All right, Orlando, Blackwood, New Jersey, Democratic caller.
Hi there.
Hi.
Good morning, America.
You know, I'm calling from the Democratic line.
And, you know, that's the party that I tend to favor given the status and the circumstances of our country.
Now, listening to all these calls, Democrats, Republicans going at each other's throats.
You know, it's simple, right?
This individual is accused, right?
Let him stand trial on his own.
Do not speak on his behalf, right?
Anytime you speak on his behalf, you're tying all sorts of other issues into the problem, right?
Let him stand on his own two feet and defend the office that he intends to represent.
That is the office of the Department of Justice.
You know, the last thing you want is for a director to go into the Department of Justice and be arrested on his first day because he's a criminal.
All right.
All right, caller.
We will leave it at that point.
We're going to take a short break.
When we come back, we'll be talking with two members of Congress coming up here on the Washington Journal.
We'll hear first from California Democrat Sidney Cam Laggard Dove on the incoming Trump administration's agenda and women's issues.
And then later, Nebraska Republican Mike Flood on the Republican priorities in the next Congress.
Stay with us.
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Washington Journal continues.
We want to welcome to our table this morning Congresswoman Sydney Komlager-Dove, Democrat of California, members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Natural Resources Committee, and you are the co-chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus Outreach.
Much to talk about this morning with you.
Let's begin, though, with this nomination of Matt Gates to serve as Attorney General.
What do you think should happen here as far as reports being released, et cetera?
I, well, first of all, thank you for having me here.
I think the committee should release the receipts.
I mean, the reality is he is being nominated to be the Attorney General for the United States.
Essentially, that is the top cop for the country.
If you care about justice, if you care about the law, if you care about doing the things you're supposed to do, then you should be unafraid of whatever is in that report.
So Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
I think it's unfortunate that the votes went along party lines to continue to keep the report from being released.
But if they're going to go through a true vetting process on the Senate side, and I hope they do, then they should get the report and it should be released.
Another nominee by President-elect Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, to serve as the Pentagon Chief.
As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, what do you think of that nomination?
Deeply unfortunate and troubling.
He has zero foreign policy experience.
He's a newscaster.
He's a loyalist to the president-elect.
My concern is that many of the folks that he's nominating to be in his cabinet don't have the experience required for that particular job, but they do have experience in being loyal to Trump.
So in a sense, he and his advisors will be telling them what he wants them to do and not being able to seek any other kind of advice or counsel or even dissent or disagreement.
And I think, especially when you're dealing with very important issues like what comes through the Foreign Affairs Committee, you need to be hearing from all sides so that you have all of the information and you are able to make a reasonable, rational, comprehensive decision that is best and most safe for the American people.
You're not going to get anything out of this guy except loyalty to Donald Trump.
What's next for House Foreign Affairs Committee?
When you look at the world map, what will be the issues happening now that will be still percolating in this next Congress for your committee and the work that you'll have to do with President Trump?
Well, there's a lot going on.
We have a genocide happening in the Sudan.
We have a conflict in the Middle East that is raging and tens of thousands of babies and innocents are being killed.
You have the Pacific region is incredibly unstable.
You have continued conflict in the Ukraine where Russia actually invaded a sovereign nation and is working with North Korea and Iran and China in a proxy war really against the United States to force us to bow down.
Meanwhile, you have someone he's also nominated as Director of National Intelligence who is purported to be a sympathizer to both Iran and Russia.
And so when you are, you know, when you're battling bullies, the people on your side should not be friends with the bullies trying to help them succeed.
So those are things that we are going to be talking about.
We're also going to be talking about the Western Hemisphere and all of the changes that are happening in South America.
Those have an incredible impact on what we deal with when it comes to immigration.
How we're going to recommit to the continent of Africa.
Donald Trump had a zero Africa policy.
That's something that should be alarming to us given how fast that continent is growing and the economic opportunities within it.
So lots to discuss in foreign affairs.
Here's a headline from Reuters.
It's in the papers today as well showing China's president with the Brazil's president as those two leaders meet and others meet with China, other leaders from across the country meeting with China's leader.
What gives you pause about this, if at all?
Well, as a result of this election, countries around the world are reassessing their relationship with us and also their relationship with China.
Obviously, there's going to be a lot of posturing that takes place as we all continue to see who else he nominates to be in his cabinet and policies that he's saying he's going to push in the first 100 days.
But, you know, Brazil is an incredibly important partner to us.
It is a regional power.
It's looking to be a global power.
And we have really worked with them in how we've been dealing with Venezuela, how we continue to work with Colombia, how we work with, you know, South Africa.
So it's incredibly important that we are signaling to our allies that we want to continue good relationships with them.
The fact that that's happening concerns me.
We cannot lose friends.
Will the Foreign Affairs Committee that you serve on take up the issue of mass deportation?
Is it in your purview?
It is not.
