| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
White House renovations and President Trump's plans for a ballroom. | |
| Also, we'll talk about the government shutdown and Democratic strategy with Democratic Massachusetts Congresswoman Lori Trahan. | ||
| She's the co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. | ||
| And America 250 Commission Chair Rosie Rios talks about upcoming events and programming surrounding America 250 celebrations. | ||
| Washington Journal is next. | ||
| Join the conversation. | ||
| Good morning, everyone, and welcome to The Washington Journal on this Friday, October 24th. | ||
| The government shutdown continues here in Washington with no end in sight. | ||
| This morning, we want to get your take on the government shutdown and your message to lawmakers as this is the second longest shutdown in U.S. history. | ||
| Republicans dial in at 202-748-8001. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| And if you're a federal worker, we want to hear from you at 202-748-8003. | ||
| If you don't want to call, you can text at 202-748-8003. | ||
| Include your first name, city, and state, or post on facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and also on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ. | ||
| Yesterday in the Senate, the Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, held a test vote on paying federal workers who have been on the job but not receiving pay during this government shutdown. | ||
| There was also a piece of legislation offered by Democrats. | ||
| The Washington Times headline this morning, Senate Democrats shoot down GOP bill to pay essential federal workers during the shutdown. | ||
| Senate Democrats blocked a bill Thursday to pay federal employees who are working during the shutdown. | ||
| Republicans also rejected the Democrats' alternatives that would have paid furloughed employees and prevented the Trump administration from laying off employees. | ||
| Craig Kaplan, who is C-SPAN's producer up on Capitol Hill with this post on X, 54 to 45 on government shutdown day 23, Senate mainly along party lines, blocked Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson's bill to pay essential federal workers required to work during the government shutdown without being paid. | ||
| 60 votes were needed. | ||
| From the Washington Times, Mr. Johnson's bill would have applied back pay to October 1st when the shutdown began and ensured essential federal workers and supporting contractors are paid through the remainder of the shutdown and any future shutdowns. | ||
| Let's go to the Senate floor yesterday where Democrat Ron, excuse me, Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin talked about their two pieces of legislation and the prospects of the two of them coming together in a bipartisan proposal. | ||
| In fairness of the more than 2 million in federal employees that are now being forced to work because they're termed accepted, but that means they're essential. | ||
|
unidentified
|
They're protecting our nation. | |
| They're protecting our safety and security. | ||
| They're writing Social Security checks to see that they get their paycheck so they don't have to work DoorDash, so they don't have to go to food banks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So they're not under that stress. | |
| I am asking in good faith, let's figure out how to get that done. | ||
| Now, I mean, I could propose take this. | ||
| I'll change the name of mine, by the way, if you want to call the true, because I think it's the true Shutdown Fairness Act. | ||
| I would be today, right now, I'd be willing to add furloughed workers, because we're going to pay them anyway. | ||
| I'm just asking, I mean, would you substitute your bill, take my bill, substitute it in? | ||
| I've actually got my staff to write the language to do this. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Redline's probably not ready for prime time. | |
| We really need to get through ledge counsel, that kind of stuff. | ||
| But would you take my bill, add furloughed workers, say it's a done to you? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Is that something you'd accept here today? | |
| I'm happy to, if you're yielding the floor to me. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| The short answer is: we do want to pay all federal employees because none of them should be punished. | ||
| But we also don't want them to be fired and riffed during this period of time. | ||
| I mean, you said in the private sector, people don't like to fire employees. | ||
| I know, Senator, you've read the remarks of Russ Vogt, the head of OMB. | ||
| He wants to visit, quote, trauma on federal employees, and he wants to fire a lot of them. | ||
| He has said so. | ||
| Again, but that's an important piece here, right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Senator, again, I'm trying to keep this. | |
| Let's not argue, okay? | ||
| Let's focus on answers of agreement. | ||
| Senator Ron Johnson, Senator Van Holland, there on the floor yesterday. | ||
| They each had legislation that would have paid federal workers during this shutdown. | ||
| They voted on advancing the legislation for debate. | ||
| It needed 60 votes and both failed. | ||
| Three Democrats voted with Republicans on Ron Johnson's proposal: Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, John Ossoff of Georgia, and Raphael Warnock of Georgia as well. | ||
| Punch Bowl News with some context about their votes with an eye on 2026. | ||
| Interestingly, Senators Ossoff, Warnock, and Fetterman backed Johnson's bill. | ||
| They were the only Democrats to do so. | ||
| Osoff is the most endangered Senate Democrat in 2026. | ||
| And it's notable that he felt pressure to vote for the measure, even while continuing to reject the House-passed stopgap funding bill. | ||
| Georgia has the world's busiest airport, the Hartsville-Jackson-Atlanta International Airport, as well as the CDC headquarters and numerous military bases. | ||
| All of these were undoubtedly factors that played into Ossoff and Warnock's calculus. | ||
| But Georgia is far from the only state with busy airports and a robust federal government presence. | ||
| The rest of the Senate Democratic caucus still felt comfortable enough to block Johnson's bill. | ||
| While these votes can be politically uncomfortable for many Democrats, they can also give vulnerable Democrats like Osoff an opportunity to show some independence from their party. | ||
| As for Warnock, it's not uncommon for a senator who's not in cycle to back up their home state counterpart in these circumstances. | ||
| But Warnock didn't deviate from the Democratic argument about the broader shutdown dynamics. | ||
| Here's some polling for you: Senate Majority PAC, the pro-Democratic super PAC, is circulating heart research polling showing that 52% of voters say President Donald Trump and Republicans are to blame for the shutdown versus just 41% who say Democrats are more to blame. | ||
| Again, this is Senate Majority PAC, the pro-Democratic super PAC, with that polling that they're circulating to their party. | ||
| Let's get to calls. | ||
| And what do you think about the legislation, the debate that the Senate voted on yesterday, the polling, and your message to Washington? | ||
| Timothy, in Vermont, Democratic caller, you're up first. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| Morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Question. | |
| My half-baked theory is that, first of all, this great big beautiful bill or what have you, I believe that the Republicans established this on purpose knowing that they would present an untenable situation regarding especially health care, quite obviously. | ||
| Thereby, they knew that the Dems would not go for it. | ||
| Therefore, in the interim, here we are now in the interim, that the Republicans and Trump, most obviously, wants to wipe out everything like SNAP and Medicare and Medicaid. | ||
| And I feel that that is their angle. | ||
| So Timothy, you agree. | ||
| It sounds like Timothy, you agree with the party in the stance that they are taking here on day 24 of the government shutdown. | ||
| Is your message for the party, the Democratic Party, to hold firm and not capitulate here to Republicans? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I would have to say so. | |
| But of course, they're trying to make us look bad. | ||
| And the thing that differentiates the Republicans from the Democratic Party is that Republicans know how to carry a message, albeit good, bad, or indifferent, or as how wrong as they care to portend. | ||
| But the angle is that in the interim, in my humble opinion, is that in the interim, they're doing things like, now, of course, people are not going to get SNAP benefits come the beginning of the month should this situation ensue. | ||
| And, you know, that is the ulterior motive. | ||
| All right, Timothy, I'm going to jump in. | ||
| We've got other people waiting, and I want to share a headline related to your last comment there. | ||
| And here's from Governor Yunkin, the Virginia governor, declares a state of emergency in Virginia as shutdown ends SNAP funding in that state. | ||
| Doris and Atlanta Independent. | ||
| Hi, Doris. | ||
| Good morning to you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Good morning to you. | ||
| You know, I hate to say this, but I hope those people who voted for Trump are really feeling the pain of what he's doing. | ||
| They voted for this man, and now we are seeing that his goal is not to help people or to help the American people, but the destruction of the American government. | ||
| And I find that the destruction of the White House is symbolic of exactly what he's doing. | ||
| He's destroying that building in the name of Trump. | ||
| He's not going to rebuild it in the name of the people of the United States. | ||
| And that's the same thing that I see. | ||
| I'm trying to understand how there are people who are saying that the Republicans are not to blame for the shutdown of this government. | ||
| How can you say that when the House has been out for, what, a month now? | ||
|
unidentified
|
A whole month. | |
| If they were working for the people, at least they would be doing something instead of collecting a paycheck for doing nothing. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Doris there in Georgia, an independent former federal worker as well. | ||
| Doris touched on the renovations at the White House coming up on the Washington Journal. | ||
| We're going to talk about the history of renovations at the White House. | ||
| So hope you tune in and stay with us this morning. | ||
| Here in our first hour right now, in our first 30 minutes, we're focusing on day 24 of the government shutdown. | ||
| Just a note for you, the Senate is out today, so it looks like we're headed for a fifth work week of our government shutdown next week. | ||
| The House is out, but they will have a pro forma session at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. | ||
| That means they'll gavel in and gavel right back out. | ||
| No votes are expected, no legislative business. | ||
| And as our caller just noted, they have not been in Washington for over a month. | ||
| Speaker Mike Johnson will continue to hold news conferences. | ||
| They'll have one at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, live right here on C-SPAN. | ||
| And we expect to hear from the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as well at around 11 a.m. Eastern Time. | ||
| Tune into C-SPAN.org. | ||
| Download our free video mobile app, C-SPAN, now to look for our coverage throughout the day of day 24 of the government shutdown. | ||
| Stephen Hammond on Facebook, a party that controls all three branches of the government can't compromise, and calling it a Democratic shutdown is ludicrous. | ||
| And Jay Serrano on Facebook, the Republicans have no problem giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy corporations, but thinks it's a problem giving average Americans health care subsidies. | ||
| Go figure. | ||
| And Constantine, Senate Democrats reject GOP bill to pay federal employees. | ||
| Democrats did that. | ||
| Tony in Maryland Democratic Caller. | ||
| Hi, Tony. | ||
| I'm going to try one more time here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I've been listening to the other calls, and I definitely agree with the woman that went ahead from the independent line. | |
| If you told me I could only say one sentence, I would say I've been waiting at least 10 years for poor and lower and middle class MAGAs to realize that the MAGA party, the Republican Party, does not have their interests at heart. | ||
| The tax breaks from the first administration didn't convince them. | ||
| Getting a heads up on Project 2025 didn't convince them. | ||
| And here we are today. | ||
| I got up early. | ||
| I listened to Speaker Johnson and I listened to Hakeem Jeffries before this show aired. | ||
| If I could only say one, well, one thing I'd like to say to Speaker Johnson is what does the government shutdown have to do with whether you convene the House and swear in the new newly elected representative? | ||
| I would also like to ask him, how does he consistently lie with such a straight face and make it look so natural? | ||
| But definitely this party, the Republican Party who controls the House, the Senate, the administration, and pretty much the Supreme Court, they own this shutdown and it's a shame. | ||
| I've flown recently and I personally thank the TSA agents that are on duty not getting paid and keeping us safe. | ||
| And there's no way that you can put this on the Democrats. | ||
| Of course, the Democrats don't want to sign this health care, the health care rights away. | ||
| I mean, people's premiums are going to be $2,000 and $3,000 a month. | ||
| How many MAGAs can afford that? | ||
| How many non-MAGAs can afford that? | ||
| So it's really pretty much a thing of whether you're helping out the average working class or you're helping out the billionaires that you're building this gaudy ballroom for. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Tony, we'll leave it at that. | ||
| Tony, watching the news conference held yesterday by the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. | ||
| He was joined by the Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy. | ||
| And here's what Mr. Duffy had to say about how that shutdown is impacting air traffic controllers. | ||
| This is incredibly important. | ||
| They're angry. | ||
| I've gone to a number of different towers over the course of the last week to 10 days. | ||
| They're frustrated. | ||
| They're frustrated that the Congress is focused, at least in the Senate, on paying for health care benefits for illegals as opposed to paying their paychecks for the great work that they provide to the American people. | ||
| That makes them angry. | ||
| You've seen, as the speaker mentioned, across the national airspace, we see small, there's certain centers or tracons or towers where we'll see a lower staffing. | ||
| When we have lower staffing, what happens is you'll see delays or cancellations. | ||
| But it's not one tower, it's not one tracon, it's not one center. | ||
| It's maybe one center one day, it's a tracon another day. | ||
| It's kind of moving throughout the national airspace, but it's causing disruptions. | ||
| So a week ago, last Tuesday, Democrat, I'm sorry, air traffic controllers got 90% of their pay because that paycheck came from most of it for the work they did in September. | ||
| So they got most of the money. | ||
| Next Tuesday is the first paycheck that they will not receive for the work that they did in October. | ||
| And to the Speaker's point, we have air traffic controllers who work more than five days a week. | ||
| They work six days a week to make sure they can cover air travel throughout the country. | ||
| And so if you have a controller that's working six days a week but has to think about how am I going to pay the mortgage, how am I going to make the car payment, how am I going to put food on my kids' table, they have to make choices. | ||
| And the choices they're making is to take a second job. | ||
| Well, I don't want my air traffic controllers to take a second job. | ||
| I want them to do one job. | ||
| I don't want them delivering for DoorDash. | ||
| I don't want them driving Uber. | ||
| I want them coming to their facilities and controlling the airspace. | ||
| But they're having to make decisions about how they spend their time to make sure they put food on their table, feed their kids, and support their family members. | ||
| Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy yesterday on Capitol Hill joining Republicans at their daily news conference while we continue here in a government shutdown. | ||
| Joey in Georgia, Republican. | ||
| What do you say to these lawmakers? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Did you say Joey? | |
| Yes, I did. | ||
| Good morning, Joey. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I'm sorry. | |
| Yes, first of all, let me just say something real quick about the ballroom. | ||
| This is one of the first times that any reservations, I mean, you know, activities. | ||
| Yep. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Renovation. | |
| I'm so sorry. | ||
| There you go. | ||
| That's being done without one single taxpayer's penny being paid towards this project. | ||
| All right, Joey, let's move on to the shutdown. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I just want to tell everyone. | |
| Now, as far as the shutdown, just remember to all your listeners that the Republican Party, regardless whether we control the House and the Senate and the White House and the Supreme Court and everybody else, we still need the Democrats to come to the table because we need 60 people to vote. | ||
| We don't have 60 Republicans, so we need people from the other side to come across and say enough is enough. | ||
| We will reopen the government so that we can get back to work and negotiate, negotiate, and find a solution so that everybody, at least everybody, gets something done that's going to make them happy. | ||
| So that's why we need to get the Democrats to come to the table and say, enough is enough. | ||
| Let's work together. | ||
| Let's not punish the American people. | ||
| All right, so Joey, just let me jump. | ||
| Let me ask you a question then, because Democrats say exactly that. | ||
| You need our votes to advance any legislation in the Senate. | ||
| To get to 60, you need our votes. | ||
| So if you need our votes, you should compromise with us. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Now, okay, now that's a good point. | |
| But I ask everybody listening right now, tell me something. | ||
| If you win something, let's say we win a certain, let's just say you win something. | ||
| Why, if you win something, are you going to then, in fact, do something that's taking your win and make it a disadvantage? | ||
| Why not take advantage of the winning solution that we have now? | ||
| You know, when you vote, there are consequences. | ||
| When you lose, there are consequences. | ||
| And when you win, there are consequences. | ||
| So why should the Republican Party, who worked very hard to get the American people to vote for them, and then now that we won the election, that we have the upper hand, why were we taking all that under consideration? | ||
| Why would we not take advantage? | ||
| Joey, how do you respond to Democrats who would say to you, because you didn't win enough votes in the Senate? | ||
| Yes, you have the majority, a simple majority, but you don't have 60. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's right. | |
| But we don't have 60 because it's not because we don't have 60, because we don't have a, it's just that we don't have enough people in the chamber to vote 60. | ||
| If we would have had 60, we would have voted 60. | ||
| But we don't have 60. | ||
| So people have to understand that we won the election. | ||
| So the Republican Party has the advantage. | ||
| Just like when the Democrats win, they do all kinds of things that require sometimes the Republicans to say, okay, we lost. | ||
| We're not in the winning position. | ||
| So let's negotiate. | ||
| Let's come to the table. | ||
| And maybe we're not going to get everything we want, but at least let's not punish everybody. | ||
| Because next time when we do win, we're going to come back and say, hey, now it's our turn to ask for more and to get more without you agreeing with everything we want because we won. | ||
| So when you win, you take advantage of that. | ||
| All right, Joey heard Joey's argument there in Georgia, a Republican caller. | ||
| As we said, yesterday in the Senate, there was a vote on paying federal workers. | ||
| There were dueling bills between Republicans and Democrats. | ||
| Here's a government executive headline. | ||
| Dueling plans to pay feds on time fail in the Senate, though a bipartisan path forward appears. | ||
| Democrats, though, as we noted, most of them did not vote for the Republican proposal. | ||
| Let's listen to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on the Senate floor yesterday speaking out against the Republican plan put forward by Senator Ron Johnson. | ||
| Johnson and Republicans know, because they're feeling the heat, that the American people know exactly who's in charge, Donald Trump and Republicans. | ||
| When workers are laid off, when they're furloughed, when they miss a paycheck, America knows who's to blame. | ||
| It's on Donald Trump's back, and that's why Donald Trump and his allies are pushing this bill. | ||
| The bill would not reopen the government, which is the only permanent solution to this crisis. | ||
| And Democrats want to reopen the government as quickly as we can. | ||
| We want to sit down with Thune, with Johnson, with Trump, and negotiate a way to address this horrible health care crisis. | ||
| We also want to make sure every last federal worker who has suffered during the Trump shutdown is taken care of. | ||
| So that's why Democrats are offering two solutions that actually include all of our federal employees, not just the ones the president picks and chooses. | ||
| Oh, I'll lay you off. | ||
| I'll furlough you. | ||
