Transcripts For CSPAN Washington 20240703

Speaker. They have promised to force a vote to remove him from the speakers chair. We want to know what you think. Phone lines are split as usual by political party, 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000, independents 202 7488002 and you can send us a text at 202 7488003. Include your name and where youre from otherwise, catch of catch up with us on social media. Http twitter. Com cspanwj. A very good monday morning to you, start calling in now. This is the headline this morning. Matt gaetz was on cnn state of the union talking about his move this week that he says he will take to House Speaker mccarthy from the chair. [video clip] Speaker Mccarthy made an agreement in january and since then, he has been in repeated material breach of that agreement. This agreement he made with democrats to blow past a lot of the spending guardrails we set up is the last straw and overnight, i learned that Kevin Mccarthy had a secret deal with democrats on ukraine. As he was bating republicans to vote for resolution without ukraine money saying we would jam the senate on ukraine, he turns around and makes a secret deal. You and i probably have different views on u. S. Involvement in ukraine but however you think about the question, it should be subject to open review analysis and not some back room deals. I intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker Mccarthy this week. We need to rip up the bandaid and move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy. The one thing everybody has in common is that nobody trusts Kevin Mccarthy. He lied to biden, he lied to house conservatives. The reason we were backed up against the shutdown policy is not a feature of the system. His goal is to make multiple contradictory promises to delay everything and back us up against shutdown politics and then we will pass the senate increase. How many republicans will be with you and your motion to vacate . For people at home, you need 218 votes to get him out of the speakership and you dont have that many. How many republicans do you have . Enough so that when you host this show next week, if Kevin Mccarthy still the speaker of the house, he will be serving at the pleasure of the democrats. He will be working for the democrats. The only way Kevin Mccarthy speaker of the house at the end of this coming week is if democrats bail him out. Host republican matt gaetz yesterday morning. Also Speaker Mccarthy estate was on face the nation saying he will survive and attempt to remove him from the speakers chair. Heres what he had to say. [video clip] on the news this morning, congressman matt gaetz said he will seek a motion to vacate. Hes going to try to oust you as speaker of the house. Hes tried to do that from the moment i ran for the office. This time he says he will keep going and he may not get there soon but it took 15 and hes coming for you. Can you survive . I will survive. This is personal with matt. He voted against the most conservative ability to protect their border, he is more interested in securing tv interviews than doing something. He wanted to pushes into a shutdown even threatening his own district with all the military people there not being paid because he wants to bring this motion. Lets get over with it and lets start governing. If hes upset because he wanted to pushes into the shutdown on a major government didnt shut down, lets have that talk. You need 218 votes to vacate. The democratic leader said he hasnt said anything about what he will do. Democrats could cross over and follow the lead of matt gaetz. Matt gaetz is trying to reach with democrats. If thats the way we are going to govern, and will think america will be successful. Host Speaker Mccarthy yesterday on face the nation. We are asking you to weigh in on this question that the house will face this week should Kevin Mccarthy remain as a of the house. Republicans, 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000s independent 202 7488002. On the senate side, it was governor gavin newsom who announced the selection of a senator to complete the term of Dianne Feinstein who died last week. That will last through 2024. A statement from the office of the governor came out late last night. This is Stephen Dennis of roll call on twitter yesterday. Speaking of the late senator feinstein, shes expected to lie in state in california in San Francisco and city hall on thursday, wednesday and thursday and services will be thursday. Thats reporting from the washington post. Services and lying and stay later this week in california. To your calls on Kevin Mccarthy, this question that will come up in the house this week of whether he should remain speaker. Republicans and democrats are getting a vote on this. We will start on the independent line, ohio, good morning. Caller good morning. I am thinking no. Lets get rid of him. Hes been a week speaker of the house, he has just held up congress all the way. Congress is nothing but social misfits anyway anymore especially republicans. They were talking about cutting Social Security 30 and hurting people bed but Kevin Mccarthy, the first thing he did after the idiot got elected, after january 6, he did everything trump told him to do. He is his own man and the only reason he didnt shut the government down as he got scared. He knew he had to leave the government open. The impeachment was ridiculous. About biden, its a waste of taxpayer time and money. All hes done since hes been in congress is waste time. Host this is john in maryland, a democrat, good morning. Caller good morning to you. When you weigh the situation, that guy gaetz is totally in balance. I dont care what hes done, what kind of lies Kevin Mccarthy has called them all of them are liars. The only thing im concerned about right now is he did not let this government shut down. Anybody who has any common sense can look at the way between what he did as far as saving the government and what could have happened to thousands and thousands of people if it had a shutdown. This doesnt make any sense for him to talk about he cant be trusted. So what . Theyve got the guy in there who was republican light all the way through. As far as im concerned, and ok what hes done or whose ring he kissed, the fact that he saved the government with thousands of people who could at a been out of work, dont mess with this man. Move on past him. Do Something Better than whats going to happen in the future. I would like to say one more thing before you cut me off. I am so sick of being called black. I am an africanamerican. You dont call asian people yellow people. You call them asian americans. Im sick of hearing this. On fox news, they say it in such a way that it says so much about you. I am an africanamerican, i wish they would stop calling me black. Thank you very much. Host thats john in maryland. Another john on the republican line in new jersey. Should Kevin Mccarthy remain as speaker . Caller absolutely. Hes done a great job. Hes a good guy. I am a staunch republican going back to nixon. I dont understand what matt gaetz is doing. Hes just grandstanding. Youve got to get things done. Mccarthy has done a great job. I hate when our party rips each other apart. I dont understand why they would do such a thing. I guess thats all i can say. Youve got to be unified. Host this is the hill newspaper with a breakdown of the winners and losers, the shutdown showdown last week. They name speaker Kevin Mccarthy is one of the winners of that show down. Every member of the house will get a vote on this when it comes up this week. Matt gaetz is promised it will come up and members of the republican conference are already stating their positions on Speaker Mccarthy including the republican from missouri, the chairman of the budget committee. He is a key ally of mccarthy and heres what he had to say yesterday. [video clip] its an absolute waste of time he brings a motion to vacate. The only way a motion to vacate can be successful is if matt gaetz did exactly what he yells at Speaker Mccarthy doing and thats working with the democrats. In fact, he would have to get more than 200 plus democrats to join him to remove Kevin Mccarthy because more than 200 republicans are 100 behind Speaker Mccarthy. If he does this motion to vacate, that will only slow walk the process of getting to everyone of those individual funding bills he proclaims he wants to pass. Like i said, we passed more than 70 of those individual bills when the senate had yet to even pass one. We should point out this past week was quite successful. Kevin mccarthy led many of those bills. That was just in a couple of days. You got that done. You think matt gaetz is going to be reaching out to democrats to do this . How will he do that . Absolutely, thats the only way he can be successful is if he has 200 plus democrats. Basically, matt gaetz is going to work with nancy pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries and the rest of the democrats in order to remove the republican speaker. If you remove a republican speaker, that puts the democrats in power. These investigations will be done and stalled. That is unacceptable. Host thats from fox news from yesterday. As far as the mechanics of how this will work if matt gaetz were to propose it, roll call as a breakdown on that front. Matt gaetz would be able to introduce his motion to force a vote to vacate the chair under a rule package the speaker agreed to in january back when he was seeking enough republican support to secure the gavel. Mccarthy would be able to set a date for the motion to vacate and vote on the floor within two days if gaetz or any other member informs the chamber of his intention to offer such a motion. That is how this would work. It would be offered and then mccarthy can set that date. There could be some procedural motion to take place beforehand but 48 hours seems like the timeframe that would happen after offered on the floor. Matt gaetz says he plans to move forward this week with that motion. Getting your thoughts on the phone lines for republicans, 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000s and independent, 202 7488002. We will look for your texts as well, 202 7488003. Rob out of port crane new york, independent. Caller good morning. First of all, mccarthy needs to go. All this stuff about joe biden and hunter biden, macarthur never sent one subpoena to the entire biden family. They took millions of dollars in bribes. He kept quiet about that. So far, the 1022 form has been not use. They introduced another 700 pages of evidence. How much more evidence do you people need . The first caller on the independent line said all that stuff against biden but its a big nothing burger. Host we will hold off on the personal attack there. Phone lines are republicans, 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000, independents 202 7488002. This is the Editorial Board of the wall street journal today, talk about the effort of matt gaetz to oust Speaker Mccarthy. Thats the Editorial Board of the wall street journal today. Nancy in houston, texas, independent, good morning. Caller im listening to these democrats say what a waste of time it is to do an inquiry, only an inquiry on joe biden. We went for over 3. 5 years of them with the russia, russia, collusion that hillary put together. Look at themselves in the mirror. Host any thoughts on Kevin Mccarthy and his job as speaker . Caller i am mixed on that. I need to hear more about it. I think matt gaetz is correct in a lot of things he says. I dont know. I will have to wait and see. I dont know, i can answer that. As far as the democrats host thats the topic we are talking about this morning. Marla in minnesota, good morning. Caller hi and i think the person who mentioned Hakeem Jeffries, i think is a wonderful person and hes great for the house. I think he would be a great president. I think President Biden is good but jeffreys is talented and would be such a great leader and i support him. Host before you go, if more than for republicans vote to remove Speaker Mccarthy, than to remain Speaker Mccarthy would need some democrats to vote for him for speaker. The question the democrats are facing this week and Hakeem Jeffries is whether to allow some democrats to vote for this weather some democrats will cross over and vote to support mccarthy to remain as speaker. What do you think democrats should do here since they have a say. Caller i would go with Hakeem Jeffries. I think he would pull us all together and he can take it from mccarthy. I dont think mccarthy was good at all. Host this is bernie in louisville, mccarthy and the line for democrats. Caller good morning. First of all, speaker of the house is like the worst job in congress. Nobody is going to like you. As far as matt gaetz goes, it was somebody else talking about trying to oust Kevin Mccarthy. I dont give matt gaetz i dont pay a lot of attention to him. He is hot air and many other republicans are the same way. Host if this happens, should democrats throw Speaker Mccarthy a lifeline here instead of trying to out him . Caller thats a good question. What would be the alternative if Kevin Mccarthy was ousted, who would have another vote and who steps in in the interim . Host there would be no interim. The house would essentially stop working until a new speaker is elected. As we saw from january, that would take a while. Caller yeah, and thats not good either. They would basically be shutting the government down. As far as Kevin Mccarthy, the things he does and everybody hears about, they may not like it but they dont hear about the things that he does good unless its on cspan. Im pretty satisfied with Kevin Mccarthy because what else will we do. I remember when john boehner was speaker, he was so frustrated he just quit. He was tired of the bickering and people not working together. If this comes from the respected republicans, things might change. Right now, if it comes with matt gaetz, he did put himself out there. Host thats a democrat and if and when this motion comes up, democrats will have a say. Politico breaks down the question that democrats would face if you care about all of this in addition to the fate of the impeachment inquiry which democrats is raised as an issue in any way of helping mccarthy, thats one side of the argument. On the other sides that mccarthy is the republicans greatest fundraiser and getting rid of him with help democrats take back the house. No replacement for mccarthy would have the same set of relationships. Thats the breakdown of the choice here that democrats would face. Its why we are asking the question should Kevin Mccarthy remain speaker of the house . Keep calling in. There is one democrat yesterday on cnn. She is being asked about whether she would vote to oust Kevin Mccarthy if and when the boat comes up. [video clip] if a motion to vacate the chair comes death comes to the floor how would you vote . My vote beginning this term for speaker of the house was from was for Hakeem Jeffries and i dont intend on voting for a republican speaker of the house but i believe its up to the republican conference to determine their own leadership and deal with their own problems but its not up to democrats to say republicans. Do you think there will be any democrats that might vote to save mccarthy . I certainly dont think that we would expect to see that unless there is a real confrontation between republicans and Democratic Caucuses and republican and democratic leadership and what that would mean but i dont think he would give it up for free. Would you vote to vacate . Absolutely. I think Kevin Mccarthy is a very weak speaker. He clearly has lost control of his caucus and has hurt and has brought the United States and millions of americans to the brink in the final hour to keep the government open and even then, only issuing a 45 day extension so we will be back in this place in november. I think our main priority has to be the American People and what will keep our government in a cohesive and strong place. Unless Kevin Mccarthy asked for a vote, i dont think you give something away for free. Host alexandria ocasiocortez yesterday on state of the union. Also on cnn, the former House Speaker nancy pelosi was asked her thoughts on the same question. [video clip] my advice to my fellow democrats is simple follow the leader. Hakeem jeffries has done a great job. Yesterday we had a victory in the continuing resolution that was good for democrats. Listening to your conversation if thats the conversation you are going backandforth with, its such a fraud when the basis of this is about spending. These are people who gave a tax cut to the richest people in america to the cost of 2 trillion to our National Debt when whats his name was president of the United States. 