| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Up to that year, he had written or edited six books on Abraham Lincoln. | ||
| Since then, Harold Holzer has added another 50 books to his name. | ||
| C-SPAN viewers and listeners have had the opportunity to hear Mr. Holzer talk about Lincoln's life from his birth in Kentucky in 1807 until his assassination in Washington, D.C. in 1865. | ||
| The following conversation is meant to be extensive. | ||
| The center of attention will be Mr. Lincoln, but in this case, also the life of Harold Holzer, a New Yorker for the past 75 years. | ||
|
unidentified
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Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer talks about his life and work on this episode of Book Notes Plus with our host, Brian Lamb. | |
| BookNotes Plus is available on the C-SPAN Now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. | ||
| It isn't just an idea. | ||
| It's a process. | ||
| A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. | ||
| It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. | ||
| Democracy in real time. | ||
| This is your government at work. | ||
| This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy unfiltered. | ||
| House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries held a news conference on the ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war 15 months after the conflict began. | ||
| The deal includes the release of several American and Israeli hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| First, let me begin by continuing to express our thoughts and prayers to the people of Southern California and Los Angeles County who are dealing with the horrific wildfires that have claimed lives, damaged and destroyed property, and upended the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals in a significant, | ||
| life-altering manner. | ||
| The Congress must be committed to delivering disaster assistance to the people who have been in harm's way in California in an expeditious manner. | ||
| And House Democrats look forward to working on that issue free of partisan gamesmanship and brinksmanship. | ||
| Let me also express my support for the ceasefire agreement that has been reached between the Israeli government and Hamas, | ||
| facilitated By significant efforts led by President Joe Biden to achieve the release of many hostages who have been held captive for far too long in harrowing and horrific conditions, | ||
| help facilitate the return of other hostages as soon as possible, and certainly make sure that humanitarian assistance is surged into Gaza so that innocent Palestinians who are in harm's way can receive the humanitarian support that they need moving forward. | ||
| It's also my hope, consistent with the framework that President Joe Biden first put in the public domain last year and that now has been realized, that the ceasefire agreement will lay the foundation for a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people moving forward. | ||
| Questions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader, I am curious about to get your reaction on the H.R. 28 yesterday and the two Democrats who voted with Republicans for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. | |
| And I'm just curious your reaction. | ||
| I know Congressman Gonzalez put out a statement about voting for his district's interest, and if this might signal a broader support to come to work with Republicans on certain issues, certain social issues can come to the table. | ||
| The overwhelming opposition by House Democrats to the House Republican Child Predator Empowerment Act speaks for itself. | ||
|
unidentified
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Leader Jeffries, two quick things. | |
| Any reflections on President Biden's legacy ahead of his 8 p.m. address tonight to the nation? | ||
| And two, any response to Speaker Johnson talking about extending the debt limit for four years? | ||
| In your view, what should a debt limit deal, if any, look like? | ||
| I look forward to hearing from President Biden this evening. | ||
| And in advance of those remarks, I'm going to reserve comment on his legacy other than to say he will go down in history as one of the most consequential American presidents of all time. | ||
| With respect to the debt ceiling, it's our understanding on the Democratic side that Republicans, with respect to the Presidency, the House, and the Senate, believe that they have an overwhelming and historic mandate. | ||
| If in fact that's the case, then the American people expect that House Republicans are going to be able to conduct the business of the American people with respect to funding the government and raising the debt ceiling. | ||
| One thing is clear, and this was made obvious to the incoming administration and our Republican colleagues at the end of December, is that House Democrats will not give extreme MAGA Republicans and the far right a blank check so they can execute their hit list on the American people. | ||
| The reconciliation plan that has been put forward by House Republicans that would be facilitated by a multi-trillion dollar increase in our nation's debt will significantly detonate Medicare as we know it, | ||
| Medicaid as we know it, the Affordable Care Act, and nutritional assistance for children, veterans, and families. | ||
| House Democrats have no interest, zero interest in facilitating the extreme MAGA Republican hit list on working families, middle-class folks, children, veterans, and older Americans. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Leader. | |
| There's been some discussion about attaching the debt limit suspension to California Wildfire Aid. | ||
| I'm wondering if you would support that or if you think that members of your party would vote for that. | ||
| The members of the California delegation have been very vocal on this matter and have made clear it is a complete and total nonstarter. | ||
| This Congress in our nation's 248-year history has never conditioned disaster assistance to everyday Americans whose lives have been upended by extreme weather events. | ||
| Never has happened and it should never happen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Lear. | |
| Do you believe that President-elect Trump's threats towards Hamas had anything to do with this ceasefire agreement or should the credit all belong to President Biden? | ||
| I think that President Biden and his administration put forth a framework for a ceasefire and a peace agreement last year at the end of May and have been working hard to achieve it under very difficult circumstances. | ||
