violation of all kinds of american >> why one of the things that you mentioned, the ships act in an effort towards transparency and enforcement was the fact that the natural science foundation which is responsible for 50% of the research grants that go to our universities, had a security office run by one person. in classic d.c. speak, we quadrupled her staff. can watch the rest of this discussion online or on our free video app. we take you back live to the "washington journal," continues.

host: we are back now, we apologize for that interruption we had a fire alarm in the building and we are joined by rep gwen moore, a committee member of ways and means. representative moore, welcome. guest: great to have you back out of the cold. host: i wanted to start with that meeting amongst congressional republicans and democrats on the border. what do you know? where does it stand and where are we getting on the border deal? guest: the day joe biden inaugurated one of the things we might forget because of the chaos surrounding his inauguration, on day one he

proposed an immigratn i think tr is the gift that keeps on giving. they are making this the theme of their campaign and i don't think they want a solution. democrats have worked for years on balanced immigration proposals, but republicans have doubled down as said they don't want anything but hr 2. it's entirely on the enforcement side. build the wall, backed down from standards, easier deportations. they don't want to hear anything about funding the attorneys at the border, those seeking asylum. they want the stay in mexico policy and they have

really done again. it's hard to predict. you have republicans who say, we could make a deal but i am not about to give joe biden a victory this year. i think the possibility of having anything is slim. host: that is connected to the aid for ukraine. what are your concerns around ukraine? guest: vladimir putin must be delighted to watch the strain right. -- train wreck. guest: they have made this

connection, their freedom caucus in particular, matt gaetz, schip roy say they absolutely are not going to abide by anything short of that. johnson, the new speaker has come to realize as speaker, which is different than being a member of their freedom caucus. he needs to prevent a shut down so he wants a cr but he has to satisfy his colleague. it's a tough week here. host: you have called for a

cease-fire in gaza. how would that work giving israel's insistence on pursuing the war. guest: what i have called for is our president to look closer at the u.n. resolution for a working cease-fire, based on delivering hostages. getting those hostages out of distress. getting aid into gaza to the many people who are sick and prevent starvation and dislocation of people. our president and antonyblinkene asked for is consistent.

it is what we have asked netanyahu from the beginning. i am happy for them to be more strategic and target more carefully and spare the lives of civilians, women and children and particularly have taken the brunt of this war. i am in a line with president biden with that call for de-escalating. host: you also called for a two state solution but the netanyahu government has been clear that they do not support the two ste it is important to be clear. as ridiculous as a two state

solution sounds, what is the option? i don't think israel is going anywhere even though people and in hamas would like them to do. i agree with people in israel that it is time for netanyahu to move on and support those people who support equity for the palestinians. netanyahu's time is up in regards to that. i am glad that he has made it clear that he does not want to live peacefully side-by-side. our relationship and friendship

with israel is not necessarily on the line but it's important to discussion that we are friends but we are also the heart beat of democracy and we want you to align with their values on this. host: if you would like to call in and ask a question or make a comment on our lines for democrats (202) 748-8000. for republicans (202) 748-8001. for independents (202) 748-8002. i want to ask you about president biden's visit to milwaukee as see is trying to mobilize black voters in your quote saying that

polling is very frightening. where does president biden stand with black voters and what does he need to do? guest: he needs to do what we need to do which is connect people to have their lives have improved and will improve under the biden administration. i think republicans feed people a diet of fear. it is true that we have experienced inflation but the numbers are clear that the sort of things that president biden has put into place, the inflation reduction act, infrastructure build, will provide thousands of jobs for low-wage workers,

african-americans who are accustomed to manufacturing. when president biden went to milwaukee he featured a black owned business created who are replacing led pipes that are poisoning the children in our community. these are training opportunities. these are the things we need to to more about in milwaukee and of course people are dissatisfied with the current conditions. we are still roiling from covid and the pressures that brought on our economy. and even though the economy is improving prices have not gone down. wages have gone up, profit has

gone up, opportunities of ghana and it is our job to deliver that message. -- opportunities have gone up. the streets are filled with construction projects and i think it a years time we will be able to demonstrate that this is the presidency we need to support for a second term. host: are you ready to talk to our callers? nathan dennis first. is first. i was hoping to speak about the border with the last gentleman but that didn't happen so maybe i can get a comment from you.