| I won't do you. | ||
| I like you. | ||
| I don't like you. | ||
| That's not the way you govern, but that's how Trump seems to govern. | ||
| Our bill is an antidote to that awful way that Trump uses when he picks and chooses winners and losers that he likes and hates. | ||
| The bill, the Republican bill is a ruse. | ||
| It's nothing more than another tool for Trump to hurt federal workers and American families and to keep this shutdown going for as long as he wants. | ||
| We will not give Donald Trump a license to play politics with people's livelihoods. | ||
| That's why we oppose this Johnson bill, because it doesn't end the pain of the shutdown. | ||
| It extends it. | ||
| The only way, the only way to pay every federal worker is for Republicans to get serious, sit down with Democrats, avert their health care crisis, and reopen the government. | ||
| Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, on the floor yesterday talking about proposals to pay federal workers, defending the Democrats plan. | ||
| Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune also on the floor yesterday, blaming Democrats for upcoming missed paychecks for federal workers. | ||
| The other side is in a very bad headspace right now to vote against something like that. | ||
| If you have any federal employees in your state, obviously a lot of them here in this area, all of our staffs are currently not getting paid. | ||
| Senator Johnson tried to correct that today by calling up a bill which we just voted on and which once again Democrats here in this chamber voted against. | ||
| Now we've had in front of us, we've had a dozen votes now on a continuing resolution that would open up the government that's been sitting at the desk now for some time. | ||
| The House has passed it. | ||
| We need five Democrats to join us. | ||
| Send it to the President. | ||
| He will sign it in law. | ||
| The government opens up. | ||
| It's clean. | ||
| It's nonpartisan. | ||
| It has no policy riders, no partisan gimmicks attached to it. | ||
| It is a straightforward, continuing resolution to fund the government until a certain time. | ||
| And Senator Johnson's was even more straightforward than that, really, because it simply said that if you are a federal employee and you are currently working today, like everybody here in this chamber, you will get paid. | ||
| And again, I can't explain what's going on on the other side of the aisle, but they consistently come down here and vote against paying people who are working, working every single day and not getting paid. | ||
| The Republican leader in the Senate, John Thune, yesterday, Punch Bowl News reporting the Senate is gone until Monday, meaning the government shutdown is all but guaranteed to go into its fourth week. | ||
| The impact of the spending impasse is growing more severe every day. | ||
| The Senate Majority Leader John Thune could tee up votes as soon as next week on separate bills to pay members of the military and air traffic controllers as he looks to increase pressure on Senate Democrats. | ||
| Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to bring the House back until Democrats agree to reopen the government. | ||
| Members have been gone from Capitol Hill for 35 days. | ||
| Derek in Elkins, West Virginia, an independent. | ||
| What's your message to Washington? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Greta. | |
| My message is pretty simple. | ||
| First, I need to give a shout out to the people of Gaza. | ||
| Stay hanging in there. | ||
| Help is on its way. | ||
| The Prime Minister of the UK, you're an amazing woman. | ||
| Thank you so much for helping those people. | ||
| My message for the government shutdown, I think this is just a big ploy. | ||
| I really do. | ||
| They are just blocking the American people's attention so Trump can do whatever he wants. | ||
| He's blowing people up in the ocean. | ||
| He's tearing down the White House. | ||
| He thinks it's his house to tear down. | ||
| He ain't leaving that White House. | ||
| I mean, whenever he got elected, I swarped him down. | ||
| That is the last election the American people will see because he is destroying democracy. | ||
| All right, Derek, speaking to the shutdown. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, the shutdown. | |
| I think it is just a big ploy so he can do whatever he wants. | ||
| I don't think there's an agenda there that's going to, I don't really think that there's anything that's going to help the situation. | ||
| The Republicans have put a deal on the table that other Democrats are not going to take. | ||
| There's not enough money in the bill to support anything. | ||
| So, I mean, if they did take the deal, it wouldn't do anything anyway. | ||
| It's just a ploy for him to do whatever he wants so he can stick the military on the American people, blow boats up in the middle of the ocean whenever he wants to. | ||
| He don't have to ask Congress for a thing now. | ||
| Okay, Derek, Derek Sawtson, an independent. | ||
| Pat is in Tennessee, Democratic caller. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I am 79 years old, and I have been listening to C-SPAN forever. | |
| And I just, Americans are just lazy. | ||
| I mean, they're so used to everything. | ||
| They get everything they want. | ||
| And it's just, I want to say one thing to Ron Johnson. | ||
| I can remember when he was talking about what a Christian he was and whatever. | ||
| In my Bible, it says, judge not ye be judged. | ||
| Mr. Johnson, I want you to remember that come time. | ||
| Also, yes, I think the government should pay their federal employees. | ||
| This was a ridiculous thing. | ||
| Trump has he should be in the middle of this shutdown. | ||
| Every president and every shutdown has been right there trying to get it open again. | ||
| He has not, he's not doing anything. | ||
| He's just like sitting in the White House talking his crazy talk and telling people his MAGA group what they want to hear. | ||
| Well, believe me, come November, because I've already gotten my notice in the mail about my insurance, and I will have 79. | ||
| I won't have one more doctor that I'll be able to go see. | ||
| Right now, I'm taking two months on one month's worth of medication. | ||
| And after this crap is over in November, I won't be able to take any of it. | ||
| Pat, you, Pat, are you on Medicare? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm on Medicare, yes. | |
| And I have, I have kept my own private insurance. | ||
| I never got on any Obamacare because I knew something like this was going to happen. | ||
| But my private insurance, it is tripled what it was two months ago. | ||
| So Patty, clarify, though. | ||
| If you're on Medicare, why do you still have private insurance? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, for my supplements, is what I mean. | |
| All right. | ||
| And that is tripling. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Because the insurance companies, I mean, they can't, they can do anything they want to after they get rid of Obamacare. | |
| You know, it's just people are, they don't, they're just Americans. | ||
| You're lazy. | ||
| Wake up. | ||
| All right, Pat. | ||
| Derek in Newport News, Virginia, federal worker. | ||
| Derek, can you tell us where you work in the federal government? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I work with the Defense Department. | |
| Okay. | ||
| And I'm also a veteran. | ||
| And I'm very disheartening. | ||
| It's very disheartening everything that I'm seeing happening. | ||
| You know, yesterday, we got our first leave and earning statement where we saw $0. | ||
| There was nothing on the LES. | ||
| We've been working. | ||
| We've been supporting the military. | ||
| We've been making sure that the family members and the service members are good to go. | ||
| The problem that I see here is no one wants to give in. | ||
| This is not about eagles right now. | ||
| You have the military, which may see $0 on their next leave and earnings statement. | ||
| Imagine a service member deployed in some war zone with family members back here in the United States needing to pay their rent and not knowing if that possibility is likely. | ||
| The politicians are playing a dirty game with the American people's lives. | ||
| It's so disheartening. | ||
| I served in Iraq and I currently serve the United States of America. | ||
| I love this country. | ||
| I hate to see how divided this country is right now. | ||
| This is not about whether you are a Democrat, whether you are a Republican, whether you like Trump and the policies, whether you dislike his policies. | ||
| This is about just doing the right thing. | ||
| So, Derek, I've written. | ||
| Can I ask you, do you hold one party more responsible than the other for this government shutdown? | ||
| Or do you blame both? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hold. | |
| I hold the Democrats responsible for this shutdown. | ||
| And I'm going to tell you why. | ||
| See, nobody wants to realize the truth. | ||
| The Democrats put in Obamacare. | ||
| The Democrats put in the expiring subsidies that are going to expire here in December. | ||
| But yet they are calling this a Republican shutdown or a Republican health care crisis. | ||
| It cannot be that because the Republicans didn't put that bill in. | ||
| And I'm not saying I'm a Republican, and I'm not saying I'm a Democrat. | ||
| I'm saying I'm an independent, but I'm also saying we have to look at the facts. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Derek there in Newport News, Virginia. | ||
| We'll go to Dalton next in Texas, Republican caller. | ||
| Dalton, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I would like to talk about the government shutdown. | ||
| And I think that every politician up there, once they get elected, they should be working for all the people, not just the Democrat people because they're a Democrat or Republican because they're a Republican. | ||
| They should come together and work for the good of all the people of the United States of America. | ||
| Everything should benefit the people that they represent, everybody. | ||
| And all this nasty talking that the Democrats do, like calling everybody MAGAs and stuff like that because they think it sounds like a bad name. | ||
| Make America Great Again is not a bad name. | ||
| So quit saying that and quit talking nasty about people like Jasmine Crockett and Squad and them does all the time or Chuck Schumer with an attitude problem. | ||
| You can fix it and fix it today. | ||
| Everybody, get back into the White House, into Congress this morning by 8 a.m. or you're fired. | ||
| Just that simple. | ||
| 8 o'clock, you're fired. | ||
| If you're not there, you're out of here. | ||
| Term limits, no more than eight years for a congressman or senator. | ||
| No more than eight years. | ||
| That's all they get. | ||
| And then they're gone and somebody else takes their place. | ||
| And everybody, if one military soldier does not get his paycheck this day, everybody in Congress and a House represent needs to lose their paycheck and never ever see it again. | ||
| All right, Dalton, I'm going to jump in. | ||
| Ricardo's waiting in Pennsylvania, independent. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, people. | |
| I've been sitting here listening to some very positive communications and different viewpoints. | ||
| I just want to say a few things. | ||
| Number one, when they use this term, make America great, I'm trying to understand when was America great? | ||
| What period are we talking about? | ||
| Because I'm not sure. | ||
| When I was a kid, I had a very devastating experience in school where my parents couldn't afford to fix me lunch. | ||
| So I would sit in the lunchroom and watch everybody else eat. | ||
| Nobody saw me. | ||
| I was invisible to the teachers, to the staff, to the administration. | ||
| But I've never forgot that I'm 72 years old and it was like it was yesterday. | ||
| That's how I went through school. | ||
| Now, I agree, people deserve to be paid for the work they do. | ||
| Whether you're a serviceman or an air traffic controller or working in the park system, I think everybody's family has to eat. | ||
| Everybody got mortgages. | ||
| Everybody got rent. | ||
| They should not be allowed to even consider pending us against each other to decide, should the serviceman get paid or should I get paid? | ||
| Should the park department get paid? | ||
| Should the air traffic kick get trade? | ||
| Your job better than the janitor's job. | ||
| All of us got to eat. | ||
| All right, Ricardo. | ||
| Ricardo, talking about legislation in the Senate yesterday that would have paid federal workers. | ||
| Government executives headline, dueling plans to pay feds on time fail in the Senate, though a bipartisan path forward appears. | ||
| Senators Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, Chris Van Holland, Democrat of Maryland, appeared to agree to negotiations Thursday afternoon on a plan to pay federal employees and potentially contractors amid this ongoing government shutdown. | ||
| Senate Democrats and Republicans each defeated the other party's plan to pay at least some federal employees on time amid the ongoing government shutdown, though both sides appeared to open the door to bipartisan negotiations. | ||
| We showed you what Senator Ron Johnson had to say and that and following his comments, War Senator Van Holland of Maryland. | ||
| We also heard yesterday from the governor in Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat. | ||
| He spoke to reporters after hosting a roundtable for residents impacted by the government shutdown. | ||
| Take a listen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Great to be in lacrosse again, although this isn't a time for celebration or to thank people. | |
| It's just to make sure people understand how important it is. | ||
| Some of the decisions that are not being made in Washington, D.C. are going to be really, really important to make in the right way. | ||
| And specifically, the thing we're talking about today is the Affordable Care Act. | ||
| Every November 1st, we are celebrating the Affordable Care Act and get people out and get people to get on insurance. | ||
| And frankly, it's going to be hard to do this time around because the legislature in Washington, D.C. is planning to do nothing. | ||
| Obviously, they're not doing anything about anything. | ||
| They're paid to not work. | ||
| It's a great deal for people. | ||
| They may want to try running for office. | ||
| In Washington, D.C., in Madison and Wisconsin, they work hard even when they're not there. | ||
| But the issue here is about the Affordable Care Act. | ||
| The money that the federal government puts into the system is about to go away. | ||
| And that will impact people in Wisconsin. | ||
| A lot of people, 200, probably 270,000 people, will be not having health insurance anymore. | ||
| And that will cause more work for the people that work in the emergency room because that's what happens. | ||
| Democratic governor from Wisconsin, Tony Evers, yesterday, after talking to citizens in that state about the impact of the government shutdown, we're in day 24 here in Washington. | ||
| It is the second longest shutdown in U.S. history. | ||
| The Senate is out. | ||
| The House will come in for a brief pro forma session. | ||
| No votes expected. | ||
| No legislative business. | ||
| And it's been 35 days since the House did so. | ||
| Your message to Washington this morning. | ||
| We'll go to Evie in Cedar Lake, Indiana. | ||
| Democratic caller? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Hello. | ||
| Hello. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| Well, I'm telling you, there's so many different comments coming in, but I want to read a Democrat. | ||
| I've voted like that for 50 years, but I've been listening in the past couple of years that they just don't have their heads screwed on very well. | ||
| What did they do? | ||
| They bring in millions and millions of people across over, and we give them food and housing and pay for it all. | ||
| And now they want to give them our health insurance. | ||
| It hurts all Americans very much. | ||
| And the Democrats are defending it. | ||
| And that's almost comical to listen to the politics of America. | ||
| It's almost a joke listening to them. | ||
| Caller, you're talking about, are you talking about illegal immigrants accessing health care through emergency rooms? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Honey, I didn't get to hear what you said. | |
| What? | ||
| Are you talking about illegal immigrants accessing health care in emergency rooms? | ||
| Is that what you're referring to? | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's what the Democrats are fighting for. | |
| That's why the shutdown is. | ||
| We lose, but they're gaining to the millions of people they cut across here, which should have been illegal, and we suffer because of it. | ||
| So, Caller, the Democrats have said that the Medicaid emergency program, that's what hospitals tap into when anyone shows up in the emergency room for health care that does not have insurance. | ||
| And so there are Americans who also don't have insurance that show up in these emergency rooms, and then the hospital turns to this Medicaid emergency program. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Should not give it to the illegal army they just sent across the borderline and take away our health insurance and put us in a shutdown because they want to get in control of what. | |
| All right. | ||
| So, Democrats have said what they're fighting for is these enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act because participants in the ACA will see their premiums, they argue, double, triple if these tax cuts are not made permanent. | ||
| They also said their proposal to reopen the government would also include clawing back funding from for the Medicaid program that was cut in the one big beautiful bill. | ||
| We'll go to James, who's in Washington, West Virginia. | ||
| Republican, James, what do you say to lawmakers out here? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, first of all, in 2010, Obamacare, the reason Obamacare failed was because there wasn't enough people that joined it and it couldn't sustain through the years the high cost of increases and high cost. | |
| Now, as far as the House of Representatives go, the Republicans already voted. | ||
| They voted to open the government. | ||
| The Clean CR, they don't have nothing to vote on. | ||
| They already voted to open the government. | ||
| But when they sent it to the Senate, the Senate put in health care, which is everybody's concern, but they also put a poison pill in there. | ||
| $1.5 trillion added to our added. | ||
| That means our debt from $37 trillion will go to $38.5. | ||
| This $1.5 trillion, Speaker Johnson had a chart of where this money was going. | ||
| Broken down. | ||
| $800 million to illegal aliens. | ||
| Now, why don't you put that chart up that shows where all this money is going to? | ||
| This $1.5 trillion. | ||
| That's the poison pill. | ||
| That's the reason the Republicans can't come to the negotiating table. | ||
| Take out the poison pill, and maybe we will negotiate. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| James, that's what Republicans are arguing. | ||
| We've heard it from the Speaker of the House who's held a news conference every day during this government shutdown, and he has said, I won't negotiate until Democrats reopen the government. | ||
| He has said what you just repeated, which is the House already voted. | ||
| They voted on a clean, continuing resolution, meaning there were no policy riders attached to it. | ||
| And it's a continuing resolution that funds the government at last year's levels until November 21st. | ||
| That is exactly what Republicans are arguing. | ||
| And for those that have missed the speaker's arguments, you can find them on our website at c-span.org. | ||
| You'll also find news conferences by Democrats who have also held their own briefings throughout this government shutdown. | ||
| Yesterday, the White House held a briefing, and White House Press Secretary Caroline Lovitt had this to say about the consequences of the government shutdown. | ||
| Innocent Americans are suffering every day as a result. | ||
| More than 500,000 civilian federal employees will miss a full paycheck tomorrow. | ||
| Thousands of small business loans are going unapproved each month. | ||
| This means almost $4 billion in capital is being withheld from small businesses across the country. | ||
| The Democrat shutdown is also causing severe impacts at airports across the country. | ||
| In one single day this week, the FAA had to issue ground stops impacting flights at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport. | ||
| 13,000 air traffic controllers who ensure that we all fly safely are continuing to work without pay. | ||
| This is egregious and truly sad. | ||
| Some of them are reportedly being forced to turn to driving for Uber and taking on other second jobs to make ends meet as the Democrats continue to shut down the government. | ||
| Pilots are calling on Democrats to end this dangerous political game. | ||
| The president of the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association called for the clean continuing resolution to be passed, saying, Our air traffic controllers and the broader air traffic system are already operating under immense pressure. | ||
| A government shutdown only compounds that stress and threatens the efficiency of our skies. | ||
| The Airline Pilots Association International, which represents more than 80,000 pilots, is sounding the alarm as well. | ||
| They said this shutdown is undermining our system's safety. | ||
| Resources are stretched thin, negotiations are delayed, and strain grows daily. | ||
| With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, we are nearing the busiest travel period of the entire year when millions of Americans will go to airports to spend time with their loved ones. | ||
| Let us be very clear from the White House today. | ||
| If the Democrats continue to keep the government closed, we fear there will be significant flight delays, disruptions, and cancellations in major airports across the country this holiday season. | ||
