Transcripts For CSPAN Washington 20240703

Host that was the vote yesterday afternoon in the senate to dismiss all impeachment charges against how men secretary security Alexander Mayorkas against Homeland Security secretary alhambra mayorkas. This first half hour, your reactions. Republicans call us on 202 7488000. Democrats, 202 7488000. And independents, 202 7488002. You can send us a text at 202 7488003. We are on social media, facebook. Com cspan, and x, cspanwj. Good morning and welcome to washington journal. The house will gavel in ad 9 00 a. M. We start with an article from axios that says Senate Democrats on wednesday squashed impeachment charges against alondra mayorkas, an end to the gops attempt to oust him. Democrats saw the impeachment as political theater but republicans argue it it sets a dangerous precedent. Lets take a look at how the first republican objection played out on the senate floor yesterday. [video clip] that there be up to 60 minutes for debate concurrently and equally divided on the motion to dismiss and points of order and following the use of yielding back or yielding back at that time, the senate vote in relation to the points of order in the order raised and motion to dismiss. Following, the senate vote on the motion to adjourn the impeachment. There be up to four minutes for debate equally divided between the leaders or designees prior to each roll call vote or without intervening action or debate. Is there an objection . Senator . Reserving my right to object. To dismiss or table articles of impeachment against secretary mayorkas without a trial today or in committee is an unprecedented move by senator schumer. Never before in the history of our republic as the senate dismissed or tabled articles of impeachment when the impeached individual was alive and had not resigned. As senator schumer said in 2020, a fair trial has witnesses, relevant documents as part of the record, seeks the truth, nothing more, nothing less. I will not assist senator schumer in setting our constitution ablaze and bulldozing 200 years of precedent. Therefore i object. Madam president . Objection is heard. Madam president , point of order that impeachment article one does not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor as required under article two, section four of the u. S. Constitution and is therefore unconstitutional. Under the precedents and practices of the senate, the chair has no power or authority to pass on such a point of order. The chair therefore under the precedents of the senate submits the question to the senate. Is the point of order well taken . The republican leader is recognized. The clerk will call the roll. Host that was yesterday on the senate floor. We have that full coverage of that on our website, cspan. Org. And here are some tweets from lawmakers. Here is speaker johnson, who said this. My joint statement on senate ignoring itsonitutional duty to hold mayorkas impeachment tria by voting unanimously to bypass their constitutional responsibility, every senate mocrat has issued their full endorsement of the biden administtis dangerous open border policy. Sec. Mayorkas alongside President Biden has used nearly every tool at s disposal to engineer the greatest humanitarian and National Security catastrophe at our boers in American History. Tragically, Senate Democrats dont believe this merits their ti or a discussion on the senate floor. Instead, they are signalingo millions demanding accountability that the officialreonsible for this disaster, who have ignored t law and misled congress repeatedly, is above reproach. The American People will hold Senate Democrats accountable for this display. Heres the hoe diciary democrats, who say this is not about ignoring constitutiona duties. It is about a policy disagreement disis as a constitutional and evidence free political stunt. Here is senator duckworth. Republicans impeached sec. Mayorkas for not doing have to keep the border secure. Also blocked the most significant Border Security deal in a generation. The ony should not be lost on anyone. Here is senator tillis. It is rich the democrats now dont want to have an impeachment trial for sec. Mayorkas after they weoned and rushed the impeachment procesagainst President Trump. And senator mike lee, today, nate democrats refused to do their constitutional duty. They let mayorkas off for destroying ourorder with no trial, throwing ouover two centuries of precedent. We will member this next time demoats want to remove someone from offic and senatorarner, i am glad to see us move on from that point was impeachment hearing. It is time to get back to work on things that matter, creating middleclass jobs, protectg election security, and keeping our word to our partners abroad. And just a reminder of what those impeachment articles were. This is from the house. The two articles were, first, willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law, and the second, breach of the public trust. We will go to your calls and get your reaction to that starting with erin in monticello, florida, independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I can see why they went down the order of removing certain articles, which, lets be real, if we were in a court case, the same thing would happen to our attorneys. So my thing as an independent, i hope this country will figure out what is going on, because at the end of the day, the border needs to be fixed. Thank you for your time and god bless america. Host diana is next. Good morning. Caller good morning. My father worked for the defense industry. He worked on the b2 bomber. Our family actually became naturalized citizens for fighting in world war ii and my grandmother became a natural citizen in 1943. In california. I cannot have my property legally in my name even though i am a citizen and born in the United States. I have to have it under my mothers name. Host diana, thats really not our topic this morning. Greg, democrat in ohio, good morning. Caller good morning. I would just like to say that immigration and the republicans talking about it is played out. Most people dont know this. What is asylum . Asylum is, when you come to the United States by any means necessary, you want asylum, you have to be processed. And illegal is not a person who is in the United States who requested asylum. People always say, well, the immigrants are hurting the economy. They are not affecting my rights or ability to make money. All those people who died on the bridge in baltimore were immigrants. I welcome them. Asylum is the law. And mayorkas is following the law. Host all right, greg. And jim is in hudson, florida, republican. Caller good morning. When are they going to realize that the border is one of the main topics of who is going to be elected in november . They act like the citizens out here dont know like, if we dont talk about it, they wont realize we have a problem at the border. Its like gasoline. If we dont talk about it, they dont know it is too high. If we dont talk about groceries, they dont know they are too high. Young people can buy houses. They talk to us like we dont know and we know theres a problem and they need to talk about it, but when the democrats thats an injustice to the people because people need to hear why. The man says the border is secure. All the people run across. You are an idiot if you dont believe theres a problem with everything. Even fast food. You cannot even go get fast food anymore, it is so hot. Host do you believe holding an impeachment trial for secretary mayorkas would be the best way to handle that . Caller yeah. People want to hear from him. How can you say anything is secure when you go somewhere and the people rush into a ball game . Host this is on msnbc. Com. A democratic congressman said this, representative dan goldman wrote an oped. He says my republican colleagues are wasting this and its time. Articles of impeachment failed to allege an Impeachable Offense. What do you think of that . You have gone. Corey, princeton, missouri, independent line. Caller unprecedented, unfair is all i have been hearing. Well, Mitch Mcconnell did not seem to think so whenever he held obamas scotus appointee and then shoved in trumps weeks before the election. I guess they get what they deserve. Host speaking of republican leader Mitch Mcconnell, he was on the senate floor yesterday voicing his objection to the adjournment vote. [video clip] we have set a very unfortunate precedent here. This means that the senate can ignore in effect the houses impeachment. It does not make any difference whether our friends on the other side thought he should have been impeached or not. He was. And by doing what we just did, we have in effect ignored the directions of the house, which were to have a trial. No evidence, no procedure. This is a day that is not a proud day in the history of the senate. Host and we are getting your reactions to the dismissal of sec. Mayorkas impeachment without a trial in the senate. The numbers are on your screen. Republicans, 202 7488001, democrats, 202 7488000, independents, 202 7488002. About 15 minutes left in this segment. We will hear from larry in North Carolina, independent. Good morning. Caller how are you . Host good. Caller thank you. Im amazed what warner said concerning the scenario this scenario because i have family in virginia. I also have family in arizona. And my sister in arizona was telling us, in 2021, about the problems they were having with illegals breaking into outbuildings on properties. My nephew was assaulted. It was on camera. Police said they could not really do anything about it because they were migrants. So they didnt know where they were. So my family wrote a letter to warner and kaine and their response was almost a form letter saying that they agreed with what the Biden Administration was doing on the border. And this is in 2021. So now, today, they try and make mayorkas accountable for what he has done. He is not an elected official, so how do you fire him fire him . Host host i hear what you are saying, that you wanted to see mayorkas fired, but practically speaking, President Biden would appoint somebody else that would also institute President Bidens policies. Caller well, yeah. They are bidens policies. You are correct there. So maybe we all should speak in 2024 that we are not happy about this situation. Its up to the American People and hopefully we will look through the garbage and figure out the right thing to do. Host all right. Also in North Carolina, this time in greensboro, roy, line for democrats. Good morning. Caller you all do such a great job with