| I'm thankful for the leadership of President Joe Biden, Secretary Blinken, and the Biden administration, along with the partnership with the Israeli government to reach this ceasefire agreement. | ||
| Let me also thank our allies and partners in the moderate Arab world who worked hard on this peace agreement as well, and in particular, Jordan and Egypt. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What about Trump's role? | |
| I'm sure we'll hear about Trump's role from the incoming president early, often, and in a repeated fashion to the extent that he believes he had anything to do with an agreement that was reached with Joe Biden as president. | ||
|
unidentified
|
On the ceasefire deal, do you think that could have helped President Biden and your candidates if it had come earlier as many in your party had called for? | |
| We're going to continue to look forward and not look backward. | ||
| The most important thing that has been achieved is that there are American and Israeli hostages who are on their way home. | ||
| There will be some who will remain captive, and we've got to continue to work to secure their release. | ||
| But we should all be thankful that there will be a ceasefire, that hostages are on the way home, and that humanitarian assistance is going to now reach Palestinian civilians in harm's way in a more robust manner. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader, thank you. | |
| Good afternoon. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm going back to your statement yesterday about the transgender sports bill that was on the board. | |
| Called it the Child Predator Empowerment Act, which says it will unleash horrific child predators on girls and young women. | ||
| Can you explain what your vision, what you think would happen with this bill? | ||
| My statement speaks for itself. | ||
| My comments on the bill last evening, where I expounded upon why the irresponsible GOP bill risks unleashing child predators on the children of America in the sports context, which we know has been a problem in areas like gymnastics, football, or wrestling. | ||
| The vote by the House Democratic caucus in opposition to the House Republican Child Predator Empowerment Act also speaks for itself. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. | |
| Obviously, since the election, a number of House Democrats have been having conversations about how do you all move on from here. | ||
| Obviously, you've been having your own listening sessions. | ||
| Kind of wanted to get an update on where House Democrats themselves see themselves moving forward, given that in just a couple days, Austin Trump is going to be president. | ||
| Are you all thinking differently, more strategically about how you're going to counter him this administration than the first one? | ||
| House Democrats are ready, willing, and able to find bipartisan common ground with the incoming administration and my Republican colleagues, as we repeatedly made clear on any issue, whenever and wherever possible, in order to make life better for the American people, particularly as it relates to driving down the high cost of living. | ||
| Throughout the balance of 2024, all we heard from House Republicans, the presidential candidate, and Senate Republicans and their candidates is that we've got to drive down the high cost of living. | ||
| Where is the plan? | ||
| Why all of a sudden have Republicans gone silent on bringing down housing costs, bringing down the cost of groceries, bringing down energy and utility costs, bringing down child care costs and bringing down insurance and health care costs? | ||
| Why have Republicans gone silent? | ||
| We are ready to work with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to drive down the high cost of living. | ||
| America is too expensive. | ||
| It's been that way increasingly for decades. | ||
| We agree, and we're ready to work on it. | ||
| Where is the to-do list from Republicans as it relates to driving down the high cost of living? | ||
| Instead of a to-do list to make life better for working class Americans, they have a hit list on working class Americans. | ||
| And on that hit list includes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, nutritional assistance for children, veterans, and families, and veterans' benefits. | ||
| That's completely unacceptable. | ||
| And it's the exact opposite of what Republicans have indicated they were planning to do now that they have a big, beautiful, historic, overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Do you see yourself as the face of that resistance? | |
| What role do you see yourself playing in that? | ||
| And two, should AOC or the waivers be on oversight? | ||
| It's my, well, the waiver issue is being worked on member by member, case by case, with respect to interest that has been expressed across the caucus as it relates to a wide variety of committees, including oversight. | ||
| Was proud to support Representative Ocasio-Cortez for a seat on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee and believe that she will be a great member. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Leader Jeffrey. | |
| You're about to hear from several candidates running to be DNC chair. | ||
| I was wondering, I know you haven't weighed in on anyone that you'd be supportive of, but I was wondering what you want to see in the next leader, what that infrastructure will be like, especially as you prepare to take back the House potentially in 2026. | ||
| We look forward to the conversations that are going to take place later on today and think it'll be an important opportunity for aspiring candidates to lead the Democratic National Committee to talk with House Democrats about our vision for how we can better communicate to the American people our desire to address the high cost of living, | ||
| secure the border, and fix our broken immigration system in a comprehensive and bipartisan way, including making sure that we look out for dreamers in the United States of America. | ||
| The House Democratic Caucus members are not bashful. | ||
| We're looking forward to an active conversation and engagement. | ||
| And I certainly will have more to say in the aftermath of the forum being hosted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee later on today. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Just to follow up on the earlier question about the approach towards the incoming president, you know, in his first term there was a feeling of resistance, significant resistance as he came into office. | ||