| From the White House yesterday, Press Secretary Caroline Levitt taking questions and her arguments on the government shutdown. | ||
| Today, we will hear from the Speaker of the House again. | ||
| He will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. | ||
| We will have live coverage here on C-SPAN on our free video mobile app, C-SPAN now or online on demand at c-span.org. | ||
| We will also cover the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. | ||
| He'll hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. | ||
| Go to our website, c-span.org, or our free video mobile app, C-SPAN Now, for our coverage. | ||
| Thomas in Texas, Democratic caller. | ||
| Thomas, we're talking about day 24 of the government shutdown. | ||
| And what is your message to lawmakers and the president? | ||
|
unidentified
|
My message to the lawmakers and president is that I support the Democrat 100%. | |
| And it's appalling that the Republicans have a tendency to play on individual intelligence. | ||
| And those who believe that the responsibility is the Democrat need to do some research. | ||
| The Democrat is not responsible for the closed down. | ||
| The Republicans control the Senate, the House, the President, and Supreme Court. | ||
| It's amazing how people fall for the Republican lied. | ||
| Every time they open their mouth, they lie. | ||
| It's appalling that people don't have enough intelligence to research the situation on their own. | ||
| Like I mentioned earlier, Republicans love to play on individual intelligence. | ||
| I die the Republican. | ||
| All right, Thomas. | ||
| Bailey in Miami, a Republican. | ||
| Good morning to you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I would like to say I am a retired player work. | ||
| A retired federal worker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I used to be. | |
| I'm retired now. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| What I would like to say is the Democrats want to add $1.5 billion and they want to give breaks to the illegal millions that they decided they could come in. | ||
| Now they're fighting ICE that wants to return them home. | ||
| And we're supposed to sit here and say, oh, no, it's the Republicans' vote. | ||
| No, it is the Democrats. | ||
| I know from seeing you and from hearing you that you are always on the side of the Democrats, even though you deny it. | ||
| But it's so obvious. | ||
| We're not stupid. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Robert, Greenville, Texas, Independent. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Robert. | |
| Hello. | ||
| Good morning, America. | ||
| The government shutdown. | ||
| The point I have to make, first of all, I would like to say bravo, Dalton, earlier call it. | ||
| The Congress is mandated to pass a budget in May of each fiscal year. | ||
| And for the last 24 years, they have failed to do so. | ||
| My proposal, well, not my proposal, my suggestion about the government shutdown is simply if they fail to pass a budget in May, the exact date, I visit May 1st, May 5th, I'm not sure. | ||
| But if they fail to pass budget, simply they should go without pay, just like all the threats to our military and our air traffic controllers and all the rest. | ||
| They should be subjected to the same thing for not doing their jobs and simply move forward with that for the entire period and no more continuing resolutions. | ||
| I think that they need to be non-paid until they pass a budget. | ||
| Plain and simple. | ||
| That's their primary job in Congress is to pass a budget. | ||
| And number two, and this gets really to the heart, kind of what Dalton was talking about earlier. | ||
| We have congressmen now that only work for the lobbyists. | ||
| They really don't care whether they function or not. | ||
| They just simply get into Washington and they try to earn the respect of their donors instead of the people they represent. | ||
| I think it's high time in this country that we go back and revisit Citizens United and take the dark money out of politics. | ||
| A campaign, if they got a good message, people will donate. | ||
| I'm telling you right now, the money influencing politics right now is leaving us basically with no representation in Washington. | ||
| All right, Robert, we are talking about the government shutdown here in our first hour. | ||
| We're going to go to open forum later on in the program. | ||
| Any public policy or political issue on your mind? | ||
| And we'll weave in more news from the national newspapers this morning. | ||
| From The Hill, this was written on September 17th by Alexander Bolton. | ||
| Democrats want government funding stopgap to reverse nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. | ||
| The 68-page proposal, which you can link on in his story, would also permanently extend the enhanced health insurance premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are due to expire at the end of the year. | ||
| So if you are interested, you can go to thehill.com. | ||
| You can find the actual piece of legislation if you go to the Hill story. | ||
| You can also find the legislation when you go to senate.gov and go to that website, read these pieces of legislation offered by the Democrats, the Republicans. | ||
| Read them for yourself to know what is in the proposals by Democrats and Republicans. | ||
| Mark in New York, Democratic Color. | ||
| Hi, Mark. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, how are you? | |
| I just wanted to say it's an absolute disgrace we're even calling and talking about this. | ||
| The first point is very simple. | ||
| Why does everybody wait till the last lousy minute to push these things to the edge of the cliff and then everybody's trying to scramble and get this done and get that done? | ||
| This is a point in time in Congress now. | ||
| This is like a bad divorce. | ||
| It's irreconcilable differences. | ||
| They're not clicking. | ||
| I don't trust the Democrats. | ||
| They're so mad because they're not in power. | ||
| They're like a bunch of spoiled little brats. | ||
| Okay? | ||
| They want to 1.7 trillion because they want to take it from this pile of money, put it over here so their agenda and their people can access things. | ||
| And I'm just so sick and tired of, everything is just out of control today. | ||
| You need term limits up there. | ||
| They had too much time off during the course of the year. | ||
| The problems we have today, they take way too much time off. | ||
| Everybody. | ||
| And I'm so sick and tired of everybody getting on TV about these premiums. | ||
| Jeffries comes out waving his arms when he's talking for endless times. | ||
| You know what? | ||
| If I was Trump, I would wait till November 1st and see if these premiums are going to go like everybody's crying wolf right now. | ||
| And if they don't, then the Republicans need to say, look, you were crying chicken little, the sky's falling, and it didn't. | ||
| You wanted to claw this money back so you could have your pet peeve little project. | ||
| Look what Doge found out. | ||
| He had U.S. aid. | ||
| That money didn't go where it was supposed to go. | ||
| It went for transgender gerbils in a different country. | ||
| You can't trust anybody up there. | ||
| And this is a disgrace what's going on today. | ||
| Absolute disgrace. | ||
| And they need to have term limits up there, and these guys got to stop taking so much time off the problems we have. | ||
| All right, Mark. | ||
| I heard those points. | ||
| John in California, Republican. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, good morning. | |
| I just want to suggest that people realize that this shutdown could be ended immediately if President Trump sent a message to Congress that he's voiding this concept of a filibuster, which calls for 60 senators to pass the bill. | ||
| The Constitution is quite specific here that when the Senate is divided equally, the Vice President of the United States would override or would make the final decision. | ||
| 51%, basically, would go to pass the bill. | ||
| So the Republicans are able to pass this thing immediately. | ||
| A little added part of this, that in Article 2, the President, when he gives that oral presentation, when the person says the oath of office to become president, has to say that they will defend the Constitution. | ||
| Every other element of government in Article 6 have to pledge to support the Constitution. | ||
| That's including the Congress. | ||
| They don't constitutionally defend the Constitution. | ||
| The president can send a message to Congress and say I consider the bill to have passed because 52 or three senators have already passed it. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| It's done. | ||
| All right. | ||
| John in California with his point. | ||
| We will leave it there. | ||
| We're going to take a break in about 30 minutes on the Washington Journal, a conversation with author and White House historian Kate Anderson Brower about the massive renovations President Trump is planning for the executive mansion. | ||
| But first, after the break, we'll be joined by House Republican Mike Haradopoulos of Florida. | ||
| We'll talk about day 24 of the government shutdown. | ||
| Stay with us. | ||
| We will be right back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Today on C-SPAN's Ceasefire, in a time of sharp political divides, two senators from opposite sides of the aisle come together for a candid conversation. | |
| Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Coons and Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford discuss cooperation on key foreign policy and the government shutdown. | ||
| They join host Dasha Burns to talk about what really matters today at 7 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. | ||
| Ceasefire only on C-SPAN. | ||
| Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold new original series. | ||
| Sunday with our guest, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. | ||
| Only the fifth woman to serve on the high court and author of the book, Listening to the Law. | ||
| She joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein. | ||
| And what do you hope most people will take away from your book? | ||
| I think what I want them to take away from the book is that they should be proud of the court and I want them to be able, I want them to understand the way the court grapples with the legal questions that matter to the country. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Watch America's Book Club with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN. | |
| Media mogul and studio executive Barry Diller will be our guest Sunday on C-SPAN's Q&A. | ||
| In his memoir, Who Knew? | ||
| Mr. Diller speaks about his career in Hollywood and his longtime relationship with fashion designer Dion von Furstenberg. | ||
| He is also responsible for creating the movie of the week and television miniseries, including Roots. | ||
| For 11 nights, 100 million people watched Roots and almost the entire U.S. population. | ||
| And that's binding. | ||
| Values get inculcated there. | ||
| All sorts of shared experience takes place. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Barry Diller with his memoir, Who Knew? | |
| Sunday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN's Q ⁇ A. You can listen to Q&A and all our podcasts on our free C-SPAN Now app. | ||
| Washington Journal continues. | ||
| We are back this morning with Congressman Mike Haradopoulos, Republican of Florida, represents the 8th District. | ||
| Thank you for being here during the government shutdown. | ||
| Have you stayed in Washington or are you making the trip back and forth? | ||
|
unidentified
|
We're doing a lot of back and forth, so we are quite busy. | |
| My wife is actually the chief of staff to the Surgeon General, so we go back and forth with it. | ||
| I'm an empty nester now, and so the kids are at college or off at work. | ||
| And so we're spending a lot of time up here making sure we're handling constituent calls here and in the district. | ||
| I was back in the district yesterday, meeting with a bunch of folks. | ||
| It's really important we keep our doors open as this troubling time is taking place and making sure we're taking their own little questions, but making sure that constituent work continues to get done. | ||
| How many federal workers do you represent? | ||
| What are you hearing from them? | ||
|
unidentified
|
We're hearing from a bunch of them, of course. | |
| I represent Kennedy Space Center, as you can imagine how important it is to our country. | ||
| We have to win this new space race. | ||
| We're excited about the fact that Artemis II will go around the moon for the first time since 1972. | ||
| These folks are working today without pay. | ||
| We give them a lot of credit for doing so. | ||
| We're optimistic, like myself, who voted for keeping the government open. | ||
| They want to see the government back open and get their back pay. | ||
| And more importantly, make sure that we keep the mission of the government in place. | ||
| As a former history teacher, I think it's essential we do just that. | ||
| For those federal workers in your district at Kennedy Space Center, should your leader, the Speaker Johnson, call back yourself and your colleagues to Washington and vote on legislation to pay them while they are working during this government's. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, the great news is we did just that. | |
| We voted yes. | ||
| And as you know, I'm a former history teacher. | ||
| And I remember as a kid growing up watching School House rock. | ||
| We in the House did our work. | ||
| We sent it over to the Senate. | ||
| And for those, I was listening to some of the listeners and callers today before I walked on the set. | ||
| And as you know, it takes 60 votes to break the debate in the Senate. | ||
| And so we're waiting. | ||
| We can't negotiate against ourselves. | ||
| We already sent this over. | ||
| They're a clean CR. | ||
| Of course, the Democrats did that 13 times in the Biden years. | ||
| And as a person who's back into politics after being the leader in the Senate back in Florida, it's really frustrating to see this hyper-partisanship in place because I thought a clean CR was just that. | ||
| We thought by offering that clean CR, and the other thing that a lot of people don't know, we also went to the Democrats before this whole mess began and said, let's have a clean CR. | ||
| And what date do you want? | ||
| We want to go to January. | ||
| They said November 21. | ||
| We said, okay, fine, November 21 yet. | ||
| Here we are today, 24 days into the shutdown, and no one's winning because the American public is losing, in my opinion. | ||
| Democrats point to the 60-vote threshold. | ||
| You need that in the Senate in order to advance any legislation. | ||
| They say that's why you have Republicans need to come to the table with us and they need to compromise. | ||
| We're saying if you want our votes, you need to do something about these ACA tax credits and return money to the Medicaid program. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, first and foremost, the idea is that you have to have the government open to have a lot of these negotiations. | |
| Let's do it in the open eye. | ||
| And I think beyond that is a sense of we passed these Medicaid changes because there was waste, fraud, and abuse in the system. | ||
| You saw we had this big debate, of course, illegal immigration, but also this case of people did not tell the truth on their application for Medicaid. | ||
| We want to make sure those income checks are put in place. | ||
| And also, if you're able-bodied, you should not be on Medicaid. | ||
| And finally, people are paying $1,500, $2,000 a month for health care, almost $25,000 a year, and yet other people are gaming the system. | ||
| So we wanted to make those changes. | ||
| And so also your viewers are clear. | ||
| These changes don't take effect until 2027. | ||
| So these Medicaids have not cuts, or changes have not taken place yet because we wanted to reform the system. | ||
| We want to make sure that people have a ramp to understand what's going on, how you qualify to stay on, or if you don't qualify anymore, how to get into new programs. | ||
| When it comes to the ACA tax credits, is there a middle ground? | ||
| Where would you agree with Democrats on lowering, helping to lower the premiums? | ||
| Because without these tax credit subsidies, these enhanced tax credit subsidies, you've heard from your colleague, Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying constituents in Georgia that she represents are going to see their premiums go up. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, first of all, everyone's premiums are going up because of the failure of Obamacare. | |
| Remember, they promised lower costs. | ||
| They promised you can keep your doctor. | ||
| Those did not prove to be true, unfortunately. | ||
| And the subsidies are in place because the prices are going up. | ||
| I think Speaker Johnson put it correctly, 60% since we began. | ||
| So I'm a person who's intimately involved in healthcare. | ||
| My wife's a medical doctor. | ||
| And also, of course, when I was in the Senate, we dealt with Medicaid a lot. | ||
| It's a federal state program. | ||
| Florida Senate. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm sorry. | |
| So as Florida leader, we always look to reform the system because we want to help the people most in jeopardy, those who are disabled, pregnant women, kids of low-income parents. | ||
| We want to help those folks out. | ||
| We don't want to make it a waste station or a free health care system when other people have to pay out of their pocket. | ||
| So this is a cohort of, what, 24 million people are on the Medicaid, or excuse me, on the Obamacare subsidies, up from 11 million just a few years ago because of the COVID changes. | ||
| What we want to do is what we did with Medicaid. | ||
| Let's make some reforms in the system and let's make it where we get rid of the waste and fraud. | ||
| We also make it clear that everybody is in this game together. | ||
| There's 24 million people, but there's also 165 million people who pay privately and are paying $1,500 or $2,000, if not more, dollars a month. | ||
| And they have to have a vested interest here, too. | ||
| It's not just that one group they're worried about. | ||
| I think there's a lot of things we can do, including people who are on this system who don't qualify for Medicaid, need to put some money into this system because they're getting a benefit that a lot of people are paying a lot of money for. | ||
| You're saying some people pay $0 for their premium. | ||
|
unidentified
|
About half do. | |
| About half. | ||
| And there's also reports where Republicans have argued that there are people that don't even know they're on it because they pay $0. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, they called it the phantom. | |
| This is the thing that blew my mind as I really got into this issue. | ||
| The one good thing I can say about the break is I've spent a lot of time studying Obamacare and understand what we can try to improve. | ||
| And these phantom things are amazing, especially in my state of Florida. | ||
| People get a call that, hey, you can get free insurance. | ||
| Did you know that 35% of the people who are on these Obamacare subsidies did not use any of those health care needs, meaning they didn't even go to a script-filled, didn't see their GP, didn't get a COVID shot or any kind of vaccine at all? | ||
| That means the insurance company got paid and there were no services rendered. | ||
| And could you imagine any business operating? | ||
| I'm going to give you money, but you don't have to do anything for it. | ||
| Remember, these tax credits are not given to the citizens, they're given directly to the insurance companies. | ||
| And that's one of the reforms we're obviously looking at. | ||
| You would like to see these tax credits go to the participants on ACA. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm a big believer in health savings accounts. | |
| As you know, the medical system is very different than when you go shopping at the mall. | ||
| You don't even know what the price is sometimes when you walk into a doctor's office. | ||
| And so we need to have more medical transparency. | ||
| Let's empower the individual to make smart decisions with their health care. | ||
| Because right now, all you're seeing, this big Obamacare system, really comes down to tax credits not going to the individual, going to insurance companies. | ||
| And that's created a perverse system, in my opinion. | ||
| Let's get to calls. | ||
| Linda, in Corning, New York, Democratic Caller, you were up first for the congressman. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, number one, I believe I heard Mr. Clyburn say the other day that Congress, the Democrats and Republicans, should come back and work together because they can't possibly come to any agreements when they're not even in the same room together. | |
| Some of them actually might talk together, some of them might actually negotiate. | ||
| You can't do that if you're not in the same room together. | ||
| Number two, I do know I have heard that many seniors, their senior supplement to Medicare are being canceled or their costs are tripling. | ||
| The other thing is, I remember Trump promised in his first term, of course, he never liked the ACA because it had Obamacare on it. | ||
| He promised he'd get rid of that and simultaneously slip right in a new health care plan you'd want to get sick. | ||
| They have not done anything on that. | ||
| So complaining about Obamacare, which they worked really hard on and got through, and yes, it may have some bugs here and there, but it has been a blessing to a lot of people. | ||
| All right, Linda, we'll take your three points. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, first and foremost, this is a pretty simple equation. | |
| For all these years, we always said that we would have a clean CR. | ||
| I'm amazed that some Democrats say this is not a clean CR. | ||
| I'd like to see them point to anything like that. | ||
