CSPAN - Washington Journal Rep. Tom McClintock R-CA
Aired: 2026-04-24
Duration: 33:59


=== War Powers and 60 Days (06:17) ===

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[00:00:44]  Welcome back to Washington Journal.
[00:00:46]  Joined now by Representative Tom McClintock.
[00:00:48]  He is a Republican from California.
[00:00:50]  He's a member of the Budget Committee and also the Judiciary Subcommittee Chair.
[00:00:54]  Representative, welcome to the program.
[00:00:56]  Well, thanks for having me back.
[00:00:58]  Let's start with Iran.
[00:00:59]  How do you think that war is going?
[00:01:01]  Well, I don't understand why the president has paused it.
[00:01:03]  I'm a little old-fashioned about such things.
[00:01:05]  When you've got the other guy on the ropes, you keep punching until he quits.
[00:01:09]  So I'm sure he's got much better information that's available to me, and I'm sure he's acting on that information.
[00:01:15]  But I don't understand this pause and negotiating with a government that in its best days was completely untrustworthy and is now completely fragmented.
[00:01:25]  So you don't know from one day to the next who's in charge, who's making decisions.
[00:01:30]  I don't understand this ceasefire.
[00:01:32]  So you're opposed to any kind of negotiation with them.
[00:01:35]  I don't see any point to it.
[00:01:37]  We've decimated their leadership.
[00:01:40]  We have decimated their military.
[00:01:42]  Now the final, and this can't end any other way but this regime falling.
[00:01:46]  I'm convinced of that.
[00:01:48]  It has been a plague on its people for 47 years.
[00:01:51]  It's been a plague to the world for the last 47 years.
[00:01:56]  We need to end this.
[00:01:57]  And having crippled that government so much, there is an extensive resistance movement throughout Iran.
[00:02:03]  They have so abused their people and terrorized their people.
[00:02:08]  I think the obvious step is to arm those groups and let them take back their country.
[00:02:12]  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.
[00:02:18]  You said you said the same thing.
[00:02:20]  You said this.
[00:02:21]  The most important thing we can do is arm the Iranian opposition.
[00:02:24]  You said that they would get a nuclear weapon and use it.
[00:02:27]  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.
[00:02:37]  Well, we are in a war and there has not been an uprising.
[00:02:41]  Well, I think, well, because they don't have anything to shoot back with.
[00:02:45]  But MEK alone tells me that they've got 20,000 resistance groups, cells.
[00:02:52]  MLK?
[00:02:53]  MEK, Musha-Din-e-Kaq.
[00:02:55]  It's one of the groups that brought down the Shah, but then has been fighting with the Islamic regime ever since.
[00:03:01]  They advocate for a secular, democratic, non-nuclear Iran.
[00:03:06]  They claim to have 20,000 cells, small cells, between 5 and 15 people throughout all 31 provinces in Iran.
[00:03:15]  We need to be sure that they've got the tools they need to finish the job.
[00:03:19]  Have you shared that with the administration?
[00:03:20]  Oh, yes.
[00:03:21]  Oh, yes.
[00:03:21]  I've been in contact.
[00:03:22]  I'm having another discussion with an NSC official today on that very subject.
[00:03:27]  And what's been the response?
[00:03:29]  We're looking at it, and I understand.
[00:03:32]  And again, they will have information that I don't have available to me.
[00:03:35]  There may be some very good reasons, or they may actually be doing it right now, and we just don't know about it.
[00:03:40]  I don't know.
[00:03:41]  But I do think that's the only way this is going to end is for the Iranian people to take back their country.
[00:03:46]  The Senate GOP voted against the war powers resolution.
[00:03:49]  I know that you're in favor of continuing the war.
[00:03:52]  The question is, do you think Congress should have a say in that?
[00:03:55]  Well, of course.
[00:03:57]  And that's the issue that we're fast approaching.
[00:04:01]  The president's war-making authority is very limited without congressional declaration of war.
[00:04:11]  And I think the War Powers Act defines those limited powers very clearly.
