to see who has the fastest wifi. They're competing to see who has bamboo floors, who has the best flat screen televisions in the delivery area, what sort of security there is to make sure that your babies are safe. All those things are fine. They don't compete on price. I just said to each of them, hey, what's this gonna cost me? None of them could tell me. I mentioned to you, I think, last week, because I think it's a really instructive analogy, that I went and took one of our kids when he had strep throat. My wife took the other one. She was on the ball, knew where our healthcare card was, knew exactly who our healthcare provider was, turned it over when we checked in. When she checked in, I didn't have any idea where the healthcare card was. Somehow I couldn't find it in my wallet. I think we had switched. And my incompetence meant that we were billed as not having health care. And we paid a fraction of what my wife paid for the exact same medical treatment because we had health insurance. It's all broken. All of it is broken. And I, I could get on a. A pedestal and talk about this forever. The fact that we run health care as someone who has owned a business and has had to pay for healthcare, the fact that healthcare is connected to employment is crazy. Uh, I have been a freelancer who was not an employee. Um, and the fact that I had to go out into the healthcare marketplace and figure out what policy was the right one for me was incredibly complicated, too. Insurance is the only thing all of us have to pay for that we hope to never use. And the entire insurance industry is totally broken in conjunction with health care. We spend way more than any country in the world, and we do not get the best results. And the data reflects that. You could eliminate half of all medical treatments and there wouldn't be any change in life expectancy in this country. So my general proposition is I don't want to take anything. I know Tylenol was in the news. I get made fun of. I don't want to take any drugs. I don't want to take anything. I feel fortunate. I've been pretty healthy in the grand scheme of things, and I think that they wildly overprescribe and over medicate us as a whole. And yet simultaneously, the people who actually do need health care, the people who are actually sick, the people who are in desperate need of health care cannot get it. And the people who don't need it don't feel like we're getting any kind of rational health care that makes common sense. Ok? So that's where we really are and in essence, much like our tax code, because I would say, number one, broken system in America's healthcare, number two is tax code. They're both so fundamentally broken that you would actually do better if you just tore them both down and built a functional, rational health care system and tax policy. Instead, we have just continued to add layer upon layer of a broken foundation. And as a result, if you want to use sort of a building metaphor, we have constantly shifting in the winds, tall buildings with no structural stability, and they'll fall over all the time, and they make absolutely no sense. So. God. Hey, happy optimistic Wednesday, everybody. We've got two hugely broken systems that threaten the very fabric of our democratic republic because as we have an aging population, the cost that we're going to have to put out for healthcare is going to be borne increasingly by a dwindling number of young people in America. And the budget and the math just doesn't add up. So all of that is the foundational issue that is in play here. And one of the real unfortunate aspects of, of of our democratic republic is once something is created, once the government creates a project, it almost never leaves. It just goes on the ledger as a cost long into the future. And Democrats want to provide healthcare for as many people as possible, including many different illegal immigrants. And ultimately this is paid for by all of you out there that are working hard every single day, they're reaching into your pocket, they're taking your money out, and they're giving it to someone very often who is not even an American citizen. But this is all part and parcel of a broken health care system. Obamacare is collapsing, by the way, because it's predicated on giving insurance companies more money. And the entire concept of insurance is they have to get tons of people who are never going to need it in order to pay for the people that actually do need it. And young, healthy people, a lot of them just say, I don't need health insurance. And as a result, the insurance companies don't get that money. And as we have an aging society, the profit margins of insurance companies going down in the future. But I just come back to that analogy. I would be paying far less for health care if I had no insurance at all. So would most of you. That is a broken system. And my analogy there of walking in with a kid who has strep throat. One day after we got insurance for the kid who did have a strep throat, I paid. My wife knows the exact dollars because she's still fed up about it because my incompetence actually benefited the family because we had to pay less money, but we paid a fraction as uninsured walking into a clinic patients of what a healthcare insured family would pay. So it's not only that the system is broken, it's that people who are actually trying to do the right thing are getting gouged and people who have no interest whatsoever in buying in at all. They're essentially getting free health care. You pay a lot. Many people pay virtually nothing at all. Okay, so that is the essence of why we have a government shutdown. Because Democrats want to give more people who do not pay taxes free health care. And Republicans are saying, wait, that was a Covid era policy that we put in place. It should expire. Thankfully, now that Covid is over. So that is the essence of what is going on and we will see exactly how long it takes for this to be resolved. I suspect that many of you out there will be like me and there will be absolutely no impact to your life whatsoever by the fact that the government has shut down. In fact, a lot of you are saying, I wouldn't mind the government shutting down for a long time. First time I heard the stat, it didn't make a lot of sense. But when you dig into the details, unfortunately it's very true. Across our country, a home burglary happens every 30 seconds on average. That's a reminder to have the right tools to protect yourself and your family. And you can get them from our sponsor, Saber Spelled S a b r e website saberradio.com Sabre is the company we trust to provide our families with the best non lethal self protection tools. If saber makes it, it's inside the Travis home. Their pepper gel projectile launcher, shaped like a pistol or a rifle depending on the model, fires off a pepper gel projectile targeted goes a longer distance than you might think, making it effective against an intruder. Saber is also the number one pepper spray trusted by law enforcement. You can set yourself up with saber self protection tools today by going online to saberradio.com you'll save 15. There s a B R E radio dot com. You can also call 844-824 safe. That's 844-824 safe. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton mic drops. That never sounded so good. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bobby Bones]

Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bone Show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio music festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. Check this out. So how did Ashes come together, Diplo?

[Diplo]

Well, I kind of briefly met Bailey, I think at Morgan's show, one of them. And I think he's just the guy in Nashville. He's cool as hell and I had a new kind of sound I wanted to do and I think he's the one guy that could carry it. And I came to his house, I had a show, I pulled up real quick, he was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus and we had like three hours play the record for him. We kind of like got a scratch and then he handled on his own on the road.

[Bailey Zimmerman]

Yeah, it was really cool. He really just like rolled randomly showed up to my house and I'm like, oh, hey Diplo, what are you doing? He's like, I have a song that I want to show you. And I was like, okay. And then now we're here playing it live.

[Bobby Bones]

You can listen to the full episode out now, wherever you get your podcasts. And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible. Had a blast cruising around festival weekend in the all new Palisade hybrid.

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[Buck Sexton]

Let me be blunt, gold is up around 40% this year. That's not speculation, that's reality. If a portion of your savings isn't diversified into gold, you're missing the boat. Here are the facts. Inflation is still too high, our dollar still recovering and the federal government debt is not going down. This is why central banks are flocking to gold. They're the ones driving prices up to record highs. But it's not too late. I recently bought more gold from Birch Gold Group and you can get in the door now. Birch Gold will help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA. In gold you don't pay a dime out of pocket. Just text my name Buck to 989898 and claim your free info kit. There's no obligation, just useful information. The best indicator of the future is the past. Gold has historically been a safe haven. I've got gold in my home. Safe gold bars, gold coins. You can too my friends. Birch Gold Group is who you should contact. Birch Gold makes owning physical gold very easy. Text Buck to 989898 now to claim your free info kit on gold. Text Buck to 989898 Take a deep.

[Clay Travis]

Dive into the stories making the news headlines across the world.

[Emily Maitlis]

The News Agents we're not just here to tell you what's happening, but why? From me, Emily Maitlis and me, John Sopel with Global's award winning podcast the News Agents Dropping daily covering everything you need to know about politics and current.

[Clay Travis]

Affairs and The News Agents USA listening.

[Emily Maitlis]

To the News Agents on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the newsagents to start listening.

[Clay Travis]

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[Tim Burchett]

What if I persuaded my caucus to say, I'm going to shut the government down, I am going to not pay.

[Clay Travis]

Our bills unless I get my way.

[Tim Burchett]

It's a politics of idiocy, of confrontation, of paralysis. Shutting down government over a policy difference is self defeating. We can never hold American workers hostage again.

