Third district’s Rep. Mike Kennedy speaks on his new position in Congress

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s newest congressman, Rep. Mike Kennedy (UT-3), has been in office for a little under three months now.

How is the new position? What is he working on, and who is he working with? He gave KSL NewsRadio the updates.

Below is a partial transcript of this interview as well as the full podcast.

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KSL NewsRadio edited the following transcript for brevity and clarity.

HOST LEAH MURRAY: You are sponsoring legislation with Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis that would block Wall Street control of Utah’s public lands. What are you trying to accomplish with this bill?

GUEST REP. MIKE KENNEDY: Environmental activists were intent on using Wall Street and investor modalities to actually ban us from using our water, our land, in the ways that we want to in the West.

Actually, Marlo Oaks, our state treasurer, brought this to our attention. I think it was about two and a half, three years ago, that this was happening, and using the power of the Wall Street model of investment is that these people would buy up rights to water as well as land and lock it up forever so that nobody could use it. So this bill bans that practice.

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HOST RUSTY CANNON: You’re teaming up with Sen. Lee and Sen. Curtis on this. Is this going to start in the House or the Senate?

KENNEDY: It’s going to do both … You kind of have to run parallel systems. Different from what I’ve done for 10 years in the state Legislature where it has to make it through the House before it gets to the Senate, as they’re they’re doing parallel.

So I’m honored to have Sen. Lee and Sen. Curtis as part of this as well. Of course, Sen. Lee being the chair of the Natural Resources [committee] on the Senate side is outstanding support for this. But it’s an important bill for our long-term future.

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MURRAY: How has the transition been for you, moving from the state Legislature over to the federal government?

KENNEDY: It’s just so interesting. We have this continuing resolution that we just passed on Tuesday that the U.S. Senate now has to deal with. Seeing the strategy of the House and the Senate and how they work together. Working with President Trump, it’s amazing and the opportunity for us to kind of move the Trump agenda forward and making America great again. There’s so much going on—it just doesn’t stop—but it’s been fascinating. Frankly, a lot of fun.

I’m not there to recreate and entertain, I’m there to work, and I’m happy to work for the people. We’ve sponsored several bills, but it’s actually been really interesting to be there.

Listen to the podcast below for the full interview:

 

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