[00:04:18]  He can respond to an attack or an imminent attack, which is what he did.
[00:04:24]  For 60 days.
[00:04:25]  For 60 days.
[00:04:26]  And that 60 days tolls on April the 29th.
[00:04:29]  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.
[00:04:38]  I'm prepared to, but I don't think that the majority of the Congress is.
[00:04:42]  So he's running against the clock.
[00:04:47]  So what do you think is going to happen?
[00:04:48]  Because we're not hearing that the president is going to come to Congress anytime soon.
[00:04:52]  Yeah, I have no power of prophecy.
[00:04:55]  Presidents on both sides have questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act.
[00:05:01]  I happen to believe that it is constitutional.
[00:05:03]  The court has never weighed in on that.
[00:05:05]  My guess is there will be a challenge to that law taken to the court at that point if he intends to continue.
[00:05:14]  But again, we shouldn't be wasting time.
[00:05:18]  We need to get this over with, and the people to get it over with are the people of Iran.
[00:05:22]  Congressman Tom McClintock of California is with us.
[00:05:26]  If you'd like to ask him a question, now's your chance to call in.
[00:05:29]  Republicans are on 202748-8001.
[00:05:32]  Democrats 202748-8000.
[00:05:34]  And Independents 202-748-8002.
[00:05:38]  AAAA is saying that the average price of gas in the state of California is $5.80.
[00:05:45]  What kind of economic impact is this war having on your constituents in California?
[00:05:49]  Well, California is a special case because Gavin Newsom has been waging war on fossil fuels throughout his administration.
[00:05:57]  In 1980, we were the second largest petroleum producer in the country.
[00:06:02]  We had 41 refineries operating throughout California.
[00:06:05]  We produced all of the gasoline consumed in our state.
[00:06:08]  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.

=== Ground Forces and Serious Problems (06:18) ===

[00:06:17]  Two more have since closed.
[00:06:19]  That leaves us with just seven.
[00:06:21]  We're now importing 60 percent of our petroleum being used in California.
[00:06:27]  Economists are predicting before the Iran issue arose, they were predicting $6 to $8 gasoline by the summer.
[00:06:35]  It was $6.19 at Sacramento Airport on Tuesday, in case you're interested.
[00:06:40]  So California has some very serious problems that have been created by its own policies.
[00:06:49]  But obviously, the disruption of global supplies with the Strait of Hormuz has forced up prices for everybody.
[00:06:57]  And that, I think, is going to be short-lived.
[00:06:59]  I don't see this continuing much longer.
[00:07:02]  And at that point, we'll see prices come right back down again.
[00:07:05]  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.
[00:07:19]  And I think we'll see that again once this is behind us.
[00:07:22]  And we need to get it behind us as soon as we can.
[00:07:24]  And how do you see the war ending?
[00:07:26]  Because you said that you're not in favor of negotiating with this regime.
[00:07:29]  Yeah, as I said, I think the only way it ends is with the downfall of this regime.
[00:07:32]  And the only way it is.
[00:07:33]  It doesn't look like it's going anywhere, Congressman.
[00:07:35]  Well, time's a great thickener of things, as they say.
[00:07:39]  I want to ask you about something called the Dignity Act of 2025.
[00:07:43]  This was sponsored by your Republican colleague, Maria Salazar of Florida.
[00:07:49]  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.
[00:07:59]  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.
[00:08:11]  What are your thoughts on that?
[00:08:12]  I've got serious problems with it.
[00:08:14]  First of all, it would allow 10 million illegal immigrants who have, again, broken our laws to enter this country to remain indefinitely.
[00:08:22]  And then it would give them not only work permits, but they would be exempt from payroll taxes.
[00:08:27]  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.
[00:08:34]  Now, what does that mean?
[00:08:35]  It means they have a huge advantage over Americans in competing for entry-level jobs.
[00:08:42]  And that, to me, is the worst part of it.
[00:08:45]  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.
[00:09:03]  There are a lot of other problems with that bill, but those are the two that just leap off the page at me.