[Clay Travis]

While the CR bill is very bad.

[Tim Burchett]

The potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse. Therefore, I will vote to keep the government open and not shut it down.

[Clay Travis]

Ah, yes, Chuck Schumer so terrified of aoc, challenging him in a primary and probably beating him and ending his political career that he is now a huge hypocrite. That was Chuck Schumer about never shutting down the government over policy differences. And now Chuck Schumer has shut down the government over policy differences. I, I will tell you this too. When Buck and I started this show, I thought to myself, you know, I bet, well, there's a lot of congressmen and women and a lot of Senators who are super sharp, super smart. These are the people leading our nation. I'm going to be really impress by all of them. There's a lot of morons. I'm sorry. Many of y' all are much smarter than the people on Capitol Hill. You know it. But it's just pathetic to see. They're not leaders. They're cowards. And many of them are also morons. Moronic cowards is a bad combo. Protect your home with Leaffilter, America's number one gutter protection company. More than a million homeowners have installed this solution for you. That means you never have to clean out your gutters again. Right now you can get a free inspection, free estimate. Save up to 30% off your entire purchase at Leaffilter's website, leaffilter.com Clay protect your home from flooding, roof damage, rotting and foundation issues. Go online today to schedule your free gutter inspection. Get a no obligation re estimate in the process. A leaffilter trusted pro will clean out, realign, seal your gutters before installing leaffilters. Leaffilter also includes a lifetime no clogs guarantee. Over a million homeowners to date have tried trusted leaf filter. Join the [e-mail] Clay that's leaf filter.com Clay welcome back in Clay. Travis Buck Sexton show We are joined now by congressman Tim Burchett of the great state of Tennessee. Government is shut down. We're going to get into that. But Congressman, you wanted to come on because you're as fired up as Buck and I were about the amount of stock trading that some of your colleagues are engaged in. And not just stock trading. Some of the best timing that has ever existed in the history of the world. I mean, Nancy Pelosi is Warren Buffett level investing savant. Isn't this just. Even if it's not actually improper, it certainly has the appearance of impropriety, which I think demeans the overall value of, of trust in public servants. I think you probably agree it's kind of crazy, isn't it?

[Tim Burchett]

I agree 100% and thank you so much for letting me come on with you. It's an honor. Congress is broke and it is crooked as a dog's leg, brother. There is no other explanation. When a congressman can make 600% return on their investment and you know, and it day in and day out or 300 or 200 or whatever. I mean, just go on the unusual Wells website and read the top hundred. It's unbelievable. It is unfreaking believable. And people are making a living now of just following Nancy Pelosi stock trades. Yeah, Warren Buffett needs. Warren Buffett needs to go to the. Go to the front porch and sit there and play with his grandkids or something and just turn it over to Pelosi. It is unbelievable. And we can't even get the bill in committee. Neither party. They're gutless. They are gutless. And it is shady as all get out. And, you know, I have a. I had a $12,000 portfolio that my buddy Tommy Saller managed. Everybody needs a dad Gum mutual fund, and that's what we ought to do. And I get sick and tired of hearing people in Congress say, oh, I'm sacrificing so much. Well, dad Gamut, go home and let somebody else do it. That's not sacrificing so much. America is tired of this garbage. It is broke. You've called it out. We've called it out. And here's what's going to happen if we do get this bill to the floor. And Luna has represented Anaplane alone, and she's going to try to. If we don't get this bill out that everybody's been working on, which is a little too big and a little too beautiful, in my opinion, but still, she's going to take my bill, which is a clean bill, just says no stock trading of, you know, for members of Congress unless it's a mutual fund and your. And your siblings and your wife and spouse, whatever, And. And that's it. That should be it. You know, make the dad Gum sacrifice. It's crazy. You know, I make skateboards. It's. And I'm 61 years old, and I haven't broke my neck yet. I made one for Tulsi Gabbard a couple weeks ago, and she loved it. But, yeah, I always tell people when I work on these skateboards, it's cheaper than a psychiatrist. It's good therapy for me, but people want to buy them, so I'm trying to sell them. I went to the ethics people, and I literally have to get. I'm getting a business plan together. I've had to. I've had to hire an attorney if I want to sell skateboards. But dad Gamut, if I want to do insider trading, just become a member of Congress, and it rains on you.