washington journal even though a lot of people complain. This is just kabuki theater. Of course it was going to be dissolved. Its a way of the republicans getting out of doing the work that needs doing. They are preaching this chicken little hymnal and they are all singing from it. A couple callers you have had today talk about gas prices. Lowest gas prices in the developed world. The most gas we have ever produced. Groceries, they are not low. You see people buying everything. Ok, the border, there is a problem, but its largely because we dont americans dont do manual labor anymore essentially. That is why housing is so high. We cannot even find the people who will do that hard work, farming, all the entrylevel farming and construction now that i see is done by immigrants. Now, there is a problem. Its just a manpower problem, which the bill that was put forth was trying to solve, but i dont see why here is my brilliant idea. Even the chinese are coming here because its so bad in some countries and its so good here. Its so good here is why they are coming. Heres my great idea. Why doesnt our gargantuan military, like over one million active, they can send units down where they are needed, not guns blazing or anything but just processing these people. We have all this manpower that is doing nothing. The military has finagled their way into doing nothing. They dont cook their own food. They dont wash their own clothes. They dont even do the protection and the war theaters. They had to contract that out. We only need a few dozen thousand. They can rotate so they couldnt whine and cry that, oh, the civilian authorities are making them do this thing they are not supposed to do. Put them there to process these people and it could be done easily. We are already spending that money, wasting it. Theres no war. We are in peacetime. Thank you. Host wanda on the republican anthony on the republican line in pennsylvania. Good morning. Caller i would like to comment. Host on the mayorkas impeachment . Caller yes. In the words of president roosevelt, a day which will live in infamy fits the narrative on this case. That is what i have to say. Host and why do you feel that way, anthony . Caller if you can lie to congress multiple times, like mayorkas did come and get away with it, others no mayorkas did, and get away with it, theres no in other words, theres no reason to be impeached again. Nobody will be impeached. Host lets hear from bill in newburgh, new york, independent. Good morning. Caller i just want to comment on the previous caller from North Carolina saying the military does not cook their own food. That is not true. They certainly do. We learn how to wash our own close in the marine corps by hand with scrub brushes, so hes not accurate. I dont know what branches of service he was in but the social service does not count. Mayorkas lied to the American People, saying that the border was closed and secured, neither of which is true. Hes just doing when his boss told him to do. Impeachment of mayorkas will lead to the impeachment of biden. Ok . Host all right, bill. Lets hear from senator schumers comments after wednesdays vote. Here he is. Caller as suspected, the republicans proved this afternoon that this whole impeachment was nothing more than a political show. The problem was they were not prepared. We offered to have an open and public debate and votes on multiple resolutions by republicans. Rather than taking that time to hold the debate that republicans claimed was imperative, they denied our fair and reasonable offer and did not seem to know what to do. We saw today what we saw what we saw today was a microcosm of this impeachment since day one, shallow, frivolous, political. And we felt very strongly that we had to set a precedent that impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. I felt that very strongly. This is the first impeachment i can recall. You look at history. None were done because there were policy disagreements. If we allow that to happen, it would set a disastrous precedent for congress, throw our system of checks and balances into cycles of chaos. Anytime the house would want to shut the senate down, they could send over another impeachment resolution and could create frivolous impeachment trial after impeachment trial. So i felt it really important that the dangerous precedent was not the one republicans were talking about but letting impeachment take the place of policy disagreements. Host getting your reaction to that. Next from kurt, a republican in great meadows, new jersey. Caller good morning. Host good morning. Caller can we expect anything other than the democrats, who control the senate, obviously, to stop the impeachment trial . I listened to Hakeem Jeffries this morning preach on supporting ukraine, israel, taiwan, sending hundreds of billions of dollars to support those people, yet we cannot protect our southern border. All i have to say is fbi director Christopher Wray confirmed 357 individuals on the terrorist watch list from countries all over the world have entered the United States under biden and mayorkas policies. When the blood flows here in america, let the blood be on their hands, and every democrat. Who supports those policies. And thats all i have got to say. Host all right. And here is a text we got from scott in essex, massachusetts, an independent. He says wow. What a surprise. Bi yawn. Now get to the work the senators are supposed to do. Clifford in birmingham, alabama, democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you. I have had it with these republicans calling in talking about impeachment trials. This is a clown show. There was nothing to be impeached about. There was no high crime or misdemeanor. There was a bipartisan border deal that was struck between these people. And what did they do . Because donald trump did not want to let biden have a win, he said kill it. Talking about fentanyl coming in, well, former President Trump said dont do it. Republicans fell in line like lemmings. That was the strongest border deal we could have had. They want to talk about the border, they dont do anything about the border. Thats what i cannot understand about these people. Stop this nonsense talking about the border. Host what democrats will tell you, clifford, is we passed hr 2. Why wont the Senate Passed that . What do you think . Caller thats a problem too. Congress is not working as it should work, for the people. This border deal, that was a bipartisan deal there. They want to talk about it. There was a bipartisan bill done that was going to do something about the border rather than just talk about it. Donald trump, these people following this cult leader, said no. This might give joe biden a win. Joe biden said, we can both take credit for this if thats what you want to do. If you want something done, you should have passed that deal. The man is for himself. That is donald trump. He said dont do it and those republicans fell in line. Thank you. Host mark is a republican in hempstead, maryland. Good morning. Caller i see the trump arrangement syndrome is running wild. Trump has not been in office for over three years now and yet somehow or another they are still managing to blame its interesting, because up until yesterday, we were told that the situation at the border was simply overwhelming, that this was going on all over the world and there is nothing mayorkas could do about it, but Chuck Schumer says its a policy difference, so really so i guess it is the democratic policy that we have an open border. They pretty much said the quiet part out loud. We have been told this is a worldwide phenomenon. I think what most americans dont realize is that a lot of these migrants are coming to places like the darien gap. There are organizations there like the red cross, which is always pin a leftleaning always been a leftleaning organization. They have stations with instructions and maps in multiple languages as to what is the right thing to say to the Border Guards if they are intercepted at the border. This is all actually being funded by the un. And it has gone on worldwide. If you look at whats going on in europe, people who were born in great britain, who grew up there, its now not even safe to walk the streets in london or paris because there are so many people who have come from the middle east they have taken over every city. Even chancellor merkel has said in recent weeks if she had known how bad it would be she would not have allowed it to go on. Host a reminder for yo schedule. Secretary yorkas will be on the hill today starting at 10 a. M. Easrn. He will be talking in front of the homeland secity sorry, inront of the senate to talk about the fy 2025 budget request, so you can watch that over on cspan3. Next, we will get your perspective from capitol hill on the impeachment proceedings and ongoing tensions in the middle east, first with republican representative don bacon of nebraska, a member of the Armed Services committee, and later democratic representative jim costa of california. He serves on the Foreign Affairs committee. We will be right back. Don lemon would say thats a man in his prime. Watch cspans coverage of the white house Correspondents Dinner on april 27 with weakened update cohost collin chose to colin jost is a featured entertainer as a featured entertainer with President Biden expected to make remarks. At 8 p. M. Eastern, sights and sounds from inside the ballroom before the festivities begin. Watch the white house Correspondents Dinner saturday, april 27 on the cspan networks. The house will be in order. Cspan celebrates 45 years of covering Congress Like no other. Since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government, getting to you where the policy is debated and decided with the support of americas cable companies. Cspan, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. But tv, every sunday book tv, every sunday on cspan two, features autrsiscussing their books. A journalist talks about her upgrading that her up bringing talks about her upbringing. On after words, a princeton professor shares his views on black politics andow the black Community Moves rward in americas democracy. Hes interviewed by a harvard professor. Watch book tv every sunday on cspan two and find full schedule on your Program Guide or watch at booktv. Org. Washington journal continues. Host welcome back to washington journal. We are joined now by representative don bacon, a republican of nebraska. He serves on the Armed Services committee. Welcome. Guest thank you. Good to be back. Host lets start with that foreign aid package for