now representative fred keller, republican from pennsylvania on the oversight committee. some of his district include state college, lewis of lewisburg and wellsboro pennsylvania. first of all, is their reaction in the republican conference to yesterday's results?

have you talked to any of your fellow republicans? >> i've had some conversations with people i won't necessarily say republicans, just good americans on both sides of the aisle. when you look at what happened in the elections yesterday, and americanss wanted to have their voice heard and felt that they elected the best person that would listen to what their values are. politically do you think it is a harbinger of 2022 and what could happen in congress? >> i think this is a statement of the american people that they feltno people have not been responsive to what their vision of the government should be and they elected the person in virginia that will interact the policies that people want and not a top-down approach from government. >> host: we want to talk about some of the legislative issues in congress and i want to start this conversation by playing a

video from the democratic congress chair and getting your reaction. >> focus at the end of the day is making sure we create as outlined millions of good paying jobs that we cut taxes for families with children and lower costs for everyday americans. i think there is widespread agreement that those are the right things to be doing on behalf of the american people. there are some technical issues folks are working through with respect to some of the claimant provisions and healthcare provisions but i believe at the end of b the day we will find common ground as we always do. >> host: do you think common ground is possible for the build back that her agenda? >> guest: i don't know if they lkare talking about within the democratic congress or bipartisan because there really hasn't been any discussion with republican input onn any of thi. it's been a small group of

people between senate democrats ,house democrats and the white house. i don't know the common ground. they are certainly not engaging anybody but democrats to work on this build back better bill. when you hear them talking about trying to lower taxes for people that are lower wage earners, putting the tax on cattle and on dairy cows and all the other taxes they want to putt in here and wanting to survey bank accounts if you spend $28 a day, your bank account will be under surveillance and they want another 80 to 85,000 agents to go after these transactions and get the banks to report any transaction. it was $600 and now they realized the american people didn't like that so they put a number like 10,000 of transactions in or out and if you take $10,000 and divided by a year it's about $28 a day so

you drive to work, buy a cup of coffee in the morning, get lunch and provide a dinner for your family, i guess the irs will be looking into your bank account. there is a lot of things that haven't had to the light shone on them and that's what we've been doing. the reason it thousand gotten done, they complain, the american people don't want to have that done. they don't want a bigger government that's going to control their lives. >> host: we will put the numbers on the screen if you want to participate in the conversation with representative keller about the legislative agenda in congress we would love to hear from you. in (202)274-8000 for democrats, 748-8001 of republicans, 748-8002 for independence and we will also scroll through the text number and our social media sites in just a minute. if you send a text please include your first name and your city.re

congressman, when it comes to infrastructure, what would you like to see in the bill? >> what i would w like to see hs first we define what infrastructure f is. we can agree on roads and bridges and waste water and fresh water and a broadband to the energy grid and if you want to talk about in the term that has been used as human infrastructure when we talk about daycare and what we would normally have called social programs, less defined infrastructure, let's divide the two things and have a discussion. i'm open to doing that but when we look at this we need to make sure the process is as the of the republic intended and that is everybody's representative and a state senator would have input on the legislation that would go through the committee of jurisdiction and not a bill that hasn't been written and they are still working on a framework so there's a lot of things we can talk about but that is where i would go on the infrastructure. a. >> host: here's an article i know there've been a lot of

natural gas coming out of pennsylvania. oil and gas rules to cut methane emissions unveiled the biden administration presented sweeping regulations targeting the oil and gas industry tuesday in an effort to cut back on the emissions of methane. what is your reaction to this? >> you are correct in the 12th congressional district on any given day up to 10% of the natural gas comes out so it is a huge boom for not just northeast and north central pennsylvania but the nation and it's a national security issue. and if you look what happened in 2019 that is the first time in my lifetime america was energy independent. you had to go back to 1957 before that and when it was energy independent and we talked about earnings and people being able to afford a sustainable living and wages in their job

when we talk about this, energy is an important part of that and you look at the emissions that have been reduced by the united states even under the trump administration after he took us out of the claimant accords, we are the only nation that meant the climate accords and we were not even in it so if this administration really cares about the environment like they sayey they do, and if the democrats care about it the way they say they do, they would embrace american energy where we do it better than any other nationer on the face of the ear. safely, better for the environment and you look at what happens and what we have done here a in america by reducing emissions. that's what we need to focus on. president biden said no to an american biplane and to energy development on federal land and then calls and says can you produce more oil for us. china is now building coal-fired power plants to meet their energy needs.

