Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
Source
Participants
Main
p
pedro echevarria
cspan06:05
Appearances
jake tapper
cnn00:37
jasmine crockett
rep/d01:49
Clips
chuck schumer
sen/d00:05
patty murray
sen/d00:04
?
Voice
Speaker
Time
Text
C-SPAN Student Cam Competition00:04:34
unidentified
21 years of the C-SPAN Student Cam competition.
Yo, this year's C-SPAN Student Cam 2025 Grand Prize winner.
Wow.
Oh my gosh.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I just want to say also I'm really grateful to the families who shared their stories.
They were really brave to share their stories.
I learned so much from them and I hope other teens can learn from them as well.
C-SPAN would like to thank all of the educators, parents, and students who participated this year.
Congratulations to all our winners.
Watch each of the 150 award-winning Student Cam documentaries anytime at studentcam.org.
And don't miss the top 21 winning entries airing this April on C-SPAN.
C-SPAN, bringing you democracy unfiltered.
Mr. Speaker, on this historic day, the House of Representatives opens its proceedings for the first time to televised coverage.
Since March of 1979, C-SPAN has been your unfiltered window into American democracy, bringing you direct, no-spin coverage of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House.
Is this Mr. Brian Lamb?
Yes, it is.
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But this public service isn't guaranteed.
All this month, in honor of Founders Day, your support is more important than ever.
You can keep democracy unfiltered today and for future generations.
NBC came out with a poll taking a look at a variety of questions, but specifically ones tailored to the Democratic Party.
This came out yesterday, one of those questions about overall viewers or overall people who participated in the poll.
This shows that a record low share of how those viewers or voters view the Democratic Party.
Only when it comes to negative views of the party, as of March of 2025, 55% of those sharing negative views of the party overall.
When it comes to those positive views, all those people who participated in that poll, only 27% expressed a positive view of the party.
Another chart from that NBC poll when it comes to Democrats and self-identified Democrats in April of 2017 to compare, it showed that 59% of those people back then of Democrats said that Democratic Party should make compromises with President Trump to gain consensus on legislation.
33% at the time of April 2017 said that the Democrats should stick to their positions even if it means not getting things done in Washington.
That's almost flipped as of March of 2025.
32% of Democrats saying that they should make compromises with the president to gain consensus on legislation and 65% of those Democrats saying that they should stick to their positions even if it means not getting things done in Washington, D.C. Again, these are that's the NBC poll.
It was not too long before that that CNN came out with its own poll taking a look at Democratic views of their own party and found this.
The first point saying that Democratic aligned adults of those who participate in that poll, 52% to 48% said that the leadership of the Democratic Party is currently taking the party in the wrong direction.
That's another shift from eight years ago when the views of this metric were largely positive.
And then, also amongst that poll, among overall the American public, the Democratic Party's favorability rating stands at just 29%, a record low.
And CNN's polling dating back to 1992, that poll also showing that just 63% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents report a favorable view of their own party, a dip from 72% in January and 81% at the start of President Biden's administration.
So, those are the polling numbers, taking a look at Democrats and how they view their own party.
You can give us your own sense, Democrats, of how you view your own party and the direction that your party is currently taking.
Here's how you can call us and let us know.
If you are under the age of 30, it's 202-748-8000.
If you are between the ages of 31 and 60, you can call us at 202-748-8001.
And if you're over the age of 50, 202-748-8002.
You can also post on our social media sites as well.
One of those people commenting on the state of the Democratic Party yesterday was on CNN.
It's Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett talking about the Senate Democrats' approach to the short-term funding the CR, so to speak, and also talked about the state of her party.
I understand that the American people are frustrated.
Please believe many of us did not sleep because we were calling and trying to impress upon the senators the importance of pushing back in this moment.
And as you saw, we had all but one Democrat in the House that voted for this, so that's 212 Democrats in the House.
And then you had the vast majority of senators vote for it or vote against it as well.
And so, the idea that Chuck Schumer is the only one that's got a brain in the room and the only one that can think through all of the pros and cons is absolutely ridiculous.
And, Jake, you and I both know that this administration could care less about whether or not they violate the law.
We know that we've had to rely heavily upon the courts.
And I want to say, as you're talking about the polling on my party, I want to say that it is the Democratic attorney generals and some governors that are standing up against this administration and bringing those lawsuits and winning every single time.
They are losing in court.
Could we do a better job of making sure that the American people know that we are winning in the courts?
We probably could.
But at the end of the day, it's still Democrats that are winning for the American people.
Some progressive groups are calling for new leadership in the Senate for Democrats.
Even House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, your leader, was asked if he supports Schumer as leader of the Senate, Democrats, and he said, next question.
Do you think Senate Democrats should replace Chuck Schumer?
You're close with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Some of your fellow House Democrats say, and not just progressives, by the way, we've heard that moderates have said this too, that they're ready to support her to challenge Chuck Schumer in a Democratic primary.
If you were asking me, at least in two years, then I would have an absolute answer.
But I can tell you that there are a lot of people that are watching his leadership in this moment.
This is the moment.
We don't even know what elections will look like in four years if we will have elections.
And so I definitely think that younger, fresher leadership may be something that many of us, not just depending on what part of the spectrum you're on, but many Americans may be looking for, especially in the state of New York.
So again, that's Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett giving her perspective on the Democratic Party.
Democrats only, you can do the same.
Again, the lines are a little bit different this time.
They're divided by age.
If you are under 30, it's 202748-8000.
