and human services, as well as delaying votes on senator jeff sessions becoming the attorney general. he did get a vote yesterday along party lines. he was approved 11-9. democrats in a united front against the president's education pick, betsy devos. two republicans have joined them on that so it is looking like a 50-50 vote. meaning that vice president mike pence would have to break that and be number 51 for her to get confirmed. of that, democrats are debating how far they go in their opposition to the president's picks for the supreme court, judge neil gorsuch. asking you outside of washington, what do you think? is this too much or not enough? host: in fort myers, susan is an independent. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. and the opportunity to voice my concern. i don't feel the democrats are far enough. and i am seeing that -- mr. trump, i -- theyink -- anyway are putting the news media on turningnsive, psychology. the news media is doing a great job. i encourage them to report more and in more detail and not repeat the same things. i am all for that because it is very scary that in a dictatorial society which i think we are is the for, the news first one to be squelch. for the last eight years, i have been calling the white house comment line. it doesn't exist anymore. it has been removed. there is no transparency. people on both sides -- i am for unity for our country -- should be very concerned about this. host: as we were saying, democrats have been pushing back st the president's pick, they responded, pushing forward on some of these picks including the treasury secretary and the health and human services nominees. they pushed them through the finance committee and the senate approved secretary of state rex tillerson for that position. he was quickly sworn in after that, over at the oval office of the white house yesterday. up forts did not show the environment and public works committee, either for a vote on the president's choice for epa administration scott pruitt. they will meet again this 10:00, around 10:00 to 1015 is when that committee will gather in and we will have coverage on c-span3, c-span.org and c-span radio if you want to listen to that. debbie in loveland, colorado. what do you think? >> i am proud of the democrats they areard as fighting. i think we need to fight harder. i went out in the streets in denver. i am a resistor. i will continue to do so and i expect democrats to do the same. we are at a point where we need to save our freedoms in this country. they really are under attack. aren't --hink that we that we are fighting for hillary. we are not. we are fighting for this country. we are fighting for the people who are pro-trump. they just don't know it yet. are you saying democrats should continue with this fight and extend it to judge gorsuch? block him? host: i think he is going to get in no matter what we do >>. they're going to bully us into it. that is where we are right now. as far as corsets goes, i am from colorado and i'm familiar with him and at least he is qualified. he is a qualified person. we need to fight him because of his views on life, i am very uncomfortable with his views on assisted suicide. that is close to my heart. i believe that he will fight against roe versus wade, based on his belief and that scares me. but at least he is a qualified person and that is better than many of the people that trump has brought up. so we have to fight him. host: you might be interested in other -- in usa today, they have this piece. words,rsuch, in his own must place law above personal feelings. rights,ssue of privacy you can read what the judge has had to say in his own words if you go to usa today. nuclearrought up the option, president trump saying that republicans should be ready to go nuclear. what does that mean? it means the senate rules would be changed, it would strip the minority party's ability to filibuster to block the nomination of a nominee. instead of 60 votes, supporters would need only 51. right now, that nuclear option does not apply. but senate majority leader mitch mcconnell will have to make that decision if they go forward and change the rules. the leader of the republicans in the senate, senator mcconnell, in theing a piece washington post about this, saying that he is just following precedent, how democratic senators should respond to judge gorsuch. whenas following precedent president obama nominated merrick garland. the election is over. give the new nominee new consideration." that is how republican senators treated the nominees of ruth bader ginsburg and stephen breyer and president obama's sonia sotomayor and elena kagan. that is how democratic senators should treat the new elected president's nominee. you agree? tomorrow in california, a republican. >> thanks for taking my call. generally speaking, i think what the democrats are doing is an abuse of power and dereliction of duty, not appearing for committee meetings to vote on the nominees. taking up the committee with a personal vendetta against another senator, that is an abuse of power. what the democrats are doing is essentially obstructionist and even sedition is take -- seditionistic. are they are doing, they going to pay a terrible price in the next election for what they are doing. i am concerned about betsy devos because she has been thrown under the bus the way harriet miers was. her and ies attack hope the republicans will defend her. her silence and dignity are precisely the qualities that make her a good candidate. host: what about the president himself? have you heard enough from him defending betsy devos's nomination? >> i'm worried he is going to sacrifice her. i think what is bothering democrats about trump is we haven't had a president since john f. kennedy who was an activist patriot. i am sick and nine years old and i remember kennedy's inaugural address. face, a get out in your telling the world, america first kind of speech. we haven't had that kind of president in decades. young people are going, what? is this governments? this is bullying. the democrats should get on board with it. host: the vote stands a 50-50. this is usa today. democratob casey, a from pennsylvania, has received 80,000 angry letters and other correspondence and that is just about president trump education secretary pick betsy devos. more than 800 called joe manchin's phone line, expressing muslim nationhis -- another conservative leaning ,tate, 95% oppose betsy devos who recently contacted her office. alex in wisconsin, what do you think about what is happening? caller: i think the democrats need to