| I wonder, has that changed somewhat given the scope of his victory? | ||
| And you also were just talking about, I've heard you say this a number of times, America being too expensive. | ||
| That was not the Democratic message last year. | ||
| Has that also changed given the election results? | ||
| It's certainly been the case that the people that I represent in the 8th Congressional District in New York and throughout New York City in the five boroughs have been dealing with high cost of living in working class neighborhoods for a long period of time. | ||
| And we're going to continue to take steps to address that back at home. | ||
| But now we are finding increasingly across the country that the high cost of living, even prior to the post-pandemic inflation, has been a challenge and that was exacerbated as a result of the supply-demand constraints connected to the COVID-19 pandemic. | ||
| It's an issue that clearly was put into sharp focus by the most recent results in November. | ||
| As you pointed out, it was a big, beautiful, overwhelming historic mandate that was achieved by the incoming president and I guess as represented by my colleagues in the House and the Senate. | ||
| It is interesting if you were going to look at anything as it relates to how we may deal with this current situation, notwithstanding the big, beautiful, historic, overwhelming mandate that was achieved by my Republican colleagues by their own representation. | ||
| When Donald Trump came into office in January of 2017, having lost the popular vote, there were 241 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 194 Democrats. | ||
| At this moment, the incoming president is going to be sworn in on January 20th, having won the national popular vote and perform better in places like New York and California than any other Republican president since the 1980s. | ||
| And he will have at most 220 Republicans in the House of Representatives and 215 Democrats. | ||
| The narrowest margin of any majority since the Great Depression. | ||
| To the extent that anyone is interested in figuring out how we as House Democrats should approach this incoming administration, I would suggest that one actually take a look at what House Republicans were able to do with an overwhelming majority or unable to do in 2017 and 2018. | ||
| And what do we think they're going to be able to do in this particular context in the 119th Congress with a one or two seat majority at best and a group of people on the other side of the aisle who can't stand each other? | ||
|
unidentified
|
But on your side, is there less of a resistance posture and more, you mentioned you will look for common ground where it's possible. | |
| Has that changed in any way? | ||
| My view is that we should always find common ground and I was proud to have the opportunity to work with the Trump administration during his first term on historic criminal justice reform resulting in the achievement of the First Step Back. | ||
| That's always been my posture, that we should find common ground with our Republican colleagues to get things done whenever and wherever possible. | ||
| And that is certainly the case at this moment when we hope that Republicans will keep their word and present a plan to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America. | ||
| To date, it's been months now since the November election. | ||
| We haven't seen a single plan, a single idea, or a single piece of legislation put forward by Republicans to lower housing costs, lower child care costs, lower the cost of groceries, lower insurance costs, or lower utility costs. | ||
| You can't present the American people with a single plan, a single idea, or a single piece of legislation. | ||
| Instead, you develop a hit list on Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and nutritional assistance. | ||
| Were you telling the truth to the American people or were they lying? | ||
| Last question. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Leader. | |
| I'll go back. | ||
| Next to last question. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You did find quite a bit of common ground in the last Congress with Republicans on TikTok legislation that was signed into law. | |
| The Supreme Court looks like it is preparing to uphold that law later this week. | ||
| What do you tell the millions of TikTok users out there, many of whom I would assume are in your district, people who make their livelihoods off TikTok and are supported by TikTok? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What do you tell them as this ban from app stores is slated to take effect this weekend? | |
| We have a few days to try to work this out and let's see where we land over the next few days. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Leader, you and your calculus voted in 2022 for the Puerto Rico Status Act that excluded the territorial status as an alternative. | |
| Now you have in your calculus the defender of that status, Pablo Fernandez, at the residential commissioner. | ||
| Do you still support a bit like the Puerto Rico Status Act or a concept like that one? | ||
| I look forward to talking to Pablo about his ideas as it relates to resolving the territorial issues connected to the people of Puerto Rico, who are an incredibly important part of the fabric of America, including disproportionately serving in our nation's military. | ||
| It's an issue that certainly needs to be resolved. | ||
| Pablo was elected by the people of Puerto Rico. | ||
| He'll certainly have an important voice as we move forward. | ||
| I look forward to talking to him about his perspectives as we move forward with possible legislation in this Congress or sometime in the foreseeable future. | ||
|
unidentified
|
thank you everyone thank you franklin delano roosevelt | |
| I, Harry F. Ferland, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States. | ||
| The office of President of the United States. | ||
| And will to the best of my ability. | ||
| And will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend. | ||
| Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. | ||
| The Constitution of the United States. | ||
| So help me God. | ||
| Congratulations, Mr. President. | ||
|
unidentified
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Watch C-SPAN's all-day inauguration coverage on Monday, January 20th, including the historic swearing-in as Donald Trump takes office as the 47th President of the United States. |