Representative Tom McClintock argues that the Iranian conflict requires internal regime collapse rather than negotiation, suggesting arming the MEK's 20,000 cells while criticizing California's refinery reduction under Governor Newsom as a driver for high gas prices. He opposes the Dignity Act of 2025 for granting work permits to undocumented immigrants and endorses Republican candidates like Sheriff Chad Bianco, asserting that military success demands completion over patience despite legal uncertainties regarding the War Powers Act. Ultimately, his stance reflects a hardline approach to foreign policy and domestic economic protectionism. [Automatically generated summary]
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Negotiating With Congress00:06:41
How the conflict and rising gas prices could impact the midterm elections.
Watch Ceasefire Friday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
President Trump is expected to talk about the affordability of health care.
We'll bring you his remarks live when they begin.
You can also watch online at C-SPAN.org and on our C-SPAN Now app.
Welcome back to Washington Journal, joined now by Representative Tom McClintock.
He is a Republican from California.
He's a member of the Budget Committee and also the Judiciary Subcommittee Chair.
Representative, welcome to the program.
Well, thanks for having me back.
Let's start with Iran.
How do you think that war is going?
Well, I don't understand why the President has paused it.
I'm a little old-fashioned about such things.
When you've got the other guy on the ropes, you keep punching until he quits.
So I don't, I'm sure he's got much better information that's available to me, and I'm sure he's acting on that information.
But I don't understand this pause in negotiating with a government that in its best days was completely untrustworthy and is now completely fragmented.
So you don't know from one day to the next who's in charge, who's making decisions.
I don't understand this ceasefire.
So you're opposed to any kind of negotiation with them.
I don't see any point to it.
We've decimated their leadership.
We have decimated their military.
Now the final, and this can't end any other way but this regime falling.
I'm convinced of that.
It has been a plague on its people for 47 years.
It's been a plague to the world for the last 47 years.
We need to end this.
And having crippled that government so much, there is an extensive resistance movement throughout Iran.
They have so abused their people and terrorized their people.
I think the obvious step is to arm those groups and let them take back their country.
So I want to ask you about that because you were on the program in the beginning of February and I asked you about this.
You said the same thing.
And you said the same thing.
You said this.
The most important thing we can do is arm the Iranian opposition.
You said that they would get a nuclear weapon and use it.
You said the only way to stop that, which is the nuclear weapons, short of a bloody war is an uprising within Iran and the internal collapse of that government.
Well, we are in a war and there has not been an uprising.
Well, I think, well, because they don't have anything to shoot back with.
But MEK alone tells me that they've got 20,000 resistance groups, cells.
MLK?
MEK, MUJADIN-E-KOK.
It's one of the groups that brought down the Shah, but then has been fighting with the Islamic regime ever since.
They advocate for a secular, democratic, non-nuclear Iran.
They claim to have 20,000 cells, small cells, between 5 and 15 people throughout all 31 provinces in Iran.
We need to be sure that they've got the tools they need to finish the job.
Have you shared that with the administration?
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
I've been in contact.
I'm having another discussion with an NSC official today on that very subject.
And what's been the response?
We're looking at it, and I understand.
And again, they will have information that I don't have available to me.
There may be some very good reasons, or they may actually be doing it right now, and we just don't know about it.
I don't know.
But I do think that's the only way this is going to end is for the Iranian people to take back their country.
The Senate GOP voted against the war powers resolution.
I know that you're in favor of continuing the war.
The question is, do you think Congress should have a say in that?
Well, of course.
And that's the issue that we're fast approaching.
The President's war-making authority is very limited without congressional declaration of war.
And I think the War Powers Act defines those limited powers very clearly.
He can respond to an attack or an imminent attack, which is what he did.
For 60 days.
For 60 days.
And that 60 days tolls on April the 29th.
He's then got about 30 days of fudge room to withdraw unless Congress gives him affirmative authorization, which it has not and I'm not sure is likely to.
