Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 07182019 20240714

Detention facilities. We hear from tim burchett of tennessee about Government Spending and todays vote in the house on wage. Host good morning. 18, 2019. Sday, july the house returns at 10 00 a. M. Eastern and we will be with you for the next two hours and we begin with a question for democrats only about the emergence of the four congresswoman known as the squad. President trump and the National Media turning the spotlight on that group, we want to hear from democrats about whether the squad represents your views and whether the attention has been good for the party. Give us a call. Phone lines open if you are in the eastern and central time zones, and you are a democrat, 2027488000. Democrats on the mound and pacific time zones can call at 2027488001 mountain and pacific time zones can call at 2027488001. On twitter it is cspanwj and facebook it is facebook. Com cspan. Morning. Od thursday democrats only can start calling in now. If you are getting to know them, here is where a squad is. There press conference on capitol hill. On the right is Ayanna Pressley of massachusetts. In the middle, Rashida Tlaib and alexandria ocasiocortez on the left. Minnesota. Of yesterday the four congresswomen joined 91 of their colleagues in voting to move congaree al greens impeachment resolution on capitol hill. That resolution based in large part on President Trumps attacks on the squad from earlier this week. Here is the story from the washington post, Democratic Leaders able to kill that bill through procedural tactics, noting that move angering liberals in the party. As we are talking about the squad, we want to hear from you and show you what Party Leaders have had to say over the past week. This is president ial candidate and former Vice President joe biden from earlier this week on the squad. [video clip] i campaigned in 24 states for 69 people. I campaigned for virtually every tober who beat a republican win back the house. They have come to me, over 20 of them saying please, please, keep us moving forward. I did not run saying i would never talk to a republican. Other brilliant and the three women are really smart, but they are the exception rather than the rule. If you listen to the guys and women in your business, that is the majority of people who got elected. We need that kind of energy, but that is not the majority of democrats who got elected last time. Host the former Vice President from msnbc earlier this week. This from a column in the washington post, Donna Edwards of maryland here is what she had to say. The squad represents more than its members or singular votes in the house, to think otherwise specifically minimizes their National Audience including 7 million twitter followers and their ability to capture the spotlight of traditional media. It is not everything, but not nothing. Foot soldiers who can bring out the vote come election day. In many swing districts, they can provide the Energy Democrats will need to win, traveling to neighbor states and jurisdictions to knock on doors on the weekends. Donna edwards in the washington post. We want to hear from you online for democrats only. Democrat in the eastern and central time zones, 2027488000. In the mountain or pacific time sounds, 2027488001. We will start with vivian out of spotsylvania, virginia. Good morning. Caller good morning, john. Thank you for taking my call. Please, can you count to 9 . It takes 9 people and capitalism, that is what trump is doing now, paying farmers. He has two rounds of payment. Host coming back to your definition of the squad, who else do you think should be included in that . Caller those women are doing great all by themselves. They get just as much media as the chief liar. I hope the women keep doing what they are doing. I keep telling you, trump every day gets on tv analyze and the media never calls them out and you know it is alive. You repeat the lies over and over and over again. You all are not helping. The man is a serial liar, he is way beyond pathological. Host this is paul out of wisconsin, good morning. Caller good morning. I did not really think much trumpthe squad until what did, putting a target on omars back last night. I think he proved to the entire country, maybe the world what a racist demagogue he is, to put a target on the back of an american citizen like that. Federal law, it is against the law. The only thing that may become out of that that was good is that he proved to the world what a fascist, racist demagogue we have for a president and i hope he gets voted out in a massive landslide. I really do. Host here is the moment from last nights rally in North Carolina win President Trump talked about congresswoman bill had omar ilhan omar. [video clip] represent of omar blames the United States for the terrorist attacks on our country say terrorism is the reaction to our involvement in other peoples affairs. She smeared u. S. Service members. Nvolved in black hawk down in other words, she slandered the brave americans trying to somalia. E in omar minimized the september 11 attacks saying some people did something. Did something. Yeah, some people did something all right. She pleaded with compassion for isis recruits attempting to join the terrorist organization. Laughed that americans speak of al qaeda in a menacing tone and remarked you dont say america with this intensity. You say al qaeda and it makes you proud, al qaeda makes you proud. You dont speak that way about america. And in a press conference just this week when asked whether the she supported al qaeda, that is our enemy, that is our enemy, they are a very serious problem that we take care of, but they always seem to come along somewhere. She refused to answer. She did not want to give an answer to that question. Omar blamed the United States for the crisis in venezuela. What do you think of that one . And she looks down in contempt on hardworking americans saying ignorance is pervasive in many parts of this country. And obviously and importantly, omar has a history of launching screams. Ntisemitic host that was President Trump last night in North Carolina, that moment and the chant the chants of send her back. Walker,congressman mark republican of North Carolina, this is what he had to say. I struggleds brief, with the send her back, chant. That should be our focus, not phrasing that is painful to our friends in minority communities. Areng your calls, we talking to democrats only in this first hour of the washington journal. Want to hear your thoughts on the squad. Elijah is waiting in nebraska. Good morning. Good morning. I think the squad is a massively , organizing,r organizing the thoughts of angry, youthful democrats. Their gustoreciate they are willing to call people out more than classical liberals and i think the effect is they will be able to motivate a Younger Generation to move into the 2020 election and onward. Host what do you think the focus on the squad has meant for moderate democrats and voters in the party . Caller to be moderate is kind. F losing its fashion as the moderate policies continued to not do exactly as they have planned due to just general inefficiency, the party has had to transform itself and be willing to say a lot more direct and a lot less polite things hopefully to the extent people listen to them a lot more and i think the squad, especially aoc and things like the Green New Deal have pushed the conversation forward more than a moderate democrat has. Host is there still room in the party for moderate democratic voices . Caller absolutely. It has to move from the leading role,to a more supportive being the leading voices, the pushers of actual policy would be much more moderate, led by people like the squad. The modern voice has to be there to convince people the democratic voice is the way of the future. Rahm emanuel, the former chicago mayor, had the column today the headline of that column, the Democratic Party has not lurched to the left. Moderate democrats may not be spending time spewing snark or sending small donations in response to online solicitations, but you can be sure they vote in the primaries and will make the difference in general election. What remains to be seen is whether the far left is more interested in defeating trump than it is in drumming moderates out of the party. Moderates are just as much an integral part of the partys base as any group of liberals. If you want to read that from todays washington post. Max in michigan, you are up next. Good morning. Caller hello . Host go ahead, max. Caller i believe the democrats are not democrats no more. They destroyed it and i am going to become a republican now. Host how long have you been a democrat . Caller i was raised as a democrat. I am a union employee. My parents were democrats and my father, 20 years ago, split, and i fought with him all the time. Come to find out, he was telling the truth the whole time and now i understand what he was talking about. Host we were talking about moderate democrats. Caller they are not moderate. These people are wackos. Host do you think there is room for moderate republicans . In the Republican Party . Caller no. You are either a patriot to this country or you are not. If you are not going to be a patriot, what are you doing here . To destroy it, that is what you are doing here. Host talking to democrats only, phone lines split regionally. In the eastern or central time zones, it is 2027488000. If you are a democrat in the mountain or pacific time zones, it is 2027488001. Out of ohio, this is barbara. Good morning. Caller hello. Host go ahead, barbara. Caller i think those girls that were in congress, they have a right to be treated right by the president. He has no right to tell them to go back to their country when they are in their own country. Maybe he should think about. Here he should be there is no president i know that would have a background like this and republicans, most of them stick up for it. When wrong is wrong, it is wrong and he has been wrong. They always say about the democrats, give some insulting remark a good president will not go against a party like he does. He wants their vote, but he talks terrible about