fight. i want them to fight for me. what is going on in the white house is terrible. this is all about the russian oil and i just think that the democrats can't do enough. they are the ones right now that have consciences. if the other democrats believe the way you do, you might be interested in that piece. the democrats will decide his fate. liberals will demand nothing less than total warfare but the political calculations are much more complicated. look at this piece. say it is notthey red state democrats. republicans operate under the assumption that they've got five democrats in the bag, the quintet only one. they will need to do anything to get on the right side of trumps motors no matter how bad they are with the treatment of merrick garland. this ideatkamp said " that she is up for reelection and is going to be scared -- anyone who says that about me doesn't know me that well." she says she is undecided. saysor claire mccaskill they will be four more fair than republicans were about garland. in her defense of abortion rights -- senator joe manchin, from west virginia is on the other end and he decried liberals obstruction and met with him on wednesday, the day after he was nominated. somewhere in the middle are heidi heitkamp, senators joe donnelly of indiana and jon tester of montana. look for dianne feinstein as well. feinstein is no stranger to wrath over judicial nominees. she was a key ally for republicans almost a decade ago in the confirmation fight over judge leslie suffolk in mississippi. ton it goes on to point differential democrats, senator bill nelson of florida and tom carper of delaware. perennial swing vote senators chris coons of delaware and , alsondent of maine democrats to watch. mark in new mexico, a republican. what do you think? caller: hello? host: what do you think? saying to theas individual that questioned me that answered, i believe that doingmocratic party is andmuch of the wrong paying not enough of the right thing, which is their job, what they were elected and sent there to do. this isn't about them and their feelingstheir personal and so forth. this is about us, the american people. host: i think we lost that caller. let me move on to john in new york. an independent. your turn. caller: good morning. as a person with liberal leanings in this past election, my personal choice was john kasich, a person who exemplified bringing the country together. essentially with what is going on, with the republicans holding the vast majority in every thele branch of government, only way the american people can discover the truth is through extreme that thi -- extreme vetting. the democrats and the committees they boycotted were looking to do that, primarily because of the fact that there were questions that had to be answered especially with tom price involved. with this alleged insider trading deals, with steve mnuchin, the discovery of the $100 million, this country has turned into so divisive because the essentially, my opinion now, the republican congress has turned into a party of no ethics, no rules. that is what the problem in this country is. host: that is why you want to see democrats do what they are doing? caller: the democrats have to keep doing what they are doing because that is the only ability the american people truly have to see what is going on in our government. host: lee in new york, a republican. what do you think? caller: i was trying to say something about the separation of church and state. our constitution says that congress shall not establish a religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof. thing's address to congress. they can't make any law respecting, putting one religion over another. in other words, like the church of england is the one particular religion. they didn't like that. they wanted religion to flourish, not to stop religion. it was to encourage it. it was to encourage growth ofre. they didn't like it. i hear so many times, people try to separate, like we don't have a say in our government. host: so what about this question of opposition? caller: opposition of democrats -- host: by democrats. caller: to the nominees? i'm sorry, i'm getting a little confused because i had a call at the same time i was talking to you. host: i'm going to move on. politico with this tidbit. house speaker paul ryan dined last night with jared kushner on capitol hill. no staff seem to fit in terribly well. it is where many members of congress go when congress is in session. they are building relationships that could be key at the hill, the white house, and policymaking over the next few years. they have been in larger meetings together in the capital but as washington turns its attention to tax reform, kushner, the real estate mogul and ryan, the house speaker could be important allies. say thatose to them the speaker shares an easy rapport with steve bannon. politico also has this story. senators to huddle over the russian hacking probe. he senators are planning to meet to discuss the progress of their investigation into russia's meddling in november's presidential election. inquiries will delve into the explosive question over whether there were contacts between moscow and the trunk campaign. panelst two other senate are also looking into the issue. the wall street journal, with this story this morning, joe biden versus bernie sanders. the fight over who should lead the democratic national committee is intensifying as the big guns are coming out and are pointing at each other. joe biden, wednesday night, endorsed tom perez to be chairman of the national committee, saying the former label of -- labor secretary could bring the party together in the wake of its defeat. that gave mr. perez a high he drewendorsement but a blunt response from bernie sanders, the leader of the party's progressive wing who has backed representative keith ellison. in terms of the next chair, the question is simple. do we stay with a failed status quo approach or do we move forward with a fundamental restructuring of the democratic party? nearly a dozen democrats are running for dnc chair. they are considered the leading contenders in a race that has had low visibility and low drama. the party will be voting on this later this month. let's hear from mark in oregon, an independent caller. i believe that everybody has the right for their own decisions, but i don't believe they should be boycotting something. they should be representing their state. thereuld they not show up just to represent the people in their state? that doesn't show a good to try, in my opinion, to get into the political scene, to