| But we think a clean CR, because if not, this is going to be a total hostage situation. | ||
| We want to open the government up, but we've done our job in the House. | ||
| We paid folks. | ||
| The Senate said no because the Democrat votes at this time. | ||
| As far as Obamacare, It's not Republicans stopping changes to Obamacare. | ||
| It's Democrats. | ||
| They want to keep the system, and they want to continue to subsidize the system that's costing the rest of the health care system a lot more money. | ||
| We think the reforms that can take place would mirror what we did with Medicaid. | ||
| We think those are common sense type reforms. | ||
| We want people to understand they actually have health care as opposed to these phantom situations. | ||
| And let's have a more transparent debate and ask the health care system to do the same. | ||
| Put more transparency so that people understand what it really costs. | ||
| I've had a lot of people come to me and say they go in and their insurance has one price and then the cash pay for another. | ||
| And it just makes for a really discombobulated system that really doesn't help anyone. | ||
| And so I hope the Democrats will come to the table and offer some changes as opposed to the reflexive no, which has been their answer throughout 2025. | ||
| Do you know how many of your constituents access Medicare in your district? | ||
| She also brought up the supplemental insurance that many people have on Medicare. | ||
| They're seeing their premiums rise. | ||
| We heard from a viewer this morning saying that exact thing, that her supplemental was rising to the point where she was stretching out her medication. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Again, this is the problem we're running into with health care in general, is that you have, because of this pressure point you put on Obamacare. | |
| The biggest point I think where Obamacare is making a mistake is that they mandate everything. | ||
| And so the insurance company has to take on a lot of risk considering they cover everything. | ||
| And then it has this water balloon effect throughout the health care system. | ||
| And so with Medicare, you're seeing those prices go up. | ||
| This is the challenge we're running into. | ||
| And it's the reason why we were to add that transparency. | ||
| We want to put the money into the consumer's pocket as opposed to the insurance company. | ||
| Because if you look at medical rot loss ratios, I'm not going to bore you with a lot of technical terms, but they have an incentive to have higher prices because they cap their profits at 15%. | ||
| The bigger the size of that ball or our amount of money, the more money that they get to keep in the long run. | ||
| What's the incentive, though, for these insurance companies to lower their prices, doctors and hospitals as well, if you put the money in an HSA? | ||
| If the money is there and they see that the patient is getting subsidized in some way, whether that's through ACA tax credits or an HSA, how does that lower the price of health care? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, there's two things. | |
| One is that there's not just one medical office in town. | ||
| And in most towns, there are actually different hospitals. | ||
| And in a community like mine, we have four different hospitals those to pick from. | ||
| But it comes down to is consumer choice. | ||
| It happens in medical procedures that people elect to do right now. | ||
| There's the consumer competition there. | ||
| And also is that you see that a lot of money goes to what they call not-for-profits who have a tax incentive over traditional doctors. | ||
| And so these are the kind of discussions we want to have. | ||
| I think these are the fair questions to have. | ||
| But we all recognize right now that Obamacare made a set of promises, lowering costs by $2,500 per person. | ||
| That does not happen at all. | ||
| They said you get to keep your doctor. | ||
| That did not happen. | ||
| And so we want to change up the system to empower the individual because I think in the end, except in an emergency situation, you're going to go out and shop for what doctor serves your needs best as opposed to saying you have to pick this doctor if you're in Obamacare. | ||
| Is there enough competition in rural areas though? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I don't know about that answer for this reason. | |
| We put $50 billion into the big bill back in July. | ||
| That is going to help the more rural areas. | ||
| But in other parts of the country, you'll have that competition. | ||
| Danny in South Carolina, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Danny. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Why is it all right for Trump that TANA White House like that? | |
| Anybody else want to do that? | ||
| Why is for him to marry immigrants? | ||
| Why don't we sit on my dad? | ||
| Why don't I ran there? | ||
| Danny's first question, I believe, was about the renovations at the White House. | ||
| Why does he think that he is able to do that when it's not? | ||
| It's the people's house. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think even the Washington Post shows that over the years, they've always made changes to the White House. | |
| This is the president wants to do. | ||
| I've seen pictures recently where President Obama had to set up a tent at the White House in order to hold some of these dinners. | ||
| This is just a modernization of the White House, and it's happened throughout the years. | ||
| And as a historian myself, I remember they literally gutted the entire White House during the Truman years. | ||
| He had to live in the Blair House for a little while. | ||
| And so this is just a modernization of the White House. | ||
| The president is a master builder. | ||
| We all know that. | ||
| It's how he made his billions of dollars. | ||
| And he wants to leave a legacy, and he's willing to put his own money in. | ||
| The good news is this is not paid by taxpayers, but by people who believe in the White House and this, of course, historic traditions. | ||
| Coming up on the Washington Journal, by the way, for our viewers, we're going to talk with author and White House historian Kate Anderson Brower about these renovations. | ||
| Greg in Maryland, go ahead, Greg, you're on with the Congressman. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Sure, and thank you, Congressman, for coming on this morning. | |
| Just to kick it off, I've been furloughed for the past three weeks, and today's the first day, and I and a lot of other federal employees don't get a paycheck. | ||
| As far as I understand, Congress still does get a paycheck during this period, and I frankly don't understand why you're not in Washington. | ||
| And again, regardless of the Senate not passing the bill, but there's still bills and other things that you as Congress can be working on at the same time. | ||
| Because to me, it doesn't seem like time stops when Congress is not in session. | ||
| And also, again, fully understanding that there's recess periods to meet with constituents. | ||
| But during this particular time, these three weeks, Congress is typically in session. | ||
| How come you're not? | ||
| Sure. | ||
| First of all, I feel for Greg. | ||
| He wants to go back to work. | ||
| And we, of course, will get that back pay once we get the government back open. | ||
| Yes, Congress still gets paid. | ||
| I am not taking my paycheck during this time period. | ||
| I'm withholding that, just like folks like Greg are in a tough situation. | ||
| And it's the very reason what Greg brought up that I voted to keep the government open. | ||
| A clean CR is common sense. | ||
| Again, we'd actually negotiate, as I mentioned before, Greta, that we asked the Democrats before this began, what do you want? | ||
| They said a clean CR November 21, and we agreed to their terms. | ||
| And then, of course, they make this left-hand turn the other way. | ||
| And their ransom, though, just to be clear with Greg, they asked for all $1.5 trillion in spending back. | ||
| And if you do the full Obamacare subsidies, that's another $450 billion. | ||
| So you're talking about $2 trillion just to open the government back up. | ||
| We don't think that's a good deal for the taxpayer. | ||
| And what we are doing is not just, of course, going back and forth, working with constituents, handling that casework. | ||
| This year alone, we've handled 1,776 cases, returned over $6.5 million to taxpayers who are shortchanged by the government. | ||
| And what we're doing behind the scenes, of course, is having discussions about how we reform the health care system. | ||
| Brett Guthrie, our energy and commerce chair, is leading that push, along with Jason Smith, the Ways and Means Chair. | ||
| They have the ideas. | ||
| And for those who don't know, we actually pushed a lot of these health care reforms in the big bill, passed it out of the House. | ||
| CBO scored it at a 12% reduction in health care costs. | ||
| But the Senate Democrats fought that and said, we're going to use the Byrd rule to knock that provision out. | ||
| So it's not like we don't have a plan here. | ||
| It was pushed forward in the big bill. | ||
| And even the CBO, which I'm not a big fan of, by the way, even they scored it at a 12% reduction in health care costs if we implement those positive changes. | ||
| The CBO, the Congressional Budget Office here in Washington, we are talking this morning with Congressman Mike Haradopoulos, a Republican of Florida. | ||
| He is a freshman member of the House and serving his first term elected in 2024 represents Florida's eighth congressional district. | ||
| Brittany in Florida, independent caller. | ||
| Hi, Brittany. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, good morning. | |
| Good morning, Congressman. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| Question or comment? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Question slash comment. | |
| It's a question. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Hi, Congressman. | ||
| I know we're talking about the shutdown, but I was calling because I think that there's something that you can do while the government is shut down for a win for Florida. | ||
| And so currently, according to the Times of Israel, a Palm Bay family is pressing for the release of their teenage son that's been held in Israeli prison for eight months. | ||
| His name is Mohamed Ibrahim. | ||
| He was taken into custody this February when he was 15 years old by the Israeli military. | ||
| He was accused for throwing rocks at settlers, and his home was raided at 5 a.m. | ||
| And he was taken from his family while blindfolded. | ||
| None of his family has seen him since. | ||
| Since then, in July, his cousin, 20-year-old Saifullah Mosalet, was beaten to death after being denied access to an ambulance for three hours by the Israeli military. | ||
| And his cousin had just opened an ice cream shop. | ||
| He was from Tampa. | ||
| And, you know, this family is praying that they don't lose another son. | ||
| And so currently right now, Marco Rubio, our Secretary of State, also our former senator from Florida, is in Israel. | ||
| And so as a Republican, is there something that you can do to speak to someone in the administration about the release of this boy, you know, just as a Floridian and just not to allow Israel to detain and allow Floridians to be killed in the West Bank and the Palestine in general? | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I appreciate the call, Arian. | ||
| I'm very familiar with this case. | ||
| It's something we've been handling for the last few months. | ||
| Immediately we got this information. | ||
| We brought it over to Marco Rubio. | ||
| The State Department is working on it. | ||
| I can't get into the details because it is a legal case, but we have immediately taken charge of that issue. | ||
| I believe this young boy has been arrested two times over in Israel for different acts, but we let Marco know Rubio about that right away. | ||
| I've gotten a lot of calls on the issue, and that's why my power as a congressman put it in immediate hands of our diplomats overseas to see what the true facts of the situation are. | ||
| And as we've seen, Mark Ruby has done an amazing job, in my opinion, bringing peace to the Middle East, let alone other parts of the world. | ||
| I have full confidence that he'll find out all the facts in this thing. | ||
| But we did everything we can as a congressman to make sure that it's diplomats on the front lines can hopefully handle the situation and get justice. | ||
| Christine's next in Massachusetts. | ||
| Christine, on our line for Democrats. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| Yeah, I just want to say it never seems like the Republicans ever have a health insurance plan in mind, that they just want to not have one and just let people fall wayside to whatever comes their way. | ||
| And when you suggest that they put extra money into a health fund, I don't think you realize how bad people are starving and prices have gone up. | ||
| They don't have any extra money to put more money in a health fund for insurance that's already through the roof. | ||
| And there's a lot more Americans on this health plan than what I think. | ||
| It's going to be a problem for the Republicans. | ||
| Okay, Christine, we'll take those points. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, Christine, fair question. | |
| Remember, a health savings account is what you save tax-free. | ||
| And again, it would be instead of sending money to the insurance company, it would go to the individual. | ||
| So the person would actually have money in their pocket. | ||
| We also know the last four years that one of the reasons I think we have the majority is because the last four years, inflation has gone up so radically. | ||
| We saw, of course, with gasoline prices, rent prices, food prices. | ||
| Fortunately, now this year, the inflation rate is pretty stable. | ||
| And of course, we're seeing a record stock market. | ||
| We see interest rates come down. | ||
| So hopefully there's more money in people's like Christine's pocket. | ||
| But what we're trying to do with this program is look at the whole picture. | ||
| We can't look at the health care system as just as the Obamacare subsidies. | ||
| That's 24 million people out of 350 million people. | ||
| A lot of people are in Medicare or Medicaid like we talked about earlier, Greta. | ||
| We want to look at the entire system. | ||
| And as I mentioned before, and I hope that Christy will look at the proposal we put forth in the big bill. | ||
| We passed it out of the House, which would reduce all health insurance costs, not just one segment of the health care program. | ||
| That's the important thing we need to look at. | ||
| This is a global issue. | ||
| It's not just a small cohort of people or a smaller cohort of people, 24 million. | ||
| And remember, because of the Obamacare subsidies, the COVID subsidies are called, you saw the number of people on Obamacare go from $11 million to $24 million. | ||
| We need to look at all those aspects together and can't just look at one part of our budget. | ||
| You said the CBO scored your plan in the One Big Beautiful bill as reducing the cost of health care by 12 percent. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How? | |
| Well, they looked at a variety of factors, but the main thing we have to look at is the expenditures by the government. | ||
| And that was that, as we looked at with the Medicaid savings, a lot of people say we cut Medicaid. | ||
| We didn't cut Medicaid. | ||
| We saved money on Medicaid, and we made sure that people who truly deserve Medicaid get Medicaid. | ||
| Remember, Medicaid was designed to help disabled people, designed to help kids of low-income parents, pregnant women, and seniors in nursing homes. | ||
| That's where the money needs to go. | ||
| What the Democrats oppose is even doing income verification to see if a person even truly qualified for Medicaid. | ||
| That's ridiculous. | ||
| Why should a person lie in their application or in a one-time situation be eligible for Medicaid? | ||
| Maybe they make more money now. | ||
| They should be able to get free health insurance when other people are paying $1,500, $2,000 a month. | ||
| So the 12% is a savings for the Medicaid program, not for health care overall. | ||
|
unidentified
|
What we have looked at is the entire program. | |
| And when we put these type of savings in place, that we're helping people out over the next approximately eight years. | ||
| They'd be reducing costs from the current trend. | ||
| That's what we asked to do. | ||
| If you look at it closely, I'd hope that people would at C-SPAN. | ||
| When it went over to the Senate, the Democrats used the Byrd rule to remove those provisions that we passed out of the House during the big bill that was passed in July. | ||
| That's correct. | ||
| Pat in Florida, Independent. | ||
| Hi, Pat. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All right. | |
| We'll go to Joe, Long Island, New York, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Joe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, Dora. | |
| I just want to bring up that I'm not like you guys. | ||
| You guys have this PhDs. | ||
| You got to college. | ||
| I just barely made it out of high school. | ||
| But being on this earth for a pretty long time, I could tell you right now. | ||
| I don't know what happened to the coverage, but when years ago my dad was a police officer, he had the greatest coverage going of its cold Blue Cross Blue Shield, which I believe is not, I don't even know if it says existence. | ||
| It does. | ||
| I have to go from my house on East Yah Pike Rhode Island all the way out to Hempstead to take my young one to a dentist and my grandson to her. | ||
| And the thing is, we can't get a dentist over here that would take Medicare for the kids or is it Medicaid for the kids? | ||
| Medicare. | ||
| And we've got to go all the way out there. | ||
| I don't know what happened to this, but one thing I do know. | ||
| I know that you take Einstein. | ||
| What was his IQ? | ||
| 160, 165. | ||
| And I could tell you now, there's a big difference between education and common sense. | ||
| And really, all parties, everybody lacks common sense at times. | ||
| I screws up with that. | ||
| But the thing is, what we need is we need an oversight committee. | ||
| Just not the basic Republicans and Democrats. | ||
| I feel that if you can't do your job in your first year, you should be removed by the Omissia Committee. | ||
| The same thing should go for the president. | ||
| Now think about this. | ||
| If Joe Biden, when he opened up the border on TV to all everything into this country, if there was an oversight on that, he would have been removed. | ||
| And Kamala Harris would have been removed, too, because her policies are the same as his. | ||
| All right, Joe, we're running out of time with the Congressman, so we'll have him jump in. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think the great thing that did happen at the beginning of this year is the Doge. | |
| People looked at some of the spending. | ||
| It was ridiculous. | ||
| We saw some of those crazy programs in Zimbabwe, Honduras, and other places. | ||
| And we said, this is nuts. | ||
| That's why we did the resistance package and removed some of the spending. | ||
| And I think we need more transparency. | ||
| When I was back in Florida, we created what's called Transparency Florida. | ||
| Every dollar should be shown where you spend the money so that people, not just elected officials like myself, but everybody, should see where that money is being spent. | ||
| And I think it's frustrating. | ||
| I think what he was getting at in a lot of ways is that Obamacare limited your health care options. | ||
| A lot of doctors don't take Medicaid because the reimbursements are so low. | ||
| So he's got to go drive a long way to get his son or daughter the medical care or dental care that they need. | ||
| And as a person who used to live in Long Island, I know exactly where Hempstead is. | ||
| And that's a frustrating thing for people because Obamacare has moved into taking away choice, despite what President Obama said where you have to keep your doctor. | ||
| Most people did not get to keep their doctor because it's such a limited system. | ||
| Next in Ohio, James, Democratic Color. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, my name's Jim. | |
| I have right here before me a delivery room consumer health system of $6,147 an hour. | ||
| Now, most people don't have that kind of money. | ||
| Now, I heard your question and reading for MedK, Medicare, and ACA, and here we have delivery room, $6,147 an hour. | ||
| Let's take that point. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, again, this is why we need to reform the system. | |
| It's clearly broken, in my opinion, and it's very frustrating for people to deal with. | ||
| But we are very protective of the Medicare system, as you know, because that's something you paid for your entire working life, whether you started working at 14 or later. | ||
| And this is a system where you paid in, your employer paid in. | ||
| We want to make sure that is preserved. | ||
| Medicaid is a different system. | ||
| Obamacare is a lot different system because in some cases, again, as we talked about earlier, people are putting nothing into the system, of course, getting a tremendous benefit paid for by their taxpayers. | ||
| So that's why I hope that we can spend the rest of the year talking globally, not just about Obamacare. | ||
| People, I think all walks of life realize that Obamacare's promises never came to fruition. | ||
| Let's look at that system and how we can adjust it. | ||
| But simply sending the taxpayer dollars directly to insurance companies is not working, especially on that phantom issue that I talked about. | ||
| And when I talked to reporters, when this issue first broke, every reporter I talked to was unfamiliar with this issue. | ||
| I think the one good thing that's come out of this debate is people realize that here are people getting health insurance coverage paid for by others, and yet it's only the insurance companies that are benefiting. | ||
