recent victory. >> thank you so much. it is really an honor, the honor of my lifetime to be here. i never thoughto i would be alie bat the age of 42 let alone [inaudible] i'm surprised as my parents are. [laughter] >> that is a great way to start this off. i know something about your story y of course famous long before you went to congress because you are the very first woman i think to graduate from citadel. totell me about that part of yor life. i know your father was at one point a commandant so you think okay that's natural she probably decidedd she was going to go there since she was in the first grade, but maybe that is not the case is that right? >> that isn't actually the case. i never even thought i would go to college quite frankly. i dropped out of school at the age of 17. on my 17th birthday i quit on everything. i had no hope for the future. it took me a numberal of years,5 years honestly. for so many women it happens to you have teenagers and women across the country [inaudible] when i dropped out of school my parents said if you're going to stop going to school you got to start going g to work. i was doing all sorts of drugs and alcohol, you name it i probably tried it at least one time l to get me through that ad no amount of therapy, pharmaceuticals or illegal drugs were going to get me through that. when they decided to open their doors to women that was in 1996, so when i dropped out of school and got my first job as a waitress at the waffle house and then started taking college courses and ended up getting my high school diploma by getting college courses. about a year later is when citadel decided to let women in. my dad was a graduate and served in the army for almost 30 years and i felt like if i could make it there of all places, a very tough college institution, if i could make it there i literally could make it anywhere. the drinking, smoking, drugs, i cut it cold turkey. started running every day. that decision quite saved my life and i don't know where i would be today had i not had that experience. i didn't go there because of my dad, but i went there because i had something to prove to myself and my parents that i could m go to a place and be challenged and face obstacles and that adversity had on and i could achieve something. i ended upme graduating at the p of my class. i was acing my classes and spent a lot of time with myself in the library. i didn't have those fun college experiences a lot of college students have. i was totally sober and focused on myself and my academics. it was the place that literally changed my life and also saved my life. .. >> did you think this to be quite an experience so i will write a book or was it an afterthought? >> i do think about it at all actually but i was looking at my calendar and then to go back and what remembers so it was there if you take and cathartic to share that story and with people and those that are thinking to understand this is what we experienced it's been over 20 years since i graduated. i am sure some of it has ichanged but those happen there's a lot of experiences that kids can learn from my treasure that moment and experience. >> like you would envision the woman is discriminated against and the system tries to be to you. where the male cadets polite and understanding? what was the feeling? >> it is very controversial it's weird to think but in the mid- nineties it was very controversial. on and off campus there were always good people and bad actors i learned a lot about leadership and the good qualities of leadershiprnrn. women are tougher on other women especially in male-dominatedd environments. i had girlfriends that would harass me when i was' off campus. i remember being yelled that trying to get into the bathroom off campus. it was crazier times than but i learned talking about other women and then later when i out at of the freshman year into leadership i was is much more tougher on the female cadets so i did this exact same thing women in corporate america i got my first job so learning some very interesting lessons. >>. >> also very different the very first republican woman who made into the house of representatives from the state of south carolina. to me i thought that cannot be true. is 2021 there has to have been a woman who ran as a republican that you are the first. >> right. but they don't have to break it is important story that should be told. if my party was to be the big ten party and then and with the things are changing as well? >> and for me what hit home was we did this 100 years after women's suffrage and literally every little girl if you have a dream and you work hard you can achieve anything in life and to be a member of congress and that gravity levelvi of second chances with a series of second chances and when we acknowledge that you give people a second chance it good.ot off >> your parents must be really proud of you. congratulations. now your district in south carolina with the low country what does south carolinians mean tell me something about that district. >> it is largely on the beach in the beach community that we haveav marshlands hundreds of years old great people and hospitality and that is the definition of the low country and we have so much population growth and all the tours so it's such a b beautiful place every sunset and sunrise is highlyun gorgeous and why i am conservation issues that's why people visit us and go and start businesses there it is a really beautiful place i think one of the most beautiful places in the country. >>ge i had good fortune to be in charleston last year and i didn't want to leave be there. winning one of the really close rate since like the house republicans but it is a competitive swing district. >> it really is the demographics haves. changed and this is the place it is socially moderate and fiscally conservative as environmentalist to the environment it is primaries the traditional republican issues it's about working across the aisle and as a state lawmaker worked on a lot of issues with the fiscally conservative voting records and those to lower taxes worked on social issues