i was wondering since he was a trump supporter, where does trump stand, if you know, was he pleased with the way that trump handled the border? guest: thank you for weighing in on this. as i said earlier, the chaos at the border is the gift that keeps on giving. we have members saying they don't want to do it thing about the border until trump returns. he never finished building the wall and did not have mexico paying for. they were not willing to take yes for an answer. democrats came up with proposal after proposal to have a balance

between border security, more border agents, the kind of assets for the border that we could separate the wheat from the chaff. they did not want a balanced approach they just wanted hr to and punitive measures that don't necessarily protect immigration or heal the problem. i can't speak for trump but speaking for republicans that i work with now, they will not take yes for an answer. host: we have a question for you on x fm y sanders asking what specifically do you want and then immigration bill? how many people do you want to reward with legal status?

guest: that is a loaded question. let's start with the tail end of that. how many people do we want with legal status? the dreamers. 70, 80% of americans want legal status for these dreamers. this is low hanging fruit. these are kids who have been in the united states since they were six weeks old, two years old. they have gone through public school and they work here. that's low hanging fruit. why can't we do that? with regard to his notion of how many illegals? i would love for illegal people

to have citizenship. i want enough agents at the border to be able to sort out people who have legitimate asylum claims and people who are here to do harm or other nefarious acts. you have to fund those systems. you can't simply put barbed wire in the rio grande and think you will have an outcome. i want to see some balance. we need border security, we don't need open borders. we don't need our borders to be flooded by people who don't have legitimate claims. host: will congss ever investigate insider training and

disallowing congress members and families from benefiting? guest: we have facebook act. there have been severe punishments of members that have violated, insider trading. people have lost their reputations and resign from the house. i do think that is important that we reinforce it. i think it's important ordinary people get elected to congress and not people who are wealthy and want to become members of congress that they can benefit financially. this is public service. this is not a job you take on in order to become rich. i certainly support the notion that there ought to be scrutiny

and enforcement. host: let's talk to john next who is in rhinelander, wisconsin , and independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am on a fixed income. since joe biden has been elected i've lost 25% of my buying power because of the inflation that has come on during his tenure. everything with the border, the whole situation started after the election in 2020. care visits came to the border immediately because he was elected president and gas prices started going up after the end of the trump administration.

i don't have the pollyanna view that everything is great under joe biden. guest: i think you have hit the nail on the head with the challenges that joe biden has had. all of these talking points from the republicans, ever since biden came in from inflation. we had a breakdown in the supply chain because of covid and that happened under trump. this doesn't have anything to do with joe biden. matter fact, inflation has come under control based on what joe biden has done. his inflation reduction act provides people assistance with

insulin. i get it that people are still suffering from inflation. but people who have not ever worked are now working and we have the lowest among african-americans. they don't see that is addressing the problems we face. in rhinelander, i bet you anything the roads are torn up. there are jobs that came through because of joe biden's leadership. you mentioned the war and of

course that is a challenge. as i said earlier, i don't think it's an easy thing to solve but i think it takes both sides who are committed to doing it. and not just have an issue that they can use to polarize the country to win. host: carla is next from indiana, a republican. caller: i have three questions for you. on the border do said you welcome all dreamers. i tell you now they are not all dreamers. second, i am on a fixed income and i got a raise. then they took money away from my insurance.

i lost $10 on social security. i got the cost-of-living raise. the third question is, they are saying unemployment is down because of joe biden. he is riding on the shirttails of trump. why is he claiming that he put all of these people working? guest: let's start with

democrats that saved people's pensions. it was democrats under joe biden that we have pension reform. people on social security are getting cola. people receive the social security cola and we say that will reduce your ability to get other services. that is not fair. it does not help to give with one handed take from the other. in regards to unemployment, the

minimum wage is $7.25. given the workforce participation that was lost through covid. you have to give people childcare. if you are a waitress making $7.25 an hour, working 20 hours a week. there are a lot of benefits a person cannot get. they are not receiving any health care and $7.25 an hour. were talking about incentivizing people to work. other than just shaming them to

get back to work saying all of you lazy women go back to work for $7.25. no childcare, no transportation, no child tax credit that you can access unless you make enough money. it is not a reasonable act in a capitalistic society to say go work for nothing. but i think you for raising it. host: sophia is next from pennsylvania. caller: hello, good morning. people who are coming in from mexico, they need to stay on the mexican side.