If you're between 31 and 60, 202748-8001.
And if you're over 62, 02-748-80002.
On our over 60 line, this is Gwen in Detroit.
Democrats only on the state of your party, the direction of your party.
Gwen, good morning.
What do you think?
unidentified
Hi, good morning, Pedro.
Yeah, I'm over the age 60.
I'm 74.
But what the Democrats are doing, I agree with both sides because it's either this way or that way.
Both ways are terrible.
But I believe that with the view that Schumer took was to protect the courts.
And that way, like right now, we're beating Trump in the courts.
So if we had shut down the government, then it would have been, we would have been totally at loss.
It would be up to the executive, Trump, to decide what is necessary, what is not.
And he already thinks a whole lot of things are not necessary.
But this way, I think the Democrats are in a stronger position.
And another thing that I wanted to say is the Democrats, I hear a lot about House Democrats getting together, Senate Democrats, they both need to come together when they have to make big decisions like that and discuss it out behind closed doors.
So I think that the Democrats are doing great with no power.
That's Gwen there in Detroit giving her assessment.
This is John in Pennsylvania on our line for those over 60.
unidentified
Hello.
Hi, Pedro.
I just turned 70, and I think the Democrats are doing an excellent job because Chuck Schumer is one of the best House representatives in the Senate, man, for the longest time.
And remember, Nancy Pelosi, she did things for the American people with the Health Care Act under the Obama administration.
She was the best.
And the reason everybody thinks the Democrats are not doing any good is because they're following what the Republicans wrote 250 years ago in the first Continental Congress.
They said all men are created equal, but they didn't abolish slavery.
Aside from the actual CR vote itself, why do you think the Democratic Party is in need of a change of leadership?
unidentified
I don't think the, and I don't want to be ageist, but I think they're not aggressive enough.
I mean, the issues are clear-cut.
And I think the younger representatives, when I watch C-SPAN, you know, have congressional hearings and everything, they're much more aggressive, much more succinct, and get their point across.
And they make the Republicans look silly in these hearings and passing bills.
Like, it's not even close.
So I just think it's time for the younger generation to take over and represent our points.
Again, he's calling me within that bracket of between the age of 31 and 60.
That's 2027 for 88,000.
If you fall within that, if you're over that, say over the age of 60, 202, 748, 8002.
If you're under 30, 202748, 8003.
Democrats only, again, the direction of your party.
Where do you think it's going?
Especially as the call I brought up become the last week's vote on keeping the government funded.
You can use that as an example.
You can use that as other examples as well.
Carl and Houston are a line for those over the age of 60.
Hello, you're next.
unidentified
Hey, how are you doing, Pedro?
Listen, I think the Democrats is totally going in the wrong direction.
And not just because of one vote, but for the last four or five years, people have been telling Democrats, hey, we don't want to go this way.
Let's try this way.
They refuse to listen.
And because of that, look where we're at now.
We're at a place where, to be quite honest, I don't think the Democrats can get us out of this situation because one, they've been reactive instead of proactive.
And look, it just caused too much damage.
I think they need a complete overhaul.
They need a complete overhaul of their policies and everything else.
Because to be quite honest, you can't just look at one vote of Chuck Schumer and say, hey, listen, this is the problem, this one vote.
No, it's the policies that they've been passing for the last couple years.
Half a trillion dollars here And for illegals, so where do you think what where do you think the Democratic Party should have been more proactive in the way you express that?
Where do you think that should have taken place?
unidentified
I think I should have taken place when Democrats started telling them, hey, we're not truly agreeing with some of these policies you come out with.
And I don't know who's passing the, I don't know who's given the orders, the marching orders in the Democratic Party, but whoever's been given those marching orders, they've been told repeatedly by Democrats and the public in general that they're not filling that and that they're not filling these policies.
And to be truthful, you can't just look at one place.
You have to, it really needs to be totally revamped.
But thanks, Pedro, for letting me call and taking this time.
But really, everything they've done in the last five years has just been, just been terrible.
The issues you said they need to focus on, what would be the top issue in your mind for the Democratic Party to focus on?
unidentified
100% is the tax loopholes.
I look at it this way.
If you had a candidate that had some kind of coup like Obama, I'm not saying you have to be the world's best speaker, but if you are somebody that wants to get a hold of American people, be the person that says we want money out of politics.
We want the best education in our country so our people are smart.
We can never let something like Trump happen again.
And if you want to win the House, the Senate, and the executive branch, you need to rebrand.
And you need to rebrand and say, you know, quit doing the same old, same old.
Don't reach out to the Brown community, but then actually not help them.
You've got to do, you need to have a candidate that's ready to rock and roll.
Well, let me just say: look, in my caucus, for instance, I knew there would be divisions.
unidentified
There are.
But we have respect for one another.
We each respect that each of us has made the decision because we thought it was right.
And we are all unified in going after Trump.
What I mentioned to you in the earlier broadcast, making sure people know.
But it's how you go after Trump out.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
The complaints are about precisely your leadership.
I mean, there has been reporting that you were not in regular touch with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries leading up to your decision, that it took many in your caucus by surprise, that there didn't seem to be a plan.
That is what, more than anything, seems to be the case that many in your caucus are making against how this was handled.
Okay, for weeks and months, we had said a shutdown is awful.
And by the way, every Democrat, no matter how they voted, wanted to make sure there was no shutdown.
We thought there could be a bipartisan plan.
And I talked to Hakeem regularly during this period.
We didn't think that Johnson could get all his votes.