| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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Coming up this morning on Washington Journal, your calls and comments live. | |
| Also, we'll discuss the September 30th government funding deadline in Congressional News of the Day. | ||
| First, with Texas Republican Congressman Keith Self, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Freedom Caucus. | ||
| And then we'll talk with Virginia Democratic Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a member of the Science, Space, and Technology and Oversight and Accountability Committees. | ||
| Washington Journal is next. | ||
| Join the conversation. | ||
| Good morning, everyone. | ||
| On this Friday, September 19th, welcome to the Washington Journal. | ||
| We'll begin this morning with a conversation on hate speech and free speech. | ||
| Where's the line? | ||
| We want to know from you this morning. | ||
| Democrats, dial in at 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans, 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| If you don't want to call, text us at 202-748-8003, include your first name, city, and state, or post your comments on facebook.com slash C-SPAN and on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ. | ||
| Morning, everyone. | ||
| Take a look at the front page newspapers this morning. | ||
| We'll start with the New York Times and their headline. | ||
| Trump administration wields its full toolbox to bring media to heel. | ||
| ABC's decision to indefinitely suspend Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show illuminates the administration's efficacy so far. | ||
| And the Wall Street Journal, in Kimmel's suspension, Trump campaign against critics escalates. | ||
| Jimmy Kimmel is the latest target of an effort to punish political speech following the killing of Charlie Kirk. | ||
| And then you also have the Washington Post this morning. | ||
| Trump allies seek to punish speech they dislike following Kirk killing. | ||
| This morning, we want to know from you, hate speech and free speech. | ||
| Where's the line? | ||
| This conversation follows that indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel after Monday night's monologue where he talked about the killing of Charlie Kirk. | ||
| Take a listen. | ||
| We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. | ||
| In between the finger pointing, there was grieving. | ||
| On Friday, the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism. | ||
| But on a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this. | ||
|
unidentified
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My condulces on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. | |
| May I ask, sir, personally, how are you holding up over the last day and a half, sir? | ||
| I think very good. | ||
| And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks? | ||
| They've just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years. | ||
| And it's going to be a beauty. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| He's at the fourth stage of grief, construction. | ||
| Demolition. | ||
|
unidentified
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Construction. | |
| This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. | ||
| This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish, okay? | ||
| Jimmy Kimmel from Monday Night's Monologue. | ||
| Following those remarks on Wednesday, the FCC chair, Brendan Carr, was on YouTube, YouTube's Benny Johnson show, and this is what he had to say over Jimmy Kimmel's monologue. | ||
| But understand is that the broadcasters, and you've gotten this right, are entirely different than people that use other forms of communication. | ||
| We have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest. | ||
| And we can get into some ways that we've been trying to reinvigorate the public interest and some changes that we've seen. | ||
| But frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. | ||
| These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Timmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead. | ||
| The Federal Communications Chair, Brendan Carr, there on the Benny Johnson show, that evening, Disney announced that it would indefinitely suspend Jimmy Kimmel and his show. | ||
| On Air Force One, yesterday, traveling back from the UK, President Trump suggested that other networks should lose their broadcast licenses if they are critical of him. | ||
| Take a listen. | ||
| When a late night host is on network television, there is a licensing. | ||
| I'll give you an example. | ||
| I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me. | ||
| I get 97% negative. | ||
| And yet I won easily won all seven spank states popular, but won everything. | ||
| And if they're 97% against, they give me holy band publicity or press. | ||
| I mean, they're getting a license. | ||
| I would think maybe their license should be taken away. | ||
| It would be up to Brendan Carr. | ||
| I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. | ||
| He's a patriot. | ||
| He loves our country. | ||
| And he's a tough guy. | ||
| When you have a network and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump. | ||
| That's all they do. | ||
| If you go back, I guess they haven't had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said. | ||
| But when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. | ||
| They're licensed. | ||
| They're not allowed to do that. | ||
| They're an arm of the Democrat Party. | ||
| Thank you, everybody. | ||
| President Trump on Air Force One yesterday. | ||
| Now we turn to all of you. | ||
| Hate speech and free speech. | ||
| Where's the line? | ||
| That's our conversation here on the Washington Journal this morning. | ||
| Democrats, 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans, 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| Let's get to calls. | ||
| Kevin in Plymouth, Indiana, Republican, Europe First. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Yeah, good morning, C-SPAN. | ||
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| I had a couple quick points. | ||
| The first one is the Constitution and the First Amendment does not protect you from losing your job. | ||
| That's not how it's worded. | ||
| You can lose your job. | ||
| You have the right to say what you want, but you can still lose your job. | ||
| And in this case, he was just suspended. | ||
| The other point is, as far as his show, he was operating under a license, which means you're really supposed to say things in the best interest of the viewing public. | ||
| And you cannot go on live air and tell a blatant lie. | ||
| That's just not the way it goes. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Kevin's thoughts. | ||
| Bob in Savannah, Illinois, Independent. | ||
| Let's hear from you. | ||
|
unidentified
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What do you think about this? | |
| Well, I think the lines between permitted speech and hate speech are so blurry that most of the country is completely misunderstood, misunderstands where the lines are. | ||
| I think we've swung into being dictated to by an authoritarian government. | ||
| And we're using supposedly independent agencies to manipulate the private sector. | ||
| I don't believe in that at all. | ||
| If they want to put licenses, private employment contracts, et cetera, keep them private and you can do anything you want. | ||
| You can fire people, you can hire people. | ||
| But if it's in a public space, As long as you don't threaten life or property, you should be able to say anything you want. | ||
| All right, Bob. | ||
| Washington Post editorial, canceling Jimmy Kimmel. | ||
| They write, this government coercion violates the First Amendment. | ||
| The government can't block speech because it's politically offensive, nor can it do an end run around the prohibition by enlisting third parties to do the dirty work. | ||
| You might think the FCC is a wholesale exception to this rule, given that it regulates broadcast television. | ||
| You'd be incorrect. | ||
| The FCC, here's a quote, the FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the public interest, noted an expert in 2019, a fellow by the name of Brendan Carr. | ||
| That is what the current FCC chair had to say in 2019. | ||
| The Trump administration didn't invent the strategy of indirect censorship backed by regulatory threats. | ||
| The Biden administration's pressuring of social media companies to remove content was the subject of a lawsuit by state leaders in Missouri and Louisiana that reached the Supreme Court last year. | ||
| While the Biden administration used veiled threats against its corporate targets to maintain plausible deniability, Carr wielded the government's coercive power openly. | ||
| Bob, excuse me, Helen in Long Beach, California, Republican. | ||
| Let's get your thoughts on this debate this morning. | ||
| Go ahead, Helen. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, I think people need to look at the definition of speech and crime, and they're two different way distant, different entities. | |
| Crime is where it's an act of violence, assault, or robbery, or it's assault vandalism, because you don't happen to like a person, maybe based on superficial characteristics. | ||
| And speech is defined as expressing your thoughts or your beliefs, but there's no crime involved. | ||
| So when you talk about suppression of free speech and hate speech, it's the government has no right to suppress free speech. | ||
| The government has no right to suppress hate speech, as foul or offense, as offensive as it may be. | ||
| A hate crime, there has to be an actual crime in it. | ||
| You just can't label hate speech as a crime. | ||
| And that's, I think, the issue. | ||
| Okay, so Helen, what's your message to President Trump on this debate? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know what? | |
| He has the right to his free speech. | ||
| He has the right to his hate speech. | ||
| I have the right to my hate speech. | ||
| In the government, we are ruled by the Constitution and we have the First Amendment. | ||
| And both of us, all of us, have the right to hate speech. | ||
| And a matter of fact, I would like to look up the word origin of hate speech. | ||
| When did this phrase become a popular phrase? | ||
| It might be more telling than this discussion we're having now. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Helen there in Long Beach, California. | ||
| Thanks for getting up early and joining us this morning. | ||
| Back to the opinion pages. | ||
| In the Washington Post, here is an argument written today by Robert Corn Revere, who was the chief counsel to the FCC chair during the Clinton administration. | ||
| He writes this, that the Supreme Court long ago made clear that the public interest standard necessarily invites reference to First Amendment principles. | ||
| And the First Amendment must inform and give shape to the manner in which Congress exercises its regulatory power in this area. | ||
| Just last term, the court unanimously reaffirmed that the threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion to achieve the suppression of disfavored speech violates the First Amendment. | ||
| Eddie in Ackworth, Georgia, Democrat. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Eddie. | |
| Well, yeah, I'm listening to everybody say, yeah, I just heard this lady say, yeah, we all do have a title to free speech and but hate speech, nah, people should keep their mouth closed, especially Donald Trump needs to keep his mouth closed about coming out with hate speech because it got too many. | ||
| It just got too many messed up people out here now that, you know, they ain't gonna stand for that. | ||
| Most of them ready to take violence, violence to hate speech, you know, because it's not right. | ||
| People got feelings. | ||
| Everybody got feelings. | ||
| Well, we don't need all that hate speech and somebody coming and want to speak what they want against the other party, you know, because we already see Donald Trump, he's all just about the Republicans. | ||
| He ain't never have no meetings with the Democrat to get together. | ||
| Our country is down the drain, down the drain with hate speech. | ||
| Nobody loving each other, badly loving each other no more on either side. | ||
| Okay, Eddie Eddie there in Georgia with his thoughts. | ||
| More of your calls coming up. | ||
| But first, I want to show you what Jon Stewart had to say in his monologue last night in reaction to the indefinite suspension of his colleague Jimmy Kimmel. | ||
| I don't know who this Johnny Drimmel live ABC character is, but the point is, our great administration has laid out very clear rules on free speech. | ||
| Now, some naysayers may argue that this administration's speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy, a thin gruel of a ruse, a smokescreen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation, principle-less and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance. | ||
| Some people would say that. | ||
| Not me, though. | ||
| I think it's great. | ||
| Jon Stewart, with his thoughts on this debate over Jimmy Kimmel's indefinite suspension. | ||
| This morning, we're broadening out the conversation. | ||
| Hate speech and free speech. | ||
| Where's the line? | ||
| Bert Wainsburg, Kentucky Republican. | ||
| Hi, Bert. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, good morning. | |
| Thanks for taking my call. | ||
| The thing that bothers me most of what's going on right now is how media and both sides, Republican and Democrat, use half-truths and how they distort the media or the news. | ||
| Now, one side does it worse than the other, but I don't accept that way. | ||
| Either side does it. | ||
| Now, the one headline that you had earlier, and I can't remember what paper, I think it might have been Wall Street. | ||
|
unidentified
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Trump seeks to punish speech they dislike. | |
| That is a half-truth. | ||
| It should have been Trump seeks to punish hate speech. | ||
| And by Your reading that article when you could have just as read an article like what I said, and I'm sure it's in some newspapers, kind of shows how you're leaning. | ||