i lost my job, at the casino. it's unfair, they get the jobs. they need to stay on their side and i hope it doesn't cause a problem on their side. give them fresh water, food, whatever they need. host: let's get you a response. guest: she is making a couple of points. she is saying we need to provide assistance some people who are coming through mexico, we can help their law enforcement keep

some of those people there or to get food assistance. a lot of people are fleeing climate change. assistance so people can deal with food and security. whatever problems that are causing them to make this dangerous trip. she also makes the point that she feels some people are taking her job. that is one reason why it is important to have a comprehensive immigration solution so we can not have employers hiring people undercover, paying them a wages and not participating in social security and tax system. we have had our congressional budget office predicts we would

have one trillion more in revenue if people came out of the shadows from where they were working. people who are already making marginal salaries. to give them a user re-wage. she is making an argument for why it's important to have immigration report. host: up next we have a call from michigan. caller: good morning. i am watching ms. moore, and the problem with her goes all the way back to reagan.

the democrats have done absolutely nothing to repair the deal. this young lady is one of the group where you can't trust what they say. they have no value of any kind except self subsistence. guest: i don't know what deal he is talking about other than welfare queens? happy new year to you too. host: we got word that the house will be voting on the funding bill. how are you going to vote? guest: obviously i will vote

against the government shutting down. if we kick the can down the road , setting the government down does not come without a cost. it costs money to set the government down and try to reopen it again. host: javier, a republican. caller: good morning. two questions. in the short, near term how does the democratic platform attacked the debt? what is the democratic party's

initiative to get financial independence from the ccp? guest: strategy number one is to stop giving trillions awaits a corporation's don't pay their fair share. and to resist efforts by republicans to take away the money we need to hire more irs personnel. and i don't mean agents with guns as they try to characterize it. but people who have the ability to sort through complicated corporate tax returns. we haveny from half trillion to one trillion a year

and lawsuits from people who do not pay their debt. tax. the money that they are not getting from people who have tax schemes and they are not paying taxes, they are not entitled to retain. the chinese communist party has the tasko what it would take to make us more competitive china. i work with them on very important issues like climate change. we need to work with them on a lot of things.

i wouldn't go so far as to agree with you that they have us in a chokehold. i am saying that is something we are working on to make sure there is more parity. host: that's all the time we have with representative when more from wisconsin and on the ways and means can he. think you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: coming up next we will speak to ryan clark on elon musk in the houthi rebels. -- and the houthi rebels. we will be right back. >> discover the heartbeat of

democracy as we engage voters nationwide, what is most important theme in this upcoming election and why? the most important issues are the border in the economy. >> the biggest issue for me is college tuition. i had friends who had to drop out because they could afford the student loans. two of the most important issues for me -- the most important view for me is how to approach moving america forward.

c-span 2024, be a part of the conversation. [inaudible]

welcome back to washington journal we are joined by brian clark. from the hudson institute, nice to see you again.

i wanted to start with iran. earlier this week they launched strikes against syria, iraq and pakistan. what is there and the game? guest: they are trying to establish themselves as a regional power which is something they've done for the past few decades. they work through proxies like houthis, hezbollah, hamas. they try to use these proxy groups. so force their neighbors to establish itself as a country with freedom of action to drive competition in the region. host: i ran head pakistan and

they responded today and iran says people have been killed. where does this go? will there be an issue? guest: it's another region where there is a dispute between iran and pakistan and area of pakistan just south of iran. that area has been somewhat contested. they are trying to force pakistan to defend that border. as well as pushing back on iraq and saudi arabia. this is their effort to try to expand its field of control in the middle east.