ukraine, israel, taiwan. Where does that stand now in the house . Guest it has to pass out of the rules committee first. They will probably vote on it saturday once we get through that. I think the speaker and rules chairman will come up with a plan to get enough votes to get it out of rules. I believe its a Bipartisan Legislation for both israel, ukraine and taiwan, so i believe they will have enough rules votes, with some democrat votes as well, i think i will have to happen, i think we will get this done saturday. Its important. We are the indispensable nation for freedom. We have to work with our allies and stand up to a bully, putin, who has invaded ukraine unprovoked. It will not stop with ukraine. We will probably see moldova fall if ukraine falls and the baltics will be under threat. We have to stand also with israel and they need help fast. Both these nations need help quickly. I think a bipartisan majority sees the need to do this now. Host as you know, your colleague Marjorie Taylor greene has filed a motion to vacate the chair for the speaker if he puts ukraine funding on the floor. Do you think this could happen . Guest i believe it may happen but theres enough support that speaker johnson will remain and he should. Hes a good man. Hes a man of character. He is trying to do the right thing whether you agree with him always or not. Thats neither here nor there. I know he means well. Hes trying his best. He has a good moral compass and he sees the need to get this done for ukraine. They have no more artillery. If we dont do this two of my colleagues would like to see the russians win. I dont know why that is the case. I think its a terrible thing. Ukraine wants to be free, they want a free market economy, they want to be part of the west. It could be a game changer in europe for ukraine to do that and we should help them on that path. Host i want to ask you more about what you said about your republican colleagues and how they view the war in ukraine because cnn is reporting that the House Intelligence Committee chair says that russian propaganda has spread through parts of the gop. And i am wondering what your thoughts are on that and what are you doing to counter that misinformation that russia might be advocating or promoting in the house . Guest first, i respect chairman turner, the committee chairman. Others have said something similar on the Foreign Affairs committee. I think there are some arguments in regards to ukraine and russia that is russian propaganda. Same russia is fighting for christianity is propaganda. They are attacking evangelical christians in russia and ukraine, for example. Saying that ukraine represents the nazis is more russian propaganda. You have to remember zelenskyy is jewish himself. About half his family were murdered by the nazis in the 1940s. Also, a lot of stuff about how the black market the ukrainians are giving weapons to hamas, more propaganda. I think there is some legitimate debate when it comes to how much can america afford . We have a 34 trillion debt, over 1 trillion deficit this year, our Interest Rates are high. Thats a worthy debate on how much we can afford and what is our role. I think another worthy debate is how much the other countries are also participating and contributing. Now we find out the eu is giving more than the United States now. To your second point, Republican Leadership needs to stand up against this russian propaganda. We allowed a couple of voices to dominate some of these dominate. Some of these talkshow folks, whether its on tv, cable tv, or podcasts, we let a few french people dominate. Committee republican too Many Republican leaders have tried to stay out of it. We have to be what is about truth and what is americas role in this world . Unclear where we stand i am clear where we stand. Its in americas National Security interest that ukraine remain independent. Host host going to the iranian strike host going to the iranian strike on israel, you have said theres a risk of a wider middle east conflict if the u. S. Responds weakly to iran. What do you want to see the administration doing that would not be seen as weak . Caller the fact guest the fact that iran fired 330 various munitions into israel, to include 110 Ballistic Missiles, demands a response. So to try to encourage israel not to respond i think is weakness. We have been intact hundreds of times since october 7 from iranian proxies and the u. S. Is only attacked proxies in iraq, syria, yemen with the gouthis the houthis, but iran is in charge of that, the ayatollah, the mullahs, the irdc. They dont care if you attack their proxy forces. They do care if you hold them accountable. There are things we could do to make iran. There navy is vulnerable in the persian gulf. There oil expert terminals export terminals are vulnerable. We could shut those down easily. There are things we could do that are low risk. There is a risk of escalation if we counter strike that i think theres a greater risk if we show weakness, because they will say america will not respond. We can keep attacking them or israel and they will do nothing back. Theres a broader risk of doing nothing. And iran should fear us, not us fear them, and right now its the other way around and we have to regain deterrence. Host i will remind our viewers that if you would like to call in and make a comment or have a question for representative don bacon, republican of nebraska, you can do so on our lines. Republicans are 202 7488001. It is 202 7488000 four democrats and 202 7488002 for independents. Representative bacon, on the front page of the New York Times is this. How israels miscalculation poked at a hornets nest. Failing to anticipate irans response after its strike in damascus. This was a response to the killing of a highlevel iranian general outside of Irans Embassy in syria. So i wonder if you think that this was a miscalculation as the New York Times says on israels part. Caller i dont think so guest i dont think so. In the end, israel had to target this general. This general was coordinating hamas attacks on israel. He was part of the planning for seven october. You cannot let that go unpunished just like we had to hold soleimani responsible. Soleimani was in charge of the irgc and responsible for the proxy forces in iraq that killed americans. It should have been done sooner. The fact that they send 330 munitions to israel is more than i would have expected, but i would expect israel or the u. S. Or both to teach iran a lesson here and we have not. In fact, the administration is asking israel to not strike back, and i think thats going to be a signal to iran of weakness, and i think they will exploit that in the future. Host lets talk to listeners. We have lee calling from kansas, democrat. Caller hello, representative bacon. I wanted to give a message to mr. Comber. He seems to not know where joe biden got his money from. A simple google search. 27 to 2018, he gets most of his money from speaking engagement 2017 to 2018, he gets most of his money from speaking engagements. 11 million in 2017 and 5 million in 20 team in 2008 team. Get that to mr. Comer. He has to know he got most of that from book deals and speaking engagements. You being from the great state of nebraska just north of me here, i would like you to tell the listeners that the Keystone Pipeline is over is open. Its been operational since 2010. People seem to think biden shut it down. Please tell them the Keystone Pipeline is operational and get that message to mr. Comer. Guest mr. Comer is a friend and i think he has no problems with the speaking fees and other things that are legal. The concern was the 24 million that came from overseas, china and russian sources, and how much of that went to President Biden . Thank you for the input. Host peter is in valley cottage, new york, republican. Good morning. Caller congressman bacon, i have been a republican since 1980 and i am so disappointed in you guys. You have already passed a bill funding israel that is paid for. It is sitting in the senate and you guys just dont push schumer or the republicans in the senate dont push him to pass that. You always back down. In the end, the democrats always get what they want. They wanted a time wanted to tie funding to the border and you keep backing down. I think you guys really want to be in the minority. That is my opinion because you just dont stand up. As far as the Keystone Pipeline was concerned, it was never finished. Part of it was operational but it was never finished. As far as joe biden was concerned, he got 240,000 of money that he claims was a loan. It was not. But you just dont fight. You talk about Marjorie Taylor greene. Marjorie Taylor Greene at least fights. And, you know, it really makes me sick. Same thing with this impeachment. In 2019, they went ahead with the trial for President Trump, and went through the whole procedure. Granted, nobody believes that mayorkas is going to be removed, but the point was to have the trial and all the information why he should be impeached would have come out. Host lets get a response. Guest what the caller is asking for is a majority in the senate. We dont have the majority and it was shoved down our throats by a majority of the Democratic Senators not to have a trial on mayorkas. The whole thing with mayorkas was not so much that there was a felony or particular crime. Its just lack of doing his duty, negligence. We have at 8 Million People, roughly, come into our country illegally. Our cities are struggling, new york, chicago, denver, on down the line. Some people are being murdered. We have 110,000 drug deaths through fentanyl and other things coming over the southern border. It was to highlight the ineptitude and negligence this secretary has had with the border. Youll need a republican majority. We did pass an israel aid bill. It was 100 paid for out of the i. R. A. I would come back to this. There is a role. We have to fight, push back, fight for our values, but at some point we have to come together for things that are in our National Security interest. I think the border is the number one issue but we have a president that does not want to defend this border. He has all the authority to do so. He has that authority but refuses. Should we allow that negligence to create strain for israel and see them maybe collapse if we dont help them . I dont think that thats one bad doesnt make two baths good. If ukraine falls, is more likely for america to be in a conflict in years to come, more money to spend. Perhaps soldiers on the ground because of the threats to poland and the baltics. Two wrongs dont make a right and three