It is under the purview of judiciary.
I suspect that we will bring it up because Republicans like the headlines.
I sit in on the Committee on Natural Resources and they talked about immigration.
It is not the jurisdictional committee for that, but folks like to talk about it because it gets headlines and it gets people riled up when we should be talking about water and federal lands and critical minerals and all of those things.
And in fact, that actually happened when we were supposed to be passing a budget.
Speaking of the issues with water and drought, this is the front page of the New York Times this morning with this image of a reservoir in New York shows the effects of the region's 90 days with barely any rain.
You've got forest fires starting, of course, as well.
And that could happen or that will start to happen in the West.
What is the committee, Natural Resources Committee, doing on this?
Well, we've had a number of we're fighting, to be quite honest.
Republicans and Democrats have a different idea about if climate change exists, and we also have very different ideas about how federal lands should be used.
Republicans and the committees that I, in the hearings that I've been on, they say, oh, we need to be drilling more.
We need to sell more of our public land to private owners.
If you don't see a toxin, that means a toxin doesn't exist.
All water is clean water.
We don't have to worry about it.
We can fish until, you know, we can fish no more.
And Democrats say we have to pause.
You know, maybe we don't have to regulate every single thing, but we do have to think conscientiously about some of these proposals because we're dealing with finite resources.
I am looking at that photo and thinking about the climate change that's impacted California.
We have also taken pictures that look just like that.
Thankfully, we've had a series of storms and heavy rains that have allowed us to fill up our reservoirs, but it is a real thing.
And if you're also talking about wildfires and then you have a president-elect who says he wants to get rid of FEMA, then tell me how counties, communities, neighborhoods, homes, states are going to survive when we are continuing to deal with natural disasters without getting any help from the government.
We're talking with Congresswoman Sidney Kamlager Dove this morning, Democrat of California.
Julian in Stanford, Connecticut, a Republican.
Good morning to you.
Good morning, Greta.
How are you?
Doing well.
Question or comment for the Congresswoman.
I just want to make a quick comment, Greta, if you don't mind.
All these guests that you have in your shows, right?
And even you, keep telling me how incompetent all these cabinet selections that Trump made are, you know, they're all incompetent.
Mr. Bullig was a mayor of a small town in Indiana, okay?
And he destroyed the transportation.
It's okay.
You believe he destroyed the Transportation Department?
Absolutely.
Planes are falling out, planes' tires are falling out of the sky.
Okay?
So as far as Matt Gates, Greta, right?
You keep every time a Republican calls you, you keep asking them, well, how do you know that?
How do you know that?
Greta, are you 100% sure that this really happened?
Are you?
So your point is that these are allegations?
You're not answering my question.
Well, because the conversation that we have here on the journal is to moderate it.
You give your opinion.
You ask your questions and your comments to our guests as well.
Congresswoman, do you care to respond?
Well, some people believe in Santa Claus, some people don't.
Some people believe in the Easter Bunnies, some people don't.
The reality is that something happened because both Republicans and Democrats have been, have asked for an investigation, have gotten information, have continued to mull it over.
There is something on those pages, on those hundreds of pages, that both Republicans and Democrats have been reviewing.
And you can also talk to Republicans on that committee who have deep concerns.
Now, whether or not they're sharing them publicly might be another thing given the new climate, but just because you don't like something doesn't mean it isn't real.
Ralph in Macon, Georgia, Democratic caller.
Yes, good morning, Representative.
My concern is that right now, the Democrats, we have a tendency to sit back and let the Republicans push us back into a corner.
I used to march for the right to vote, the right to get jobs and everything, but somehow or another, they've gerrymanded us.
You get in office and have the majority, then the next time you lose, because I feel that we do not do enough to talk to the regular voters.
We talk about jobs, we talk about taxes, all those things are not registered.
You've got the people that I'll say this and I'll finish.
The people that were demonstrating on the campus, anti-Semitic.
We did not have any Democrats to go and to talk.
We forgot why marches while we were being marching.
And you remembered what's going to happen now.
Trump is in office and we're going to be set back for years.
Remember when the National Guard came out?
We demonstrated again at the Kent State people.
Five people were killed by the National Guard.
We're in trouble because we sit back and wait when we get in office and don't do anything.
Okay, Ralph, let's take your comments.
Congresswoman.
Well, I appreciate what Ralph said.
I certainly, I don't know that we don't do enough.
We probably are not selling what we're doing enough.
We've also entered into a culture where it's okay to be loud.
We like loud and we also like liars because, you know, it can be very entertaining.
To add to some of Ralph's consternation, we have really faltered when it comes to education.
We are not putting enough money into our schools, into our teachers, into our programs that support special needs.
You know, back in the day when folks were marching, education was a priority and folks were fighting like the Dickens to make sure that they had access to it so that they know civics, they know process, they know what can be done.