[Clay Travis]

It is wild. And, you know, I was going off on this congressman because my thing is, I now have resources. I've been in a position where I had nothing and actually owed a lot more money. Go to law school. It's not cheap. I owed a lot more money than I had assets for a while. But just doing what you're saying is actually really good advice. Buy S&P 500 index funds, buy big groups of stocks. We're not even saying certainly that members of Congress can't own stocks. It's just don't trade individual stocks like this is. Having a blind trust in just having a large basket of mutual funds or index funds is actually really smart advice for anyone out there listening to us right now. And it's crazy to me that first of all your job should be pretty busy. The idea that you should be pulling out your phone and doing individual stock trades anyway, it feels kind. It just feels bonkers to me that this is going on.

[Tim Burchett]

Well, some of them do hundreds of hundreds. I know trade in a year. Can I give you one example that everybody can follow and could understand? During the Biden reign of terror when he decided to give our missile defense system to Ukraine, which I don't vote for any more. Any. I haven't voted for any dollars for Ukraine. I'm sick of that. But anyway, that's another story. Well, it turns out that members of some of our military committees that had access to that information had bought stock and guess what? The missile defense companies over just a couple of weeks prior to it. Now why do you say. What does that mean? Well, we had to replenish ours in a no bid multi billion dollar contract with these companies overnight. So you see their stock prices would. Would go up dramatically. And yet that's common practice in Congress. They can watch the trends. You're in the meetings, you know, you hear about COVID you hear. I was in the meeting, you heard about COVID And I remembered I had, I had bought Denny's stock and all the left accused me of some kind of insider trading. I left the dadgum meeting because the Democrats wouldn't let any of the. They had all their staff members in the seats and we couldn't get any seats. But anyway, I have, I've just come to the conclusion that, that we've got too much information and generally the vast majority of the people up there probably aren't doing something incredibly shady. But we know that this time in and time out when they just seem to just defy all logic, every odd. The odds of trading and every month they turn in these huge gains. And it's just baffling to me that we allow that to go on and we can sit here and tell the American public that nothing's going on.

[Clay Travis]

How does this shutdown end up ending, Congressman? Like, where does it go from here.

[Tim Burchett]

When Schumer sees his polling numbers declining? I think what's really behind it is, and this is my theory, I've put it on people and they, they've agreed with me. Schumer is looking in his rearview mirror right now and all he sees is AOC and that big grin of hers bearing down on him. He knows that she can raise millions of dollars overnight. Just that was me snapping my fingers overnight. Hollywood, all the elitist, they'll be throwing the money at her. And all he's doing is watching that New York mayors race where literally a Marxist communist will win probably unless something lets God shines favor upon the poor folks in New York that don't know any better.

[Clay Travis]

By the way, God shining favor on the poor folks of New York actually means Andrew Cuomo should win. That's how bad of a situation they're in.

[Tim Burchett]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's, that's. You're very accurate. You're very accurate. But the truth is, is that Schumer is watching his rearview mirror. He knows his polling numbers. And the reality is he needs to go back to flipping raw cheeseburgers on his grill and playing with his grandkids, if he has any, and get out of this thing. He has left. You know, he was, he wasn't a moderate, but he was just an old classic liberal. And now he's just turned far left as you can get. And all it is, is about staying in power. And that's what Washington D.C. is truly about in leadership. They love the suburbans. They love the, you know, four deep with security. They love the spotlight. They love never standing in line. They love the security. They love the access and yes, the access to the inside information. And, and when they're out of leadership, it's gone. It's gone. All that is gone. And they can't stand it. And his time has come and gone like a whole lot of them that need to be out of there. But he is. That is why he's going to wreck this country, is just to keep himself empowered. And Hakeem, you know, he's out there talking about something. Nobody's paying any attention to him. He's saying how the House Republicans are shutting government down. We voted to keep the dadgum government open. Only one Democrat voted with us. And you know, the whole thing is just, it's so obvious. And as soon as his polling data flips on him, he'll be at the table with Trump, but he won't be till then.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. How did you get into skateboarding and making skateboards?