them. He is not for the people, he is just who he wants to be for and why does he want the democrat votes . He does not want to do anything for them. Host do you think the Democratic Party is unified or do you see the tensions between the liberal wing and moderates, what we were talking about from Rahm Emanuels column . Caller i dont think they are unified. They are not divided. I think they are all together, but i dont believe in everything about them. And i think the country should be run according to god. That goes for both parties. I dont think we will have much of a country if we dont get that Climate Change because it will destroy our world and he doesnt seem to know that. The smart people know it, most of the people know it. Host thanks for the call from ohio. Here is a few comments from social media as we have been having this discussion. Bill king writing i am independent, but vote democrat. They are pushing back against the tea party who have run amok since they have come on the screen on the scene in 2009. They are the biggest tools in getting trump reelected, keep talking, ladies, dont stop now. They are good for the party, we need young, intelligent, caring people. Constant trashing of the. Quad is unifying democrats bridget in virginia, good morning. Caller good morning. If the like to say start not only fighting back with these crazy, racist things, i dont know what bible President Trump tods, but somebody needs talk to him and tell him he needs to stop before somebody loses their life. You support impeachment against President Trump . Caller anything to get him out because host if you support impeachment, how do you feel about Democratic Leaders effectively killing that impeachment resolution . They tabled that resolution. The squad was part of the group of 95 democrats who voted to move forward with that resolution. Nancy pelosi leading the effort to tabled that and proceed with the investigative path they have been on. Caller i think democrats need to keep investigating him. That is bridget in virginia. This is gail out of new york. Caller good morning. I am 75 years old. I am a white old woman and i am a democrat, i have been a democrat my whole life. The four women he is castigating, i dont agree with everything they say. However, they are wonderful. Eople our president is like the old roman empire where they put the christians in an amphitheater and said down with them, down with them. Last night, my goodness, american citizens, please, dont put up with this, he is a terrible president and they are showing what he is and god bless him. I love nancy pelosi. I think she is doing the right thing. She is an adult in the room and did the right thing yesterday. Timing is everything, that is what you are saying, timing is everything. We have got to vote this man out of office. Host do you think there is tension between nancy pelosi and the squad . Caller of course, but so what. Of course there is tension, they have two ways of doing things. It is not a big deal that they have tension. I am ashamed of republicans. I am shamed of us white people that treat others like others. It is terrible. Speaker nancy pelosi will sit down with alexandria oak osseo cortez alexandria ocasiocortez. Received a request on tuesday afternoon to meet oneonone according to pelosis spokesperson and the offices alexandria ocasiocortez said in an interview on tuesday here is more from that interview with cbs news and the squad discussing their relationship with nancy pelosi. [video clip] i dont feel a fracture. I dont. Just as there were members of congress who did not vote for the speaker on the house floor the day of our swearing in, just as there are members who challenge her conclusions, who disagree with her, so do we from time to time. That does not mean there is a fundamental fracture or dehumanizing going on within our caucus. Taking your phone calls, we are talking with democrats only and talking about the emergence of the squad and your thoughts on whether you think they are good for the party or represent your views. 2027488000 is the number in central or eastern time zones. 2027488001 if you are in amount nor pacific time zones. Mountain or pacific time zones. Don, you are next. Caller how are you doing . I love cspan. I am a democrat and i feel like if they want to beat trump, they need to do what they are going to do. Did not send you up there to fight trump. Host you are happy about the energy they are bringing . What specifically and are you concerned about tensions between the Party Leadership and the squad . They oughtuad to be up there trying to do what they do for their district. What have you did for your district . Get up there and say what you did for your district. We sent you up there to help us , not to go up there and fight trump. Host that Impeachment Vote, that impeachment resolution yesterday was tabled. 95 democrats saw to move forward, that is more than supported that resolution last time it was on the floor january 2018 when only 66 democrats saw to move forward. You think it was the right move by democrats to table that resolution and continue the investigative side . Need to quit. Ey help your district and help the country. We did not send you up there to fight the president , we sent you up there to help us, help where you had come from. Host thanks for the call from alabama this morning. Tonya up next out of rose hill, North Carolina. Good morning. Caller yes, good morning. I feel that i wish they would not call it the squad. I am a strong democrat and always will be. The squad is doing a good job. I wish they would not call it that. Host what would you like them to call it . Caller just call them by their names. It sends a connotation possibly to the right voters that there is something mysterious going on. I dont like to label people. Also, the man that said he would he is going to go away from democrats and become republican, those are the ones that already have voted for trump in North Carolina. Many of them that were democrats switched over to republicans. I dont know if it came from the obama years, but they just want somebody that is republican and they dont care. This president , people ought to realize we are about to turn into a dictatorship and they have to wake up. Host we mentioned that Impeachment Vote that was on the house floor yesterday. 33295 thatt was effectively killed that resolution at least for now. Trumps rally took place a few hours after that vote took place on the house floor. Here is President Trump reacting to that vote. [video clip] i just heard the United States house of representatives has overwhelmingly voted to kill the most ridiculous project i have ever been involved in, the resolution how stupid is that, on impeachment . I want to thank those democrats because many of them voted for us. The vote was a very lopsided 39295. Think of it, we have the strongest economy in history, the lowest unemployment numbers most we have rebuilt the military, it was totally depleted when i took office. We passed the largest tax cuts everygulation cuts of president or any administration in history. ,e took care of our great vets including veterans choice and veterans accountability. And they want to try to impeach, it is a disgrace. And i have that behind us have to say this, but i will say it just wants, what happened to me with this witchhunt should never be allowed to happen to another president of the United States never, ever again. Host that was the president last night in North Carolina and this is the lead story in the New York Times also talking about that impeachment resolution impeachment bid fizzles, showing democratic split and the four members of the squad along with 91 other democrats supported that impeachment resolution yesterday. Al green was on this program yesterday talking about that resolution. If you mist that segment, cspan. Org. We are hearing from democrats only as we come up from 7 30 on the east coast. We want to hear about democrats views of the squad and whether they represent you and whether they are good for the party. 2027488000 in the eastern or central time zones. 2027488001 in the mountain or pacific time zones. Here is a few more comments from social media. This is bernard saying their ideas are more than welcome, their means of communication, not helpful. Travis saying if the squad did they areul playing junior legislator in front of a larger audience. They are showing the only energy in the party, we need more like them. They were democratically elected, they have a constitutional right to voice their point of view, even if it is different than mainstream rate i see value in the political discourse. Democrats, republicans, and independents replying to that. We are hearing from democrats only in this first segment. Eleanor is a democrat out of california. Good morning. Host good morning caller good morning. I am calling because i am a democrat and i am not going to be a democrat anymore. I am going to sign up for a different party. I dont appreciate omar and those four women took the contents of the president s remark and took one comment like go back to your country. Ifsident donald trump said areare not happy here, they eliminating the words, if you are not happy here, go back to your country. You can come back if you want to, you can come back if you want to, if you like this country very much. I do like the president donald hebecause strength brought the military back. Host you say you are leaving the Democratic Party, did you vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 . Caller yes, i did. I am going to change now. Host you said you did not like congresswoman ilhan omars remarks. What specifically . Caller why is she not denouncing al qaeda . Fought andut there they were shot and killed or beheaded by al qaeda, by the terrorists, but she will not denounce terrorists . What kind of a u. S. Citizen is she . Who voted for her to be in congress . Once again, the strength of a country is the military and trump, i will not mention any commander in chief in the past who has cut down or shut down bases around the world, but thep is Building Back military for the United States of america and that is a strength of the country, the military