You know, we have gotten a lot more apathetic in that space, and so we succumb to bright lights and bells and whistles.
And now is not a time for us to continue to do that.
I will say, you know, Democrats have been in defense mode.
You know, we were in the minority last term.
And so a lot of the things that didn't happen were because of Democrats.
And you want us to continue to be defending democracy and fighting against bad things, poison pills that were going to be put in the budget bills, really bad, toxic pieces of legislation that were going to hurt everyone and discriminate against all Americans.
We fought against all of those things.
And I'll tell you another dirty secret.
We actually fought against a lot of those things with other Republicans who have been fighting against their House Freedom Caucus members.
So there are even Republicans who know some of these things that pop up on the House floor are bad deals.
That's what Democrats have been doing.
Now, are we going on television selling it?
Maybe not as much as we should be.
There are news reports this morning of senior aides to the Harris campaign saying that they weren't able to bridge the disconnect with voters.
Voters could not get over inflation and the economy and that the Harris campaign in her short amount of time could not convince voters out there that she would be effective on the issue.
Really challenging.
She was running a presidential campaign in a special election.
She had less than 100 days to introduce herself to the country, separate herself from the president while being the vice president.
I say that's like, you know, being in a marriage.
Are you going to be in a marriage and then go on TV and talk bad about your spouse?
You probably won't stay married that long.
Inflation is really important and it's going up everywhere because of the pandemic, because of other things that were put in place years ago.
A lot of folks think if you pass the bill on Tuesday, you're going to feel the effects on Wednesday.
That's not how it works.
We're going to enter into a time when we're going to have a really good economy.
That's going to be because of Biden, not because of Trump.
But folks won't remember that.
She had an uphill battle.
And you have to talk about how people feel, you know, and what it makes you feel like when you go to the grocery store and eggs cost $6 and a year ago they cost three.
We also have to help people understand not just why they're feeling that, but what happened to make those eggs go from $3 to $6.
And we certainly have to do a better job of that.
And we have to continue to listen to the American people because I don't think the American people want what they're going to get.
They just wanted something different.
We'll go to Norfolk, Virginia.
Wayne is an independent.
You're on with the Congresswoman, Wayne.
Good morning.
Hello, Gurda.
Hello, Congresswoman Doe.
Yes, I just want to make a comment about abortion and maybe why Democrats, it wasn't the big issue that Democrats wanted it to be.
I think mainly it's because of disconnect with being able to discuss the topic.
I mean, Trump came out very bluntly and said that he wanted to nominate Supreme Court justices that were rolled back Roe versus Wade and take it to the states.
And it seems like, according to exit polls, a lot of people may have voted for Trump and then voted for pro-choice abortion laws in their states.
And I think Democrats did a poor job of presenting the counter argument of saying why it would be better to have abortion at the federal level instead of at the state level because women in states that had very strict abortion laws wouldn't be able to get contraception or whatever it is they need at the state level.
Okay.
Let's take your point, Wayne.
Congresswoman.
Wayne makes a good point.
There's also a lot of confusion about the role of the federal government and the role of states.
And a lot of people think, hey, I live in a state where abortion is legal.
I'm going to be okay.
Even if somebody gets into the White House that says we're going to have a national abortion ban, that won't impact me.
I can't tell you how many times I go to the grocery store and they say, hi, Congresswoman, what's it like going to Sacramento?
Well, Sacramento is not where the capital of the House of Representatives is.
It's in Washington, D.C. Or, hi, Congresswoman.
You know, I want to talk to you about some state laws.
Well, I don't work on state laws anymore.
Oh, so we still have a lot of educating to do with our friends and neighbors about the responsibility of each kind of jurisdiction of government and who's responsible for what.
But if there is a national abortion ban, it will impact you whether you are in New York, whether you are in Wisconsin, or whether you are in the state of California.
You are the co-chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus Outreach.
Is this one of your issues that you'll be talking about?
What is this group?
This is a group of women, Democratic women, who are in the caucus, and we talk about things that impact women, which is everything, which is health care, it's housing, it's access to education, it's child care, it's dealing with menopause, it's dealing with caregiving, it's dealing with employment discrimination, it's dealing with equal pay, it's dealing with protections under the law.
And I would think that every person, man or woman, would want to support those kinds of issues.
I tell people all the time, are you saying that your mother doesn't deserve the same rights as you or your sister?
That's how you have to think about it.
Dixie in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Independent.
Yes, good morning.
Thank you very much for taking my call.
Good morning.
My main issue here is the thing about Gates.
Nobody in this country cared about voting in Trump, a sexual predator.
And now all of a sudden these Dems are worried about Gates.
Let me tell you something.
I called in a few weeks ago whenever they took our right to choose away the Dems and put Harris on the ticket.
129 of us immediately became independents.
I don't want to hear about these Dems right now and everything that's going on.
They did it.
They took away our right to choose.
They did it.
