CSPAN - Washington Journal Rep. Johnny Olszewski D-MD
Aired: 2026-03-06
Duration: 12:51


=== Congressional War Powers Debate (06:15) ===

[00:00:00]  This message to use the NIH dose taxpayer-appropriated dollars to prevent and reverse disease.
[00:00:06]  So, yes, it's taxpayer money, and I think it's very clear from the administration and another example of, I think, great alignment with people on this stage that we want to figure out how to use that money to spur curiosity and spur solutions to reverse the root cause of chronic disease.
[00:00:22]  All right.
[00:00:22]  Thank you, everyone, for coming, and thank you to all of our incredible speakers.
[00:00:25]  Have a great day.
[00:00:35]  Well, coming up shortly, President Trump will convene a roundtable on college sports with professional sports figures, sports executives, and media leaders.
[00:00:44]  However, no current college athletes were invited to take part.
[00:00:48]  Attendees are expected to discuss legislative solutions to some of the recent challenges facing college sports.
[00:00:54]  In particular, name, image, likeness, or NIL issues allowing college athletes to get paid for playing will be addressed.
[00:01:01]  That is expected to start any moment, and we'll have live coverage here on C-SPAN when it gets underway.
[00:01:07]  Until then, a discussion from this morning's Washington Journal.
[00:01:13]  Back at our table this morning, Congressman Johnny Ilsheski, he's a Democrat of Maryland, sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress.
[00:01:20]  I want to begin with a truth social post from President Trump just moments ago and get your reaction.
[00:01:26]  There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender.
[00:01:30]  After that, and the selection of a great and acceptable leader, we and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.
[00:01:45]  Iran will have a great future, make Iran great again.
[00:01:49]  That's what the president had to say.
[00:01:50]  Your reaction.
[00:01:51]  Well, the president has a lot to say, but he does not bother to listen to the Congress of the American people before taking us to war.
[00:01:58]  And we know that Iran is a brutal, repressive regime.
[00:02:02]  They should never be able to have a nuclear weapon.
[00:02:04]  And there are certainly good reasons to go to war and to make pronouncements like this.
[00:02:09]  But the Constitution is absolutely clear.
[00:02:12]  The president must come to Congress for war.
[00:02:14]  And make no mistake, we are absolutely at war.
[00:02:18]  We've already lost the lives of American service members.
[00:02:21]  This is going to cost billions and billions of dollars.
[00:02:24]  It will be protracted.
[00:02:25]  The president hasn't ruled out boots on the ground.
[00:02:28]  And so I share the concerns about the Iranian regime.
[00:02:31]  I voted for the resolution just yesterday calling them the largest state sponsor of terror, denouncing their activities.
[00:02:38]  And there might have been reasons to go to war.
[00:02:39]  The president's had ample opportunity.
[00:02:41]  There was no imminent threat.
[00:02:43]  He had every opportunity to, I still think he should, before committing our livelihoods and the lives of our service members to this conflict.
[00:02:50]  What happened with the vote in the war powers resolution in the House?
[00:02:53]  It was largely a party line vote that failed, unfortunately.
[00:02:57]  And I think whether or not you agree ultimately with the decision and the justification, which again, I think the president has an obligation to present to the Congress and the American people, that Congress should assert its authority to say the president must receive that permission.
[00:03:12]  You know, if we go after every bad regime in the world, we'd be at war with Russia.
[00:03:17]  We'd be potentially at war with China.
[00:03:19]  And so, again, I am happy to see the Ayatollah removed from power.
[00:03:26]  I'm happy to see many of the other brutal leaders of that country no longer in position, but this is really risking American well-being, safety.
[00:03:36]  And the president has articulated no clear plan, nor has his administration in classified or in public settings, what the strategy is, what are the outcomes, what does victory actually look like, what comes next.
[00:03:48]  We very well may leave Iran in a worse situation in terms of turmoil and not knowing who comes after.
[00:03:54]  And we want to have self-determination and democratic reforms in that country, but it's deeply concerning any time the president says, let's go to war, but having no plan on the back end of that war.
[00:04:04]  What did the war powers resolution say?
[00:04:07]  It basically would require, as most of these resolutions, that the president must seek authority to conduct military operations in Iran.
[00:04:14]  It would have required him to stop without that authorization.
[00:04:17]  And again, I would be open to the idea of having the president come and getting an authorized use of military force in Iran.
[00:04:25]  But they need to come to us to make that argument, to make the argument to the American people.