[00:09:08]  All right, let's talk.
[00:09:09]  Actually, leap off the 261 pages of that bill.
[00:09:12]  Okay, let's talk to callers.
[00:09:14]  Sal is in New Jersey line for Republicans.
[00:09:16]  You're on with the congressman.
[00:09:19]  Good morning, Representative McClintock.
[00:09:21]  I would like to ask you, what can Donald Trump do?
[00:09:24]  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.
[00:09:38]  And they should encourage the American people to just wait until the war is won.
[00:09:46]  Because if they don't, the American people are going to get impatient and they're going to turn against Donald Trump gradually, maybe.
[00:09:54]  Well, I think the American people are already impatient about it.
[00:09:58]  And whether they turn against Trump at the end is going to depend upon the success of this mission.
[00:10:05]  So far, it has been a phenomenal military success, but we have to finish the job.
[00:10:10]  And that's where I get back to the point of we had them on the ropes.
[00:10:15]  Why let them up?
[00:10:16]  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.
[00:10:30]  John Westchester, Pennsylvania, Independent.
[00:10:32]  Good morning.
[00:10:34]  Hey, hello, both of you.
[00:10:36]  You know, I think Tom McClintock should be the first off the boat when it comes to the ground force invasion of Carg Island.
[00:10:43]  And don't you realize that your policies of arming a supposed Iranian opposition are ludicrous?
[00:10:48]  These people aren't organized.
[00:10:49]  You'll just be throwing away money that's something that will not work.
[00:10:53]  You're wasting our money.
[00:10:54]  Tom keeps talking about time, and now this is all going to take time.
[00:10:57]  It's also only going to take blood and treasure.
[00:10:59]  How long does it wait for you to get a spine and stand up for the American people against Trump?
[00:11:04]  Seems like you're just a good old boy.
[00:11:06]  All right, John, let's get to a response.
[00:11:08]  He mentions.
[00:11:09]  Cordial good morning to you too, sir.
[00:11:14]  Your supposition that the resistance in Iran is unorganized is just completely wrong.
[00:11:20]  You have the Kurdish militias in the Kurdish part of the nation.
[00:11:24]  You have MEK with 20, again, claiming they have 20,000 organized cells.
[00:11:29]  You have all of the forces arrayed behind the Pahlavi monarchy.
[00:11:39]  And this is a population that has been tortured and tormented by this regime for 47 years.
[00:11:46]  No, it is ready to revolt, but it needs our help to do so.
[00:11:50]  And that would prevent the necessity of American forces having to finish that job.
[00:11:58]  That would be ground forces, exactly.
[00:12:02]  Now, what do we do about the nuclear material, the close to 1,000 pounds of nuclear material that's there?
[00:12:07]  Well, I think the president is absolutely right.
[00:12:09]  They cannot be allowed to have nuclear material.
[00:12:11]  They have made it very clear that they intend to acquire nuclear weapons, and once acquired, they will use them.
[00:12:16]  Would you stand in favor of American ground forces, special forces going in to get that?
[00:12:23]  Possibly.
[00:12:24]  Again, that depends upon what happens to this regime.
[00:12:26]  If we can collapse the regime from within, I would believe that the successor regime would hand that over without the need for force.
[00:12:34]  But we'll just have to see.

=== Compromise in a Divided Country (12:38) ===

[00:12:36]  Sam is in your state of California.
[00:12:38]  Republican, good morning, Sam.
[00:12:43]  Are you there?
[00:12:46]  Can you hear me?
[00:12:47]  Yes, go right ahead.
[00:12:48]  It's early back there.
[00:12:50]  This is for Republican Tom McClintock.
[00:12:54]  Yeah, I was looking at the governor lineup for California that people are running for governor.
[00:13:01]  God, that's terrible.
[00:13:02]  Every one of them, I heard them on TV.
[00:13:04]  I mean, you know, how could they, I mean, they're worse than Gavin Newsom.
[00:13:10]  I mean, Newsome has stolen more money out of this state.
