On Washington Journal (02/03/2026), Rep. McGovern blocks funding unless ICE officials Miller and Noam are fired, while Speaker Johnson’s slim majority faces Democratic resistance over ICE reform tied to a Senate filibuster deal. Callers clash—Republicans like Cole and Norman warn shutdowns harm service members, blame protesters for violence (e.g., Mr. Pretty’s death), and push the SAVE Act; Democrats like Barbara and Roger oppose ICE funding, citing constitutional concerns and pandemic-era failures. Independents demand accountability, accusing both parties of hypocrisy, with some linking ICE’s actions to broader election fraud claims. The impasse reveals deep partisan divides over law enforcement, immigration, and governance, exposing how shutdowns weaponize public services for ideological battles. [Automatically generated summary]
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Coming up on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, roll call reporter Aiden Quigley previews Tuesday's expected vote in the House on a funding package that would end the partial government shutdown.
Then we'll talk about ICE reform efforts and the upcoming votes on funding with Virginia Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw.
And Rayshawn Ray with the Brookings Institution discusses the potential changes to Trump administration immigration enforcement tactics.
Also, Mark Goldwine with the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget talks about a new report, citing six fiscal crises facing the United States stemming from the rising national debt.
Washington Journal starts now. Today is Tuesday, February 3rd.
On today's Washington Journal, Congress seems ready to reopen the entire government as House leadership signals confidence that they'll have enough votes for their funding bills.
Congress Votes on Shutdown00:16:17
The government has been partially shut down since the weekend.
So we want to hear from you.
What are your thoughts on the state of Congress and the shutdown?
Start calling in now.
Democrats, your line is 202-748-8000.
Republicans, your line is 202-748-8001.
Independents, your line is 202-748-8002.
You can also send us a text message at 202-748-8003.
Include your first name, city, and state.
You can also post on facebook.com forward slash C-SPAN or on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ.
We start this morning with Congress where it looks posed to reopen the government after House Republicans were able to wrangle conservative holdouts.
Both House Republicans, the leadership there, and the White House have shown no appetite to go into an extended shutdown fight.
Take a listen to Rules Committee Chair Tom Cole yesterday, where he called a shutdown dangerous.
I'm not going to go home to tell my people that are working hard at Tinker Air Force Base to keep 50 and 60 year old airplanes flying in combat condition, they shouldn't get paid because Congress is having a fight over something that's totally unrelated to what they do, which is critically important.
I'm not going to look at a young service family and tell them, I'm sorry, you've got a six-year-old in daycare.
We're not sure whether or not we can pay you to do it.
I'm just not going to do that.
This is not what I would have preferred, but I'm going to vote to fund the government of the United States and then let us resolve these other issues through negotiation, through legislation, through adjudication if you need to.
But shutting down the government is not a good thing to do.
And it endangers and harms people who have done absolutely nothing wrong.
And it puts the American people at risk.
They may even agree with you about the issues you're concerned about in ICE or Homeland Security.
Fair.
But I bet you they don't agree that the military shouldn't get paid.
I don't think any Planet America believes that, or very few people do.
And I think they would think you were reckless in running that kind of a risk.
That was Republican Tom Cole, where he called the shutdown dangerous.
Joining us now to set the scene at Congress is Aiden Quigley, a reporter from Roll Call.
Aiden, thanks so much for being with us this morning.
Thank you for having me.
All right.
So it's day three of a partial shutdown.
The House is expected to vote, of course, to end that impasse.
Kind of set the stage for us.
Where are we at right now, Aiden?
So as House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole was explaining, we are a couple days into a partial government shutdown right now.
Half of the appropriation bills have not yet been fully passed through Congress and signed by President Trump.
But it does appear that Congress will finish its work on five very major appropriation bills today, including the defense bill and the labor HHS education bill, which is the biggest non-defense spending bill.
So full-year bills for those agencies, along with a two-week extension for the Department of Homeland Security, so negotiators can have more time to hammer out a last-second deal.
Yesterday, it appeared that some conservatives were throwing up roadblocks to moving forward, specifically Ana Paulina Luna, who wanted a vote on her legislation that would require proof of citizenship and photo ID to register to vote.
But it appears that they have worked out a deal with the White House so she could drop her objection.
Yeah, I want to ask you a little bit more about what the White House was able to do here in a second.
But Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he spoke to Speaker Johnson over the weekend and he told him not to rely on Democratic votes to pass this funding bill and the CR.
Obviously, House Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday said that he was confident he had enough votes.
Do we think that Democrats will vote for this any et al?
Not just leadership, of course, but rank and file?
So the rule vote is a procedural vote.
They will need to move forward.
I would not expect any Democrats on that.
Traditionally, that is a partisan vote, which is why the leadership needs to spend so much time on every single Republican, making sure they have everyone in line for that.
When it comes to final passage, I think we will see probably a majority of Democrats vote against this because they do not want to provide any funding to ICE at this point.
Even at this point, it's about 10 days extension that is currently under consideration.
They do not want to provide any additional funding for any period of time.
What will the exact numbers look like?
We'll have to see, but it should pass pretty comfortably with more than a handful of Democrats voting in support.
Now, you mentioned Representative Anna Paulina Luna as a conservative holdout who the White House was able to wrangle.
Can you talk about how the White House was able to pull over her and maybe other Republicans who said that they didn't want to vote for it, in part because of the DHS concerns?
So her issue was kind of more connected to this unrelated issue of her elections bill.
And, you know, the Democrats are not in favor of that.