[00:04:29]  Look, the president rambled on for two hours during the State of the Union, only making a passing reference to Iran.
[00:04:35]  So rather than taking the time with no imminent threat to not take that time and make the case and not to seek the approval from Congress, I think is outside the bounds of the law and the Constitution.
[00:04:46]  And I think it's outside of the interest of the American people.
[00:04:48]  Will Democrats, along with some Republicans, continue to push for another vote on a war powers resolution?
[00:04:54]  I think as you see this conflict drag out, I think particularly if you see American soldiers committed to being in Iran boots on the ground, I do think that will change the landscape a little bit and will make the fact that we have sons and daughters in a foreign country fighting for a war that's not authorized, it may have us reconsider that.
[00:05:13]  And this was a vote that there were some Republicans that voted with Democrats.
[00:05:16]  There were a few Democrats that voted with Republicans.
[00:05:19]  But ultimately, again, I just want to see the intelligence.
[00:05:23]  I want to see the justification and I want to see the plan on the back end on what does this war look like?
[00:05:28]  How do we conduct it?
[00:05:30]  What's the strategy for winning this?
[00:05:32]  And what's the strategy for transition following the war?
[00:05:36]  The fact that the State Department, for example, had absolutely no plan for Americans meant that thousands and thousands of Americans were stranded.
[00:05:44]  And they were basically said, you're on your own, good luck.
[00:05:47]  And that's not what we want to say to the Middle East.
[00:05:48]  We can't say you're on your own.
[00:05:50]  Good luck.
[00:05:51]  As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, what have you heard from the GOP majority that control the committee?
[00:05:57]  But what have you heard about hearings coming up, closed-door testimony, anything from the Trump administration on what's next in Iran?
[00:06:05]  Sadly, nothing.
[00:06:06]  We have neither plans for open committee hearings nor closed door hearings with those responsible for conducting this war with Iran.

=== Congress's Accountability Gap (06:35) ===

[00:06:15]  And I think that is really unfortunate, not just for Congress and our co-equal role, but also for the American people.
[00:06:23]  Because we, again, we're spending billions of dollars.
[00:06:26]  We're risking American lives.
[00:06:28]  And I think that we deserve to have some insight and accountability as to not only how the war is being conducted, but what comes afterwards.
[00:06:34]  As the minority, what can you do to pressure the administration?
[00:06:39]  Well, we keep calling for it.
[00:06:40]  We had a hearing in Foreign Affairs yesterday where we pointed out there was no one really, no Wyckoff, no Kushner, no one actually responsible for issues related to the war, related to Middle East coming before foreign affairs.
[00:06:54]  We haven't had any of them come this entire year that we've been in in Congress.
[00:06:58]  And so I think the average American can say, look, we are at war.
[00:07:01]  There is no reason why administration officials can't come before Congress and at least answer questions both to the public and behind closed doors so that we are getting this right.
[00:07:10]  I want to be supportive.
[00:07:11]  The men and women of our military are doing incredible work.
[00:07:14]  But this is a situation where it feels like, as he's done before, President Trump is asking for a blind trust that he hasn't earned and proceeding with whatever he thinks is right without actually engaging in that dialogue as he's required to by the Constitution.
[00:07:27]  We'll go to calls, but one last question.
[00:07:30]  Your reaction to the President's decision to oust Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary, and he wants her replaced, should the Senate confirm him with Senator Mark Wayne Mullen?
[00:07:39]  Yeah, look, Secretary Noam presided over a lawless agency.
[00:07:45]  She was responsible, and there was even criticism from Republican senators about some of these no-bid contracts going to the well-connected.
[00:07:52]  And I think that's part of the frustration that people feel generally is this sense of the wealthy and well-connected getting away with all sorts of things that the average person would never get away with.
[00:08:00]  She also presided over an agency that was lawless in terms of how it interacted with the American people.
[00:08:05]  She blamed American citizens as they were killed by an American agency.
[00:08:10]  And so I think she had ample opportunity to reform.
[00:08:14]  I think this firing or resignation is long overdue, but the work is only halfway done.
[00:08:18]  And so I understand Senator Mullen is a decent individual, but I hope that as senators are reviewing his credentials and deciding whether or not to confirm him, that they're really pressing him on whether or not they're going to do the reforms that are necessary for ICE and for Homeland Security.
[00:08:35]  Look, I led a large law enforcement agency before coming to Congress.
[00:08:39]  Things like body warrant cameras, de-escalation, not doing law enforcement in sensitive locations.
[00:08:44]  These are best practices.