dont make a right but the president ong on the border. We will get a new president to fix that in my opinion. Host jim is calling from wisconsin, a democrat. Hi, jim. Caller good morning. Mr. Bacon, i believe you an honest broker. I am calling on the democratic line but i think you make a lot of sense in a lot of ways. I do believe that the border is a problem but also agree that the ukraine funding is probably top priority and i dont understand how Marjorie Taylor greene or a couple other people in your party can control everything the way they do. I do not trust trump when it comes to ukraine because i think for some reason he spent two years begging russia to build trump tower. I dont trust him. But we definitely have to back ukraine and we also have to back israel. The iranians sent 300 missiles. A lot of them were like v2 rockets like the germans had. They shot them all down. Send more humanitarian aid into gaza because that makes them look bad in the eyes of the world. But what happened on october 7 was despicable. Everyone involved in that should be captured and exterminated as far as im concerned. But they have them penned in pretty good and all their leaders are already in qatar or some other country. They are living high on the hog so it does not fix all that. Host what do you think of that, congressman, specifically about what he was saying about humanitarian aid and the protection of civilian life in gaza . Guest in the areas that israel has freed in gaza, i think its probably smart to get aid to those areas israel controls. In the areas that hamas still controls, i believe you cannot put aid in there. We have to destroy hamas first. We did not give aid to germany in 1944. We waited until we defeated them and then brought aid in. The most important thing is for israel to destroy hamas. The areas that they have freed, by all means, lets put aid in there and help out those palestinians. Our aid package i believe does that if we get this done on saturday. If what happened to israel happened to us, we would be doing the same thing israel is doing. They had 1200 people murdered and tortured, many more raped, and the savage he the savagery of what hamas did to israel in october, if you put it in per capita terms, it would be like 40,000 americans. If we did if i happen to us, we would try to kill every terrorist we could, and did that essentially in afghanistan. We took out the government, targeted al qaeda, did everything we could to destroy our adversaries, and that is what israel is doing today. Host kelly is calling from North Carolina, republican. Caller hi. Good to talk to you, sir. I just wanted to say, about the bill that came over from the senate for the border, anytime anybody asks about that, please, you tell them that 5000 a day adds up to 2 million a year, 2 million a year that would be coming across. That is why that bill was not passed. That is ridiculous. I also have a question for you, sir. What did you think about yesterday . And dont you think that perjuring yourself before congress is a high crime and misdemeanor . Guest i assume you are talking about secretary mayorkas when she says that. I supported the impeachment because what we see at the border is a humanitarian disaster and it could be stopped. It could be stopped with sec. Mayorkas and President Biden showing leadership. All the authorities for him to secure our border are there. The problem is the way its written in law, it says the president may do title 42, the president may detain people crossing the border. What i would prefer, and i have legislation to do this, just have not been able to get the majority, but we have passed versions of this out of the house. The senate has been unwilling to pick this up. But it would say the President Shall not do catch and release and we should have title 42 untethered from the pandemic and avoid people coming here straightly for monetary reasons. Theres things we could do by the president has the ability to do what he wants now and refuses. We have passed two times now hr 2 that would mandate the president to do these things but the senate will not take it up and we dont have 60 votes to get it done. The comment about the border agreement or immigration agreement that was debated in the senate, it never made it to the house. We after memo that. A lot of people have said why did i vote against this agreement and the house . It never made it out of the senate. I think the caller is right. On the one hand, the agreement that was done i would deem better than what we have today, the reality we have today, but most people saw it as not good enough. The 5000 data point, most people feel thats not good enough to make into law. There were some good things agreed upon in that bill, though, and i wish we couldve amended it and made it better because i think the American People want to see progress. I think half now would be better than nothing. Host she did mention perjury with respect to sec. Mayorkas being a high crime and misdemeanor. The house had said he said that the border is secure and that would be considered lying to congress underwrote under oath. Do you agree with that, that that would be considered perjury and thats an Impeachable Offense . Guest whether he intentionally lied or not, im not going to go down that path, but he is wrong. The border is worse than ever in history. It was not perfect but it was in a better place than today. Day one of the Biden Administration, they did many executive orders and stripped away all the things President Trump did and now we have a disaster. 8 Million People, about 300,000 a month, and its a travesty. Half of the women, roughly we dont know the exact amount are being sexually assaulted. We are losing about 10 people a month about 100 people a month drowning in the river, the real ground the rio grande, americans dying of fentanyl, and people being killed by criminals. The only way to solve this is a new president because President Biden refuses to fix it. Host on a different topic, representative bacon, a panel you chair, a qualityoflife panel for the troops. Its part of the ndaa, the National Defense authorization act. Can you tell us about that and why you thought that was necessary . Guest think you for asking. About a year and a half ago, i went to mike rogers, raking member at the time, now chairman, and said a lot of these people are on food stamps and relying on food banks and we should fix that. He came back and said that would be his priority as chairman. When he became chairman, he gave me the temporary subcommittee, not a permanent one, a temporary one, bipartisan, and our job was to scope the problem and come up with a recommendation. We found about one out of eight enlisted people are on food stamps. They have been underpaid. The pay has not kept up with inflation or the officer pay. The gap keeps getting wider so we want to fix that. The military also was taking 5 of their Housing Allowance and putting it towards other things. So they were paying for weapons on the backs of our men and women serving. I do not think that was right. We found the barracks were failing, the dormitories. The gao score them as a f, failing. There was raw sewage in some of these places, rats, mold. The ceilings were falling in. We were putting our men and women in uniform in these dorms or barracks. It was not right. The number one unemployed demographic in our country are military spouses. We have to help there. We need to work on daycare or childcare. Especially in our health care system, it often takes two months to get specialty care. So our report with 35 recommendations addresses these things. The cornerstone for our recommendations is a 15 pay raise for e1 through e4s. That would get them above the threshold so they dont have to rely on stamps. We would also restore their Housing Allowance. We have more in these recommendations. Its bipartisan. We have never had such a bipartisanworthy experience in the house, some said. For many, this is the highlight, because we are getting something tangibly done and are working together to solve a problem. It was not a red or blue problem. It was a red, white and blue problem and we worked together to do it. Host lets go to the line for democrats. Leroy is in tennessee. Hi, leroy. Caller good morning. Good morning, congressman, and thank you for your service. Guest good morning, sir. Caller i would like to know the status of hr 6023. Guest you have to tell me what the title is because i dont member numbers to well. Caller it is the veterans with mst survivors. Guest what is the acronym on . Caller military sexual trauma survivors. Guest i would have to go back and double check the status of that. I have been on that legislation as a cosponsor to help out those who have been sexually assaulted and also to help them when they get out of the military. We found sometimes that in most cases military women did not report this and then a year or two later they realize they are suffering from a and then they come forward suffering trauma and then they come forward. We wanted to amend it so you cannot say three years after the incident no more care is being provided. You have to realize people sometimes do not report this right away. I support the premise that we need to widen the ability to support people who have been assaulted after the fact that come out later about the assault. I dont know the status of it now. I will go to the veterans committee. Host the title for hr 6023 is veteran restitution and justice act for military sexual trauma survivors. Guest i think hall may be the sponsor. Hes a friend. Im not on the committee but im happy to look into it and find out where its at. Host independent, good morning. Caller good morning. Guest good morning, sir. Caller yes. Im interested about the people coming from our borders down south. I often ask myself why are people from canada not trying to come down here but people from the south coming up . Then i realize it is the policy of this country towards those countries in south america that is driving them to come here for safety. And then we blame them, breaking their legs through policy, and blaming them for limping. Our we intelligent people behaving the way we are behaving this country . Guest i think the caller for the question. If people are coming illegally from canada, those laws apply equally. It is just the scope of the problem is not as big but all the borders should be treated the same. Also people coming via the airport or with visas and intentionally overstay. The rule of law should prevail in all cases. That would be the republican position. We want rule of law. I like legal immigration. There are needs in our country for legal immigration. We have needs in the healthcare Care Industry like nurses and things that we could fill. Im all for illegal immigration but what we are seeing on the southern border is unacceptable. 