Rep. Fulcher applauds “incredibly impressive” military operation in Venezuela, highlights legislative priorities, rural healthcare
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — A week after the U.S. military successfully ousted Nicolás Maduro, Congressman Russ Fulcher had high praise for the plan's execution. Speaking with Local News 8, Rep. Fulcher praised the "complete coordination" of the Venezuelan mission before pivoting to highlight his legislative priorities for this upcoming session.
"I just have to tell you, it's an incredibly impressive operation," said Congressman Fulcher. "First of all, we just have to understand there's no other entity on the planet that can pull that off the way they did. Complete coordination across all branches of the military, plus the intelligence community, multiple different groups in the intelligence community."
Fulcher also gave his take on what the U.S. actions in Venezuela could indicate on the world stage.
"Regardless of what you think about the action itself, the fact that it got pulled off the way that it did has put China on notice. They're there. I guarantee you they're looking at Taiwan a little bit differently right now. Russia is looking a little bit differently at Cuba right now."
Fulcher outlined his reasons for support on the actions taken, citing Maduro's past interactions with drugs and the United States.
"We have to understand, too, that this is a narco terrorist that has been in the crosshairs for the United States since Barack Obama's era. And that's where this bounty initiated," said Fulcher. "It got elevated during the Biden era. It's just wasn't until now that something actually got done about it. But this guy is a bad human being, and we've got incredible evidence that says so, and I think everyone pretty much agrees on that. He pretty much took a country to its knees, and in the process, exported countless tons of narcotics illegally into the U.S. and other places, profited off of it and the lives and deaths of Americans.
Fulcher also affirmed his support for President Trump, saying, "I think the president was justified in this action because at the end of the day, what was he doing? He was protecting American lives. This person [Maduro] had been identified and charged many years ago. And it took a long time to get him, but they got him."
Priorities for next legislative session
Beyond the military operation in Venezuela, Rep. Fulcher spoke about his priorities in the next congressional session, highlighting concerns over health care.
"Are we going to increase the subsidies to try to keep a broken system going, or are we going to do some meaningful reform? And the meaningful reform has to take place. And that's where I stand," Fulcher said, explaining why he does not want to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. "And how that works," he continued, "is you've got to re-insert market forces again. You've got to give the patient the control of the money directly over their health care decisions."
"And that's what we're attempting to do," he continued. "But it's incredibly complicated, and I'm not trying to sidestep that decision in front of us. But that's why it hasn't been fixed - is because it's so difficult to fix. But that's the next challenge, and that's what we're working on right now."
Congressman Fulcher also addressed Idaho Governor Brad Little's recent announcement that the State of Idaho will receive close to $1 billion over five years to improve rural healthcare through grants from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act.
"Well, I fought for that, and I'll tell you why," said Congressman Fulcher. "Because the existing system tends to favor the large urban blue state populous. I mean, that's just how that is designed. And that was part of the - that's part of the problem of the Affordable Care Act. The rural systems and much of Idaho is in that, is left behind just by virtue of how that system is designed. And so we fought for that in a big way. And we know that we have to keep our rural health care system healthy and reinsert some support there, because that's not where those dollars naturally flow."
"So that was the purpose behind that legislation," he continued. "And the Big, Beautiful Bill. And I think it's going to help. We've got a good system in Idaho, but we are lacking in a lot of the rural spaces. And this is going to help that."