and to in the middle of covid last year as a state lawmaker that is the prison reform bill so working on criminal justice reform and environmental issues and the different kind of and fiscal issues and the environment. >> so let's talk for a minute on in incredible moment from several weeks ago januaryalks 6h you have spoken about it. one thing is you had the state of mind of your own social media to come to the point moving your kids out the city for a few days before it all happenedll how is it possible you are there on the ground you know it is coming to get the whole system of capital police and everybody how is that possible? >> i have a lot of questions about that day. the only people protecting us with a violent insurrectionist where the capital police and they were outnumbered. it was a very dangerous situation and to capitol hill police officers has since committed suicide it was a tragic moment.e we have to do everything in. yo our power to prevent it from ever happening again and it's important me tell the truth to the americanel people. i truly believe it has to be investigated to be held accountable for the false extent of the law but also security wise there are talks of other threats and have investigated a better understanding o so that day i literally walked by with a pipe bomb i had to walk by the rnc with the rnc in the dnc that day and at one point i was stuck in a tunnel under capital because my building was evacuated due to the pipe bomb threat and at one point during the day during the evacuation i was stuck in the tunnel but the military war hero and then to keep everybody safe so also talk about how much trouble we could be in and then later with police reports of the insurrectionistmehd and then trying to get down there to find us and then to hear these chance and they think it's important we tell the truth. one of the reasons that former president mike pence he acknowledged that day the vice president had no power or authority to overturn the results of the presidential election in the same of congress we didn't have power to overturn the results of the election.s that changed everything for me that day and then threatening to shoot me on sociall media i am more conservative in my district and i'm not doing enough? it was baffling to me it was crazy. the night before i was across the street someone who drove up for my district and i tried to explain the constitutionality and what the us could have lost it didn't matter what i said so for me it was a defining moment i'm sure we are telling the truth to prevent this kind of violence. so i had such strong language on that day i have more moral authority with other activist and other members of congress contribute the division in this country have a bit more moral authority and a very strong voice but now i have an opportunityi y with democrats and republicans alike to pass my first bill to protect the rights of due process and talking about the policies and the fruits of that labor now we can be completely wide open again economically by summer. with the tax cuts in job act especially small businesses and in 2018 for the first step back into law. so that is the ideology if we continue for millions of people out of work and the vaccination and the work of the american people but also as a nation and a party. >> well said. >> but s do you think they will get to the bottom of it or are you concerned. >> that there were some threats this week of the copycat issues. and with those members of congress and what is happening and what we are doing that we are the freest nation in the world. when things i am grappling with i get threat and all the time. the congresswoman ocasio-cortez know asked have democrats threatening to shoot me. it is alarming and problematic and dangerousst's uns . and doing a much better job to communicate with us. we had the freest country in the world where people cannot come. i have no fear right now in the sea and with that information to operate accordingly. and then over the next couple of days. but not at the capital you cannot have the borders and close schools. i'm trying to be pragmatic with common sense on these issues. but to divide the country out of politics and it seems like not much else. and how they work together and then to do some good we're paid a lot of money to do a job. so is still fortress capital. >> it feels like a green zone in a war-torn country. >> and then politicians in common sense everyday americans have to use that in their lives. it's important that we do that. much more political than i thought it would be. >> and for president trump i know you voted against impeachment and was concerned of the due process but i get the sense that had there been due process it is possible if allowed would have voted to censor the president. >> republicans and democratsex with bipartisan measures at the time and there were sensor documents going around and they wouldn't allow that because with impeachment they rush the process in criminal justice reform is something i'm passionate about and what i'm working on today working on the criminal justice reform bill. but every person's constitutional right but if you have impeachment literally allow the for on the floor of the house with a one hour debate you don't open the investigation you don't have hearings with a special select committee and you don't have those investigations and hearings with the u.s. senate if you can eliminate due process then you can eliminate the due process for anybody in the country. that doesn't settle with me. they wouldn't even call witnesses in the senate either. and then a member of my party filing articles of impeachment against president biden the day he was sworn in. it should be deliberative and thoughtful that's not the that shouldn't even be for the president of the united states. >> it seems like congresswoman you are making a point he might have been elected as a republican that you will be and independent voice as a fiscal conservative but a conservationist, will vote against the impeachmentt the voting percent sure. you will be her own voice. that's a