8 Million People in 3. 5 years is unsustainable. In denver right now with a population i believe of 700,000 they have over 40,000 folks, most of them sleeping in the streets. They are having to fire City Employees to take care of this migrant population that they dont have the capacity to take care of. We see whats going on in chicago and new york. Even here in washington, d. C. , cities are unable to take care of this you know, this mass of people, and the administration has the ability to shut it off. What was interesting is they were all right letting texas and arizona suffer all this, but when texas and arizona and other states facilitated travel to chicago, new york, denver, finally got the administrations attention, but it should have had the ministry should attention from day one the administrations attention from day one. We talk about countries from central and south america. There is not rule of law there. They need to establish rule of law and more safety for its people but its not americas burden to take everybody who wants to come here. We cannot afford it. I think we can do some but we cannot do 8 million. We are doing 300,000 a month. That is unsustainable. Over four times the size of nebraskas population has come in in the last 3. 5 yearsthat i. Host representative don bacon, republican from nebraska, thank you for being on the program. For the next 30 minutes, we will be in open forum. Your chance to weigh in on any Public Policy or politics issue on your mind this morning. You can start calling in now. We will talk with democratic congressman jim costa of california, a member of the Foreign Affairs committee. We will be right back. Matt drudge started his website the drudge report in 1995. In those early beginnings he had 1000 female subscribers. In a short time that number jumped to hundreds of thousands. Until the mid to thousands mr. Drudge was visible on television and hosting his own radio show. Without notice to his public he disappeared from public view. Moody finished hosting an eightpart podcast series called finding matt drudge. We asked what he found. Chris moodyd finding matt drudge on this epof book notes plus. It is available on the cspan now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcast. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of our annual student cam documentary competition. Cspan asked middle and High School Students across the country to look forward while considering the past. Participants were given the option to look 20 years into the future or the past. We received inspiring and thoughtprovoking documentaries from over 3200 students from 42 states. The top award for 5,000 goes to nate and jonah, 10th graders in connecticut. Innocence held hostage navigating past and future conflicts with iran. It is evident in the next 20 years the United States must place heavy restrictions on all americans traveling to iran. Not only will we see less hostage taking but the United States will have to not have to take place with such negotiations with iran. Watch documentaries on cspan every day this month or online at studentcam. Org. Washington journal continues. Host we are back in open forum and we will take your call shortly. A few things for yourchedule, Homeland Security secretary mayorkas will be testifying on the president s 2020 five budget request and take questions on immigration policy in the southern border one day after the senate voteto dismiss articles of impeachment against him. We will have live coverage at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3. On cspan now, our a, and cspan. Org. The acting secretary of housing and urban developmentt 10 00 a. M. Joins the director of the federal Housing Finance agency toestify on housing availability and how to address rising cos. You can watch the Senate Banking mmittee hearing livet 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 2, also cspan now and cspan. Org. With that we will go to the phones. Larry, a republican in franklin, North Carolina. Caller yes, i tried to catch the last gentleman. Maybe you can ask the next fella to explain the asylum laws to us. Whether it supersedes the other laws when people come to our border and asks for asylum. Does it supersede the other laws . Host other laws like what . Caller other regulations as far as coming into the country . Forms to fill out and everything you have to do. They try to change the law in the senate when they passed the asylum law. So host here is what i understand sorry. Larry . Caller if someone comes to the border and asks for asylum, does it supersede the other laws . Host anybody can ask for asylum. That means they go through that whole process of getting a hearing, going before a judge, getting their case heard. If they are granted asylum caller i understand, but the law states that if they ask for asylum we have to let them in, right . Host we do have to let them have their hearing heard, yes. Where they wait is up for interpretation. Caller what does the law say . Host you have to wait on the other side of the border or in a detention facility, or you get to just live your life and come back and have your hearing heard. Caller when they wrote the asylum law, the law said that you have to wait on the other side of the border . Host i dont believe that is in the law, larry. I will find out. We will ask the next congressman. Claudia, republican, waynesville, North Carolina. Good morning. Caller the gentleman you were talking to is practically my neighbor. I have a lot of concerns about the border. I think the one point that keeps coming to my mind is that before this administration got in office we didnt have this problem. I hear a lot of people in denial about that. We have statistics that say this is worse than any time in our history that immigration has been this kind of problem. I do feel like if President Biden was going to wipe away all the policies that were working, then he should have had a plan. Rather than now we are looking at what policies schumer said this impeachment was based upon policies, but there dont appear to be any policies for stopping the immigrants. I think my final point is that people in chicago, new york, colorado, they are overwhelmed in their cities. They are asking rich people to house migrants. The migrants are coming here to work, but where is the job . If they are all homeless and needing assistance, where is the work they are supposed to be doing . Host you know they are not allowed to work for the First Six Months . They cannot work legally. Caller right, well, thats not really my point. Host i understand. I just wanted to clarify. Caller i didnt know that. I think that is interesting. Point taken. My primary point was that we didnt have this problem three years ago. It doesnt matter to me if it is trump or biden, statistics show we didnt have this problem, now we have it, we spent three years talking about it, trying to solve it. Im sorry ive taken so long, but i stay pretty informed about whats going on. This border bill that people keep talking about that was such a wonderful thing that the republicans didnt let go through, there was no teeth in that law. If people would read it, they would see that anything that had any chutzpah behind it could be taken away in the next. That was a nothing bill. Host connelly spring, North Carolina, john, good morning. Caller good morning. People have been talking about the law that the Senate Passed. 5000 adults in a day plus older children. How many children do you think there wouldve picked up along the way . 10,000 or 15,000 a day. They said that would secure the border . That is the most stupidest thing. 35,000 a week. That i dont understand how people can be so stupid. I dont understand that. Schumer, to me he is devil possessed. They will call good evil and e vil good in the last days and that is exactly where we are. Im sorry to say that, but that is exactly where we are. Thank you, maam. Host on the front page of the Washington Post and New York Times, that is the flooding in the united europe in writz in oman united arab emirates, in oman. This is a picture on the front page of the New York Times showing the flooding and the situation going on there. Is is a years worth of rain in one day killed at least 19 in oman and paralyzed cities in the uae. Florida, democrat. Caller hi. This is kathy from the stupid state. I wanted to mention bob graham, who was our governor and senator for many years who passed away, if we had more bob grahams we would be in better shape. I gathered the names of the people who served with him, this was many years ago, but we didnt always be the stupid state. I have Jared Moskowitz as my house member, and i wish he would get together with representative bacon who seems like he is a fairly reasonable guy. Maybe they could help take care of this group of, what, five or seven, that keeps wanting to say no to everything and keep things in an uproar . The house is not functional. If they kick out the new guy, who will they get to replace him . Nobody wants that job with those people in there. Thats it. Host ron, in ellicott city, maryland. Caller hi, mrs. Mimi, thank you for taking my call. Florida it is a stupid country. We are a stupid country. Florida is not alone. I wanted to talk to representative bacon. Yeah. 35,000 palestinians 15,000 children dead and we are not shedding a tear. We are supporting, we are sending weapons. In an answer. Why . Host all right, ron. Lets talk to raymond and uniondale, new york. Good morning. I think we lost 10. Lost him. Independent, north little rock. Caller i dont know if enough people are aware, but at some level, and i think the deepest level, this is a spiritual and biblical thing. Mayorkas, blinken, schumer, netanyahu are part of the tribe. It is all about replacement. That is white replacement. It is happening. If people cant see it, they are blind, deaf, and dumb. Host jodi in williamsburg, kentucky. Republican. Caller the democrats dont represent the American People. The democrats have proved it by yesterday when they had that impeachment thing. They should have had the trial, but no. They throwed it out. Why . They know they will lose 99 of their voters, illegal immigrants. Thats why they dont want to do anything about the border program. They told laken riley they dont care anything about that yesterday when schumer had his little sideshow. Host all right. Gerard in missouri, democrat. Gerard . Caller i was calling about the lack of knowledge and interest of most Media Outlets to haiti. We will get a full picture of american colonialism and institutional racism if anyone will speak on the situation of haiti and how 30,000 people in 2010 died from cholera. 