THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 47 George P. Bush pt 2

There is so much going on with our government these days that the need to “Restore Trust” with the American Citizens, and that is just what George P. Bush is out to do, and hold the federal government accountable. Sit back and listen how we can save Social Security and how the Texas General Land Office out performed the Bureau of Land Management 10 to 1. This is an episode you don’t want to miss.

Please reach out to George P. Bush on his LinkedIn HERE

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Highlights of the Podcast

THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 47 George P. Bush pt 2

Rey Traviño: [00:00:43] NAPE is a proud sponsor of the crude truth. Be sure to register for the NAPE Expo 2024 February 7th through the ninth at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Hurry and register today. NAPE is where deals happen. [00:00:59][15.6]

Rey Traviño: [00:01:32] Well, good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon. Whatever time of the day or night it is that you turn me in for another episode of the crude truth. Thank you very much for watching today. I’m once again here in the great state capital of Texas Austin. And today my guest is actually another tremendous leader, a trailblazer, and a legacy guy, not only on the political side of things but also in the oil and gas industry. My guest is also I can’t believe I’m saying this another repeat. Yes. I’m just so humbled and honored. My guest today is George P Bush, George How are you doing? [00:02:08][35.8]

George P. Bush: [00:02:08] Good. [00:02:08][0.0]

Rey Traviño: [00:02:09] Oh my gosh. No, no. It is great for you to be back. I cannot thank you enough for coming back on. You know, like I told you quickly in a little preview is like the moment I knew we had a and I was like, Jordan, I’ve got to get you back on to talk about all the stuff going on right now from state legislation to the battle at the federal level with oil and gas. So even some new things that you’ve been up to since you’ve stepped away from the political limelight for, at least in my opinion, for now. Okay. That’s that’s just my opinion. Everybody, just for now. Okay. No, nothing here. But how are you doing? How’s it been since you stepped away from my commission? [00:02:46][37.1]

George P. Bush: [00:02:46] Well, it’s been great, obviously. You know, as a military veteran, somebody who served as land commissioner for two terms, I do miss public service. But, you know, now that I’m a lawyer and in the private sector, my client is a little different. No longer is it the everyday people of Texas, which again, I want to reiterate that I miss doing. I now have different types of clients and I love fighting for them in all squares, whether they’re public or private. But I remain active in politics and I’d love to use this opportunity to talk a little bit about Restore Trust, which is a political action committee focused, in my opinion, on the biggest threat to our country, and that’s the excessive amounts of spending. And looking back at the trillions of dollars and yes, trillions. [00:03:31][44.5]

Rey Traviño: [00:03:31] With a T. [00:03:32][0.3]

George P. Bush: [00:03:32] With a T with a T that was spent after COVID. And looking at the vast amount of fraud, our PAC has done a vast amount of research. And I want to get back to oil and gas because I know that’s the focus of your show. But looking at over $200 billion of fraud committed just in response to COVID relief and whether that be the Small Business Administration programs that were out there or just cities and counties that misappropriated dollars, There’s just so much waste. Yeah, the government has gotten way out of control. And just this week it was deemed that our country now is at a credit rating as opposed to triple-A credit. So as being the so-called most important country in the world, we’re now at close to non-investment grade quality. Quality credit rating, I think speaks to the fact that we’re spending way outside of our means. And so we’ll be supporting Texas political candidates. Yes, both at the state level, and at the federal level they are bold and audacious, raise the red flag, and shine the light on the massive amounts of fraud and abuse that take place in government. [00:04:33][61.2]

Rey Traviño: [00:04:34] You know, I want to kind of go on a federal level with you talking about here we are now to double a rating as Biden comics not working. I mean, is that that’s that’s what’s going on? I mean, if we’re spending trillions of dollars in the waste, you know what? What are we looking to do here to fight Biden nomics and cut down on this spending? [00:04:53][19.3]

George P. Bush: [00:04:54] Well, the hypocrisy of Biden nomics basically flows from the fact that their mentality, mentalities, that government can solve all the world’s problems when and in fact, inflation and because of excessive government spending, has resulted in the average American household decreasing significantly. I’m a part of a public policy institute known as the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. We’re right-leaning. Thinking. Think tank. It’s actually based here in Austin. But we look at national issues and we’ve looked at Biden nomics, especially in the context of energy in oil and gas, which is the largest line item in the American household. But because of the inflationary spending policies of the Biden administration, we’ve seen the net worth of the average American family actually go down. And I’m not talking about wages. He’ll say that unemployment is low and wages have increased, which is true. But on a net basis, in terms of what the take-home pay is for the average American household, it’s actually decreased over time. And look, energy is a big part of that. And if you look at inflation, energy usually is at the core of that. And if you had more protection or a pro-business perspective on energy development in our country, you would have actually taken on the corrosive effects of inflation on the average household. And so Biden nomics is not working. I think they’ll be shown at the ballot box as we approach November 24. But it is called upon states like Texas and other fast-growing states, shall I dare say Florida and others that that have also shown that limited government, responsible spending, and living within your means is the best approach to government? [00:06:34][100.0]