it has decided to take action against a nuclear armed power. they are working with proxies against other countries but this direct attack on pakistan puts pakistan and direct confrontation. iran feels assembled and of his success or a little bit on the defensive because of internal challenges. there have been a series of recent protest inside iran. they are succeeding overseas but at home is not so ground. eat. host: let's talk about the red sea, how effective have the u.s. strike spend?

gut: the houthi have not been very effective. they have launched a lot of attacks and struck a few container ships with minimal damage and loss of life as far as we could tell. but the cost to defend against them,sea as well as other counts and a substantial outlay of personnel and naval presence. the houthis have been successful by forcing a response and west to spend money. they are trying to continue to disrupt the efforts to help

israel. host: has it been effective? guest: the navy is done good work and its ability with their defense. but the downside because they're using the capabilities they are using, they are using surface-to-air missiles that costs millions to shoot down drones. this mismatch will become a problem for the u.s. going forward. it's not a sustainable effort. host: if you would like to call and you can do so. the lines are for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002 and active

military on (202) 748-8003. guest: houthis were taken off the terrorist list and part two negotiate a settlement for a civil war in yemen. houthis have been fighting rebels in yemen so the attempt was to take them off the terrorist list and work with saudi arabia to negotiate a settlement in yemen. obviously that has not panned out and the houthis have accelerated efforts with attacks

against commercial fishing vessels. and shipping vessels. putting them back on the terrorist list makes sense and help cut down on the financial networks for them to limited resources. host: what are your concerns for a wider conflict? guest: it is clear that iran wants to expand this conflict to obtain an advantage for them. if they can get the u.s. drawn into a confrontation in the u.s. they can paint the u.s. as an enemy which is helpful domestically because they have is within iran. if they can somehow best the united states in some way it

them a way to show that they are a player in the middle east. this is a competition between iran and saudi arabia and israel. if iran can show the others to be weak and iran is the player the goal state should gravitate towards as the leader. host: what is china thinking right now? guest: they are taking advantage of the series of confrontations by supporting iran through back channels. iran is selling oil to the chinese companies. there is money coming as a result of that sale of oil and electronics are making their way to iran through commercial systems. there is also direct military action. they are taking it's opportunity

to support iran and looking for ways to take advantage of the united states if there comes to a conflict in taiwan. we have tom a republican in wyoming. caller: are these houthis related to al qaeda? guest: the houthis are a separate group that may have some relationship to al qaeda but for the most part, they are a shiite supported group. al qaeda was primarily a sunni

supported group out of saudi arabia. there are probably a few members that have floated back and forth. host: melville, new york, tony, and independent. caller: palestine to the sea palestine will be free. i was looking at the hudson institute is nothing but american imperialism at its finest. iran has been the largest supplier of humanitarian aid. the u.s. is hypocritical of yemen which is going through a humanitarian crisis. the head of the world food program is senator john mccain's

wife, thus an imperialist interest. ■1south africa stood up to the u.s. and china -- i would like to say once again from the river to the sea, palestine will be free. guest: i think there is a good point to be made that the yemen civil war has had an impact on the civilian population, all bad. the u.s. has to reduce the use of u.s. weapons provided to saudi arabia. the challenge is, how do you maintain security in the region

when the yemeni population is caught in the middle? host: we have an independent from colorado. caller: i would like to comment on the administration's handling of gaza and houthis. i think he has exercised great restraint. not to make things any worse over there. helping with shipping internationally and in coalition. people need to understand that. when you have palestinian people dug in under hostility.

they have to deal with netanyahu who is very right wing and hard to deal with. i just want to congratulate the administration what they are doing. guest: the administration did a good job of pulling together a coalition to respond to protect shipping and during these attacks on the houthi. they took the time to build international supported go after these sites after they had done intelligence analysis and laid the groundwork so when the strike started happening they agreed they are hitting the right places.

