Congressman erik paulsen discusses gop tax Reform Efforts and upcoming fiscal deadlines. At 8 30, rhode island representative David Cicilline with the latest into the investigation in russian interference in the 2016 elections. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] host good morning. Both houses will begin their Business Today at 10 00 a. M. Throughout the day and into the evening, all eyes will be on alabama for the Senate Special election between roy moore and doug jones it appears to be coming down to the wire. Cspans coverage of the results and candidate speeches begins at 9 30 eastern and we are also beginning washington journal by getting your reports washington journal getting your response. Give us a call, especially if you are in our voter. Alabama voter, it is 2027488003. Otherwise, lines as usual for republicans, democrats, and independents. Republicans come it is 2027488001. Democrats, 2027488000. Ndependents, 2027488002 you can also catch up with us on social media. On twitter that is cspanwj. On facebook it is facebook. Com cspan. Tuesday morning. You can start calling in now. The polls are opening in just about an hour in alabama. Theya. M. Central is when open. 7 00 a. M. To 7 00 p. M. Central. We are taking your calls this morning and both candidates into the evening last night were making their final arguments about 200 miles apart. Sousen,e was out of alabama. This is what he had to say last night. [video clip] falsey distressed by the ads being put on by the fake media. Newtelevision statement that i got over 1 million. We have seen highway 31 in this general election. We dont know who they are. We know they spend a lot of money and we know it wasnt me. They have been taken off the air. We have had threats on social media for anyone that backed this campaign. We have been intimidated. Other people have been intimidated and we are tired of it. The fake news began after i was in an 11 point lead in the general election. I want you to understand. The Washington Post put out this terrible, disgusting article saying i had done something and i want you to understand something. These women had not come forward for nearly 40 years, but they waited until 30 days before this general election to come forward. They go out there on National Television arguing their case after waiting 40 years, during which i served in three public offices in the state. Iran three state campaigns, five county campaigns i ran three state campaigns, five county campaigns. Never once was it identified, despite numerous investigations, coming the judicial to our county and investigating for anything that would be wrong so they can take me out of office. Moore lastwas roy night. Meanwhile, in birmingham, alabama, about the same time, doug jones was making his Closing Argument and here is what he had to say. [video clip] we have heard so many people that have decided you know what . I am not going to worry about the fact that roy moores has been kicked out of office twice. Im not to worry about the fact he took money from a charity. I believe those women, but my party is more important. I am going to tell you, folks, it is time. I think we are going to see it tomorrow that the majority of the people of alabama say it is time we put our decency, our state for political party. [cheers] think it is time we say no more to putting people down. We say no more to treating people as secondclass citizens. We say no more to discriminating against those that are the least fortunate among us. Its time we say no more [cheers and applause] more]ng no host we will show you more of some of the closing comments from the top Campaign Surrogates and we want to hear from you on washington journal. A special line for alabama voters, 2027488003. Otherwise, lines for republicans, democrats, independents as usual. You can start calling in as andrew did in maryland on the line for democrats. Go ahead. Caller i just think that the democrats are not going to win. The reason why i say that is alabama is known for republicans. Jeff sessions is the worst republican ever, in my view, but they have still got him. I think it is a long shot for democrat for a democrat to even win alabama. I think democrats need to gear towards their base and stop worrying about places we know we are not going to be able to take , like alabama. Alabama is not going to take a democrat. They are not. We need to move on and go somewhere else. Host here is the state of play an alabama from of the wall street journal this morning. The map of the state showing areas places to keep an eye on, various places to keep an eye on. In moore wants high turnout southwest counties they gave President Trump 3 of the vote. You can see those counties there. Doug jones needs a turnout from these counties in orange where africanamerican voters account for 50 of the population and then there is the pink counties. Voted counties in 2012 against roy moore. We see that to be a bad sign for roy moore. Finally there are the blue counties highlighted here. Moore loste mr. These in the primary. They all have higher income and College Education rates than the state average. We want to hear from you this morning on washington journal. On the line for republicans. Joe mccutchen, is that is you . Caller yes, i love cspan. I have been calling for 30 years. I dont know about these accusations 40 years ago, but i think donald trump is the best president in history. The stock market is hitting new highs and i think roy moore will carry on the policies of donald trump and the other guy, obviously, will not. I think it is important we carry on the policies of trump, which are giving us the best economy. Very positive. We are making this the encouragement capital of the world and we would