Washington Journal Open Forum examines the partial government shutdown, detailing the House's rejection of a Senate deal to fund DHS while Speaker Mike Johnson defends border security operations. President Trump directs specific funds for TSA employees amid Democratic accusations of extremism and Republican claims of necessity. Callers debate Iran war legality, autism vaccine links, and Israeli influence, while Leah Greenberg discusses No Kings Day protests against an "illegal, catastrophic war." The segment concludes by highlighting bipartisan civic mobilization aimed at long-term power building rather than single-day demonstrations. [Automatically generated summary]
Welcome back to Open Forum, your chance to weigh in on the many political news stories of the day.
As a reminder, we would love to hear from you if you want to call in and you're a Democrat.
The number is 202-748-8000.
Republicans, 202-748-8001, and Independents, 202-748-8002.
You can also text us here at C-SPAN 202-748-8003 or weigh in on social media.
We'd love to hear from you.
There is a lot going on.
Today, of course, is day 43 of the partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security.
You could see here a headline from The Hill.
After rejecting a Senate deal, House passes short-term DHS funding bill.
This happened late Friday night after a pretty chaotic 24-hour period on Capitol Hill, where the Senate voted through a funding bill Thursday night into Friday, and then the House rejected that and voted on its own.
So the shutdown continues.
Here's a glimpse of what House Republicans were saying before the vote, expressing their frustration with what the Senate passed.
I'm quite convinced that it can't be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill.
And I'm going to just read you one excerpt of it because it's pretty alarming and it says everything that you need to know in Section 4.
This is on page 2 of the bill.
This is an actual copy of the bill, that excerpt.
It says, quote, the contents printed under the headings of this bill, U.S. Immigration AND Customs Enforcement AND Border Security Operations under THE heading of U.S. Customs AND Border Patrol AND Protection shall have no force or effect for purposes of this act, and amounts specified in the final bill under the subheading border security operations and under the heading U.S. Customs AND Border Protection and under the headings of U.S.
Immigration AND Customs Enforcement and the Department OF Homeland Security shall be ZERO.
We're not doing that.
And it is unconscionable to me that the Democrats would force some sort of negotiation at 3 o'clock in the morning and try to hoist this upon the American people and then get on their jets and go home for their holiday and pretend and think that we're going to go along with that.
So we're going to do something different.
We're going to do the responsible thing.
Republicans are going to continue to govern and do the right thing morally, legally, and politically.
We are going to take care of those who take care of us.
So that was House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday before convening the House late Friday night to vote on this separate opposing funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security.
It did ultimately pass.
Three Democrats joined Republicans in voting for it.
But as the speaker alluded to, because the Senate had passed their own version and then left town, it's unclear where things stand.
But we want to tell you what Democrats were saying.
Here is what House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had to say after it became clear that House Republicans were going to take this alternative route.
You know, Maggot Mike Johnson is really struggling right now.
They have a new message every week.
But you know what also is happening?
Republicans have been losing elections for the last 15 consecutive months, over and over and over again, including in deep red places like Texas, Louisiana, and most recently in Florida.
As a matter of fact, Donald Trump will now be represented at Mar-a-Lago by a Democrat in a district that he previously won by double digits.
Make no mistake, Republicans are falling apart.
When are they going to learn their lesson that the American people are rejecting their extremism and actually want Congress to focus on making life better for everyday Americans?
That's what Democrats are continuing to do.
We're fighting to lower the high cost of living, to fix our broken health care system, to clean up corruption, to get ICE under control, to end the chaos at airports, to stop this reckless war of choice, and to actually focus on the things that matter.
The American people know Republican priorities have nothing to do with making their life better and everything to do with jamming their extreme and radical right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people.
And Exhibit A today is the fact that House Republicans are rejecting a bipartisan bill supported by 53 Republican senators that would end the chaos at the airports, pay TSA, and stop inconveniencing millions of Americans.
That was House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries before the vote last night.
One more component to this that President Trump stepped in to do yesterday.
Here's an article from the federal news network.
It says Trump signs order to pay TSA employees amid shutdown standoff.
