JAHD KHALIL: Congressman Wittman, thank you for joining us.

ROB WITTMAN: Thank you.

JAHD KHALIL: Please tell us what your top priority is if you're reelected.

ROB WITTMAN: Well, I want to make sure we continue to work on bringing the cost of living down, lowering cost.

Those are things that make a big difference in people's lives.

There's still much more that we need to do.

I would argue we're doing some things thatre going in the right direction.

You know, developing energy here in the nation.

We're producing more energy now than ever.

Healthcare, same way.

Let's look at different ways to make sure we're empowering patients and providers and determining how they best consume healthcare and that looking at ways for them to bring down cost.

JAHD KHALIL: One thing that I'm seeing a lot of coverage in Virginia in particular is about the Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies.

Now, you had voted to extend those, and before that, you had voted against bringing that to a floor vote, correct?

So can you explain those two votes and why you voted one way on one thing and one way on another?

ROB WITTMAN: I voted for the bill itself, which had some provisions in there about the potential funding for those, supplements that go to help people purchase that insurance.

And I wanted to make sure that as we looked at that and saw how it would affect certain families, I said, you know, “We need to forestall that,” because the impact is significant.

That bill had a lot of other really, really good measures in there to help bring down the cost of healthcare.

When it got to the specific element about how they were going to not continue those tax provisions for the premiums that you pay to purchase health insurance, I said, “No, we should not stop those,” because it's too big a bridge for families to cross.

It was too big a difference in what they were paying and what they were getting supplemented in a tax credit versus what they would pay without the tax credit.

JAHD KHALIL: For the it was the discharge petition that you voted against, correct?

Is that why did you vote against that in particular versus if you were going to vote for it?

ROB WITTMAN: Discharge petitions only allow a very narrow way to debate these issues.

I think this was part of a much larger issue about not only how do we look at the tax considerations given to people purchasing their health insurance, but what do we do overall to bring down the cost of healthcare?

And with this discharge petition, it was just it was focused on just a tiny portion of that.

So I wanted to make sure we got into the other areas that would have even farther reaching effects on bringing down the cost of healthcare for families.

JAHD KHALIL: You had talked about how you wanted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

How do you square wanting to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with extending the subsidies?

Has your position on the Affordable Care Act changed?

ROB WITTMAN: Well, no, it hasn't.

In fact, one actually logically follows from the other.

The Affordable Care Act, unfortunately, has not delivered on the promise that it's going to reduce healthcare cost.

If you look through the period of time from the time it was passed and signed into law to now, healthcare costs have continued to go up.

And what do we do elsewhere to reform healthcare to truly, in the long term, bring down cost?

You know, considerations on getting a tax credit, there is only a temporary means by which to help families that are suffering from these increased healthcare premium costs.

JAHD KHALIL: I wanted to ask also about the reconciliation bill, tax bill, H.R.1, One Big Beautiful Bill Act, these are all different names that refer to the same piece of legislation.

So that bill had tax cuts for many American families.

There was also cuts to food assistance and health insurance government support for health insurance.

How do you explain to those people that depend on those programs that that was a trade-off that was worth it?

ROB WITTMAN: Well, that effort was to address waste, fraud and abuse.

And what we want to make sure is that those people that aren't qualified to get those benefits, don't get those benefits.

That assures that the money is there for the people that really need it.

So if you're deceased, you shouldn't be getting Medicaid.

If you're receiving it in two different states, you should only be receiving it in one state.

If you're able to go to work, with a pretty minimal requirement there of 80 hours a month, in our intent is for the people that need Medicaid to continue to receive Medicaid, but the people that are able to go to work, you know, we want them back in the workforce.

We need them back in the workforce.

We want to get people back on their feet.

We want families to be able to move up economically and be able to purchase their own health insurance.

But we want to make sure they don't go without healthcare.

JAHD KHALIL: We did see 100,000 Virginians have lost SNAP, which is food assistance, since H.R.1 according to the Virginia Federation of Food Banks as a result of H.R.1.

When we're talking about these programs and the trade-off that happened for tax relief, for these sort of families specifically how are you explaining that trade-off?

ROB WITTMAN: Well, the provision for SNAP is the same as it is for Medicaid.