So let them tuck their heads under their wings, sit back like they've been doing, and shut up and have a reckoning.
Thank you very much.
All right.
What about Dixie's point, Congresswoman?
She said a lot of things.
Yeah, I'm concerned about someone who's going to be the top cop who was allegedly involved in sex trafficking and was having sex with little girls.
I would just like to know that, especially given the purview of the Department of Justice.
I'm upset just like Dixie about the results of this election.
Although I continue to look at the numbers and I say to myself, well, Donald Trump didn't really get a mandate.
He got just under 50%.
The Electoral College map is definitely redder than I would like it to be.
But I also think that the majority of the American people don't care about all of the distractions coming out of Washington and they would like us to focus on real issues.
I will say a real issue is who do you want having authority over you?
Do you go and find the worst person or the person with the strangest record or the least qualifications and you take a risk when it's something really important?
Or do you look at all of the potential candidates and say, let me at least find somebody who's qualified?
You know, put it all out there so people can see.
This seems to be a very interactive government he wants to have right now.
So let's all get involved.
She also sounded dismayed at the move by Democrats where President Biden did not run, even though he went through the primary process.
I was a Biden supporter.
I am still in my feelings about a lot of what happened.
And Dixie is legitimate in her angst about that.
We also, just, you know, from a logistical standpoint, it would have been very hard to have an open primary when you have just about 100 days before the election.
And so you want to have an entire, you know, year or two before you have an election so that you can see all the candidates.
They can kick the tires with their speeches.
They can get their platforms right.
They can meet the American people.
You know, that is a process that takes time.
And this year, Democrats didn't have it.
And we did do it to ourselves.
I am lamenting that too.
But I'm certainly not going to lay down and let Trump roll over me.
I've got fight in me.
So I'm going to just encourage Democrats to do your day drinking or whatever, but then get up and get ready to fight because there are a lot of issues that are at stake.
Sticking to the election, Fox News reporting, valuable pickup, conservative Republican Nick Begich will win a tight race for Alaska's lone seat.
This was called last night, widening the Republican Majority in the House to 219 to 213 for Democrats.
Your reaction?
Well, widening is an interesting word because we picked up Derek Tran in California, who beat Michelle Steele, and Adam Gray is on track to beat John Duarte also in California.
So California did what it needed to do.
The Republicans may have a technical majority.
They will not have a governing majority.
They had a majority last term and were not able to do anything without Democrats.
So it is a loss that Mary Patola will not be coming back to Congress, but they will still be as dysfunctional as they were last term.
Why explain that?
They will not have a governing majority.
Because when you need 218 to get anything done, including you need 218 to pass the rule to bring up a bill, and you're in the majority, so you control the agenda.
You control the bills that come up for us to vote.
You control what we talk about.
When you do not even have a majority in your caucus to make decisions about what we're all going to talk about, that's a problem.
I get it that we might have all of these different pieces of legislation that come up and folks want to vote their district, but procedurally, you should at least have the votes to bring a bill up to the floor to be discussed.
They don't even have that.
And the Rules Committee, which makes decisions about what bills actually come to the floor, they did not even have the majority.
And they have like eight seats.
So they have the technical majority on all of the committees, including rules.
They should be able to have done more than they were able to do.
We'll go to Adil in Springfield, Illinois.
Democratic caller.
Good morning, ladies.
Very happy, early Thanksgiving to both of you.
I was going to comment on the international Ukraine issue, and we're escalating the war there with providing the weapons.
What does the congresswoman feel about the missile, ballistic missile attack on Ukraine by Russians?
And my follow-up was, Harris lost not because of Biden, but it lost because of the economy.
And there's nothing that we could have done regardless of that.
Okay, caller.
Thank you.
Well, we passed historic pieces of legislation in the Congress before I got here, which would infuse trillions of dollars into our economy.
We needed to talk more about that and how folks could actually access those dollars in real ways.
Unfortunately, we will see the benefits of all of those pieces of legislation in about two years, and Donald Trump is going to take the credit.
I wish we would have sent long-range ballistic missiles to Ukraine before we have done so right now.
You know, the missiles that they had, we're going right to the brink of Russian bases, but not getting to the places where they're storing the bombs that they are then shooting over to Ukraine, killing innocent people.
The long-range missiles will allow Ukraine to actually get to those bombs that are being lobbed into Ukraine, killing innocent folks.
I'm deeply concerned with Russia and North Korea working in tandem with the ballistic missiles capabilities that they're sending into Ukraine.
But they're working together and they're helping each other.
And that's sort of being funded by China, at least China is funding Russia, helping them evade their sanctions so that they can work with North Korea, who can learn from them.
They're giving them people.
North Korea is giving Russia people.
Russia is giving North Korea capabilities.
What can be done in the short term during these waning days of the Biden administration with these missiles?
Does it change the strategy or the outcome?