[00:13:14]  I mean, California, everything's so expensive here.
[00:13:17]  And I don't know what's going on here.
[00:13:19]  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?
[00:13:28]  It's just, it's terrible here.
[00:13:30]  And all this redistricting and all this stuff is going on.
[00:13:34]  I mean, Democrats are controlling this whole state here.
[00:13:37]  Hispanics are letting...
[00:13:39]  Look at the governor and look at the mayor of Los Angeles.
[00:13:42]  She's terrible.
[00:13:44]  I mean, how can they let some good people in here?
[00:13:46]  Sam are very much.
[00:13:47]  Sam, are you in Los Angeles or what part of California?
[00:13:50]  South Pasadena, California.
[00:13:52]  All right.
[00:13:53]  Go ahead.
[00:13:54]  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.
[00:14:08]  But you're absolutely right about the horrible policies that have destroyed our state.
[00:14:12]  And when you talk about affordability, there was a study recently.
[00:14:14]  The 10 most affordable states in the United States are all Republican strongholds.
[00:14:22]  And the 10 least affordable states are all Democratic strongholds.
[00:14:27]  The high taxes, the heavy regulatory environment, the subsidies, the corruption, all of that drives up prices for everybody.
[00:14:37]  And California is a poster child.
[00:14:38]  I remember coming to that state as a child more than 50 years ago.
[00:14:45]  It truly was a golden state.
[00:14:47]  And low taxes, one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.
[00:14:53]  Jobs were plentiful.
[00:14:54]  We had the finest freeway system in the world.
[00:14:56]  We had the finest public university system in the world.
[00:14:59]  We had the finest public school system in the country.
[00:15:02]  We were producing electricity and water so cheaply that some communities didn't even bother to meter residential water usage.
[00:15:10]  And there was a similar discussion over ending electricity meters because electricity was becoming so cheap.
[00:15:16]  The same state exists, but all of the policies changed.
[00:15:20]  And now people are dealing with the highest electricity prices, highest gasoline prices, highest housing prices.
[00:15:26]  You realize there were more building permits granted in Dallas and Houston last year than were granted in all of California.
[00:15:32]  The median price of a home in Texas is about $350,000.
[00:15:37]  The median price of a home in California is $900,000.
[00:15:41]  That's what socialism does to an economy.
[00:15:43]  That's what it's done to wreck California.
[00:15:45]  And ultimately, it's up to the good news is these weren't acts of God that destroyed California.
[00:15:50]  These were all acts of government.
[00:15:52]  And the people can change that anytime they summon the political will to do so.
[00:15:56]  And it's high time people in California did, because I, as a Californian, am sick and tired of living like that.
[00:16:02]  Gail in Massachusetts, Line for Democrats.
[00:16:05]  You're on the air.
[00:16:07]  Yes, thank you very much for taking my call.
[00:16:10]  I would like to say this.
[00:16:13]  How many people are addressing the fact that wars cause so much pain and environmental damage?
[00:16:24]  That's what I would like to address.
[00:16:27]  The pain on the Iranian people you're talking about?
[00:16:32]  In general.
[00:16:33]  Yeah, well, no, you're absolutely right.
[00:16:35]  That's undeniable.
[00:16:36]  A war is a terrible, hideous thing.
[00:16:39]  But you have to weigh the cost of the Iran war against the prospect of a genocidal regime acquiring nuclear weapons with which to threaten the world.
[00:16:51]  And that's what the administration is facing down right now.
[00:16:55]  Albert in California, Republican.
[00:16:58]  Good morning, Albert.
[00:17:00]  Good morning, Mimi.
[00:17:01]  And I'm a Congressman.
[00:17:04]  Absolute pleasure.
[00:17:05]  The last time I called was we had Al Green.
[00:17:08]  Mimi, I apologize for making a comment about Al Green.
[00:17:12]  And one of the things I said was, I'm a Republican, my vote doesn't count.
[00:17:18]  But when we have representatives like you, I appreciate it.