30,000 palestinians died. No one spoke on cholera. Host david in riverside, california. Republican. Caller hi, mimi. Good morning, america. Resident biden on easter, the holiest day of the christian calendar representing the death and resurrection of jesus christ , President Biden decided he would make a proclamation declaring easter as transgender visibility day. Host transgender visibility day was already set. That was not proclaimed on that day. It happened to fall on easter. Caller i understand. It is the next day they celebrated easter the day after. They made easter april fools day and put transgender day ahead of easter. A minor holiday cannot transcend a major holiday. Transgender day has been about three years. Easter has been for 2000 years. Joe biden claims to be a christian, but a real christian would never do the things he did. President obama claimed to be a christian for years and republicans were shamed if they said he wasnt. But i read obamas memoir and he said that he believed there was a creator but have nothing to do with the world anymore. Obama admitted that he wasnt a christian. Where are the apologies from democrats who said he was . You will know them by their fruits. Saying you are christian is not enough. Donald trump said lets make election day christian visibility day. Thank you, maam. Host democrat, skeet, texas. Good morning. Mesquite, texas. Good morning. Caller i would like to know how many held over in another country when they came over and still this country from native americans. Then they need to talk about why these people are coming in from other countries, and why they feel they need to hold these people back. They have every right to be here as much as they do. That is all i have to say about that. Host dale in indiana, independent line. Caller yes, President Biden, i was wondering if he has the power to disregard what the speaker is saying and go ahead and send the National Guard or whatever and shut the border down . My other question is, are they still have the law that if you hire an illegal person that you can be fined or your business can be shut down, depending on the number of illegal employees . Because i see where a lot of young, too young, are working in meat processing, landscaping. Those are usually companies owned by republicans. Businesses are usually republicans. I wonder what the real facts are on all that. Thank you very much. Host lets talk to calvin in new york, new york. Independent. Good morning. Caller thank you for taking the call. I was listening to the Supreme Court. Justice alito made a statement that he felt host talk into the phone. Dont listen to your tv. Caller yes host youre telling me about the Supreme Court hearing about january 6 . Caller yes. He said people who charged it were patriots. I couldnt understand why. Host all right. David is in concorde, North Carolina. Hi, david. Caller i was watching the procedures yesterday when they brought the impeachment articles against mayorkas. Speaker schumer cut that in the bud. It shows me we have two justices going. 14 democrats and one for conservatives. One for democrats. Joe biden has made our government nothing but a puppet. We need a new government. We have a corrupt government that looks one way and does not know what justice is. Thank you. Host by the way, we have all of that on our website at cspan. Org. We have the mayorkas hearings if you want to go back to the house impeachment hearings. You can do that as well if you visit cspan. Org. We have a page set aside for all of the stuff you can watch in its entirety on our website. I wanted to bring this to your attention, the New York Times with this headline. Arizona republicans splinter over repeal of 1864 abortion ban. The state Senate Introduced a van to a your total abortion ban dating back to the civil war while the house locked in an effort to do so. That is still unfolding. We will continue to watch that situation. Port washington new york, independent. Caller good morning i wanted to make a comment on what the congressman you had on earlier said about what is happening in ukraine. It is important to understand. I am a parishioner in oca. We have a lot of russian and ukrainian folk, americans who have those roots and refugees. In ukraine right now they are closing churches on the pretext in the ukrainian parliament, the reason they closed them is host the suspicion of what . Caller ssb. It doesnt have to be proven. Basically, what im saying is if you have a church, Ukrainian Orthodox church in ukraine and the government in ukraine suspects that there is the presence of russian espionage, they can close it. In my church they have a parishioner, her brother was a monk, his entire life. He is now homeless because they closed his institution, his church. It is not propaganda. The congressman needs to be informed about what is actually happening in ukraine. Zelenskyy is not going to have elections. We are watching the formation of a reallife tyrant. Thank you so much. Host speaking of what is going on with that, here is the Washington Post. It is on the front page with the headline, russian document targets the west. It says secret addendums to a policy paper, ukraine were sent as a way to remake the global order. Rushs Foreign Ministry has been drawing up plans to try to weaken the countrys western adversaries including the u. S. And a global order free from what it sees as american dominance according to a secret Foreign Ministry document. You can read about that on the Washington Post. Kevin is in ozark, missouri, democrat. Kevin, are you there . Go right ahead. Caller well, my question is, it seems like everybody has got so much hate and violence talking all the time. It is so sad, because then they are concerned about the wall. The wall has been a problem since it was built. No president has ever fixed the wall. The situation is, Congress Needs to work together. The last one to balance a budget was bill clinton because the house and senate would work together. That is no longer happening. They go off of their politics and off of a person that lies and cheats all the time. And is filled with fear and hate. Host lets talk to robert in independent in marion, North Carolina. Caller yes, about the free court, who gave them the right to change the laws . I thought their job was to enforce laws not change them. Host tell me what you mean about what laws they might be changing. Caller they changed the abortion law. They changed they are talking about changing the i dont know what you call it. Whatever they call it. Host robert, talking about abortion, there is no law giving someone the right to an abortion. That was also a Supreme Court interpretation of the right to privacy in 1973. Caller yeah, that wasnt a law . The abortion law wasnt a law . Host congress could pass a law enshrining the right nationally for an abortion, but they havent done so. Caller i was just wondering why they had the right to do that. Ok, thank you. Host carol, democrat, pennsylvania. Caller good morning, mimi. Thank you for taking my call. I wanted to respond to the gentleman who called a few minutes ago and was quite concerned about christian holidays. I wanted to say that, really the government should not be appointing any kind of christian holidays. Not everyone in this country is a christian. Not all of us want to support that. I find that to be a huge fault of christians, assuming that everyone is like them. Everyone believes what they believe, and therefore the rest of us who are not even interested in it are supposed to follow their rules and whatever they want to call a code of ethics. For example, banning a woman having her own privacy and owning her own body. Host jesse, west babylon, new york. Good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. It scares me when i hear some of these people calling in to you, as you must feel, that are so misinformed. At any rate i have to say, we will have to wait until the election decides all of these problems that we have. One side will win. If the right side wins in my opinion they have the power to do whatever they want and pass whatever laws they want. I would advise the electorate to take a step back, dont get so upset, we will straighten things out. We have a war going on in this country. The way it looks to me, i dont think mr. Biden is going to make it. Maybe that is the best thing. Thanks very much, maam. Host that will be it for this portion of open forum. We will have more time later in the program. Stick around. Next, we have representative jim costa, democrat of california and member of the Foreign Affairs committee. He will discuss the conflicts in the middle east, a two ukraine, that may work his impeachment, and other congressional news of the day. American history tv, saturdays on cspan 2, exploring people and events that tell the american story. At five 10 p. M. Eastern, Martin Luther king iii commemorates the anniversary of his fathers april 4 assassination in memphis at the National Civil rights museum. Then American Historys tv series historical investigations that led to changes in policy and law. This week and will look at the 1950s mccarthy era hearings which explorative communists had infiltrated the state department, army, and federal agencies. At 8 00 p. M. Eastern on lectures in history North Carolina central history professor jazmine hauer discusses student activism in the student. Watch American History tv saturday on cspan2 and find a full schedule on your Program Guide or watch online yte at cspan. Org history. Do you solemnly swear that in a testimony you are about to gave will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god . Saturdays, watch American History tvs congress investigates as we explore major investigations in our countrys history by the u. S. House and senate. There is historians will tell the stories. We will see historic footage and examine the impact and legacy of key congressional hearings. This week come the 1950s carthy hearings, among the first televised hearings. The committee explored whether communists had infiltrated federal agencies. The investigation resulted in the Senate Censure of Joseph Mccarthy for his actions. Watch congress investigates, saturday, 7 00 eastern on cspan two. Washington journal continues. Host welcome back