sense that i get. >> absolutely. that was my campaign tagline i'll be a fiscal conservative constitutionalist but an independent voice is important whenmp you are leading a swing district you represent people across the aisle. and to stay true to my values and principles and people i represent there's a lot of opportunities to work with members of both parties. published on - - a promise them that. i hate politics. that's why i got in. that hypocrisy iss real. i want to be consistent to apply the same values across oathe board they are freer, greater entrepreneurship in people can prosper to live and retire in the greatest country the most prosperous country in the world. i'm a single mom with two kids. they care i care about my kids in my country. >> would you define yourself as a glass half empty republican. >> half-full on anything i try to be optimistic but the reason so many went to incite his former president trump especially in the swing districts to get across the finish line. the idea and ideology that he embraced, obviously the unemployment rate with the obama administration under the trump leadership is under 2 percent the highest unemployment rates black and brown communities hispanics and asians under his leadership and they see them turn out for the republican candidates. so we have to be glass half-full and understand those of varying degrees and ideology in the party. if we embrace making our message then we can continue to be successful. is because he made it so. >> what about the fiscal conservatives? i know we are hearing from some now with a one.9 trillion-dollar bill that supposed to be about coronavirus but isn't are you sensing the republican party is getting back to the position of less regulation and smaller government? >> i hope they are. we don't have one.$9 trillion to spend and if we do may be 1 percent on vaccination 9 percent anti- a covid relief should one get a bridge or nancy pelosi underground rail in her backyard? is to lift people out of poverty. that's what democrats want schools have to reopen because kids get their food from school, their education they are not getting it at home. so with covid-19 relief should be targeted to those who have lost wages, making $75000 a year not losing a dime should not get a stimulus check. maybe the checks could be larger for those who can't go back to work and desperately need help. but also incentivizes unemployment if you work part-timen to increase the federal funding you can make more money. they will expect their job and want all the benefits of it so it's for small businesses as the backbone of new jobs and economic development in my district over half favor small businesses. we are doing aed sma lot to keen and without. i want to be part of that but it will be important it's very one-sided right now. >> it's unusual for a republican to say does that come purely from the offshore drilling rig? know. you thought about the environment generally speaking for a long time.er >> my father was a hunter that my father was in the military so it is that there were so many more issues we see the sea level rise up and down the coast. in norman's issues with the environment. i make it there in my backyard. [laughter] but then to protect the resources and wildlife i learned growing up with my father as the outdoorsman. this is important especially. >> may be because you are younger but how did you survive? >> i was actually sick with covid-19. is very six when i was in quarantine but it took me three months to physically recover even now i'm eight monthsig past sometimes i find myself catching my breath. sometimes i get out of breath going up two flights off stairs been doing this job two months and i'm still out of breath if i talk too much or talk really fast to get out of breath. i haven't been able to get back to the german gym to do heavy physical exertion and exercise i'm just walking right now. for some people to be more than a few days or weeks but months on end. >> best of luck with that congresswoman. so the issue of immigration is a most intractable issue that congress is facing let's build a wall republican types and then build the wall types do you ever see the possibility of enough members of congress coming together to have real immigration reform or will this be what divides us for decades? >> we are so divided right now it's hard to work together. people on both sides want a reasonable approach that could be presidency, and no wall or a number of different things security measures at the border, nobody wants to haveld this conversation and then the visa issue and in my district if we don't have the presence of the people to do these jobs and with that temporary work visa. there are a number of ways to tackle i feel that everything is very one-sided right now. i don't know what changes that. may be stronger voices that demand that. >> true. you have had republican say they want to shoot at you and democrats so you must be doing something right. [laughter]htau but i'm exactly what i promise what i would be and i am exactly that. i want to make sure boys telling the truth and honest with my constituents to the best of my ability. even all this chaos responding to casework within cases within 24 hours if you write an e-mail we have a response and about three and half days and working extremely hard. that's the least we could do erbecause so long those that are not here for thehe right reasons and we need to be working. american workers and families are struggling we need to make sure we are doing everything we can toyt ensure they can get educated and get a good job and retire in the greatest country in the world. >> it sounds like you are on top of the job and loving it congratulations congresswoman it back a flood on - - best of luck to you in the future. >> thank you so much >> "washing" continues. host: a look at congress now. christina marcos, thank you for joining us. guest: >> congressional reporter for the hill thank you for joining us thise. morning. take us back to the senate's final action on saturday. what did it change about the one.9 trillion-dollar bill