[Tim Burchett]

Well, I didn't smoke pot and I didn't drink. Although since I've become a member of Congress, I've seriously considered taking on crack cocaine just to take off the edges. But, but no, I just always liked it. I like, I like the physics of it. And, and I'm an inventor. I always just make stuff. And I had a little piece of plywood and some old skates and I put it on there and, and I would just. And that's. Those are death traps, you know. And, and I never. And you know, my dad would challenge me if you can get to the end, see if you get to the end of the driveway or something. And you know, eventually I would. And then. And so I, and I'm just. I've always been fascinated by bamboo. It's poor man's carbon fiber. I read an article on it in 1980 in a national Geographic and so I started this. I've always done stuff and tinkered and now that I've got some equipment to do it in, my major was technological adult education. Certified to teach shop. Basically. I can weld and build engines and I can burn your house down if you want me to wire it. I'm not very good at that, but I can do all those things. I can do casting and, and just all the stuff around the machine shop, but I just like it. And then I'm a capitalist at heart. And I read somewhere that there's a. I think it's a five billion dollar industry in this country. Now I don't want all five billion of it, but I wouldn't mind shaving a little off the edge. And so, you know, I make it out of recycled stuff mainly cause I'm cheap. I guess I'm fiscally smart, but you know, I use old pallets and I've been using banana fibers off of banana plants that I've grown. And I'm just all over about it. I just. And skateboards, something you can make small and you can transport easily. And kids dig it. When you see a 61 year old out there with his vans on, skateboarding on a board that he built himself, it's kind of cool and it's good to bring up conversation and you know, and I like it. And again, as I say, it's cheaper than a psychiatrist.

[Clay Travis]

We're talking to Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. All right, I got the ultimate controversial question for you. Here to close up the interview, Congressman. All right. Better decision. Who made the better decision? Who made the worst decision? I know you are a big University of Tennessee football fan, Nico. Going to ucla, transferring from Tennessee, going to ucla. UCLA is now lost every game. His head coach has been fired. His offensive coordinator has been fired. Sorry. UCLA fans out there catching astray. You didn't expect this. Okay, Nico, to ucla. That choice or Kamala Harris picking Tim Walls as her vice president. Who made the worst decision? Who made the better decision? You're on the floor.

[Tim Burchett]

I'm going to say Kamala because she was a train wreck anyway, and she just picked a bigger train wreck. I almost, you know, they. They always pick somebody who. I always feel like somebody that's not going to overshadow them a lot of times. And. But I. J.D. vance, as we say in East Tennessee, he kicks some ass. I like JD he's strong, and he's a. He's kind of a buddy of mine, I guess. But, yeah, that gum. Well, they call him Tampon Tim or something. I don't like saying it, but he is just a. He's a knucklehead, man. He just can't get out of his own way. I don't know who he was running against to get elected governor out there, but that gum must have been a convicted felon getting ready to go to the electric chair or something. I'm not sure the Republicans put up against him, but, yeah, Nico, I mean, he just took some bad advice, but he's. He'll get a little bit of a paycheck, and if he's. He can just get all his groupies and family away from him, he might be okay. He might be able to salvage something in the Canadian Football League, but, yeah, that's where I'm at. Before I get myself in any more trouble.

[Clay Travis]

Well, I'm already thinking the headline for the New York Times is going to be, tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett praises Nico for his move to ucla. Hey, this is. This is a lot of fun. And I would argue I love the Tim Walls. You may have seen the meme Congressman, where it shows Barack Obama and he says, I need someone dumber than me as VP Joe Biden. Joe Biden says, I need someone dumber than me as VP Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris says, I need someone dumber than me, and it's Tim Walls. There's a lot of truth to that. We have seen a rapid descent in intelligence across the board there. We appreciate the time. If people want to get the skateboard by the way, where do they go?