like to invite you and steve scully to come down here because we are the encouragement capital of the world and i think it will be an interesting race. Host what do you think about the baggage that so many republicans have said they are concerned about if roy moore comes to the senate . Caller that is definitely a problem. Looking at the big picture for the average american they look at their 401 k and it has never done better as it is under trump with the stock market boom. Nobody is perfect. We are all imperfect. I would vote for moore even though he has values because i think the democrat would give us more government and more taxes and i dont think we can avoid that before that. Come down and see us and we would love to welcome you here. Host i will probably hear from you in about 30 days. Lester is on the call for on the line for alabama voters. A democrat, go ahead. Caller how are you doing . Today is a very important day here in alabama, voting for doug jones and i wish each and every buddy in the state of alabama everybody in the state of alabama vote for doug jones. We have an opportunity to change alabama politics. For the last 40 years has been controlled by republicans. Its time for alabama to go to the 21st century by putting doug jones there and during the midterm, get an alabama democratic governor because we need to change the landscape of alabama. Host where do you think this race stands . The polling that is out there an automated poll from Emerson College shows moore with a 9 9 point advantage. Another poll showed the race even. Where do you think it is . Caller really close for doug jones and i can tell you, its really close, but i think jones has an edge because of the fact moore has been in hiding the last two weeks. He got the money from somewhere and i dont know exactly, but he has been shooting a lot of money, but i dont think that will catch up. Looking at what is going on, most up in north alabama. He is going to catch olhy hell winning gholy hell winning the black vote in alabama. Host when are you going to vote today . Caller it will be about 10 00. Host the polls are open from 7 00 a. M. To 7 00 p. M. We are hearing from alabama voters and phone lines for democrats, republicans, and independents across the nation as all eyes turned to alabama today to talk about this race. The results we will be talking about them tonight live on cspan two. Our coverage begins at 9 30 eastern. You can also watch it at cspan. Org and listen to it on the free cspan radio app. The line for democrats, clay, go ahead. Caller i would like to make a comment about the fact that i still believe this is president obamas economy. Trump dropped regulations talked about dropping regulations, which i think that does for the stock market but that doesnt help a whole lot of people that have money in the stock market. As what is going on in alabama, i think this is a huge step for the resistance for those of us who are trying to the ship now right as we see it under your leadership and possibly an illegitimate administration. Lets hope we can do something in alabama and that democrats have a strong showing. What i am most concerned about and i called my senator about this was was alabama one of the states that had interference election . There were some states that were directly affected by some hacking in their systems. I couldnt find out if alabama was one of those and i am concerned there might be issues with the ballot count and so forth and so on. Host are you confident going to the ballot in 2018 in West Virginia . Am. Er yes, i keep a pretty close eye in my county in particular, we still use a paper ballot in Jefferson County in the eastern panhandle. I will check on that and keep an eye on that because i think its is wherertant this it is really important is that we make sure our ability to put in a vote is secure. Online ike these not online, but Digital Systems that do not have an absolute paper trail. In westat is clay virginia this morning. Taking your calls throughout this first hour and we will talk about it later about this Alabama Senate special election happening today and keeping you updated about the other news going on around the country. Yesterday morning, a lot of focus on what appears to have been an attempted terror attack in new york. Here is the front page of of the wall street journal. A 27yearold bangladeshi aternet immigrant set off pipe bomb in one of the busiest transit hubs. The explosion fizzled, burning him and injuring three others. The electrical worker detonated about 7 20 a. M. He was eventually taken into custody. Here is a picture of him in the New York Times today after he 27. Taken into custody age he came to the u. S. Legally on an immigrant visa for relatives of u. S. Citizens. He is in custody at the hospital am a first degree burns from that explosion in the wake of that incident renewed calls saainst the so called vi lottery. The Homeland SecurityDepartment Spokesman said he was admitted to the United States on a family in 2011, tied to a relative that won the lottery. Its the first time second time in six weeks someone connected to the lottery has been accused of a terror attack. The white house says its more reason they should join President Trumps call to end the lottery. We will keep an eye on that story if there are developments today. For this first hour of washington journal, we are getting your thoughts on the alabama special election today. A special line for alabama voters, 2027488003. Democrats, republicans, independents as usual. Tim is a democrat from cedar park, texas. Good morning. I havent called in a long time. That means i was listening with both of my ears. Its been about 8 months. Anyway, i think we have got to lighten it up. Mym from