Inside Capitol Hill: Katelyn Bledsoe & Lauren Stewart on Policy Wins and Grassroots Power

year, you're going to legislations going to need past two different lanes, whether reconciliation or through by parts of the support.

“So we're really hopeful that there's going to be a big push and that will get something done by August.”

Permitting reform is one of those areas that when done productively, it covers a number of industries, specifically in the aspect of lowering cost, so it's why it's so encouraging to hear a member that this is a priority for them, and of course AFP, and all of us on the hill, it really cuts across all issues, once you do it right, but it also cuts across once it's been done wrong.

And that's where it's experiencing right now. Yeah, I mean, we've had a number of guests here. Some elected officials, others just, you know, producers, and just talked about permitting reform, and man, it just seems like one of those no-brainers. I mean, I know that there's a ton of opposition, but it just seems like something that we need

to be able to do for a national security and bring down costs. But hopefully we'll get there. Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary things when they have the freedom and opportunity to do so. This is American Potential.

Everyone, welcome to the American Potential podcast I'm your host, David Fram. Today we're going to cover a few topics. By talking to some members of our AFP team who had the opportunity to sit down with a number of members of Congress, we're talking about the working family tax cut act that keeps taxes from going up.

We'll get into why some members of Congress ever stepped into the bloke or arena of the first place. We'll even have a little fun hearing about which founding fathers members of Congress would most like to sit down and talk with. Our guests today got to talk with members of Congress during the Republican study committee

is very first, media row, in Washington DC, and we're bringing those conversations straight

to you. I want to welcome Lauren Stewart, who is a senior federal affairs liaison for America's prosperity and Caitlyn Bledso, who is a vice president of external affairs for America's prosperity also. Caitlyn Lauren, thanks so much for joining us.

Happy to be here. Yeah, thrilled for you to join us, and there's our first time having you guys kind of, you guys going out on behalf of the podcast and kind of mining for stories and talking to folks on Capitol Hill. It's hopefully something we're going to be able to do a lot more of, and I know we're

all super excited about it and hopefully our audience will be excited to get those real time insights. Before we kind of get into what you all discussed, maybe talk to me about what the event was that the Republican study committee had and you know what, maybe a little background on the study committee.

Yeah, so this was really exciting that we got to participate. We were one of the only outside groups who were invited to go to the new media row.

It was their third time that they were hosting it and why this is so valuable is because

they're inviting new types of media.

“So I think podcast think content creators and we pitched to them that it makes a lot of”

sense to have us there because we speak on the behalf of the grassroots in Washington. And we want to be able to meet with as many members as possible and share their stories and amplify them. And they said, sure, come on over. And we were able to conduct 14 interviews between Lauren and I.

Wow. We had a blast into your point. We talked about a robust set of issues from working family tax cuts, A250 reconciliation. You name it, we talked about it. And honestly, it was just so much fun to be able to talk to the members and have a great

time. But it's really special what the RSE is doing and we were lucky to be a part of it. That's fabulous. Yeah, I know we had a chairman of the RSE August fluger on not earlier in the year. And they've been a longstanding champion of conservative principles and I appreciate

the work that they've done a lot of principal folks there. But hopefully we'll be able to bring to everybody and be reflected in the conversations. So Laura, to start off with, you got to talk to Congressman Stuttspin about some of that, you know, kind of really fun that he's part of what was, what was the conversation about

“I think it's coming up in June and what is he practicing for?”

Yes. So summertime here in DC, a good number of members of both the House and Senate will be waking up at the crack of dawn to practice with their respective teams for the congressional baseball game. This is a longstanding tradition in Washington, DC.

It's one of the biggest events for folks on the hill, stakeholders and really just anyone. It's a really historic special event where both sides come together, they compete against each other. They're a Republican team and the Democrat team to play a baseball game at National Stadium.

So the Congressman was very excited with a little tired from continued practices that, you know, like I said, happened very early in the morning.

AFP the last several years has sponsored that event and it's just such an amazing and fun

thing to be a part of. So a very cool kind of side to what being a member of Congress can entail, right? You might not have a lot of baseball team, but I will say there are tryouts and there are people who, you know, if you don't make the cut, you can be on the team and ride the bed short.

You can't make the team. So it's not really special night in Washington.

really get time.

Yeah, well, let's hear from the Congressman about the baseball game.

I played right field last year, that's where I started and I can kind of play anywhere.

“So that's what they coach, Coach Williams calls me utility and so I can catch.”