[Tim Burchett]

Well, nowhere yet.

[Clay Travis]

Okay.

[Tim Burchett]

Got a business plan. I got to put it on ethics. And. And so they can approve it or not.

[Clay Travis]

Hey, if Hunter can sell paintings for $500,000, I would think you could probably sell a skateboard for a couple of hundred bucks. But what do I know?

[Tim Burchett]

Well, the Biden family couldn't spell ethics, so I got. I just want to be the. The man my, my little girl thinks I am. So I'm going to try to follow the rules here. I get my lawyers involved, and we'll get it all worked out eventually.

[Clay Travis]

Hopefully at the end of the year.

[Tim Burchett]

Hopefully in time for Christmas.

[Clay Travis]

That's the goal. Just in time for Christmas. Hey, we appreciate the time. Go big Orange, and we'll talk to you again soon.

[Tim Burchett]

Thank you, brother. Appreciate y'. All.

[Clay Travis]

Man, he is great. Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee, let me give you a good news. Gold's up 40% this year. Now, the downside is that's because people are like, I don't know if I have a lot of faith in the US Dollar right now because government's spending so much money, inflation has skyrocketed, and still it's kind of lingering around out there. And a lot of people have decided, as has been the case for centuries, that gold is a safe repository for your money because it's always going to have value. And if you've never done it before, Birch Gold can help you convert an existing IRA or a 401k into a tax sheltered IRA. In gold, you don't pay a dime out of pocket. This is just your opportunity to invest in gold, physical, tangible asset that has held value for centuries. The best indicator of the future is the past. And gold has always been a safe haven. If you want to learn more about whether gold can make sense for you, text Clay to 98-98-98 right now to claim your free info kit on gold. That's clay to 9898 98. Protect your future today with Birch Gold. Want to be in the know when you're on The Go the Team 47 podcast Trump highlights from the week, Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bobby Bones]

Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bone Show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio music festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. Check this out. So how did Ashes come together, Diplo?

[Diplo]

Well, I kind of briefly met Bailey, I think at Morgan's show, one of them. And I think he's just the guy in Nashville. He's cool as hell. And I had a new kind of sound I wanted to do and I think he's the one guy that could carry it. And I came to his house, I had a show, I pulled up real quick, he was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus. And we had like three hours play the record for him. We kind of like got a scratch and then he handled it on his.

[Tim Burchett]

Own on the road.

[Bailey Zimmerman]

Yeah, it was really cool. He really just like randomly showed up to my house. I'm like, oh, hey Diplo, what are you doing? He's like, I have a song that I want to show you. And I was like, okay. And then now we're here playing it live.

[Bobby Bones]

You can listen to the full episode out now, wherever you get your podcast. And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible. Had a blast cruising around festival weekend in the all new Palisade hybrid.

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[Buck Sexton]

Let me be blunt. Gold is up around 40% this year. That's not speculation, that's reality. If a portion of your savings isn't diversified into gold, you're missing the boat. Here are the facts. Inflation is still too high, our dollar's still recovering, and the federal government debt is not going down. This is why central banks are flocking to gold. They're the ones driving prices up to record highs. But it's not too late. I recently bought more gold from Birch Gold Group and you can get in the door now. Birch Gold will help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA. In gold you don't pay a dime out of pocket. Just text my name Buck to 989898 and claim your free info kit. There's no obligation, just useful information. The best indicator of the future is the past. Gold has historically been a safe haven. I've got gold in my home. Safe gold bars, gold coins. You can too my friends. Birch Gold Group is who you should contact. Birch Gold makes owning physical gold very easy. Text Buck to 98-98-98 now to claim your free info kit on gold text buck to 989898 take a deep dive.