and above that, what commander in chief will meet with a norco lead north korean to stop a missile firing to guam . Host elinor mentioning some of congresswoman ilhan omars remarks. President trump brought up several statements from ilhan omar in concerns about things she said in the past and one of the issues was her comments about september 11 and the september 11 attacks. Several conservatives finding issue with her words from a march event where she spoke at a banquet for the council for American Islamic relations. Here is about two minutes of her remarks from that event, including her comments about 9 11. [video clip] because here is the truth, here is the truth. Far too long, we have lived with the discomfort of being a secondclass citizen and frankly, i am tired of it and every single muslim in this country should be tired of it. [applause] cair was founded after 9 11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. You cannot just say that today, someone is looking at me strange , that i am going to make myself look pleasant. You have to say this person is looking at me strange, i am not comfortable with it, i am going to go talk to them and ask them why. That is a right you have. [applause] is on thepeople right track, it is always good, right . I say you cannot hate up close. You cannot hate up close. Any time you have an opportunity to go talk to someone, the chances of them hating you practice wehat is a should all adopt. Host that was congressman congresswoman ilhan omar. Crowdwas moments when the started that send her back chant. Ilhan omar tweeting out after that moment, after that chant from the president s rally in North Carolina a quote from maya angelou. You may shoot me with your words, cut me with your eyes, kill me with your hatefulness, but like air, i will rise. Getting your thoughts on the squad. Want to know if democrats represent your views or whether they have been good for the party. A democrat out of alabama, good morning. Go ahead. Caller i am simply calling to say it is unfortunate there has been so much time spent talking about the squad. We seem to forget this is a country that was founded on a spirit of dissent. Whether you are talking about hancock, adams, jefferson, madison, that is a squad. Whether you are talking about Martin Luther king, andrew young, ralph abernathy, john lewis, that is a squad. If everybody that was in the United States congress all agreed on the same thing, then 535 of those people are unnecessary. No one who goes to Congress Goes to congress because they all agree on the same thing. What makes legislation is that you have people who come to congress who come from different points of view that are a part of the legislative process. This is bogus, the worst thing i have ever heard for us to do in the history of this country is to go and run down four women. What kind of man would run down four women . You tell me, that is not much of a man. Host you say the country is built on dissent, do you think dissent is allowed in the Democratic Party . Caller i actually think what the media is doing, the dissent is overblown. I did not hear this stuff when it was the tea party, the republicans had dissent. It was that same level of dissent. Those same voices you are talking about that ultimately called john boehner, the speaker of the Republican Party, to leave and resign, you did not deal with those issues then. The tea party was patriotic. Sure, they were patriotic and they had every right. Host do you think the debate between the tea party and the republican Party Leadership you dont think that was covered enough at the time . Caller let me say this, i dont think it was covered enough, but what i am saying is no one questioned the right of the tea party to dissent. What you are doing with this issue is you are allowing one individual to question these individuals right to dissent. What you are doing now with these four women is you are questioning their right as americans to dissent. I heard one denim called earlier and said we did not send you up there to go against President Trump, we sent you up there to talk about policy. If there is a difference in policy, they have every right to speak. President trump has made this about President Trump because he does not deal with policy, he does not formulate policy, he deals with persons only and that is the tragedy of all of this. It is unfortunate he went into Office Without any legislative experience and if you dont have any experience crafting policy, you are going to surround yourself with people who can formulate policy and what are you left with . You are only going to deal with the persons themselves. Host here is more from the squad from that cbs this morning interview talking about some of the criticisms they received about being a distraction. [video clip] what do you say to people, and you have your critics, who say you all are a distraction, that this is not how the game in washington is played . What do you say . That there are better ways to get your message across . You have to think, there are people saying conversations between him and pelosi got in the way of their ability to that distraction was created by him because he does not have the ability to negotiate and the fact we are not able to have an infrastructure bill was because of that. When we talked here as an example of how detrimental the muslim ban is as a person who comes from a country currently on the muslim ban or when we talk about his design not to get muslim refugees into this ntry it is a distraction he wants to create. We are having a conversation about the crisis he manufactured at the border with his metering policy and family separation policyand wait in mexico and the type of humanitarian crisis that exists and Human Rights Violations happening and the three of us go down there and he calls us names. I dont want to miss a point about the criticism. It is not about the criticism of us, he wants you to focus on that and you should be asking why is it we are being criticized. What is it we bring to this body . We are an extension of a movement in our country that to endedicare for all, mass incarcerations, push against the attacks on communities of color. All of us have incredibly strong districts thatr have value in electing people like this. We are a disruption to the business as usual that is washington. Each of us represent very different districts and each of us bring our unique and authentic voice to this body. We govern in our own way. Who we are are four women have an alignment of values, shared policy priorities who have repeatedly happened to land in the same place on the issue of immigration. That is it. There is no insurgency here. No insurgency and there is nothing conspirator. We are four lawmakers who happen to land in the same place on the same issue time and time again. Host robert out of maryland, you are next. Caller good morning p how are you doing this morning . Host doing well, sir. Go ahead. Caller i totally agree with this socalled squad. Had democrats who had principles and they had guts enough to stand up for their principles. What scares these people about this socalled foreign squad is people in the 1960s who had the principles and guts to stand up like kennedy and johnson and truman and roosevelt, i remember those people. They had the guts to stand up with what they believe in. Modern republicans now they have the guts, but no principles. What i am seeing with the current leaders of this government is you compare every single thing he does in the same eframe host lee in North Carolina, you are next. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Caller i dont think it is long for them. Host how can they get carried away . Caller if they keep talking about what he said and blow it they are not going to get accomplished what they need to before the election. Host what do they need to get accomplished . Caller bring the people together and focus on who they are going to vote for out of all these people running and try to pick up the best one to run. Focusing on pulling together. All the a lot of crazy time, so let him go. Dont give him any more fodder for his crowd. Host ken is a democrat out of montana, good morning. Caller good morning. These fourng to ladies and one of the saying that some people kind of do not least they are keeping the Democrat Party in time youront and any take away from trump any reactses, he definitely and in particular, he is such a narcissist. It is these four ladies of color detracting from what he has to say, it drives him wild. He cannot stand to have anybody else gather headlines ahead of thinkd in that respect, i , wey time he is on stage should all remember that great song, lord, it is hard to be humble and play it every time it comes on stage. He would think it is wonderful because his narcissistic attitude thanks he is perfect in every way. Host under your strategy of any headline is a good headline when it comes to democrats getting headlines, what happens when there is a democratic nominee down the road, would you like to see the squad getting as many headlines as there is now when there is a democratic nominee going against trump in 2020 . Caller i have no doubts our party will gather together to defeat this narcissist no matter who the nominee is and i feel i am perfectly confident that the democrats and the democratic noty knows enough now to just elect trump, but to get rid alsoese senators that are blocking anything of any policy that can come forward through the house and we need to not just concentrate on the president , but the senators also. Host back on the east coast, this is stewart out of new york, good morning. Caller your question is regarding the squad, what is my opinion. My opinion is this country has been slowly moving forward over time, congress has been made, civil rights, womens rights, et cetera. Awas recently speaking to strong donald trump supporter evolution or was revolution are the only ways to move the needle forward. His squad is moving us forward in my opinion, it is a little bit radicalizing, but we had a lot of radicalizing last night. What may eventually become a reality is it may move our country toward a new civil war and that