2 trillion to the National Debt. That was to give 83 of the benefits to the top 1 . They are on the prowl for medicare, medicaid, in their bill they would cut a huge amount, almost one third of the administration of Social Security that meets the needs of thousands of an official aries. Thousands of beneficiaries. They have huge cuts in nutrition for women, infants and children. This is not about the budget. Its about a value debate. You are wasting your time on that guy because he has no sway in the house of representatives except to get on tv and raise money on the internet. Forgetting that talking about serious legislation, my advice is follow the leader. Host former Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday. Taking your phone calls this morning in his first hour of the washington journal on the question of Kevin Mccarthy remaining speaker of the house. This is john in indiana, democrat, good morning. Caller how are you doing . I want to say that mccarthy is a weak leader. The rest of his parties running the show and hes on the coattails of trump. Host anything else you want to add . Caller no, hes just a weak leader. There aint nobody else to fill his shoes so they got what they got. Host this is james from facebook writing in this morning another viewer in charleston taking your phone calls, republicans, 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000, independents, 202 7488002. We are talking about the house specifically today but there will be action today on the other end of capitol hill at the Supreme Court. Its the first day of the new term of the Supreme Court and heres a frontpage story about it from the New York Times. That was the front page of the New York Times today. Look for news out of Supreme Court later today. Back to your calls, stephanie, inglewood, california, independent, good morning. Caller good morning. I dont think that they should help mccarthy. I think that hes not trustworthy. Host is there somebody you think would be trustworthy . What is the play here if democrats would have to give mccarthy some vote to oust him . Caller i think the republicans should fight it out themselves. Thats their problem. They are so far gone some of them, i really dont know what they can do but i think they should fight it out themselves. Host this is mike in occoquan, virginia, good morning. Caller good morning. Im glad they came up with a vote to kick the can. There was just too much damage that had been done to regular folks and Kevin Mccarthy did the right thing by not allowing the small cluster of a band of idiots to literally disrupt peoples lives. He did the common sense thing. If there is an attempt to get him voted out, so be it. At the end of the day, he can sleep knowing all the military folks will get their food, folks on wic, folks with different needs that people need every day. He is a common sense person. Hes not necessarily so good is a republican. My point is that he did the right thing so he can sleep at night. At the end of the day, that small faction of folks who were sitting on the hill getting 100 75,000 dollars per year with perks could care less. Those of the folks that need to be voted out of office. I just hope that everyone takes notice that the 91 who voted against the cr literally, need to be checked in the voting booth. Host woodbridge, virginia, republican, good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I was thinking about the recent speakers we have had. The last intimidating speaker of the house in my opinion was tip oneill. He was an interesting character. In his book, his biography called man of the house, someone cowrote it it was named novak. He was asked this question what if you had a member of his party that wouldnt go along with his instructions. Tip oneill said thats simple, they would be a onetime representative and their district would get no support or funding at all. Tip oneill was really intimidating. If you didnt play ball with tip oneill, you would get the best. The bat. I havent seen representative jeffries who appears to me to be intimidating. If he were the democratic speaker, they would be more cohesive because i think he would keep his party in line. Host is that the most important quality in a speaker, to be intimidating . Caller its one of the qualities. Look at oneill crossed the political divide. He went over with reagan at the end of the day and they were both irish and they tipped back the glass, i guess. They have lots of qualities but its like herding cats. Youve got to beat them into line if you were to get results. I admire the democrats for being so cohesive and i wish the republicans i dont think Kevin Mccarthy appears to me to be intimidating. It takes a powerful personality to keep that many representatives on board. Host is there somebody in the republican conference you think is that powerful personality . Caller i really dont know. The only thing i can make my judgment on is what i see in the media. Mccarthy is smooth and well composed but he does not crack the whip hard enough. If you really wanted to keep people in line, he needs to be much more assertive and intimidating. Thats just the way the game is played. Thank you very much for being there. Host congressman Byron Donalds is a republican from florida. He was on Fox News Sunday yesterday. Heres his thoughts on the motion to vacate. [video clip] we did not get anything out of this continued resolution. The border is still not secure in this country. Why is that . Thats because joe biden and the democrats got their way. Democratic members are happy with the deal but i think its a terrible deal for the American People. Cutting the Government Spending down doesnt help because inflation is out of control. Having a secure border is not maga republicans, thats common sense. I would implore my colleagues that we have to stand together because at the end of the day, its the democrats who do not want to secure the border, they dont want to get the Fiscal Health of the nation back on track and they dont care about whats affecting men and women in our country regardless of their politics. Do you think they will stand together in the speaker is in trouble . I think he is in trouble because there has to be some level of strong leadership in our chamber. There are a lot of trust issues in my chamber now where people feel on both sides of our conference that everybodys not going to hold hands and continue to do this Work Together. That was indicative of what happened on the floor yesterday where took more democrats to pass this deal to keep the government open. The same thing happened on the debt deal but we have to find a way to come together and stay focused as a conference. Border security has to be the number one thing we fight for going forward. We must secure our border. Joe biden simply wont do it. He wants this catastrophe which is affecting all of our cities and the only people standing in his wareHouse Republicans. Host Byron Donalds yesterday on fox news. You may recall back in january, he got several votes on several different votes taken of the 18 votes for speaker. He was nominated and voted for several times by some republicans who were not supporting Kevin Mccarthy on the earlier ballots. We will keep showing you some of the reactions on capitol hill but we mostly want to hear from you this morning. Do you think Kevin Mccarthy should remain speaker of the house . Republicans 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000, independents, 202 7488002. About 20 minutes left in this first hour of washington journal. This is matt in palm bay, florida, democrat. Caller good morning. I live in a district thats representative by a man to shut by a man who voted to shut the government down and he is a troll just like donald who you showed on the sunday show and matt gaetz of florida. These are not serious people and we should not take them seriously. The chaos caucus want to be elected and be in power. Everything got to real and now they are dealing with the consequences of their actions. And in action. Host this is marty, shreveport, louisiana, line for democrats, good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Caller good morning, all. Its hard to say this but yes, lets keep kevin in. At least hes willing to cross the aisle now. Probably the best we can deal with. I listen to the flu to the two florida senators. The fiscal house in order is also taxation on the wealthiest of americans. This is where we got where we are now. If we want to get things together, lets talk about taxation. Thats all i can say. Keep kevin in and the democrats are doing what it takes to keep our country going. Some of the draconian cuts they want to make, if folks only knew what they wanted to get cut, it depends on whether assistance and child care and nutrition programs, they were willing to slash the americans for that but would not consider a higher tax bracket on other people. Thats another story but lets keep them there and keep this country moving, thank you very much. Host kevin in new jersey, independent, what you think . Caller good morning. Im calling based on how they are kicking the can down the road. In 45 days, they will start their recess as well so within 45 days, they will be threatening the government workers again about getting laid off around the holidays. That will build anxiety of the people that are working for the government. I dont see anything they are doing but kicking the can down the road. Host you say theres no time for speaker fight right now . Caller not at all. Especially for 45 days due to the fact that thats the middle of november. People are worried about your Holiday Shopping in their holiday vacation. You think they are going on recess soon so yes, i dont think they have time for all of this nonsense they are going through now. Thats what i have to say, thank you. Host to the Mount Rushmore state, barry, republican, good morning. Caller thanks for taking my call. What i am about to talk about here is the sustainability of this country. We have an executive branch now that is throwing money at anything, the values they throw out there are just to keep your belly full type of a thing, keep your belly full and is border thing is own sustainability. We cannot sustain what we are doing. Kevin mccarthy is doing a good job of trying to keep things rolling with the proper type of governance that heads toward sustainability of the country for air kids and grandkids and are great a and are great grandkids. Host you mentioned Border Security but its not included in this eventual agreement that came together surprisingly quickly with democrats and republicans, the shortterm funding bill. It doesnt include funding for ukraine either. That Border Security money is not there in that agreement that mccarthy put on the floor and helped craft. Caller the problem there is, can we take care of every problem on earth . Can we take care of every problem people have . If people are born into a country, they should take care of their country instead of running to the United States of america. It just doesnt work in my mind. It isnt sustainable. Thats the main thing here is sustainability of this country. Host back to maryland, elizabeth in randalls town, maryland, line for democrats, good morning. Caller yes, good morning, how are you . Host im doing well. Caller i want to say that i am a democrat so i dont like Kevin Mccarthy because he is a republican. But i do like the bill that was passed as the stopgap measure to keep the government running because it doesnt allow money for ukraine anymore. We need money here in this country. Our economy is suffering. People are suffering. I am a disabled senior and i suffer from having no transportation. I have to take a cab everywhere. For my medical, and have to go over three states to get my medical care because i cannot get my prescriptions in maryland. I have to pay for groceries, i have food steps and thank god for biden and food stamps and everything. Kevin mccarthy needs to be replaced by nancy pelosi. Isnt she running for the house again . I think she is. That would be terrific, thank you very much, thats all i want to say, goodbye. Host about 15 minutes left in this first segment of the washington journal. We are talking about whether Kevin Mccarthy should remain as a speaker because matt gaetz has promised to offer a motion to vacate the chair which would force a vote on Kevin Mccarthys speakership. Here is more from matt gaetz from his interview on the sunday shows yesterday, talking about whether he would try to get democratic votes to join him. [video clip] i actually think when people leave and nothing as Kevin Mccarthy does, everything is negotiable. Lets be honest here, if you succeed in vacating him, you also will have to make a deal with the democrats. You also will have to get democratic votes to kick him out. Absolutely, i will make no deal with democrats and concede no terms to them. I actually think democrats should vote against Speaker Mccarthy for free. Youre not going to cut any deals with them . Absolutely not and i dont think any republican who share my view would cut deals with democrats. I am done owning Kevin Mccarthy. We made a deal in january to allow the speakership and im in not owning him anymore. He doesnt tell the truth so if democrats want to own Kevin Mccarthy, i cannot stop them but then he will be there speaker, not mine. Host matt gaetz on cnns state of the Union Yesterday. This is walter in minnesota, independent, good morning. Caller yes, good morning. People like matt gaetz and donaell are shut are headstrong to shut down the government for whatever reasons that may be. At least mr. Mccarthy had the common sense to realize that is not the way to go. Its very sad that we have somebody in there like matt gaetz and like donnell and a few of the others like that and their goal was basically to shut the government down. And yet they still want to be paid for their socalled work. They are not really doing any work. They are not interested in doing any real work. Common sense is always the best thing and thats what mr. Mccarthy did. Thank you very much. Host here is another Republican Congressman from kentucky. This is his tweet yesterday evening on this topic. Thats Thomas Massie of kentucky. This is wrong out of mclean, virginia, republican, you are next. Good morning and thank you taking my call. 6 caller i think mccarthy has begun a process in this party and healed it and need to govern and govern sensibly. We need to bring responsibility to shrink our bureaucracy, to bring common sense to a lot of what has gone to the extremes on both sides. I dont think you govern in the extremes. I think we have a cancer in our party. Host how has he begun that process . Caller i would continue to go across the aisle to start from the center and build a government and show the republican can govern well. I think there are programs that everybody on both sides of the aisle can use and we can accomplish this responsibly and it will take time but it needs to be done. I say bravo, Kevin Mccarthy to start that process. Host this is hector in staten island, democrat, good morning. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. I would say that mccarthy should stay in the job. He hasnt done anything i think is disagreeable. Theres gotta be checks and balances. Thats number one. I believe we have to keep the constitution and respect the rules of our fathers, the founding fathers. I would say everybody should remember that we the people are here and they should be working together to make sure everything is in place. Weve got plenty of institutions in place to help each other. The people are the ones who will decide who is representing us up there. The future doesnt look that bright but this faith and hope that we will be better in the future. Thank you for taking my call. Host to patrick in georgia, independent, good morning. Caller good morning. In my personal opinion, i dont believe people have common sense anymore. People and country dont have common sense. I blame the media and the Education System for that. The fight thats going on, if you dig down deep and do your research, you will see the fight thats going on is overspending. Its budget cuts. I dont hear the media asking any of the democrats when they should be asking all the politicians one of the most important questions when do they think spending cuts are appropriate . If you research why the soviet union collapsed, it was improving their military and competing with the United States during the cold war and it caught up to them. We are overspending on our military budget. People say we have to stop supporting ukraine. Thats europe, why arent they footing the majority of the bill instead of the United States . When is it appropriate they should also be acting the politicians, when is it appropriate to secure the border . Host bring it back to Speaker Mccarthy. He puts a bill on the floor that continues the Government Spending at the current levels for 45 more days and includes 16 billion in disaster relief, extends the federal Aviation Administration National Flood insurance program. Whats not in there is billions of dollars requested for ukraine. Has he done a good job of that fiscal responsibility you were just talking about . Caller no, Kevin Mccarthy has not. I dont support Kevin Mccarthy. I did not support him when he was running for the speaker of the house. However, when he got elected, like every president thats been elected i said lets give him a chance. Im a fairminded person. Im willing to give people a chance and i was willing to give Kevin Mccarthy a chance. But look what he has done. He has taken budget cuts off the table, he has taken the funding for ukraine off the table and take in the border off the table. Why the border and the spending cuts . We all know the democrats and republicans will Work Together to find ukraine. We know this, thats an automatic. All the politicians have told you that. The only ones who dont want to send more money to ukraine are the ones holding out for budget cuts. If you really want to cut a deal with everybody, you should have cut the funding, not eliminate the funding for ukraine but cut the funding to ukraine and use it on the border. Thats a deal. The art of the deal is no one is happy with the deal. No one gets everything they want. When the last deal that mccarthy just cut, only the democrats got with they wanted. They got Border Security taken out and they got budget cuts taken out. Thats what upsets these republicans who want to see a different leadership, who are against mccarthy. Host is there somebody you would have in mind you would think would be a better speaker of the house right now . Caller i kind of favor Byron Donalds. I kind of favor him. Back when mccarthy was running for speakership, they floated the idea of Newt Gingrich and i thought he would be a good speaker of the house because of the contract with america. Host five minutes left in this segment. Delaware, republican, you are next. Caller yes, i believe Kevin Mccarthy should remain in office. I think he has done an ok job and is under a lot of pressure in that job. The nazi party over there will not help him. The reason i came over to the Republican Party was the fact that the nazi party over there which is the democrats, they control the media, the big companies. Youve got to watch these people. They are sneaky, thats all i have to say. Host we will try to hold off on the nazi comparisons today. St. Louis, missouri, democrat, good morning. Caller good morning, at this time, i think he should remain speaker but i dont know why kevin didnt present a bill that he them the president chose because he should have put it before his caucus and the democrats and let them vote on it. He tried to appease the republicans in his caucus by not putting it before them. He still didnt get what he wanted after he took and took everything and disregarded the bill they had an agreement on. I think they should stop playing with the American People and stop listening to trump. Every time he tells them to do something, thats what they do. Trump is not president. He is nobody at this point. They need to do what the people need, what they voted them in there to do. Host do you think Kevin Mccarthy listens to donald trump too much . Caller yes, that whole group Pay Attention to what trump says. Kevin finally got a spine when he did the deal with the president. And the one he just did, i dont like it because it should have been everything included in that deal. They should not have done it piecemeal. He did it to appease his group instead of thinking about the American People and thats not right. Thats not what we put them into office. The democrats and republicans need to Work Together. Host a couple of more of your tweets and texts can this is robert in raleigh, North Carolina, line for democrats, your thoughts on the speaker battle we will see this week, at least met skate matt gaetz is promising it. Caller i wish Hakeem Jeffries would step in because he was able to go on cspan and talk about the membership. I think Hakeem Jeffries can Work Across Party Lines and get things moving for the democrats and the republicans and try to get the country on the right track. Every time we talk about the can being kicked down the road, sometimes you have to pick up the canon put something in it. Republicans vote against everything, we dont need them, they dont work very hard and are trying to Keep Congress running. I think Hakeem Jeffries would do a great job. We do need the funding for ukraine because we dont want Vladimir Putin to take over there and we need to fund it and then we can find money for the border. Thank you. Host thats robert in raleigh, North Carolina and this is bruce in chicago, republican. Caller how are you doing . Host doing well, go ahead. Caller i was going to ask if you were going to have a segment on Chuck Schumer remaining head of the senate and should biden remain president. We always tend to focus on the republicans. Host thats because a Republican Congressman is offering a motion to vacate this week. He says it will happen and it would trigger a vote on this of whether Kevin Mccarthy should remain speaker. We are doing it because of the news yesterday announced by Republican Congressmen. Caller when did we have the segment on should we have biden president . Is that over and done with already . Host weve done many segments of that leading to the election that will happen next year. This event is happening this week and thats why we going on today. Caller we have not had any segments questioning it. Host do you have any thoughts on Kevin Mccarthy and the vote this week . Do you like the job he is doing . Caller i know it is a tough job. It is tough to herd cats. The republicans are hard to herd. They do not run like host that was bruce. The 2 00 p. M. For legislative business. Plenty more to talk about this morning on washington journal. Up next we will be joined by dot wong to talk about the latest on the Government Shutdown over the weekend and where we go from here. We will be joined by james walmer to talk about what led to the shutdown, the idea of regular order in the house and senate, and congressional budgeting. Stick around for that conversation. We will be right back. Tonight watch cspan in partnership with the library of congress, books that shaped america. We will feature the journals of lewis and clark. The journals came about as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. Thomas jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis to explore the west. Lewis and clarke had detailed journals throughout the journey about potential trade routes, the animals, and the peoples. Watch books that shaped america, featuring the journals of lewis and clark, tonight live at 9 00 eastern. Be sure to scan the qr code to listen to our companion podcast. Author Charlotte Gray is a canadian organ in Great Britain who now lives in a suburb of ottawa. Her book titled passionate mothers, powerful sons is about a geneva room churchhill. She was the mother of churchill. Charlotte gray writes that one of the reasons to write about these two women is their reputations have suffered since their deaths. Author chartte gray on this episode of book notes . Book notes is available wherever you get your podcasts. A healthy democracy does not just look like this. It looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work. Get informed straight from the source on cspan, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from the Nations Capital to wherever you are, because the opinion that matters the most is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan, power by cable. Washington journal continues. Host in times of fastmoving news on capitol hill, it is always helpful to have scott wong. Good morning. Guest good to be with you. Host before we dissect what happened on saturday this continuing resolution funds the government through november 17. What needs to happen between now and then to avoid another one of these shut down showdowns 45 days from now . Guest we could be back in this exact same spot 45 days from now right before the thanksgiving holiday. What mccarthy has done is by himself some more time buy himself some more time to pass these appropriation bills. If you go with the regular order, the house passes there 12 their 12, the Senate Passes their 12. They are now up to 4 out of those 12. The senate has not moved any of their Appropriations Bills. Mccarthy wants to pass a bills so they can negotiate them with the housesenate, come up with a packages bills that can Pass Congress and fund the government. This should have been done much earlier this year. Many lawmakers were complaining, why did it we work through the august recess . They took an entire month and some change off. There is probable frustration that we waited until this point to start negotiating these Appropriations Bills. The continuing resolution, the house conservatives bills would reduce spending, something demanded of those conservatives, so that will be where we see inferences with the senate and the house over federal spending levels. Host does this mean in the next 43 days does the senate have a lot more work to do than the house . Are all of these 12 appropriation bills going to be passed . Why hasnt the Senate Passed any of their Appropriations Bills . Guest [laughter] typically these things are negotiated by the top appropriators, by senate leaders. They have been dragging their feet. There has been disagreement. We have not seen the senate be as productive. That has been a point that Kevin Mccarthy has said. Look, we have passed 4 out of the 12. The senate has passed zero. Therefore, we have made more progress. While technically that is true, in any sort of deal defined the government, you need agreement from the 4 corners, the top appropriators plus the congressional leaders, 2 in each party. We will be very much following this closely. The house is going to be taking up another one of those Appropriations Bills they hope as early as this week. They have already passed some of the lower hanging fruit, including funding the pentagon, funding homeland security, so they are tackling this one bite, at a Time Starting from the low hanging fruit and getting to the more challenging bills. We could very much be in the same spot right before thanksgiving. Host this is the one that members of congress do not tell too often because it is the till that Funds Congress itself bi ll that Funds Congress itself. No ukrainian aid in this package that came together. When and how will a vote on additional funding for ukraine happen . Guest if you listen to the president of the United States just yesterday in talking to this cr deal funding the government, he said there was another deal made with Kevin Mccarthy on ukraine. He seemed to suggest that there was an agreement that there would be votes on some sort of ukraine package. That was interesting Kevin Mccarthys spokesperson responded that the priorities will be Border Security and ukraine, getting those things through the congress. Mccarthys folks want to tie together those two very challenging issues, Border Security and ukraine. The one positive ray of light for ukraine is that it does have the support of all the leadership, especially mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate who very much tried to ensure that ukraine funding was attached to this cr that passed through the congress. The house bill that eventually did pass did not include the ukraine. Mcconnell in a closeddoor meeting with his Republican Congress was overruled after insisting that ukraine remain in the package. He was overruled by Senate Republicans according to our reporting. At the end of the day ukraine funding does have broad support among all of the key negotiators who will be involved in the future funding of the government. That is a very good sign for ukraine funding. The president says he is going to get it done, so a lot of political influence behind getting maury economic and military more economic and military aid to ukraine as they wage their war against russia. Host start calling in with your questions or comments. Republicans, it is 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. Scott wong was up there tracking as that deal was coming together on capitol hill going right to the 11th hour. In the wake of that, we are expecting a motion to vacate the chair this week. Scott wong wh how do yo see this playing out and what have you been hearing about this, and if mccarthy is ousted who could unite the conference . Guest we are several steps away from that scenario, but clearly we have to look to the