if we are serious about that, we wouldn't be putting the energy industry and national security at risk. >> host: let's take some calls and begin with warren and brandon, florida. you are on with congressman fred keller. a. >> if i heard the congressmanriy didn't invite them to the table. do you really want to go to the table with the democrats? then the next cycle you don't call them to the table but do you want to come to the table? >> the issues we are discussing are not republicanan or democra.

everybody is a representative. i am ann american representative in congress. that's my responsibility and i'm willing to work on legislation that benefits everybody across the nation and we should first look at it as whati are we doig for good public policy not representing one party or another but the american people. we are coming up on the debt ceiling. what we are looking at with the debt ceiling there's a lot of things that are rolled into this. we have the speaker and the president saying that theyhe wat to spend $5 trillion and it's not going to cost anything. then they make statements that this is debt from previous

administrations. well, give me a number and let me knowon what the number is for the debt limit that needs to be raised butt until people are serious about getting back to what's going to put us on the right path financially which means committee of jurisdiction, regular order and having anybody's input on this, we need to be careful about what we do with our debt limit and the fact that america would default if we don't raise the debt limit, what is every business and every family say prioritize the spending and take care of the seniors and veterans and military and prioritize how we do our spending. so if they want to have a discussion with that, let's invite us into how we get financial responsibility and get things done for the american people. so you can't just have is coming for the debt limit.

we want to go to december of 2022. so if you are a small business d owner and you wanted to incree and grow your business so you tell the bank i would like to buy some machinery and increase my business and the bank would say how much do you need, just give me a limit until december of 22 without a plan. we need to demand there is a plan on how we enact things and the government is accountable to meet those performance metrics before we are willing to just show more money out. it wouldn't work in any other thing we do in our lives. we need to start looking at how we do things in government differently. >> host: from texas on the republican line, go ahead. >> i'm just wondering how we are going to get this [inaudible] all these talking points are just talking point. we've got to get underneath and

find out how we get that out there. i think washington journal is one of them that needs to say this is what everything is going to cost. washington journal isn't doing it. when a republican says something, we are just conspiracy theorists. luckily we've got somebody like joe manchin gets a democrat with his big boy pants on looking at this the right way like the old democrats used to look at it. how are we going to get the message out there on we say it's going to cost of this and this and they throw around trillions like it is nothing. >> host: thank you. fred keller. >> guest: the first thing is making sure the speaker and the president and the leader were not successful in running this through and that we've had time to see what's in this and as leaders we need to be communicatingg the truth to

everybody about what is in this bill and what it's going to cost and what it's going to do. that's what i do with my communications and the truth about it is that it's going to cost money. you can say that you're going to spendit $5 trillion added closeo zero and there won't be an impact. the american people are very thoughtful and hard-working intelligent people. the truth of the matter is this package that the democrats want to pass is going to add to our debt and put debt on our children and grandchildren that we need to be careful about the policies in place. we are concerned about our kids paying for our college debt and the next generation will be paying for their grade school debt and we need to make sure the policies we are putting in place empower people. less control whether it's through inflation or taxes or regulation and more economic independence to the individuals.

>> host: we received a tweet from jersey girl inre pennsylvaa and since there hasn't been changes to pennsylvania supposedly is unconstitutional election law since 2020, will the representative be challenging the 2021 results as he did last year. after all, how do we know there wasn't fraud again? >> guest: let's talk about what happened in 2020. i've never talked about anything how they were conducted by the officials in each county. what i talked about is what the igovernor did. we will receive the balance and actually create. that was in violation to the