texas, but all of family is from alabama, louisiana, mississippi, and i folkshat like my kin come from that. Youve got to go at this with these people at a bible way. Host what do you mean by that . Caller you have got to tell them to go to the bible and quit judging people. It doesnt matter they take things very literally. They are judging it from the bible standards, but not understanding they are doing it in a literal sense and they havent learned not literate. You know what i mean . In other words, they take it literal instead of mythical. Anyway, so once they realize they do things biblical but sometimes it becomes so literal it is like by the law, not by the saved by faith. That is what you have to understand about alabama people. It is a delicate thing. What i wanted to say was this. I judged donald trump 8 months ago. I said it was going to be a disaster. Of course, it is a disaster. It is up to us to break that cycle. I think we should all quit looking at each other. Listene as this is to the 12 days of christmas and break the cycle. There is good news out there. Host melissa is an independent from maine. Your thoughts this morning. Yes, i am calling because i am very concerned with the the direction of our country right now. Many of us here in maine are. As far as the election in alabama, we have to win that tonight. We have got to change the direction this country is going in, promptly. It is just causing havoc all over the world. The bombing the other night the other day is because of the anger. Everything that is going on is because of the leadership we are under right now. We have got to change that. Get democrats and independents into the house. It is not going well at all for us here in america right now. Host larry, illinois, line for republicans. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I have a question basically for. He alabama voters there has been a lot of people. I am not a big fan of donald trump. I did not vote for donald trump. I think he is loud, arrogant, rude. Based on theas few new yorkers i know, that applies to most of the new yorkers. I apologize to the ones i have never met. A lot of people have been asking about why the women coming out with allegations against moore about why they didnt come out earlier. I dont have that problem. My problem is when moore was running against Luther Strange and from what i understand, that was a tight race. Why didnt they come out then because donald trump actually supported Luther Strange . If they knew beforehand they had these allegations against moore and they were concerned about morality, why didnt they come out when he was running against Luther Strange . Then Luther Strange mightve won. I am wondering if the dnc or the democrats had this information of the people that were going to come out with allegations, but did they wait to see if he was going to beat Luther Strange are not and then they came out because now he is running against a democrat. I have a question with that issue not with why they waited, but why they didnt come out when he was running against another republican. That is a problem with me. Some we can certainly ask alabama voters about that or if they care to answer, they can call in as well. A few comments on twitter about this. One of our viewers saying that they will listen to the voice of the alabama voters on this. Please call in, there are people around the country that want to hear from you, alabama voters. Bill king says after getting kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court twice, how is moore eligible to run for Public Service . We will keep looking for your tweets this morning. It is cspanwj. This conversation about the Alabama Senate race bringing out National Figures focusing on alabama. That is the headline of the Washington Post this morning. From those rallies we showed you a little bit of earlier joe Jones Doug Jones rally, hollywood actresses were there. Rally, there were conservative activists including stephen bannon, the Breitbart News chairman. Hockey county chairs milwaukee chairman the former Milwaukee County chairman was also at that rally. Both President Trump and former president obama reporting robo. Alls for the Senate Hopefuls the washington the Washington Times noting that president obama, who has largely stayed out of political battles, weighed in on the race. Democrats are hoping his weight will help push the candidate over the age, quoting the robo call from former president Obama Doug Jones is a fighter for equality of progress. He will be our champion for justice, so get out and vote, alabama. This is what President Trump had to say in his robo call for roy moore. [video clip] i need alabama to go vote for roy moore. It is so important. We are already making America Great again. I need to make america safer and stronger and better than ever before. We need that seat. We need roy voting for us. I am stopping illegal immigration and crime, rebuilding a stronger lee terry, and protecting the Second Amendment and our prolife values. If alabama elects doug jones, all of our progress will be stopped cold. We already know Democrat Doug Jones is a puppet of nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer and he will vote with the washington liberals every single time. Crime,t jones is soft on week on immigration, supports abortion, bad for our military, vets. Ad for our we dont want him and he also, once higher taxes. Roy moore is the guy we need to pass our make America Great again agenda. Roy is the conservative that will help me steer this country back on track after 8 years of the obama disaster. Get out and vote for roy moore. His boat is our Republican Senate and it is needed. We need roy to help us with the Republican Senate. We will win a