Rey Traviño: [00:06:35] Well, definitely, living within your means is something I think everybody should be able to do. And then you talk about limited government. I just think it’s quite the opposite. You know, pointed out to everybody out there that here you your family, your grandfather was part of literally an administration that said the government needs to be limited. And now we literally in 2023 have a government that is saying, hey, the government is going to come in and fix everything, and yet nobody wants to hear that anymore, that you’re worried the government’s here. We’re here to help and save you and everybody with at least 30% of the country, you’re saying, No, wait a minute. I don’t I don’t need your help. And I think that’s definitely what you and your PAC are doing are trying to bring in as well some of that, you know, literally that trust back to back to back, not to the administration, but to government as well. Is that correct? [00:07:24][49.0]

George P. Bush: [00:07:25] That is correct. I mean, we obviously are a conservative-leaning, but we know that the big, bold problems of, say, reining in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, those three programs alone are close to two-thirds of American spending. I mentioned the credit rating downgrade of our country this week. Among other things, the interest on debt alone on the close to $32 trillion of debt that the nation owes to public and private entities exceeds that of our national defense budget. So in the report, you’ll see that when asked why there’s a downgrade, it’s because of the inability of Washington, D.C. to solve its own problems. So we’ve actually brought on and we worked with people like Henry Clay, or another kind of moderate Democrats, to work with Republicans to come up with sensible solutions. So, for example, on Social Security, what the scaremongers will tell you, including President Biden, is, oh, the Republicans want to cut and get rid of Social Security. Nobody is advocating that. What we’re talking about is that people in their twenties, maybe teenagers or even people yet to be born wouldn’t be able to be entitled to the program until later on than what the current entitled the people that are at or near retirement, can take it to the bank that they will get their Social Security check. But unless we do something now, multiple reports and what our PAC has shown is that if we don’t do anything in the next decade, the program will be bankrupt. Well, that’s the worst situation that you want, is to somehow strap on your debt, on your national encumbrance instead of just doing something right now sensible and bringing in some Democrats and like-minded Republicans to the table to just come up with sensible reforms. [00:09:02][96.9]

Rey Traviño: [00:09:02] Well, you know, when you talk about sensible reforms and let’s, you know, saying on the Social Security, okay, the most the best example of the government running a business, in my opinion, United States posts. And it’s you know, I think the best idea they’ve ever done is the forever stamp. Like now, you know, you don’t have to raise it and do all this. But that’s not the best business model there is out there, the United States Postal Service. And so how can you with your group, really kind of basically wheeled that in? I mean, it’s like, hey, man, we’ve got to basically not bankrupt Social Security, but we’ve got to restructure the business, I mean, because that’s what it is. So how can we, you know, truly get bipartisan support or something like that? [00:09:44][41.2]

George P. Bush: [00:09:44] Well, like all things, I think the great public policies of our country come from the state levels. And so I’m a big advocate of the 10th Amendment. And you look at states like Texas and Florida that have a tax-free medical savings account that allows people when they’re younger because as we know, most medical costs and expenses over half in our country are at or near within the few years leading up to death. And so if we’re able to encourage a culture of saving and again, that’s not a government program, right? That’s common sense for employers to emphasize to their employees or individuals who want to start on their own by saving sensibly and even in. Urging employers to perhaps match for one K’s or other types of saving programs, whether that’s for health care, medical savings accounts, or others. That’s the way to do it. Instead of waiting for the actuarial crisis that we’re facing right now. Because when Social Security and a lot of these programs were created, you had, what, 40 payers into the system per one recipient. Now we’re closer to 2 to 1. And, you know, I hate to break the news, but we’re not having a lot of kids in this country replaced. We’re barely at the replacement rate. Yes. I’m not saying that we’re on the verge of Japan or Europe, but I am saying that actuarially speaking, the program is no longer where it once was. Ryan, this isn’t Partizan. This isn’t Republican-Democrat, conservative liberal. This is just common sense business know-how and pragmatism. I just wish that we had more supporters on the other side of the aisle who could just listen to these stats and work with us. But I’m positive there’s there’s other areas of progress that we’ve made at the park and that relates to oil and gas, where we’re seeing permitting reform. Now, even the president included in the budget renewal package that the pipeline up in the Marcellus Shale would be connecting the Marcellus to the New York, New Jersey, D.C. area. So, you know, we are making progress here and there. We’ve just got to celebrate those victories when we get up. [00:11:39][114.6]

Rey Traviño: [00:11:39] Well, you know, you talk about celebrating victories. You know, we just got done here with the state taxes, the legislation. You know what? What a time that was here. But, you know, getting back to the oil and gas side of things that are going on, what could oil and gas actually, you know, give me the crude truth here? You know, your history knowledge like in oil and gas is ridiculous. Okay. I mean, I know you, and I don’t talk about it, but it is there. But crude oil and gas truly get us out of this economic climate that we’re in right now. [00:12:10][30.8]