to washington journal. We are joined by jim costa, democrat from california, sits on the Foreign Affairs committee. Will come to the program. Guest good to be on cspan, have an opportunity to have a conversation about the Critical Issues in the world that we live in today. It is a seminal moment we are living in today, world history. Host lets talk about one of those issues. You were in israel a bit ago, also visited ukraine. Can you tell us about whats happening on the gop leadership package for foreign aid to ukraine, israel, and so on . Guest i was in keio in february, and as you noted, kyiv in february, and as you noted, in israel for five days. As we see the language drafted yesterday, really reflects the Bipartisan Legislation that the senate together months ago. I think that that has been in the effort that we have been trying to make with speaker johnson for months now, to have an up or down vote bill on the senate package. Even though many of us signed the position petition to bring the bill to the house floor, speaker johnson is determined to attempting to provide a threebill solution that provides israel aid, aided to ukraine, aid to taiwan, humanitarian aid for 120,000 armenians who have lost their home, and the palestinians have suffered so much in the last six months. That humanitarian aid will be provided, a part of this package. That is what we are looking at voting on the saturday, a reflection of the senate bill. Im hopeful that we will have the bipartisan support to pass the four pieces of legislation that you noted. Host the idea of linking aid between ukraine, israel, taiwan, argue in favor of that, do you prefer that all of those bills be separate, what are your thoughts on that . Guest i supported the senate package. I thought the four bills being talked about, that are being linked, as long as there are no poison pills, as i think the democrats have asked speaker johnson, that appears to be the case. But i think its also critical that we link the bills frankly because we call this a supplemental package. It is a National Security package. It is not only for assistance she ukraine who are bravely fighting for their sovereignty and independence against this unprovoked attack by russia. Russian president putin is a war criminal who had bombed hospitals and schools, kidnapped over 40,000 ukrainian children. I call russia today a syndicate masquerading as a country with a mob boss called putin. That funding together with the funding for israel, who just this last weekend, and i was there two weeks ago, withstood an attack by iran of over 350 drones, Ballistic Missiles in which we and the british, and interestingly, jordanians, saudi arabians, moderate arab states, joined together to prevent those attacks from injuring or killing anybody in israel even though the old city of jerusalem was targeted along with the important religious sites for the christian community, muslim community, and the Jewish Community in jerusalem. So the fact is, this legislation is necessary because the world is watching. The funding for taiwan is just as important. China has watched whether america will stop up and continue to support ukraine as well as israel. The european union, our allies with nato have already provided their support, to the tune of 50 billion. It is very critical that we do the same and that we pass the packet by saturday. Host President Biden and other World Leaders have called on israel to not retaliate against iran for those airstrikes over the weekend. What are your thoughts on that . Guest i think israel has to be measured in their response to this. They won a very decisive effort last weekend by being able to withstand and stop the entire attack by iran, and they did it not only with their own efforts but with the support of the americans, the british, and some of their moderate arab neighbors. What we need to do is get hamas to return hamas is a terrorist organization that provoked this entire effort on october 7 return the hostages so we can get a cease fire and that we can try to rebuild, get hamas out of the picture. Frankly, their only purpose is to destroy the state of israel and kill jewish people. Host i was just going to say, going back to the iranian airstrikes, you say a measured espoused by israel. Can you be a little bit more specific . Would that mean an attack on iranian territory . Iran has been clear that any kind of retaliation is going to provoke them even more. Guest i think the Israeli Government is attempting to weigh right now what their response is. I will not determine for them what a measured response is. It is very clear, President Biden has made it known, along with our g7 allies in europe, we have been there to support israel, help them defend their sovereignty. When i was there two weeks ago, notwithstanding not a lot of support for the current Israeli Government, there is overwhelming majority support among israelis, they feel their survival is at stake. I think its important to know that. Not only with the attack on october 7 but they look at the buildup in lebanon with hezbollah, they look at the continued attacks by hamas, and they understand that 9. 2 million israelis are together and most defend their sovereignty and nation. There is a lot of debate, protests going on within israel, but this is an existential view among israelis. They feel personally, as they should, that they must defend their sovereignty and democracy. That is why we are there to support them. But clearly, we do not want to see a regional war taking place. The larger picture is between moderate arab states led by the saudis and the sunni background, and the radical iran factions who are trying to determine hegemony over the middle east, who will dominate the middle east. That is the bigger picture. Therefore, we want to avoid a regional war which would have consequences which we cannot predict. I think that is the delicate balance that the Biden Administration is trying to suggest to the Israeli Government that we need to be working together on to end this conflict in gaza, bring the hostages home, begin building with the effort with saudi arabia. Part of the reason the attacks occurred on october 7 is because iran and hamas felt that they were getting very close to an agreement with saudi arabia and israel to join the abraham accords, which i think would be very important in terms of establishing that expanded link between moderate arab states and israel. Host congressman, i want to read a headline from cbs news. Com that says israel blames gaza starvation on u. N. Unicef says a third of gaza toddlers and infants are acutely malnourished. How would you address criticism of the humanitarian crisis in gaza with respect to what israel has done as far as their targeting, also the humanitarian aid not flowing into gaza as quickly as it should . Guest the members of congress two weeks ago that met with the prime minister, we met with president herzog. We made it emphatically clear that humanity hearing aid have to be among the highest priorities, without american support and support from our allies and with american support and support from our allies. There is a human cry with regard to the palestinians and how much they suffered. I dont think israel has done everything possible, i think they have made some mistakes within their efforts in gaza. Bringing hamas out who are the perpetrators of this conflict. But a lot of palestinians have suffered as a result of that. At a hearing last week, i said we must do everything we possibly can to provide the humanitarian assistance. The amount of aid that has come in in the last week has increased but we need to do more. We need to make sure that famine does not occur. Hamas, obviously, is not a trusted partner. Parts of the u. N. Support in the story you talked about with the Washington Post its been troubling for many of us because that assistance that we try to increase, and we need to do more, is not getting to the Palestinian People and children that are looking at potential Food Shortages that are just intolerable. Host i want to ask you about the southern border. As you know, the senate dismissed the articles of impeachment against secretary mayorkas but there is still quite a lot of focus on the southern border, what President Biden can be doing. Can you tell me what you think the president can do to address the border crisis absent action by congress . Guest the border has been a challenge not only for this administration but you can go back 20 years. We need to pass copperheads of immigration reform, we need to improve our border integrity. The legislation that was negotiated between the senate over the last five months, they have gone a long way to do both of those things. Unfortunately, my republican colleagues in the house decided that it was dead on arrival without even reading the print in the bill. Senator Lindsey Graham and others said that this was the best proposed legislation to increase Border Security that we have seen in decades. Clearly, this would have gone a long way to providing the president and the president indicated he would have signed it to give him the additional tools to provide additional Border Security. The amount of those coming into the United States has dropped in the last several weeks. There are a number of causes. We have mexico providing National Guard protection on the others. The cartels are weary, engaging in Human Trafficking a major problem with this illegal border crossings that we have seen taking place. Frankly, the president is looking at certain elements of his or could order that he is trying to do. But the mayorkas impeachment, as you noted, was nothing more than a political stunt. There were no high crimes or misdemeanors that sec. Mayorkas committed. Senate republicans were, for the most part, embarrassed to have to deal with it. Clearly, the senate responded as i think they needed to, to dismiss the whole thing as the political farce that it was. There are reasons for impeachment. But when the secretary of Homeland Security is simply attempting to carry out the policy and by the way, the funding that has been requested for more additional Border Security has been prevented from taking place by some of the same republicans who voted to impeach mayorkas. I dont get it. We have a Border Security package that Many Republicans have said was a very strong measure to provide additional Border Security. Its a crisis. Certainly is a terrific problem we are dealing with. The former president says dont pass this, because i want to keep this as a Campaign Issue for the november campaign. That is hypocrisy. Give