number two republican leader, steve scalise, notably from louisiana. He is battling and receiving treatment for blood cancer, which he announced the state short just a short few weeks ago. He does have some conservative allies, although there are some conservative groups who do question how conservative his record is but he does have people like andy big, the former Freedom Caucus leader pushing him is a possibility. There is of course wildcards, people like Patrick Henry the Financial Services chairman who has served in leadership before who is an institutionalist, widely respected as a legislator, and someone who knows the conference very well, and others like tom cole who is the rules committee chairman. Very wellrespected knows the ins and outs of every note and cranny of the United States congress who would be seen as a placeholder while the republican conference resolves its internal issues and divisions. Those are some of the names i would throw out there to keep your eye on. Host if there are democratic votes to, save a mccarthy speakership who should we be watching . Who is most likely to make that trip across the aisle . Guest i think it would be the moderates. The moderates looking at the bipartisan problem solvers, the people who meet weekly democrats and republicans, this group of now more than 60 individuals who do not like the chaos that has transpired on capitol hill in recent weeks, who want a return to working across the aisle, getting things done. This is the group led by Brian Fitzpatrick of pennsylvania. What i am hearing from moderates and really from democrats across the spectrum, including progressives is that they are looking to Hakeem Jeffries right now. You laid out earlier how it would work, and the numbers, and the fact that Kevin Mccarthy would need some democratic votes in order to survive, or he would need some democrats to vote present to lower the threshold in order to survive. What democrats have told me is they are looking towards their leader Hakeem Jeffries to give them direction, give them marching orders about how to proceed. Certainly, there would be in that event conversations between mccarthy and Hakeem Jeffries. I think a powersharing agreement is something a little too far out of a west wing episode, a little too cute, but democrats would want to extract something from mccarthy. What that is remains to be seen. If it is it an up or down vote on ukraine aid, that may not be enough for democrats to get on board. Kevin mccarthy is someone who democrats do not trust at all, going back to his reiterated support of donald trump after the january 6 attack on the capitol. President biden says he reneged on the deal that raised the debt limit. That is why we are in this situation in the first place. Finally, Kevin Mccarthy has launched in recent weeks this impeachment inquiry into President Biden that democrats feel is purely political and meant to damage President Biden ahead of 2024. For a lot of those reasons there is not much trust or will from democrats 212 bailout Kevin Mccarthy as he heads into this difficult motion to vacate vote. Host scott wong, senior congressional reporter and no stranger to cspan viewers. Mary is up first, las vegas, line for democrats. Caller good morning. A third of the house are election denying, antidemocratic, authoritarian minded people. Matt gaetz and his ilk if i recall right was biggs the one who is at the podium on january 6 with the bulletproof vest . Matt gaetz opens his big mouth so he can make money and go on fox news. We need to vote out these conspiracy theorists in our house now so we can get back to having a democracy before we lose it. This third of the house that i am talking about are nothing more than the disciples of a cult leader, and trump on the podium more than just spewing rage is no starting to sound likew a rapper with the swearwords. Host scott wong, is that what he is doing, a wip count on the motion to vacate . It only takes more than four republicans to vote on that motion to vacate. Do we know how many we are watching here who might vote to vacate the chair . Guest we do not have a specific number yet. I saw a tweet yesterday from eli crane that responded to matt gaetz threat to vacate. He said lets roll, lets do this, essentially. The math is going to be so tricky just not knowing what the democrats are going to do. I mentioned earlier one possibility is that some of the moderate democrats who do not like the chaos that has rained on capitol hill could vote present, thereby lowering the threshold that Kevin Mccarthy needs in order to survive. Yes, matt gaetz is an ally of President Trump, one of the top allies of President Trump as the caller mentioned. Kevin mccarthy and his allies have been portraying matt gaetz in recent interviews as somebody who has a purse over vendetta against a personal vendetta against the speaker of the house. He led the effort to block Kevin Mccarthy from becoming speaker of the house back in january. He is someone that mccarthy allies say just wants to get on tv, perhaps one day to run for governor. My colleague matt dixon had a piece about how matt gaetz is buying the Governors Office in 2026. This could be an effort to to raise his fundraising base before that potential run. He organ the he orchestrated the successful bid for ron desantis. Matt gaetz knows the internal workings of how you run for governor and how you win. I think we will see matt gaetz perhaps run as well as another florida congressman who has recently clashed with matt gaetz named Byron Donalds. A wad of internal political dynamics a here when we talk about this dynamics at play here when we talk about this motion to vacate. Caller i feel like Kevin Mccarthy is a wonderful speaker of the house. He handles everything in a very professional manner, including dealing with the news media, all of the questions they continually ask, and how he goes about answering them very directly. The Democratic Party are not even transparent, from biden all the way down. We dont know what is going on most of the time. As far as matt gaetz, matt gaetz i like matt gaetz a lot, but he is totally out of control, and i think he is trying to do something for other means. That is all i have to say today. It is very frustrating, seeing what is going on and how even the speaker is being treated. Thank you for having me. Host that was teresa with her comments in pennsylvania. Let me go to rock in new york. Caller my comment really is for you more than the guest you have, but let me just say on the question i did not get in on time. My real problem is that somebody called in and said to you the democrats are the nazi party. While you are doing your job, you would cut those things. This discourse is toxic. You as a journalist need to host got your point. I asking the i ask callers to refrain from nazi comparisons. I appreciate the thought. Do you have a question for scott wong . Caller no, i see him sometimes on msnbc. I appreciate the job that he is doing. The media at this point in our history is very important. Host we think scott wong does a good job as well. A story that got a decent amount of attention that was not on the floor of the house that in one of the house office buildings, Jamaal Bowman under investigation for pulling the fire alarm as mccarthy compares it to january 6. Can you explain what happened . Guest mccarthy called this lastminute vote to pass the cr to fund the government. It caught democrats by surprise. The democrats called an emergency caucus meeting, which means they simply wanted to meet to discuss what their plan of action was. This was happening as some democrats were saying i think i am going to vote for this. There were a number of procedural delay tactics the democrats employed in order to buy more time so they could read the bill, make sure there were no poison pills secretly inserted into this. At that time a fire alarm started going off around the capitol complex. We later learned that it was a fire alarm that was pulled by congressman Jamaal Bowman, a progressive democrat from new york. There is Video Surveillance of it. There are photos circulating of bowman pulling the fire alarm at an emergency exit. It is very clear. Democrats immediately said that he was doing so to try to interrupt the vote as one of these procedural tactics. Bowman put out a statement saying it was purely accidental. He was trying to exit the door and he thought by pulling the alarm it would open. There is very clear signage that it is an emergency exit. House republicans have opened an investigation into bowman. They some are drafting resolutions to try and expel him or censure him, and others have compared him to interfering in an official proceeding of the United States congress, likening this event to january 6 rioters. Clearly the two do not compare on the one hand with january 6 rioters there were individuals recorded on video committing violent acts against police and storming the capitol. In this case whether accidental or not, nobody was physically harmed and it did not sufficiently delay the vote at all. Host Marjorie Taylor greene of georgia tweeting yesterday morning bowman must be treated exactly the same as the january 6 defendants. He was a principal before coming to congress. He knows exactly what pulling the fire alarm means. 2 minutes left with scott wong. This is joe in atlanta, georgia, went for democrats. Line for democrats. Caller unbiased. Im clearly it im biased. Im clearly a democrat. Im 82 years old. Tyranny survives because of power, a monarchy survives because of tradition, but a republic democracy survives because of virtue. , both republicans and democrats, we need to put some people in power. This democratic stuff that is going on with menendez needs to be attended to. Representative gaetz and trump have had things that are so clearly derogatory to their character, we as americans need to stand up and get some people in their. Virtue is their most outstanding quality. Host joe in atlanta, georgia. We talked about gaetz. Lets go to bob menendez. What is the latest on the charges against him . Guest we know that these are corruption, bribery, fraud charges, three counts against the senior senator from new jersey a democrat, clearly before the Government Shutdown this story was all the rage on capitol hill. I caught up with john fetterman, the pennsylvania Democrat Freshman who has been the most critical democrat of senator menendez. H was thee first to call for senator menendez to resign from the Democratic Caucus. He told me, federman did, that menendez is open to bringing a resolution to expel that federman is open to bringing a resolution to expel menendez. That is as far as anyone on capitol hill has gone. Dean phillips echoed that call and praised federman, surprisingly just yesterday dean phillips, the leader on the house side has announced he was stepping down from house leadership over some of his differences with the Democratic Caucus i n calling for hn caucus in calling for a challenge to joe biden in 2024. There are john, when it rains it pours on capitol hill. There are so many storylines happening all at once. The top story has to be matt gaetz motion to vacate, but there are a number of stories that would be the top story on any given week if we did not have this effort to oust to the speaker of the house. Host we are glad you are here during a busy week. Just a couple more minutes. I have a couple more phone calls. Guest lets do it. Host rodney, miami, republican, go ahead. Caller scott, never in the history of america has the United States president been accused of taking bribes from some of the biggest enemies of america like joe biden has. We had an impeachment inquiry, and this crew was frozen out by all major media. They did not cover the impeachment hearing. They will cover if donald trump drop some napkin, drops a napkin, but they forced it out. The fact that joe biden headhunter on air force one flying him around the country the white house entertained Hunter Bidens clients at the white house. 9 biden children got money. You have all of these llcs and we are talking about matt gaetz. 71 Million People voted for donald trump, and a lot of republicans in the country are wondering, the white house media seems if they seems as if they have no interest in looking into this. You have johnson in the senate trying to do the medias job while the media is calling it all hogwash. Host if you want to watch it in its entirety, you can do so at cspan. Org on our website. We there that hearing on cspan2 that day. Scott wong and their story on the impeachment hearing, the impeachment investigations, where do they go from here . Guest there seems to be some question about whether these investigations could go on in the event of a Government Shutdown, in the event where there is no speaker of the house. I think you alluded to it earlier, john. If motion to vacate is called and Kevin Mccarthy is successfully removed, the house of representatives cannot come to agreement on the next speaker of the house, that remains the next business for the house to consider. No boots on bills can happen. No votes on bills can happen. Feasibly, there could not be any more committee work, particularly on the impeachment inquiry of President Biden, so it will grind the United States house to a halt and create some real complications about doing business as usual for the house of representatives. Host last call. This is michael, st. Petersburg, florida. Go ahead. Caller im calling about the mccarthy thing, about him holding his position. I feel that the American People voted for the representatives they send to washington. This is still a democracy. Let them decide their problem and who will be the House Speaker. They voted for him, and they seem to be so bright that they know how to run things. The republicans, let them fix the problem. Host what are you saying . That democrats should not bailout Speaker Mccarthy if more than four republicans vote to oust him . Caller im sitting im saying that in this country we still have the freedom to vote, thank god, and those winners voted to send those voters voted to send those representatives to washington. Let them work it out. Host that is michael in st. Petersburg, florida. Scott wong, final minute or so here. A yous have alluded to hear, very busy week. What should people be paying attention to this week . Guest both Kevin Mccarthy and matt gaetz in order for them to succeed in their endeavors, mccarthy to hold onto the speakers gavel, matt gaetz to remove mccarthy as speaker of the house, they will need the help of democrats so the fact that both of them are pointing fingers at each other, suggesting you are the ones who who is working with democrats is a bit silly. In order for both to succeed, they will need the help of democrats. Alexandria ocasiocortez talked about how she will not vote to help Kevin Mccarthy. Many other progressives are in that camp. We talked about the distrust from many members of the Democratic Caucus towards Kevin Mccarthy. He has worked across the aisle with Hakeem Jeffries. They have i want to say a close relationship but they have a working relationship. Hakeem jeffries has kept an open mind what Many Democrats have said i will not work with Kevin Mccarthy. They have shown a willingness to put their differences aside and Work Together. Host scott wong, senior congressional reporter with nbc news. Give him a follow on twitter. Always appreciate your time, scott. Coming up a little later in our program, a look at what led to the shutdown, the idea of regular order on capitol hill, and if we will ever get back to regular order. We will have that conversation with james walder of the until then, it is open forum. It is your time to speak your mind. Open forum, republicans can call in at 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. Though ahead and start calling in. Go ahead and start calling in. We will get to your calls after the break. As part of our new series, we are asking you what books do you think shaped america . To kill a mockingbird. Upton sinclairs the jungle. You can join in the conversation by voting for the book you think shaped america. Just go to our website and select record video. In 30 seconds are less tell u which book or less tell us which book you choose and why. Cspans studentcam documentary competition is back celebrating 20 years with this years theme, looking forward while considering the past. We are asking middle and High School Students to make a 5 to 6 minute video addressing one of these 2 questions in the next 20 years what is one major change would like to see . Or over the past 20 years what is the most significant change and on our website cspan. Org podcasts. Washington journal continues. Host it is time for our open forum, any policy issue, any political issue on your mind. That effort being led by matt gaetz to oust Kevin Mccarthy from the speakers chair is the front page story. Republican rebels vowed to oust mccarthy. That is the headline there. Coming in with just hours to spare before the vote was made. The front page of the New York Times, the story on today being the first day of a new term of the Supreme Court of the United States. How far to the right will this Supreme Court go . The Supreme Court reporters there under scrutiny, justices await major cases. Those are some of the topics we can talk about, but let us know what is on your mind. 