[00:17:22]  Thank you.
[00:17:23]  Also, LaFonzo, who died, was my rep. I went from the Silicon Valley and I moved up to Chico.
[00:17:29]  You know, that's more affordable.
[00:17:31]  I'm up in Megallia.
[00:17:32]  But can you make a comment on the governor's race that took place last night?
[00:17:42]  And also, just a general comment is that the hearings we're having in D.C. right now with the secretaries is so embarrassing to the American people, at least for me, the conduct of our representatives.
[00:18:04]  And you're the higher echelon of the government.
[00:18:06]  I mean, you guys make great money and you fly around and, you know, you get on your grand horses and you parade the country.
[00:18:17]  Give me an overview why we're at, where we're at.
[00:18:20]  And I want to say separately.
[00:18:23]  And Mimi, you are a pleasure to be around.
[00:18:25]  Well, that's very kind of you.
[00:18:28]  Congress is simply a reflection of the country.
[00:18:30]  Why is Congress so bitterly divided?
[00:18:33]  Because the country right now is so bitterly divided.
[00:18:36]  You know, why is civility breaking down in the Congress?
[00:18:39]  It's because it's breaking down across the country.
[00:18:42]  And I think that Justice Thomas put his finger on it in a very important address he made to the University of Texas last week.
[00:18:50]  And that is that there are moments in a civilization where there are antithetical principles competing for the future.
[00:18:56]  That's what Lincoln talked about in his famous House Divided speech.
[00:19:00]  A House divided against itself cannot stand, and this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free.
[00:19:06]  He went on to say, I don't expect the House to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
[00:19:10]  It must become all one thing or all the other.
[00:19:13]  He understood that those principles, freedom and slavery, were antithetical.
[00:19:18]  They were polar opposites, matter and antimatter.
[00:19:20]  They could not forever exist together.
[00:19:22]  One had to triumph over the other.
[00:19:24]  We had to become all one thing or all the other.
[00:19:26]  And if you recall your history, those were very tempestuous times, very uncivil times.
[00:19:32]  We actually had a civil war.
[00:19:36]  I think that wheel's come full circle.
[00:19:38]  And now we're dealing with two antithetical principles, freedom and socialism, or as Justice Thomas said, freedom and progressivism, which are really progressivism, socialism are pretty much the same thing.
[00:19:52]  They reject the principles of the American founding.
[00:19:55]  They are antithetical to the principles of freedom.
[00:19:57]  I mean, if you look at it, socialism and slavery are two sides of the same coin.
[00:20:01]  They both spring from the same rotten principle as Lincoln described it, the same principle that says, you work and toil and make bread, and I will eat it.
[00:20:08]  Well, you can't compromise those fundamental principles.
[00:20:11]  Our system's built on compromise.
[00:20:13]  So we're in a period of very intense debate over two principles that ultimately will decide the future, but only one will prevail.
[00:20:25]  And that's what's going on.
[00:20:26]  You know, there was a Gallup poll that was released just yesterday asking for Congress's approval, your approval of Congress.
[00:20:34]  It's 10% approve of Congress.
[00:20:38]  Now, there also has been a recent spate of sexual misconduct, allegations, and retirements, expulsions, et cetera.
[00:20:48]  Do you think Congress is policing itself adequately?
[00:20:51]  You wonder what's wrong with that 10%.
[00:20:54]  10%'s not paying attention, maybe.
[00:20:57]  But, you know, first of all, Congress is never particularly popular.
[00:21:04]  Everybody likes their own congressman but doesn't like the rest of them.
[00:21:08]  And that's always been the case.
[00:21:11]  Remember what Mark Twain said.
[00:21:12]  He said, suppose, dear reader, that you were an idiot, and suppose you were a congressman, but I repeat myself.
[00:21:17]  So it's been going on for a very long time.
[00:21:19]  But I do agree that the conduct in the Congress has deteriorated dramatically.
[00:21:28]  And I think people are reacting to that.
[00:21:30]  As your caller just said, you know, this is not happening in a vacuum.