| It's really a wild system. | ||
| Congressman, before we let you go, your prediction for next week, because it looks like we're heading toward a fifth work week here in Washington with the government shutdown. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I want to get back to work. | |
| I re-entered politics after being out of office of my own choice for the last 12 years to solve problems. | ||
| I work with Democrats on issues like space where I chair that committee. | ||
| Those are some bipartisan issues. | ||
| I still think health care can be a bipartisan issue. | ||
| And I think it's pretty impressive that Senator Thune said, hey, we want to have the debate. | ||
| Speaker Johnson wants to have the debate, but we need to have a government that's open so we can people back to work who we're paying for. | ||
| Remember, we're paying our tax dollars for people to stay home and not work. | ||
| It's the craziest thing. | ||
| And that's why I think we need people who are problem solvers in Washington as opposed to just going on the talk shows to create more division. | ||
| Congressman Mike Haradopoulos, thank you for the conversation. | ||
| We appreciate it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| We're going to take a break when we come back, a conversation with author and historian, White House historian Kate Anderson Brower about the renovations at the White House under President Trump. | ||
| 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 the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, join American History TV for our series, America 250, and discover the ideas and defining moments of the American story. | ||
| This week, at 11 a.m. Eastern, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps mark their 250th anniversary. | ||
| First, retired Marine Corps General Jason Bohm, author of Washington's Marines, explores the creation of the U.S. Marine Corps. | ||
| Then the Marines demonstrate an amphibious assault at Camp Pendleton in celebration of their birthday. | ||
| Speakers include Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and others. | ||
| Then at 8 p.m. Eastern on Lectures in History, University of North Carolina professor Marcus Gadson discusses a successful campaign to overthrow the South Carolina government, triggering a constitutional crisis during Reconstruction. | ||
| And at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on the presidency, it's a study of presidential leadership, with scholars looking at George W. Bush's 2003 President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and Barack Obama's 2011 raid, which ended in the death of 9-11 terrorist Osama bin Laden. | ||
| 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. | ||
| Book TV, every Sunday on C-SPAN 2, features leading authors discussing their latest non-fiction books. | ||
| Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend. | ||
| At 1 p.m. Eastern, we visit Chicago for the Printers Row Litfest, where authors gather to discuss parenting, Harriet Tubman, the future of democracy, and more. | ||
| Then at 7 p.m. Eastern, it's America's Book Club. | ||
| From the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, Master of the Legal Thriller John Grisham joins host David Rubinstein to discuss the author's early life, writing process, latest novel, and his work with wrongfully convicted prisoners. | ||
| At 8.30 p.m. Eastern, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kevin Sack, with his book Mother Emmanuel, talks about the long history of the African Methodist Episcopal Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, including the 2015 shooting that killed the church's then pastor and eight parishioners. | ||
| And at 9.15 p.m. Eastern, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, Eric Trump, with his book Under Siege, talks about growing up as a Trump and his family's involvement in business and politics. | ||
| Watch Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. | ||
| Today, on C-SPAN's Ceasefire, in a time of sharp political divides, two senators from opposite sides of the aisle come together for a candid conversation. | ||
| Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Coons and Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford discuss cooperation on key foreign policy and the government shutdown. | ||
| They join host Dasha Burns to talk about what really matters. | ||
| Today at 7 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. | ||
| Ceasefire only on C-SPAN. | ||
| Washington Journal continues. | ||
| We want to welcome to our table Kate Anderson Brower. | ||
| She's the author of The Residence Inside the Private World of the White House. | ||
| Kate Anderson Brower, let's begin with some images that we have seen, some satellite images of the renovations at the White House. | ||
| I want to show our viewers and what they can see on their screen right now on the right is the East Wing intact. | ||
| And then on the left, you can see the demolition of the East Wing taking place over the past few days at the White House. | ||
| Let's begin as they continue to look at these images with the history of the East Wing. | ||
| How did it come about? | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, it was built by Teddy Roosevelt as an entry, a formal entry for the public to come into the White House. | |
| And that's where people come in for public tours. | ||
| And then FDR, another Roosevelt, expanded it in 1942. | ||
| And it was during World War II that it was really used as a cover for the presidential emergency bunker. | ||
| That's a place where presidents can go in case of a terrorist attack. | ||
| We know that President George W. Bush went there during 9-11. | ||
| And so the fact that the East Wing is known as the First Lady's office is, yes, it is, but it's also the Social Secretary's office. | ||
| It's where the calligraphers go. | ||
| There is a movie theater there. | ||
| Jackie Kennedy's garden is there. | ||
| I don't believe any longer it looks like it doesn't exist anymore. | ||
| And, you know, Thomas Jefferson had it built so that it would balance out this neoclassical, you know, he had the second wing, the East Wing built in general to the East Colonnade to balance out the White House. | ||
| That was really the main purpose. | ||
| And then Roosevelt's expanded it. | ||
| The colonnade, explain the history of that. | ||
| And have people seen the colonnade in action over the years? | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, for state dinners, that's where people come in for photographs before the dinner. | |
| So when you see, you know, tech CEOs and other members of Congress. | ||
| Yes, that all dressed up black tie, you're seeing them walk through the East Wing. | ||
| And anytime there are Christmas parties, that's where members of the press, members of Congress are coming through that place. | ||
| But it's also, like I said, it's the public entrance near the Treasury Department. | ||
| And a lot of people will recognize it, having come to the White House before. | ||
| So it's not just the First Lady's office, although that, in my view, as someone who studies First Ladies, is important enough. | ||
| Why? | ||
| Because the president's spouse has been, I think, devalued over the years. | ||
| A position is impossible. | ||
| You are, you know, you have to meet endless expectations and lots of criticism. | ||
| You see, someone like Hillary Clinton, she had her office in the West Wing, and that was a huge problem for her. | ||
| People did not want that. | ||
| The first First Lady to use the East Wing was Rosalind Carter in 1977. | ||
| And I think that she professionalized that role. | ||
| She went there every day. | ||
| And it's a way for the First Lady to feel active. | ||
| This is an unpaid position. | ||
| Nothing in the Constitution describes what they're supposed to do, right? | ||
| So by literally taking a wrecking ball to the East Wing, it diminishes the role of the First Lady. | ||
| Kate Anderson Brower joining us this morning. | ||
| We told you she's the author of The Residence Inside the Private World of the White House. | ||
| She is also the author of First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies. | ||
| What impact did Jackie Kennedy have on the East Wing? | ||
|
unidentified
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Oh, enormous. | |
| I mean, well, she was the one who came up with the entire White House renovation. | ||
| So she started the White House Historical Association. | ||
| And she went to this, there's a really interesting building in suburban Maryland where all of these historic pieces are kept from presidents throughout the years. | ||
| And she actually culled through them and brought back important pieces. | ||
| She was aghast at how run down the White House was. | ||
| It's the people's house. | ||
| She wanted to open it up to people. | ||
| And that's why when she did the White House tour, it was so incredible to have that televised for the American public to get a chance to see inside the White House for the first time. | ||
| You mentioned renovations over the years under different presidents. | ||
| Were those renovations controversial? | ||
|
unidentified
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Yes. | |
| Not quite like this, but the Harry Truman renovation was the last major renovation. | ||
| So late 1940s, early 50s, and the Trumans had to leave the White House and live in Blair House for those years. | ||
| And the White House was completely gutted. | ||
| I mean, it's incredible to see those images, to see what they did to rebuild it. | ||
| But that's because it was structurally not sound. | ||
| This is something that didn't have to happen at this moment in this way. | ||
| And I think that's the thing that people are concerned about, just the speed at which it happens. | ||
| Well, let's talk about this moment and show from the New York Times this morning these renderings. | ||
| This is the White House as it stood, right there on your screen. | ||
| And you can see the East Wing on the right, the visitor's office demolished. | ||
| The East Wing housed the offices of the First Lady and her staff, as we noted. | ||
| Now let's take a look at the second rendering from the New York Times, what Trump envisioned. | ||
| And you can see there on your screen, North Portico and a ballroom added to the East Wing. | ||
| Talk about the footprint here that the president is building. | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, it's going to be twice the size of the house now. | |
| It's not going to be proportional to the White House at all. | ||
| As you see, the East Wing is going to be so much larger than the West Wing because of this ballroom. | ||
| And look, there are a lot of people, and I've spoken with many people who worked for First Ladies over the years, many people who worked in the resident staff who said, and social secretaries, who said they did need an entertaining space, that having these parties on the South Lawn was not convenient in a tent when the weather was bad. | ||
| But they were not, to my understanding, envisioning something quite like this. | ||
| And, you know, a lot of people I've talked to are in mourning about this, who have worked in the East Wing because this was their home. | ||
| And it's shocking to see it not literally not exist anymore. | ||
| Let's listen to the White House Press Secretary, Caroline Lovitt. | ||
| She held a briefing yesterday and she drew on history to defend the current ballroom project. | ||
| There have been many presidents in the past who have made their mark on this beautiful White House complex. | ||
| This briefing room, as you all know, was not once a briefing room. | ||
| It was a swimming pool. | ||
| There have been presidents who have completely torn down the executive mansion. | ||
| If you look at what President Truman did, some of the photos of the construction project that took place in those years, I think sitting here today, we're all grateful for those efforts and the modifications that happened at that time. | ||
| And again, in due time, the East Wing is going to be more beautiful and modern than ever before. | ||
| And in addition, there will be a big, beautiful ballroom that can hold big parties and state visits for generations to come. | ||
| The White House Press Secretary during the briefing yesterday, Kate Anderson-Brower, you said it's the way that this is being done is why it appears or is perceived as more controversial. | ||
| Explain. | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, we know that historic preservation organizations have sent letters to the Capitol Planning Commission in charge of this and said, and to the National Park Service and said, please wait until there is a public discussion about these plans. | |
| And I think that the fact that this is done with such speed and so suddenly and in such a hugely drastic way. | ||
| I mean, Trump is a real estate construction guy at his heart, right? | ||
| And by doing this this way, it's kind of like, you know, ask permission, ask forgiveness, not permission. | ||
| And that's what he's done. | ||
| It's too late. | ||
| Everything else he's done can be undone. | ||
| The Oval Office gilding, that can be undone by the White House Operations Department in an hour. | ||
| The rose garden, the concrete can be, you know, taken up and resotted. | ||
| This will not be undone. | ||
| And he's leaving his mark on the White House because he wants people to know hundreds of years from now that he was there. | ||
| We'll go to Joe in Evans, West Virginia, Democratic caller. | ||
| You're up first in this conversation. | ||
| good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
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I was just going to, well, thanks everybody, but I was just going to say and ask a question about the procedures that had came before on the renovations before like people talking about Obama's basketball court and those kind of things. | |
| And I'd just like to. | ||
| Yeah, Joe, so procedures. | ||
| I think what he means by that, is there, you know, some sort of procedure or protocol when a president makes renovations to the White House. | ||
|
unidentified
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It's shocking, but there really isn't. | |
| A lot of this is custom. | ||
| It's not law. | ||
| It's, you know, most presidents, they have a deep understanding that they are temporary residents of the White House. | ||
| It's not their home. | ||
| So they do things very incrementally. | ||
| And remember, President Obama got all that blowback for making the tennis court into a basketball court. | ||
| And that is such a small, small thing compared to what we're seeing now. | ||
| So, I mean, the Truman balcony was very controversial at the time. | ||
| And I would say that that's a beloved part of the White House today. | ||
| So there is a chance that hundreds of years from now, people could look back on this and say it was a wonderful addition. | ||
| Well, people point to President Obama's term when he had to put a tent out back in order to house enough guests for a state dinner that he was hosting because indoors there's not enough room. | ||
|
unidentified
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That's true. | |
| And I covered some of those state dinners as a reporter for Bloomberg News at the time. | ||
| And those were gorgeous, gorgeous affairs. | ||
| I mean, when people say they were like backyard barbecue tents, it was not that the case at all. | ||
| But yes, this will be much more convenient given the weather. | ||
| And also presidents, you know, they want to show off the White House to foreign leaders. | ||
| And the White House is a modest house compared to European palaces. | ||
| That's what George Washington wanted. | ||
| It wasn't a president. | ||
| I mean, it wasn't a king. | ||
| It was a president. | ||
| And so it was meant to be restrained. | ||
| And I think that that is what is surprising about this ballroom. | ||
| There is nothing restrained about it. | ||
| The Washington Post notes this morning that Caroline Levitt introduced, when she introduced the project to the public in July, she said the wing would be modernized, not demolished. | ||
| Trump said then that it would cost about $200 million and hold 650 guests, estimates that have increased to 300 million in nearly 1,000, respectively. | ||
| Kenneth, let's hear from you and Virginia Republican caller. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yes, good morning. | |
| I just would like to know, are we really all that surprised? | ||
| You know, this coming from a man who doesn't ask permission to touch a woman's senatalia before he does. | ||
| Matthew in Dearborn, Michigan, Democratic caller, Matthew, you're next. | ||
|
unidentified
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Hi, how you doing? | |
| What I don't like about it, he's using the general contractor's non-union labor. | ||
| That and the Volvos that were tearing it down, they're all built overseas. | ||
| And he's the America first president. | ||
| He never seems to think about America first. | ||
| All right, Matthew. | ||
| Santiago in Oklahoma, Republican, let's hear from you. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yes, my name is Santiago. | |
| My question is, why not doesn't the president hire two secret service agents to get Navy SEALs to build him, his residential extension of the White House? | ||
| That would be inexpensive, and that way top security would be at demand. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Well, let's talk about the cost of these renovations. | ||
| More reporting from the Washington Post this morning. | ||
| Trump told reporters Thursday that private donors had given about $350 million for the project and that he had personally contributed millions of dollars. | ||
| Do we know that to be the case? | ||
| How do where would the checks be? | ||
| How could Americans view that? | ||
|
unidentified
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We don't know the amount of money that the president has given or even the amount that all of these companies have given. | |
| We know that major companies like Apple have made donations and there are some ethical questions about why you would make a donation of this size and scope to the president. | ||
| And obviously, Curry's favor, and it is not a partisan issue at all. | ||
| You have Richard Painter, who worked for George W. Bush, bringing this up, that there could be a quid pro quo kind of situation here. | ||
| It is not. | ||
| I think what's interesting about this is that it is not partisan. | ||
| This is the love people have, Americans have for the White House. | ||
| From the Washington Post, the White House on Thursday also released a list of donors to the project, which included companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, and Palantar, and wealthy individuals such as Blackstone CBO Steven Schwartzmann and crypto's investor Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. | ||
| Jeff Bezos owns the Post, they note. | ||
| A $22 million chunk came from a settlement Trump reached with Google-owned video site YouTube, ending a lawsuit he brought over the company's 2021 decision to suspend his account in the wake of the January 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. | ||
| Felicia in Washington, D.C., Democratic caller, your comment or question? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, I listened to some of the Republican callers, and they were wondering what I did about law of procedure for doing these things. | |
| But the thing about the question really is, does Carlyn Levitt is such pressure secretary say that Trump is transparent? | ||
| And she said something else about him. | ||
| And I'm wondering, does Trump plan to leave the White House in 2029? | ||
| And that's your basic question. | ||
| Or is he getting ready to find some reason or another or emergency she gave as his reason for staying in the White House? | ||
| All right, Felicia's comments there about these renovations and what do they ultimately mean. | ||
| You heard her opinion there. | ||
| Kate Anderson Brower, you mentioned the bunker that's been under the East Wing that was built. | ||
| And was that controversial? | ||
| And what does it do exactly? | ||
| Have Americans ever seen this bunker? | ||
|
unidentified
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It's a very interesting space. | |
| I mean, President Trump went there during the George Floyd protests. | ||
| And like I said, George W. Bush was there during 9-11. | ||
| So we've seen images. | ||
| It is a very top secret. | ||
| It is a secure bunker in case of an attack. | ||
| FDR had it built during World War II. | ||
| And, you know, I'm actually unclear as to whether it exists now. | ||
| It's underground, so I believe that it does, and the military could be working on revamping it. | ||
| But I think that the larger question I have as someone who looks at First Ladies is where is her staff going to work? | ||
| We know that some of them now are actually working in the ground floor, in the china room, in these historic rooms of the White House, main residence. | ||
| If they're eventually going to go to the Eisenhower Executive Office building, that's taking them out of the seat of power. | ||
| And I know having covered the White House, they're already in, they call it Siberia, right? | ||
| They're already removed from the West Wing. | ||
| Everything in the White House is about proximity to the Oval Office. | ||
| So if you're in the East Wing, at least you're on the White House, you know, general complex. | ||
| What powers do the First Ladies have and should they have power when Americans are voting for the president? | ||
|
unidentified
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That's a wonderful question, and I think people are debating it all the time. | |
| I think that they have tremendous influence culturally. | ||
| And from Eleanor Roosevelt on, we've seen that they can be a real emissary for their husbands, going out and talking to people around the world. | ||
| And what Dr. Biden did was really interesting, working outside of the White House for the first time. | ||
| She's the first First Lady to do that. | ||