I probably can't pitch as well as I used to. The right arm would have right shoulders is in as strong as it used to, but we've got a great team. We've got some good hitters and, you know, we sell out the stadium, they're at National Sports Park, it's all for the Boys and Girls Club here in DC, so it's for a great cause,

but I'm going to say we're going to win by 10 runs this year. Wow, big win. Speaking of, speaking of big wins, you guys also talked about one of the great things that passed this past year that if he was super involved in and that the Republican members of the Congress really were champions up, which was the working family's tax cut.

And that was such a big part of our work and really moving the pro growth agenda for it in Congress, he'll share maybe a little bit about what that bill did before we look at our clip. Yes, I mean, what did that bill not do? It was the one big, beautiful bill now known as the working family tax cuts, but the one big

thing that it did that was our biggest priority was it prevented the largest tax increase in the country or in the history of the country. We saw this a huge on tax day. We learned from constituents and activists about the money that was saved and some of the people are just refunds they've ever had.

It also helped working families when it came to things like no tax on tips. It cut a lot of waste fraud and abuse especially around energy and health care and also helped dramatically secure our border. Yeah, this was a huge momentous piece of legislation that really did put the power back into the pocketbooks and just the realm of American families.

It was a huge win, we have seen tax returns as Caitlin said, better than ever for some people and anytime that more American families can keep more of their hard own money is a huge, huge win and this was colossal for that. Yeah. All right, let's hear from some members of Congress.

“Well, I think there's no question that the federal government was reaching into people's”

pockets way more than us citizens would prefer. And I think the great thing out of the working families tax cuts act is that we basically said, look, the government's going to come to here and it's going to come no further. And it's going to come no further in your personal lives, it's going to come no further in your businesses.

We're going to set the conditions for you to achieve economic success in this country. One of the things that we saw, we on Tyx Day, was one of my highlights when we actually had a lady from our district, Courtney, that came from catchy and incorporated.

And because of the working families tax cut, she was able to actually have $1.1 million

of new equipment that she was able to purchase over $400,000 of new technology that she was able to purchase, enabling our small business owners to be able to get those kind of investments in their businesses as a result of what we did in the working families tax cut, that's a win for everybody. The note tax on tips, people are thrilled with that.

And again, it's one thing to pass these policies and implement the legislation. It's another thing when they come to do and people can actually see the results of what we did. I come from a manufacturing district in North East Indiana and so a lot of hourly labor and when they get to work overtime and they get to keep that money, that's going to help

them pay down a truck loan or it's going to help them pay down car loan or maybe they're going to take their kids out for a special treat. Really, it's meaningful money. We're seeing this wealth gap and a lot of people are being left behind because of the inflation from the Biden administration that just ate up their budget.

In fact, that we extended permanently the estate tax exemption on farms at $15 million means that we can transition the family farm from one generation to the next without the burden and some taxes that could make everything go right. But the child tax credit in there, the note tax on tips, the note tax on social security and all of that has been really received well by the people in Nebraska's first district.

Well, that's great. I love to hear so many members have played such a role in getting that passed. But besides tax breaks, permitting reform is something that really can help American and it's going forward.

Here's what some members had to say about it at the, at the media row.

“Permitting reform is so important, right?”

There's so many projects that are languishing out there takes forever to do them and it's government imposed bureaucracy that stops it from happening. So we've just got to do a better job permitting reform, which I serve on the House National Resources Committee, that came through our committee, we've got to get that done. That endangered species act reform so important to get both of those things going.

It's at the forefront of where we are in energy and commerce committee. We are all for permitting reform. We were close to getting it signed, sealed and delivered and buttoned up and then the shutdown

So we're, it's at the forefront of our discussions, certainly something that we want to get

done sooner and later. We know the White House is on board with it as well. So Lauren, Caitlin, what are you guys hearing from members about permitting reform? We're hearing a lot right now, which is really exciting. This is a key priority for us.

We're hearing a lot of conversations across the aisle and as we know right now going into a midterm year, you're going to legislations going to be passed to different lanes, whether reconciliation or through bipartisan support. So we're really hopeful that there's going to be a big push and that will get something done by August.

permitting reform is one of those areas that when done productively, it covers a number of industries, specifically in the aspect of lowering costs. So it's why it's so encouraging to hear members that this is a priority for them.

And of course, AFP, and all of us on the hill, it really cuts across all issues, once

you do it right.

“But it also cuts across once it's been done wrong and that's what we're experiencing”

right now. Yeah, I mean, we've had a number of guests here. Some elected officials, others just, you know, producers, and to talk about permitting reform, and man, it just seems like one of those no brainers. I mean, I know that there's often a tons of opposition, but it just seems like something

that we need to be able to do for our national security and bring down costs, but hopefully they'll get there. So I understand you guys talked about grassroots and the importance that that plays in the political process. And before we hear from some of the members, what did you all hear from them about grassroots?