[00:21:33]  People are watching this.
[00:21:33]  And when you have this kind of uncivil behavior, you're going to have a revulsion from those who are watching it.
[00:21:41]  That is a self-correcting mechanism, however, and I think that we will be correcting that.
[00:21:45]  Not just uncivil.
[00:21:46]  We're seeing criminal behavior.
[00:21:48]  Well, that's true.
[00:21:49]  Yeah, exactly right.
[00:21:50]  Here's Tony in Virginia, line for Democrats.
[00:21:52]  Good morning.
[00:21:57]  Go ahead, Tony.
[00:21:58]  You're on with Congressman McClintock.
[00:22:01]  You know, if I was a Republican right now with the plane that you see on television and through the news, I would be embarrassed.
[00:22:10]  I'd be saying to say that I'm a Republican.
[00:22:13]  For the simple reason is, I was watching television yesterday and watching Kennedy testify.
[00:22:22]  And he was saying that all black children should be taken away and put on a farm and be and otherwise they have another parent.
[00:22:37]  Wait, all black children should be taken away and put on a farm?
[00:22:42]  Yes, that's what he said.
[00:22:44]  Where did you see this?
[00:22:45]  Secretary of Health and Human Services?
[00:22:48]  It was on C-SBAN yesterday.
[00:22:51]  We're going to have to check that, Tony.
[00:22:53]  It doesn't sound right.
[00:22:54]  That sounds a little bizarre.
[00:22:56]  But here's one point, though, where I think you're right, though.
[00:22:59]  You can't spin the economy.
[00:23:01]  Everybody knows in their own life exactly how well they're doing.
[00:23:04]  And right now they're telling us that they're not doing very well.
[00:23:08]  But I remember the Reagan recovery.
[00:23:10]  When the Reagan tax cuts finally took effect, the economy expanded dramatically.
[00:23:15]  You could feel it in the air.
[00:23:16]  There was a sense of optimism.
[00:23:18]  People were feeling better about themselves and about their futures.
[00:23:23]  And the result was one of the biggest Republican landslides in history.
[00:23:27]  People had been dealing with the Carter economy up until then.
[00:23:31]  They'd been blaming Reagan for it.
[00:23:32]  Reagan's popularity was low.
[00:23:34]  But when those tax cuts finally kicked in, it was mourning in America, as the famous Reagan campaign ad pointed out.
[00:23:44]  The Trump tax cuts, the big, beautiful bill we passed last year, is Reaganomics on steroids.
[00:23:50]  And I am very confident that as that works its way through the economy by summer, we're going to be feeling its effects very dramatically.
[00:23:59]  And it's going to be a very different economic future for the American people, a very optimistic one.
[00:24:06]  And that's going to translate into politics.
[00:24:09]  So again, as I said earlier, that old saying, time is a great thickener of things.
[00:24:16]  I see very good days ahead for America.
[00:24:18]  All right, and I just want to get back to Tony.
[00:24:21]  You're still there.
[00:24:22]  This is The Hill.
[00:24:22]  We do have this article.
[00:24:24]  It says, RFK Jr. apologizes for comments about black kids.
[00:24:28]  He claims he didn't say.
[00:24:30]  So here's what it said.
[00:24:32]  Secretary Kennedy on Wednesday apologized for past comments he made about black children being, quote, reparented while maintaining that he didn't make those comments despite there being a recording of him doing so.
[00:24:46]  Senator Also Brooks of Maryland asked Kennedy whether he could admit to saying that he had a plan of sending black children to rural rehabilitation centers where they could be reparented.
[00:24:59]  That is on thehill.com.
[00:25:01]  Of course, you can also watch everything on c-span.org.
[00:25:06]  Here's Kimberly in California, Independent.
[00:25:09]  Go ahead, Kimberly.
[00:25:12]  Hi, good morning.

=== Reconciliation and Family Money (08:44) ===

[00:25:14]  I have a few comments to make, but one of them I wanted to say, you just made a comment about Iran being, you know, they would be genocidal.