We want people that are able to go back to work, to go back to work and I want to make sure too, that if they fall into those categories of exception, that they continue to receive that exception so they can continue to receive those SNAP benefits.

Listen, I think communities do a great job with food banks.

My wife runs a food pantry in the little hometown that we live in, and I want to make sure that we assure that the SNAP program goes to the people that need SNAP.

And the way we do that is to make sure that we eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse that's there.

So the dollars that are really needed for the folks that have those true needs, we meet their needs.

JAHD KHALIL: There's a lot of discussion about the relationship between China and the US in terms of the AI race.

What would you like to see the federal government do when it comes to our relationship with China in regards to artificial intelligence?

ROB WITTMAN: I want to make sure that artificial intelligence has the necessary guardrails there to make sure that it can only be used for good purposes.

I would argue China may not have those same intentions, or maybe others around the world don't.

So we have to put guardrails on it.

And we actually have some bills in there that do things very specifically about putting those guardrails on artificial intelligence.

I think we need to be very specific about what those guardrails include.

And in general, the categories need to be transparency.

That is, you want to make sure that you're not developing something that has a nefarious intent.

That means you got to make sure people know about it, know what it does.

And then, accountability.

So if you do create something that turns into, you know, a very, very bad product, that you're going to be held liable for that.

JAHD KHALIL: You were talking about energy prices earlier and actions that the Congress that you've been in has taken to address energy costs.

There's also rising fuel prices, gasoline, diesel, and a lot of that is attributed to the war in Iran, the war in Ukraine.

How much do you think of the price rise is attributable to those conflicts?

ROB WITTMAN: Well, if you look at what's happening right now in the flow of energy through the Straits of Hormuz, it is almost back up to where it was pre-war.

Were at the highest production rate in the United States then we've been in the history of the country.

Where we are lacking in the United States is refining capacity.

You know, some of the increases in diesel fuel is because of supply interruptions and where we have to go to be able to get diesel fuel.

So we have to fix those problems, because diesel fuel is at the center of what happens with our transportation system.

When you go to Walmart and you go to buy something there, it got there by truck.

And when that cost goes up, it's going to be reflected in the price on the shelf of those products.

So we have to do more to specifically address diesel fuel prices.

JAHD KHALIL: How do you think that the US should end the war in Iran?

Is there anything that you wouldn't be able to accept in a negotiated deal between Iran and the US?

ROB WITTMAN: I think it has to include assurance that they will never be able to produce a nuclear weapon.

I'm concerned about the mindset of the extremist clerics there, and they've stated this before, that their intent is indeed to be able to use that capability in ways that are going to be very harmful to the rest of the world.

So we have to make sure it's not just being able to build a nuclear device, but it's also the ability to deliver it.

And listen, I have a colleague on the other side of the aisle who is a Ph.D.

physicist, and he said, “The intercontinental ballistic missile doesn't worry me.” He said what worries him, and I think he's right, is that they could put a thermonuclear device in a container, put it on a ship and bring it here to the United States and detonate it.

Don't even have to detonate in the city, you could detonate it off the coast.

It would be catastrophic for the United States.

And everybody, not just the United States, but everybody ought to say, “No, no, we don't want a government that's clearly stated that intent to have a nuclear weapon.” JAHD KHALIL: In a few words, how would you describe the choice that is facing voters of the 1st District?

ROB WITTMAN: Sure.

Listen, I think it's a contrast.

I think it's a contrast between my record of achievement, the leadership positions that I am in, and the things we're able to do for Virginia and judgment.

The things where I, you know, I look at the things that I do and things I'm doing to help folks.

And then my opponent, look at her record as a prosecutor there in Henrico County.

I would argue there are some cases there that really should get your attention.

And I would encourage folks to go to a website called SoftShannonTaylor.com.

Look at those cases, look at the judgment that she has showed in raising her right hand and swearing to uphold and defend the laws of Henrico County and the laws of the commonwealth, and the things she has done that I would say are not helping victims, not standing on the side of Henrico County citizens but really being sympathetic to criminals.

JAHD KHALIL: Congressman Wittman, thank you so much.

ROB WITTMAN: Thank you.

Thanks again.