They say it's going to restrict access to voting.
So the Senate has not taken it up because they need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.
Well, Luna and the White House have come up with this idea of trying to do a standing filibuster, which essentially means that Democrats will have to kind of continuously hold the floor for a lengthy period of time in order to prevent this bill from coming to the floor.
This is an extremely rare tactic that I have not seen happen in my five years covering Congress.
And Democrats talked about doing it in 2022, but they did not move, you know, did not fully move forward with it.
So it does not appear that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not weighed in yet.
It's not clear if he was a party to this deal or not.
It was cut between the White House and Luna.
So today we'll be listening out for Thune and to see what he says about is this a plan that he's okay with and will he plan on taking this path of action, which could really delay a lot of other Republican priorities on the floor of the spring.
Right.
That would be the SAVE Act that Luna is trying to get passed.
I know you said that the final bill to fund a majority of the government or all of the government, except for that DHS two-week extension, would pass with a handful of Democratic votes.
But Speaker Johnson's majority got much narrower yesterday with the swearing in of another member, a new member of Congress.
I wonder if you can explain where the math is for us right now.
Yeah, so after the special election in Texas, Democrats gained one more member.
So it's down to essentially Republicans can lose one vote, but they cannot lose two and pass anything on party lines.
So the rule vote itself this morning, I mean, leadership is confident that they will have the votes that they need to pass that.
But any two holdouts could cause some consternation.
And we could be sitting in the press gallery watching some last second haggling to switch votes.
But again, rule votes are traditionally partisan and usually members back them.
And as we've seen time and time again, where there have been holdouts, the Speaker and President Trump have been able to get those holdouts in line to provide the votes that they need.
But there's very, very essentially no margin for error, especially since you have Thomas Massey, who has typically been voting against the Republican priorities when it comes to, you know, how he's kind of a thorn in Trump's side, and they really have a limited breathing room.
And last question for you here, Aiden.
What are you hearing from leadership, but also rank and file members of Congress when it comes to that two-week race to pass funding for the Department of Homeland Security that will be enacted after this vote passes?
Is there any sort of consensus emerging around ICE reforms ahead of the deadline?
There is not at this point, and we are running out of time already.
I mean, this bill hasn't even cleared Congress yet, setting this new deadline, but it's very close, end of next week.
There's not been any major progress towards reaching a deal.
Obviously, tensions between the two parties are extremely high.
Democrats, I guess one step forward has been DHS Secretary Noam yesterday announced that ICE agents would start wearing body cameras.
So that was one of the Democratic demands.
So I guess there's been a step in that direction.
But there's other issues that there's no sign right now of a path forward in two weeks is a very tight timeline.
The top Senate appropriator on the Homeland Security subcommittee, Katie Britt, has said that she does not think that's enough time to reach a comprehensive deal and they might need another extension, which Democrats are not really that excited about supporting at this point.
We'll have to see exactly how the votes land if that is the path they have to go down.
There's going to be a lot of pressure in the next two weeks for leadership and both parties to come to an agreement here to have some sort of changes to ICE policy that can get Democrats on board for a homeland bill.
Aiden, quickly of roll call, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
Thanks for having me.
And we continue talking about Congress as it looks like it is ready to end the partial shutdown vote to fund the entire government, including that two-week DHS bill.
Let's turn to some phone calls.
Herbert from Michigan, a Republican?
Your line is open.
Herbert, are you there?
Hello.
Paul from England.
Hi, Paul from England.
Oh, hi, Paul.
Go ahead.
I must have hit the wrong button.
Oh, yeah, hold on.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we're going to shut down.
Today ends today.
They believe that it ends today.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said last night that he believes that he has the votes.
Yeah, well, Fingers Trosty will get the votes.
Yeah, Fingers Trosty will.
Yeah.
Any, I'm so sorry.
So, do you live in the U.S. or are you calling from the U.K.?
No, I come from the UK.
I do.
I've come from England, live in England, West Midlands.
Yeah, yeah, because I just like interest in the making politics, you know, bringing an On Again on program.
Well, since you're on the line, I wonder what you make of the state of Congress right now from across the bond.
Well, say the Congress, well, I suppose it's like everybody else, really, just passive, I suppose, you know, whatever.
You know, they just don't make people feel better and put money in the pockets.
The court should put money in the pockets and support the people out there, really, you know, vote.
All right.
Thanks for calling in.
Barbara from Georgia, Democrat.
You're next.
I am so disgusted with President Trump.
I am so disgusted with him.
I hope the Democrats shut the, I hope they shut it down because I'm so against funding ICE.
All that is is mistreating people, and it just makes me so mad.
He's the worst president we've ever had.
Well, Barbara, it seems like Democrats are going to vote, or at least they don't have enough votes to stop the government from being reopened today, including a two-week extension of DHS.
And you heard from Aiden of roll call just a few minutes ago who said that there is likely to be a handful of Democratic votes.
So does that disappoint you?
Absolutely.
It just, well, I just think he's just messed everything up.
I don't see us ever getting the deficit paid down any at all.
And what I see is that we'll be bankrupt by the time he gets out of there.
He's the worst president we've ever had.
I'm really worried about it.
I thank you for letting me speak.
That was Barbara.
Okay, now here is Herbert, I think, from Michigan, a Republican.
Let's see if we have that correct.
Hello.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Hi.
Hi.
Listen, I think they should shut this government down and just keep it shut down.
Until they start following the laws and the Constitution of our country.
I mean, you could search the entire world over.