would be sad because i dont particularly want to be a part of that. I did not come to america 40 years ago to become a doctor and be part of a civil war. If that is what we have to do to make it a level place for all citizens, that might be the answer. Host about 10 minutes left in this segment, democrats only, 2027488000. If you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, 2027488001. Want to show you a couple other headlines, that other story we watched closely yesterday, the criminal content contempt vote when it comes to wilbur ross and attorney general william barr, that effort currently passing in the house, it was contempt citation involving wilbur ross and William Barrs lack of response to the houses efforts to get around their plan to add a Citizenship Question to the census. Mostly on party lines although justin amash of michigan did support that measure despite the battle over the census being settled. Elijah cummings, who led the debate in the house said the contempt citation was still important and here is one of his votes from the floor, we need to understand how and why the Trump Administration tried to add a question based on pretext so we can consider reforms to ensure this never happens again. Elijah cummings quoted in the Washington Times one other story to point you toward news out of the pentagon, yesterday the pentagon sending 2100 more troops to the border to augment the military force already there. The deployments will bring to nearly 6000 the total number of troops including guard members. The new troops will support customs and Border Protection officers at Holding Facilities in texas and help cbp enforcement operations. They will take place in operation guardian support cbp. Ng to support for democrats only, about 10 more minutes. Sue in illinois, you are next. Democrat andi am a proud of it and i want to support these congressional. Omens right to dissent i want people to remember vietnam and the Republican Partys claim i want people to remember which party was takinge for the their jobs which Party Supports deutsche are supports torture. I want people to remember which party is trying to dismantle the health care that protects them from being denied preexisting conditions. Trump speaks to 30 his base and plays on the racism and antiimmigrant mentality of his supporters. Most americans dont feel that way. Most americans dont believe in our basic freedoms and they believe in those freedoms for everyone, which is what these congressional women and nancy pelosi are trying to support. I think people have short memories and they need to take a is trying to party dismantle workers rights and the rights for basic working conditions and basic salaries for a middleclass that can keep a roof over their childrens heads and feed their families. Republican leaders want to support thes that 1 . In terms of the military, who is benefiting . Those private military contractors, not the average soldier, not the average veterans. People need to wake up and take apart take a look at where the Democratic Party really stands. There is host this is tom out of maryland, good morning. Caller first of all, that last ler needs to remember lets remember what president obama did. Democrat all my life. This president is the greatest der talk socialism, socialism, lets for a this, ladies and gentlemen, what did nazi stand for . The National Socialist party. Cummings,ed of elijah i am ashamed of pelosi and these four young women who have absolutely no idea stirring the pot. This is preposterous. Host why are you still a democrat . Caller because i believe in the twoparty system. That is why we have the black and watch checkerboard. If we all come together would just pull our heads out of and realize what is going on. All the people listening today, take the time, google it. Like the great state of georgia. Host cecil in North Carolina, go ahead. Withr i have a problem the blue law set up on the state theynnsylvania and when stopped me because the service unit was having a day of rest. Caller we are talking about the squad and the Democratic Party, do you have any thoughts about that . Party aree democratic not aiming at the right area. Host this is jesse, illinois. Good morning. Caller good morning. I agree with the squad and i think the squad is doing good. Hing he was never in the argument in the first place. Get back to what we sent them therefore. Mitch mcconnell keeps blocking everything. How are we going to get anything done when Mitch Mcconnell keeps blocking everything . Host about five minutes left in this segment, one more column from todays papers on this topic. You might recognize the authors name, karl rove. Aoc is the gift that keeps giving. He writes there are reasons why aoc, the squad, and her running buddies are characterizing some liberal rep as akin to southern segregationists, threatening them with even casting nancy pelosi as racist. They are convinced the shock value will give their movement documents dominance. For now, he writes they are drowning out president ial candidates, these young represented as become the face of their party and define it with their wackiness. Donald trump knows this and will theirull advantage of gift. From one of the republicans who filed this week to run against her in her congressional district. Her name is sherry murray. She writes on twitter aoc chooses selfpromotion over service, resistance over assistance. We need to build bridges, not burn them down. Join our movement. Several republicans in that primary campaign would have to win that before she would take on the congresswoman in the general election. Don in sacramento, california, you are next. Sayer i am just wanting to this whole scenario is bible prophecy. Number one, the earth is given into the hands of the wicked and further shame that the wicked, the white man, has done to the children of israel, which are the blacks, hispanics, and native American Indians in america. The shame will come to the face of host bring us up to today and what we have seen on capitol hill . Caller all of this is nothing and anotherction punishment to the people of israel. The lord said he would bring ishment back to us because the people of god, the hebrew israelite jews host we will go to brenda in south carolina, go ahead. Caller the squad are doing what they were elected to do by their districts and i agree with them thei dont understand how republicans or some of the democrats dont realize the president got elected by his base his base was not the only one who voted for him. Not realizet does he promised a lot of things to all the American People he did not do. He has not done anything for the middle class like he said he was going to do. Those people will not be bamboozled by hatred. Doingwhat are democrats to appeal to the independents you talk about and possibly cross over republican . Caller do is tell the truth of what theyre going to do when they get elected. If they get the republicans voted out because they are going on with everything Mitch Mcconnell does and they cant get anything done that they are promising their district they are going to get done because Mitch Mcconnell keeps blocking everything. We have to vote them out in 2020. They are complicit about everything the president is doing, to satisfy the american president and not the American People. We are going out there in 2020 and it is going to be bigger than 2018 and we are going to clean the house. Host one more democrat, marianne is waiting for us. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. What they did, i dont agree with it. They did it to their own Democratic Party. I am going independent because to me, every one of them is a democrat and some republicans too, they are trashy people. I dont depend my life on these people. My life is in my hands and i do for myself. I dont depend on anyone. Host what issues are most important to you from what is being debated on capitol hill . What impact you . Should be going up there and working for the country, the legal American People. They should do the right thing but they are acting so trashy. Everyone of them is acting trashy. Host our last caller in the first segment of the washington journal. We are with you for another hour. Up next, we will hear from two members of congress on congressional news of the day. First up is democratic congressman paul ruiz of california and later we are joined by freshman republican congressman tim burchett of tennessee. We will be right back. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing. Eastern,friday at 8 00 once the 6 1969 cspan footage of the apollo 11 mission. Performing final checks on the tracking begins in the instrument and used instrument used as the guidance system. We have lift off. 32 minutes past the hour. That is one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind. Saturday at 8 00 eastern, the landing and moonwalk. Columbia this is houston, reading you loud and clear. At 10 30 morning eastern, coverage of the apollo 11 returning to earth and greetings from president richard nixon. I am the luckiest man in the world and i say this not only because i have the honor to be president but particularly because i have the privilege of speaking for so many in welcoming you back to earth. Wants the 1969 News Coverage of the historic apollo 11 missing mission on cspan and cspan. Org or listen with the free cspan radio app. Washington journal continues. Host our first of two guests this morning, congressman raul ruiz, democrat of california. Yesterday we saw the House Judiciary Committee forwarding a bill setting new new standards for treatment of people in customs and Border Protection custody. What are those standards now and how would your bill change those standards . Guest let me describe the situation at the border. You have children being treated inhumanely, women, pregnant women, the elderly, vulnerable populations being treated like they are subhuman. You have an overfilled concrete where theyold floors are piled on top of each other. Children soil themselves without diapers. Mucus and vomit on their shirts. Inadequate amount of food. They are given burritos that are still frozen. Seeing one bathroom for 400 people. You are