CSPAN - Washington Journal Rep. Judy Chu D-CA
Aired: 2026-04-23
Duration: 05:59


=== Illegal War Hurts Economy (04:01) ===

[00:00:03]  Friday on C-SPAN's Ceasefire, a bipartisan conversation on the Iran conflict with Maryland Democratic Congressman Stenny Hoyer and Nevada Republican Congressman Mark Amade.
[00:00:12]  Joined by our host Dasha Burns, they'll also discuss Congress asserting its war authority and how the conflict and rising gas prices could impact the midterm elections.
[00:00:21]  Watch Ceasefire Friday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
[00:00:30]  Welcome back.
[00:00:30]  We are in open form, so if you'd like to call in, you can start doing so now.
[00:00:35]  In the meantime, we are going to take, we're going to talk to Representative Judy Chu, a member of the Budget and Ways and Means Committee and a Democrat of California.
[00:00:45]  Congresswoman, welcome to the program.
[00:00:47]  Thank you for having me.
[00:00:49]  So the Senate GOP has voted against the War Powers Resolution.
[00:00:53]  Those 60 days are coming up on April 29th is the deadline for that.
[00:00:58]  I know that you're opposed to the war with Iran.
[00:01:02]  What options do Republicans in the House have at this point?
[00:01:07]  Well, we will keep on bringing up the War Powers Resolution because one thing we know is that the American people are against this war.
[00:01:16]  It is an illegal war, and also it is causing harm to our economy.
[00:01:23]  We are experiencing a great rise in the cost of gas, but it is also causing all kinds of other consequences.
[00:01:32]  Basically, it's making life unaffordable for Americans, and it is something that we should not have gotten involved with anyway, because there was no imminent threat to America, which would normally be the reason for getting involved in a war.
[00:01:50]  So yes, I am very opposed to this, and we will keep putting on the war powers resolution onto the floor until we get a vote.
[00:01:58]  And actually, this time we were closer than ever.
[00:02:01]  There was only a one vote difference to pass that war powers resolution.
[00:02:05]  Now, you serve on both the budget and the ways and means committees.
[00:02:09]  Is there something that Democrats can do through the appropriations or the budget process?
[00:02:17]  Well, there is going to be a proposal from the Trump administration to have supplemental monies for this war.
[00:02:29]  And I can tell you, Democrats will be totally against this.
[00:02:33]  We should not give a blank check to this war, which should never have been authorized in the first place.
[00:02:41]  Already, they have spent $50 billion on this war, and they're going to ask for $200 billion more, very possibly.
[00:02:54]  But they can't spend a penny on people's health care.
[00:02:59]  There are 15 million people that are being thrown off their health care, and they will be in desperate straits pretty soon.
[00:03:10]  There are those who are paying two to three times higher for their Affordable Care Act coverage because the tax subsidies were allowed to expire.
[00:03:20]  This is a country where we should make sure that at least the most basic needs are met instead of throwing people off onto the streets where they could have a very desperate situation with regard to making sure that they can be healthy in the future.
[00:03:40]  And Congresswoman, you mentioned gas prices earlier, and AAA is saying that in your state of California, the average is $5.80 higher than the rest of the country.
[00:03:51]  Our previous guest, Representative McClintock, also from your state, a Republican, said that it was due to the socialist policies of the governor of California and moving away from fossil fuels.

=== Ending Conflict Through Negotiation (01:54) ===

[00:04:05]  What's your response to that?
[00:04:07]  Well, I would say that gas prices are going up for everybody across the country.
[00:04:13]  Yes, California gas prices are somewhat higher than the rest of the country because of more monies that go into the highway trust funds and funds to make sure that we can have clean air.
[00:04:28]  And so, yes, that is there.
[00:04:31]  But hey, the burden of gas prices is on every American, and it's due to this Iran war, where gas is dependent, of course, on oil crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:04:48]  And now, President Trump has caused this crisis in the Strait of Hermuz where ships cannot pass, and it's causing fuel shortages across the whole world.
[00:05:03]  And in fact, there are airlines that are saying they're going to run out of fuel in a few weeks.
[00:05:10]  How could we be in this situation?
[00:05:12]  It's because of President Trump's entrance into a war that never should have been done in the first place.
[00:05:19]  And now that we are in the war, what do you think should happen?
[00:05:22]  I think that we should have a war powers resolution pass that would make for an actual vote of Congress as to whether this war should be enabled in the first place.
[00:05:38]  And of course, I would vote no.
[00:05:40]  And Congresswoman, even after that, if there was a no vote, then what happens?
[00:05:45]  Do you think it should just be a unilateral pullout of Iran?
[00:05:49]  Do you think there should be some kind of negotiation?
[00:05:53]  I think that we should end this war.
[00:05:55]  I think that we should end this war with a negotiation that