Well, I believe that everyone was waiting for the results of our election, and we know that Putin has a much cozier relationship with Donald Trump.
I think that is why, you know, Biden said yes to the long-range missiles to try to stop some things.
We know that Putin likes to saber rattle when it comes to the nuclear option.
I don't believe he will use it, but he is posturing to show that he is tough and don't mess with him.
So that's of concern.
What more they can do?
Biden has always been one who has leaned on a diplomatic lever, but quietly also supporting defense.
Hopefully we can send them more support before January 20th.
Congresswoman Cam Lagardo, thank you for the conversation this morning.
We appreciate it.
Happy to be here.
We're going to take a break.
When we come back, we'll hear from Nebraska Republican Mike Flood on the incoming Trump administration and the Republican priorities for the next Congress.
We'll be right back.
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Washington Journal continues.
We want to welcome to our table this morning Congressman Mike Flood, a Republican of Nebraska, serves on the Financial Services Committee.
Congressman, I want to begin with this headline in the Wall Street Journal, food industry girds for deportation push.
Given where you are in the state of Nebraska and the amount, the dependence of farmers and livestock owners on the immigrant population, they say 42% of those working aren't legally authorized to work in the country.
Well, I don't, I can't dispute that number, but I can tell you that in Nebraska, the meat packing plants and the farmers and ranchers that I know all use E-Verify, all are very careful about how they hire and their hiring practices.
We have been, we've seen ICE enforcement at a tomato plant up in O'Neill several years ago.
We've seen it in Grand Island.
We've seen other opportunities for ICE to enforce the law.
But I can tell you, by and large, in Nebraska, a lot of the immigrants that are living and working there are second and third generation.
I live in a community of about 25,000.
15 miles south is a Tyson Foods pork plant.
It has been there for generations, and now their kids are going on to law school.
Their kids are going on to medical school.
So we've seen a real evolution in Nebraska.
I'm not saying there are not folks illegally in the state of Nebraska, but by and large, I'm confident that our meatpackers and the meat industry has done a good job with e-Verify.
And what about the getting visas for these workers to work here if they're not here legally to try to live, but they're here just to work?
What will be the outcome of that under the Trump administration?
Well, the good thing about the Trump administration is, number one, we're going to secure the border.
We're going to start with the Remain in Mexico practice that President Trump had before.
We're going to focus on doing that.
I think once the border is secure, you're going to see bipartisan efforts to make sure that our legal immigration system works.
When I came into office July of 2022, we had a 500,000 visa backlog.
Most of that was because not a lot of folks were in the office still because of COVID.
As of a year and a half ago, it was down to $350,000.
That should work way better than it is.
And when it comes to the H-2B visas for ag workers, those are important, and we have to make sure they work for agriculture and those coming into the country.
How important are those visas, those H-2B visas, to the industries that you were just talking about in your state?
They're very important.
One of the things that I would change with the H-2B visa is that they're usually done for the growing season.
So from a nine-month period.
Well, if you're in dairy agriculture or if you're in hog confinement or whatever it is, that's a year-round ag job.
And so we need to, if we're going to have an H-2B visa, let's make it fit for what works for the worker and for the folks in agriculture.
And so I would make some modifications to the H-2B visa, but I don't think I get to do that until we have a national solution on the border.
Are you in favor of mass deportation?
I'm in favor of enforcing the law.
We're a country built on the rule of law.
Americans clearly sent the signal.
The number one thing they were dissatisfied with President Biden was on the border and its impact on America.
Let me just tell you a story.
In my hometown of Norfolk, last January, the Norfolk Police stopped an illegal immigrant in my community who had crossed the border well over 60 times in 2023.
And as of the end of January, I want to say 17 times he had crossed the border back and forth.
That's not a border.
That's open.
There's no rule.
So I think by enforcing the law, we will restore respect for the law, and then we can work on an immigration system and fix it.
Is that a yes or a no on mass deportation?
Well, I think it's, you know, the executive branch has to exercise the power of enforcing the law.
However, they choose to do that.
Anything that they do more than the Biden administration is better than we had.
Mass deportations, if there are a lot of illegal immigrants that they can deport, what is a mass deportation to you?
Like, how big is mass?
Are we talking 200 people at a plant somewhere?
Are we talking about 5,000 in a day?
I don't think that's possible, right?
You're worried that you're concerned that you can't pull this off.
No.
I'm, number one, very focused on wanting the border closed, wanting border security, shutting down the fentanyl, the sex trafficking, all of the things are happening.
Once that's done, I think Americans and folks in Venezuela and Guatemala and all these other places are going to know no more free ride.
You don't get to come in, get a pass, and go wherever you want.
ICE needs to do its job.
Our system needs to do its job.
We have to enforce the law.
And there are people in this country that are here illegally and they're committing more crimes and they're bringing more fentanyl and they are engaged in some kind of human trafficking or sex trafficking.