The president on Friday directed the Homeland Security Department to redirect funding to pay Transportation Security Administration employees, even as other DHS staff continue to go without pay during the partial government shutdown.
Let's hear now from some callers.
First up, we have Catherine calling in from Panama City, Florida on the Republican line.
Good morning, Catherine.
You're on.
Actually, let's go to Mia calling in on the independent line from Maryland.
Good morning, Mia.
unidentified
Good morning.
I'm sorry, but I'm going to be a bit vitriolic this morning.
How does this feel for the reporters at C-SPAN and the reporters by extension at legacy media to how do you guys feel knowing that you're part of the propaganda machine that is brainwashing and destroying our country because you guys are being beholden to the powers that are controlling our government?
How does it feel reporting on a war that is completely illegal because we've done so many, knowing that our boys are dying because of oil and money to interest in our government?
You know, I know that you guys are getting very scared that due to social media and the world being so small now and being connected by all of these things, now everyone's waking up.
Republicans, Democrats, progressives, libertarians, we're all waking up to how you guys are just running this propaganda machine.
And I want to know how that feels for you because here's the thing.
Our government is being run by Israeli interests.
They wanted us to attack a country, so we did.
And now we're going to have a hard time getting out of there.
Our boys are dying over there for nothing.
We cannot just have a time of peace in this country.
And then we made Iran give up their nuclear weapons so there was no deterrent, you know, for us attacking them.
You're making it seem like they're the bad guys for the past 40 or 50 some odd years when we're the ones that keep toppling people's governments so that we can control their resources.
So, again, how does it feel being a part of this propaganda machine?
Because we're waking up.
And if all the parties unite of regular Americans, knowing that you guys are destroying our way of life, destroying our standard of living, and all of those things, when we wake up, what are you guys going to do about it?
Because you're going to be on the wrong side of history, and you already are.
I think to your point, and we're going to be talking about this shortly, there's actually another No Kings Day protest happening across the country today for people who, it sounds like, feel similarly to you with how the Trump administration has been handling things.
We're going to be talking about that shortly.
Let's hear, though, now from Ed, who's calling in also from Maryland on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Ed.
unidentified
Good morning.
I'm going to talk about DHS funding.
I disagree with my Democratic Party.
We do not shut down government, not paying the TSA workers.
These are people who don't make a lot of money.
Tariffs alone should disqualify the RE Republican Party.
We just do not do that.
What they are fighting about are masks, badges, and cameras.
They're causing all of this pain for these people not getting their paycheck.
I just want to say I disagree with what my Democratic Party is doing right now.
When a party is falling off the cliff, that's what the Republican Party is doing.
To your point, there were three Democrats who joined House Republicans on Friday night voting for that alternate funding measure.
One of them was a Washington state congresswoman, Marie Gluzen-Kamp-Perez, who talked about her desire to see reforms to immigration and customs enforcement, known as ICE.
But she said, to your point, she wanted to see people get paid and she did not think the shutdown was the way to leverage that.
Let's go now to Minnesota.
Craig calling in on the Republican line from Cass Lake.
I'm going to move on just so we could get some more voices in.
As a reminder for folks, you can call in here on Open Forum: Democrats 202-748-8000.
Republicans, 202-748-8001.
Independents, 202-748-8002.
Let's go up to Ithaca, New York, up in upstate.
Faye is calling in on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Faye.
unidentified
Good morning, C-SPAN.
My first concern, I have several points, is the protection of our vote.
Because everything that is happening, which is horrifying to me, is going so Trump is going to try to suppress the vote.
It is very clear that this is already happening.
And I'm afraid he's going to call for martial law and call for ICE officers to be at the voting booths.
And I plead with Republicans to not support this kind of imperialism.
The hypocrisy of this administration, I mean, talking about what other countries do and authoritarianism, when that's happening here, this administration is completely fraudulent.
Okay, they don't go before Congress.
It's unbelievable how rogue it is.
Okay, it has really taken over the country.
It is a coup.
And what he does to the media, which I appreciate C-SPAN, by the way, I saw the history last week with Brian Lamb and Susan, and I appreciate everything they've done and having C-SPAN.
