Rep. Derek Schmidt acknowledged “there’s a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability” within the economic and political climate, both in Washington, D.C.,, and closer to home in Kansas.
Schmidt, former Kansas senator and attorney general, was sworn in to the U.S. House of Representatives in January.
He was in Iola Thursday, on his way home from Washington, and stopped by the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner while en route.
“I hope a lot of the new tariff issues are resolved” soon, Schmidt said.
President Trump, via executive action, ordered a sweeping round of tariffs this week to virtually all of the United States’ trading partners, triggering two straight days of plunging stock markets around the world.
Schmidt, too, expressed concern for tariffs affecting Kansas farmers, predicting the current tariff form may soon change.
Trump’s style, he noted, is one of a negotiator.
“But it’s not like this is a surprise,” Schmidt said. “This is what Trump ran on, and he won Kansas by a large margin,” which gives the president plenty of room to negotiate with America’s trade partners.
Schmidt’s other major concern is spending, “and it has to adapt in order to change the trajectory of a budget that doesn’t bring us to the edge of the abyss.
“At some point the numbers are going to have to change,” Schmidt said. “We just can’t keep spending more than we take in.”
He also spoke on the Trump administration’s propensity to announce cuts in spending and federal workers, and then adjust as the effects are learned.
“They’re taking the approach that it’s better to be too aggressive, and to pare things you wish you hadn’t, than to go back and realize you missed a window to make real progress on issues like spending.”
But in Kansas, that has led to anxiety, he acknowledged, with issues such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or farm-to-store programs.
“A lot of these things will settle out as we go through the year,” Schmidt said. “Congress will be more engaged as we move into our appropriations process.
“The system has a way of making sure all voices are heard,” he continued. “Things will even out as we move along.”
SCHMIDT, 57, served for 10 years in the Kansas Senate, including six years as Majority Leader, before shifting gears to become Kansas attorney general from 2011 to 2021. He was unsuccessful in his gubernatorial bid against Laura Kelly in 2022. In 2024, he won a five-man race in the Republican primary to succeed Jake LaTurner in the U.S. House, before defeating Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda in November.