I'm prepared to, but I don't think that the majority of the Congress is.
So he's running against the clock.
So what do you think is going to happen?
Because we're not hearing that the president is going to come to Congress anytime soon.
Yeah, I have no power of prophecy.
Presidents on both sides have questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act.
I happen to believe that it is constitutional.
The court has never weighed in on that.
My guess is there will be a challenge to that law taken to the court at that point if he intends to continue.
But again, we shouldn't be wasting time.
We need to get this over with, and the people to get it over with are the people of Iran.
Congressman Tom McClintock of California is with us.
If you'd like to ask him a question, now's your chance to call in.
Republicans are on 202748-8001.
Democrats 202-748-8000.
And Independents 202748-8002.
AAA is saying that the average price of gas in the state of California is $5.80.
What kind of economic impact is this war having on your constituents in California?
Well, California is a special case because Gavin Newsom's been waging war on fossil fuels throughout his administration.
In 1980, we were the second largest petroleum producer in the country.
We had 41 refineries operating throughout California.
We produced all of the gasoline consumed in our state.
But after Gavin Newsom's administration, the policies they put in place, last year we were down from 41 refineries in 1980 down to nine last year.
Two more have since closed.
That leaves us with just seven.
We're now importing 60 percent of our petroleum being used in California.
Economists are predicting before the Iran issue arose, they were predicting $6 to $8 gasoline by the summer.
It was $6.19 at Sacramento Airport on Tuesday, in case you're interested.
So California has some very serious problems that have been created by its own policies.
But obviously, the disruption of global supplies with the Strait of Hormuz has forced up prices for everybody.
And that, I think, is going to be short-lived.
California's Policy Problems00:07:27
I don't see this continuing much longer.
And at that point, we'll see prices come right back down again.
When there was that announcement by one fragment of the remaining Iranian regime that the Strait of Hormuz was open, oil prices dropped from over $100 to $82 in a single morning.
And I think we'll see that again once this is behind us.
And we need to get it behind us as soon as we can.
And how do you see the war ending?
Because you said that you're not in favor of negotiating with this regime.
As I said, I think the only way it ends is with the downfall of this regime.
It doesn't look like it's going anywhere, Congressman.
Well, time's a great thickener of things, as they say.
I want to ask you about something called the Dignity Act of 2025.
This was sponsored by your Republican colleague, Maria Salazar of Florida.
And we'll put it on the screen, some of the things so that people can follow along, but it provides new renewable legal status to a portion of immigrants in the U.S. illegally who meet certain criteria.
They would have to pay $7,000 in fines, pass criminal background checks, and the act would boost funding for border security essentially and use E-Verify.
What are your thoughts on that?
I've got serious problems with it.
First of all, it would allow 10 million illegal immigrants who have, again, broken our laws to enter this country to remain indefinitely.
And then it would give them not only work permits, but they would be exempt from payroll taxes.
Now, it's true they pay 1% more on their income taxes, but that wouldn't begin to compensate for the loss of those payroll taxes.
Now, what does that mean?
It means they have a huge advantage over Americans in competing for entry-level jobs.
And that, to me, is the worst part of it.
In addition, what I find particularly offensive is that those who have already been deported can apply to re-enter the country, and all they have to do is claim they first entered the country when they were under 18 and have two friends vouch for them, which is not exactly what I would consider to be serious betting.
There are a lot of other problems with that bill, but those are the two that just leap off the page at me.
All right, let's talk to them.
Actually, leap off the 261 pages of that bill.
Okay, let's talk to callers.
Sal is in New Jersey line for Republicans.
You're on with the congressman.
Good morning, Representative McClintock.
I would like to ask you: what can Donald Trump do?
I think Donald Trump should tell the American people repeatedly on TV, and the Republicans should tell the Republican people, the Republican Party should tell the American people to be patient because this war is going to last a little while.