me a break. The fact of the matter is, we have challenges there, we had a bipartisan solution. Would it have done everything that people wanted to do . No. However, it would have gone a long way to helping us improve our Border Security and should have been before the floor of the house and let the will of the house go forward and we would see whether or not we would pass the bill. That would give the president additional tools to provide additional Border Security which we need. Host finally, representative costa, i want to ask you about representative taylor greens motion to vacate johnson if they were to put ukraine aid. Can you envision a scenario where you would vote to keep johnson as speaker . Guest you mean moscow marjorie . More political theater. Give me a break. We can do better than this. To use the house of representatives for political theater and drama to expand one members social media base which they can go raise money from. This is serious. The last time we moved to vacate the chair, it took 25 days to get a speaker back in place. We have serious crises that americans are dealing with here at home with our concerns about the economy, our need to try and come together. The world that we are living in with this National Defense package that i hope will pass in the next three days, and to think that we have to engage ourselves with one or two members of Congress Political theater for their own purpose is just nonsense. Host representative, how would you vote . Guest frankly, speaker johnson, in my view, is trying to work in a bipartisan basis. He should not be punished for that purpose. Therefore, if the speaker continues to act responsibly, and other democrats will attempt to act responsibly, as well. We put our policy before our politics. People before politics is what we try to do. You saw that, not just words. We did that extending the debt ceiling, avoiding government shut down three times in the last six months. We did that in passing the package for the budget which was six months delayed. I think when we pass this National Defense package, there is no cause or reason to vacate the speakers chair because we are simply trying to do the peoples business, make sure that america remains the beacon of light around the world as it relates to democracies that look to us for leadership. Host representative jim costa, democrat of california, member of the Foreign Affairs committee, thanks for joining us. Guest thank you. Host we will go to open forum. I just want to show you this while you are calling income of numbers on your screen. 202 7488001 for republicans, 202 7488000, democrats, 202 7488002, independents. We will take your calls for about 10 minute before the house gobbles and at 9 00. President biden had visited pittsburgh, promises u. S. Steel will remain an american company. We have a portion of his remarks that we will play for you right now. [video clip] President Biden u. S. Steel has been an iconic Country Company in america for a century and should remain an american company. American owned, operated by American Union steelworkers, the best in the world. That will happen, i promise you. [applause] second, america will compete as long as they have fair competition. For too long, the Chinese Government has poured state money into chinese deal companies, pushing them to make as much as possible, subsidized by the Chinese Government. Because chinese Steel Companies produce more steel than it needs, it ends of dumping extra steel on the Global Market at low prices, and the prices are unfairly low because Chinese Company dont need to worry about making profit. The Chinese Government is subsidizing them so heavily. They are not competing, they are cheating. We see the damage here in america. Back in the early 2000s, chinese steel started to flood the market all across pennsylvania and ohio, were hit very hard. Between the years of 2000 and 2010, more than 14,000 steelworkers in pennsylvania and ohio lost their jobs. Let me ask you, are we going to let that happen again . I promise you i will not let that happen again. Right now, my u. S. Trade representative is investigating trade practices by the Chinese Government regarding steel and aluminum. But that investigation confirms these trade practices, im calling to triple the tariffs on both steel and aluminum imports from china. [applause] host that was in pittsburgh yesterday. We will take your calls now. Nine for democrats, new york, new york. Janet, good morning. Guest i wanted to talk to the last representative because he said he went to israel and i wondered why he didnt go to palestine. He mentioned giving aid to ukraine. It is the same thing going on in palestine right now. We gave israel 6 billion a year. We get nothing in return. There should be some type of condition. At this point, every country that we have given aid to has turned on us, and they are a Nuclear Power house right now. We ask for no conditions. Right now, they are separating them from their families over there. They are not even going back to the north. We are asking nothing for our aid. When you get that much money, where is my money . Israel is saying, where is my money . If biden says anything lots them to do anything, nethanyahu has been slapping him left and right. Host republican good morning. Guest everyone back in the day, democrats condemned the charlottesville march, unite the right. You hear all of them when they talk about january 6. All the democrats called them white racist supremacist. That is all you heard for three months. You dont hear not one word from any of these democrat representatives about these palestinian and hamas marchers on college universities, closing down the Golden Gate Bridge for five hours, obstructing traffic everywhere in this country. They are chanting death to america in america. They had someone from fox news asking each one of these representatives, presley, aoc, do you condemn burning of the flag, them marching, saying death to america . What they need to do is take everyone one of these pro Palestine Protesters and drop them in gaza. They will be there a day and be crying, wanted to go back to their mom and dads basement. People in this country, it ought to be a 10year felony for burning the american flag. That is not freedom of speech, that is antiamerican. If you dont like america, ship them to the country of their choice. Host lets talk to otis in washington, d. C. Democrat. Guest good morning. The comment on the previous caller, he is actually right. If you dont like your country, you can go wherever you want, and that includes the republicans. You cant like america only when you win elections. That is what the republicans do. They do everything they can to stay in power, cheat, lie. That is all they do. In regards to the palestinians, israel needs to do more to prevent a lot of casualties, but at the same time, palestinians need to be forcing hamas to give up the hostages. Give up the hostages. Maybe israel will cease fire. Give up the hostages. Host i think we lost him. Kevin. Brownsburg, indiana. Independent line. Guest good morning. How are you doing . The gentleman who called about the easter celebration, i am a christian man, too. I dont condone what biden did for lgbtq, trans day, i dont agree with it either, but he needs to look up the origins of easter. The origins of easter is actually a pagan holiday. Yes, biden did do something pagan host it is celebrated as the resurrection of christ. Commonly understood among the christian world. Guest i get it but it started as a pagan holiday. This is like black people using the nword even though it is bad to embrace. It is bad so nobody likes it. So we cannot take a pagan holiday and switch it over to what you want to do with it. It still started as a pagan holiday. 50 years, they may change it around and say this is representing the resurrection of jesus christ even though it is transgender. It opposes itself. Evil cannot beget people. There needs to be light in the world. Host portage, michigan. Good morning. Guest good morning. I was listening to your representative from california with the d in front of his name, and i think about how hard we make every problem, instead of looking at the simple solution, we pick so many other options that make it impossible to take care of a problem. This problem with israel deciding how to defend itself, they are the only ones that have the right to do that. We are making war impossible to win. This International Law that people keep quoting, all that does is fix it so that you cannot win. It is as if you go to war only to be there to kill yourself. It is just stupid. And that is the way they act. Every one of these problems that the nation faces are easy to solve if you look at what the problem is instead of what it looks like to your favorite liar. It is just stupid thank you. Bye. Host democrat in cincinnati, ohio. Peggy, good morning. Guest good. On your program for the first time. I just realized how important education is in our country. People dont seem to understand the origins of even the bible. They are using all of these things that are supposed to help us live better and be kinder as an instrument of violence and anger. I am just an advocate for education and openness, for conversations which are lost. It is just attack all the time. I appreciate this line open. If anybody hears me and says please, maybe we need to have more conversation and education, then ive done a good job. Thank you. Thank you for the line. Host joe in quincy, massachusetts. Also a democrat. Good morning. Guest good morning, mimi, cspan. The Gold Standard of american news. My thoughts on the border. I think stay in mexico, finish the wall is a good idea, especially now with the numbers that are out of control. The democrats dont get behind resolving that, joe stands a chance of losing the election because of the border, the way that donald trump lost the election because of covid. I wish i couldve spoken to the congressman before, but my thought to resolve the issue in israel, which has gone on for 60, 70 years, is when we finally resolved getting hamas out of palestine, creating two states. The second palestinian state should be run by a Coalition Government formed by friendly arab countries until which time the palestinians can take over their own government and except israel, each country except each other. Host thanks for everybody who called in, thanks for watching. That is it for todays washington journal. The house is about to gamble in. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] we are back tomorrow at 7 00 eastern. Be sure to join us then