For me, that's the first priority.
Absolutely.
The next step, in my opinion, is to enforce the law against those that are here illegally and work with the Congress to find a way forward on immigration.
A headline to share with our viewers this morning, front page of USA Today, Texas offers border site to detain immigrants.
And the land commissioner who owns a ranch offered up a 1,400-acre ranch near the border in South Texas to host a mass deportation facility.
What have you heard from Republican leaders about the 119th Congress on the issue of immigration?
What legislation gets to the floor first for votes?
Well, the first legislation that gets to the floor, in my opinion, is H.R. 2, which was the House bill that we passed that failed to go anywhere in the Senate, which I think articulates a way forward.
It codifies Remain in Mexico, which I think is the biggest thing that can be done.
I think Donald Trump on his first day has the option of issuing an executive order that does just that.
I'd rather that when he comes in on January 20th, he can sign a bill into law that codifies that.
We have to finish the wall.
We have to make sure our Border Patrol agents are paid and that they are supported.
Let me give you a quick story.
December 2023, I was in the El Paso station for Eagle Pass station on the border.
The Border Patrol agents said they were getting 10,000 folks a day, illegal immigrants, coming into the United States, applying for asylum.
They took all 250 border agents off the 250-mile border to process the 10,000 a day into the United States, leaving that border unsecured for the better part of 10 days in December of 2023.
I don't think Republicans or Democrats or Independents want that to happen.
That's not something.
This is something I think we can all agree on.
We want a border that is patrolled and is safe.
All right.
We are talking with Congressman Mike Flood, a Republican of Nebraska, represents the first district first elected in 2022 to your first term, re-elected in 2024, 60% of the vote.
Oh, yeah.
Let's go to TV in Spokane, Washington, Republican caller.
Good morning to you.
Hi, good morning.
Hi, good morning, Greta.
Good morning, Representative Flood.
I have a concern regarding the mass deportation plans in regards to, I gotta set an example.
You have a mom and dad, parents, non-citizens, but all five of their children are born in the United States.
All five range in age from 2 to 14 years of age.
What's going to happen to those children?
I can see the parents, I can see the parents in a very sad world being deported with their youngest children, but then the preteens and the teenagers staying in the country legally where they should all be allowed to stay because they're all American citizens.
All the children are American citizens.
Okay, let's get a response.
Congressman.
Well, that's a great question.
Here's what I would start with saying.
Secure the border, enforce the law.
The law has not been enforced.
And a family situation, every family situation is difficult.
But in this situation, you've got a mom and a dad that are here in the United States illegally.
There is a way to immigrate into the United States legally.
That means oftentimes you go back to your home country and you apply for citizenship and you go through the process.
And when I go to the courthouse in the Federal District Courthouse in Lincoln and I'm there to see new immigrants raise their right hand and become U.S. citizens and they see the tears streaming down their face.
I know they have spent time and effort.
They know more about our country than I would say most citizens do because they pass a test.
I think to myself, these folks did it exactly right.
Why should we short-circuit our law when there is a process?
Now, can that process be better?
Yes, but we have to enforce the law that we have.
What did you think of the bipartisan bill that was put forth in the Senate by Senator James Lankford, a Republican who negotiated it with Democrats, that would have done several steps on the border to restrict the illegal immigration that's coming in?
Would you have supported that?
No, because I really believe HR2 is the right direction.
Now, to be honest, that bill had so many different iterations, and I was trying to follow it during the week.
Of course, it's in the Senate.
I'm in the House.
It never made it over to the House, so I never had the opportunity to really review it in full.
But, you know, what I can tell you is our leadership did not feel, based on what they knew from the inside negotiations, that that would have moved the ball significantly.
On the economy, what will be one of the first agenda items for this Republican majority in the House in the 119th?
Spending is a huge issue.
Budget reconciliation is new to me.
I'm a new member of Congress, so I'm very focused on watching that process unfold.
We need to get the farm bill done.
That is a priority for Middle America and all of America as it relates to SNAP benefits.
Ultimately, we have to have the hard conversations.
But here's what I'm most excited about: the Senate is going to pass 12 appropriations bills.
The House is going to pass 12 appropriations bills.
And we are going to have a federal budget.
I was in the Nebraska State Unicameral for 10 years.
We did our budget on time.
It was done three months ahead of the time.
It was always balanced.
No debt.
I'm one of the only states in the nation that cannot take on debt.
So I'm used to a budget process that works, and I want to see it work in Washington.
I think that will be good for Republicans, Democrats, Independents.
Let's have a conversation.
What do you think should be done on this short-term continuing resolution that the government is currently operating under to keep the government open and not shut down parts of it?
What do you think should happen?
Another continuing resolution?
Yes.
So I have voted for every continuing resolution to keep the government funded.
The government not being funded, to me, is not an option.
At a very bare minimum, that is something that we have to do.