seeing open toilets where the women have to stand and guard their body around another young woman to use the toilet. It is so subhuman, these conditions. I am aground is that boardcertified emergency physician. , have done flight medicine medical command in the city of pittsburgh during my training. I am also an expert in public humanitarianained at harvard with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative as well andraining with the icrc responded after the Haiti Earthquake became medical director of the largest internally internal camp right after the Haiti Earthquake. What i saw at the border was an overcapacity system with multiple failures, understaffed, underequipped, under resourced and under skilled to reach the men humanitarian needs of these women and children under their custody and under their responsibility. The humanitarian standards for individuals in cvb cpbody act based on in based on work act i have done for many years as well as basic standards for humanitarian treatment regarding the Public Health necessities with water, sanitation, hygiene, food, shelter and that is what i did. Host when it comes to those things, are there standards now that just arent being met . Guest thats the problem. We studied the standards that cbp and ice are following and this bill mind you is specifically only for cbp, the ones at the front lines and they are following these standards but they are not real. They are not real standards in the sense that they are very vague. They are not specific, and for example, a Health Screening is defined by an observation and a question, are you ok and look at them. It does not say they need an interview, that they are required to do it in a language they can understand, it does not say they have to have vital signs and a physical examination , it is not a screening triage to determine whose life is in danger and who is at high risk of dying. Under their standards which they have met, six children have died. The sevenyearold from guatemala, if she had vital signs initially when she presented, she would be alive. Host your bill, does it provide new funding to allow cbp to have the resources to do those . Guest this bill would be the blueprint that the 4. 5 billion that was just given in the supplemental would be applied towards, one. Is an authorizing bill so it creates laws and the appropriators will look to fund this blueprint so that we can humanely,ants more with more professionalism at the border. Host we are talking with congressman raul ruiz, democrat from california. The phone lines are open for you to call in. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. His standards for those in cbp custody passing the house committees process sunday. When will that seafloor time for an actual vote . Guest next week, i am very hopeful it will be up for a vote next week and before everyone leaves to their districts in august and of course, i dont know if senator Mitch Mcconnell will bring it up for a vote in the senate. However, there are a lot of bills that must Pass Congress and there are a lot of things the president once and i believe Speaker Pelosi is very wise in her ability to make sure that we do the right thing for children. Host in terms of must pass bills, we heard news of a possible deal between Speaker Pelosi, Democratic Leadership and the white house on raising the debt ceiling and lifting those budget caps. What is your understanding of where we are on that deal . Guest it is your understanding of what we are reading in the news and other sources, that they are getting close to a deal. It is important that the government pays its bills. Host what should the deal include in your mind . Guest i cant go into specifics because i am not privy to that back and forth but definitely we should be paying our bills so we dont default and put in ruin our American Economy and create a global crisis. Host a tweet from one of the congressional reporters on capitol hill, quoting Steve Mnuchin on cnbc this morning saying the white house thinking things congressional leaders have agreed on top line budget cap numbers and are working on offsets. Can you explain what that legislative speak means . Guest offsets is where youre going to take away in order to put money into other positions. That is what that means. Host that we we will find out today more information on that deal and we will keep you updated. You can stay on cspan and watch action on the house floor starting in about 50 minutes. The next 20 minutes we are talking with congressman raul ruiz of california. Glenn is up first out of illinois, a democrat. Good morning. Caller hello and good morning. Trump and putof our Vice President in there, hes got no nose for that border bill. He will throw those cages out of there so quick it would make your head spin. Pence, that is the one we need. Thank you. Host your thoughts on the Vice President . Guest his recent visit to the hit to swaynother and distract from the very Gross Facebook posts that they found from certain Border Patrol agents, to sway the Public Opinion from what lawyers and the independent observers had seen, which is the complete inadequacy of the system to care for children and women, oftentimes intentional, sometimes not intentional but simply because they dont know how and dont have the resources. Host the caller talking about getting rid of President Trump. Al green sought to do that yesterday through his impeachment resolution. It was eventually tabled. The house Democratic Leadership leading that effort to try and table that resolution. Guest i voted to table it because we have mueller who is going to come and testify. We still have a lot of different information that needs to be uncovered. Impeachment does not remove the president. It is the senate vote that has to remove the president. We have to make sure that there is not only enough but that the best set of circumstances and context in which a president under the constitution can be impeached. Host the impeachment resolution dealt in large part with the president ticket comments about the four democratic freshman congresswomen and his thoughts on them. You have you have to ask yourself, does that mean high crimes and misdemeanors, bribery or treason . Electorately, the voted for a man who disparaged women, a man who disparaged immigrants and is continuing to do that, using divisiveness and hate and fear to augment his Political Base in order for him to win elections and gain power. That is not the ideal form of leadership our country needs but his campaign used the electoral system to his advantage. Host our next caller is out of ashburn, virginia, republican. Caller good talking to you guys and thank you for having me on. My comment is about the border. Can we agree that five years ago, the majority of migrants that were migrating to the United States were men and not family units . Theythey had the when had the Detention Centers down there, they were better equipped because we did not have that many people coming in. , thee have this influx crisis we are talking about and i think we can agree, we are not equipped to have family units. When you have thousands coming in by the day, what do you expect for them to do . When they dont have money, they are just not equipped. We could put up a tent city overnight but to build , just for them to be in the condition that it is a Good Condition to bring children and mothers and pregnant women, we just dont have the facilities to do that. There are too many people coming across. Host thank you for the call. Guest i have been the medical director for tens of thousands of haitians after the most devastating earthquake and in the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere and these standards can be applied. The amount of the amount of latrines per individual, the amount of calories you want to provide to families, providing space and private secure space for them to bathe and shower. Providing soap and toothbrushes. Creating a location where there is enough space. Many of these provisions do not require a complete infrastructure makeover. There is a lot of capacity within our government to a tente i work in hospital in haiti alongside the 82nd airborne in the army. See the enormous capacity of logistics to meet these names but to meet these needs but i do agree that right now the system does not have the capacity. Therefore we will have to do a of of memorandums understanding and contracts with other emergency federal agencies as well as nonprofits and local hospitals to make sure that children do not die. What we do have the capacity for is to ensure that children do not shut up do not suffer needlessly. Host the energy and Commerce Committee on capitol hill, the House Oversight and government reform committee, acting Homeland Security secretary will be testifying. If you had a chance to ask him a question, what would it be . Guest i did have multiple chances and i had multiple conversations with him and other Border Patrol agent about the standards and i know that the Border Patrol agents want these standards because improving the standards and the conditions in which they work will also improve their workplace and make sure they have the capacity to have a licensed Health Care Professional to do Health Screenings, Emergency Care providers oncall to triage and help them make decisions whether a child needs to be transported to the Emergency Department or can remain in their facility. A lot of these provisions in the humanitarian standards bill addresses a Public Health addresses Public Health. Illnesses,vent deterioration of an individuals health. You will prevent them from getting sick and prevent other agents from getting sick as well. Host reviewers who want to check out that hearing, we are airing it on cspan3 at 10 00 this morning. You can see the acting Homeland Security secretary. You can also watch it at cspan. Org or listen to it on the free cspan radio app. Alan is next out of North Carolina, independent. Caller good morning america. I just wanted to say that you have people talk about athletes but athletes are great. When there are natural disasters, people go and help other people. We recognized out of the border, these people need