And they should encourage the American people to just wait until the war is won.
Because if they don't, the American people are going to get impatient and they're going to turn against Trump gradually, maybe.
Well, I think the American people are already impatient about it.
And whether they turn against Trump at the end is going to depend upon the success of this mission.
So far, it has been a phenomenal military success, but we have to finish the job.
And that's where I get back to the point of we had them on the ropes.
Why let them up?
Again, there are probably reasons that are supported by facts that I don't have available to me, but that's the way I'm seeing it with my limited information on the issue.
John Westchester, Pennsylvania, Independent.
Good morning.
Hey, hello to both of you.
You know, I think Tom McClintock should be the first off the boat when it comes to the ground force invasion of Card Island.
And don't you realize that your policies of arming a supposed Iranian opposition is ludicrous?
These people aren't organized who'll just be throwing away money that's something that will not work.
You're wasting our money.
Tom keeps talking about time, and now this is all going to take time.
It's also going to take blood and treasure.
How long would it wait for you to get a spine and stand up for the American people against Trump?
Seems like you're just a good old boy.
All right, John, let's get to a response.
He mentions.
Cordial good morning to you too, sir.
Your supposition that the resistance in Iran is unorganized is just completely wrong.
You have the Kurdish militias in the Kurdish part of the nation.
You have MEK with 20, again, claiming they have 20,000 organized cells.
You have all of the forces arrayed behind the Pahlavi monarchy.
And this is a population that has been tortured and tormented by this regime for 47 years.
No, it is ready to revolt, but it needs our help to do so.
And that would prevent the necessity of American forces having to finish that job.
That would be ground forces, exactly.
Now, what do we do about the nuclear material, the close to 1,000 pounds of nuclear material that's there?
Well, I think the President is absolutely right.
They cannot be allowed to have nuclear material.
They have made it very clear that they intend to acquire nuclear weapons, and once acquired, they will use them.
That cannot be in favor of American ground forces, special forces going in to get that?
Possibly.
Again, that depends upon what happens to this regime.
If we can collapse the regime from within, I would believe that the successor regime would hand that over without the need for force.
But we'll just have to see.
Sam is in your state of California.
Republican, good morning, Sam.
Are you there?
Can you hear me?
Yes, go right ahead.
It's early back there.
This is for Republican Tom McClenna.
Yeah, I was looking at the governor lineup for California, the people running for governor.
God, that's terrible.
Every one of them, I've heard them on TV.
I mean, you know, how could they, I mean, they're worse than Gavin Newsome.
I mean, Newsom has stolen more money out of this state.
I mean, California, everything's so expensive here.
And I don't know what's going on here, but why can't they put a good Republican here to take care of California and get this California right and get the prices down and everything?
It's just, it's terrible here.
And all this redistricting and all this stuff is going on.
I mean, Democrats are controlling this whole state here.
Hispanics are letting...
Look at the governor and look at the mayor of Los Angeles.
He's terrible.
I mean, how can they let some good people in here?
Thank you very much.
Sam, are you in Los Angeles or what part of California?
South Pasadena, California.
All right, go ahead.
Well, the good news is there are two Republican candidates in the race, both of them, I think, very well qualified, Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County and my favorite, Steve Hilton, who I've endorsed on the Republican side.
But you're absolutely right about the horrible policies that have destroyed our state.
And when you talk about affordability, there was a study recently.
The 10 most affordable states in the United States are all Republican strongholds.
And the 10 least affordable states are all Democratic strongholds.
The Golden State Myth00:00:50
The high taxes, the heavy regulatory environment, the subsidies, the corruption, all of that drives up prices for everybody.
And California is a poster child.
I remember coming to that state as a child more than 50 years ago.
It truly was a golden state.
In other words, the numbers will come down at levels that nobody's ever seen before.
The whole most favored nation thing that we've been able to do with Bobby and Maz and everybody behind me, Marty, has been incredible.