If it were up to me solely, I would say, let's pass continuing resolution.
Let us get into January and then start the budget process.
This morning, we're talking with Congressman Mike Flood, Republican of Nebraska, serves on the Financial Services Committee, represents the first district.
We're taking your calls this morning.
Timothy in East Berkshire, Vermont, Democratic caller.
Hi, Timothy.
Yes, good morning.
Good morning, Representative Flood.
Good morning, Greta.
Okay, so regarding the whole border issue, you guys, Biden tried to get that through.
And of course, Trump, as a tactical move, said, don't do it, because I can use it as a campaigning angle.
And that's what you did.
But I live up here in northern Vermont.
It's the largest farm in the state.
And these guys are milking 12,000 cows a day.
And I will tell you that most of his crew, his staff, if you will, are immigrants.
And you never see these people.
And these guys are shaking in their boots.
And the irony is the guy who owns the farm voted Republican.
I know the man very well.
I used to cap maple trees for him.
I know them very well.
And I just, I don't get the irony.
I don't get the hypocrisy regarding the fentanyl thing.
Fentanyl is coming mostly through legal ports of entry, typically by white people.
So that's another gaslighting angle.
Now, regarding the farm bill, I live in a very economically depressed area and I can tell you that there are stores that cannot sustain an economy that cannot sustain around here without the use of SNAP benefits, heating assistance, the whole nine yards.
Now you've got people like Elon Musk who want to wipe all that out, and he is the richest man in the world brought up in an apartheid regime.
All right, Timothy, I'm going to jump in because there's a lot to respond to.
Congressman.
Where should we start?
Yeah, well, you can start with the farm bill because we haven't talked about that yet.
Well, I'll tell you what, the House did its work on the farm bill, and we passed out a bipartisan farm bill.
Chairman G.T. Thompson did a really good job.
My sense is that's going to not go anywhere in the lame duck.
We're going to take it up in January.
What's most important in the farm bill for me, our crop insurance program.
Crop insurance works.
This is a federal program that does its job.
I'm very focused on making sure that remains intact without any strings or extras attached to it.
We need to get the farm bill passed.
I heard a lot about that this fall.
I was walking in parades in Nebraska and I had people say, where's the farm bill?
I know, we want to get it done.
And the House did its job.
The Senate didn't move anything out.
How important is the Farm Bill to the state of Nebraska?
It's really important.
And you know what?
Quite frankly, to his point in Vermont, it's important to a lot of folks that are food insecure across the country.
And I have, as have a lot of members of our conference, supported SNAP benefits for people that need them.
And he's right.
There are families that rely on those SNAP benefits, and that's part of the Farm Bill.
We'll go on to David in Lewisburg, West Virginia, Independent.
Hi, David.
Yes, I have a number of topics.
The first one is about bringing immigrant workers in, which is great for now.
But from my understanding, we are fairly close on AI combined with robotics to have a lot of the farm production and agriculture done by machinery.
What's going to happen to all the workers that we brought in when suddenly that work is not available or starts thinning out?
David, I want to take that point.
We'll leave it there.
Congressman, AI on farms.
Well, think about the farm back in 1860, and people said, oh, we'll never get any kind of motorized device.
And here comes the train.
You know, it used to be you had nine kids on a farm in Iowa to make sure you could raise a crop.
Today, the tractors drive themselves, right?
We have automated dairies.
We are using automation and technology, and we are exploring different ways to raise crops that don't take as much water.
And ag research is vital, and I'm very excited about the future.
Quite frankly, that's a good thing for agriculture.
It helps producers increase their bottom line using agriculture, using AI and automation.
To the point that he's making about the need for workers, there is no easy way yet to harvest the meat off of a pig or to cut beef out of a cow.
There's still a need for labor all through agriculture, and it's the number one industry in my state.
So I'm not concerned that AI is going to take those jobs anytime soon.
I do think that a lot of the people that are in ag jobs right now, whether you're at a pork plant or you're working at a feed yard, you're going to need a higher level of education and training to be able to operate more efficiently and to grow and hopefully grow your salary.
So I think there's opportunity on the horizon.
Want to get your thoughts on President-elect Donald Trump's nominations to a couple of posts.
First of all, your former colleague Matt Gates.
What do you think about his nomination as AG?
Well, let me tell you something about Matt Gates.
I've sat in the chair in the U.S. House of Representatives presiding on behalf of the Speaker more than any other member.
And that means I probably logged about 35 hours.
And certainly there are issues that I disagree with Congressman Gates on.
I remember I was standing in the chair one day and I was watching a debate and it was on the use of authorized military force as it relates to Syria.
And I watched him debate both the Republicans and the Democrats true to form, you know, and I thought this guy is one of the most articulate, bright, focused members that we have.
Now, that doesn't make any headlines.
And nobody was probably watching except, of course, your viewers on C-SPAN.
That's right.