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488000, democrats. 202 7488002, independents. Caller why do republicans follow laws that have been passed by republicans . Why did democrats host anything else you want to add . Caller that is it. Host that is earl in south carolina. 202 7488001 for republicans. Democrats, 202 7488000. And independents, 202 7488002. We mentioned this story with scott wong. The gop wants bowman to get the january 6 treatment. They want him to get the same justice as january 6 writers got for their breach of the capital rioters got for their breach of the capital. That story is one we can talk about. Our next caller is from fresno, california. Caller i have a statement i would like to make. If you listen to everybody, democrats and republicans, we are all complaining about this and that, about trump, about the border, about drugs, about fentanyl, about all of that stuff. All of that stuff goes back to trump. Trump was poisoning our democracy. Something needs to be done about that. We need to find a way to get rid of him and stop him. He is the one who will destroy everything. I also believe he is behind all the wars in ukraine because he did not get along zelenskyy did not tell the lies that he wanted him to tell against the biden family. Host this is josh in illinois, independent, good morning. Caller there has been a couple of segments in the last weeks or months about confidence in the u. S. Military, recruitment numbers being low. I listened to those segments and i dont think anyone mentioned low recruitment or low confidence having to do with faith in the mission itself. It old evolves into transgender this, or gender politics that when no one is mentioning the fact that the u. S. Military has not engaged in any morally righteous action. Every action i can think of that the u. S. Military has engaged in a broad is unspeakable destruction, death and consequences we will be dealing with for god knows how long. That is all i really wanted to say. Thanks very much. I love the show. Host this is dave in massachusetts. Good morning. Caller good morning. I get up every morning and i hear all these things. Do you know president jack johnson . I pure about all of these sides. What part i hear about all of these sides. What Party Shutdown afghanistan . 4 years ago this world was at peace. I will be 62 in about a week. I always thought we were all united. People are taking sides. I always trusted everybody. I thank everyone, you walked down the street, you dont ask everybody are you a d, an, r, or an i . Host do you think you will vote in 2024 . Caller i am going to vote. Host you know who you are going to vote for yet . Caller i im going to vote for someone women were free and afghanistan for 12 years. That is what everyone does not realize. Ou guys were over therer our guys were over there for a mission. They promised the kids they would go to school, they did. Women owned their own businesses. I dont understand these people who call up and say bulletproof vests. You have to look at the big picture, people out there. My father served in world war ii. I do know what he would say right now. We have to keep this country. Im for legal immigration. Mexicanss that they were being set up to go to jail. I help them get through citizenship. I m for legal immigration. I am for legal immigration. Im tired about this what side are you on. Host keep calling in, any policy issue you want to talk about. We will get to more of your calls in just a second. We want to bring in now stephanie like, National Reporter with bloomberg, joining us live via zoom. I know you were out in california over the weekend, but we have a new United States senator from california. The headline from bloomberg, Laphonza Butler replace Dianne Feinstein. What do we know about how and why this pick kim about . Guest butler made good on newsoms promised to appoint a black woman to the senate. News broke that newsom would drop conditions that he had previously placed on his appointment that said that he did not want to appoint someone who would eventually run for the position. He dropped those conditions for the appointment of butler. In many ways her appointment is newsoms way to get out of the upcoming election for the senate. Wthis wil be a very contested race. Butlers appointment is his ability to try to not take a stance in this contested race. Host could she enter the race ahead of 2024, and how many folks are calling for her to do that . Where is the lane . Guest certainly. She is able to run if she chooses to. Laphonza butler has strong support within california. She was an advisor to Vice President kamala harris. What we might see happening as she pulls from some of the more progressive support we c going to katie porter or barbara lee. Host as we know senator feinstein is expected alliance stay in San Francisco city hall and services are expected thursday. This all expected to lie in state in San Francisco city hall and services are expected thursday. Guest for president ial candidates came to the convention. Notably donald trump spoke in line for about gas prices and water issues, which are key concerns for californians. Ron desantis reconfirmed his record as florida governor. Underlying the convention was the question of whether the party would ratify its delegate rules that would give all of the states delegates to the candidate who receives over 50 of the vote in the primary election. This is something Donald Trumps campaign has lobbied for but some members were still on the fence and brought it up on sunday. It passed without a hitch and this will allow the state to submit its rules to the national party. Host how much for the candidates out there focused on what was happening on capitol hill . Was there much talk about the potential shutdown on saturday the deal that came together and the vote to vacate . Guest it was not something that was directly discussed at the convention, but we know that desantis and trump were egging on hardliners to hold the line. Nikki haley suggested that a Government Shutdown would be unacceptable. We have heard a variety of responses. Newt gingrich posted on truth social asking if matt gaetz was actually a secret agent for the Democratic Party. Similarly, trump allies on the hill have told the daily beast they dont anticipate the former president weighing in on the matter and that he would largely stay out of the fray. On the other hand you have rising gop candidate nikki haley saying that people were vilifying members like matt gaetz who are merely trying to cut Government Spending. Host before we leave the gop candidates and california politics, california is considered a blue state. Who is the republican that will be put up in california to try and take over this open seat in california in 2024. Host guest denise handel has already announced her ambitions. I believe there may be another candidate but neither of these candidates have the National Profile that the Democratic Candidates have. Host what are you watching for this week as you Cover Campaign 2024 . What events, what candidate speeches should viewers be watching for news from . Guest we know donald trump will be back in iowa on saturday, hardly appealing to farmers and bluecollar workers but he is expected to attend his first trial in new york city. He said he would be going to court to fight for his name and reputation. This is the latest show in which he is trying to make his criminal cases and civil case a tool for his campaign. Senator tim scott will be speaking in texas on tuesday with dallas mayor eric johnson. Host all of these events are available on bloomberg. Com. Thanks for stopping by the washington journal this morning. It is back to our open forum, any Public Policy issue, in the political issue you want to talk about. Ava has been waiting in columbia, mississippi. Caller good morning. I want to ask three questions. Why it could Hunter Bidens tax thing be dropped . If they put everybody in jail and he brags about the value of something how come the bidens increased the white house staff by hundreds . Most first ladies have staffs of 3 to 4 people. You have talked about everything but the pork in the proposed meal that the democrats want. What about all this money that they want for transgender studies in indonesia . There is enough pork in that meal the start a hog farm somewhere. Somebody give me some answers. There must be an answer somewhere. Host that is ava. On the white house staff side are you referencing the Washington Examiner story on that . Where did you get those numbers, ava. Caller i dont know, but is it true that jill biden has 20 Staff Members . Why . Host i dont have the numbers for you, but this is the column in the Washington Examiner. Bidens staff is bigger than ever,and jill bidens is, ever, and jill bidens is bigger than milan than melanias. Next caller. Caller i agree that we should raise taxes on the rich and i agree that we should cut spending a lot. If we raise taxes big businesses have everything in control. If we raised taxes on them, they will raise prices on us. All these unions are fighting for higher wages. If they get paid more, we will have to pay more. I used to be a welder at one time in my life. I was a teamster and an american machinist, but all they did was put me on the street on strike day, and it was like 40 a week for strike day. We have to figure out that big businesses are controlling everything and they will put the screws to us little guys all the way through. Are you there . Ok, a long time ago u trie to tell you this. I tried to tell you it was a Sunshine State. A long time ago this used to be the Sunshine State, but florida is the Sunshine State now. They changed it in the 70s to the rushmore state. Host the golden state in california, and the rushmore stay in south dakota. Missouri, the show me caller good morning. I have a question. I have seen people calling in and saying that and all that. I would like for someone to explain to me what he did to deserve to be in prison. He is often in trouble now. As far as i know, everyone in this country is innocent until Proven Guilty so i would like someone to call on the show and explain to me exactly what president did they think you look at what joe biden did everything his life cost twice as what it did when he came is all this. Groceries is outrageous. Gas is outrageous. Im sick and tired of people talking about trump and we had the best economy we ever had when he was in office. Host that is linda in missouri. It is about 9 00 a. M. Eastern about 15 and its left in our open forum. Any policies or political issues you want to talk about, now is the time, republicans 202 7488001, democrats 202 7488000, independents 202 7488002. The story we led the program with and it is likely the story on capitol hill ousted this week for congress in matt gaetz saying he will offer a motion to remove Kevin Mccarthy from his speakers post. He talked about it on cnn state of the Union Yesterday morning. Here is part of the conversation. He has been in repeated breach of that this is back agreement that he may be democrats to move past the spending guardrails set up. Overnight learned that Kevin Mccarthy had a secret meal with secret deal with democrats on ukraine. As he was having republicans vote for resolution without ukraine money saying we will jam the senate with ukraine he turns around and makes a secret deal. I know we have different views on u. S. Involvement in ukraine that however you think about the question is should be subject to open review analysis. Do you file a motion to vacate tomorrow . Yes i do plan to file a motion to vacate Speaker Mccarthy this week. I think we need to move on with more someone who is trustworthy. No one trust Kevin Mccarthy. He lied to house conservatives, appropriators are at a Different Number altogether. The reason we were backed up against the shutdown call is not a voter system it is Kevin Mccarthys goal was to make mulch will will country multiple contradictory policies and then at the end of the day blow past the senate guardrail. How many republicans do you think will be in the senate with you to the motion to vacate. You need to 18 vote to get him out of the speakership. You will need democrats and republicans lets start rupert lets start with republicans. How many do you have . Enough that if you host the show next week if Kevin Mccarthy is the speaker of a house you will be serving at the pleasure of the democrats. The only way he is at the it speaker of the house is the end of this week is if the democrats bail him out. Host republican of florida on cnn state of the Union Yesterday. This is rich in tennessee. Independent. Good morning you are on washington journal. Caller good morning. I am still eating my cereal. I tried to get on yesterday because i wanted to talk i have questions to ask the next time he is on but i got cut off from a screener. As far as Public Policy, i do have one question maybe you could address after you hang up, i hang up. Wind is cspan always seem to get the usual suspects with guests . We see returning, how our guest chosen . That is my question. It seems like some may be chosen for ratings and some for convenience sake. Just curious about that. And about policy host we generally and the guidelines we try to book guest once every three months and that usually includes members of congress. We definitely prioritize members of congress so we can get them on some vacant talk to the public. This is a form that is rather unusual where the public can talk back to the guests. So we try to get members of congress on and