You will not find a more incompetent, nor has there ever been a more incompetent, unqualified, criminal, corrupt government than the one we have in the U.S. right now.
So I think they should.
I wonder who you're talking about specifically.
Are you talking about the entire Congress?
Who are you?
I mean, bottom line, the Republican Party, especially, if they had followed the law, Donald Trump would be in prison, not in the White House.
This is unbelievable what this man is able to do.
Just totally against our laws and our Constitution of the country.
So if you were to keep the government shut down, just in general, I mean, so many services would not be paid.
Is that something that you are willing to put at stake in this idea of yours?
Everything.
I mean, until they start following the law.
What good is it?
Follow the law on the Constitution.
That's it.
If you can't do that, then we don't need a government.
They're just corrupt.
Okay, that was Herbert, a Republican from Michigan.
Thanks for calling in.
Glenn from Illinois, a Democrat.
You're next.
You're next.
Hello.
Hi, Glenn.
We can hear you.
What do you think of the state of Congress and the shutdown that is expected to end?
Glenn, I'm hearing a little bit of an echo.
Is your TV on, perhaps?
Can you mute that for me?
Glenna, are you able to do that?
How's that?
It's better.
Okay, great.
So what do you make of the state of Congress, Glenn?
I got something altogether different.
What I'm 85 years old.
I have never seen anything like this.
In terms of Congress?
Okay, do you want to expand?
I was in the service when we had all kinds of people in Chuley, Greenland.
Okay.
Department Justice Shutdown Debate00:03:01
I was in Pennsylvania for three years on a mountaintop.
One of the highest ones in Pennsylvania.
That was Glenn from Illinois.
Kevin from Nebraska, an independent, you're next.
Yes, I would just like to call in and voice my opinion.
I'm 70 years old.
I've went through the civil rights movement, the Vietnam era, and I've never seen a more lawless president than Donald Trump.
As I understand it from all the news reports I've listened to, that the administration, or I would say the Department of Justice, had defied 60 court orders.
What kind of Department of Justice defies the court system?
That's no Department of Justice.
Well, Kevin, this morning we're talking about the government shutdown, so I wonder if you have thoughts on not just Trump, but also shutdown in Congress.
Well, this is all about the shutdown.
That's what the shutdown's about.
So why can't I voice my opinion about DHS?
Go ahead.
Because this is what this is all the shutdowns about.
Because of the government being around us.
So do you want to see them enact reforms of ICE?
Correct.
And this idea of them, the reform of them giving them body cameras, what's that going to solve when all you got to do is turn the body camera off?
So you don't think that the announcement from DHS Secretary Christy Noam yesterday saying that all immigration agents in Minneapolis will be issued body cameras is enough?
It's worthless.
Well, that's a body camera and all you got to do is turn it off.
I have a person here that I just went through this, the court system, here at Papillion, where an officer, every time he did anything illegal, he turned the body camera off.
So I don't know.
If they do get issued body cameras, they shouldn't have an on and off switch.
So I guess let me just ask you this final question here, Kevin, is that do you think that Democrats should vote to reopen the government now that it's in a partial shutdown and then negotiate in these two weeks to change or make reforms to ICE?
No, I do not because you can't trust anything the Republicans say.
Vote to Reopen?00:13:25
So I would tell them to, and I spent all day yesterday calling every member of Nebraska, both senators and all the congressmen, and told them what to vote for.
And I told Senator Pete Ricketts to his line, if he wants to be on the right side of history and want to further his political career to stand up and make a vote from the right side of history.
That was Kevin from Nebraska.
Take a listen to Republican House member Chip Roy yesterday talking about his support for DHS now that the negotiations are over DHS funding.
These are individuals, and I'm only touching just the tip of the iceberg of the individuals that these men and women have been engaged in removing from the streets of the United States as a direct consequence of the policies of the previous administration with wide open borders, putting individuals onto our streets and endangering the people that we represent.
So right now what we have in front of us is a bill that will only fund homeland.
It will only fund the men and women that are doing that for 14 days.
Now we'll have a debate over the next 14 days about that, but I want to remind people why there are some people who are frustrated that we worked together on a bipartisan basis to produce legislation that funded all of government and we passed that out last week and that would carry forth what needs to be done to be able to secure the homeland of the United States, fund our men and women in uniform in the Department of War, fund the other priorities of government at flat spending.
And now we're getting this back and we're going to reduce homeland spending for two weeks.
To be clear, I'm going to be fighting like hell to ensure that we've got the resources necessary for the men and women of Border Patrol ICE and the other people at Homeland Security to secure this nation against violent criminals that are endangering the people of the United States.
That is an absolute hard line in the sand.
And we will have that battle over the next two weeks.
Glad to have it.
That was Congressman Ship Roy who was expressing support for DHS as it looks like the government is set to reopen following a vote today.
Fred from Mobile, Alabama, an independent, you're next.
Good morning.
Thank you for the time.
Good morning.
Thank you.
And I think everybody's looking at this the wrong way.
First of all, you forget that the Coast Guard is included in this too, right?
Yes.
Okay, so you're not only stopping funding for that, you're also stopping funding for the protection of the ports around the United States and also the other stuff that's part of the Coast Guard mentioned search and rescue and things like that.
So those things are affected as well.
And everybody's laying this at the president, who I'm not a fan of, but it's Congress's fault.
They will not take and pass a budget.
As long as there's no budget, the continuing resolutions are just a way for one side to hold the other feet to the fire to get what they want.