help. How come these congressmen and others are not putting their genes on and getting donations and helping out until the money does come and build the tents themselves to do some the other than talking . I am tired of people talking about especially congresspeople talking and not rolling up their sleeves. Why arent you asking people to your written law comes through . Guest i hear your frustration publici grew up in the health and Community Organizing communities where we actually do things rather than talk and in this case, personally, i have worked with different nonprofits to assist them in coordinating a response to help these children and women and families. The issue is there are very strict rules where cbp cannot accept certain donations or certain assistance. They dont allow anybody to come into the facilities where the children are at. My bill will allow members of congress to go in and do oversight and inspections. There was a lot of organizations and nonprofits that are much better at coordinating humanitarian aid than the 435 individual members of congress right now, but i definitely hear your frustration and i think there is a point. There are a lot of people who want to bicker but there is the opportunity to donate money is to nonprofits, opportunities to work with your physicians. I had the president of the American Academy of pediatrics say they had a whole team of pediatricians who are waiting and are insisting to be let in to take care of these children, they are not allowed. Host why arent they . Guest the claim is for security reasons. Havingeaucracy of not gone through the background checks and all the other necessities to come into a facility and i think a lot of it the less amount of outsiders, thirdparty individuals coming in and seeing the horrendous conditions, the less stink they are going to make. Cbp would rather shut their the publicot allow to see what is happening inside. Host about 10 minutes left with congressman raul ruiz of california. Betty is waiting in louisiana, republican. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. I have been listening to the discussions and the one thing that has not been spoken about or brought up is stop it. Stop the influx. The analogy would be if you have a tub that is overflowing, the faucet is running full force and you keep yelling for buckets. Bring more buckets. But the buckets arent the problem. How about turning the faucet off . Not,e out here, we are where listening to all of this. You are not handling it like you are supposed to. Congress, do something. You are not taking any steps at all to shut the faucet off. Guest that is a great analogy betty. That is a very good analogy. Do tos what we need to shut the faucet, as you say. We have to understand why people e from theiren mass countries to come to the United States. That is because either their life has been threatened, there is a lot of lawlessness, a lot of threat from cartels and other areas going to very rural urban populations, communities in villages. People whosend wives or husbands or children have been killed. They either stay with this horrible life or they take the risk and migrate north and go to a location where there is that not where there is not that lawlessness. That lawlessness continues in mexico with the cartels able to kidnap, rape, Human Trafficking in mexico. That is why they dont want to stay in mexico. What we need to do is join in partnership with those countries to ensure that we have mutual economic interest to develop that area with our private businesses as well as help them secure their countries. What we should not do is what the president has done which is completely withdrawn all that assistance, left a void so that the cartels, the poverty rate increases which is another driving force. The second thing we need to do and understand, is understand that our laws including International Laws allows asylumseekers, those with legitimate cases to seek asylum in our country to take their time in court. We have to respect those laws as well. Host should those asylumseekers have to seek asylum in the first country they transit to before they come to the United States . Guest if you are being persecuted by your own government or by people who are corrupt or individuals that are telling you that you need to start selling your daughter to the Cartel Services or you are all going to die, then you go to the government, you think they will feel safe seeking asylum within their own government . It is a matter of common sense. Human behavior is going to do everything they can to protect her life and their childrens life. I know i would. Host steve is next out of illinois, independent. Sad what iss very happening on the southern congressmanour u. S. And we have so many homeless vets and so many Homeless People , i think we should help them first. ,f we can help the other people we should put our funds in there. Day are committing suicide. Cant taked that we more funds and help them out. Let is all i have to say. That is all i have to say. Peoplewe would help more here then thinking about immigrants. All, i also of share an enormous amount of compassion and outrage in the way that veterans are treated in this country. Choice that the oftentimes gets poised in terms otherosing one versus the is not a choice necessarily of necessity but because we can do both and we should treat our veterans better. I have served on the v. A. Committee and currently i am helping lead the fight to protect our Service Members and veterans from the toxic exposures of burn pits and we are working on expanding the Mental Health services for our erans to prevent suicidal prevents prevent veterans from committing suicide. You are absolutely right. We are confronted with a situation and the reality where we have asylumseekers in the thousands coming to protect her life and there are a lot of there is a lot of moral outrage with the fact that these children are dying in the custer reit in the custody of the federal government. We must continue to serve our veterans and our Service Members to make sure they are safe and that they have the resources and benefits they need. I share in that outrage with the way our government is so ready to send our young men and women to war but abandoned them when they come home and want to not give them the resources the benefits that they need. Host less than five minutes left. Christopher in chicago is a democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Twould like to give you examples, of the effect of immigration on the job market in chicago. I work in the trades. Problemsat i know have and i have problems myself because i am currently unemployed looking for work. One person i know is puerto rican. And heilingual by nature was told it would not hire him because they wanted to keep the shop all mexican. Another person i know lost his job as a supervisor of a mediumsized shop because they called in an efficiency expert recommended that they get rid of the person personnel they currently have and he could not remain shop supervisor because he did not speak enough spanish. Host we are running out of time. Guest these caller these are real Life Experiences on people and they are not coming here to take your job. Theyre coming here to take the jobs of my friends and myself and this is something that really needs to be addressed because they are here to take my job. Host congressman. Guest in the district that i represent, agriculture and the Tourism Industry are the top two or three industries in my district and both the agricultural and the Tourism Industry, hotels and restaurants et cetera really rely on immigrants for their labor force and we know that if you just do the draconian go out and deport everybody and all of a sudden you dont have the workers, those multibilliondollar industries would just crash. We saw that happen in one of the Southern States not too long ago and they had to reverse their policy. There are some benefits and there are some competition that needs to be addressed. Facing is what we are a moral crisis in our country where we are turning a blind eye to children who are dying under the responsibility of the federal government and we are trying to cast blame on others, trying to point fingers and have political fights and what we need to do is focus and ensure that children have toothbrushes, soap, that they have adequate nutrition, that they have clean water, diapers and formula and baby food while they are in the custody of cbp. That is what this bill is intended to do. It is a resetting of our moral compass to remind us of our American Values and the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Host our last call out of oakland, california, a republican. Caller good morning. I just want to ask the congressman, where was his moral outrage last year when the bill came to his desk to sign Immigration Reform for the border and he said nay . Right now he is a johnnycomelately, a year after the immigrant bill got to him. Host what bill are you referring to . Are you still with us . Guest im not sure what she is referring to. We have been advocating wholeheartedly for comprehensive Immigration Reform that meets the values and the needs of our economy and our safety and i support those bills that meet those requirements and i dont support the bills that are draconian in nature that only foster hate, fear and anxiety. Congressman raul ruiz, immigrant out of california we appreciate your time. Up next we are joined by congressman tim burchett, republican of tennessee, a member of the budget and Small Business committees. We will be right back. Former special counsel Robert Muellers on capitol hill next week testifying and back hearings about a possible obstruction of justice and abuse of power by President Trump and russian interference in the 2016 election. Al live all day coverage wednesday, july 24 beginning at watch live on cspan. Org or listen with the free cspan radio app. Sunday night on cspans q a. We found that public officials, the people who really govern this country, and it isnt congress or the president , its bureaucrats. They write thousands of rules and regulations that have the force of law and we found out that they