have them not show up. -- what is that telling us? it just says, hey, we don't want to play. host: what about boycotting and protesting? taking a stand on something you believe in? caller: there is nothing wrong with taking a stand and what you believe in but when you represent the whole state, the body as a whole, you should be in there, not just standing by the wayside. host: there was some verbal back-and-forth in the senate judiciary committee yesterday. they met to vote on senator to becomeomination attorney general. you can watch the whole thing on c-span.org. betweenl flares there senator franken in minnesota and senator john cornyn of texas. you can find that all on our website. we also covered the committee hearings in senate finance and environment and public works where democrats did not show up. if you want to see what that looks like and what the republicans had to say, our website is c-span.org. in michigan, a republican. good morning. caller: i find it ironic that the democrats and people on the left call other people that have --onscience about pro-life when it is so easy for them to cite canada and europe's ways to say that if you are disabled or old and have dementia, that you should be able to have someone help you kill yourself and also, there is the concern with the lives of refugees or anyone else where at the drop of the hat, they support the killing of unborn babies. it does not make sense to me. how can they support one thing but yet killing the most week of our society, those people in the womb and the old people and is able people -- the disabled people. host: in texas, a democrat. caller: a couple of quick points. there is one thing that has always bugged me about donald trump. thishe was calling for the fakehing and also journalism thing, there were tornadoes down in the south of the united states. he didn't say anything about that. it was all about him. is, all theint crony capitalists he is putting into his cabinet, such as tom price. hisdy has ever looked into investments -- nobody is into , theospital that he ran resurgence orthopedics that had actually broken anti-kickback laws. from the documents united states district courts that are out there on the web that show that they have broken anti-kickback laws. it is kind of weird that people don't look at that. the journalists are going for congress is completely polarized. >> washington post reporting congressman from georgia, tom price, did get a vote in the finance committee. democrats did show up for day two but republicans went forward with it. forgoing a rule that requires a quorum to be there. one member of the minority party could be there. republicans lashed out angrily, trying to solve the nominees at the committee level, suspending the rule to approve two nominees. of price for secretary health and human services and steve mnuchin to lead the treasury department. they advanced the nominations of fortor jeff sessions attorney general and for rex tillerson for secretary of state. he was then sworn in the oval office. today was not without setbacks for republicans. two republican senators from alaska and maine signaled they did not plan to support the president's nominee for education secretary, leaving democrats won the shy of the idea -- the number needed to undo the nomination. right now, the vice president would break the tie. that vote has been scheduled for monday, according to news reports. can in millersburg, pennsylvania. i, -- caller: hello. i watched this back and forth on an independent. but i need to understand something. we need to let president trump established the government. whether you are for him or against him, you have the next want, but we musthead and let him establish a government. his candidate for the courts is an excellent judicial person. he went through the senate before with a unanimous vote. the people that vote against him now and everything, what changed? -- changedd sydow we that now we say he is not qualified? get the politics out of it and look at a judiciary person who is excellent. thank you. host: another ken from pennsylvania, democrat, though. what do you think about your party and their stalling on the president's cabinet? caller: i think that pretty much have to. we need some sort of leadership and who that is at this point, i that know, but i do know if you don't push back, it doesn't say very much for your party in response to the previous caller, you can and aish a government sense i get is that our constitution is in crisis any ,alk about four years with this i would like to think of it more like a year and a half before impeachment proceedings pretty much have to happen. i don't think there is any way around it, hopefully the nukes have not started flying by that point. host: we are at the top of the final hour here on "washington journal." we will switch focus. up next, democratic congressman steve: will be here to talk cohen.we willteve be right back . ♪ announcer: this weekend, c-span's cities for will it -- exploreour will fresno, california. about the hernandez 1948 plane crash in california that killed 32 people, including 28 mexican migrant workers. >> when the plane crash happened in the news reports went across in newntry, guthrie was york and the icon that he is, he heard the news reports so he wrote a poem in it and he says -- you won'ty juan have a name when you ride that big airplane, all they will call ."u is the por -- deportee announcer: recounting his personal story about childhood, race, and identity. >> historically, japanese-americans had a very vibrant agriculture community partly because when the immigrants first came, this was the only entry point for a lot of them in the american economy and american community. afternoon onnday american history tv on c-span 3, the history of farming and agriculture in fresno, from brian jacobson. >> we had a mediterranean only in five regions around the world and the only one in the united states. announcer: we will learn about the history of march and theodore kearny -- martin theodore kearny. >> he especially was interested in the growing of raisins and wanted to get together a co-op to structure the pricing, control quality of reasons. citieser: watch c-span tour. working with our cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. "> "washington journal continues. host: we are back this morning with commerce and steve -- congressman steve cohen. let's begin with what is called , the president did by executive order. tell us your position on it. rep. cohen: it is unnecessary

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