Well, this isn't my favorite topic to talk about ever, especially with members.

You know, we heard a lot about just the importance and how critical it is, ranging from

someone, you know, taking one night out of their entire year to go make phone calls and an activist who, like, a lot of our activists spend multiple nights a week and, and their personal time to get these members to Washington to help champion these policies. So hearing directly from them, especially some of them, who have inherently, they're here because of our activists and their championing issues that our activists are super

supportive of. They know what it means when AFP puts their name behind them and our policies. And it's exciting to hear directly from them that impact that we make.

“Look, the grassroots is AFP's secret sauce.”

And every single member that we've talked to that we continue to talk to on Capitol Hill, know that in terms of policies we're supporting, but they also bounce ideas off of what our, your activists and my community here telling you about this. It truly is the secret sauce, which makes us such an impactful and health organization to partner with for members.

So that was something we consistently heard over and over again, from everyone we talked to that day. That's right. All right. Let's hear what the members had to say.

Back in my state representative days is is getting people on more than and them having the influence on on different members from where they live. I've passed two pieces of legislation from the House floor here. I must admit, I didn't, it wasn't grassroots, kind of directed or back to be well, but certainly a number of times in the Texas State Legislature had the backing of many grassroots

organizations. And that means the world to remember no question about it. If you're not talking to the grassroots, you don't know who you're representing. And so a lot of times, they vote for you based on your background, your policy positions. But the end of the day, they want you to represent.

And that grassroots and that swells up and people say, hey, you know, it's getting to expensive to afford a house or keeping too much of my money in taxes or I don't have access to this that or the other, that groundswell of grassroots is what gets that message out there. And so I'm really, really happy that there are organizations that do that, to get that message out there, not just, you know, traditional through media, but not indoors talking to people

making phone calls, it's, it's awesome. The great place is to volunteer. And one of the greatest places that you can volunteer is either directly for a campaign or go find an organization like yourselves, like AFP because they've already got an infrastructure in place that can plug you in to where you can actually have the greatest impact.

Probably more so than any other direction you could possibly go. And so there's unlimited opportunities for folks to pitch in and, you know, give a hand towards getting good principal members elected to Congress or state government or local government wherever it might be. There's so many opportunities and we need to help.

Every generation has a responsibility to do its part to improve upon what the previous generation did. And we've had some generations that have lived up to that magnificently, but we've had some that didn't.

“And I think we're at a crossroads in our history.”

American people need realize they've got very clear choices. And the ability to make a good choice is directly related to who you affiliate with, where you get your information from. Well, you're willing to do it to grassroots level because what you might think is as an extraordinary neighbor might impact that other neighbor.

And you've got to be in a position to do that because our form of government, what we've

become the epitome of liberty to the rest of the world. And it all depends on what East generation decides in terms of governance. Who they want to send to Washington or to their state capitals or to the city council. It's a participatory process. And it might mean running for office, it might mean supporting somebody, run for office.

It might just be talking intelligently about these with other people who will then go out and make a good decision in the voting group. Well, in order for folks to get involved in the grassroots, they have to take their first one small step. And obviously on this show, we've been talking a lot about people's one small step in taking

that step in grassroots involvement in other ways. You all got to ask members of Congress about their one small step. And here's some clips about what they shared. For me, really, it was my faith.

I just felt called to do it because I really, like, I always, I told a party, no, years

ago. I'm like, I just don't feel like I want to be in politics, but you know, over time we felt

“ready to do it, we got into fight and honestly, just been a blessing to be here.”

It's been tough at times, but at the same time, you feel like you're making a difference. And that just kind of keeps moving us down the road to hopefully a successful career. You know, I came from nothing. And I was successful because I have a strong work ethic. And I have the opportunities that are unique to the United States of America.

And it's important to me to make sure that another kid growing up like I did, an unplanned pregnancy of an unwed teenage mom. Wow. Could have the success that I did. And I think that in some ways we've been squandering that and we need to, we need to

clot back. We need to make sure that kids have that same opportunity so that someone coming from nothing can be successful. Well, I've been a pastor for 37 years, so stepping into this arena was a bit different. But yet not as much as you would think that just to be honest with you, because a lot of

it is trying to build consensus, a lot of it is working with people, a lot of it is being a leader and demonstrating leadership, a lot of it is casting vision, and people getting behind a vision and move it forward.

“And I think that all of that ties into it.”

And so this has been something I got into it because I recognize that there was a great need in the country. I have 11 grandchildren and the oldest one is about to turn 11 all the way down to one that was born in December. So, thank you.