dont think much of ordinary americans. Professorn ginsberg, of Political Science and chair of governmental studies at Johns Hopkins university discusses his book, what washington gets wrong, the unelected officials who run the government and their misconceptions about the American People. Congress that makes the law, the president executes the law, the courts review the laws but that aint exactly how the system works. Much of it we think of as the of rules and regulations written by bureaucratic agencies, by vera katz by bureaucrats who are not elected by anyone and often served for decades. Sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans q a. Washington journal continues. Host we welcome back Tennessee Republican tim burchett who serves on the house budget and Small Business committee. Betweenoming together democrats in congress and the white house on budget caps and the debt ceiling. What can you tell us about that . Guest i think there are 435 members of congress and i often say i am number 436. I spent 16 years in the General Assembly in tennessee and i was mayor and so i know my role in and we are like rudolph. We dont always get to play in those reindeer games. We get it towards the end but i can tell you where i am. I would not be for raising the caps. The biggest thing everything that is going on is a distraction right now with the president and his tweets and all this other stuff. The back and forth on the floor and resolutions that dont do anything. It is all just a distraction and i think the American Public is inapt and congress is and have to inept they have to address the budget. Run a church, you cant run a temple, you cant run a family or a business without a budget. The one thing we are required to do constitutionally as far as i have seen is to pass a budget. We have not done it in 20 years. Thats ridiculous. It is beyond me. They might be in conversations but there is a group of us out in the hinterlands that dont agree with raising the caps. Host what about the debt ceiling . Does that need to be raised . Guest i dont believe so. All we are doing is kicking the can down the road. Lets be responsible. If you look at the votes we have taken, it is irresponsible. I remember i was sitting on the floor one day and i voted against something and one of the older members came up and said why did you vote against that and i said the way i see it, it cost several million dollars. As a lot to the people in east tennessee. There was verbiage, words in the document that said or amount needed, something along that. The reality was, it is just an open an open spigot of tax dollars and we cant just keep doing that. I focus on that, every bill, i look at what it costs and how we are paying for it. Host something you focused on, you talked about Congress Take job to pass a budget. What is the do your job act . Guest the do your job act says if we dont pass a budget, our pay will be reduced 10 . There is a movement to raise the pay and that is for another time. Congress not encourage in some shape, form or fashion to pass a budget, then it will never happen. Lets hit them in the pocketbooks. I am probably the poorest member of congress so i am the one it would hurt the most. Host do you have much support for that act . Guest back home and nationally i have received a lot of attention. Host any of your fellow members . Guest not particularly. I did not expect i would. I did not come here to join a popularity club. And i planme things on keeping my word. When i was in tennessee, there were several there were several fights i got into over 16 years and as it progressed, some of those fights actually bore some fruit. We had a situation with our Health Care Program and the abuses that were done in it. We had a government that paid it a governor that paid attention to it and corrected some of those problems. Host congressman tim burchett with us until the top of the hour when the house will be coming in. That is where we will take you at 9 00 a. M. Eastern but until then, your phone calls with the congressman. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. A minute ago, you said there was a lot of distraction on capitol hill. You specifically mentioned the president s tweets. We spent the first hour of our program talking about this war of words between the president and the socalled squad. Where do you come down on the specific tweets of going back . Guest the question is, is the president a racist or not . I dont think he is. I am not standing up here in judgment. The words are not words i would have chosen to use because i know that those can be taken as hurtful but you have to realize, you are not from the south. I am from tennessee. We just dont talk like that. He is from new york and i asked some of my buddies early on, i said, what is the deal with some of the things he says and this guy was from new york and was explaining to me the vernacular and some of the translations, and so it is just a different way of expressing himself and i would not have chosen those gimmick, we are in congress, grow up, life is tough. Im going to put on my tombstone who ever said life was fair lied. Just take it and go. That thend of ironic leadership after some truly antisemitic no one disagreed were antisemitic things were stated by one of the members of the squad as you called them, it took weeks to get a watereddown resolution to the floor which did nothing. The next day after the president does it, miraculously they are all banding together. Bit of at is a little trap the president lays for these folks when he does this kind of stuff. It seems he is playing chess and a lot of people are playing onckers and it got him back them talking about impeachment. Yesterday as you saw, it failed miserably. You are going to impeach somebody over a tweet, the reality of that is ridiculous. Impeachment is going to be one of the defining issues of 2020 . Guest i think it is for the democrats. It is a big distraction. It is not going to go anywhere. He is still going to be the president. They impeached bill clinton yet democrats with a bubbly vote for him. Host lets chat with a few callers. Mike is up, republican. Caller good morning rep is in it of. The first time i am seeing you and hearing you. Guest how do i look . Caller you look great, you really do. Guest i appreciate that. I have been working out. Caller suit and tie can hide a lot. You sound like a fiscal conservative and that warms my heart like nothing could possibly do. I agree with pretty much everything you say so good luck with everything. I think the topic at hand today is the minimum wage. A couple bullet point questions for you and i will let you field them. Number one, where does the federal government derive its constitutional power to mandate what any private business can pay its employees . I have always been curious about that because i am a constitutional conservative. I am a big fan of justice scalia. I am a constitutional conservative. I believe it is not a living document. It says what it says and that is the blueprint for our government. That is question number one. Where does congress or any federal agency or any authority derive to tell a in knoxville or denver or albuquerque this is what you have to pay your employees . I dont think the constitution i dont think it is constitutional and we should let the market decide. You will see in most areas, you cant require anybody to work for minimum wage. Economists have shown 15 would cause a lot of hurt. Billionion or 60 outright from the federal government just for their employees but acrosstheboard it will cost jobs. I thought it was ironic that some of my friends from the Robotics Industry were on capitol hill at the same time this bill was being discussed youll see a lot of those jobs will be replaced by robotics and they said well, a family of four cannot pay themselves feed themselves if the breadwinner is flipping hamburgers. It is not supposed to be a career. It should be a bridge to a career. My parents were not given anything. My dad bought for this country in the Second World War and my mom lewin airplane. She taught school and summer school. And weked and hustled got by. Host what kind of airplane did she plot did she fly . Guest it was a biplane. I have a cool picture of it. She lost a brother fighting the nazis. She is the youngest of seven. She did not have electricity until high school. My parents had me later. I was blessed, both my parents are in heaven but i have been blessed with a wonderful wife and daughter now. I am living the dream. Host that bill to raise the federal minimum wage to 15, expected to get a vote on the house floor today. You can watch the action all day long on cspan. Beverly is next out of missouri, a democrat. Caller yes. I want to know, you were talking about the debt. Give the rich a tax cut if you were so worried about the debt because most of that is on the debt because you gave the rich a tax cut. Know why are you letting trump do what he is doing to the usda . Though scientists are not going to move across the country those scientists are not going to move across the country. Guest i am not sure about the usda but the first question, host it dealt with the debt and the tax cut and jobs act. We did notink that keep our word. I will just say that. Republicans had it all and we did not address health care, we did not address the deficit. I think we did not do a very good job with the budget. The budget that came out of the Budget Committee was a very decent and balanced budget and what happens is it goes between the bodies and things get added on and from what i understood, looking back on that, i would have voted no because it did not address the deficit. I was not there i am not kicking the can or trying to dodge it. I would say that looking back if i was there i would have said no. Host texas, thomas, republican. Caller good morning. How is iran doing this day . I wanted to ask about issues of minimumwage. Ands in jr. High school they had economics one on what 101 and they had supply and demand. If you cant afford it, you cant buy it. You have all the crab in the world that you make with machines and it sits on the floor. Have toty sure people buy washers and cars. If you are making seven dollars an hour, what can you buy . Guest i agree. We pushed college a lot but our trades are where it is at. I read a report that a fella starts out now at a school or a plumber. Business, pretty good 24 7 and they start out as a plumber and they can do better in their lifespan if they invest their money, than a general practitioner dr. Can. I read a report that stacked them up against each other and having to pay off debt and school and you can learn a trade and i think too much in this country, we have let some arrogance play into that and we downplay the fact that people can join the military or they can learn a trade and do very well in this country. Host the current federal minimum wage, the bill that is for him him the current federal minimum wage, 7. 