So it's a continuing issue of Congress not doing their job.
So what do you think that Congress should do today, Fred?
I mean, should they vote to extend, what, vote to reopen the government and do that two-week extension for DHS?
Do you want to see them do it longer for DHS?
I mean, I wonder, obviously, we're going to be talking later on the show about the federal budget, but I wonder, you know, in the meantime, what do you think they should be doing now?
I think they need to go ahead and open the government back up.
I mean, all the factors that are affected outside of DHS is held up on this one lynchpin.
Do I like it?
No, I don't like what's happening.
But the fact remains is that you have to take and take everything else into account as to what is affecting the people whose jobs are to take and follow the dictates of whoever they're working for.
I remember as a service member in the Navy that there were things that I didn't like to do, but when I was asked to do them, I had to go do them because that's what I signed up for.
Now you're holding the pay of hundreds of thousands of people who no fault of their own other than having a job with the federal government are now going to be left without a paycheck.
So who are you most worried about?
Are you most worried about being cruel to the immigrants that have come here and are being ferreted out?
Or are you more worried about your own citizens and what's happening to them?
And believe me, the killing of two innocent Americans is most aggrieved to me.
And I cannot see why ICE is still in those cities, but that's something else that Congress has to figure out.
And they don't.
The Republicans have abdicated their duty and responsibility to the president, and they're letting him rule by edict instead of ruling by law.
And that's what needs to change because Congress needs to do their job.
Fred from Alabama, an independent.
And just since you mentioned the Coast Guard, other things that DHS or that are under DHS that are right now without funding includes FEMA.
Obviously, we know that they have been responding to the winter storms that have been happening across the Midwest and, of course, here on the Northeast.
TSA, SISA, Coast Guard, and other DHS components.
So those are just some of the things that aren't being funded right now until they vote to reopen the government, which is expected later on today.
Mary from Nevada, a Democrat.
You're next.
Yeah, they have abdicated their duties, but yet Republicans still vote these Congress members back into office.
The cameras are not enough.
The masks need to go.
The masks, I wouldn't want to have somebody drag me out of my car while you're autistic who are autistic being dragged out of the car, pregnant women dragged in the ice.
We've watched two executions, unless you're blind.
The guy is a criminal.
The Chip Roy is full of it.
They got enough funding in the big beautiful bill.
Now they have more money than the FBI, which has been hollowed out.
Our entire government has been hollowed out.
6,000 gone out of Social Security.
Now they're backlogged because they're intent on privatizing everything.
There's detention centers being built to hold up to 9,500 people.
Why not go after the companies that are hiring them if you have a problem with immigrants being here?
If you have a problem with immigrants being here, don't ask them to clean your house and mow your lawn and fix your roof.
So, Mary, let me wait.
Were you going to move to the shutdown?
One more thing.
Sure, go ahead.
Comer wants to investigate all the Democrats on and on and on about hunting for Biden.
And if Hunter Biden was chump change compared to what's going on, our president's made $4 billion just since January.
Wall Street Journal shows that he had a deal with some chic.
It was a secretly signed deal to purchase a 49% stake in the fledging cryptocurrency ventures for half a billion dollars.
Nobody's talking about the money.
The money, where it's being arced a triumphant built, the Oval Office looking like King Tud's tomb.
Come on, wake up, America.
These are jack boots going door to door without a warrant signed by a judge.
People aren't getting due process.
And he lost 2020.
Republicans won a lot of down ballot races.
All right, Mary, let me jump in here, though, since we're talking about the shutdown and since you just mentioned DHS.
Do you think that Democrats should vote to reopen the government, including that two-week extension on DHS so they could figure out some Iser Forbes?
You know, they don't have the numbers to really stop it, do they?
They don't have the numbers to stop it, but the question is, should they vote for it?
You can go for it, but if you can't shut it down because you don't have the numbers, it doesn't help anything.
I mean, what the hell is the matter with Americans treating people like this?
Little kids, five years old, transferred to detention centers.
And we talk about Christianity here.
And you know what?
He shut the border down.
It started under Joe Biden.
He was left with a good economy.
Now you can't, I feel like I'm down to my last nickel when I go to the grocery store, go to buy clothes, go to buy an appliance.
Everything is so expensive because tariffs, get it through your head, are paid for by us, the consumer.
So even if he sends us a check, he's sending us back our own money.
And he's not, he's underfunding.
He's not sending money like he should to North Carolina for FEMA.
That was Barry from Nevada.
Kevin from Staten Island, Republican.
You're next.
Once I push the button.
Kevin, hi.
Good morning.
I believe they should be reopening the government.
They should vote.
It's time to make Hakeem Jeffries, Corey Booker, and the rest of the likes of the Democrats who continuously try to undermine the president administration.
It's getting sickening, and the American people are suffering.
You know, you want your political ratings to go up at the cost of the individual citizen of the United States.
I fortunately have a ranch in Hudson County in Texas.
I'm into farming.
I'm all for an open government.
I study constitutional law.
And people that the president is centering towards are people who are not producing for the United States, period, as far as tax-wise go.
They're working here, they're sending money back overseas and not paying into Social Security or Social Services and getting money from social services.
And that is where his main gripe is with.
It's not with the people itself, and you have to put stuff aside because DHS is a large agency.
My brother happens to work for FEMA, and it's hard.
You know, when I form a U.S. Navy, I've been overseas, I've seen poverty, and I've seen what this country does for people in different countries in the time of need.
And now is our country's time of need because we are in a turmoil.