| And I understand that you are a left-leaning organized or an organization. | ||
| Bert, let me jump in. | ||
| The president on Air Force One last night said that other networks could be in jeopardy of losing their licenses if they're critical of him. | ||
| How do you react to that? | ||
| Bert hung up. | ||
| Kathy, Fallon, Nevada, Democratic caller. | ||
| Hi, Kathy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| The Constitution does not designate that there is a line between hate speech and free speech. | ||
| I do believe that both hate speech and free speech are free speech. | ||
|
unidentified
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So technically, there really is no line. | |
| So that's where I'm at. | ||
| Thanks a lot. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Adam, Palm City, Florida, Republican. | ||
| We'll hear from you, Adam. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, good morning. | |
| Morning. | ||
| I think it's a lot to start this show this morning. | ||
| Three things on my mind were to clarify: like the government and Trump did not cancel Kimball, right? | ||
| It was Disney, or I think Disney is the one that actually canceled him, not the government. | ||
| Then you just asked the gentleman that hung up before what did he think about Trump's saying they're after him or something during the airplane flight. | ||
| I think what would help the opinions of this show, what the law is for their license, for their news license. | ||
| Because he can say they're after him, and it's unfair. | ||
| But then I guess what I read this morning was according to their news license, they have to offer equal time for both Republicans and Democrats. | ||
| So for the news channels that he's saying is after him and that should be looked at is because they're primarily having either left-leaning or Democrat people on their shows without the equal representation of the Republican opinion. | ||
| So it's that fact I think he's referring to when talking about looking into other channels. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Well, Adam, here's a little bit more. | ||
| This is from the New York Times. | ||
| It's a media memo, a little bit more on the FCC. | ||
| And it says, in putting the onus on ABC's stations, Mr. Carr appeared to be borrowing a page from the playbook of the Nixon administration. | ||
| It had pioneered the practice of floating potential action against station licenses to pressure the major networks to tow the administration line. | ||
| The networks rely on independent stations and station groups to carry their programs nationally. | ||
| Mr. Nixon saw the managers of those stations, particularly in Republican-led areas, as potential allies against their affiliated networks in New York. | ||
| He was consumed by the Watergate scandal before the plan bore much fruit, but he was on to something. | ||
| Some 30 years later, it was pressure from affiliates that helped force the last major cancellation of Late Night's Show in the wake of a political uproar. | ||
| In 2002, ABC ended Bill Maher's show, politically incorrect, after criticism from the White House of Comments he made related to the September 11th attacks. | ||
| The difference this time was that Mr. Carr's comments explicitly referred to the fact that stations are licensed by the government. | ||
| And they were swiftly followed by an announcement by a major station group with ABC affiliates, Nexstar, that it would independently preempt Mr. Kemmel's show. | ||
| ABC followed with an announcement that it would do so nationally, indefinitely, though it did not say why. | ||
| As it happens, Nexstar is pursuing a station merger that will require FCC approval. | ||
| Sinclair, another major owner of local stations, then said it would preempt Mr. Kemmel's show. | ||
| Stanley in Philadelphia, Democratic caller. | ||
| Stanley. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sean, this morning. | |
| Morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't think I got to say, hate speech is free speech, as long as you don't act on hate speech. | |
| And as far as all these other stations, Timbull, another guy that he got rid of, what he's going to go after Fox News. | ||
| That's all they speak is hate speech and lies. | ||
| Hate speech didn't start until Donald Trump came into office. | ||
| That's when hate speech became rampant, running wild. | ||
| He brought it to America. | ||
| So as far as hate speech, go after Fox News. | ||
| Stanley, what about the argument that's being made in the papers today that conservatives feel that these moves are justified given what happened under the Biden administration and the pressure that the Biden administration, the Biden White House, put on corporations and social media platforms to censor any sort of commentary about COVID, COVID-19, and the government's actions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
COVID-19. | |
| A million people die, COVID-19. | ||
| Donald Trump told people to drink speech, drink bleak. | ||
| You think I care about what Joe Biden did compared to what that man did? | ||
| That man started an insurrection. | ||
| How can he talk about anybody when you try to overthrow your country? | ||
| When did Donald Trump start their love in America after the Viagnal War? | ||
| All right, Stanley's thoughts there. | ||
| Democratic call in Philadelphia. | ||
| Related to this conversation this morning is a headline about Capitol Hill effort to censure Representative Ilhan Omar over comments and her posts about Charlie Kirk's killing failed in the House yesterday. | ||
| The motion to table succeeded by a vote of 214 with four Republicans, Representatives Mike Flood of Nebraska, Jeff Heard of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California, and Corey Mills of Florida voting with the Democrats. | ||
| Here's a quote. | ||
| This is a First Amendment issue, Mills said. | ||
| We may not like or agree with what someone says, but that does not mean we should deny their First Amendment right. | ||
| So that action taking place on a resolution to censure Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota over comments in a social media post she made regarding conservative leader Charlie Kirk's death, and it failed yesterday, Wednesday in the House. | ||
| Pam in Atwater, Ohio Independent. | ||
| Hi, Pam. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Greta. | |
| Hey, listen, I've watched your show forever. | ||
| I had to stop once this administration stepped in because it's been so disappointing to see the destruction of our Constitution, free speech, hate speech. | ||
| We are going down a slippery slope. | ||
| We're watching an administration, a president in particular, who is trying to control everything, not just speech. | ||
| And now we are seeing him literally attacking various individuals for saying things he doesn't like. | ||
| This is not our country. | ||
| This is not the First Amendment. | ||
| Yes, do we have people going across crossing that line? | ||
| Yes, we do. | ||
| I have watched pieces of Fox News and thought to myself, how do they get away with that? | ||
| Brian Kalmedee saying that we should give a lethal injection to every homeless person? | ||
| How does he get away with that? | ||
| Not being censored, not being thrown off the air. | ||
| And yet we can't speak just random, just honest to God truth about things that are happening in this country. | ||
| This president is unfortunately looking to control everything in this country. | ||
| And if people don't wake up and see this, our Constitution's being trampled, we are not going to have the kind of country that we know and love in years to come if something doesn't change. | ||
| And I love that our representatives, our elected officials are trying, but we have watched our elected officials go along with all of this nonsense, especially our Republicans. | ||
| I have written letters, I emailed, I've called. | ||
| This is crazy. | ||
| I've never seen anything like this. | ||
| I'm 67 and I feel that we are definitely going backwards in ways I didn't think possible. | ||
| All right, Pam there in Atwater, Ohio. | ||
| Pam, for you and others, listen to the FCC chair Brendan Carr's interview on CNBC Thursday. | ||
| This follows what he had to say in that YouTube interview saying that ABC's licenses could be threatened and then ABC following with the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. | ||
| Here he is on Thursday in a CNBC interview. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I asked earlier about Fallon and Seth Meyers, but is the president's view that they should also be taken off the air shared by the FCC? | |
| I don't speak for the president, so obviously he speaks for himself on that. | ||
| Our goal and our obligation here is to make sure that broadcasters are serving the public interest. | ||
| And if there's local TV stations that don't think that running that programming does it, then they have every right under the law and their contracts to preempt it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And we'll see how this plays out. | |
| But I do think that, again, we are in the midst of a massive shift in dynamics in the media ecosystem for lots of reasons. | ||
| Again, including the permission structure that President Trump's election has provided. | ||
| And I would simply say we're not done yet with seeing the consequences of that shift. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, what does that mean when you say you're not done yet then? | |
| I mean, will you only be pleased when none of these comedians have a show on broadcast television? | ||
| No, again, it's not about any particular show or any particular person. | ||
| It's just we're in the midst of a very disruptive moment right now. | ||
| And I just frankly expect that we're going to continue to see changes in the media ecosystem. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, Chair Carr, I'm not sure I want to do this or not, but should the government have someone who reviews the writers before the host says them? | |
| No. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How would you be sure that the host is saying something that you would think is okay? | |
| That's not my, it's not up to me. | ||
| The way this works is that the local broadcast station is supposed to be responsible for the content. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So the check on that content is not the government. | |
| It's not me here at the FCC. | ||
| It's your local TV station in Provo, Utah. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's your local TV station in Scranton. | |
| It's on them, under the law. | ||
| They're responsible for the content. | ||
| They're responsible for judging whether they think it's in the public interest or serves the needs of their local communities. | ||
| Not for me to decide, but I'm very pleased that they feel empowered to stand up to Disney and Comcast in the appropriate cases. | ||
| The FCC chair, Brendan Carr, there in an interview on CNBC Thursday, Senate Democratic Senator Chris Murphy with fellow Democrats at a news conference yesterday spoke out against the Trump administration's targeting of Kimmel. | ||
| Here's his argument. | ||
| The shooting of Charlie Kirk was a national tragedy. | ||
| It should have been a line in the sand, an opportunity for President Trump to bring this country together to do whatever is necessary to stamp out political violence that's targeted both Republicans and Democrats, political violence that emanates from both right-wing and left-wing radicalization. | ||
| But Trump and his lieutenants are choosing a different path. | ||
| They are choosing to exploit this tragedy to weaponize the federal government to destroy Donald Trump's political opposition. | ||
| They aren't even hiding what they are trying to do. | ||
| President Trump himself has publicly threatened to arrest members of the Soros family simply for funding groups that oppose his agenda. | ||
| Laura Loomer, maybe the most influential outside advisor to the White House, called on Trump to be a dictator and lock up. | ||
| lock up and silence his political enemies. | ||
| And last night, they showed us exactly how serious they are. | ||
| Trump's FCC forced a major network to pull a loud Trump critic, Jimmy Kimmel, off the air, essentially saying that any media actor that doesn't say what Trump wants them to say about Charlie Kirk or Trump's policies is going to be silenced. | ||
| That's censorship. | ||
| That's state speech control. | ||
| That's not America. | ||
| Trump is making it 100% clear that he is going to ramp up his efforts to use the power of the federal government to harass and punish his critics, not because they're supporters of political violence, they are not, but because they have the audacity to openly oppose his policies. | ||
| This is a standard format for every budding despot. | ||
| There you have it. | ||
| Two arguments from a Republican and a Democrat. | ||
| We're getting your thoughts this morning on speech. | ||
| Hate speech versus free speech. | ||
| Where's the line? | ||
| Before we get to more of your calls and update on Capitol Hill in action this morning, the House is going to gavel in at 9 a.m. Eastern Time today because they are going to take up a stopgap measure that will keep the federal government open past a spending deadline at the end of October. | ||
| Punch Bowl News reporting this morning, White House is seeking dem votes on this continuing resolution. | ||
| With Congress about to take some huge votes on government funding, the White House has quietly been connecting with Battleground House Democrats to see if they'd vote for the GOP's November 21st spending plan. | ||
| This comes as the House and Senate are scheduled for a pivotal day in the growing shutdown drama. | ||
| The House will go first this morning. | ||
| Then the Senate will vote on the competing GOP and Democratic proposals, both of which are expected to fail. | ||
| At that point, lawmakers are expected to leave town for several days at least, setting up a shutdown endgame running right up to the October 1st deadline. | ||