George P. Bush: [00:12:11] Well, it certainly helped Texas withstand withstand the storm. You know, if you look at what I shared, my old agency, along with the University of Texas and Texas A&M Endowment now combined is over 75 billion. And those are endowments that support K-through-12 and post-secondary ed. The rainy day fund is near its statutory maximum because of the oil and gas severance tax. Right. The budget surplus coming into this legislative session was in excess of $32 billion, largely because of the oil and gas economy and because of the severance tax generated. I mean, this was like an alignment of the stars of the state that hasn’t been seen quietly because of this part of our economy. So the difference between us and D.C. is that we get out of the private sector way. We say that this is good for our economy. It’s paying excellent wages for all types of Texans from all types of backgrounds and educational backgrounds, whereas this federal government wants to punish it. I shared recently a study between the Bureau of Land Management, which is kind of like the Globe, but at the federal level you’re right, they manage 20 ex the amount of acreage that we did at the Globe, 13 million acres in the GELO, over 250, basically at the federal level. We reported on my era that I left office generating close to 2 billion and oil and gas royalty revenues, whereas that same year the federal government reported about 250 million in revenue. So we are eight times the revenues generated from oil and gas revenues in the federal government. We did it with 45 employees. They have thousands of them. [00:13:44][93.5]

Rey Traviño: [00:13:44] Can you say that was like, can you see that stat one more time and then three? And tell me what GLO is. I don’t mean to say that. [00:13:50][6.1]

George P. Bush: [00:13:51] General Land Office. Okay. So the Bureau of Land Management, which is basically our counterpart, manages over 225, 230 million acres. Yes. Not all of them are oil and gas producing, but they do have Alaska, another prolific oil and gas producing area, the country, the GLO, the General Land Office, the agency I used to manage, had about 13 million acres under its management. The year that I left, generated about 1.9 billion for public education. Sir, in Texas in one year. That same year, the Bureau of Land Management generated about 250 million. So we generate about eight X with a fraction of the employees. We have 45 employees. It’s generally an office that manages those oil and gas minerals, whereas the federal government has several thousand employees. So it’s just it’s just the government can run things effectively. Texas knows how to do it. I’ve always advocated just letting the federal government get out of the way. Let us do our job right, not only in energy management. There are a whole host of other areas like permitting which I talk about in my writing at Free OP. And also. [00:14:54][63.5]

Rey Traviño: [00:14:55] Well, you’ve been doing a lot of writing lately and I’ve been enjoying them, but I know that you know that the time we got but let’s let’s keep it here with Texas. And if you had something that you could maybe say or a policy that you could see helping Texans that would then in turn help, you know, the United States of America, If you were if you were a politician and you could, you know, get something done real quickly, what would you what would you like to get done? [00:15:20][24.7]

George P. Bush: [00:15:21] So I just wrote about that. Actually. It’s yeah, it’s it’s a law that was passed during the Nixon administration called the National Environmental Policy Act well-intentioned to protect our environment, but again, drafted it at a time when permitting was a lot easier. In fact, the average permit for an oil and gas well was less than a year. Whereas now, if you want to frack well on federal lands, say in New Mexico, where we don’t actually have a lot of federal lands here in Texas, but let’s say in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, it now is in excess of three, sometimes four years on average. Now, the same applies to renewable energy. So the big debate in this legislative session is how do we fix our grid? Renewables got punished and condemned, though I think they’re going to be part of the solution along with oil and gas. I believe that we need all forms of energy because this summer with hundred-degree heat, we need more than 8081 megs of of power available for the grid. The one thing we can do to enhance energy and unlock the promise and prosperity of our great country’s natural resources is to expedite the permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act, also known as NEPA, the average wait time for oil and gas and for renewable projects is several years, whereas in other countries there’s almost no permitting process. I’m not saying we get rid of it but just expedite it. One of the proposals that our think tank put out was to expedite it to a year-long commentary period, a reduction in the cap on litigation penalties so that these projects can get done in our lifetimes rather than private capital just sitting on the sidelines. [00:16:55][94.7]

Rey Traviño: [00:16:55] And with private capital, and certainly doesn’t help us out at all. I mean, we really need it to continue to move this car in the United States. But. Well, George, I know you’ve been busy and you’re going to stay busy. How can people find the Restoring Trust pack and get more information on that and everything else that you’re up to while you’re in the private sector? [00:17:13][17.8]

George P. Bush: [00:17:14] Well, check me out online on my social media channels. You can also check me out at George P. for Texas, where I still keep that website. Restore PAC dot com is where you can learn more about Restore Trust. It’s restored Trust PAC dot com, where you can learn more about what we’re doing here in Austin in Washington DC and free OP dot org is where I’m putting up my public policy briefings. So I’m still active, still in the fight, and hope to be around the ring, you know, in the coming years. [00:17:43][28.7]

Rey Traviño: [00:17:43] Well, I’m looking forward to it. George. Again, I cannot thank you for coming on, especially here in Austin. I hope to have you on again soon. And that’s it for this episode. We will see you next time on the crude truth.