And the turmoil was caused by Obama and Biden.
I mean, you cannot, and basically, the Obama agenda was to bankrupt the United States government.
And he pretty much almost did.
You cannot, we got to pay tariffs in other countries with farming goods that we export, but they don't want to pay us in tariffs.
It's a two-way street.
And as far as tariffs go, the tariffs are getting put back to the people with incentive checks, yes.
But again, tariffs are supporting the farmers like myself and also supporting the American economy.
Okay, you're talking about that $12 billion farm bill bailout.
That's correct.
So I wonder, though, because this shutdown has happened, or this partial shutdown has happened because of concerns about ICE, are you supportive of the idea that ICE should be reformed in any way?
You know, everybody has their opinions.
And like I said, I'm an open opinion, and I believe ICE is doing a pretty good job.
And like I said, my brother works for FEMA, and a lot of people threw a lot of dirt on them.
But ICE is out there in the streets amongst people who are trained in other countries to be domestic terrorists, basically.
Working Together: Signs of Division00:15:43
And you look at all the elderly people that are being terrorized.
Child trafficking is up.
And all of a sudden, when President Trump took over, put Kash Patel into play, Pam Bondi, child traffickers are going away.
And I'm all for that.
And believe me, I mean, I don't like to see nobody go to prison, but when you can sell a child or hurt a child, that child's mind is totally destroyed in trusting an adult.
And it's our duty as an adult to rear those kids and to teach them.
Kevin from Staten Island, a Republican.
Julia from Michigan, an Independent.
You're next.
Good morning, Jasmine.
Good morning.
Thanks for calling in.
Well, I wonder what your thoughts are about the state of Congress and this partial shutdown.
Jasmine, we're in a bad place.
And the only person that I heard in the last 30 minutes speak highly of ICE was Kevin and our last caller, who is distinctly speaking on propaganda points that Fox News is dishing out to their people.
ICE is hurting and subjecting U.S. citizens, pulling them out of their cars and shooting them point blank, Jasmine.
Something's wrong with this.
I concur with Congress.
Shut it down.
These cameras, just like Mary spoke, they're not going to do anything in the previous caller.
He shared, we have no faith that they're going to put cameras on.
All you have to do is turn them off while you're subjecting U.S. citizens to this disgraceful behavior, pulling them out of their homes.
Journalists, our First Amendment, people, we're in trouble when you, the Congress, can't even go by the Constitution.
It's we, the people.
We, the people.
That was Julia from Michigan, an independent.
Take a listen here to Rules Committee ranking member, Representative McGovern, a Democrat, explaining why he will be voting no on this funding package.
I will be voting no on this funding package.
I refuse to send another cent to Stephen Miller or Christy Noam.
They are undermining our Constitution, and the department they run is murdering American citizens in the streets.
She ought to be impeached, and he ought to be fired.
I think their words and actions are disgusting.
I just checked social media.
Neither one of them has retracted or apologized for smearing Alex Predi or slandering him as a domestic terrorist or an assassin there to massacre law enforcement.
Those were lies, lies that were whipped up and spread by people in positions of authority who immediately sought to exploit the murder of a federal employee for their own partisan politics.
And I refuse to fund such a lawless, out-of-control agency.
I will not vote for business as usual while mass agents break into people's homes without a judicial warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
That was ranking member of the Rules Committee, excuse me, Democrat Representative McGovern, explaining why he will vote no on the funding package this morning.
Roger from Kansas, a Democrat, you're next.
Roger, are you on the line?
Yes, I'm.
Yeah, all I was going to bring, I don't feel we should shut our government down.
I said, if those people can't seem to come up with something, we've got to keep the government open.
I feel that's one thing we have to do: keep a dialogue between Republicans and Democrats.
You know, and as far as the ICE, I feel bad because we are a country that cares about people.
And the biggest fault we had was when the last four years, when they let these people cross during a pandemic, which we knew nothing about them.
So now we have to make the choice of giving funds to people who should not be here or our own people.
And it's a hard choice to make.
I wouldn't want to be in that position because, like most listeners, I care about people.
I guess that's all I wanted to voice.
Roger from Kansas, a Democrat.
Robert from Alabama, an independent, you're next.
Yes, this is Robert from Alabama.
Hi, good morning, Robert.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
How are you?
Good.
My thing is, I've heard the last few callers calling, and as far as ripping people out of a car, there's been nothing mentioned of that sort or even proven.
And this is Trump derangement syndrome 2.0.
And furthermore, if the local police would cooperate and the leadership of the local police would cooperate with ICE, there would be no need for them to be in the streets.
And for these protesters that are out there, I'm sure they're part of Antifa.
They're paid demonstrators.
Look at their signs that they hold up.
All of them are professional signs.
Normal protesters don't make up signs like that.
These people are put out there in the street to disrupt the government.
This is just simply Trump derangement syndrome.
They should keep the government open because the Democrats' big thing used to be never, never vote to close the government.
Now, because they don't get their way, they do everything they can to keep the government closed.
And that's all I have to say this morning.
Robert from Alabama, an independent.
Wendy from Pennsylvania, a Republican.
You're next.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good morning.
I'm doing well.
How are you, Wendy?
I'm fine.
Thank you.
I believe that they should separate the bill and open the government.
But if they will not separate the bill, then— Separate it?
You mean take DHS out?
Take DHS out.
Okay.
But if they are not going to remove it, then I believe the government should be closed.
They are not working together.
And if they're not going to work together, then close the government.
Now, Wendy, you're a Republican, correct?