| The White House outreach to swing seat House Democrats is significant because House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is eager to keep his caucus as united as possible against the GOP plan. | ||
| And President Donald Trump has said his party should not, quote, even bother negotiating with Democrats. | ||
| All of that coming up here right on C-SPAN 1 here when the House gavels in and we will bring you our uninterrupted coverage of the House proceedings. | ||
| So 9 a.m. Eastern Time is when the gavel will come down right here on C-SPAN and you can watch our Senate coverage over on C-SPAN 2. | ||
| What's in this House GOP government funding bill keeps the federal agencies open through November 21st at current funding levels. | ||
| It provides $30 million for security for lawmakers. | ||
| It allows the Department of Agriculture to continue administering the WIC nutrition program. | ||
| And this is from Politico and it includes a budget fix allowing the District of Columbia to spend its full budget through September 26th. | ||
| Now, Democrats have their own proposal. | ||
| Senate Democrats have put out their own proposal and what they want to see is more money for health care. | ||
| So they have said their votes come with those negotiations, that Republicans would have to agree to permanently subsidizing the Affordable Care Act at a cost of $300 billion, and they want to see cuts to Medicaid restored as well. | ||
| So that's your update on Capitol Hill. | ||
| We're going to talk more about that coming up here on the Washington Journal. | ||
| But first, let's continue our conversation this morning about hate speech and free speech. | ||
| Where's the line? | ||
| Kevin in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a Republican. | ||
| Hi, Kevin. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, good morning. | |
| First administrative issue, if you could give some sort of notification or warning to callers when they're due to be called. | ||
| I notice calling in a lot of people don't seem to be realizing when they're going to be called. | ||
| Anyway, you had a previous caller where he accused you of essentially lying when you said Donald Trump was trying to take action against sources that disagree with him instead going to hate speech. | ||
| But he was interviewed on Air Force One, and he clearly made the point that he was going after sources that were against him. | ||
| He did not define it as hate speech. | ||
| And so this is just one example of the false equivalency that you hear all the time. | ||
| Another example that you brought up on a previous caller was COVID. | ||
| And so this is a really serious false equivalency. | ||
| If there is anything that threatens public health, it is messages, especially from public officials, that demean or contradict public health recommendations for vaccinations. | ||
| And in all 50 states of this country, practicing medicine without a license is a felony. | ||
| And yet you see non-physicians, non-medical people making recommendations that directly impact public health and public policy all the time. | ||
| I think you need to get some guests on who underscore this difference. | ||
| I hear all the time on the right this, you know, what the right to say, false information about COVID-19, for example, false treatments such as ivermectin, bleach, denigrating vaccination efforts as considered both sidesism. | ||
| It is not both sizes if it comes from public officials and if it threatens the public health. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Kevin, I'm going to leave it there at those thoughts. | ||
| By the way, all of you on the line right now, continue to hang with us. | ||
| We're going to switch to open forum here on the Washington Journal. | ||
| You can continue talking about this debate over hate speech and free speech or any other public policy issue that's on your mind. | ||
| Here are the lines. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| Open forum here today for the remainder of today's Washington Journal. | ||
| Coming up here also on the Washington Journal, we're going to be talking to two lawmakers. | ||
| One of them is Representative Keith Self, and he's joining us right now this morning from Capitol Hill, Republican of Texas and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Veterans Affairs Committee. | ||
| Congressman Self, let's begin with this continuing resolution, the stopgap measure. | ||
| How will you vote on this bill? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, I'm going to be voting yes on this bill. | |
| We need to get this off the plate. | ||
| We need a clean CR except for the anomalies that you've already talked about. | ||
| And why are you voting yes? | ||
| What about the provisions that are in the bill? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I'm voting yes because we need to take a shutdown off the table. | |
| If Schumer wants to have a shutdown, then that's up to him. | ||
| My preference would be that we vote on the bill. | ||
| We pass the bill today and then we leave town until we tell the Senate that we'll see you in October because we want to pass it to them, a clean CR except for the anomalies, and move on. | ||
| If this passes today, what should happen with government funding levels in the next round of negotiations? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, my big concern is the COVID era temporary expanded subsidies. | |
| That will amount to $40 billion a year with CHRN something like $335 billion over the next 10 years. | ||
| No Republican has ever voted for an Obamacare subsidy. | ||
| This is not the time to start. | ||
| No Republican should ever vote to extend these temporary COVID era subsidies. | ||
| COVID's been over for years. | ||
| Let's take it back to what it was planned to be. | ||
| No Republican should vote for these subsidies on November the 21st. | ||
| The Democrats are saying that, and Democrats in the Senate are saying if you want our votes, which you need, we do want some negotiations on health care. | ||
| And they're calling for permanent subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. | ||
| You sound like you oppose those subsidies. | ||
| More than 24 million Americans got their health insurance through ACA in 2025. | ||
| Of those, more than nine in 10, 22.3 million people, qualified for the enhanced subsidies, and that's $4 million in Texas, in your state. | ||
| So what do you say to those Texas citizens? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I tell you, there's a lot of fraud going on in that system. | |
| We now have people that don't even know they're on the system payments with no claims. | ||
| No claims. | ||
| The federal government is giving money to the insurance companies. | ||
| That sounds a lot like fraud to me. | ||
| That's where I think we ought to attack it. | ||
| We ought to find those where the claims are being paid with no claims. | ||
| So there is a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse in this. | ||
| And it's at the lower levels that we see this, the lower levels of being on the program. | ||
| So this has got a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse in it. | ||
| We need to do what we did with Medicaid, taking it back to the people that are supposed to have it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But I will tell you, November the 21st is a tough date because it's in the middle of the enrollment period. | |
| And that's my concern, that it's in the middle of the enrollment period. | ||
| So it's going to be a tough, tough fight to keep that off the table. | ||
| In the stopgap measure that you're voting on today, there is extra money, $30 million, for beefed up security for yourself and other members of Congress. | ||
| Explain why you think this money is necessary if you do. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I told a reporter yesterday that I'm not sure we ought to be spending a lot of more money on security. | |
| I understand people have concerns, but I don't want this to get out of hand because I hear some numbers being thrown around that are just too large. | ||
| This 30 million, I think it's a program that is reasonable, but I just need to watch this as well. | ||
| Look, we're still $37 trillion in debt. | ||
| If you want to add money to any program, where are you going to take money from other programs, less needed programs? | ||
| In the federal government, we tend to just add money every time we add a new program. | ||
| I want to see it where, if this is the greater good, what are we going to take it from? | ||
|
unidentified
|
A program that is either defunct, it's dormant, whatever. | |
| So let's try to watch our spending here because $37 trillion, and it's going to continue to go up over the next 10 years. | ||
| What is the threat like to you and others on Capitol Hill? | ||
| What's your personal experience? | ||
| What have you heard from your colleagues? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, there are a lot of people that are concerned about it. | |
| I obviously am from Texas, but we've got, look, you could be at the wrong place at the wrong time anytime, like the young intern that was shot here in D.C. several months ago now. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's always possible. | |
| But for, and then you know, the dedicated sniper is really a myth of the movies. | ||
| So really, it depends on the location. | ||
| And I think there are some members of Congress that do need more security. | ||
| And I think there are those of us that live in fairly safe environments. | ||
| So this is not one size fits all. | ||
| And I do feel for the people who believe their safety is in danger. | ||
| Congressman, before we let you go this morning, your thoughts on the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and FCC Brendan Carr's remarks before the suspension happened that perhaps the licenses would be threatened. | ||
| I think we need to be very careful with free speech. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It is in the First Amendment, and I want to be very careful when we start. | |
| First of all, I don't think we know the intention of anyone's heart. | ||
| So hate speech to me is kind of an amorphous concept. | ||
| But actions count for me. | ||
| And so we need to be very careful with free speech. | ||
| It is one of the foundational First Amendment rights in this country. | ||
| And I agree kind of with the person that said Jimmy Kimmel is free to say whatever he wants to, just not be employed by someone. | ||
| So that's the line that I think we need to look at. | ||
| We need to allow people to speak freely. | ||
| But employers also have rights and rules under their employment. | ||
| So that's the issue. | ||
| That's the area that I think we ought to be looking at. | ||
| Are you, do you agree with the comments by the FCC chair as a government regulator to make those comments publicly about the licensing and possibly taking it away? | ||
| And then President Trump on Air Force One suggesting that networks should lose their broadcast license if they criticize him. | ||
| Do you disagree with those? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I do disagree with those. | |
| I think that that is an employment decision, but it is not a government decision to take someone's license away simply because they disagree with the president. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Frankly, all of us in public office get disagreed with every single day to include the president. | |
| That's part of the job. | ||
| That's why we're here. | ||
| We do have people that I represent people on both sides of the political spectrum, and that's just the way it is. | ||
| I am expected to act on their behalf on both sides, but they're free to speak, and they're free to criticize me. | ||
| Representative Keith Self, Republican of Texas, sir, thank you for your time this morning for joining us from Capitol Hill. | ||
| We appreciate it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Back to your calls this morning. | ||
| We're in Open Forum and Rick in Baltimore, a Democratic caller, you're up first. | ||
| Tell us your thoughts. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Absolutely no hate was displayed in Jimmy Kimmel's joke. | ||
| It was opinionated free speech. | ||
| These late night comics have been making these jokes since Johnny Carson days. | ||
| Now all of a sudden Donald Trump's in office and it's a problem. | ||
| So it has nothing to do about the employer's right to fire them. | ||
| It's about government pressure to fire them. | ||
| And don't discount the fact that Charlie Cook's assassin's motive was personal. | ||
| He was in a relationship with a transitioning male. | ||
| He didn't have to be a leftist. | ||
| Donald Trump has cracked down on legal protests at universities. | ||
| He's torn down black history. | ||
| And all the while he's gaining enormous wealth with his Oregon-Offin tariffs. | ||
| Trump's lawsuits against anyone or anything contrary to his agenda is authoritarian at its worst. | ||
| Don't be surprised if he doesn't try to hold on to power when his term is up. | ||
| Free Palestine and apartheid. | ||
| Stop the genocide. | ||
| Rick in Baltimore this morning. | ||
| Front page of the Wall Street Journal, Trump pushes to silence opponents, and they note this. | ||
| On Wednesday afternoon, the head of the FCC suggested the agency could punish ABC over comments made by comedian Jimmy Kimmel related to Kirk's killing. | ||
| By Wednesday evening, Disney, ABC's parent company, said it was taking Kimmel's late-night show off the air indefinitely. | ||
| Hours later, President Trump said he was labeling Antifa, a loose affiliation of far-left activist groups, as a major terrorist organization. | ||
| Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi raised the prospect of prosecuting people who engage in hate speech. | ||
| And behind the scenes, senior administration officials are drawing up plans to take action against left-leaning organizations. | ||
| We're in open forum this morning, Lily in Arcadia, California, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Lily. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, thank you for taking my call. | |
| Free speech kind of bothers me because you talk about a line between it. | ||
| There should not be a line. | ||
| I've lived in the United States for 90 years now. | ||
| And every 10 years, there's change. | ||
| It's not always for the good. | ||
| It's not always for the bad because it's filled with opinion and facts, and we have to listen to both. | ||
| It's simply a matter of good manners. | ||
| Families eating together at dinner discussing politics has gone by the wayside. | ||
| Both parents now have to work to keep up with different things. | ||
| Schools don't concentrate on teaching history as history actually happened. | ||
| Even some of our books show this. | ||
| It's sad. | ||
| And the kids being on their own so much only have each other to rely on. | ||
| When they had family, it was much different. | ||
| And I'm hoping we get back to it because you're entitled to free speech as long as it is mannerly. | ||
| Have some respect for one another. | ||
| We're all in the same boat. | ||
| All right. | ||
| All right, Lily. | ||
| Keith is in Madison, Wisconsin, Independent. | ||
| Hi, Keith. | ||
| What's on your mind this morning? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, good morning. | |
| I think it's quite ironic that one of the great purveyors of hate speech, this fascist scumbag by the name of Charlie Kirk. | ||
| Keith, let's not call people names. | ||
| You can make your argument without calling people names. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Charlie Kirk, there's an actual video going around on Facebook right now where Charlie Kirk called for the execution of Joe Biden. | |
| Okay, let that sink in. | ||
| This guy was an actual fascist, and he did not approve of free speech that he didn't like. | ||
| Okay, are you still there? | ||
| Yeah, we're listening. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| So, and the last words out of his mouth, he was billowing out a racist dog whistle right before the round ripped through his vocal cords. | ||
| Okay, so he was the real purveyor of hate speech. | ||
| And they have, and this kid, this Tyler Robinson, the information coming out about him is that he was right-wing. | ||
| He had a his username was a pseudonym for Donald Trump that he used on a video game. | ||
| So this kid was right-wing all the way. | ||
| He grew up in a gun culture. | ||
| He was, you know, the right fetishizes guns and violence, and then when it boomerangs on them, they blame the liberals. | ||
| All right, Keith there in Independent in Madison, Wisconsin. | ||
| Some other headlines to share with you this morning while we're in open forum. | ||
| You can discuss these headlines or any other public policy or political issue. | ||
| Let's start with the Washington Times headline. | ||
| Kamala Harris throws walls under the campaign bus. | ||
| Wish she had picked Mayor Pete as the running mate. | ||
| Here's from the Washington Times this morning in her upcoming memoir, 107 Days. | ||
| Ms. Harris says Mr. Buttigej, called Mayor Pete from his Indiana Merrill days, would have been an ideal partner if I were a straight white man. | ||
| But we have already, here's a quote: But we were already asking a lot of Americans to accept a woman, a black woman, a black woman married to a Jewish man, she says, according to excerpts in The Atlantic. | ||
| Pardon me wanted to say, screw it, let's just do it. | ||
| But knowing that, knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk. | ||
| And I think Pete also knew that to our mutual sadness. | ||
| Now, CNN reporting earlier this morning that Pete Buttigieg was unaware of this and was surprised by this. | ||
| So that in the Washington Times this morning, there's also this on the continuing resolution that we were just talking about with Congressman Self. | ||
| It's in the New York Times this morning, spending fight and shutdown looming. | ||
| Kate Edmondson writes, Katie Edmondson writes, Congressional Democrats on Wednesday proposed adding well over $1 trillion for Medicaid and other health programs to a stopgap spending plan needed to fund the government past September 30th, laying out steep demands and a showdown with Republicans that is threatening a shutdown within weeks. | ||
| Senate Republicans trying to negotiate with Democrats. | ||
| Democrats saying they want to see some money returned to Medicaid and they also want to see those ACA subsidies to the tune of $326 million total compared to a $30 million boost sought by the GOP. | ||
| That's for security. | ||
| So Democrats also want more money for security and health care. | ||
| That's the New York Times with the latest on the continuing resolution debate on Capitol Hill. | ||
| And then here's a poll to share with you from the Washington Post this morning. | ||
| More are saying U.S. supports Israel too much in Gaza. | ||
| You can take a look at the numbers here over on the right. | ||
| Opinions on U.S. support for Israel during war in Gaza. | ||
| Thinking about the Israel-Gaza war, do you think the United States is percentage over supporting Israel too much? | ||
| And here's the percentage in 2024 at 30%, at 37% now in 2025. | ||
| We'll go to Plainview, New York. | ||
| Republican is joining us there. | ||
| Good morning to you, Carler. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I just want to state that the Constitution talks about the right to free speech. | ||
| It doesn't say you don't have the right to hate speech. | ||
| As an example, the Nazis marched in Skokie, Illinois, and the ACLU protected them, said they have the right to do that. | ||
| Also, the conservatives are learning from the playbook of canceled culture. | ||
| The woke left canceled many people: Roseanne Barr, Gina Carrano, many other people. | ||
| So the conservatives learned from their playbook. | ||
| Also, Jimmy Kimmel did not tell a joke. | ||
| He said that MAGA was to blame for the assassination of Kirk. | ||
| But the assassin's mother said that he leaned to the left for at least the last year. | ||
| So people are calling in and saying he's on the right. | ||
| Well, maybe they should talk to the person's mother. | ||
| Well, so Obama went after people he didn't like to use the IRS through Lois Lerner. | ||
| Biden investigated conservative groups. | ||
| So if we talk about speech and hate speech and the ability of the government to put their thumb on the scale, well, it works both ways. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Horace in Philadelphia, Democratic caller. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, my dear. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Good morning, my dear. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Free speech in the line. | ||
| There is no line in free speech. | ||
| I mean, free speech is just what it is. | ||
| American people are allowed to express their opinions, good or bad. | ||
| Now, let's be realistic. | ||
| When Trump comes out there and talk about hating Democrats and calling people scum and all this kind of stuff, nothing is said. | ||
| Nothing is even thought of. | ||
| You understand? | ||
| But him in his soft-skinned attitude, when people start joking about him, now he wants to free speech down. | ||
| It doesn't work like that. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Horace, they're in Philadelphia, Democratic caller. | ||
| Another topic to put on the table this morning is the Epstein files. | ||
| And here's a headline from USA Today. | ||
| Epstein files take center stage in FBI Director Kash Patel's congressional testimony. | ||
| The FBI director was on Capitol Hill twice this week in oversight hearings on the House and the Senate side. | ||
| C-SPAN cameras were there for his testimony when he sat there in front of lawmakers for hours, fielding their questions on the Epstein files, as well as Charlie Kirk and other investigations by the FBI. | ||
| In case you missed his testimony, you can go to our website, c-span.org, and you'll find it there. | ||
| Ricardo in Fort Worth, Texas, an independent. | ||
| Hi, Ricardo. | ||
| Ricardo in Fort Worth, Texas, an independent. | ||
| You are up. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Miss Martin. | |
| Yes, good morning. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi there. | |
| Wow, this is a crazy time in America. | ||
| Open forum on national television. | ||
| I know freedom of speech is very important, but we got to be careful. | ||
| We got to be careful, America, because speech has consequences. | ||
| And honestly, I weep for America because this is a very, very sad time to be an American. | ||
| Because right now we have a very, very, like, I don't know, a grotesque display of power coming from our centralized government, you know, from a guy that stood on the pulpit and promised to his constituents that he was going to get rid of the federal oversight. | ||
| And now he's doing the exact opposite. | ||
| It's just insane. | ||
| And I am just a dude in Texas on national television speaking to the world about this through your platform. | ||
| This is nuts. | ||
| I am an independent. | ||
| If I were to just get my time, which I got right now on TV, I would tell America to stop relying on the hands that hold you up, to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and stand tall, because Americans need to be independent. | ||
| They need to unionize. | ||
| They need to stand together. | ||
| We have too much division from this hate speech, from this freedom of speech that we got coming on. | ||
| We have too much division being preached from the pulpit, from the political stand, from just in the break room. | ||
| I'm supposed to be at work today, and my coworker did not pick me up today because I'm getting arrived from them because I wrecked my vehicle. | ||
| I am, you know, not necessarily struggling, but I am in a very, very like, I would say, I just turned 35 on Sunday. | ||
| I am in a very, very weird moment in time where I'm in like a midlife crisis, but it seems like everyone's in crisis right now, and I don't know what to grab. | ||
| So I am just staying home, and I'm just going to hang out with my family. | ||
| Like the lady said earlier, we need to be able to talk about these things at the table. | ||
| We can't have discussions at the table. | ||
| If you can't sit across from your brother, your blood brother, and talk to him about what's going on with Charlie Kirk, this guy that doesn't deserve any more time on the air, I pray for him. | ||
| I really do. | ||
| I am a Catholic man. | ||
| I pray for him. | ||
| But we got to stop holding these topics that are just detrimental to the mental health crisis of America. | ||
| All right, Micardo. | ||
| Happening on Capitol Hill today from the Hill newspaper, Democratic leaders will support a resolution honoring Charlie Kirk. | ||
| This is from the Hills Reporting. | ||
| House Democratic leaders will vote in favor of a GOP resolution condemning political violence and celebrating Charlie Kirk in the wake of last week's fatal shooting of the conservative activists in Utah. | ||
| A measure is expected to hit the floor today. | ||
| In a closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement Thursday morning, top leaders informed rank-and-file lawmakers they will support the resolution, though they will not push other members to do the same. | ||
| Also, on Sunday, there will be a memorial service in Glendale, Arizona for the late Charlie Kirk. | ||
| And we will have live coverage of that on Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern. | ||
| President Trump expected to speak there. | ||
| And you can also watch on our free video mobile app if you're out and about on C-SPAN now. | ||
| Just download that. | ||
| Or you can find our coverage online on demand at c-span.org. | ||
| There's also this news in the Washington Post this morning to share with you. | ||
| Turning Point USA, the group founded by Charlie Kirk, has appointed his widow, Erica Kirk, as his successor. | ||
| This from the Washington Post this morning. | ||
| Chuck in Charleston, West Virginia, Democratic caller. | ||
| Chuck, we're in open forum. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning, Greta. | |
| It's been a few months since I last called in. | ||
| I'd like to start off with something that I saw posted on social media. | ||
| And the quote is, hate speech does not exist legally in America. | ||
| There's ugly speech, there's gross speech, there's evil speech, and all of it is protected by the First Amendment, keep America free. | ||
| Do you know who wrote that? | ||
| Why don't you go ahead and tell us? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Charlie Kirk wrote that. | |
| That's what he said. | ||
| And now, as, you know, as horrible as his murder was, you know, now people are getting fired from their jobs. | ||
| They're being removed from the airwaves. | ||
| It started, let's see, Stephen Colbert has been very critical of Donald Trump. | ||
| And thanks to pressure from the Trump administration, his show is going to be ending. | ||
| Jimmy Kimnell was suspended on ABC's program, The View, yesterday. | ||
| The Jimmy Kimmel story was probably the number one story in the United States, but none of the women on The View even mentioned it. | ||
| And I think it's because of pressure from the higher-ups and the Trump administration. | ||
| And it's a really horrifying time to be, you know, living in the United States because people are being intimidated. | ||
| People are losing their jobs simply for saying, for instance, in defending the Second Amendment, Charlie Kirk says, I think it's worth it to have the cost of unfortunately some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our God-given rights. | ||
| And when people quoted Charlie Kirk on the Second Amendment, they lost their jobs. | ||
| Now, it's getting to a point where I think a lot of people who might otherwise have no problem writing a letter to the editor in their local newspaper are probably thinking twice about it. | ||
| Because, for instance, if I write a letter to the editor and I express criticism of Donald Trump for his environmental policy and the war in Gaza and the genocide in Gaza, and then the next day my boss calls me up and says, you don't have to come to work anymore. | ||
| And I say, why? | ||
| And the boss says, well, the FBI got in touch with me and they think that your letter, the opinions that you expressed in your letter are incitement to violence and it's improper ideology. | ||
| And we just don't think he needs to be working for you anymore. | ||
| This is what we're getting towards. | ||
| I mean, there's this strategy of intimidation going on from the Trump administration to suppress any expression of opposition to Donald Trump. | ||
| And all I can say is, all you people who voted for him, you wanted a dictator, you surely got one now. | ||
| All right, Chuck. | ||
| Well, opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal this morning, the FCC, Disney, and Jimmy Kimmel. | ||
| And they write this, we want to be clear that none of this justifies the rights resort to regulatory censorship. | ||
| As victims of cancel culture for so long, conservatives more than anyone should oppose it. | ||
| They will surely be the targets again when the left returns to power. | ||
| That's why these columns have urged Mr. Carr at the FCC and Congress to pursue deregulation of the airwaves. | ||
| The agency's power over broadcast networks is an artifact of the era when there were only three networks and they ceased broadcasting each night. | ||
| And they broadcasting each night. | ||
| The FCC doesn't regulate cable TV or the internet, though many Democrats argued for both when they controlled Washington. | ||
| Imagine what the Carr FCC would do, would now be doing had the left succeeded. | ||
| All of you can weigh in on that argument as well. | ||
| Should there be deregulation of the airwaves given that cable and the internet are not regulated? | ||
| That's the argument from Wall Street Journal this morning, the opinion pages, editorial. | ||
| Mark in New York, Republican. | ||
| We'll go to you next, Mark. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks. | |
| I'm going to talk about two different things. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| First, I called saying that the COVID vaccine wasn't a vaccine. | ||
| I called like a long time ago, years ago. | ||
| Now, later, somebody that I knew died two weeks afterward. | ||
| Now, I thought common sense, we can't cure a common cold, right? | ||
| So they cannot isolate a flu virus to teach the body to fight it. | ||
| That's what a vaccine does. | ||
| Now we have fake news and politically correct. | ||
| That's how Trump started in the beginning, right? | ||
| Now, a perfect example that he was right was because somebody still thinks, really thinks Trump said drink bleach. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's from Saturday Night Live. | |
| So someone actually believes that. | ||
| That's fake news. | ||
| Fake news that the president said that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Of course he didn't say that. | |
| He was referring to when he was talking to those doctors and scientists around him. | ||
| and something experimental that whereas they can put something into the body or the lungs, some type of chemical that he referred to. | ||
| That's why there's no, as AJ would say, that's why there's no clip of him saying that. | ||
| People getting their news from SNL. | ||
| Did you watch him in the briefing room during COVID? | ||
| Are you referring to those comments? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, no, no. | |
| I'm a Trump, a Trump, what you call that, when you're like a cultist? | ||
| Yeah, I'm that. | ||
| So I know everything he said. | ||
| You cannot tell me nothing. | ||
| Mark, go to our website. | ||
| Go to our website. | ||
| Go to our video library, c-span.org. | ||
| Put in the first Trump administration, put in some key words there in the search engine, and listen to what he had to say in his own words when he was in the briefing room at the White House on that day when everybody point people point to what he had to say about bleach and COVID-19. | ||
| Just listen for yourself. | ||
| We'll go to Vic, who's in Tuckerton, New Jersey, Democratic Caller. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I just have a comment to make about Mr. Kimmel and why he was removed from his job. | |
| It wasn't what he said about Charlie Kirk being left-wing or right-wing and MAGA. | ||
| It's what he said next about the unnatural, bizarre reaction the present occupant of the White House had when he was asked how he was doing after Mr. Kirk's horrible assassination. | ||
| This is not normal. | ||
| That's what upset the present occupant of the White House, not the comments about being right-wing. | ||
| It's a canard. | ||
| The president has gossamer skin. | ||
| And also, look what happened in Brazil. | ||
| Brazil voted to convict their coup d'état leader, Bolsaramo. | ||
| That's a democracy. | ||
| I'm an American patriot and a cold warrior, and I hope our country pulls through this. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right, Vic in New Jersey, Democratic caller. | ||
| Another headline to share with you, and this is from Newsweek. | ||
| Republicans propose National Charlie Kirk Day. | ||
| Here is Florida Republican Rick Scott introducing a resolution on the Senate floor that would establish a day of remembrance to honor the life and legacy of Mr. Kirk. | ||
| Charlie will long be remembered for his love of God, his family, and this great nation, and the impact he had on each and every one of us. | ||
| We have the opportunity to carry on his memory by believing in the power of ideas, discussion, and the value of our nation. | ||
| As we mourn this massive loss, let us gather together in our communities and pray for his family and our nation. | ||
| And let us honor Charlie by believing in the power of our ideas to win the day and leave this nation a better place. | ||
| I'm proud to have the support of more than 20 of my colleagues to honor Charlie by dedicating his birthday, October 14, 2025, as National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk. | ||
| I want to thank my Senate colleagues for uniting together to honor a great American patriot, leader, and friend. | ||
| Charlie will be remembered for the profound impact he had on our lives as our nation. | ||
| October 14th, we will gather together as a nation and pay tribute to his great life. | ||
| Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, there introducing a resolution on the Senate floor to honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. | ||
| Part of our C-SPAN 2 coverage, gavel the gavel, of course, and you can always tune in on C-SPAN 2 for the Senate floor. | ||
| Also, C-SPAN yesterday covered the Center for American Progress conversation that they had with California Senator Adam Schiff. | ||
| And in his remarks, he listed a number of grievances against President Trump. | ||
| Take a listen. | ||
| As we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence from a king, we are finding ourselves facing a man who would be king. | ||
| The framers understood that danger well, which is why they set down in the Declaration of Independence their long list of grievances against their British masters. | ||
| These grievances are not nearly as familiar as the preamble of the Declaration with all its poetic recitation of truths that are self-evident. | ||
| So let me list a few. | ||
| He has obstructed the administration of justice. | ||
| Our founders grieved. | ||
| Made judges dependent on his will alone. | ||
| Cut off trade with all parts of the world. | ||
| Deprived us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury. | ||
| Transported us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses. | ||
| Kept among us in times of peace, standing armies. | ||
| If those grievances of our founders sound familiar, they should, because the man who would rule America today has done all that and more. | ||
| He has weaponized the Department of Justice to go after political opponents raiding their homes and combing through their mortgage applications. | ||
| He has extorted media and law firms whose work he abhors, launching the most blatant attacks against the free press in American history, and leaving us to wonder what will be left of the First Amendment when he's done. | ||
| He has usurped the power of Congress with unilateral tariffs, rescissions, and the illegal impoundment of funding already appropriated. | ||
| He has declared war on Democratic-run cities, sending in the National Guard over the vehement objections of local officials. | ||
| He has targeted whole groups of Americans to fuel his nativist grievances, immigrants, Muslims, the LGBTQ community, women deprived of reproductive freedom. | ||
| He has emboldened and elevated white nationalists and anti-Semites and weaponized the fight against anti-Semitism to advance his own agenda. | ||
| He has monetized the presidency to pocket billions accepting a Qatari palace in the sky while the American people struggled to pay their rent here on solid ground. | ||
| He has established a protection racket for American businesses. | ||
| The cost to avoid his regime's interference, censorship, equity stakes, a percentage fee to Trump's treasury, or a personal payment to the president himself. | ||
| Senator Adam Schiff, at the event in Washington yesterday at the Progressive Group's event that they held here, and if you missed our coverage, you can go to c-span.org to see more, the Center for American Progress hosting that conversation. | ||
| Gene in Park Ridge, Illinois, Republican. | ||
| Gene, we're an open forum. | ||
| What's on your mind? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for taking my call. | |
| I'd like to make a few points. | ||
| Number one, law enforcement. | ||
| I'm 23 years retired lieutenant, and I'm sick and I'm tired of seeing these law enforcement officers being murdered on our streets. | ||
| Number one, we need to support the federal officers that are going after these border jumpers that are committing crimes against persons. | ||
| Number two, we need to understand that the UCR uniform crime reporting system is being manipulated in a lot of these sanctuary cities. | ||
| Just ask our own governor. | ||
| Lastly, before I hang up, it's POW National POW MIA Day. | ||
| There are over 80,000 Americans that are still missing in action. | ||
| Let's remember them today. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right, Gene, related to what you had to say, Washington Post front page, 300 new offices for surge by ICE. | ||
| The Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking new office spaces in hundreds of locations across the United States to support plans to hire thousands of lawyers and immigration enforcement officers. | ||
| This, according to federal officials familiar with the plans, the office spaces are being sought on ICE's behalf by the General Services Administration, the agency responsible for managing federal real estate. | ||
| In recent weeks, high-level staffers with ICE approached the GSA and said the government needed to secure roughly 300 office sites nationwide as fast as possible in a bid to house more than 10,000 new employees. | ||
| The official said the records show. | ||
| So that's the front page of the Washington Post. | ||
| Also, front page of the Washington Post, it's a story that's in other newspapers this morning as well. | ||
| The CDC vaccine advisory panel held their meetings this week. | ||
| This panel, as many of you know, the Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. removed members of that committee and put people that agree with him on it. | ||
| The panel got together this week. | ||
| The federal vaccine advisors voted Thursday to roll back a childhood vaccine recommendation marking the first change to the routine immunization schedule under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, who is helming a broad review of vaccines he has maligned for years. | ||
| In an 8-3 vote with one member abstaining, the 12-member advisory committee on immunization practices, handpicked by Kennedy, recommended skipping a combination measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox vaccine given to about 15% of children until a child is at least four. | ||
| More from the Washington Post and other newspapers this morning on that story. | ||
| Don in Floyd, Virginia, an Independent. | ||
| Don, open forum this morning. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, good morning. | |
| And I really enjoy watching y'all's show every day. | ||
| I agree with that last caller 100% that the reason Trump got so mad about the whole deal was because, you know, he said, oh, I'm doing great. | ||
| And let's talk about the beautiful ballroom we're building. | ||
| That just shows how totally calloused he is. | ||
| And that's what really tore him up, you know. | ||
| And I'd like to make a suggestion that everybody make an attempt to get in touch with the FCC and give them an airload because I served in the military and this country is based on the Declaration of Independence. | ||
| We have the right to freedom of speech. | ||
| I don't agree with taking it away at all. | ||
| And I don't see where Jimmy Kimmel said anything wrong. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Don there in Floyd, Virginia, an independent. | ||
| We're going to continue taking your calls here on the Washington Journal up until the top of the hour at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. | ||
| We're going to throw to the House of Representatives because they are going to be gaveling in today to take up that continuing resolution along with other legislation. | ||
| And so we will bring you our coverage then. | ||
| In the meantime, though, we'll take a break when we come back. | ||
| We're going to be joined by Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, who is a Democrat of Virginia, sits on the Oversight and Accountability Committee and also on Science, Space, and Technology. | ||
| We'll talk to him about this spending measure in other news of the day. | ||
| Stay with us. | ||
| We'll be right back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story. | |
| This weekend, as America celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2026, join American History TV for its new series, America 250, and discover the ideas and defining moments of our founding. | ||
| This week at 8 a.m. Eastern, on Lectures and History, William and Mary Bray School Lab Director Maureen Elgersman Lee discusses the history of the 18th century Williamsburg Bray School for Black Children and the legacies of the 300 to 400 scholars it enrolled. | ||
| Then at 11 p.m. Eastern, hear how archaeologists in western Pennsylvania uncovered artifacts at the site of a 1758 friendly fire mishap where a Virginia regiment led by Colonel George Washington mistakenly clashed with fellow British troops during the French and Indian War. | ||
| Also at 2.45 p.m. Eastern, watch the Harlem Hellfighters Gold Medal Ceremony honoring a majority African-American infantry regiment known for their service in World War I. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries were among the attendees. | ||
| And at 5:30 p.m. Eastern, this year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations. | ||
| American History TV features speeches by presidents, world leaders, and activists from the United Nations, beginning with President Dwight Eisenhower's 1953 speech on the dangers of atomic weapons through Volodymyr Zelensky's address in 2023 asking for aid in their fight with Russia. | ||
| Exploring the American story, watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/slash history. | ||
| Sunday night on C-SPAN's Q&A. | ||
| White House trade advisor Peter Navarro went to prison in 2024, convicted of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the January 6th Committee after being found guilty on two counts. | ||
| In his new book, I Went to Prison So You Won't Have To, Peter Navarro lays out the Justice Department's case, his arrest and trial, and what it was like for him behind bars. | ||
| People think you're in a dorm rather than a cell? | ||
| It's like everybody told me there that they'd rather be in a cell because you only have to worry about one other guy. | ||
| You know, there's a thing called the lock, lock in the sock, right? | ||
| You take a padlock, you throw it in the sock, and a lot of rough justice goes on like that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
White House Trade Advisor and author Peter Navarro, Sunday night at 8 Eastern on C-SPAN's QA. | |
| You can listen to Q&A wherever you get your podcasts and on the C-SPAN Now app. | ||
| If you ever miss any of C-SPAN's coverage, you can find it anytime online at cspan.org. | ||
| Videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. | ||
| These points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. | ||
| This timeline tool makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in Washington. | ||
| Scroll through and spend a few minutes on C-SPAN's points of interest. | ||
| Washington Journal continues. | ||
| Joining us from Capitol Hill this morning is Congressman Suha Subramanyam, who is a Democrat of Virginia, serves on the Oversight and Accountability Committee here to talk about the stopgap measure. | ||
| Congressman, the vote will happen today on the GOP plan to keep the government open until November 21st. | ||
| How will you vote? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm going to be voting no, and I think there's a lot of reasons for that, but mainly, you know, they've been continually cutting both the government workers in my district to their jobs as well as funding to critical research and critical programs. | |
| And they have not done anything to restore the cuts they've made to health care or restore the fact that we may be losing the ACA tax credits. | ||
| That means doubling or tripling people's premiums. | ||
| And so, you know, this is a dirty CR, and I'm not going to vote for it. | ||
| There is reports that GOP and the White House are quietly connecting with some swing district House Democrats in hopes that they can get them to vote for this. | ||
| What is your message to your colleagues? | ||
| My message to their colleagues, to my colleagues, is just the vote however you feel is best. | ||
| It's pretty clear in my district and in Virginia that the Republican policies have been a complete failure. | ||
| Not only are they firing people left and right who did nothing wrong and who are actually very critical to our country's running, but they've taken away Medicaid benefits and hospitals are starting to shut down and clinics are starting to shut down. | ||
| And so people in rural areas, people in even urban areas are starting to see less access to care and more expensive care as a result. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And if they don't continue to, if they continue to do this, it's going to be a disaster for Virginia. | |
| So it's a pretty easy no vote for me. | ||
| I think much of the Virginia delegation. | ||
| What would you like to see instead? | ||
| What is the alternate plan from Democrats? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, I'll say this. | |
| The Republicans have not made any effort to come to us. | ||
| They've not made any effort to look at how they can address what could be a looming health care crisis. | ||
| They have not done anything to address the fact that these cuts and these firings in the federal government have meant that many critical services to the American people have been decimated. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And so I'd like to see them address those things in a meaningful way. | |
| But they haven't made any effort. | ||
| And so it's really hard for me to sit back and vote yes on something that's really bad for the American people and causing a lot of pain. | ||
| Senate Democrats have put forward a proposal that they would like to see on the floor and they want the Republicans to negotiate with them to get their votes over in the upper chamber. | ||
| The New York Times notes this morning that their proposal would add well over $1 trillion for Medicaid and other health care programs to the stopgap spending. | ||
| Are you comfortable with that price tag? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Let's be clear. | |
| The Republicans over the summer with the big ugly bill cut a trillion dollars in health care alone from people and gave that to the wealthiest corporations and individuals who many of whom didn't even ask for it really. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And so what they're trying to do in the Senate, it seems, I haven't looked into the details of the proposal, but what we're trying to do is basically restore that injustice that happened over the summer. | |
| And it's been deeply unpopular all across Virginia and I think all across the country as well. | ||
| And so I think what they're trying to do is right a wrong. | ||
| And so I'm glad that they put forward a proposal as well. | ||
| I mean, I've been very clear and very simple. | ||
| You restore health care to the American people, the cuts that you made, that you gave to the largest corporations, and then do something to stop the firings and freezes that are happening in our federal workforce, especially in Northern Virginia. | ||
| How comfortable are you, or do you have any concerns, with a shutdown actually occurring if no agreement can be made between the two sides? | ||
| Are you concerned your party will be blamed for it? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't care about the politics. | |
| What I do care about is the pain that it will cause to my constituents because many of them work in the federal government. | ||
| Many of them may be furloughed. | ||
| I'll say this, though. | ||
| I've had several town halls now where federal workers have come to me and said, shut down the government. | ||
| Use your leverage because what's happening right now is they're already shutting down the government in a different and more dangerous way. | ||
| And so use your leverage when you do have it. | ||
| And so that's what I plan on doing: I plan on listening to my constituents who have told me to use my leverage and shut it down if I have to. | ||
| The Washington Times headline this morning: House members' monthly spending allotment for security temporarily doubled. | ||
| That's included in this GOP plan to keep the government open. | ||
| 30 million additional dollars for security for you and your colleagues. | ||
| Is it necessary? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, unfortunately, it's becoming more and more necessary. | |
| And it's not for me and my colleagues. | ||
| It's for the safety of everyone that attends all of our events. | ||
| It's for the safety of the people around us. | ||
| It's for the safety of our communities and our families. | ||
| You know, the other day, I had security for the first time ever since being in elected politics. | ||
| And the people at the events I was attending thanked me for having security because otherwise they would have felt less safe that I was there. | ||
| You know, the hallmark, the bedrock of our democracy is making sure we can protect our free speech as well as protect those who want to step up and get elected, no matter what they say. | ||
| And if people can't access their elected officials and if their elected officials feel silenced or threatened in any way, then that is a deep cut to our democracy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And so I want to continue to make sure people feel safe in my office. | |
| We had a threat to my office, for instance, a couple weeks ago, and I filed a protective order against the individual. | ||
| We're taking all threats seriously, but we need to keep our public spaces safe, and certainly I want to keep my office safe and my events safe. | ||
| Congressman Subramaniam here to take your questions or your comments this morning. | ||
| We invite you to join us. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| If you don't want to call, you can text as well at 202-748-8003. | ||
| Congressman, we'll go to our first call, Donna in St. Louis, Missouri, Independent. | ||
| Hi there, Donna. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| You know, the Republicans gave billions in tax cuts. | ||
| Nobody's mentioned this this morning to the richest people in this country, and they want to cut health care by billions to the working poor. | ||
| That's mainly who's on this ACA. | ||
| I think it's immoral. | ||
| The Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever. | ||
| I mean, even our Republican Senator, Josh Cawley, said he would not cut its spending, and then he voted to cut it. | ||
| I'm hoping he changes his vote this time because people just hoping Missourians aren't paying attention, but we are. | ||
| He lied about voting for it, and then he voted to cut the money. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Donna, let's take that because Congressman, she said that she thinks people, or maybe the senator, thinks people aren't paying attention. | ||
| We read a poll from KFF last week that found that a large amount of Americans aren't aware that these subsidies are going to expire. | ||
|
unidentified
|
They will be when they see their health care premiums double and triple in January. | |
| So we are working on that. | ||
| Let's be clear: Republicans have complete control of government right now. | ||
| Even the Supreme Court is a Republican majority at this point. | ||
| And so what they're doing is instead of restoring health care cuts, instead of shoring up the rural hospitals that are being devastated right now and potentially closing, they're continuing to give those tax cuts to the very wealthiest corporations that didn't ask for it. | ||
| They're continuing to fund programs like Doge instead. | ||
| And so I have a lot of trouble voting for a CR like this that does not reflect what's best for our country. | ||
| Kathy in Keeldeville Hills, North Carolina, Independent. | ||
| Kathy, welcome to the conversation. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I just want to say that having listened to the great courses, there is a course called The Wisdom of History by J. Rufus Spears. | ||
| And he prefaces a lot of important points on history. | ||
| But the one I'm calling about is speech. | ||
| And if you have something to say, it should be without harm. | ||
| Don't just do no harm when you speak. | ||
| Let's take that point. | ||
| Congressman. | ||
| First, you know, I'm very concerned by what's happened when it comes to free speech, with what happened to Jimmy Kimmel and the silencing of others as well. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think if you're only protecting free speech for people you agree with, then you're not protecting free speech at all. | |
| What we have to do is understand that we should have a peaceful discourse, but a discourse where we can disagree. | ||
| But I don't agree with what's going on with the FCC. | ||
| And I've actually, we moved to subpoena Brendan Carr and the FCC yesterday in committee. | ||
| And we're going to continue to put pressure on the Oversight Committee chair and majority to make them answer questions about why they are so selective when it comes to free speech. | ||
| In the past, this FCC and this chairman especially has actually called out attacks on free speech, but now he seems like he's changed his tune because apparently this president does not want to protect free speech to those who disagree with him. | ||
| What role should the FCC play in regulating TV airwaves? | ||
| And where do you think he crossed the line? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't think Jimmy Kimmel crossed the line. | |
| What I think though is that the FCC should look at violent speech and insightful speech that could potentially, you know, let's follow the First Amendment. | ||
| We have court cases that go back many decades. | ||
| But what I don't think we should be doing is, you know, if a comedian makes a joke, you know, maybe not a good one, right? | ||
| I don't necessarily, I wouldn't have said the same things that he said. | ||
| But at the same time, if a comedian wants to make a joke, he should be able to make a joke. | ||
| And if he needs to apologize later on, we have, that's what we've been doing in the past. | ||
| But what we shouldn't be doing is completely censoring and taking off air anyone who disagrees with the president, which the president has been using the agencies and weaponizing them against those who disagree with them. | ||
| And not just in this context, but all across industries right now. | ||
| And it's really concerning. | ||
| The Hill reports that House Democratic leaders will vote in favor of a GOP resolution today condemning political violence and celebrating Charlie Kirk. | ||
| But they will not push other members to do the same. | ||
| How will you vote? | ||
| I'm probably going to vote yes because while I don't agree with what Charlie Kirk had to say and I don't even agree with some of the texts in the resolution, I don't think Charlie Kirk deserved to die. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And if Republicans want to memorialize him, I think sometimes we should come together in these really tense moments. | |
| That's what I've been saying. | ||
| Rather than playing the blame game or opening up more sort of elevated rhetoric, let's try to come together. | ||
| I think that's what leadership is trying to do. | ||
| And I think I support that. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| We'll go to John, Long Beach, California, Republican. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, Republican. | |
| Yeah, here. | ||
| So, Congressman, thank you for taking my call. | ||
| So, when you talk about free speech, did you think it was okay when David Harbor said that your party should go out and punch people in the face and that Joe Biden should take Donald Trump in the back of the gym and beat his ass, basically? | ||
| Do you think that kind of rhetoric maybe escalated your party or some of your outliers maybe to act or think the way they do? | ||
| I don't know the context of where and how he said that. | ||
| I don't know if he was joking. | ||
| I don't know. | ||
| I mean, it doesn't sound funny to me, and I don't like that kind of rhetoric. | ||
| And it's not the kind of rhetoric I use. | ||
| But again, I'll say that, yes, you know, we want to tone down the rhetoric generally. | ||
| And I think we have to look at the fact that our words mean something. | ||
| Again, when we got threats to our office about bringing a firearm to our office, we took them very seriously, right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And so you have to make sure that we watch sort of the rhetoric that's happening. | |
| You know, a commentator over the weekend said that we should essentially euthanize homeless people. | ||
| But we've had two attacks on homeless encampments in the past week since those comments were made. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And so we have to very much watch what we're saying, and so should political commentators. | |
| But at the same time, we have to protect free speech as well. | ||
| So we have to find that right balance. | ||
| We've been doing it for the past 200 years. | ||
| It seems like things are shifting lately since this administration took office towards a bias against anyone who opposes the president, though, and that's what concerns me. | ||
| We'll go to Evergreen, Alabama. | ||
| Shirley, Democratic Color. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning, sir. | |
| And thank you so much for taking my call. | ||
| I called about free speech. | ||
| I'm a black female, 76 years old, and every day of my natural life, I have been called names, treated inappropriately, and I just smile, and I keep going. | ||
| And if everybody will think about what they're doing, this man is the cause of all this that's happening. | ||
| I'm just so afraid that the regular comedians, which I dearly love with some of the stuff they say, they're going to start going in the bars and the breweries and all these other places and taking these people out and arresting them for freedom of speech because they do make some horrible jokes sometimes and it comes from everybody. | ||
| And I just wish people would stop calling me and saying the left and the right, the left and the right. | ||
| That's not where we are. | ||
| We are past that. | ||
| And I have one question for you, sir. | ||
| Does this man own the FCC please explain to me how he can do this to Jimmy Kimmel and him and the president can laugh and make jokes about what they've done? | ||
| Yeah, hang on the line. | ||
| We'll listen to the congressman, but just to note that it was Disney's decision to suspend him indefinitely. | ||
| Go ahead, Congressman. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It was Disney's decision, but the FCC and the president put enormous pressure on Disney to do that. | |
| So let's be clear, the president is trying to use agencies, and the FCC is an independent agency at that, right? | ||
| But he's trying to use these agencies and government to basically stymie free speech in a lot of ways, but generally attack anyone who attacks him, right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And what he wants is to create fear so that anyone who speaks out against him will think twice, right? | |
| That's what he really wants. | ||
| And so, you know, I'm not going to be afraid of it. | ||
| I'm going to continue to speak out. | ||
| I know many in my community are angry and want to do the same. | ||
| But I have heard from people who are in companies or in different industries who are really concerned. | ||
| Federal workers, for instance, are going through their social media for the past five years, seeing if they said anything that was against Trump and then firing them because of that, right? | ||
| And so there's certainly a huge issue right now. | ||
| So let's not ignore it. | ||
| Let's not say that nothing is, that this is ordinary because these are not ordinary times. | ||
| And what this president, this administration is doing is not normal or not ordinary and certainly not American, in my opinion. | ||
| We'll go to Mike, Rockford, Illinois, Independent. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Congressman. | |
| It's an honor. | ||
| The president was in England yesterday. | ||
| They were talking with the Prime Minister. | ||
| The Prime Minister mentioned about Boeing, BlackRock, and other corporations, Microsoft moving over 15,000 high-paying, high-tech jobs to England from the U.S. At the same time, he's asking other companies to move here with their own employees, build companies here and bring their own employees. | ||
| I'm wondering if we're witnessing sabotage the states, the citizens, and corporations by our own White House being, they flew illegals all over the country dead of night, then they shove ice down our throats, bulled with two S's. | ||
| Now they're passing laws for lethal injection. | ||
| We want to talk about the tariff and everything else on everybody else's back. | ||
| What can we do to push back, and what can you guys do to help us Americans, corporations, and states? | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I think the gentleman was asking what we can do to push back against the administration on some of the things it's doing. | ||
| You know, I've talked about this with many folks. | ||
| You know, certainly in Congress, we're doing everything we can. | ||
| For instance, when there's a moment where we can talk about things that are good for the American people, like this discussion on the CR today, we will bring up things like health care and health care access. | ||
| But I'll say that a lot of power still lies with the people. | ||
| If people speak up and do not feel silenced, if people go out and share their opinion with their members of Congress, our elected leaders, and if they come out and vote, in Virginia, we have elections this November. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Early voting starts today, actually, in Virginia. | |
| So if they come out and they make their voice heard, I think that's the groundswell, the shift that happens that moves elected leaders into different directions. | ||
| We've seen it with some of these special elections where things have been moving 10 points away from the Republican Party. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And a lot of it is in response to the administration's positions. | |
| And that's so, you know, people should continue to speak out, and I will certainly give them a voice. | ||
| We'll hear from Jill next, who's in Columbus, Ohio. | ||
| Democratic caller. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, thank you for letting me call our speak. | |
| Now, the reason I'm calling is there was a New York Times article that ran on Monday that President Trump and his envoy, the WICBOP, made a deal with the UAE to have them gain access to our AI chip in exchange for them getting $2 billion. | ||
| I mean, them personally receiving $2 billion. | ||
| And I'm worried because UAE has actually, they've actually worked with China on military exercises. | ||
| I'm worried that they can develop AI-enhanced weapons used against their own American soldiers. | ||
| It just concerns me that our own president is selling our national security for his own personal gain. | ||
| Are you in Congress going to investigate this? | ||
| Yeah, absolutely. | ||
| It's a huge concern. | ||
| It's not just this. | ||
| The Trump family has enriched themselves using the office of the president. | ||
| And it has over and over again become more and more corrupt and has sold our foreign policy in so many instances. | ||
| And they're doing it in plain sight. | ||
| They're not even trying to hide it anymore. | ||
| And that's deeply concerning to me. | ||
| I mean, look at the cutter plane as well, right? | ||
| There's so many instances now or some of the Trump crypto schemes that are happening. | ||
| They're essentially selling our foreign policy and selling out our country. | ||
| And so it's deeply concerning to me. | ||
| And we have to speak out about it. | ||
| And I don't think it's talked about enough, to be honest. | ||
| But certainly we have to make sure that the American people know what's happening and know that we do have recourse. | ||
|
unidentified
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And it starts in Virginia today through November when people can come out and make their voice heard. | |
| We'll go to Barbara, who's in Georgia. | ||
| Republican. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning. | |
| You earlier said that Trump told people to take bleach and go to the library, go to your C-SPAN library and check the thing. | ||
| So I did. | ||
| And it comes up, and William Bryant is talking. | ||
| He's the acting homeland situation. | ||
| He was the acting homeland secretary for science and technology. | ||
| And he's talking about bleach and I support alcohol killing the virus. | ||
| Trump does not use the word bleach at all. | ||
| He is asking about light and disinfectant treatments helping with the virus. | ||
| And he is asking the two people that are sitting there on the side. | ||
| One of them is Bryant, and then there's a lady sitting there. | ||
| But he doesn't tell people to drink bleach. | ||
| I wish you guys would quit pushing that narrative because it's not true. | ||
| Barbara, I was referencing that that's what people point to, that event at the White House when they talk about the president saying those words. | ||
| And I was encouraging people to go view it for themselves and hear the president in his own words. | ||
| Not saying he said it one way or the other, just saying that's what people point to. | ||
| I'm going to go to Charlie, who's in Bulling Green, Kentucky, and Independent. | ||
| Hi, Charlie. | ||
|
unidentified
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Hi. | |
| Thank you so much for taking my call. | ||
| So I'm mainly concerned about policy. | ||
|
unidentified
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And I noticed the other day H.R. 5125 was voted on. | |
| Are you familiar with this? | ||
| We have a lot of bills. | ||
| Could you remind me which one that was about? | ||
| Right, fair enough. | ||
| So this is the district, this is the D.C. Judicial Nominations Reform Act, essentially making it to where instead of the chief judges being nominated and voted on, they are simply like the president selects them. | ||
| And I did notice you voted nay, but I just have a growing concern that we're shoring up power into people such as the president. | ||
| And I'm not pro-Trump. | ||
| I'm not against it either. | ||
| I just have a problem with power being centralized like that. | ||
| Is there anything that these parties, both DEMS and Republicans, can agree on that we don't need to move in this direction? | ||
| Yeah, I agree. | ||
| And it's not just Republicans. | ||
| It's been Democratic administrations have also greatly expanded the power of the executive. | ||
| And I think more power should be put in Congress and the states as well. | ||
| I'm deeply concerned about the fact that one man, one president, one woman can actually do things like this for D.C. and really create these executive orders that infringe upon the powers afforded to Congress. | ||
| And so I want to see Congress take a more major role. | ||
| One of the things I'd like to see this Congress do is retain and get back its power of the purse because the president is using Congress allocated money in so many different ways that were not agreed to by Congress. | ||
|
unidentified
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So I have a lot of concerns about that. | |
| You make a really good point and it's going to take both parties coming together. | ||
| I think one of the reasons why these executive orders have happened and more executive branch power has been collected over the years is because Congress has not done enough. | ||
|
unidentified
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People see Congress now as an obstructionist body that's not passing enough bills and or not doing enough for the American people. | |
| And so they are okay with the president taking unilateral control over an agency or power and just doing something unilaterally. | ||
| And so I think there needs to be more things happening in Congress. | ||
| We need to work together to pass more legislation, solve more problems. | ||
| Otherwise, the power of the executive will continue to increase. | ||
| And I don't think that's good for the American people. | ||
| Congressman, before we let you go, you had mentioned earlier that the Oversight Committee took action yesterday to subpoena the FCC Brendan Carr. | ||
| What should the viewers be looking for on the committee level? | ||
| What comes next? | ||
|
unidentified
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A couple of things. | |
| First, I'll say this. | ||
| Even though Republicans voted it down, Democrats brought the motion on the committee. | ||
| The chairman, James Comer, did say that he knows Brendan Carr and knows folks at the FCC and would work with them to try to bring them in front of our committee. | ||
|
unidentified
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And so, you know, we're going to hold him to that promise, certainly. | |
| And we're going to continue to push to have a hearing on free speech on the Oversight Committee. | ||
|
unidentified
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We're also on the Oversight Committee interviewing Alex Acosta today. | |
| He was the prosecutor who gave Jeffrey Epstein that sweetheart deal. | ||
| I really want to know how Alex Acosta cut that sweetheart deal while Trump and Epstein were close buddies. | ||
|
unidentified
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And then, you know, not too long later, he's the Secretary of Labor under Trump's administration. | |
| And so there's a lot of questions I have for him as well as why he would do that. | ||
|
unidentified
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And justice, the victims had a lot of questions as well. | |
| And so we're going to be continuing to probe. | ||
| And ultimately, this all can come to a head if we can just get the Epstein files release unredacted. | ||
| But so far, that doesn't happen, despite being a campaign promise. | ||
| And that interview today will take place behind closed doors? | ||
|
unidentified
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It'll take place behind closed doors, yes, to protect the privacy of the victims. | |
| Congressman Suha Subramanyam, Democrat of Virginia, thanks for talking to our viewers this morning. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| We're going to return to open forum here for the remainder of today's Washington Journal. | ||
| The House is going to gavel in at 9 a.m. Eastern Time this morning. | ||
| They're taking up a stopgap measure that would keep the federal government open to November 21st, avoiding a government shutdown if they do not continue to fund the government past September 30th, the fiscal deadline. | ||
| And they are also taking up a resolution that would condemn the killing of Charlie Kirk. | ||
| That's also on the agenda in the House. | ||
| So stay here. | ||
| Keep your channel here on C-SPAN this morning for our gabble-de-gabble coverage of the House. | ||
| Bob in Florida, an Independent, we're an open forum. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning, Greta. | |
| I'm sorry, I missed the representative because I was actually going to challenge a statement he made. | ||
| So I'll just make that comment and then I'd like to comment on the shooting. | ||
| So the representative said the Republicans have full control. | ||
| Now, as an independent, I kind of have disdain for both parties right now. | ||
| But I also know that if every Republican in Congress voted to pass a CR and every Democrat in Congress voted not to pass the CR, it would not pass because you have to have 60 votes in the Senate. | ||
| Now, everybody at C-SPAN knows this, so I'm a little frustrated that every time this gets said, somebody doesn't jump up and say, oh, wait a second. | ||
| How do they have full control when they don't have 60 votes? | ||
| So moving to the. | ||
| Bob, I believe earlier, I believe earlier we noted that over on the Senate side, they're going to need Democrats. | ||
| So they're going to need Democrats to vote for a continuing resolution. | ||
| And what's happening is the House is going to go first on the GOP plan. | ||
| And then according to Punch Bowl News, they'll go first and then they'll take action over in the Senate on two different proposals, the GOP plan as well as the Democrats plan. | ||
| So tune into our C-SPAN 2 coverage for that as well. | ||
|
unidentified
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I usually do. | |
| But when the representative said that, you sat there quietly and accepted what he said. | ||
| So folks that had not seen the whole program, all they have is there's a guest. | ||
| He's making a statement. | ||
| There's the C-SPAN host not saying anything that would indicate disagreement. | ||
| I think the bigger issue that I called, though, really had to do with Mr. Robinson, the accused shooter. | ||
| And I blame the internet for part of this, but the internet exploited a condition that he put himself in. | ||
| He isolated from all of the things that he had historically been associated with. | ||
| He was a voter, had not voted in the last two general elections. | ||
| He went to college. | ||
| He dropped out. | ||
| He'd been a member of a church. | ||
| He dropped out. | ||
| So then we have this guy sitting in his apartment and spending his time in a very dark corner of the internet, which then exploited his disconnected from the rest of the world state. | ||
| And I believe that's really how he got radicalized. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Bob's thoughts there in Florida. | ||
| This is what will happen in the two chambers today on the stopgap spending bill. | ||
| Punch Bowl News notes that it comes as the House and Senate are scheduled for a pivotal day in the growing shutdown drama. | ||
| The House will go first this morning. | ||
| Then the Senate will vote on the competing GOP and Democratic proposals, both of which are expected to fail. | ||
| At that point, lawmakers are expected to leave town for several days at least, setting up a shutdown end game running right up to the October 1st deadline. | ||
| Christine in Holland, Michigan, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Christine. | ||
| It's your turn. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning. | |
| I was just calling, I was wanting to talk to the representative to say that it is so refreshing when you have someone on that is respectful and you know that the packs that have already been checked, the questions that are asked, you know, you don't get lies like you do from some of the people. | ||
| And you know they are lying. | ||
| And it's so refreshing. | ||
| And I did hear Adam Schiff on the Center, was it Center for American Progression? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Yesterday, and that was such a blessing. | ||
| I am a Christian, and I'm a registered Republican and have been for, I can't remember how long, but I've never voted Republican except one time, and that was the first in the primary for Donald Trump the first time. | ||
| But before I got home, I heard what he said about women, and so I did not vote for him. | ||
| I voted for Hillary. | ||
| And I have voted for since Bill Clinton, I voted all Democrat. | ||
| And if they'll stick to their guns, stick to the truth, not be aggressive, just state the facts, and keep it low profile, even if people, their constituents, want them to get out there and do whatever. | ||
| No, just make sure you got your facts down, vote your conscience, and remember that we are not members. | ||
| We're not constituents. | ||
| We are people. | ||
| I talked to my sister. | ||
| She lives in Oklahoma, and they got coffee, and it was $21 for a can of Folger's coffee. | ||
| And my little great-grandson, he's six years old. | ||
| He doesn't want to go to first grade because I don't want to go to school. | ||
| I want my family. | ||
| He's afraid he'll get killed. | ||
| Christine there in Holland, Michigan. | ||
| Christine, I'm going to get some other voices in. | ||
| We'll hear from Stephen next in Quincy, Illinois, independent caller. | ||
| Stephen. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning. | |
| Wednesday of last week, a MAGA loyalist by the name of Brian Kilmead, who's a newscaster on Fox News, made the statement that he thought that all homeless people should be killed. | ||
| I don't remember the chairman of the FCC being upset about that. | ||
| I don't remember the chairman of the FCC saying that was hate speech. | ||
| I don't remember the chairman of the FCC saying that he was considering looking into Fox News's license. | ||
| Neither do I remember Donald Trump being concerned about that statement. | ||
| I don't remember Donald Trump saying that was hate speech. | ||
| I don't remember Donald Trump saying that was horrible. | ||
| I don't remember Donald Trump saying Kilmead should be replaced and resigned. | ||
| So I'm troubled by that. | ||
| I understand Kilmead appeared several days ago and apologized for making that statement. | ||
| But Jimmy Kimmel was not given an opportunity to apologize for what he said. | ||
| So even though part of what he said was basically making fun of Donald Trump, so it's a sad situation where hate speech is not acceptable for some people, but hate speech is acceptable for other people. | ||
| So thank you for listening to me, Greta. | ||
| All right, Stephen there in Quincy, Illinois. | ||
| I listened to the president on Air Force One yesterday, traveling back from the UK. | ||
| He suggested that networks should lose their broadcast licenses if they are critical of him. | ||
| When a late night host is on network television, there is a licensing. | ||
| I'll give you an example. | ||
| I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me. | ||
| I get 97% negative. | ||
| And yet I won it easily. | ||
| 107 Spank stays popular, but won everything. | ||
| And If they're 97% against, they give me holy bad publicity or press. | ||
| I mean, they're getting a license. | ||
| I would think maybe their license should be taken away. | ||
| It would be up to Brendan Carr. | ||
| I think Brendan Carr is outstanding. | ||
| He's a patriot. | ||
| He loves our country, and he's a tough guy. | ||
| When you have a network, then you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump. | ||
| That's all they do. | ||
| If you go back, I guess they haven't had a conservative one in years or something, somebody said. | ||
| But when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. | ||
| They're licensed. | ||
| They're not allowed to do that. | ||
| They're an arm of the Democrat Party. | ||
| Thank you, everybody. | ||
| President Trump on Air Force One with his argument why networks could lose their broadcast licensing if they're critical of him. | ||
| The papers this morning note that President Trump, during his inauguration of his second term, made note of free speech and action that his administration would take on free speech. | ||
| Listen to his inaugural address from January 20th, 2025. | ||
| After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America. | ||
| Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents. | ||
| Something I know something about. | ||
| We will not allow that to happen. | ||
| It will not happen again. | ||
| Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law. | ||
| President Trump had his inaugural address in January of 2025 this year at the start of his second administration, and he did sign that executive order on free speech on day one. | ||
| David in Boca Raton, Florida, Democratic caller. | ||
| Hi, David. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi there. | |
| That was a very interesting playback. | ||
| Every day, the president makes the case why he's unworthy of the office, that he's not competent, that he's not in tune. | ||
| And it's interesting also with a prior caller suggesting that he was unfair. | ||
| But what Trump does apparently is watch television all the time. | ||
| He's got a thin skin. | ||
| He can't take criticism. | ||
| Now, on the point of one of the prior callers talking about the Charlie Kirk situation, the effort to lionize Mr. Kirk is a mistake. | ||
| He was a divisive individual. | ||
| He had his beliefs. | ||
| He was a tool of Trump. | ||
| And it makes things sound unreasonable and unfair to go into the Senate today and try to create a Memorial Day for him. | ||
| The other point I wanted to make is interest rates came down slightly the other day for the funds that are borrowed by the banks from the federal government. | ||
| But the interest rates on the credit cards are sky high. | ||
| It was reported two days ago that $12,000 is the average amount in the accounts, the credit card accounts of every American. | ||
| That's on the average. | ||
| People are buying things on credit. | ||
| They're borrowing money from banks to pay their bills that they are now having to pay exorbitant interest on. | ||
| There's not a word from Trump about that, not a word from the Republicans about that. | ||
| That's what should be happening, and it's not happening. | ||
| Very sad. | ||
| David, you might be interested in the economy and business section of the Washington Post this morning. | ||
| No buyer's market, even with rate cut. | ||
| Data suggests the Fed's move won't bring down borrowing costs enough to offset home price increases. | ||
| Let's go to Gina in Mississippi, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Gina. | ||
|
unidentified
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Good morning, Greta. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I'd just like to say a couple of things: to all the Republican callers and listeners out there: you are supporting this show if you have a cable, if you have cable. | ||
| So we should be getting fair treatment, which we're not. | ||
| The second thing I'd like to say, and the most important thing, is that God does not sleep. | ||
| The evil devil stepped in, killed Charlie Kirk, thought that he was going to end something good, and the Lord has turned it around and has put more tension on Jesus Christ, who paid it all, than has been on this TV in years and years and years. | ||
| Anybody who pays attention to this show, I've watched it for 10 years. | ||
| I love this show until 10 years ago when Donald Trump came down the escalator and the Democrats started lying and harassing him. | ||
| The Democrats started this war. | ||
| You people all know it if you're honest in your heart. | ||
| And now you're still eating up with Trump derangement syndrome. | ||
| All right, Gina, I'll leave it there. |