But what Trump is doing to the media, he's trying to suppress the truth.
And this is so important.
The guy talks about everybody being derained.
But guess what?
He is the one who's derained.
And I'm not trying to say that to be mean.
It is the truth.
He has mental health issues, and he is beholden not to our country.
He is beholden, it's so obvious, to Russia or Netanyahu or other countries that are in with this scam because it is a scam.
Let's go now uh, to Lewis or Louise, you could tell me which are.
Which is correct, from Groveland Florida, calling in on the republican line.
unidentified
Good morning yes, good morning, C-span.
Um, I just had a couple of topics, um that i'd like to discuss, one of which is, it's just common sense, anytime and you, you tell me, anytime you go on vacation to any country on this planet, whether you fly, whether you go by cruise, it doesn't matter you have to fill out a paperwork that says the date you're coming in, the date you're leaving and where you are staying.
And the reason why they do that is to control who is coming into that country.
Why is it that we have to have open borders and just let anyone in without knowing what their intentions are, who they are and whether they can take care of themselves or not?
No Kings Rally Unity Movement00:15:03
unidentified
It just makes no sense.
On another note, this whole thing with Iran this is the best thing, the reason why I say that is Iran for years has been causing issues all over the world um with terrorism, with Isis, with Hezbollah, and it needs to stop.
Several folks have mentioned and we've talked about how today is the latest uh edition of the No Kings Day protests and we have Leah Greenberg joining us.
She is a co-founder and co-executive director of the group Indivisible, which is one of the organizers of today's events.
So a lot of people are probably familiar with No Kings Day as they played out over the last year.
There were events back in June of 2025, October of 2025.
Several million people turned out.
For each of them, there were thousands of locations.
What can you share about today's goals and what kind of you're hoping to build on in terms of what we saw over the last year?
unidentified
Well, today we are seeing 3,300 protests across six continents, and one of the things that we think is most exciting and interesting about this is how much of that spread has really been outside, outside of city centers and into red and rural areas.
The majority of protests taking place across the country at this point are in are outside of urban centers, they are suburbs, they are rural areas.
What we're seeing is that the outrage against Donald Trump, against his illegal, catastrophic war, his masked secret police, all while costs are rising for American families.
Can you talk about a bit what is planned specifically in Minnesota?
Because it, of course, was such a hotbed for national attention back in January with the immigration raids and with the deadly shootings of Renee Good and Alex Predi.
So what are the goals there?
unidentified
Well, we think it's really important that Americans really hear the story of Minnesota, how this state faced a brutalizing occupying invasion by Donald Trump's secret police, a reign of terror, racial profiling that was pushed back by the organized, dedicated efforts of regular people, immigrant rights organizers, union folks, teachers and faith leaders and moms and retirees,
all collectively coming together and organizing to say, we're going to protect each other, we're going to protect our neighbors, and we don't allow this kind of massive overreach by the government in our country.
We are pushing back together.
That is a story that the rest of the country really needs to hear.
And so we're leaning in.
We're leaning in with the help of folks like Bruce Springsteen to tell the stories of the people who organized to protect their neighbors in Minnesota because we think it's a lesson that the rest of the country really needs to absorb.
I wanted to get your response to an op-ed that was published on MS Now's website just yesterday by a man named Christian Schneider.
He's a contributing writer for the National Review.
He hosts a podcast and he wrote this criticism of no kings.
He said, what does a politician do in response to no kings?
Trump has already answered that question by going on Fox News and saying sensibly enough, I'm not a king.
He's right technically.
And that's the trap the movement has walked itself into.
When your protest is built around a metaphor rather than a policy, you've handed your opponent an easy exit.
He wrote, organizers have enlisted heavyweights, including the Service Employees International Union, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Education Association, Move On, and United We Dream, among others.
But it means the grievances on display at the protests will range from immigration and customs enforcement to LGBTQ rights to federal science funding to Gaza to the cost of groceries to the war with Iran.
When everyone is marching, no one is marching for anything in particular.