[Clay Travis]

Into the stories making the news headlines across the world.

[Emily Maitlis]

The News Agents we're not just here to tell you what's happening, but why? From me, Emily Maitlis and me, John Sopel with Global's award winning podcast the News Agents Dropping daily covering everything you need to know about politics and current.

[Clay Travis]

Affairs and the newsagents USA listening to.

[Emily Maitlis]

The newsagents on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the newsagents to start listening Grand Canyon.

[Clay Travis]

University, a private Christian university in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona, believes we're endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. GCU believes in equal opportunity and the American Dream starts with purpose. GCU equips you to serve others in ways that promote human flourishing and create a ripple effect of transformation for generations to come. By honoring your career, calling you impact your family, your friends and your community, you can change the world for good by putting others before yourself to glorify God. Whether your pursuit involves a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree, GCU's online on campus and hybrid learning environments are designed to help you achieve your unique academic, personal and professional goals. With over 340 academic programs as of September 2024, GCU meets you where you are and provides a path to help you fulfill your dreams. The pursuit to serve others is yours. Let it flourish. Find your purpose at Grand Canyon University. Private christian affordable visit gcu.edu welcome back in Clay Travis Buck Sexton Show. Appreciate all of you hanging out with us. Doug in West Lawson Doug, I'm sorry, if you're a UCLA guy, that was a fabulous question. I thought the congressman tried to dodge it a little bit there and I know he enjoyed it. He's a huge college football fan. But what do you got to tell us about ucla?

[Tim Burchett]

Well, not only was Sick. Coach Foster, the head coach fire and the defensive coordinator parted ways of the team. The offensive coordinator yesterday, the defensive coordinator left. So it has not been a good season. And the the quarterback from Appalachian State transferred to UCLA for 1/4 and then he's now the quarterback at Tennessee.

[Clay Travis]

Oh, yeah. And he's leading the entire SEC in passing yards. So I'm sorry for Bruins. Thank you for the call. By the way, from west la. I'm sorry for everybody out there in. In Westwood, all of the UCLA fans. This is a dumpster fire of epic proportions. So it's right up there with Kamala picking Tim Walls. I mean, it is. It is a tough one to decide who made the worst decision. When we come back. I think I mentioned this a little bit yesterday, but I want to really kind of dive into it because I do think it's incredibly impactful in the larger culture. Remember that Sydney Sweeney jeans ad? Yeah. American Eagle is printing money as a result. I'll tell you why it matters. Next.

[Bobby Bones]

Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bones show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio music festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. How did Ashes come together, Diplo?

[Diplo]

I pulled up real quick. He was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus and we had like three hours.

[Bailey Zimmerman]

It was really cool. He literally just like randomly showed up to my house and I'm like, oh, hey Diplo, what are you doing? He's like, I have a song that I want to show you. And I was like, okay, you can.

[Bobby Bones]

Listen to the full episode out now, wherever you get your podcast. And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible. Had a blast cruising around festival weekend in the all new Palisade hybrid.

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[Buck Sexton]

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[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

Rapid Radios built for the unexpected, ready for anything, because staying in touch shouldn't depend on luck.

[Clay Travis]

How lucky are you?

[Buck Sexton]

Visit rapidradios.com today.

[Clay Travis]

Take a deep dive into the stories making the news headlines across the world.

[Emily Maitlis]

The News Agents we're not just here to tell you what's happening, but why. From me, Emily Maitlis and me, John Sopel with Global's award winning podcast the News Agents Dropping daily covering everything you need to know about politics and current.

[Clay Travis]

Affairs and The News Agents USA.

[Emily Maitlis]

Listening to the Newsagents on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the news agents to start listening now.

[Clay Travis]

You can stream Fox News live on the Fox One app. Stay on top of breaking news and the biggest stories live as they happen, all from the Fox voices you trust, bringing you the coverage you won't find anywhere else.

[Buck Sexton]

Start your 7 day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox one we live for live streaming now.

[Tim Burchett]

This is an I Heart podcast.