constitution and the u.s. constitution article to says that the electors is the responsibility of the states and legislators of the states, not thela executives so the constitution is not in question. the actions the governor took tare not in question and the tp law enforcement officer or attorney general did nothing so when it came to certifying to make sure no other governor because of a governor is going to do that and take that right away from the general assembly to pass those laws what will they do to the other 12 million that those people represent. so that's one thing. but i didn't do anything to change the outcome. president biden got 306 electoral votes. i voted not to certify because the actions the governor took which are not in dispute in the constitution is not in dispute so you take 306 and a subject and it's still 286, enough for president biden to still be president so that is what i

would say about how the election. >> host: democratob from kansas. please go ahead with your question or comment. >> caller: [inaudible] that goes through the congress and senate. we've got a senator here that's more worried [inaudible] we've had one caller in two days mentioned the pandemic. how much are you hearing about that from your constituents at thisis point? we know the virus is real but the other thing we are not hearing his the steps that we've taken over the past year with

the vaccine, with the therapeuticsand people's abilite sure that they keep themselves safe and communities safe. i have the confidence in the american people that they can make decisions that are right for their family, their loved ones, the people that work in a business. we h had to people that were showing up in hospitals and they were doing the work and we had businesses that were able to provide our goods and services that we e need every day. now a year later when there is an opportunity for vaccines and we know there's therapeutics and other things we know a lot more about this virus than we did then. now all of a sudden we don't trust t those individuals. so the pandemic, the virus is real. but we've learned a lot since it happened. there werere therapeutics and i think there's some decisions that people can make to run their lives the best way they

see fitel and protect themselve, their family and their communities. >> host: julie is in north smithfield rhode island. you are gone with congressman keller. >> caller: i'm actually a republican, but that's okay. i wanted to say thank you to you getting on s the show and defending what you do because we need that in this country. i'm very ashamed over the way oe country is acting right now. it is amazing because they don't think that he is confident and i'm old enough to remember way back in 2017 when steve scalise was almost killed by bernie sanders.

but steve scalise never cried about it. he just got back to work and nobody talks aboutk that. but every time they say that january 6th was an insurrection i get heated because it was not. it was a peaceful protest and i am so sick and tired of the news media telling everybody that trump is a bad orange man or was. trump did a lot for this country. i had my doubts, but he did a lot for this country. >> guest: the first thing that happened, i don't think there's anybody here in congress that has condoned what happened on january 6th. that was a sad day to see what happened at the capital but the

one thing steve scalise didn't blame anybody but the person that committed to that act against him and that goes back to president reagan when he said we have to restore the american precept that a person is responsible for their actions and hold them accountable for it and that is what we need to look at. everything go to goes wrong is not a societal problem but people are responsible for their actions. we don't condone bad behavior from anyone and we shouldn't. we need to make sure that we are listening to what the people that we represent want us to work on and work on those items. for me it is an honor to be able to do the work i do. and the reason i do this is because i believe in america. i've realized the american dream and there are so many people out there that deserve us to be able to protect the public to hand it to the next generation in at least as good of shape as it was given to us and the greatest

generation did such a great job and do the work of the people. >> host: a few more minutes with our guest in lakeview arkansas on the independent line. good morning. >> caller: good morning representative. i appreciate what you did. they ran and unconstitutional electionn but there were several other states that ran unconstitutional and the januaro keep you from certifying. but to tax and spend now, listen i would be happy spending nothing i think the democrats have gone so far to the marxist that they need a yank back.

they need to spend nothing and agree nothing and pass nothing. we've already spent trillions on this relief. there is no reason for the government to pick winners and losers in the pharmaceutical industry by supporting one therapy and this isn't a vaccine, there is no virus and it's not a vaccine. we are in the clinical trial, federally mandated trial for the american people. >> host: we are going to leave it there. i've already discussed and addressed the january 6th thing and how horrific that was.

getting back to what they do best and that is supporting and living in the communities haves. their needs and requests and that's what we are here for. i think that we all need to realize that it's the people of the united states that make up the federal government not the government appointed to rule over them. >> host: david is in napoleon. >> caller: when republicans are on tv they have a tendency to democrat —-dash. does the republican party have any concrete plans [inaudible]