[00:25:24]  Let me say something.
[00:25:25]  America participates in the genocide that is happening in Gaza by giving Israel the money.
[00:25:34]  Can we sorry, Kimberly, he was having trouble hearing you, but continue.
[00:25:41]  You were saying about Iran.
[00:25:43]  I said he made a comment about Iran causing national genocide.
[00:25:49]  And I'm saying to him that the only people right now doing a genocide is Israel and us Americans by giving them the money to participate in it.
[00:25:59]  But furthermore, you keep talking about socialism as if it's this evil of two.
[00:26:04]  We live in California.
[00:26:06]  We know what the problem is.
[00:26:08]  It's oligarchy.
[00:26:09]  It's the rich.
[00:26:11]  And let me tell you something.
[00:26:12]  Everybody in America, I believe, is going to see that after how far New York comes into with the new mayor there, they're going to see that the thing that he is talking about is what the working class wants.
[00:26:28]  You represent more working class here in California than anywhere.
[00:26:34]  And the white supremacy is what is keeping this capitalism alive.
[00:26:39]  Well, what makes your caller think that somehow socialism is going to work better in California or New York than everywhere else it has ever been tried?
[00:26:49]  I mean, just look around this country, look around the world, wherever the left takes control, you see exactly the same pathologies, economic and social.
[00:26:59]  You see sky-high taxes, rising crime, rampant homelessness.
[00:27:04]  You see shortages of basic necessities like gasoline, electricity, water, housing, groceries.
[00:27:13]  You ultimately see failing schools, failing businesses, and then fleeing families.
[00:27:21]  A million and a half more people have moved out of California than have moved into California during the Gavin Newsom administration.
[00:27:28]  And a lot of them are moving to places like Nevada and Arizona, Texas, Idaho, Florida.
[00:27:35]  But I can't imagine an act of God that could do so much damage to California as to make it a less attractive place for people to live than the middle of the Nevada nuclear test range.
[00:27:45]  But acts of government can do that.
[00:27:47]  They have done that much damage, and you're seeing it.
[00:27:49]  But you're not just seeing it in California.
[00:27:52]  They took our most beautiful cities of the 20th century, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Baltimore, New York City, Washington, D.C., and turned them into socialist hellholes.
[00:28:07]  Then they took our best states, the most prosperous states, California, Illinois, New York, and they did the same thing.
[00:28:14]  Why can't people connect the dots between these policies and the effect these policies have on the quality of life of every American?
[00:28:22]  I don't understand it.
[00:28:22]  Congressman McClintock, we've got this from Lynn on X.
[00:28:25]  She says, Trump's bailing out Spirit Airlines.
[00:28:28]  Is that considered socialism?
[00:28:30]  And is it true that Trump is going to bail out the UAE?
[00:28:33]  Also, are you one of the Republicans that want Trump to pardon Ghelene Maxwell?
[00:28:37]  I know I won't get an answer because C-SPAN doesn't like my truth.
[00:28:41]  Well, I have to agree with her completely.
[00:28:43]  The bailout of Spirit Airlines would be a huge mistake.
[00:28:48]  That is not the role of government.
[00:28:50]  Spirit Airlines makes its own decisions.
[00:28:54]  Yes, there are international events that are affecting them, but that's affecting all the airlines.
[00:28:59]  We can't get into the business of subsidizing every failing corporation.
[00:29:06]  That has got to stop.
[00:29:08]  So I'm in complete agreement with her on that.
[00:29:10]  I think that would be a terrible idea.
[00:29:11]  You know anything about the UAE getting funding?
[00:29:14]  I don't, but I think that we have been far too lavish in providing foreign aid to a lot of countries that do not wish us well.
[00:29:22]  I'm not sure the UAE is now in that category, but I think we need to focus on America's needs at this point.
[00:29:31]  And would you like to comment on Ghelene Maxwell and if you would be in favor of a pardon for her?
[00:29:37]  No, I don't think so.
[00:29:38]  I mean, there'd have to be some reason for it.
