since 1979 in partnership with the cable industry c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress From the House and Senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings, C-SPAN gives you a front-row seat to help issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered.
C-SPAN, your unfiltered view of government.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We are in open forum, but first we're going to speak to Representative Tom Tiffany, Republican of Wisconsin and member of the Judiciary Committee and also a member of the Freedom Caucus.
Representative Tiffany, welcome to the program.
Mimi, it's good to join you this morning.
We'll just get your reaction to the election last week.
Well, you know, I come from northern Wisconsin, the 7th Congressional District, and they were difference makers, my constituents.
We had places that turn out 80-85% traditionally, which is a really good turnout in many counties in rural and northern Wisconsin.
We saw a turnout of up 90% or more.
My hometown, Oneida County, 94% turnout.
A lot of those low-propensity voters that everybody talked about, they showed up and they outvoted Dane County and Milwaukee County in Wisconsin this election.
And there is a funding deadline on December 20th.
What do you support?
Will you be voting for another short-term extension or what direction are you going to be going in?
Yeah, you know, not a big fan of the continuing resolutions.
We should be drafting new budgets, but I think in this instance, the voters spoke on November 5th with a new Congress and a new president, a new direction.
And so I think we should push it off until after the first of the year.
Let the new president, let the new Congress decide what the budget is going to be.
So I would support a continuing resolution into 2025.
You serve on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
I want to ask you about President-elect Trump's mass deportation policy.
How do you expect that to play out?
How many people would be involved?
So we had a mass importation program over the last four years under the Biden-Harris administration.
We can do a mass deportation program.
I think it starts by getting the violent criminals out.
What is it?
There's over a million people that have records of, you know, not just entering our country illegally, but of crimes that they committed in their home countries.
And I think you start there.
I mean, remember, we have 13,000 murderers, 15,000 rapists that are in this country.
You start there and remove those people.
And I guess violent criminals would already have deportation orders.
What happens after that?
Would you be in favor of going into workplaces, doing raids there?
And then also separation of parents from their children.
If you're here illegally, you need to go back and get in line.
And I think what we do is the humane thing is say to people that you can come back in our country, but you need to willingly leave at this point.
If you're going to insist on staying here illegally, then we're not going to be able to let you in in the future.
And I think if we put it to people that way, get in line.
Because remember, so many of the people, millions of people that came in illegally over the last four years, they jumped the line.
That's not fair to people who want to do it the right way.
Let's do it the right way because we all believe that we should have an immigration system, a legal immigration system, that benefits America.
So let's make sure that those that are coming into our country are doing it legally.
And for those that did not do it legally and have children that are American citizens, would you be in favor of separating those families?
You need to return to your home country.
I mean, we talk about this separation.
There's 320,000 children right now that are documented that the Biden-Harris administration has no idea where they're at.
These families have been separated.
In some instances, they've been separated by their own parents who have said, I'm going to send my children ahead.
I don't think that that's humane to begin with.
So we need to reverse what has happened here, especially over the last four years.
People that came into this country, they knew the Biden-Harris administration was working against the will of the people.
That was proven on November 5th.
This is a cornerstone of the Trump agenda.
It is time those who are here illegally that they go back.
And last year, the University of Wisconsin estimated that more than 10,000 unauthorized workers are employed in Wisconsin's dairy farms.
That's your home state.
What kind of impact do you think a mass deportation policy might have on that industry?
So very familiar with that.
So there's just a couple steps here that need to happen.
Number one, we secure the border.
Second of all, let's make sure able-bodied Americans are working.
I've seen estimates of five to ten million people who are Americans who are able-bodied that are not working.
Let's make sure that those people are working.
Then the third thing is to have a legal immigration system that benefits America.
And if we need labor like that, I'm very familiar with it having grown up on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin.
I talked to these dairy farmers.
If there is a need after that, then we should help fill that void.
But let's do it legally.
Congressman The Hill is reporting this headline, Conservatives Plot Challenge Against Johnson in Internal Speaker Elections.
You're a member of the Freedom Caucus.
Are you guys planning to do something as far as the elections happening today for leadership?
From my perspective, we're just going to go through the process that we always do after every two years in picking leadership.
And I think everyone from the newest member who is from the state of Wisconsin, Tony Weed, who was sworn in last night, all the way to leadership, they all know who's setting the agenda here, and it's President Trump.
I think everybody's going to be on board in regards to that.
But there's always a discussion in regards to the rules and things like that.
So I think some of the process stuff will be debated.
But we all know what needs to get done in 2025.
And Congressman, can you tell us where you stand on the option to vacate the Speaker's chair?
Are you in favor of retaining that option?
Yeah, I think we should leave it there.
It's been there for 200 years, and I don't see any reason to change that.
I understand what happened last session, but I think people are very, very hesitant to use that again as it should be.
But it's been in place for 200 years, and if someone has a proposal to change it, put it on the table.
I'm happy to take a look at what they propose.
And finally, Congressman, your top priorities for the first 100 days of the new Congress.
Oh, it's to get America back on track.
I helped write H.R. 2.
Let's pass H.R. 2 once again, the Secure the Border Bill.
Let's get that done and have a Senate that will pass it this time.
Let's get back to energy independence.
We cannot be prosperous as a country without having low energy prices.
That's going to be one of my primary focuses, sitting on the Natural Resources Committee.
We do that, and we're going to get America back on track real fast.