>> guest: i appreciate that. to me it's not a republican or democrat issue it's an american issue and our policy should reflect what is best for the american people. hthey go through regular order that will control the spending because here in america we do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. ii think that's important to note.. we collect a lot of money after jobs act that the treasury brought in more money than the previous year so that's just a thing our plans are plans that have lower taxes, regulations and a responsive government that trusts the peopled. because we are not the ones that built the greatest economy or nation in the world

that wasas done by the american people and that was done when you unleashed to have more control over their money and resourcesha and lives and they will go to work and do the right things that will protect our environment to create the wealth to fund the government and we saw it in 2019 with the wages rising and america was doing really well. we can get back to that end of the way not to do that is to not be lumping more debt and spending more money without knowing what we are going to spend it on and how it is going to cost the american people. grade we need to look at energy policy that puts american energy at the forefront because we do it better than anybody else and we can become energy independent which means that national security for us is less pollution around the globe so there's a lot of things but our

policies are centered in the fact that we believe in the american people and their thoughtfulness and intelligence and the fact they care about one another. >> guest: we have seen some of the wells. there may not be as many produced right now at this point in time but what if you are going to see is a drop off if we are not allowed to drill for oil and gas on federal land so there might be some leases out there that we are still producing but the fact of the matter is you will start to see that drop off and take a l look at what's happened already. we've seen energy prices increasing and rightht now we se the fact that it's reported depending on how you heat your home you can spend up to 50% more than you did last year because energy, because america

is not as energy independent as before. >> host: stephen, illinois, independent line. >> caller: i want to talk about energy. we haven't developed any new technologies as far as the production. it's always the same thing, fossil fuels. according tosi natural gas when you drawl orange really well, they have to fracture the rock and all of the spelling of all that gas into the atmosphere that's why we have claimant problems. you keep doing the same thing, you will get this result. we are supposed to be good stewards of this world.

about. >> guest: we are doing things differently than before because before when we drilled for fossil fuels there was more disturbance on the top of the earth so on the surface land of whether it's cutting down trees and other things so you look at it that way and there's a thing called a rare earth minerals that are needed and you look at the mining end of the things it costs to do this. and a place in pennsylvania where they are talking about carbon sequestration and paying people to keep forests and see how much it will sequester. to put up solar panels. this is the problem because of

what is polluting our environment. we do have the need for energy and what we need to look at is policies that will allow america to produce that energy. when we abandon those policies and let people like china and russia in the middle east do that if it's about global warming we should embrace american technology, american ingenuity and american know-how to get it done more safely rather than just say not in my backyard. >> host: roseann in wisconsin, democrat. >> caller: i guess i was going off on a different tangent talking about the debt ceiling and spending the money on actually i believe everything kind of connect us when you talk about climate change and everything else and they don't want to spend the money on the american people to help families

with the daycare and whatever else is in this bill and it's a fraction of what president trump spend, $8 trillion and i have yet to hear where all that money went. i would really like an answer to that question. >> we are going to leave it there. >> on the money that was put ouh on the american rescue plan there's still money out there that would be the reason why we don't need to hurry up and spend more because there's been money appropriated but not spend and we can talk about universal healthcare and childcare and everything else but just because you change the bill doesn't make it morere affordable and that'sn important point to make. so to pay for the childcare and then the government will have more choices over how you educate your children and send them and the preschool they go to edit the childcare they get or the healthcare you get. let's take a look at healthcare

and this is an important point. i gota back to two things, two youngsters a toddler and an infant who under their healthcare system the doctors thought they were not going to survive so what happened was they took the parents to court because they thought they should be disconnected from life support. then what happened was the government judge said you have to disconnect your child from life support. one could have come to italy and the other in the united states and got healthcare but the government said they had a disconnect from life support. when my son was three he had a brain injury and the doctor said he wouldn't survive. in the uk there probably would have been somebody that said we had to disconnect for life support.if he would be on a ventilator for 26 days. we had control over his health insurance because the government didn't control it. he came through that after multiple discussions and he

works for the hospital that saved his life. so when we put the power in the government, the government is making thosese decisions. when we trust the people enough to do it, they will make the decisions. it doesn't make it more affordable it just controls how the decisions are made. >> host: ..