[00:29:41]  I haven't heard a reason.
[00:29:42]  All right, let's talk to Barry, who is calling us from Connecticut on the line for Republicans.
[00:29:47]  Oops.
[00:29:48]  Looks like Barry's gone.
[00:29:50]  Let's try Vicki in St. Louis, Missouri.
[00:29:53]  Democrat.
[00:29:54]  Hi, Vicki.
[00:29:56]  Hi, how are you doing today?
[00:29:57]  Good morning.
[00:29:58]  Good morning.
[00:29:59]  Hi, Mr. McClintock, if I said your name right.
[00:30:03]  You are from a very beautiful state.
[00:30:05]  I visit there a couple of times.
[00:30:07]  I have family that lives in San Diego, Carsbag.
[00:30:10]  But my question today: well, I actually have three.
[00:30:14]  One is, what do you think about the children that were killed in Iraq, that girls' school?
[00:30:20]  Is that a war crime in Iran?
[00:30:22]  I've never heard any Republicans say anything in Iran.
[00:30:26]  Number two, what do you think about the president's family making so much money off of Bitcoin and being connected to the UAE?
[00:30:35]  Number three, I'm a white woman raising a biracial child in this country, which I'm so totally proud of.
[00:30:45]  But the racism in this world is crazy.
[00:30:48]  And that meeting with Senator Kennedy yesterday, hearing him say on that video, audio tape of him reparenting black children in the rural areas of this country just made my skin boil.
[00:31:04]  I mean, it's just, I don't even know what to think about that.
[00:31:07]  Well, this is the first I've heard of that, and I'm appalled by it too.
[00:31:12]  I'd like to see what context it was in, but I can't imagine a context that would make it any more excusable.
[00:31:18]  So I, you know, again, hearing it for the first time, you have the same reaction.
[00:31:24]  But The other questions were about to get an update on DHS funding.
[00:31:36]  What's the latest on that?
[00:31:38]  Well, as you know, the Senate just passed a reconciliation, actually a budget resolution to the House.
[00:31:47]  I don't like the use of reconciliation for that sort of purpose.
[00:31:54]  It's going to be essential in this case because the Democrats are refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless we stop enforcing our immigration laws.
[00:32:00]  Well, we're not going to stop enforcing our immigration laws.
[00:32:03]  So that's an impasse.
[00:32:04]  The reconciliation process can breach that impasse because it bypasses the Senate's 60-vote closure.
[00:32:12]  However, that's not the purpose of reconciliation.
[00:32:15]  There is one shot at reconciliation that the Congress has every year that is specifically designed to bring our spending in line with our revenues.
[00:32:24]  The reconciliation bill is there to control mandatory spending, and it hasn't been used that way as the Budget Act intended in all the time that I've been in Congress.
[00:32:36]  And we need to start.
[00:32:37]  And sorry, just to go back to Vicki's points, she was asking about Bitcoin and the president and his family making money off of that and also the attack on the Iran school.
[00:32:46]  Right, yeah, no, the attack on the Iran school was one of those terrible mistakes of war.
[00:32:54]  It was not deliberate.
[00:32:57]  And war is, as Sherman said, war is hell.
[00:33:01]  It's the last thing you want to do until you've exhausted every other option.
[00:33:06]  But in this case, we had.
[00:33:09]  So very regrettable.
[00:33:10]  But again, compare that to a regime that specifically targets civilians.
[00:33:15]  That's what Iran has done.
[00:33:16]  They've killed 30,000 to 40,000 of their own people just in the recent past.
[00:33:26]  You're comparing apples and oranges there.
[00:33:28]  You're comparing good with evil.
[00:33:31]  And I think that's a kind of warped way to look at the world.
[00:33:36]  And the other issue of the- Bitcoin and the President.
[00:33:39]  Yeah, I don't know.
[00:33:40]  Again, the President has a vast business empire that is run by other people for the most part.
[00:33:50]  I think it's one of the few titans of industry who's ever been president of the United States.