reporters for covering the legislation on capitol hill to try to inform us and our viewers about what is happening in the building that we cover gaveled gavel to gavel. The folks in think tank around capitol hill. We know the members in congress are talking to the think tanks and they are presenting their ideas and proposals to the members of congress. As part of legislation the members of congress if they are talking to those folks we want you to be able to talk to those folks. That is why you see a lot of the think tank people. Reporters know this stuff perhaps more than members of congress to in terms of research if they are the ones asking weston asking questions. So it is not the ratings, it is trying to inform you and us and making us a better consumer of what is going on in the building over my shoulder. Does that help . Caller yes. Thank you very much for that. Public policy, my number one overall policy is as a former journalism minor, i worked at a newspaper for a time and taught journalism in high school. It is the advent of what is called advent see journalism to me is an oxymoron. It was every goes against everything we were ever taught in our classes from the pros and some of the most respected journalists in our area. I am from the volunteer state. I did not get that in. And even scott long who i have a lot of respect for, he threw in commentary on what Marjorie Taylor greene it is obvious he did not need to add that but it is where their own opinions are being inserted. I am seeing that from i honestly see 85 of media as being leftleaning i am taking a highlighter and you can pick out the phrases. I can give specific concrete examples even from the socalled tennessee free. Where does that term ever come from . That sounds like something from their press releases. And stories identify the young lack democrats. You dont the about the old white soandso. There are things that are inserted that people do not ask why. Why was that necessary . It is not really a part of the story until the media inserts it into that and then it does host we are running short on time but what do you trust more in terms of where you get your media from . Do you get a newspaper and you trust your local paper . Do you watch much news on tv . You go to specific sites on the internet . How do you, what is your new diet consisting of an can you do it in about a minute or so . Caller yes and i anticipate that question and i thought about it myself. I try to listen to as much i rarely tune into fox. I am very conservative. But i listen to, just the major media outlet, the local papers. I used to trust the associated press. I dont anymore. I say i see the same phenomenon they are. It is filtering through and when i see red flags pop up, i do not trust that. I try to take the consensus of everything and just kind of make a decision based on that. Trying to look at just the facts. Host i appreciate it and we ask about how you book guest. Now shall we book guests. We ask our callers to call in once every 30days to share their view went as well so i am sure i will talk with you sometime in november. Thank you for the call. Caller ok thank you. Host this is linda republican good morning. Caller yeah somebody didnt even put me on the news for crying out loud. What i want to say is we have too many billion people all over the world that are starving. I just found out now that my Social Security is going to be 180. And all the illegals that are coming over here we are fighting for them . Come on. Host do you want to finish, linda . Caller my husband he gave it up you want to know how bad it was . He made 10 an hour and we had to pay for all of the hospital extensions and the clothing everything out. Everything you walk with and close hold dear he said i am leaving. They are not in good standing. Host where was your husband a policeman . We lost linda. Jim in missouri. Democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. The speaker of the house fight, if there is no speaker i understand that the house is unable to conduct any business. Host the business of the house would be to select a new speaker and that would be the only business of the house if Speaker Mccarthy were removed from the chair. Caller yeah, well, that was shut down the government pretty the reverse of bidens residency presidency. Which is what some of the republicans want to do. I think the democrats could keep him in. The man has indicated as he could work across the line. I do not see why that is a problem. [laughter] lets see here, and the Republican Party, what we spend on the infrastructure, they say that is too much. They want to cut things. The state of missouri recently cut 24,000 people from their medicaid rolls. 15,000 more on purpose and 25,000 could not figure out how to reapply. I do not know what they are going to do with the money they saved, but that is Young Mothers with babies. [laughter] medicaid, snap, wic. Yeah, you want to cut things . Fine. Tell us how much and from where. Host that is jim in missouri. Bill, jacksonville, florida, independent, good morning. You are on. Caller just real quick to things on the border talking 360 degrees would it be illegal to shut it down for one year so we can catch up on the administrative and judicial backlog that adds to the burden of this thing. And the second issue with trump tax cuts they are not coming up for renewal. If they are voted down and not renewed but would be the implications of the economy getting cost controlled . Host certainly interesting topics from this segment. I am not an expert on border law, bill, but yes, the trump tax cuts will have to be renewed some point in the future for that to continue. It is certainly a fight that is likely going to happen on capitol hill. This is lonnie and alabama, republican. Good morning. Caller yes sir, thank you for taking my call. Look, if everybody would just do their part, do their job, we would have a much smoother society and a better government. We are playing too Many Political games and we are, right now, one of them is who gets who and we need to get our country back in line. Host how do you propose we get our country back in line . Caller well, the next time that we have any for citizens only have a say once every two years and that is for representatives and for the president. We have to do it with our votes we cannot fight, people say youve got to fight, well, the only way we have to speak is through our votes. And so if our politicians will not listen to our voice at the ballot box then we are in trouble. Weve got to get our press in there to do the job. Host lonnie and alabama. Last call on open forum. This is ira, from coast, florida. Democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. I decided to call and say i see what is going on in america right now is we are having a certain segment in the country that both americans of white country and that is what this fight is about it is classes. It is extremely class the ruling class of america. But i would like to put the record straight that america is not white, but to a certain point in america, you might call it a white nation up until the mid60s all the way up through slavery, through history through reconstruction through segregation and jim crow. But today, we have a certain segment which is most on the republican side. And they say that america is a white country, but it is not. The fight goes on in the struggle goes on, but that is not, that is what this is all about. And it is just a class and we got to put it to an end. Host ira in florida the last caller in the segment of washington journal area and stick around we have 45 minutes left and in the time we speak with james waller of our Street Institute. We will talk about the congress narrowly avoiding the Government Shutdown and weather this weekend compromised a longterm shift or a shortterm delay in until another shut down. Stick around we will be right back. Announcer tonight watch cspan series in partnership with live library of congress. Books that shaped america. We will feature journals of lewis and clark, the journals came about following the Louisiana Purchase following the jefferson commissioning them to lead an exploration of the west. Leaving all the way to the pacific ocean. It covered nearly 8000 miles from 1806. The detailed journals throughout the trip on the terrain and plant and life, and potential trade route and people. We have a guess that will join us to discuss the expedition. Watch books that shaped america featuring the journey of lewis and clark. Tonight at 9 00 eastern on cspan you can also watch on our cspan now free video mobile app or online at cspan. Org. Be sure to listen to our podcast so you can learn more about the authors featured in the book. Announcer cspanshop. Org is cspans online store. Browse through our latest collection of cspan products, apparel, books, come to court, and accessories. Theres something for every cspan fan. And every porches supports our nonprofit information. Shop anytime at cspanshop. Org. Announcer arthur Charlotte Gray is a Canadian Foreign born in Great Britain who lives in her book titled passionate mothers powerful sons is about jerome churchill and the former Jennie Jerome was born in the United States. Sarah delano, mary James Roosevelt and became the mother of fdr in 1882. Charlotte gray writes that one of the reasons to write about these two women is that their reputation is so different within their lifetime. And they both suffered sin her death. Announcer author Charlotte Gray on this book book notes plus episode it is available on cspan now free video mobile or wherever you get your podcasts. Announcer since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, cspan has provided complete coverage of the whole of congress from the house and Senate Floors to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. Cspan gives you a front row seat about how issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Announcer washington journal continues. Host we are joined now by James Wallner a wall Street Institute senior fellow and former senate an author and professional on most Things Congress related. Good morning to you. Guest thanks for having me. Host the deal they came together last minute on saturday night. Is it with congress is ability to function or is it more a sign of this is how we operate at the 11. 5 hour. And it takes these crises for congress to actually get something done. Guest its a little bit of both. That is what is so frustrating to your viewers. This is in fact how congress its things done these days. It is how Congress Funds the government. There is no question that if there was to be a deal last and at this is what it would look like. However, it is also a sign of congress is continued dysfunction. As weve seen over the past 10 years with most Government Shutdowns the way of doing business this way is becoming increasingly harder and more difficult to work to get things done. Host is this regular order now . You use to come on and we would talk about the budget profit in quarters but have these lastminute deals become the regular order . Guest that is absolutely right this is regular order. Regular order refers to the iconics will hal rogers schoolhouse rock standards. You have a committee, you have hearings, and then you go forward and then to get signed by the president but that is not how it works anymore. And this is for big major deals, this is how things happen. Host so what happens, what needs to happen in the next 43 days for this to not happen again . To a crisis vote. Guest we will see this happen again. It is no secret that this cr, the stopgap spending bill expires november 17. That is literally the friday before Congress Goes home for the thanksgiving holiday. They did not have to pick november 17, but they did which i think shows us that there we are going to end up right back in this place. What should have happened, or what ought to happen if you want to see a more deliberative process is Congress Needs to give itself time to pick up bills, debate them individually or in groups, get the members to to get it judah gave their decisions and then decide on how to make their bill. Host and how do you think this will come to crisis mode again . He picked the day did they pick the day that this would be a threat if you do not get this done then you will miss your thanksgiving holiday . Guest members have this thing called debt gentoo and wen yu set them for thursday or friday afternoon something always happens when senators and house members are stuck in a room and they realize they are not going home until they get something done. This is how congress at least in the last decade or two has forced with members to compromise or at least two aggressively go along without times outcomes they otherwise would not go along with. Host what would change the system . We establish this has become regular order. How do you fix it and how do you break the cycle . Guest right now, the reason why congress has been so dysfunctional is not because it ran out of time but congress has had plenty of time this year the appropriations process to play out. Earlier this year we saw debt limit deal of bipartisan spending deal between Speaker Mccarthy and President Joe Biden republicans and democrats signing up or it. And the expectation was that we would have more regular order where congress would pick up and debate creations bills and we would not have cr. But here we are right back at it. That to change, i think it is clear for that voters ultimately have to tell their members of congress and the senate and the house that they want a change. Until they do that, it is not going to change. Host the way this played out a disincentive for deals in the future like what we saw between the white house and Speaker Mccarthy . Guest well i think the way this played out shows us that this creating a pushing rankandfile members back up against the wall speak out of both sides of their mouth. They can hold their nose and vote for a bill until constituents the concert and serve not doing so would be disastrous. So it has it where they can have their cake and eat it too. But the problem is this is how weve done business for the last decade in congress for controversial issues. This episode is showing us that is getting harder and harder to do and eventually it will not work. You cannot do judah kate the concerns of the people that have been calling in about. You cannot do those concerns when you do not allow them a place in the government to actually have a debate and to cast those votes. Host the lines are open for viewers to join the conversation with james waller of the or Street Institute senior fellow there. You can democrats 202 7488000, republicans 202 7488001, independents 202 7488002. You mention the callers this morning. The topic of the conversation has been a motion to vacate, i wonder your thoughts on that and otoole used by members of congress to put pressure on the leadership. Was is always going to happen as soon as mccarthy made the deal to allow one member of congress to offer this motion to vacate that was needed to secure enough votes for the speakership back in january . Guest the rules are not a constraint. It is not like you live at home and you have a curfew and your parents tell you you have to be home by 10 00 p. M. Or 11 00 p. M. And if you dont it is their consequences. The rules of congress do not work the same, they leverage administrators republicans and democrats alike to