I'm sure, millions.
But I sat there that day and I thought, this guy has a gift.
Now, do we agree on all the issues?
No.
As it relates to the ethics situation, first of all, I am going to support what our ethics committee ultimately does.
They're the ones that understand the lay of the land.
I do think that the House work product has to be protected.
There's different ways to do that.
Sometimes you can show it to somebody in camera, maybe in the other House.
I'm ultimately going to support what the Ethics Committee does.
If I may, the benefit, I think, to not releasing that report is that, first of all, it's our precedent.
And second, I think it is a useful tool to get members that have a legitimate ethics issue to resign their post rather than having to go through some type of expulsion.
That did not work with George Santos, but I guarantee it's worked 100 years before.
The Wall Street Journal editorial argues this morning, though, that's not the situation.
It looks like the Congressman is avoiding accountability by getting a promotion by being picked as AG.
Well, the Senate has a process.
It needs to go through that process.
I'm not in the Senate.
I respect their process.
I'm sure they're going to make a request of the House.
The House Ethics Committee is capably led with good members on both sides sitting there.
They're going to ultimately make a decision.
And from that, we'll see where it goes.
Want to get your thoughts on the nominee to serve as Health and Human Services Secretary, RFK Jr.
As a representative from Nebraska, do you have concerns about what he has said about America's diet?
Well, there's this conversation happening at the United Nations as well as it relates to getting meat out of our diet.
Now, I don't know that he's gone that far, but I really think it's incumbent upon folks like me in states like Nebraska to bring him to Nebraska and to show him what good environmental stewards we are, to show him the value of protein.
Three ounces of beef equals three cups of quinoa.
I mean, it's a far to deliver protein into humans, beef is one of the best ways to do it.
To the extent that he has concerns about the crops that we raise or the food that we produce, we need to get him into Nebraska so he can see what we do for the world.
We are literally feeding the world.
We're the number one beef state in America.
Our beef is, you know, Nebraska steaks are on the menu in countries around the world because of our grass-fed, corn-fed beef, you know.
And I think that RFK Jr. Going to start his service, hopefully, after he's confirmed.
And we hope that one of his first stops is Omaha.
Joseph in Point Pleasant Beach, Republican caller.
Joseph, what state are you from?
I grew up in New York City.
I live in Jersey now by the beach.
Okay.
I had to get out of there because they're ruining a city that I love.
I just got a couple things to say.
Gratitude to you and to that guy, Kimmy, from Nebraska, not Nebraska, from Vermont.
A caller, the previous caller.
Okay.
Did you hear Lake and Riley's father the other day?
He read a letter that his daughter had written in a diary to her future husband about being, you know, having a relationship.
This is in her diary.
I was driving the car and I was listening to it on the radio.
Joseph, are you still there?
You faded out there.
Yeah, can you hear me?
Yeah, now we got you back.
Okay.
I just, Lake and Riley's father.
Yes, we heard that part about the diary entry.
But you're asking this congressman, the first thing you ask him, can we do mass deportations?
If that was your daughter, I have one daughter.
If that was your daughter, would you be saying, oh, we can't do mass deportations?
It's not feasible.
I try to put myself in other people's shoes.
There's 13,000 people walking around here that are rapists and murderers.
And you're making it sound like, well, you know, did you lose your child?
I mean, that's an American family that lost their daughter from a guy that had no right to be here.
My city, New York City, put him on a plane to Georgia.
And then you got vets in the street with no homes.
This is like, I always consider myself a moderate Republican until Trump came around.
Now I am ultra, ultra MAGA because the people in our country are stupid.
All right.
Heard your point, Joseph, Congressman.
Well, stories like this happen all too often, and it's part of the problem with an open border.
We don't know who's here.
And let's be clear.
I was down at the border.
It's a humanitarian crisis.
There are a lot of really good people searching for a better home that get drug into a drug cartel process, and they cross the border, and then they're put into some kind of a house in Phoenix where they're then forced to work off debts.
There are good people being caught up in this.
And there's a lot more tragedy, I think, behind the scenes that we don't even know about that has occurred to these victims from places like Guatemala.
And the headline from that murder trial yesterday concluded: NBC News, man found guilty of murdering Georgia nursing student Lake and Riley and is sentenced to life.
Julie in Atlanta, Democratic caller.
Hi, Julie.
Julie, you're there.
Democratic caller in Atlanta.
Yeah.
All right.
We're listening.
Go ahead.
I was calling in regards to how much for the congressman to elaborate on when illegal people come across the border, of course, they pay taxes, and that supports the Social Security and many other financial needs that the country has.
And when they're illegal like that, they never get any return on what they contributed to this country.
All right, Julie, we'll take that point.
The House is gaveling in early this morning, so we'll have the Congressman respond.
At the end of the day, you've got to respect the rule of law.
And if we don't have the rule of law, we don't have a border.