[00:08:45]  These are not radical ideas, and I hope that he can agree to do those.
[00:08:48]  All right.
[00:08:49]  We'll go to calls.
[00:08:50]  Steve in Freeland, Maryland, Democratic colour.
[00:08:54]  Johnny O'Lesky from Origin County used to be my county executive.
[00:08:59]  I'm still feeling the pain from Mr. Olevsky and my property taxes.
[00:09:04]  Now I've got, of course, Wes Moore raising my property taxes.
[00:09:08]  So as a Democrat, I really don't want to hear too much from Johnny Yeo.
[00:09:12]  Now, let's get to the point.
[00:09:14]  The point is, is about the legislative branch and its inability to do its job, which is why we do not have anybody coming to Congress anymore.
[00:09:25]  We do everything through executive power.
[00:09:27]  It doesn't matter who's in charge or what party's in charge.
[00:09:32]  We all do it through executive powers because the legislative branch is first and foremost, they're never there.
[00:09:40]  They're always on recess or vacation.
[00:09:43]  The House was in session this past term for 130 days.
[00:09:49]  It is hard to get the nation's business done when our legislative leaders are only there 130 days a year.
[00:09:58]  All right, Steve, let's take that point.
[00:09:59]  Yeah, Steve, I couldn't agree more about Congress being ineffective, and that's by choice.
[00:10:04]  And this is a Republican majority that has chosen.
[00:10:07]  Speaker Johnson is the one who sets the agenda.
[00:10:09]  He canceled votes this week.
[00:10:10]  We had four days of work.
[00:10:11]  Now we're down to two.
[00:10:12]  We were supposed to be in session today, and we're not.
[00:10:15]  But I couldn't agree more.
[00:10:17]  And we should be getting things done.
[00:10:18]  There are any number of issues that 80% of Americans agree to, whether it's banning stock trading by members of Congress, reining in the abuses of the pardon that we see under this president, common sense gun safety legislation like background checks.
[00:10:32]  There are overwhelming numbers of Americans that support things that we should be doing, and we're not.
[00:10:37]  I will say, though, to the point of my time as county executive, I was proud that for my entire tenure as county executive, not only did we keep your tax rates flat my six years, we actually prevented them from raising by having a homestead property tax credit that limited any potential increase for people who were homeowners in Baltimore County.
[00:10:54]  So I actually did not raise taxes, kept them flat proudly.
[00:10:58]  I'm one of those Democrats that think we can be and we should be fiscally responsible.
[00:11:01]  Any closer to reopening parts of the Homeland Security Department?
[00:11:08]  Any closer in negotiations?
[00:11:09]  We took a party line vote again yesterday, largely, and I think that's unfortunate.
[00:11:13]  I'm a co-sponsor of legislation by Ranking Member Rosa DeLaura on appropriations that says, look, we have very strong disagreement on the lawlessness of ICE, but we understand the importance of Homeland Security writ large, FEMA, TSA, the Coast Guard.
[00:11:29]  So I think there would be, if not unanimous, nearly unanimous support for legislation that would open up the rest of the government.
[00:11:36]  The big ugly bill gave ICE billions of dollars.
[00:11:40]  They have plenty of funding right now.
[00:11:42]  So I think we should separate out all the rest of the agencies, fund them with strong bipartisan support.
[00:11:48]  I'd encourage and I call on my Republican colleagues to join me to do that so that we can have the fight about ICE.
[00:11:54]  I do think the American public overwhelmingly support the reforms that Democrats are calling for in that space.
[00:11:59]  But there's a way where we can focus the discussion and the debate just about ICE and allow for the rest of Homeland to be funded.
[00:12:06]  Do you disagree with your leadership then on the tactic here?
[00:12:10]  Look, I don't know what the leadership's position is.
[00:12:13]  I support funding.
[00:12:14]  Well, they don't want to reopen those parts without reforms to ICE.
[00:12:18]  Well, I won't give ICE another penny, but that is a different conversation for me than supporting the Coast Guard, FEMA, and other agencies that are not part of this fight.
[00:12:28]  So I'm willing to support those other agencies, but I cannot justify giving ICE another penny so long as they continue with their lawlessness.
[00:12:36]  Alan's next in Mississippi, Independent.
[00:12:42]  Al.
[00:12:42]  Oh, thank you, Cursor.
[00:12:46]  Go ahead, Alan.
[00:12:46]  We're listening.
[00:12:47]  Yep.
[00:12:49]  Well, thank you for taking my call.