So, when I look at those 11 grandchildren, I want them to be able to have the kind of America that I was blessed to not only grow up in myself, but to raise my three children in, and I want them to have the opportunity to do the kind of things that we were able to do. I work up here a lot, I knew what this place was like and really didn't want to part of it.

And when I tell my wife that I decided not to run, I thought she'd be relieved because she didn't want any part of politics. And she looked at me and said, three years, I've heard you say what's wrong with the country. As you can't get good people to run, she said, I've even heard you compare it to having

go to war. And then she said, how can you expect somebody else to go with people? Wow. And she said, "I know this is not what we want, but I don't think it's about what we want. I think it's about what we're supposed to do."

And she said, "I think we're supposed to do this." So, I really had no choice. I mean, when you're wife throws your words back in your face, you've got to go with it. And wife knows best.

Yeah. You know, what they say behind every great man's a great woman and a surprise mother and all. I loved that conversation with the congressman and I knew we were joking at the end. But I actually got goosebumps when he was walking me through his story because you could

tell, talking to him, the emotion that came from it and he was just so serious about it. And it really did encapsulate the whole point of the one small step campaign. It was really special. Yeah, that's fabulous. I love hearing from elected officials.

You know, we think of them as people who are up there doing their thing. And a lot of them have really compelling stories as to why they got involved.

“So, I mean, why do you guys think it's important for people to take their one small step?”

This is the most, one of the most important campaigns I think AFP has ever done.

It's reminding people that being involved civically is really part of being an American and we are so blessed to have that right. And this campaign, the one small step campaign, is truly offering people the opportunity in various ways to do that in tandem with this historic celebration. I mean, I look back to my one small step and it was simply, you know, I was looking for a job

after college and win in volunteer with my local delegate. And then that turned into what has now been a 15 year in politics and I've never looked back. But it really is that one small step that gets you in the door and you just never know where it's going to take you.

And I think that's incredibly special and wildly important in today's society. To Caitlin's point, you never know what your one small step is or is in or whether or not you think you're getting involved in something for me. It was in college being invited to join a debate team that really at the time didn't have

Like, I am Target A in terms of some of the debates that they were having, but that just lit a fire in me of A being able to communicate with people I disagreed with in an effective and productive way, which AFP does at the grassroots level but also on Capitol Hill, you know, where a principal based organization and good policy, good principles yield good politics.

But that was where it started for me and ended up tacking out another major in political science before I graduated from college and somewhere with Caitlin, a 15 plus year career

“in politics and in these things, I think that when someone feels a fire about any which thing,”

whether it's your diapers cost too much or the way something's happening at school is something that doesn't align with your values, that can be and should be a signal to you to get involved in any way you can, let your advocacy meet you where you're at to be able to make some sort of difference. Instead of just having that inkling in the back of your head, this really bothers me and

I'm not sure what to do about it. It's what all of the founding fathers did, think of their one small step, right? It didn't start with a revolutionary war, right? It started with being really annoyed about the taxes on teeth, right, and different things of that nature.

So you never know what that could or could not turn into and it is a really special campaign

that AFP is driving, especially on America's 250th birthday year. Yeah. Well, I think this, I can't really agree with what you had to say, I think this is one of the most impactful and important campaigns that Mary's Prosperity has ever done.

“I actually, one of the reasons I think it's so tied to the core of who we believe AFP is and”

how we make a difference in the public policy arena, so I'm so excited for it, we've been so blessed to feature so many stories and tell them, and they're just like nurturing for the soul, too. It's like these people have done these amazing things by taking one small step, it's just really cool and I love being able to listen to the story and help them tell it.

So we're going to wrap up with one fun question that you guys, you guys asked people and that was, for these member of Congress, if they could talk to a founding father, who would it be?

So here's what they had to say.

You know, probably Thomas Jefferson, just, you know, at his age at which he wrote the Declaration of Independence, it's staggering to me who he was, what he believed and how much he defended, you know, for someone who really wasn't for most of his life, even believed in God, a defender of religious freedom and things like that. He's very fascinating to me.

They're all fascinating to me, but thank God that they all got together and gravy is this great country. I would love to sit down with John Adams. I've just been fascinated at his story and just the leadership role that he played, so vital, and I would be fascinated to sit down with him, and there's several of them, it's

hard to even pick just one. If George Washington hadn't commanded the continent of army, it would have fell apart. If George Washington hadn't been at the Constitution Convention, when they wrote that article article two on the executive branch, they really looked at him, so you know what, there's only one person in this country that can pull this thing off and make it work, and it's

him, his integrity, and making sure that he could advance, and he set the tone of what that presidency was going to look like. So without him, we wouldn't have the country today. He was the one that kept the army together. He was the one that was at that convention.