I am.
I am.
So let me ask you, because I spent 26 years in the Navy.
I spent 26 years in the Navy, and I am currently a Department of Defense employee.
And I see things a lot differently.
So I. Why don't you go ahead and explain what you mean by that?
I've seen things that people working together as teams, and that's how it's supposed to be.
Everybody keeps blaming each other, and they keep blaming prior administrations for things.
Not the right administrations.
They're just blaming Biden and Obama.
But you have to look further back.
You have to go further back in history as far as some of the things.
I mean, opening the doors to immigrants.
It's not just a recent thing.
With ICE and with all the things going on as far as getting rid of the people that are causing problems, so to speak, ICE is just going crazy and hitting certain cities that it seems like.
I mean, they're all over.
They're all over.
Don't get me wrong.
But you had from the time from Clinton, you had, you know, $12.4 million.
And then you had Bush with the $10.
And so on and so on.
The big issue that you heard about was whenever the, and it was.
Let me ask you, since you said that you work at DOD, obviously DOD is not currently funded right now, although that is expected to change later on today.
So are you not getting paid?
Correct.
But you say that if they can't separate it, which it seems like they are going to just do the two-week DHS extension, you would be comfortable with them continuing to not pay you because of DHS or because of ICE or because they're working.
Correct.
Because they won't work together.
Okay.
Because neither one.
They keep, oh, it's a Democrat shutdown.
It's a Republican shutdown.
It is, you know, it's Zoom's fault.
It's Schumer's fault.
It's not their, it's not their fault.
It's both sides' fault for nobody actually working together.
And nobody's going to fuck Trump.
And I voted for him.
I believed in him.
But right now, there are things with this situation with me questioning a lot of things that are going on.
All right.
Wendy from Pennsylvania, Republican.
Thanks so much for calling in this morning.
Thank you.
Carl from Chicago, my hometown, a Democrat.
You're next.
Oh, good morning.
Good morning, Carl.
I want to steer the conversation in a different way.
Well, we're talking about shutdown this morning.
So is that the direction you're steering it?
Okay, well, with the shutdown, the Democrats, they're not in a position to shut the government now.
Just let the Republicans figure this out themselves.
The Democrats tried to help the people, and they were not able.
That the Republicans battle fault.
The Speaker of the House, people see he's no good.
The only thing the people could do now, let the Republicans work this out and think about November.
That's it.
Carl from Chicago, a Democrat.
Barbara from Tennessee, an independent.
You're next.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good morning.
How are you?
I'm pretty good.
I guess I am for the government shutdown.
I don't know.
My daughter's in the Coast Guard.
I want her to get paid, but I'm going to tell you what.
ICE is the problem.
If we could just do something about ICE, get those new people off the street that were playing cowboys, maybe we could do something a little bit better with the government.
We can do it, but in order to, if we have to shut it down, then during those two weeks, we should really work on getting ICE something to do with ICE something.
Either get rid of a bunch of people, shut it down, or just fund what we need to fund so it wouldn't be so bad.
What do you make of the announcement yesterday from DHS Secretary Christy Noam that all agents in Minnesota will be issued a body camera and then with funding that would expand across the country?
Well, I want them to have body cameras on.
I know there's always ways of cons and pros of doing stuff, but the surest way is to have body cameras, but I think the people still need to keep recording.
What other reforms would you like to see with ICE, Barbara?
Well, just the new people.
The new people, they're just, they're not trained.
They're just not.
Maybe more training.
They don't need to go in people's houses and they're killing Americans.
They're not going after bad people.
They're going after five-year-olds with a bunny hat.
All right, Barbara from Tennessee and Independent.
And later on the show, we will have someone talking more about DHS training and what training some of these new recruits are getting.
Mark from Connecticut, a Republican.
You're next.
Yes, hi.
Yeah, I disagree with the whole idea of a government shutdown.
I don't know why Democrats continue the same thing over and over again.
You know, they are not helping the American people anyway with a shutdown.
You know, the whole ICE, you know, the whole ICE conversation, I think, is misdirected.
I mean, ICE is a 50-state operation, and they conduct these, you know, they do the same thing in 50 states.
And, you know, the only place they have an issue is where you get all of these agitators and, you know, trying to block them off and interfere with their operations.
I mean, you could take the same people.
They did the same thing to the DEA and follow them around and block them and try to stop them from doing raids and things.
Yeah, bad things are going to happen.
You know, so these are not just people just, you know, peacefully protesting.
These are people that are interfering.
And then when you do that and an officer could feel in danger, yeah, okay, then you're going to get what you saw there in Minnesota.
But I think the whole ICE conversation is a little misdirected because, you know, if you think back to like when AOC and the squad and they first came into office.
All right, Mark, I'm going to have to rush you off the phone here because joining us now is Republican Congressman Ralph Norman.
Congressman, you are on the House Rules Committee.
Thank you so much for being with us this morning.
My pleasure.
All right.
So just tell me firstly, how do you expect to vote this morning on the remaining funding bills and also on the two-week CR to fund the Department of Homeland Security?
Well, first of all, I voted for it in rules.
I will vote for it on the floor.
I don't like the fact that we're falling for the Democrats' ploy of passing the five to keep the government open with the caveat that we're going to have 10 days to examine DHS.
Ten Days to Examine00:08:17
Their whole intent is to shut down ICE, and it's not going to happen.
I think the preview of coming to attractions is they will find more ways to shut it down.
It's not just wearing body cams, which I agree with that.
Taking the mask off, I do not.
The assaults on ICE officers is up 8,000%.
They're doing their job and are taking arresting those who are harming Americans, illegals in the country in the first place.
So, and they want to impeach Christy Noam, which Christy Noam is doing a tremendous job.
So, we'll see how it plays out on the floor.
If I thought the 10 days would prove anything beneficial, I would probably say that, but it just won't.
I think, you know, their intent, again, and this is from the comments and rules committee, they just want to abolish ICE, and it's not going to happen.
77 million people voted for Donald Trump because of shutting the border down, and he's dealing with getting the illegals out of the country, those with criminal records, especially.
Well, Congressman, I don't know if you were able to hear the program, but the last two callers, I mean, one was on your side, basically saying that this conversation around ICE was misguided.
But we've had other callers who have said that they want to see changes to the way that ICE operates.
Obviously, not just the body cameras, which DHS Secretary Christy Noam announced yesterday, but other fundamental changes.
I wonder if you feel that those folks who want to see things change have any validity in their argument.
Well, like what?
What changes do they want?
Well, to stop them from going in houses.
What if the criminals are in houses?
They're not going to stand out on the street and saying, you know, I violated the law.
I'm here illegally.
And, you know, I murdered somebody or killed somebody or rape somebody.
So what are they to do?
And I'm sorry if you impede the ICE agents, if you block their cars, if you fight them, if you spray them with mace, they're going to have bad outcomes.
They just are as they should.
The unfortunate death of the young man, Mr. Pretty, he kicked out a light in the taillight of a car.
He should have gone to jail.
And he did for a short time, then they released him.
There are consequences to what these people are doing.
And when you have the governor, Waltz, the mayors, urging people, urging their police department to fight ICE agents who are there to protect them, I'm sorry, they're aiding and abetting criminals.
The Democratic Party is now on the side of the criminal instead of the law-abiding Americans.
But, Congressman, let me ask you, because you are also a part of the House Freedom Caucus, both the White House and Republican leadership agreed that the DHS components should be separated to allow for more time to come to some compromise on ICE reforms.
You're saying that they aren't necessarily needed, but why do you think the White House and Republican leadership agreed to it?
Well, I agree.
The White House does not want to shut down.
They want to, you know, they want to keep the government open.
There's so many great things this administration is doing.
They just are.
And, you know, it just goes to show that the last shutdown that the Democrats, the 43-day shutdown that they caused, basically did not bode well for them.
Now, I guess we will give them the 10 days.
I think it'll probably have the bill will pass on suspension, moving the five bills forward and having time to, I guess, discuss and see what can be done over 10 days.
I just am real dubious that anything positive is going to happen with the 10 days.
They will get the 10 days.
All they will do is use the mainstream media to lamblast Christy Noam, lambast ICE agents, and to I think it's avoiding the spotlight that is on Minnesota that they want to avoid, which is the $9 billion in losses or fraud that they're covering up.
They want to do anything to divert attention.
And I just hate the ICE agents having to go through this.
Yes, let's talk about some reforms, but stopping them from doing their job, doing away with them, that's not going to happen.
Congressman, your Republican colleague, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, said that she would initially block the government funding bill unless the GOP leadership attached the SAVE Act.
That seems to have been remedied overnight, where she's now saying that she will vote for it.
But what were those conversations like, if you know, with the White House on the SAVE Act to get some of the holdouts, including Tim Burchett, to come on to the other side and vote for this funding package today?
You know, what Donald Trump does well is he brings people together.
He did that.
He met with Tim Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna.
And, you know, I think he gave them the big picture.
Let's get this thing behind us.
Let's give the Democrats their 10 days.
Let's see what they do.
But what the good thing that Anna and Tim have done is bring light to the fact that you need to be a legal American to vote.
The SAVE Act is that's what that basically is.
If you're illegal, you will not vote in elections in America.
And it's high time to pass that.
And if it's not now, I think the pressure is on to get it for the Senate to pass it.
And I think that'll come to pass, but not while this other insanity is going on with the Democrats looking for any reason they can to shut it down.
And it's TDS, Trump syndrome.
That's all this is.
They hate him.
He can do no good.
And the man's done so many great things for this country.
But the Democrats are, we'll play it out.
We'll see how it works out.
I have two more questions for you, Congressman, and then I'll let you go.
But first, just kind of back on those ICE reforms.
I want to put up something on the screen here.
You won't be able to see it, but our audience will, about some of the Democratic demands.
They are ending roving patrols, tightening the rules on warrants, and requiring ICE to coordinate with local authorities, also enforcing accountability and a uniform code of conduct, requiring agents to take off masks, wear body cameras, and carry ID.
Is there anything in that list, Congressman, that you feel that you could support in these next 10 days?
The only thing I would support is body cams.
They shouldn't take the mask off.
What about the protesters who are violating the law who wear masks?
What about carrying ID, Congressman?
Would you be supportive of that?
Yeah, carrying ID would be fine.
They've got that on them anyway.
But displaying that to get further humiliated and abused is not right.
I think the body cam is good, I think, but not the mask off.
What about a uniform code of conduct?
I'm just going down the list here.
Would you be supportive of that given, you know, specifically, depending on what it says?
Well, yeah, I mean, specifically, what is a uniform code of conduct?
What are they asking?
They want to abolish it, Jasmine.
They just do.
And I'm not for that.
The only thing I would support is the body cam, which makes sense.
Everything else, they shouldn't be impeded.
They're doing a tough job.
They have families too.
They have children.