25, the minimum wage act on the house floor today would raise the minimum wage to 15 an hour by 2024. It would apply to teenage workers as well to provide with to provide for workers with disabilities to be competitively employed. What do you thing about the term a living wage what do you think about the term living wage . Guest it depends on what end of the country you are in. Im sure 15 in los angeles versus 15 an hour in newmarket, tennessee is different. They pass these things that are sweeping and it is kind of like education. Whatever works in washington, d. C. Sure isnt going to work in knoxville. Think it is just a socialist agenda. Every time they say look at how much the ceo of apple or whatever is making versus what the guy scrubbing the commodes is making. Go to school. Save your money. Get a degree and get an education and they always try to compare these two areas and i think it is a dividing it is really divisive for our country and i dont think it does any good and i think it is part of a socialist agenda. Capitalism is not a bad word. Profit is not a bad word. I think it is great. I love it when my friends are successful. I am not envious because i know theyre going to do well for our community. It seems that the mindset of some of our congresspeople is that theyve got it, we want it, we dont want to work for it. To me that is wrong. Will runet said, we out of people to take their money from. We are going to stifle growth with all of these socialist programs. I think the new democrat left is pretty bad, when i am in knoxville and i talked to teamsters and they dont agree with the democrat agenda and they are openly out supporting me, so i think america is waking up and they are getting tired of it. Host oklahoma, jared is next, independent. Caller good morning. Congressmen, you seem to have a grasp of the American Work ethic. I truly appreciate that. It is insulting to me when i hear congresswoman cortez speaking about being coerced by pelosi into having positions on certain committees. Given the status and ranking idea ofongress, her having to work is somewhat contrary to what you are espousing and her remarks are very insulting to me and what i am hearing from you as a freshman congressman and what you are communicating resonates. I want to thank you for that. Guest thank you. Sometimes the folks that actually do the work around the capital, the custodial staff or security or Capitol Police will sometimes stand back and let us get on the hill and i say you wont get in here, you are the ones really working. It is really a shame, we are not working. It is just a constant messaging on the taxpayers back and we are running for reelection with your unfortunately it is executive but i thought it would be. Host do you like this job . Guest no. If you are a congressman who likes it, you might want to if your congressman likes it, you might want to look for another one because they are on the cocktail circuit. Tennessee, we call at the good old boy and good old girls club. It is identical to that tv show, house of cards but on the tv show they passed an Education Bill in six weeks and we are not going to pass anything in sixweek in six weeks. Host how long do you think you will have it . Guest i dont know. Today,ey bank that gavel i will be getting on a plane to head back to knoxville to see my wife and daughter because they are the most wonderful thing in my life. I dont know. We will see. Host new york, bruce, democrat. Caller good morning. There is so much to unpack. So much that is nauseating about what you said, with all due respect. To think that someone coming a commode is not working as hard as some ceo. Guest you are putting words in my mouth. That is not what i said. Theyre not entitled to making the same as the person who owns the company. Is you areare trying to drive a wedge. Caller fair enough. That youy to hear would have voted against the tax cuts but how about tax increases . What can republicans do to help redistribute the wealth in a completely rigged capitalistic system where people are making obscene money and people are starving and cant pay for health care and dying . This is rigged. This is absolutely inequitable. Host we got your point. Guest that is more socialist agenda items. I worked hard my whole life. I have a degree in technological education. I am a United States congressman. When i was mayor, my High School Named me their citizen of the year and they gave me a nice plaque and i said i dont know the students around the world but i have just had to hustle my whole life and i am a fence swinger. I swing for the fence but i am the but i am made and it states congressperson. My parents grew up in the depression. I have achieved the american dream. I have a wonderful wife and daughter. I have been knocked down many times. You can google me and read all the truth and the lies. About two thirds of it is lies. Inave had my ups and downs Business Life and personal life and everything else. Is s not fair and there the bible said the poor is always going to be amongst us and i believe it. Some people just dont get the breaks ive got but i have had to make my own breaks too. Our nextublican caller is a republican, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. Fight in 2008. I was a ron pauler. Guest so was i. Caller it was a big fight and then in 2010 because of obama being elected, i think everyone got so excited and the tea party emerged. The Tea Party Gets a lot of fallback from this but the one thing i am calling for is thank you so much for my tax cut. I only make 32,000, fixed income, i pay for my health insurance, everything else, but i got 800 back this year on my income taxes and i want that to all these people calling in saying about the one per centers of the only ones that got brother iny california, downsize your home, dont pay those county taxes. That is what put you in the whole. He downsize and came out with 1000 on his taxes. Dont let these people pull you. You keep standing that highroad. Trumpster all the way. 2088, i dont care. Guest that was a whole lot. She is excited about the system and she is very positive. I think she made one good point that i would like to reiterate. She said she got her money back. It is your money. We need to tell those guys up there, more how they need to spend it and they need to spend less of it and we need a balanced budget. We cannot continue down this road. Unbelievable to me that that never gets any ear play. Gals upose guys and there will be gaveling in in less than five minutes and we will take viewers there when they do. Time for maybe one or two more calls. Mary and marilyn, mccright in maryland, democrat. Caller three points i would like to make, as quick as i can. Budget,ne, as to the im sure you have heard the kid i appreciate the fact that you were opposed to some tax cuts. I just heard that woman talk and as you might know, democrats were not opposed to tax cuts for women like her, they were opposed to tax cuts for those who got dollar wise, a fast majority of all the dollars to spend. Host we are running out of time. I wanted your thoughts as to whether or not you would have been in favor of opposing very wealthythe and two, the possibility of tax cuts together with spending so you are looking at all expenditures taxes. I voted against maybe there is some miscommunication. I would have liked to have voted for the tax cuts because i think the more we do that, i think my friend art laffer wouldve said the more money you put in peoples pockets, the more it gets out in the economy and it takes care of itself. I dont support any more taxes. I think we have just about beat that dog to death and i think ,hat when you tax wealthy folks lets get the wealthy, and they always say that and they show these people making billions of dollars but the reality is, what do they do with that money . They dont stick it under their bed, put it in their business and they put it to banks and the banks loan it out in the form of low interest homeowners loans and business loans. Those are the kinds of things you need to look at when you talk about that. It is not a onesizefitsall. Generally, more taxation is a bad idea. Host do you think Republican Leadership in the houses on the same page with you right now . Guest i would hope so but honestly i dont care. I will vote my conscious my conscience. You will often see me next one of those red lights because i vote my conscience. When the president was opening the Government Back up and he wanted 5 billion for the wall and they spent 228 billion additional and congress was patting itself on the back, i thought they were going to throw their shoulders out. Has leadership not called you out yet and i said not yet and they said that is a good sign and they said that is a good sign and i said why and they said because they know they are not going to sway you. Host how often do you get face time with the leader . Guest everyday if i want. Kevin mccarthy has been kind to me. They both came in and sat beside me yesterday. Out of the blue. I sit in the same spot and they just came by and said hey. Host you can see that when you check out the house floor and they can do that starting in just a minute on cspan. I want to thank you for your time. We always appreciate you stopping by. Now we take viewers live to the floor of the house of representatives and we will be back tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern