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Oct. 3, 2025 12:51-13:11 - CSPAN

19:54

Washington Journal Open Forum

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mimi geerges

cspan 03:03

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derek in florida

callers 00:16

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unidentified		In under an hour, the Senate's expected to vote on competing funding bills from both parties.
		60 votes are needed to proceed to a final vote of approval.
		According to Punchbowl, news Senate Democrats are holding a closed-door lunch meeting ahead of the votes after three Democratic senators voted in support of advancing the Republican funding bill earlier this week, breaking ranks from Democratic leaders.
		In an interview earlier today with NPR, Caroline Levitt urged more Senate Democrats to sign on to the Republicans' funding package.
		While we wait for her to come to the podium, we'll take a look at the discussion about the shutdown from today's Washington Journal.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We'll go to your calls.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Carl, Messick, Michigan, Democrat, good morning.
unidentified		Hey there, good morning.
		I was listening with great interest to both your guests today.
		Levin and Steiner did a good job as advocates for keeping the government open.
		A couple things I wanted to mention: you got this firing people while the government's closed and disappearing agencies.
		Don't forget, POTUS has immunity.
		Okay, we've heard about the unitary executive theory, and we've also heard that we won't need any more elections.
		Here's what I ask the viewers: Can the House be adjourned permanently?
		Whether the government shut down or not, could that happen?
		And can it be adjourned with a pro forma session daily so it is still a thing?
		But it eliminates direct representation and the need for elections for the House every year, or excuse me, every two years.
		That's consolidating power to the executive to a great degree.
		And we'll find out as we approach the midterms next year.
		And, you know, the Blue Oyster Cult thing is terrible.
		And did they get the licensing to use the music from the band or their legal representation?
		Thank you so much.
		Have a good day.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Carl.
		Here's Marlon in Coos Bay, Oregon, Republican.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning, Mimi.
		You know, we call in to want to talk to the guest that's there.
		I know you have a schedule you've got to keep, but we'd like to talk when we call on.
		We have to wait here until we go through all these calls before we can talk to this guy.
		And then he gets off, and we can't talk to him.
		So, that being said, I'll say what I wanted to say.
		The reason we got to shut down here is because we've got a disgrossly dysfunctional Congress.
		You got the Democrats that are stuck in the Obama era and they hate this president, and they will never give in to this president.
		Hakeem Jeffries, when he did six months ago, the Republicans were fighting for almost six months to get the Big Beautiful bill in.
derek in florida ▲ ● ▼		And Hakeem Jeffries and the rest of the House Democrats, they all have the Democrat talking points of President Trump is giving buyouts to the top 1% and all the billionaires.
unidentified		That's ridiculous.
		All you want to do is extend the tax credits from 2017.
		And so, are you still there, Mimi?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yes, I'm listening.
unidentified		Oh, I see a picture coming on the TV there.
		So, anyway, he sits there and give this big speech, and everything that the Democrats right now, Schumer and Hakeem, is propping up this shutdown with is exactly what's in the Big Beautiful bill.
		And it's the health care part of it, and it's $50 billion that they, and that's another thing.
		They talk about how these rural hospitals will be closed down.
		They got $50 billion in the big beautiful bill to help protect those hospitals that was put in there by the Republicans.
		So until this shutdown will not stop until Schumer and the team and the Democrats drop their $1.5 trillion giveaway or what they're wanting to draw back and just go with the Clean CR.
		And in seven weeks, we're going to go through this again on November the 21st.
		The Democrats will do this again after that seven weeks.
		They should extended this Clean CR into January.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, Marlon.
		And some news for you from Semaphore.
		Carr, Brendan Carr, chairman of the FCC, to testify before Cruz's Senate committee in the wake of the Kimmel flap that's at Semaphore discussing that.
		If you'd like to read it, here's Annie, Crawfordville, Florida, Independent Line.
		Hi, Annie.
unidentified		Hi.
		I was hoping I can talk to Max, but of course I know I'm too late now.
		But I just want to make a statement.
		Maybe he might still hear it.
		I am praying that five more senators, Democrat senators, vote with Speaker Johnson.
		And I was hoping they were going to do that today, but I just heard somebody say they might not have any more.
		I don't know, but I was hoping they would.
		But whenever they do it again, to either today or later, that they get 60 votes.
		The senators have to have 60 votes for this.
		And that's what's holding up everything.
		They only got, well, we got three others, and two of them was a Democrat and one was an Independent.
		So they got the other three to go with the 50, to go with the 50 or two, because, of course, Speaker Johnson has 53, but one of his did not or did not vote with him.
		And I know that they are the majority, but they don't have 60 senators to vote on this like that.
		They have to have the Democrats.
		So that's why I was praying, and I was going to make a statement and say that because we really want the government to open back up so they can get the monies to the hospitals, so they can get the people their checks and stuff that they need or whatever they need to make it.
		And also, nobody really ever hardly says, would say that.
		And they need to say that more often that they always, I don't know about always, but I know if it's the Senate vote, they have to.
		It's not like the majority.
		You have 45 and 50 or something.
		It's not like that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That's right, Annie.
		And this is Barbara, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
		Democrat, good morning, Barbara.
unidentified		Hi.
		Mimi, I don't always listen to C-Span, so maybe you can tell me whether or not this has been answered.
		I have a question for you.
		And if you can't answer it, maybe someone listening can.
		All this talk about Trump is breaking the law, you hear it all the time.
		And they're saying it's the law, so that means it is written.
		Why in the world can't he be prosecuted immediately for breaking that whatever particular law people are saying that he's breaking?
		And instead of having to go through the long judicial process, he's the president.
		That should have immediate attention.
		Can you answer that for me?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What, I mean, is there a specific law that you're saying that he's breaking?
unidentified		No, no, we hear it all the time.
		I don't have to give you examples.
		You'll hear the latest one, I think, I heard this morning when they were talking about he's going to take advantage.
		He did say, or give us the impression he's going to take advantage of the breakdown, the closing, so he can start eliminating people.
		And it was stated that's against the law.
		He can't do that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, by one of our guests.
		So, I mean, Barbara, you know, he's got immunity from the Supreme Court, right, for all presidential actions that he would take.
		Any official actions as president, he's got immunity from prosecution.
unidentified		So let me make sure I can understand what you're saying.
unidentified		You're saying anything he's doing while he is a president, I'm not talking about before.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Official acts.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That's correct.
unidentified		Official acts.
unidentified		Well, that's official when he makes those statements.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Correct.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So he's immune.
unidentified		Oh, my God.
		You can just do any day and going.
		We do.
		Thank you very much.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Andrew, Clearwater, Florida, Republican.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Andrew.
unidentified		Hey, I have just two quick points.
		One of which is I think that the shutdown is occurring in lieu of good public policy on the part of the Democrats.
		I think that they basically don't have anything viable to contribute to the public discourse.
		So this is better than nothing.
		I think it's kind of like scuttling a boat because you don't have control of the steering wheel.
		I think that the second thing is that I'm kind of giving a gimme to the Democrats.
		If they want to become more politically viable, they need to start having a moral compass.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		This is an article for you from The Hill with the headline, Kavanaugh's attempted assassin to be sentenced Friday.
		That's today.
		That's at The Hill.
		If you'd like to read that article.
		Taylor, reading Pennsylvania Independent Line.
		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		So I'm in a rare situation, but I have two things I want to bring up, Jeff.
		The first one, just something I've been thinking about.
		I'm 29 years old, so I'm a baby.
		I've got a lot of time to learn.
		But one of the things that's always blown my mind, when we go to vote for our presidents, when we go to sign up, you have to pick either Republican or Democrat in order to pick who you want to run in the primaries, right?
		As an independent, I've always found that weird because in a country built on freedom, why are freedoms being restricted to people that we don't necessarily follow?
		And on a different note, just two things to chew on for you.
		The other one is, is I'm in a hospital in a kind of rural area, and the abuses and the checks and balances that are not present within the hospital are astronomical.
		I've been hospitalized for the last 26 days and have never faced more racial discrimination, physical abuse.
		It's been a whole thing.
		Just like we need checks and balances in our governments.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Why are you in the hospital, Taylor, for 26 days?
unidentified		I came into the hospital due to something called posture orthostatic tachycardia.
		The hospital cannot treat it.
		They have refused to transfer me.
		And the doctor, like he took my heart monitor off today.
		He didn't find it necessary to have it on, but I went into tachycardia and passed out in the middle of the night.
		They had to call a rapid response team.
		There's no checks and balances on doctors in hospitals, just the way we feel our president.
		Some people may feel our president doesn't have enough checks and balances.
		There's the same thing going on in hospitals as is in our government.
		Our freedoms in both spaces are very limited, and it's only the freedoms that are handpicked and are okayed.
		And I would like to hear your opinions on those things because you're a very educated woman.
		This is your job.
		And I'd like to know how you feel about these things.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And how are you paying for this?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What kind of insurance do you have, Taylor?
unidentified		I became disabled at the age of 25 at a freak workplace accident.
		I am on disability.
		I am on Medicaid, Medicare, and a Pennsylvania health waiver.
		And I do pay my premiums for anyone who's going to get SAFE.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Well, thanks for sharing that with us, Taylor.
		Jeff is calling on the line for Democrats, Kansas City, Missouri.
		Good morning, Jeff.
unidentified		Good morning.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We're listening, Jeff.
unidentified		Yes, well, I guess I have a question for America.
		How do you negotiate with a Republican Party if they can't tell what's up and what's down?
		And my point is, I mean, say if you have a Democrat that goes outside on a bright sunny day and looks up at the sky and says, my, the sky is blue, and it's a beautiful sunny day.
		And you got a Republican, his neighbor goes out and looks at the same thing.
		It says, no, the sky is black and pink polka dots.
		How do you negotiate or how do you debate that?
		And the example is Trump.
		I mean, Trump is a liar.
		We know it.
		Trump is a felon.
		He is a sexist.
		I mean, we know what he is.
		He says it every day.
		He does it every day.
		But the Republicans look at him and say, oh, he's the Messiah.
		I mean, he should be sitting next to Jesus.
		You know, and they want Democrats to believe that.
		And Democrats are not going to believe that.
		And that's what I think makes them the most upset.
		How do you negotiate with that?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And here's Larry in Alton, Illinois, Republican.
unidentified		Hi, Larry.
		Democrats cannot come to grips with what God blessed them with.
		And we're going to have an opinion on Republican.
		Anyway, for the young lady that called a few minutes ago, the only reason we have independents is so they can be smart, seem smarter than everybody else in the room.
		And the one new one that I picked up on today, when we have Republican hosts on, we're dumping the mic or Republican guest.
		We're dumping the mic.
		And I don't, you know, it was really bad a while back.
		I don't know how long ago it's been, but you guys were just dumping the Republican guest on and on.
		But if we could do something about that, I'm a longtime listener, viewer of C-SPAN, love you guys.
		But boy, and to the young lady again, also, TBS is running rampant.
		I mean, just instead of paying attention to what Mr. Trump says, how about let's just pay attention to what he does?
		Thanks.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Gloria in Lobelville, Tennessee, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'd like to say I think that any president who wants to run for a presidency, they all should be stripped down, given hospital gowns, taken away all their electronics, and take a test on our Constitution.
		I had to learn the Constitution when I was in the eighth grade, and I'm now a great-grandmother to seven, eight, eight-great-grandchildren.
		And I'm very grateful that I'm still alive, but I'm dismayed at how Congress is turning against the laws to support the stupid things of a president.
		And he's the only one I've ever heard of that bankrupted his own casino.
		And he expects to be able to take the country and just do what he wants with it.
		He may be the president, but he is not God.
		And people need to be more intelligent about knowing our laws before you can go into the office and try and support our country.
		And that's about all I have to say.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		And this is The Hill with this breaking news.
		Supreme Court takes up new Second Amendment case.
		It says that it is the Supreme Court took up its next Second Amendment case on Friday.
		That's today, agreeing to hear a challenge to Hawaii's ban on carrying concealed weapons on private property without the owner's express consent, the owner of that private property.
		That's at the Hill.
		Here's Mary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Democrat.
unidentified		Hi, Mary.
		Well, I started calling when Mr. Steyer was on, but I've heard such shocking things right now listening to everyone.
		Barbara from Philadelphia, I'd love to have lunch with you.
		I mean, she was not aware on July 4th of 2024 that I think most Americans are not aware of, that the Republican Pact Supreme Court, I believe Judge Alito wrote the law in that the president has total immunity.
		I cried that day.
		Our country changed that day.
		We are no longer, in my opinion, the country that we knew, and I don't think a lot of people are aware of that.
		And the lady also in a rural hospital in Pennsylvania, when this administration is cutting back Medicare, Medicaid, and other SNAP programs, things like that.
		And that woman is languishing in a rural hospital that doesn't have the proper funding.
		And she should call our governor, Josh Shapiro.
		He'll help you, hon. And I just feel that there's so much, you know, the man who called me, you know, talked about how God gave us a gift.
		I'm sorry.
		God works in mysterious ways, but I don't think God gave us the man in the White House.
		I believe six billionaires paved the way for him to be there by lowering their standards on a chesspool of social media and muddy in the water.
		It seems like a lot of Republicans like the entertainment that he gives.
		And I'm going to sign off right now because what I wanted to say and appreciate from Max Steyer, I wish we knew how to get in touch with him and become more partners for public service.
		Thank you very much.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, and you can check their website if you want to reach out to them or interact with them in any way.
		Ourpublicservice.org.
		Robert, Tampa, Florida, Republican, good morning.
unidentified		Hey, good morning.
		Thanks for giving us this opportunity to have our First Amendment rice to talk about whatever we want.
		God bless you.
		I would just like to say that America lets more illegal immigrants into the country than any other legally, more than any other country in the world.
		President Trump is doing a great job.
		I support him.
		The Medicaid and the Medicare cuts that people are talking about are only for able people that are using the system, young people that are able to go out and work.
		And they're taking it away from them and they're taking it away from illegal citizens, you know, people that are here illegally.
		And I feel bad for those people.
		God bless them.
		We all want them to have a better life.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Robert, I was looking into this about who's going to lose their Medicaid.
		And part of it is anybody that doesn't have a green card.
		So, for instance, if somebody has come into the country and is an asylum seeker and has been granted a stay to stay and have their Asylum claim heard, or they've been approved, but they're still waiting for their green card, those people will now lose their Medicaid.
		What do you think of that?

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