participate in the process and they give them leverage and that is a good thing. It does not matter youre standing, it is a good thing. That is why our elected representatives go to congress to judah kate our concerns. And it is certainly ranked by law members in the house as an ability to force their view into negotiations and force leaders to consider them. It is not hanging over the speakers head because it allows for a vote of whether or not a speaker should continue in a job. And if the ranking file of the speaker wants to continue then they will. And then if they do not they will get a new speaker, it is the end not the end of the world but it is a vote that gives an individual lawmaker leverage otherwise they would not have. Host over the years we talk about the power on capitol hill and where it is concentrated. We take it i take it that you are of the opinion that leadership in the house and senate have had too much about power concentrated in their offices and not how it works in the past with committees and individual members having or of that leverage and power. Guest theres a lot of different ways to lead congress. It will add and flow between the two chambers the house and senate and it will also change over time. I think a better way to think about it is how do we as americans get our elected representatives to go to congress and negotiate the nonnegotiables area that is why we have congress. We do not need to debate things we agree on already does this in rise in the east. We does the sun rise in the east. We already know that congress does not have to debate that. It is things that are congress has a crucible of conflict that has to plan. And the Ranking Party and ranking in both parties has empowered the leadership in both chambers to take that off of the lawyer, out of the public venues where our elected representatives would normally take positions that we can see from afar is held accountable for or reward them for. And they given them that power to their leadership when it does is create a disconnect between what we see from the out side and what happens on the inside. It is precisely that disconnect but is unsustainable. I think that is the message from this past weekend in washington dc. Host different scenario what is your feelings on Tommy Turberville hold on military promotions and the block votes that would happen. A lot of criticism from the known party and democrats in the white house as well that is holding up this process. Guest we have another example of how a lawmaker can use this rule as leverage. The senate rules do not give anyone senator a veto over what the chamber does. It is the Senate Majority party deciding it does not want to follow the rule. Asking for a consent of to waive the rules in powering the senator from alabama. The problem is, you cannot ask a senator for their permission and then get upset when they say no. That is not a consent request. You are basically saying this is how it has to be done. The democrats have every power they need under the rules to roll and go over senator Tommy Tubervilles head. And both nominees where they have the geordie leader Chuck Schumer. But they chose instead it appears that to criticize the senator and make a political point as opposed to using the senate role to get something done. Host we talk about nominations and motion to vacate, what is one of the other tools of leverage that a member can do to insert this power . Guest we saw a senator from colorado object to a request for the ukraine funding the past weekend. And getting some sort of negotiation and informal commitment to move on the funding. That is another example of how a senator can use the rules. Members of congress, there is a lot of the names around the filibuster is another one. The filibuster is not a veto but an opportunity to ache. The longer you speak the more impatient your colleagues get. Apparently that is not what lawmakers do anymore. And the more they are willing to give you and work with you with some sort of movement that you want on the behalf of your constituents. Host our viewers have questions about the rules featured on capitol hill now is a good time to call in. James wallner on r Street Institute and his book that came out in 2020, it was on parliamentary war. Partisan conflict and procedural change in the united seed United States and that one came out in 2017. Reminding viewers about your experience on capitol hill. How long were you on capitol hill and where did you work . Guest i started my career in the house incentives. I worked in Southeast Alabama and i moved to the senate i fell in love with the senate. The house is a fabulous institution as well but this and it a great place i worked for alabama and pennsylvania and utah. Those are three very different members. But in my role i got a lot of opportunity to work with members across the political spectrum. I really discovered what a fabulous place this United States and it is in the congress. It really is a forum for a good meaning people to go to capitol hill on behalf of their constituents and argue with one another. That is how we get compromised in this nation. Host lets chat with a few callers. Peter is up first out of new york, republican. Youre on. Caller good morning. I agree with matt gaetz. a couple things. I agree aside from a couple things. I agree that Speaker Mccarthy went back to regular order and this fight should have been done in june and july, not now. So matt gaetz contention is that mccarthy intentionally delayed it so they can push through extra spending. The real question is, is this about a fight or it is about the debt and the deficit. We had deficit in 2020 because of covid and the spending to keep the economy going. We understand that that can be justified, but the point is now we are more than 2 trillion deficit. Every economist that i have heard says this kind of spending is unsustainable. Right now, the interest of the debt is 704 billion. Almost the defense budget. Pretty soon when the treasury notes become due and renegotiated, the interest on the debt could exceed 2 trillion within 10 years. The fight isnt about the spending is nice, we all love to spend money. The question is can we afford to do it . Are we going to the country. And this is not part of the discussion. That is the most important art. We would all love to increase social spending on social programs and all abyss but is it sustainable . I wish you would address that. Guest absolutely right. Whether you agree or not with the caller, the point is that congress is where we have these discussions these negotiation. What happens is the ranking file empower their leaders to make certain policy outcomes before a conclusion. And they have efforts in arguments about other policy outcomes that appear illegitimate. Look at the debt debate we had last spring. During that debate house conservatives raise the issue time and time again over whether or not we can continue to spend money. Congress may decide they are wrong and some may redoes may decide they are right, that is what happens but what they were told and said is this is not the time for the argument instead we have to wait until we spend the money. This is just about debt for money we already agreed to spend. If you want to have that argument we need to have it in the appropriations process when we run the government and september of this year. Fastforward to september of this year and we are told this is not the time to have argument this is about a Government Shutdown that we cannot have. So you need to stop wishing this right now. We will not have these vote instead we will have one policy outcome and that is the only legitimate policy outcome. That is undermining that foundations of political american selfgovernment in this nation right now. It is not allowing the people regardless of what they believe a place where they can go or where they are represented to argue with one another and decide how we are going to move forward in the nation. Host she low in ohio. Democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Do not be distracted, the reason for the shutdown does not have anything to do with the debts, remember trump has been truly giving to tax cuts to the richest 1 . The reason for the shutdown is because trump wants it. The more chaos in the most distraction from his own crimes. I wonder, the gop is not your fathers Republican Party, it is trumps party now. I wonder, cspan, if you could have kids later in ruth on to talk about and get Historical Context to what trump is doing. Ruth wrote a book on fascism of Something Like strongman moving away lithuania moving to the president. Host we appreciate the suggestion. James wallner is on now. I wonder you have any thought on donald trump and his impact of republican members on capitol hill . Guest he is not a member of the house of representatives or the senate. I know from my time that representatives and senators genuinely think that shutdowns are not good for them politically even though there is not in pitter Empirical Data to support that. And they support that equally. But i know the constitution is clear. It is congresss decision on how and when the money leaves the federal treasury. Congress decides that and when you put everything together in one take it or leave it up proposition you are essentially telling members of congress, they are telling themselves this that you object to that. You cannot vote no. You cannot say no even though you do not agree with the funding or grams because there will be a Government Shutdown and response. That is undermining of congresss role under the constitution because it is lately legitimate for congress to decide how and when it wants to use his power for the constitution. It would be the opposite of democratic selfgovernment if that was not the congresss choice. Instead we are told congress has one decision to make. It has a fund the government, all of it, everything we are funding now. It may be a good idea or bad idea but ultimately it is congresss decision to make. Host and on twitter, they wrote this, if only you can go back to the days of Speaker Pelosi when spending bills got passed on time and the budget was passed with time to spare. Is that what happened under the previous speaker . Guest that is not what happened there were a lot of lastminute fiscal clip cliff kind of deals. One bipartisanship example weve seen in decades is how the house and senate both sides management institutions the same way. Its not polarized. They are at the same way. Host jan in morton, illinois. Good morning you are on the. Caller good morning. I do have a question. We go back to the deal that was made out of this ending limit that they made. It is my understanding when i moved to another cspan program that not only was i agreed to by biden emmett earthy, but also it was written into a law that biden signed. My question is, how can if that was a law that is on the books, how can republicans come back and say we want to reduce the spending limit that we not only agreed to, but according to what i saw and listen to were actually part of the law . Guest the first thing is members of congress can constantly change their mind that is a whole window Congress Congress cannot bind itself in the future even if they make a decision today congress can pass a new law in the future to change the decision they can act differently tomorrow. The second thing is may be Speaker Mccarthy and President Biden come to an agreement and the agreement may be together but every Single Member of congress, they are all will. They all have equality because they have the same boat and they all get the vote from the fact that they represent separate constituents. The American People can change their minds also. And lastly the deal that was put together ultimately may not have resistant in the filing of one way. If you remember the deal was pushed through as a lastminute in the ranking filing members had their backs up against the wall and they are led to be led to believe one thing and they may have gimmicks in the deal. Or they may vote one way and then their constituents vote against it. They may say we do not like this deal but the more we learn about it, then they change their mind area i would met to you that is not a bad thing. That is actually what american selfgovernment is all about. Host this government by crisis, governing by crisis at least on our budgetary side and financial side, ready you trace this back to . How far back does it go . Who is to blame for the snowball and where it is today . Guest we see a lot of examples of crises over the past several decades but if you go back to the beginning of the 21st century and look at the 2000s and certainly 2000 through 2010 and 3000 2020. The Party Leaders tried to paper over the divisions and make it seem like they are not and they have fewer votes on the floor. That is what we have congressional parties to keep them together on things they agree upon and try to keep the issues they are divided on off of the agenda. When youre divided over issues that you think has to happen like funding the government or have a name having an extension of tax cuts or Something Like that you have to create a process that will ultimately get you the vote through a more deliberative and freewheeling process you would have more division. And when that happens you see the government lurch from one crisis to the next. The crises are all selfimposed in they are all created. It is not like they dont have time but they specifically decide to not have the time to take up the issues and adjudicate them. Host leo, republican, in ohio. Good morning. Caller good morning nikki haley said it best. When i listen to the callers on the democratic line i feel a little dumber. Number two the obstruction, you listen to the obstruction host, there was a gentleman, congressman who pulled a fire alarm during the proceedings. Why was he not handcuffed and thrown in jail . Put your money where your mouth is. If you want to talk about obstruction and you see it firsthand real time just happened, less than 48 hours ago, why is this guy not in jail . Ive got a comment on immigration this is my last comment. Anybody who calls in about immigration if you use the word immigration and you are a bleeding heart. Just go down to the immigration centers, take a family with you of 1, 2, five, whatever and support them pay for their food, transportation, health care. I dont want to pay for it i have my own family and grandkids to think about. Thank you. Host james walder. Immigration, others what you guest want to talk about . The constitution protects those from being arrested. And that is part of their job. Pulling the fire alarm is part of a job but it is important to step back and think about what was happening the House Democrats were jammed they had a 45 and they had not unit before. They put it on the floor and had a vote almost immediately. A House Democrat has just as any rights as a House Republican to see a bill, read the bill, figure out what is in the bill before casting a vote. If you find out your voted for something you dont like, democrats are trying to look for nobody wants you to pull fire alarm or endangers staff or other members or unnecessarily take up First Responders who have other legitimate first disasters and things to look after. But they need the process to read the bills. I think allamerican should be able to agree on the fact that the representative should have all the time needed to read a bill before