caller: i have been following this very closely in southern california. it is easy to follow it. i guess my question is, given that the houthis have been pretty clear about what they are demanding. they have said the same thing since beginning. given that they have been very clear that if the aggression in gaza, and that

there is no solution to take out hamas in gaza. isn't the best solution to get israel to stop its aggression and that helps the u.s. and shifting the narrative? host: we will get an answer for you. guest: the challenge for the united states is how do you get another country like israel to do or not do something, especially if they are an ally. it's hard to get israeli leadership to act in a certain way.

the u.s. has to tried to contain this conflict before it gets further so their effort to defend shipping as part of that. the targeted attacks by houthi rebels. that is the role we often played to be a stabilizing force when the players in the region are at odds with each other. host: must speak to brandon from hi, hello. host: you are on the air. caller: that's awesome. i live in the united states and i have been here my entire life and i am 41 years old.

why do all of these illegal immigrants give more money than i do? host: that's really not our topic i'm afraid. brandon. caller: [inaudible] host: i didn't get that to be honest. guest: i coded here. uld not hear it. caller: what about wind energy?

guest: most of the energy that europeans deal with from the middle east because they are reducing the amount of oil and gas from russia comes over the red sea. making that transit is difficult because you have a lot of companies are stripping around the cape of good hope. shipping time increases by nine weeks. host: atlantic city, new jersey, patty. caller: i feel that president biden is doing a fantastic job in my opinion. and showing restraint and organizing this horrible situation in the middle east.

i just wanted to comment if i could on a previous caller who said from the river to the sea, palestine should be free. i wanted to clarify, it is very hurtful to use that phrase because if you go back, that means to march all of the israeli's into the sea. i just wanted to know know whatr opinion was about that phrase? it is anti-semitic, if anyone is

wondering. thethe definition is pure jew hatred. where is his outrage for the hostages and the people of israel? guest: i don't know if i want to get into into the philosophy ofe palestinian people. clearly, the palestinians are trying to create their own state and trying to push israel to grant the more independence and the events of october 7 were heinous and the response happening that will have to get resolved or this will be a continued source of conflict. host: we have not spoken about has fully yet?

hezbollah. guest: they have been attacking from the north and there have been concerns. north and there have been concerns. hezbollah has been careful to monitor attacks attacks so as no incur attacks. host: from michigan, we have donald. caller: i'm just calling it real quick. republicans start all the wars. i was born through was born thrd the second world war. the war in korea, there was no

peace agreement never signed. then kennedy got inthen kennedyd he went to war in vietnam. he went as far to see that the president was assassinated. host: do do you have a question about the current situation in the middle east? caller: i'm just answering the other people who called. not all wars were caused by republicans. host: from baltimore, maryland, and independent. caller: i just wanted to comment . in the 1990's, we became a superpower after the soviet union collapsed.

we have become a dominant power and we spent all of this time defending israel. human rights, freedom of speech, we have given them made and they have discriminated against people. essentially, people in the middle east have exposed us. everything we stand for is hypocrisy. guest: i think one point that gets brought up is the u.s. is a declining power. it's not declining as much as the rest of the world being raised up. other countries can exert their

influence and military power, taking care of technology to do that. i think you are seeing in evening of the playing field. as far as u.s. activities in the middle east. trying to spread democratic values but is challenging to do that with independent countries and their interest. the u.s. is mediating between competing interests. host: there has not been an agreement over the request for more aid to israel. what do they need? guest: israel has a capable military but in terms of the air

defense systems to protect against hamas and hezbollah. so refilling those magazines. host: if they were to write out they would have to into the ward? guest: they would run out of weapons. that could impact that decision-making in gaza. it seems they are reducing operations there so it seems u.s. support is not critical to the current war but it will after a next act of aggression. host: a view of the top-flight budget number for the defense department, what do you think of that of what the priority needs to be? guest: there is a slight amount

of growth which with inflation is even and priorities are can have to increasingly be ensuring readiness and capacity of the u.s. forces as opposed to driving that towards expensive, high tech jazz which assumes a lot of the budget. host: we will leave that right there with ryan clark from the hudson institute. thank you so much for joining us. that is the time we have for today's washington journal and we will be back again at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. we take you live to the house of representatives as they are expected to take up that short-term spending bill.