What's your response?
unidentified
Well, first of all, I'd say if he thinks he's not a king, then he is welcome to stop acting like one.
We are right now in the middle of an illegal, catastrophic war that he launched on his own and is driving up all of our costs, that is costing a billion dollars a day, money that could be going to health care and education.
He literally dispatched a masked secret police to brutalize an American state because they did not vote for him out of a political grievance.
These are the actions of a man who believes he is above any kind of law, who is not accountable to any other branch of government, who is not accountable to the American people.
So he is welcome to hear the message of the protest and step back.
But until he does that, we're going to continue to push.
And from what we're seeing, collectively, people want to come together across issues.
We want to stand up for each other, right?
We are here because we care about immigrant neighbors, our immigrant neighbors.
We are here because we care about civil rights.
We are here because we care about the families whose health care premiums are going up.
It's not a matter of having one specific demand.
It's a matter of anyone who goes to a No Kings rally, any politician who speaks at that No Kings rally think coming away and thinking, oh gosh, I got to fight harder because people are expecting me to do everything that I can to protect my constituents.
And maybe that ask, maybe that's going to look different if you are a local city councilman or if you are the attorney general or the governor of your state.
But collectively, our message is that the people are furious, we are outraged, and we expect everyone who is in any position of power to take every action they can to protect people and push back.
I'm looking at the No Kings website and there's a section that talks about the flagship rally at the Minnesota State Capitol.
Among the attendees there, Governor Tim Walz, Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
I'm curious from your perch, especially as you've heard from some of the callers, frustration with Congress over the DHS shutdown and the impasse there.
Do you think, especially Democrats in this context, are doing enough on Capitol Hill and here in Washington that reflects the energy and the turnout that you've all been seeing and trying to build upon through No Kings over the last year?
unidentified
Well, I think you see, I think you see some interactions.
I think you have seen Democrats' spines get stiffer as they have seen people stand up all over the country, right?
What we are seeing right now is that for the last month and a half, Democrats have repeatedly offered to fund TSA, to fund all the other aspects of DHS except for ICE and CBP, for which they need to see significant reforms that would stop this lawless reign of terror.
And they've held firm on that.
And that is good.
That is a good action.
That is something that our folks are ready to stand up and cheer with.
The message that we are saying is not that we are aligned.
This is not a partisan movement.
It is that we will stand with people who fight for us.
And what we've seen over the last month and a half is Democrats actually taking a stand and fighting.
I'm thinking back to a few callers within the last 10 minutes who expressed their deep discontent with the president.
And they basically were talking about everything from lawmakers to the media not doing enough in their view to call out the criticisms they have.
What do you say to folks who argue, great, a day of protests is wonderful and it's cool to see the grassroots aspect of it, but that's not changing anything.
Do you think there are deeper ways for your organization and for this movement to sink into it?
Or is right now big gatherings like this the best approach?
unidentified
Well, let's be real.
We're organizing every day.
The media only calls us and asks us to go on TV when we have the big protests, but my people are out there every single day.
They are doing mutual aid.
They are doing immigrant defense.
They are doing advocacy.
They are organizing and registering voters.
This is actually one of those moments where you see the wave crest, but that doesn't mean that the wave has not been building out at sea for a long time.
And frankly, every major No Kings event is also a recruitment event.
When people come out for the first time, it's an easy on-ramp.
It's a welcoming environment in which people are invited to show up, even if they've never been to a protest before.
But somebody gets your phone number.
They invite you to a follow-up meeting.
They ask you to get involved in your community.
These are events that are designed to serve as on-ramps for a larger array of civic activism and engagement.
And we're asking people collectively, you know, show up, absolutely, but don't let that be the end of your involvement.
We are collectively building the power in this country to push back on this administration.
It's never going to be about a single day.
It is going to be about what we can build locally that is capable of making our voices heard over the long term.
What are you hoping this could help or how this could impact the midterm elections in November?
unidentified
Well, look, I've got a lot of folks across the indivisible movement who are collectively already organizing.
They've been organizing in midterm or off-year elections, like in Virginia and New Jersey.