| So I think the question is whether they can work outside, whether they should be allowed to work outside of the White House. | ||
| Tom in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Tom. | ||
| Hey, Tom, you have to mute your television, all right? | ||
| You ready to go? | ||
| All right. | ||
| Sorry, maybe you can call back in, Tom. | ||
| Will Anderson, South Carolina, independent. | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, I'm livid. | |
| I'm a preservationist myself and have restored an old house over the last 20 years. | ||
| And this power mad vandal destroying our social safety net, Bill of Rights, and now the White House is just too much. | ||
| I'm hoping and praying this is the straw that breaks the camel's back and the people and Republican Party grows a pair and we get rid of this monster. | ||
| It's absurd. | ||
| And I'm just, I'm deeply saddened by this tragedy. | ||
| But thank you all for covering it and hope you all have a great rest of the day. | ||
| All right, Will. | ||
| Kate Anderson Brower. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think he's articulating what a lot of people feel. | |
| I mean, when George Washington and his Secretary of State at the time, Thomas Jefferson, were looking at plans for the White House, Pierre L'Enfant, the French architect who designed Washington, D.C., submitted a plan for a presidential palace. | ||
| And they absolutely said, no, this is not a palace. | ||
| This is the people's house. | ||
| This is the president's house, and you will not live there forever. | ||
| And so they rejected the plan, and they ended up with something that was five times smaller than what L'Anfont envisioned. | ||
| And I think that there's a neoclassical kind of restrained design to the White House. | ||
| And it's just shocking to me that this happened because when I talk to White House curators, every single piece of furniture on the state floor is accounted for. | ||
| They love this house. | ||
| The people on the resident staff, about 100 of them, from carpenters to housekeepers, calligraphers, this house is sacred to them as it is to the American people. | ||
| So it's stunning to see this. | ||
| Jackson, Maryland, Democratic caller. | ||
| Hi, Jack. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, good morning, ladies. | |
| I just want to make a point that what Trump has done to the East Wing is indicative of how he feels about government overall. | ||
| I mean, just think about how he's conducted himself in the second term. | ||
| He's blown through all of the customs, norms, and institutions that's really sustained our country for the last hundred years. | ||
| So this isn't a surprise. | ||
| It's not a surprise at how he's gone about it. | ||
| He blatantly lied in saying it was just going to be a modest modification to the East Wing. | ||
| It won't be a complete demolition. | ||
| And then literally, within a week, the entire East Wing was gone. | ||
| It was a blatant lie. | ||
| The cost has inflated to $300 million. | ||
| And again, it's indicative of how Trump feels about government overall. | ||
| And symbolically, when this monstrosity is completed, it's going to look awful. | ||
| I think your guest made the point that it's going to be twice the size of the White House itself. | ||
| There won't be any ballots. | ||
| So aesthetically, it's just going to look odd and awkward. | ||
| Okay, well, we'll take that point again. | ||
| Kate Anderson-Brower, you talked about the symmetry or luck thereof. | ||
| Here's the rendering again from the New York Times of what the president envisions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I mean, when Thomas Jefferson built the East Colonnade, which was controversial at the time, it was all, he didn't build the East Wing, he built the colonnade. | |
| It was all about symmetry. | ||
| And now you see it will certainly not be symmetrical. | ||
| The White House, the executive mansion itself, which is where the president lives, is 55,000 square feet. | ||
| So, and then you have the West Wing, which is a separate square footage. | ||
| But so we are talking right now about adding 90,000 square feet. | ||
| So it'll be much larger, almost twice as big as the White House residence, which is the state floor, which is the East Room, the state dining room, all those public spaces. | ||
| And I am not an architect, but you can clearly see that this is not going to be symmetrical anymore. | ||
| And I think that people have every right to voice their concern. | ||
| I mean, it really is the people's house. | ||
| And again, I don't think that this is a partisan issue in any way. | ||
| And it's a shame that it has become that way. | ||
| Margaret's in Florida, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Margaret. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| I am a Republican calling on the Republican line. | ||
| I was wondering, my question is, where may I send a donation to help with the construction of the ballroom? | ||
| Margaret, you want to donate. | ||
| And why do you want to donate? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Because I think it's a good idea. | |
| Just like Barack Obama said that he can't, he had to have a tent out to have all these dignitaries out in the grass sitting in the tent, no matter what the weather is. | ||
| It would be nice to have such a ballroom. | ||
| It's just another addition. | ||
| It's just like everybody does to their own house, whether they paint it or change the bathroom or whatever. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Margaret's thoughts there in Florida. | ||
| Kate Anderson-Brower, do you have a response? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, I think if you want to build a pool or put any addition on your house, you actually have to go through some permitting. | |
| So I think that this was a decision that could have been worked out with the White House Historical Association with the National Park Service and just done more carefully. | ||
| I know we've seen the renderings. | ||
| We don't have a real solid idea of what it will look like. | ||
| And again, putting your own stamp on the White House is absolutely fine. | ||
| And presidents do do that in the residence. | ||
| They hire interior decorators to redo bedrooms. | ||
| And every president does that. | ||
| But I think the concern here is that it is a real permanent change. | ||
| What is the budget for redoing the White House when you come in as a new president? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, it's a couple hundred thousand dollars. | |
| You don't have to, you don't have to take it. | ||
| You can use your private funds. | ||
| And I actually don't know, and I'd be curious to know the salary of $400,000 that the president gets. | ||
| He's mentioned, you know, maybe he'll use some of, that's a drop in the bucket for this project, but maybe he would use some of that for the ballroom. | ||
| And I don't know, I thought that President Trump wasn't taking that salary or that he was giving it to charity. | ||
| But it is absolutely okay to make your put your stamp on the White House. | ||
| That's not the issue. | ||
| This is just such a permanent change. | ||
| And it's no other president, I mean, think of FDR, right? | ||
| He didn't have, when Truman came into the White House, it was a mess because Roosevelt didn't have the time to deal with decor. | ||
| So I think people are worried about, you know, the cost of groceries more than this. | ||
| And they want the president to spend more time on the economy than on there. | ||
| Most people are not going to go to a state dinner or get invited to the East Ballroom. | ||
| And I think it's just, in a way, a distraction from real pressing issues. | ||
| And from the Washington Post reporting about the president's contribution, they said that he told reporters Thursday that private donors had given about $350 million for the project and that he had personally contributed millions of dollars. | ||
| Our guest, Kate Anderson-Brower, you can read her books. | ||
| She's the author of The Residence Inside the Private World of the White House. | ||
| And her other book is First Women, The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies. | ||
| Kate Anderson-Brower, thank you for the conversation this morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Greta. | |
| We're going to take a break. | ||
| When we come back, we're going to return to open forum this morning. | ||
| Any public policy or politics issue that's on your mind, start dialing in. | ||
| There are the numbers on your screen. | ||
| Plus a conversation with Democratic Congresswoman Lori Trahan of Massachusetts on Democrat strategy on this day 24 of the government shutdown. | ||
| And we'll check in with Rosie Rios, chair of the America 250 Commission on upcoming programming and events as celebrations continue in this country. | ||
| We'll be right back. | ||
| So you interviewed the other night. | ||
| I watched it about two o'clock in the morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
There was a little thing called C-SPAN, which I don't know how many people were watching. | |
| Don't worry, you were in prime time too, but they happen to have a little rerun. | ||
| Do you really think that we don't remember what just happened last week? | ||
| Thank goodness for C-SPAN, and we all should review the tape. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Everyone wonders when they're watching C-SPAN what the conversations are on the floor. | |
| I'm about to read to you something that was published by C-SPAN. | ||
| There's a lot of things that Congress fights about, that they disagree on. | ||
| We can all watch that on C-SPAN. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Millions of people across the country tuned into C-SPAN. | |
| That was a major C-SPAN moment. | ||
| If you watch on C-SPAN, you're going to see me physically across the aisle every day just trying to build relationships and try to understand their perspective and find common ground. | ||
| And welcome forward to everybody watching at home. | ||
| We know C-SPAN covers this a lot as well. | ||
| We appreciate that. | ||
| And one can only hope that he's able to watch C-SPAN on a black and white television set in his prison cell. | ||
| This is being carried live by C-SPAN. | ||
| It's being watched not only in this country, but it's being watched around the world right now. | ||
| Mike said before, I happened to listen to him, he was on C-SPAN 1. | ||
| That's a big upgrade, right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
America marks 250 years, and C-SPAN is there to commemorate every moment. | |
| From the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the voices shaping our nation's future, we bring you unprecedented all-platform coverage, exploring the stories, sights, and spirit that make up America. | ||
| Join us for remarkable coast-to-coast coverage, celebrating our nation's journey like no other network can. | ||
| America 250. | ||
| Over a year of historic moments. | ||
| Only on the C-SPAN Networks. | ||
| Today on C-SPAN's Ceasefire, in a time of sharp political divides, two senators from opposite sides of the aisle come together for a candid conversation. | ||
| Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Coons and Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford discuss cooperation on key foreign policy and the government shutdown. | ||
| They join host Dasha Burns to talk about what really matters today at 7 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. | ||
| Ceasefire only on C-SPAN. | ||
| Washington Journal continues. | ||
| We are back here this morning on the Washington Journal in open form. | ||
| So any public policy or political issue on your mind, you can call in this morning for our last hour. | ||
| Start dialing in now. | ||
| We'll get to those thoughts here in just a minute. | ||
| Joining us is Congresswoman Lori Trahan. | ||
| She is a Democrat from Massachusetts, serves also as the co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. | ||
| Congresswoman, we are in day 24 of the government shutdown. | ||
| Republicans say, they argue, Democrats should come to the table and vote for the continuing resolution that was passed by the House that would open up the government so federal workers and military service members can get paid. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, well, Democrats are at the table, and we want our Republican colleagues to come off of vacation where they've been, you know, the last four weeks. | |
| You know, the Speaker of the House has kept his members away from the Capitol, even though many of them have called asking to come back so that we can adjust strategy here and get to a place where we can reopen the government. | ||
| I mean, look, this, you know, so many of my Republican colleagues have spent the last 10 months talking about how they've had a sweeping mandate. | ||
| But look where that mandate has gotten us. | ||
| It's gotten into total dysfunction. | ||
| They have not worked with Democrats to protect Americans' health care. | ||
| They have sat by while the president has engaged in a reckless tariff policy where people are experiencing high costs at grocery stores and hospitals on their utility bills. | ||
| And what they're showing right now in terms of Republican leadership in the Congress is the only thing they are capable of is just taking orders from the president when really they should be re-engaging with Democrats to pass a budget that protects people's health care and brings their costs down. | ||
| We've heard from our viewers this morning with a couple of arguments. | ||
| One viewer said that the Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits were passed by Democrats, signed into law by President Biden during COVID. | ||
| Why did the Democrats not make them permanent then? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Look, how we got here is making sure that more people could afford their health care. | |
| We know that premiums are on the rise without these tax credits in place. | ||
| And I think Democrats and Republicans should come together to put in place those extension of the tariffs because people are already getting their notices, right? | ||
| This is the re-enrollment starts on November 1st. | ||
| Republicans are arguing that this is an end-of-the-year problem. | ||
| We're saying because those rates are already hitting people's mailboxes, we have to deal with it now. | ||
| And, you know, I've heard the Republican arguments of how Obamacare and Affordable Care Act is unaffordable. | ||
| We would love to have the larger conversation about how we transform our health care system and make it more accessible and more affordable. | ||
| Republicans have never wanted to engage in that conversation. | ||
| Ever since we passed the Affordable Care Act, they've either tried to repeal it and replace it with no alternative or just undermine it. | ||
| And I think that's what you're seeing right now. | ||
| So Democrats know that when we're talking about health care, we have to work together on this. | ||
| We have to make it so that people can access their doctor in their community. | ||
| We have to make it so that people can afford their premiums and they're not wondering if they're one illness away from a financial travesty. | ||
| But Republicans have been unwilling to engage in those long-term conversations on how we transform our health care system and not even willing to engage on how we give people relief in this moment by extending these tax credits so that people can afford their premiums. | ||
| And look, this comes at a time where the backdrop is they just cut a trillion dollars from Medicaid. | ||
| We're seeing people who are 15 million people across our country who stand to lose their health care, millions more who are literally going to not be able to access their health care in their local hospital because those hospitals are already making decisions to cut services or worse, close. | ||
| So Republicans really don't have a leg to stand on in the health care discussion because they just stripped nearly a trillion dollars from health care that people rely on and also unwilling to work with us to extend these tax credits so that people can afford their premiums. | ||
| Democrats' alternative proposal for opening up the government includes $1.5 trillion. | ||
| Here's the committee for a responsible federal budget. | ||
| Congress should not add $1.5 trillion into debt in this continuing resolution. | ||
| We've heard that argument from our viewers this morning as well. | ||
| How do you respond? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Look, if you're talking about adding trillions of dollars to our debt, just look at what this administration has done, both in the first term and now in this term. | |
| But I think today, right now, as we sit, people are clamoring for us to lower their prices. | ||
| This country is unaffordable. | ||
| It happens at the checkout. | ||
| It's happening. | ||
| People can't afford their rent. | ||
| They can't afford a mortgage. | ||
| They can't afford to buy a home. | ||
| They're opening up their utility bills and they're shocked at the rates that they're being charged. | ||
| And we have an opportunity right now to just stabilize our health care system so that people who are supporting their families, Medicaid is the highest payer of labor and delivery in our country. | ||
| Half of births are paid for by Medicaid. | ||
| And here they have undermined that program to an extent where not only will women not go for their prenatal appointments or not get coverage post-partum, but they're also looking at maternity wards getting closed in rural hospitals, in gateway safety net hospitals. | ||
| It's across the board. | ||
| So, you know, like I said at the beginning of this interview, we are more than willing to have a conversation about how do we reduce the costs of health care in our country and make it more accessible for people. | ||
| We have been unapologetic about extending more health care to people so that they can, you know, go to their primary care doctors and co-produce their care and not just go to emergency rooms. | ||
| But Republicans have been unwilling to do that. | ||
| So, you know, I think this sheds a light on where your elected officials stand on making sure that you have the ability to provide that basic right to your family. | ||
| And that is the reason why we're here in this moment right now. | ||
| Congressman Woman, before we let you go on the Affordable Care Act, we asked this of Mike Haradopoulos, Congressman from Florida, earlier this morning, about compromise. | ||
| Where would you agree to reforms to the Affordable Care Act? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Look, I think we all know that the tax credits for premiums, the premium tax credits, that is not sustainable over the long haul. | |
| It is expensive. | ||
| We have to do more to bring down those costs for families rather than subsidize those costs. | ||
| We don't have, you know, we're not having debates right now around a single payer or a public option. | ||
| Those are options that insert at least a public option that insert competition into the marketplace, which was originally part of Obamacare, which the Republicans didn't want to entertain. | ||
| And so we would love to, you know, continue the job that we started back in 2010 so that we can make health care more accessible for everyone in this country so that hospitals aren't closing as a result of these deep cuts to Medicaid and the fact that people can't afford their premiums or have the peace of mind of knowing that they can access their doctor when their child needs it. | ||
| But we need Republicans to engage in this conversation because this can't go cycle to cycle. | ||
| This needs to be set up for long-term success. | ||
| And we have very clear ideas on how to do that. | ||
| We just need Republicans to get back to work in Washington to have those conversations. | ||
| Congresswoman Lori Trahan, Democrat of Massachusetts, thank you as always for joining us this morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| You heard from the Congresswoman and you heard earlier from Congressman Mike Haradopoulos of Florida about the government shutdown. | ||
| We're an open forum. | ||
| You can talk about the 24th day here of the government shutdown or any other public policy or political issue. | ||
| There are the lines on your screen. | ||
| Let's hear from Nick, who's in Alton, Illinois, Republican. | ||
| Nick, you're up first in open forum. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| I have to respond to that, Congresswoman. | ||
| You all know better than what you're spooing. | ||
| 13 times, you guys had no problem voting for this continuing resolution. | ||
| Not one time, not once. | ||
| You guys are wanting to fund areas that's going to give money, taxpayer money, from the American people to people who are not supposed to be here. | ||
| That is the problem. | ||
| Secondly, can C-SPAN do me and the country a favor and discuss how much and taxpayer dollars is being used to fund the creation of the Obama Library and the cost overruns it's costing Illinois taxpayers? | ||
| The expansion of the White House has long been wanted by both sides. | ||
| Only problem is the guest you guys just had on hates Trump. | ||
| She doesn't like him. | ||
| It's obvious. | ||
| All Democrats want to do is create a problem where there isn't one. | ||
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| Have a nice day. | ||
| Okay, Nick, David in Washington State, Democratic caller. | ||
| Hi, David. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, this is an open forum, right? | |
| Yes, go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Well, the president says he runs such a law and order country, and Pat Bondi wants to keep law and order. | ||
| My family has mineral rights in Wyoming, and Central Oil Company won't pay any of the middle rights at all. | ||
| And this has been going on for a number of years. | ||
| And they're drilling and pumping about 10 oils, and they're not paying anything and taxes or money to my extended family. | ||
| Okay, David. | ||
| Tom in Virginia Independent. | ||
| We are an open forum. | ||
| Tom? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| It's my first time calling. | ||
| I appreciate you taking my call. | ||
| I was just, these little thing about the White House, it was reported that the Trump family profited 44 and a half, not million, but billion dollars the first three months of this year with crypto, the crypto platform that they control. | ||
| Let Trump pay for the whole thing. | ||
| It shouldn't have been done the way it's doing, but that's the way this administration is doing everything. | ||
| All right, Tom's thoughts on the renovations of the East Wing of the White House. | ||
| Some other news to share with you this morning, in case you missed it yesterday. | ||
| FBI Director Kash Patel announced arrests in an alleged sports gambling probe, which included several NBA professionals. | ||
| Here's what he had to say yesterday in New York City. | ||
| But as you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Billips, Damon Jones, and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today, former current NBA players and coaches. | ||
| What you don't know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years. | ||
| The FBI led a coordinated takedown across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals today responsible for this case, which is very much ongoing. | ||
| Not only did we crack into the fraud that these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA, but we also entered and executed a system of justice against La Casa Nostra to include the Bonano, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families. | ||
| And you'll hear more about those details today. | ||
| The charges and the arrests that were taken down across this country range from wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery, illegal gambling. | ||
| This FBI will leave no room for any perpetrator of crime across this country. | ||
| You hear a lot about our work defending the homeland and crushing violent crime. | ||
| Well, this work is also representative of a colossal portion of the FBI's mandate to keep America safe and to keep our entertainment industry fair and secure. | ||
| The men and women that are standing up here today worked tireless hours, days, months, and years. | ||
| And the fraud is mind-boggling. | ||
| It's not hundreds of dollars. | ||
| It's not thousands of dollars. | ||
| It's not tens of thousands of dollars. | ||
| It's not even millions of dollars. | ||
| We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation. | ||
| The FBI director of New York yesterday on this gambling investigation that is also on the table this morning for you to discuss in open forum. | ||
| Rob in Richmond, Virginia and Independent. | ||
| Rob, what's on your mind? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Greta. | |
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Appreciate it. | |
| Well, I got two things. | ||
| The Democrats have really got their message through. | ||
| I advise them to open the government, let the subsidies expire, and let all the people on both sides, you know, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people who voted for Trump, let their premiums go up and run on it next year. | ||
| Instead of trying to fix the problem Republicans created, run on it next year. | ||
| Promise that you will retroactively give back the subsidies if they vote for you in the midterms. | ||
| And secondly, just from what you just showed up there, isn't it hypocrisy that Patel came out the same day that Trump pardoned? | ||
| The guy wasn't in prison anymore. | ||
| He pardoned the Binance guy who laundered money to terrorists, laundered money, and everything he just described, what these guys were doing, what he busted them for. | ||
| This guy just got pardoned. | ||
| Are you talking about, Rob, are you talking about this headline? | ||
| Here's the Wall Street Journal. | ||
| It's in other newspapers as well. | ||
| President Pardon's convicted Binance founder. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, he wasn't even in prison anymore. | |
| He served four months. | ||
| But look at, put up there for everybody to view what he pled guilty for. | ||
| They only pardoned him because he could not do business with the United States anymore. | ||
| So this guy did things, and we're talking about laundering children, laundering pedophiles, laundering all sorts of funds, and that he admitted to organizations in the billions, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars. | ||
| And this guy is talking about busting three minorities, you know, putting them on the spot of the TV. | ||
| I think it's a big smoke screen, by the way. | ||
| They wanted to get the do it the same day so that that would override the headline. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Well, Rob, let's just look at the front page of the Wall Street Journal. | ||
| And again, our viewers can read it in the newspapers this morning. | ||
| And it says that a pardon will likely pave the way for Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, to return to the U.S. after the company pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating U.S. anti-money laundering requirements and was barred from operating in the country. | ||
| The company spent nearly a year pursuing a pardon for Zao, the founder, who left prison in September 2024 after serving a four-month sentence for related charges. | ||
| Sandy in Oakdale, California, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Sandy. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| How are you? | ||
| I would like to respond to two things. | ||
| One thing, Kathy, on the ballroom distraction, very disappointing. | ||
| This is going to be something that's not being paid for by the taxpayer, shockingly enough. | ||
| And I think there needs to be something positive to look at in the world rather than all the negatives. | ||
| The man has nearly stopped nine or ten wars now, and he's moving forward with what the people elected him to do. | ||
| The other thing I have a problem with is these government subsidies for food and medical. | ||
| I have four children. | ||
| I have raised them all. | ||
| They are all standing on their own. | ||
| And if anybody in our family needs food or medical care or doesn't have a place to live, we pull together and we make it work. | ||
| We don't go to the government and say, here, we help all these people because they don't make a lot of money and they don't have good medical care. | ||
| Well, maybe they need to learn a little bit about birth control and let the local communities and the state come together for what people in their area needs instead of having the government have to take all of our money. | ||
| Okay, look at the Sandy. | ||
| All right, Sandy there in Oakdale, California, a Republican caller. | ||
| President Trump is about to take off this evening for his first trip to Asia of his second term. | ||
| The Washington Times says he has a jam-packed schedule. | ||
| On Sunday, he'll arrive in Malaysia and meets with the Prime Minister. | ||
| Monday travels to Tokyo to meet with the Japanese prime minister, which he'll do on Tuesday. | ||
| And on Wednesday, flies to South Korea to meet with the president. | ||
| And on Thursday, he'll be in South Korea and meets with the Chinese president on the sidelines of the APEC summit. | ||
| Tune in to C-SPAN and download our free C-SPAN app, C-SPAN now. | ||
| And you can also watch online on demand of the president's trip at c-span.org. | ||
| Celeste in Pennsylvania, Democratic caller. | ||
| Good morning to you. | ||
| We're an open forum. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, lots to talk about, but today I'd like to say about the shutdown. | |
| I am a Democrat and I don't think we should vote to open to pay anybody until everybody gets something they want. | ||
| Let them get a little preview of what's going to happen to us people on Social Security, disability, retirement, or whatever. | ||
| Let them see what it's going to be like to have to fight for food. | ||
| You know, it's going to make stealing go up. | ||
| People are going to start grocery stealing, you know, which is going to lead to neighbor stealing. | ||
| It's just not good. | ||
| So let's just stop all this and get them back in there to fight for what we pay them to do. | ||
| They're continuing to get paid. | ||
| None of us are. | ||
| So we don't even know if people on food stamps are going to get them this November. | ||
| So let's work together. | ||
| Let's get them back to work. | ||
| Vacation's over. | ||
| But everybody should be treated the same. | ||
| If we don't get paid and we're not going to have any health care at the, you know, November, then everybody should be in the same boat. | ||
| If we all can't pay the bills, then maybe we'll all join together. | ||
| And that's my point. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Carol in Nevada, Republican. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I'm getting Medicaid. | |
| I'm fine. | ||
| I'm not worried about my food stamps. | ||
| I'm not worried about anything. | ||
| And people, if they want to stay out, it's fine with me. | ||
| But I think we should pray for our president. | ||
| He's a good president, and he's doing a really good job. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Carol's thoughts there in Nevada. | ||
| More news to share with you. | ||
| Here's CNBC's headline. | ||
| Trump terminates all U.S. trade negotiations with Canada over a Reagan tariffs TV ad. | ||
| Take a look at the ad put together by the Canadian government. | ||
| When someone says, let's impose tariffs on foreign imports, it looks like they're doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. | ||
| And sometimes for a short while it works, but only for a short time. | ||
| But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. | ||
| High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. | ||
| Then the worst happens. | ||
| Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs. | ||
| Throughout the world, there's a growing realization That the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. | ||
| America's jobs and growth are at stake. | ||
| An ad put together by the Canadian government on tariffs, the Ronald Reagan Library put out a statement with a link to President Reagan's unedited remarks. | ||
| And so you can see that link. | ||
| And then they also said this: the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute learned that the government of Ontario, Canada, created an ad campaign using selective audio and video of President Ronald Reagan delivering his radio address to the nation on free and fair trade, dated April 25th, 1987. | ||
| The ad misrepresents the presidential radio address, and the government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks. | ||
| And again, in this post that they put on X, you can find a link to the former president's unedited remarks if you care to listen there. | ||
| The president, President Trump, posting on Truth Social, the Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is fake, that he said, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs. | ||
| The ad was for $75 million. | ||
| They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts. | ||
| Tariffs are very important to the national security and economy of the United States. | ||
| Based on their egregious behavior, all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated, says the president. | ||
| Now, the markets are going to open up in about five minutes. | ||
| Many folks are observing what the markets do based on this latest back and forth between Canada and the United States. | ||
| Jim in Iowa, Independent. | ||
| Hi, Jim. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| It's very disconcerting to see people arguing over how we rearrange the chairs on the Titanic. | ||
| We have struck the iceberg. | ||
| We talk about, back yesterday, supposedly, we passed $38 trillion in official debt. | ||
| They don't seem to mention the $150 trillion in off-budget obligations. | ||
| If a debt can't be paid, it won't be paid. | ||
| We have abandoned the U.S. Constitution. | ||
| The founding fathers knew to establish a republic rather than a democracy, which amounts to nothing more than two wolves and a sheep deciding who's for lunch. | ||
| Every fiat currency in 5,000 years has become worthless, and we are in a race to the bottom with other countries on the same solution. | ||
| We have to change course. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Jim, let me share with others from Fortune.com. | ||
| As national debt accelerates to $38 trillion, Watchdog warns: it's no way for a great nation like America to run its finances. | ||
| Again, this is Fortune.com with their reporting. | ||
| Michael Peterson, CEO of the nonpartisan watchdog dedicated to fiscal sustainability, said this landmark is the latest troubling sign that lawmakers are not meeting their basic fiscal duties. | ||
| In a statement provided to Fortune, Peters said that if it seems like we are adding debt faster than ever, that's because we are. | ||
| We passed $37 trillion just two months ago, and the pace we're on is twice as fast as the rate of growth since 2000. | ||
| The foundation's analysis attributes the acceleration to a combination of deficit spending, rising interest costs, and the economic drag of the ongoing government shutdown. | ||
| Timothy in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Democratic caller. | ||
| Timothy, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And Greta, I like to say that Donald Trump controls the House and the Senate. | |
| He has made it clear to Mike Johnson and John Toon to keep the government shut down and not open it and pressuring the Democrats to cave in. | ||
| Now, the reason why Trump wants the government shut down is because, and the Republicans not to report back to duty, is because Mike Johnson will have to swear in the Democrat who won her seat, and she's been out a month now, and he hasn't sworn her in. | ||
| Once they come back, he has to swear her in. | ||
| Once she is sworn in, the Epstein files will be open. | ||
| And Trump is keeping the government shut down because of that reason. | ||
| And Mike Johnson and John Toon will not open up this government. | ||
| That is not because of people, immigrants getting health care. | ||
| We know that's not true. | ||
| It's not because of all these other things about affordable health care. | ||
| These are things that they're throwing out there. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Timothy, an update for folks on action here in Washington as the government shutdown continues. | ||
| Yesterday on the Senate floor from the government executive website, dueling plans to pay feds on time fails in the Senate, though a bipartisan path appears forward. | ||
| Of course, if you tuned into C-SPAN 2, our gavel-to-gavel coverage, you saw Senators Ron Johnson, a Republican of Wisconsin, Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, with their dueling proposals. | ||
| Both failed in the Senate yesterday, but they had an exchange where they talked about perhaps moving forward on a bipartisan basis to pay federal workers. | ||
| Let's go to John in Vermont, Republican. | ||
| John. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| I'd just like to say you're doing a great job. | ||
| And also, yesterday, I found out that our insurance in Vermont is going to be done December 31st. | ||
| So I called in to find out how to get insurance. | ||
| And we can get it. | ||
| And it's certainly near the same amount of money as we were paying before. | ||
| But when you go to the hospital, you've got a $500 a day co-pay. | ||
| So a lot of people are going to be hurting. | ||
| They're living on a paycheck that's really small, and they can hardly afford to pay their taxes and live now. | ||
| And when they get this bill from any hospital care, they're going to be in trouble. | ||
| All right. | ||
| John in Vermont, Republican caller. | ||
| More of your calls coming up. | ||
| Also want to share some other news with you. | ||
| San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie at a news conference yesterday said he received a phone call from President Trump Wednesday night calling off any plans for federal deployment to San Francisco. | ||
| Take a listen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yesterday, I spoke to San Franciscans about a potential surge, a potential federal surge in our city. | |
| I said then what I've said since taking office, that keeping San Francisco safe is my top priority. | ||
| Late last night, I received a phone call from the President of the United States. | ||
| I told him the same thing that I have told our residents. | ||
| San Francisco is on the rise. | ||
| Visitors are coming back. | ||
| Buildings are getting leased and purchased, and workers are coming back to the office. | ||
| We have work to do, and we would welcome the continued partnership with FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. attorneys to get drugs and drug dealers off of our streets. | ||
| But having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery. | ||
| We appreciate that the President understands that we are the global hub for technology and that when San Francisco is strong, our country is strong. | ||
| Today in San Francisco, crime is down nearly 30% citywide and violent crime is at its lowest levels since the 1950s. | ||
| Car break-ins are at 22-year lows, and homicides are on track to hit 70-year lows. | ||
| We are adding police officers and sheriff deputies for the first time in a decade. | ||
| We have record-low number of encampments on our streets. | ||
| Our new approach is delivering results. | ||
| In our conversation, the president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal surge in San Francisco. | ||
| The San Francisco mayor yesterday. | ||
| Joining us on our set now is America 250 Commission Chair Rosie Rios here to talk about America 250 and programming that is coming up as the nation gets ready to celebrate the 250th anniversary. | ||
| Remind your viewers what A250 is and what you're charged with doing. | ||
| Absolutely. | ||
| So first of all, thank you for having me, Greta. | ||
| America 250 is a congressional commission that's charged with planning the nation's 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. | ||
| We've hit the ground running and are ready to go. | ||
| If C-SPAN is an official media partner, talk about the partnerships that you have. | ||
| Well, this has been a great partnership. | ||
| We've been kind of working together to coordinate some of these great milestones that are coming up. | ||
| In fact, most recently we launched Our American Story. | ||
| We're just talking about ways to integrate C-SPAN into kind of following us on the road and really capturing the stories of America that have never been told before. | ||
| You have several programs that are planned for the coming months, including a nationwide contest you're now expanding called America's Field Trip. | ||
| Explain what this is. | ||
| America's Field Trip, we just launched the third round a couple of weeks ago. | ||
| This is a national student competition for grades 3 through 12 who get to answer the question, what does America mean to you? | ||
| These kids get to choose from a series of backstage experiences, most of which have never been offered before and most of which are with our federal agencies. | ||
| So for example, I went on several of the tours and one of my favorites was the New York tour. | ||
| And so it wasn't just a tour of the Statue of Liberty. | ||
| We actually got into the crown. | ||
| We got to walk the hallowed halls of Ellis Island when no one else was there. | ||
| We ended the day at the New York Federal Reserve into the vault. | ||
| So for many of these kids, first time on a plane, first time out of state, first time on a family vacation. | ||
| But more than anything, they really get to appreciate our national treasures. | ||
| There's also an exclusive guided journey through Yellowstone National Park. | ||
| These are trips as well that will be awarded. | ||
| Yes, absolutely. | ||
| So they get to choose from, whether it's with our national parks, the Smithsonian, the National Zoo, all kinds of activities that, again, kind of connect history, but also inspire them to think about their future as well. | ||
| And by the way, the number one tour two years in a row that these kids chose was Yellowstone. | ||
| Why is that, you think? | ||
| You know, I think, I don't think they want to be indoor cats. | ||
| I think they want to get out. | ||
| I think they want to connect. | ||
| I think they want to, you know, these are kids who experienced the pandemic. | ||
| And I think to be out in the outdoors, really understanding kind of who we are and kind of how our country really came together for these moments, I think is an exciting opportunity for them to really, again, understand where our treasures are and explore our country all over again. | ||
| What did they tell you about the impact that these visits had on them? | ||
| You know, I love the stories of when they found out that they were selected. | ||
| So you hear everything from, you know, like Jayden, I just did this great tour with Jaden and his family in San Francisco, and he tells the great story of how he heard the scream of, I think it was his mother when she got the email that he won. | ||
| So, you know, the family's here. | ||
| It really is a family experience. | ||
| And for these kids, it's kind of the first time for many of them to really kind of get that level of validation. | ||
| How can students enter? | ||
| You can go to our website at america250.org/slash field trip. | ||
| You could submit your essay, your poem, your piece of artwork by March 30th. | ||
| You have a couple of other initiatives that are going on. | ||
| Our American Story and America's Invitation. | ||
| That's right. | ||
| Tell our viewers about those. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| So America's Invitation is something we launched on July 4th, 2023 with Major League Baseball at the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs game to launch kind of an ability for people to submit their ideas via our website at america250.org. | ||
| Your video on maybe your memories of the bicentennial, any stories you want to tell. | ||