Something that really resonates throughout history is why they rebelled from playing in

the first place, which is this little far off elite thought that they knew better than

those who were here, and that's still the same exact fight that we're having in Washington today. It is something that's timeless. It's something that is just built into humanity, when we get power, we abuse it, and having that limited government, having those checks on government, having a, you know,

a principally small government that doesn't continue just to grow exponentially, that actually sits back and allows its citizens to do the leading. Yeah. That's something that we're still fighting for today, as we try to get to a more perfect union.

Do I have a favorite?

“Oh my gosh, I think I would be disown if I didn't say this.”

My napped slowly has to be James Madison, for a few reasons, one, I mean, the outside's role he played in drafting the constitution, the Bill of Rights, but also he is very much that inspiration of my college experience. James Madison University, Go Doots, very proud of love lie. No, so we spent a lot of time at JME talking about him and the contributions and that he

made to this country, and it's just, it's pretty phenomenal. So it absolutely have to be a Mr. Madison. Great. Similarly, I would be remiss if I didn't pick John Adams, he's a Boston guy. No doubt would have been a Red Soxon Patriot's fan, so he would have been aligned there,

There was no kind of delicate or, you know, kind of tactful persuasiveness in the way

that he sold the need for us to be independent. And I was recently a Ford Stater, seeing the play 1776 as a part of the A250 celebrations here, and you see highly recommend it. And one of the songs that they do is sit down, John, because he was just so, so on and aggressive about driving that we'd needed independence and that all of the other, all

the other folks there in Philadelphia needed to get on board. So he's definitely my favorite for a number of reasons as a Boston girl, but also just with his complete clear eyes from the very beginning that this was going to be an absolutely has a live to be the single best human experiment in the history of the world. That's fabulous.

So just as you wrap up, any, this was our first experiment, and you guys going out, collecting these stories from members, had you feel about these conversations or anything you took away from it or anything you're excited about, you know, us continuing to, you know, leverage you guys there on the hill to gather these stories.

“Yeah, this was so much fun, and huge thanks to the RSC for having us, and I think the biggest”

takeaway for me was these, the members that are here in Washington, I know there's a lot of news and a lot of negativity, they are so hungry to make a difference, and they do here from their constituents, and they do want to address things like cost of living.

We know that's critical for their folks back home and across the country, and I think being

able to hear from them directly in this environment, it was a little more low key, a little more informal. It's also just fun, you know, like the questions about the founding fathers, you know, sometimes I'm running different environments, we don't get to ask questions like that, but I think the biggest key takeaway is when the, the want to partner with AFP to get key policies done,

but to just that absolute motivation to, to be here and represent their constituents. It was just an amazing thing to also showcase AFP's broad capabilities across grassroots in this new media role, I mean, many members, most members on the hill, no of AFP, and just kind of seeing their faces when we were all set up like, oh AFP, I want to go over and and talk with them was really, really cool.

They see it as such an opportunity to share their story, how often does a congressman

“get to talk about how he was led to his position in Washington?”

They're just getting drilled on things, you know, topics, hot topics of the day, click bait, things of that nature, so it really was special to kind of get that outside perspective

and personal perspectives from them, talking about the things that are most important

to their voters, not most important to things that you see in the headlines that really don't matter to people of that home, we live in a belt-lay bubble here, right? And it's always great for members to be able to get in touch outside of that, they definitely saw the value, and I just think it was such an amazing expansion of AFP's toolkit. Yeah, I think also just a major hat tip to our grassroots, they knew but not by coming

to us, they would be speaking directly, not to their folks at home, but to the grassroots nationwide, and that's the whole point, or what are we doing here, so also really great. Well, I totally agree, totally agree, so, look, Lauren and Caitlin, thank you so much for going and doing this, I'm excited about our partnership, and I'm going to continue to have to say that we can do and all the content that we can bring to the grassroots and

to the AFP family, so thank you so much for joining us on this, and I look forward to our continued, it's watching some more episodes. Yes, thank you for having us, we're very excited and much more to come. Thanks. The folks, if you like this episode and would like to stay connected with the podcast,

be sure to like, subscribe, to our channel, as well as following us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

“And always remember, liberty and freedom are easily taken to granted, don't take it for granted.”

Go out there and defend freedom of liberty. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you on the next episode. Thank you for listening to American Potential. You may listen to more stories from Americans working every day to expand freedom and opportunity in their communities by visiting Americanpotential.com.