They've been organizing in specials or local elections like the one that recently flipped Mar-a-Lago Blue.
What we are seeing is that outrage that is expressed in protest regularly translates into voting shortly after.
The major waves of protest in 2017 and 2018 were followed by a midterm route.
Everything that we are seeing suggests that any Republican who is looking at this should be terrified and should think, oh gosh, maybe I thought my seat was safe, but maybe this is the cycle where there are no safe seats.
Do you think that will be a big factor in today's demonstrations, or do you think it's more on domestic policy issues, you know, when people are going to fill up their gas tank or dealing with groceries or dealing with immigration enforcement in their hometowns?
unidentified
I think all of this is incredibly connected.
We have got a, we've got this violence and authoritarianism at home that is being directed at us and our neighbors, and we've got violence and authoritarianism abroad that is expressed in the form of an illegal, catastrophic war.
That same war is driving up our costs.
Gas costs much more than it did a month ago.
Our grocery costs are going up.
This administration is going to Congress and asking for $200 billion to fund this war that nobody wants while telling us all that there is no money for health care.
There is no money for schools.
There is no money for the things that actually give us a good and dignified life in this country.
So I don't think it's about a domestic versus an international agenda.
I think it is about a collective understanding that this country is on the wrong track, that the forces who are in charge are imperious, unaccountable, uninterested in hearing from the people, and that we have got to have a mass show of defiance that kicks everyone into gear to fight back.
Leah Greenberg, she's the co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, one of the organizers for today's No Kings protest that will be happening across the country.
Leah, thanks so much for your time.
And for folks who want to watch here on C-SPAN today at 3 o'clock Eastern Time, there will be coverage of the flagship No Kings protest that's happening in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, as we talked about, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, they'll be joining singer Bruce Springsteen, along with other celebrities and activists and officials.
You can watch their remarks here on C-SPAN on c-span.org and on our free video app C-SPAN now.
Several million people turned out for the last few No Kings protests, so it'll be interesting to compare the numbers today.
Let's hear from some more callers, whether they want to weigh in on the No Kings Day protests or the war or the ongoing government shutdown.
Let's go to Isaiah, who's calling in from Ohio on the Democratic line.
Do you think the organizers are focusing on the correct things, or do you wish that it was being put in a different direction?
unidentified
No, they're doing the best that they can with the tools that they have, but you're actually facing a king.
He has all the tools of the government at his disposal.
He does things and everyone reacts afterwards, which is what a king does.
The only thing that's different from him, as far as being a true king, he doesn't go out and just slaughter people, but he's actually getting his way in the meantime.
I really think the Republicans, even though I am a Republican, but they need to work with the Democrats on these people getting their money.
I mean, I believe I heard on TV a TSA worker on the average made $35,000 to $45,000 a year.
And I mean, that's hard enough for somebody trying to make it on that type of a salary and then have these other things going on.
It just shouldn't be taking place.
And I just feel that, you know, regardless of how the Republicans feel or the Democrats, the Republicans need to think about these workers who are out here working without pay.
Number two, I completely support our nation going against Iran.
I mean, if they would have ever gotten nuclear capability, you wouldn't be worrying about high prices of food or gas.
You'd be worried about martial law if they could ever get a nuclear weapon to come over here.
Ten Year Illegal Alien Workers00:01:35
unidentified
And one more thing.
Number three, I think that the ICE, they need, I back the badge, I fly it on my car, a tag.
I pay $100 a year extra for it.
But you have to have certain states or certain cities when the Obama administration, when they went in, they actually worked with the illegal aliens that they already have jailed.
And I think the Republicans need to talk with Trump that an illegal alien who's been here 10 years and has never been no problem.
There should be a more speedy way for them to become citizens.
The ones that came in through the prior administration, that is the ones you need to worry about.
But the Republicans need to really work on their illegal alien problems.
But if somebody's been here 10 years and has worked and been doing the right thing, there should be a speedier way so they can become a citizen.
After rejecting Senate deal, House passes short-term DHS funding bill.
That's the headline.
It says that House lawmakers on Friday passed a Republican bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security in its entirety for eight weeks after GOP leaders