They had wives.
They've got to go home too.
And for this to happen to them, the American people are behind them for the most part.
Now, it's unfortunate with the two that died.
No one wants to see that.
But, you know, with what the violence that the Democrats are advocating for is insane.
And it should not happen in America.
And my last question for you, sir, is that the president yesterday urged Republicans to, quote, nationalize elections, saying in about 15 places, the government should take over these elections.
I wonder what your thoughts are, and would you be supportive of that effort?
What my interpretation of what President Trump said is he wants to stop the fraud that I think is in some of our elections.
What he did in Georgia to seize the voting machines, he should not have to do that.
Living Up To Rights00:07:13
They ought to turn it over to him anyway.
And what he did in Atlanta is totally right.
And he wants open and safe and fair elections.
And it's been proven in a lot of cases we haven't had that or the suspicion of it is there.
And the left is not doing anything to dispel the rumors and the fact that that's why they don't want voter ID.
That's why they don't want the SAVAC.
Congressman Ralph Norman, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
My pleasure.
Thank you.
We appreciate your time.
And just a programming note there, we did have a Democrat scheduled to respond to our Republican congressman who was just on.
They had to reschedule, and we hope to have more for you at another date.
Let's have some folks responding now to that conversation.
David from San Francisco and Independent.
You're next.
I wonder what you make of Congressman Ralph Norman's comments and obviously the state of Congress and the shutdown.
Well, say a lion phoney, it would be an understatement.
Notice how calmly he'll sell out the Bill of Rights.
The list that the, and I'm a Green Party member.
I'm not generally a Democrat, but the Democrats are calling for living up to the Bill of Rights, living up to the Fourth Amendment, living up to the right to be protected from searches and seizures, living up to the right of facing your accuser.
And that guy, that former phony congressman, is quite willing to sell out the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in order to suit an organized crime president.
And when you think about Mike Johnson, who has been sitting in office for how many months have they known about the next government shutdown?
And he, gosh darn it, he just lets it all happen again and again and again and allows his Republicans to skedaddle out of town at the time of the shutdown, pretending that, oh, well, it's unfair for them.
Yeah, they're calmly selling out the Bill of Rights.
And you can see by the protests in the street just how awake the American public is.
Just on a side note, and this fits with the same topic, I noticed the Super Bowl is coming to San Francisco, and the top of the hour news has been saying that San Francisco hopes to make about $600 million for the weekend.
Well, 30 years ago, when the gay pride parades were happening, San Francisco was making $2 billion per weekend.
$2 billion versus $600 million today.
And you think of the time value of money.
Liberation makes money.
Liberation is an advance to the economy, but a brutal game is a detriment.
So paranoids are expensive and thugs are expensive.
And that former congressman and the Republicans have got a lot of explaining to do.
That was David from San Francisco and Independent.
Kevin from Houston, a Democrat.
You're next.
I wonder what you make of the state of Congress and the shutdown.
Well, I'm for the shutdown, and it's not because of the reasons that the Republicans or Democrats are talking about.
I'm for the shutdown because of the American people.
They need to know the truth from both sides.
Neither one of them giving the truth.
I know I'm a Democrat, but all this is about is about money.
Y'all not looking at freedoms of people.
Everybody that's in this country is an immigrant through their bloodline.
Now, the person that's in this country is legalized in this country because they wouldn't borrow you with their bloodline.
Everybody needs to understand that.
Y'all talking about unity and all this.
All I hear is everybody in Washington and all over the world, money, money, this, money, money that.
Do y'all talk about the Heavenly Father more than y'all talk about money and what racism is and what racism isn't?
And that congressman, all he was talking about was a bunch of radical racist stuff.
And it's not from either side.
I'm talking about as a human, y'all not talking about anything about septicists, sanctimonious Satanists.
Have a good day.
Nevin from Florida, an independent.
You're next.
What do you make of good morning?
What do you make of the shutdown?
And if you heard Congressman Ralph Norman, his comments on it.
Yeah, Congressman Ralph has an interesting history.
He called for martial law when Biden was elected.
The previous callers are all correct.
This shutdown should continue.
Not a penny of my tax dollars should go funding a military fascist ICE program that tears people out of their homes and killing American citizens.
So the Democrats should really stick together and stop funding or reform this agency to what it was doing in the prior administrations.
They are not going after the worst of the worst.
They are just haphazardly stopping people in the streets.
I feel for the people of Minnesota, and I'm scared.
I think we're living 1984.
The George Orwell quote where, you know, don't believe your eyes.
Just listen to what the party says.
I think it's going to be a long time before we get back to a state of normal.
But my tax dollars should not go funding this militaristic organization.
Well, Nevin, let me ask you, because it seems like the government will reopen.
Of course, you're going to have that two-week CR so they can negotiate perhaps some reforms on ICE.
But outside of the things that we talked about, like ending roving patrols or tightening warrants or requiring agents to take off masks, wear body cameras, carry ID, what would you like to see Democrats try to negotiate?
Are they going far enough in their demands?
Because they are quite narrow and they don't actually get to the money of DHS.
Well, the Democrats are at a disadvantage.
They just don't have the numbers to stop the funding that the Republicans and Trump have.
The only positive thing I can say is I think the tide is changing.
The recent election in the state of Texas, where a Democrat won a strong Republican district, it's indicative of what November is going to bring.
I'm really hoping that the American people see what's going on and believe their own eyes.
American citizens are being shot and killed.
There is no reason to kill a man because he kicked in a prior week.