| So that's Evergreen, that's still on our website. | ||
| And Our American Story is intended to be the largest oral history project in our country. | ||
| We're hitting the road in partnership with Airstream and also Custom Rams with Stellantis. | ||
| So we're going to all 56 parts of our country, 50 states DC, the five territories, and really kind of unbury the buried treasures of these stories that have never been told before. | ||
| You have other programs that are coming up in different cities. | ||
| Tell us about some of this and then when does it all culminate? | ||
| Well, you know, we like to think that this is going to be kind of the moment and the movement. | ||
| So the moments are what everyone's going to expect, you know, the fireworks, the pomp and circumstance. | ||
| Absolutely put on your seatbelts. | ||
| It's not just July 4th. | ||
| So many things are happening between now and then, but it's also the movement. | ||
| So this programming that I'm sharing with you, we want that to continue long after 2026. | ||
| The world is going to be watching what happens in the U.S. with the World Cup, with the LA Olympics in 2028. | ||
| Literally billions of people. | ||
| And we are taking this journey with all of them together, really making sure that this is going to be a lasting effort, again, long after the fireworks. | ||
| So there are a lot happening, as you were just explaining. | ||
| So if viewers couldn't keep up with notes while you're talking, where should they go? | ||
| How can they learn more information? | ||
| The beauty of this is we've already launched our master calendar and interactive map. | ||
| So it's on our website at America250.org. | ||
| And we have given the keys to the castle to all 56 kind of state and territories where they can also populate what's happening in their own towns. | ||
| We want this to be Sea to Shining Sea. | ||
| I say from New York to California, everything in between, and Guam to Alaska. | ||
| We want everyone to feel like this is their commemoration and celebration and remember this the way I remember the bicentennial of 1976. | ||
| Rosie Rios, the chair of America 250 Commission, again, that website is americatiff250.org. | ||
| Rosie Rios, thank you very much. | ||
| Thank you so much, Greta. | ||
| We are in open forum here this morning. | ||
| A reminder, you can call in by dialing Republicans 202-748-8001, Democrats 202-748-8000. | ||
| And Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| If you want to text and not call, 202-748-8003. | ||
| And you can also join us on facebook.com/slash C-SPAN or on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ. | ||
| A reminder of our programming here on the C-SPAN networks. | ||
| Today, 10 a.m. Eastern Time, right here on C-SPAN, you'll be able to hear from Speaker Mike Johnson again this morning. | ||
| He'll have another news conference. | ||
| He's held them every single day of the government's shutdown. | ||
| Tune in to here at C-SPAN at 10 a.m. | ||
| Also, our free video mobile app, C-SPAN Now, are online at c-span.org. | ||
| Also, today, 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on C-SPAN 2, we'll hear from the U.S. Energy Secretary, the Interior Secretary, Doug Bergham, on U.S. energy policies. | ||
| That'll be at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. | ||
| 7 p.m. tonight, Ceasefire. | ||
| This week on Ceasefire, Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons and Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford sit down with Dasha Burns for a bipartisan dialogue on the top issues facing the country, including the government shutdown and foreign policy challenges facing the Trump administration. | ||
| We'll also talk about top political news of the week with Democratic strategist Chuck Roca, former senior advisor to Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, and Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, who served as communications director to former Speaker Dennis Hastert and press secretary to former Senate Majority Leader Trent Law. | ||
| Tune into Ceasefire later today, 7 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free video video app, and online at c-span.org. | ||
| Back to calls. | ||
| Charles in North Carolina and Independent. | ||
| Charles, we're an open forum. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
They literally hurt the Republic. | |
| Right. | ||
| Well, the Transport. | ||
| That's what I'm getting ready to say. | ||
| They don't realize they're hurting the Democrats too. | ||
| Yeah, they're hurting everybody. | ||
| Charles, who are you at? | ||
| Charles, who are you having a conversation with at home? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And why? | |
| They don't understand that he is the president of the United States and this is his last run that he can ever make. | ||
| And, of course, he ain't going to sign it. | ||
| No matter what. | ||
| He ain't going to sign it. | ||
| Hey, Charles. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Not unless they agree to sign this, open the government up, and then they all go in the room somewhere, and then he's going to join in. | |
| Charles, Charles, in North Carolina, are you listening to me? | ||
|
unidentified
|
We're going to get a Democrat up there, and we're maybe so. | |
| All right, Charles, having a conversation at home with somebody else. | ||
| Ron and Elizabeth, Indiana, Democratic caller. | ||
| Hi, Ron. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, and good morning. | |
| It's been a little more than a year since I've called, and I have two quick statements to make, so please hold any comments or questions until after I finish. | ||
| First, Donald Trump has obviously decided that he would rather be the president of the Middle East than of the United States. | ||
| He's so busy flying to Gaza, Qatar, trying to solve other countries' problems, he doesn't care about ours. | ||
| And he's giving away taxpayer dollars to foreign countries. | ||
| At the same time, he's lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize while at the same time murdering foreigners in international waters and working to starve 14 million others around the world. | ||
| Second, our government is not broken. | ||
| It has successfully functioned for the last 249 years, serving the public, ensuring the rule of law, and protecting and keeping us safe. | ||
| It is the elected officials whom we have elected that are broken. | ||
| I call on the Council of Governors to convene an emergency meeting as soon as possible to hold a vote of competence or no confidence. | ||
| If a vote of no confidence is the final result, all federally elected officials should be removed from office and snap elections should be held to fill these positions as soon as possible. | ||
| All right, Ron, a Democratic caller there in Indiana. | ||
| Let's listen to the president yesterday at the White House. | ||
| He talked about targeting cartels in South America, saying that he'll brief Congress about this, but does not intend to ask for a declaration of war. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. President. | ||
| A moment ago, you said that if Secretary Hegseth went to Congress and briefed them on the operation of the United States, you will go. | ||
| We will go. | ||
| Difficult for them to object. | ||
| I don't see any laws in going. | ||
| No reason not to. | ||
| You know, they'll always complain, oh, we should have gone. | ||
| So we're going to definitely, I'd like to just tell you, let's go. | ||
| We'll go. | ||
| We're going to tell them what we're going to do, and I think they're going to probably like it, except for the radical left lunatics. | ||
| And, Mr. President, if you are declaring war against these cartels and Congress is likely to approve of that process, why not just ask for a declaration of war? | ||
| Well, I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. | ||
| I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. | ||
| Okay, we're going to kill them. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, they're going to be like dead. | |
| President Trump yesterday at the White House, Wall Street Journal, U.S. sends B-1 bombers near Venezuela. | ||
| The U.S. flew Air Force B-1 bombers near Venezuela on Thursday, stepping up pressure on the president of Venezuela only days after other American warplanes carried out an attack demonstration near the South American country. | ||
| Two B-1 Lancers took off from Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew near Venezuela, though they remained in international airspace, according to U.S. officials. | ||
| So that is from the Wall Street Journal's reporting following up on what the president had to say at the White House yesterday. | ||
| David Ignatius, who writes a column for the Washington Post, says Trump is ignoring the real threat matrix. | ||
| He says, a puzzling pivot to the Caribbean increases, increasingly leaves Europe to answer Putin's aggression on its own, saying that this is a distraction from what's happening in Russia. | ||
| And related to that, here is the headline in the Washington Times. | ||
| Ukrainian President Zelensky is appealing to EU leaders right now for long-range missiles, saying partners must step up if the U.S. doesn't. | ||
| On top of that, front page of the papers this morning, and here's the New York Times. | ||
| It's in others as well. | ||
| Russian President Putin dismisses the latest sanctions, Trump imposing curbs on two Russian oil giants, those dismissed by Putin, calling them unfriendly acts. | ||
| Mary in St. Louis, Missouri, Republican. | ||
| Marion, we're an open forum. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I just have a couple comments. | ||
| Three. | ||
| I'll make them real quick. | ||
| In 1794, when there was violence in western Pennsylvania over the Whiskey Rebellion, it was George Washington who led 15,000 troops in to quell the mess. | ||
| So, you know, let's go back to those things. | ||
| Second of all, when they say that Medicaid is being cut, is that the cuts just include all the fraud so that there will be more along the way? | ||
| And the third one is: if you're so upset about the White House construction, were those people equally upset when statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt were destroyed and removed? | ||
|
unidentified
|
So if they want to talk about historical importance, they have to talk on both sides. | |
| Thank you very much. | ||
| All right, Mary. | ||
| Chris, Warren, Michigan, Democratic College. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How are you doing? | |
| How are you doing? | ||
| Hi, Chris. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I got a few comments and points to make. | |
| First of all, the woman from California back, way back, said about pregnancy, and people shouldn't have a lot of babies. | ||
| And, you know, everybody gets in trouble sometimes. | ||
| Everybody needs help. | ||
| People shouldn't talk about how many kids they have. | ||
| That's one comment. | ||
| The other thing is, these people that helped Trump put up the part of the White House, are we going to start to see signs like Google across them and his cryptocurrency, big advertisements on the side of that building, like a sports arena? | ||
| And if so, is there a chance that this place might go bankrupt because Trump built it? | ||
| I just don't understand why he's doing all this stuff to just basically kick people off. | ||
| All right, Chris in Michigan, Democratic caller. | ||
| In Illinois, Governor J.B. Pritzker yesterday signing an executive order to create a commission on these migrant raids, the federal deployment into Illinois. | ||
| Here's the governor. | ||
| We're creating here a record, and that record will survive long after perhaps this commission has issued a report. | ||
| That record will help future leaders to decide how they are going to hold people accountable. | ||
| And I do want to say to people who are ICE agents today, who are CBP, people who are holding higher office secretaries in the administration, that if they do not follow the law, they will be held accountable. | ||
| And there will be archives and records of what happened here. | ||
| And we will know and be able to take action. | ||
| The first time, by the way, I think, aside again from the judiciary taking action, will be when Congress changed its hands. | ||
| And there are actual hearings about these things that, you know, why are there not hearings now? | ||
| It's because you have a whole bunch of sycophants in the Congress. | ||
| They like to, well, the reports, you know, in the media are that, oh, well, they're afraid. | ||
| Well, if you just sit here and do nothing while the democracy that we all know and love goes away, then I think you're committing more than just, you know, an act of fear. | ||
| You're actually a collaborator in the endeavor. | ||
| Illinois Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker yesterday on those federal deployments. | ||
| The Washington Post this morning on the redistricting fights, Virginia Democrats are initiating a redistricting push in that state. | ||
| That, of course, follows what happened in Texas, California's Proposition 50 to change their districts, and the redistricting conversations that are happening in a dozen other states across the country. | ||
| Related to that from the Washington Post, behind the scenes, former President Barack Obama is fighting the current president, President Trump's redistricting plans. | ||
| It's a lengthy piece in the Washington Post, if you want to read it, on the role that the former president is playing in responding to the Republicans and President Trump on redistricting. | ||
| Mike and Sue Falls, South Dakota and Independent. | ||
| Mike, we're an open forum. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, say good morning. | |
| I tell you what, I am so sick of the media. | ||
| And, you know, I like and enjoy listening to C-SPAN, but even C-SPAN, you had people, Democrats, calling in yesterday talking about the tariffs and how $17 trillion has been brought in, yet our national debt increased. | ||
| They imply that Trump is stealing $17 trillion. | ||
| And Mimi sat there and allowed these people to go on and on and on about it. | ||
| If she would have corrected them, it might have helped some of the misinformation. | ||
| Those tariffs weren't, they're not tariffs. | ||
| They were investments in the United States. | ||
| If those countries decide they don't want to spend money in the United States, then it won't be $17 trillion. | ||
| But those are not tariffs. | ||
| Those are investments coming back to the United States. | ||
| And if C-SPAN won't correct their callers and their viewers, then you're no better than CNN or MSNBC. | ||
| Go, Trump. | ||
| All right, Mike, I'm not sure if this is what you're referring to, but I will share this with you. | ||
| This is CNN fact check. | ||
| Trump's $17 trillion investment figure is fiction. | ||
| So this is what they write. | ||
| President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he has secured $17 trillion in investment this year, or even more than that. | ||
| We have over $17 trillion be invested now in the United States, he told reporters at the White House. | ||
| He added moments later, we have $17 trillion in eight months. | ||
| Trump's own White House website values the major investment announcements this term at 8.8 trillion, around half the 17 trillion and 18 trillion numbers Trump used out loud this week. | ||
| And an item by item seeing a review of the top tens of the White House list shows that even the 8.8 trillion number is itself a big exaggeration. | ||
| So that's CNN fact checking there. | ||
| And you can find others if you go to the website, thewhitehouse.gov, go to other fact-checking websites as well. | ||
| Donna in New York, Republican. | ||
| Hi, Donna. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi, good morning. | |
| I was calling about the people that are on Medicare. | ||
| They go to the doctors and they get their bills paid. | ||
| They end up in the hospital and Medicare pays their bills. | ||
| Now, when someone gets into an accident due to someone else's fault, they put a settlement. | ||
| Medicare puts a lien on Medicare to make sure they get paid. | ||
| The lawyers get paid and they put a lien on Medicare to pay the bills. | ||
| Now, when you're hurt in an accident and you can't work and buy food and pay rent, I don't understand how they can do this. | ||
| All right, Donna, New York, a Republican, with her thoughts. | ||
| David, Memphis, Tennessee, Democratic caller. | ||
| Hi, David. | ||
| What's on your mind this morning? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Can you please give me a moment? | ||
| I'm a little nervous. | ||
| I have a message, if I may, for Hakeem Jeffries. | ||
| You know, he's very diligent, but he's not very creative. | ||
| And what I mean by that is every day he'll stand up and give the same speech about how we're in this predicament because of the Republicans. | ||
| And there's 15 million people who stand to lose their insurance altogether. | ||
| What he's not creative about is speaking to the 15 million. | ||
| 15 million, half of them will be from Red States and will be Republicans. | ||
| And he needs to speak directly to them so that they in turn speak to their representatives and say, hey, come on, we got to put this together and get back to the work of the Congress and make very particular messages for very particular either states or regions or even particular counties and say, | ||
| look, here in this county, Shelby County, Tennessee, so many people would potentially lose their coverage altogether. | ||
| And they're members of the Republican Party. | ||
| We don't want to see anyone lose their coverage and get into the very, very nitty-gritty of it so that he's got a fresh message every day. | ||
| All right, David, and we have heard the dueling news conferences by the leadership on both sides of the chambers, both sides of Congress, both sides of the aisle here in Washington. | ||
| Well, we've been in a government shutdown. | ||
| It continues today. | ||
| We're in day 24 of the government shutdown. | ||
| It is now the second longest government shutdown in U.S. history. | ||
| In other news, the Vice President JD Vance traveled to Israel this week. | ||
| As many of you know, the World News section of the Wall Street Journal this morning, Vance rebukes stupid West Bank vote, a vote that was taken by the Israeli parliament on Wednesday while the Vice President was visiting with Israeli officials before he left Israel yesterday. | ||
| This is what the Vice President had to say. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, yeah, that was weird. | |
| That was weird. | ||
| I was sort of confused by that. | ||
| Now, I actually asked somebody about it, and they told me that it was a symbolic vote, some symbolic vote to recognize or a symbolic vote to annex the West Bank. | ||
| I mean, what I would say to that is when I asked about it, somebody told me that it was a political stunt, that it had no practical significance. | ||
| It was purely symbolic. | ||
| I mean, look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. | |
| The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That will continue to be our policy. | |
| And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. | ||
| But we certainly weren't happy about it. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| The vice president yesterday on the tarmac of the Tel Aviv airport before he left to return from his visit overseas. | ||
| As many of you know, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, now the two crossing paths, and Marco Rubio, now in Israel, meeting with Israeli officials as the Trump administration tries to keep together this phase one of the negotiated Gaza peace deal. | ||
| The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, posting this on X overnight at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a cartel trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea. | ||
| The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and carrying narcotics. | ||
| Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters and was the first strike at night. | ||
| All six terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike. | ||
| Jim, Cottage Grove, Oregon, Republican. | ||
| Jim, we're an open forum. | ||
| What's on your mind? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I was. | |
| I don't know how many cameras C-SPAN actually has in the House and Senate and how they're controlled, if they're stationary or whatever. | ||
| Let me jump in. | ||
| Let me jump in. | ||
| Those aren't our cameras. | ||
| Those cameras are the House of Representatives cameras that are in the chamber, and we don't control them. | ||
| They control where the cameras are pointed during debate in both the House and the Senate. | ||
| We bring you gavel-to-gavel coverage of their cameras. | ||
| So we don't control it at all. | ||
| Jamie's still there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The only time I ever see everybody sitting is when they have a joint session. | |
| So when they have these marathon things, it'd be nice to see how many people are actually in attendance. | ||
| Yeah, Jim, absolutely. | ||
| And we certainly have asked for our cameras to be in the chamber. | ||
| When there is a joint address or there is the State of the Union, then they allow independent journalists to operate cameras in the chamber. | ||
| We have asked for our cameras to be in the chamber. | ||
| They have allowed it during certain events like State of the Union, but they've also approved our cameras when there was the speaker votes that happened for Kevin McCarthy. | ||
| Round after round after round. | ||
| Our cameras were in the chamber. | ||
| And we will continue to ask for our cameras to be in the chamber, including the upper chamber as well. | ||
| And as you noted, Jim was referring to the marathon remarks by, excuse me, Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon. | ||
| He went 22 hours in the Senate. | ||
| He broke a state record, but he didn't break the record for the longest Senate speech that is still held by Corey Booker, who just recently delivered those remarks for 25 hours and five minutes. |