being told they have to vote on the bill. Host are there rules about minimum times before a vote can happen on a bill . Is that different in the house and senate . Guest there are rules and the rules are often defined in the lurch in the house can always waive the rules and the senate can always rave waive the rules. That is how the senate does business and they typically do a debate by waving the rules and substituting for new roles that are ultimately allowing them to expedite things in a manner that is in direct conflict in contradiction of the original roles. Rules. Host how does that play out on the floor of the house and senate when people are watching all cspan or cspan 2 does it happen before in the rules committee that we also cover . Guest the house and senate are a little bit different here but that activity is little same is pretty much the same. The way the senate waives the rule is that it gets together, they have in them or mold negotiation than they have unanimous consent to waive the rules that we have. And waive another rule is said. A senator instead. A senator can object from there. And you cannot have the formal negotiations is often so instead theres a rules committee for the other group. That special rule is a resolution as a bunch of new rules that are written down that waive the existing house rules and instead of saying that in say instead of his much time for the debate, we will have no time to read the bill and no amendment and we will vote on this bill very quickly and it is a direct contradiction of the rule. Youre not technically breaking the rule because you move a new rule and that is the way the house and senate do this and they often do it before the big debate on the house and senate floor. Host doesnt the house need a quorum to hold the boat and what constitutes a quorum . Guest you have to have a quorum it is in the constitution of both bodies. This goes back to Thomas Brackett reed and he is one of the first powerful speakers in the late 19th century. The Democratic Party had been practicing what we call a disappearing forum. They had not been responding to the role when they called their name. What reed did was start counting the members. He would look out and see them in their seat and say you are here. When they tried to protest it would say are you telling me youre not here right now and he was able to count a aurum that way a quorum that way. The Majority Party would still stay away. They produce a quorum which is the majority of the chamber. They could do it still but it is not a tactic that works so much anymore to obstruct the chambers. Host on this motion to vacate the chair and if Speaker Mccarthy would need democratic vote to hold onto the chair, we were talking a little bit earlier about it today that some democrats could vote and lower the threshold to keep his seat. He just explained how that works and what voting president means and why do you have the ability to vote resident and yes or no on anything . Guest if you have all 435 members of the house you have to have 218 to hold a quorum and prevail on russian. In this on a question. In this instance, you have 219 members there you have a quorum and a majority that will carry the day. The more that they do not agree that they are voting yes or no, you were lowering the overall number of votes that the speaker has to get in order to prevail. As long as you have the quorum. What is interesting here is that democrats are not likely to do that. This is a really hard thing for us to get today because of the ingrained notion of bipartisan partisan team playing. They said i will absolutely not vote for the speaker and then one said she will listen to her leadership and then she will not give away and heard democrats will not give away the vote for free. I will imagine there will be can russians or demand on the democrats making that in order to help the speaker out. But i think if they do that willow further enable the speakers ability for the vote on his side of the aisle to get the vote he needs from republicans on his side. Host georgia, independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. As someone who is a little bit very much for the government and the constitutional appropriation in congress, isnt it a little bit ubiquitous of how the level of backandforth of how the republicans hold the legislative and executive branches. You see no appreciable spending cuts and then the Government Shutdown, other benefits. And the expansion of medicare and then under obama we are going at it again cutting spending and then you see the tax cuts with the Trump Administration and the Republican Congress. And it feels like it is a little bit difficult now when they are not the party in power. They are no longer pursuing those. Guest george w. Bush spent more money than any other president since when did johnson on nondefense nonwarfare nonsecurity issues. That was with republican majority in the house and senate. You are absolutely correct. The way to think about this is not necessarily hypocritical, but instead this is a natural thing. When you View Congress as a factory and you think that it is a production process that produces a widget in the end, if the widget is something you like, you can do whatever it is you think you need to do to get that widget. And then of course the other side cannot do the same thing. They cannot use the rules or disobey the rules because there widget is something that you disagree with. So the view of congress and of american politics is the thing where we are making stuff. That is where we are today. So the Republican Party will behave just like the demo at a already when they are in office. They do not see it is hypocritical because it is not they have a different outcome that they want than their opposition. I think an older way of thinking about congress and american politics is it is not a factory it is a place where we go to make collective decisions and we go to govern ourselves. In that lays, in this time, unity rules that facilitate the process in all members need to follow the rules and use the rules and do but debates are not a bad thing when they happen according to the rules precisely because it is the activity of it is a white. It is not that that is the point. It is the activity that makes the argument legitimate or not. It grinds to a halt and it does not work in the purposes it was originally created. Host we have about 10 minutes left with James Wallner the house comes in today at noon and legislative business at 2 00. Bissen it is adjourn until 3 00 p. M. Tuesday they will be in tomorrow. Also on capitol hill, the Supreme Court is set to meet today for its new term. The first day of the new term we will be showing you that on cspan. Org and cspan now app starting at 10 00 a. M. Easrn. It is oral argumentsoday a case on the First Step Act of 2018 and qualifications for a drug with provisions. Your expectations for this term of the Supreme Court . Guest the Supreme Court to be asked to consider in here more and more of. It is all with the same underlying dysfunction. When congress cannot have a debates, when members of congress do not want to have them debate, what they want to do is they end up kicking issues to be executive branch and the court. We have groups out there on the left and right that look for sympathetic litigants they tried they go through the process and try to make a law by having the supreme ultimately hand down as the ultimate arbiter of the constitution i put that in error air quotes. But we look to the Supreme Court on both sides to make the decisions in this case as opposed to having representatives argue about them in the house and senate. Host gulf springs, florida, im for republicans. Good morning. Caller good morning cspan. You are doing an excellent job claiming some very complex political scientific issues. [laughter] thank you so much. Ive learned a lot. I was going to ask you what is going on with matt gaetz . Im trying to understand what he is trying what he is doing. It doesnt make any sense to me at all. Guest well, yeah first of all i know go free as well it is a fabulous lace theres a lot of good common sense down there. There is common sense pretty much all over the country if you know where to look for. I think that is what we have missed right now. Ultimately when it comes up to matt gaetz it is the voter that makes the determination. He can decide whatever he wants to do and try to use the rules however he wants to use them. The ultimate safeguard in our political system whether it is a good idea or bad idea that ultimate safeguard happens in the november of Election Year where voters and can issue an make that determination. Did he ask away we wanted him to let send him back and if he did not lets not. That is what American Government is all about. Host mark on this question complementing the discussion. Your guess yes all members in house of the senate are equal but arent the chair members more powerful in terms of the status of legislation and the speaker power in the house and the majority leader in the senate . Guest they are in the house especially the committees will be more powerful with the leadership there in the speaker will be more powerful because they have more members. They need a structure. Ultimately, this is a hard delete to make. Hard leap debate. But they have the members and hundred senators they have selfimposed hierarchy in each chamber. But the members work for the ranking file. Is the ranking file member ultimately hiring someone, like Kevin Mccarthy, to do a job for them as beaker that hires someone to be the chairman of the committee. If the ranking file does not like. That person, they have every right to say im do not want you to do it. They may or may not be successful in booting the person from a job but ultimately the member of Congress Said you as an American Voter were sent to washington to do a job. That is not work for Kevin Mccarthy, Kevin Mccarthy works for the speaker and he has to know the constituent he works for as well. When i say all members are equal, they all re will because nobodys vote counts more than another persons vote and they get the equality from the fact they represent separate dates state constituencies in the senate. Host five minutes left in the program James Wallner on our program with r street. Can we do a deep dive into the Branch Appropriations bill. The houses expected to considered the bill is one of the 12 Appropriations Bills. This is a Congress Funding itself and when they are doing that they are talking about offices and members, salaries. Can house members have abode vote on senate members, house and Office Appropriations and vice versa . Does that work in terms of everybody voting on each others funding . Guest technically the house and senate have to pass the same bill in the same forum and the same bill before the president can sign the law or for it to be vetoed. Yes, but how it has worked throughout congresss history is that the house will divert the senate and the senate will defer to the house of how it funds its own activity. Under the constitution and the presenting law of the constitution both chambers ultimately get a say on each others funding before it can go to the president. Host generally one side does not match the other side funding so the other side does not match that is how they are playing it . Guest that is how it works. Loretto in cleveland, ohio, for dimock at. Good morning. Caller good morning line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning. I want to point out that this inflation continues but it is just happening with our institution. Mr. Wallner, you seem to have an answer for everything, can you these tell me what trump spent 8 trillion on in four years when the majority of the money was spent before covid . And then Steven Mnuchin to millions of dollars out of the system and they act like they dont know where the money went. And then id like for you host we are short on time to let me give him a chance to respond to biz. Guest i cannot speak to where all the money goes. I note democrats and republicans both want to spend money on things and often times it is on the same thing. But when we think about the Supreme Court, this is not just me, Abraham Lincoln in the first eggnog role address case, he says the matters of general policy, they touch people beyond the party in the courtroom. If those matters are to be decided by some intimate tribunal of individuals in the Supreme Court than we are no longer a free people. That is Abraham Lincoln this is not just kook some kind of kook somewhere. What i have answers for i did not think is necessarily the answer and i want everybody watching to think about this of where we go to argue these answers and where we come to a compromise of how the answers into of being. And that is much of our history. Host lets end on this comment from connie in parker, colorado. It says it seems like there should be a law that there should be no backroom deals in congress that people should know why they are being leveraged and by whom and that would in most cases eliminate selfserving representatives. What do you think . Guest i think theres enough victims in america there are no victims in american politics. The victim the voters are not victims and the representatives are not victims. If we dont like the process we can change it. If we want it to change, whether youre progressive or conservative or anything in between call on your elected representative to make a change. And to do that in elections and in between elections area that is how we always have progress in this fabulous nation of ours. Host James Wallner of r Street Institute. And his books. You can see his work also at rstreet. Org. We appreciate your time. Guest thank you for having me. Host if you had over to cspan. Org or cspan now app you can watch the court. The house is in session for noon and then at 2 00 for legislative business. That does it for us here on washington journal but we are back tomorrow morning. In the meantime have a great day. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] spding for the legislative branch and eney and water developing. Also this week, matt gaetz could offer a motion asarly as today to reme representative kevin carthy as speaker of the house. Thatrocedure known as a motion to vacate requires a simple marity. Watch live coverage on the u. S. House when lawmakers return at noon eastern today here on cspan. Since 1979, cspan has can provide a complete coverage of the halls of congress. Both house and Senate Floors, two congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings. Cspan gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruptions and completely unfiltered. Cspan, your unfiltered view of go rnment. Tonight, watch cspan series in partnership with the library of congress, books that shaped america. We want each the journals of lewis and clark following the Louisiana Purchase. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition to explore the rest all the way to the pacific ocean. Louis chose William Clark to help lead the nation, which covered nearly 8000 miles from 18 o4 to 18 o six. Lewis and clark have detailed journal throughout the trip on the terrain, plant and animal life, native peoples and potential trade routes. Several books on lewis and Clark Expedition and a veteran traveler of the lewis and clark trail join us to discuss the expedition. Watch books that shaped america tonight on cspan, cspan now, or online