commissioner. 10:00 on c-span three, the senate banking committee holds a hearing on how banks and insurance companies affect the housing market. everything available to watch at c-span.org or c-span now, our free video up. ♪♪ >> c-span's online store. browse our collection of c-span products. something for every c-span fan. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. ♪♪ >> joining us on the "washington journal", representatives oral lumen however, longtime member of congress in oregon, democrat who worked on trade and fiscal issues among other things. we want to start where we left off this morning.

did you see what mitch mcconnell had to say about january 6? what is your reaction as a democrat? >> i did indeed and it's a welcomed response to have republican leadership repudiating the effort, the denial. he was forthright, consistent with the concerns he had after the insurrection but i wased pleased he came forward. two courageous republicans should not be penalized for telling the truth standing up to the constitution and their principal. >> where were you january 6, 2021? >> we had phase entry intory the chamber because of covid protocol and i was scheduled to be on the floor moving toward the floor when the madness occurred.e i was able to go back to my

office. it was very unsettling watching what happened, but chaos in the halls. i went out earlier that morning, it was very obvious something awful was going to happen. it was unsettling and disturbing. >> you've been around in washington since your first election in 1996. what's changed for the worst on capitol hill? >> when i first came there were some real problems, we had gingrich kind of leading charge and wanted to burn the place down. the first press conference i participated was trying to reach stability, it's been a constant challenge it we've moved further and further into the extreme.

there's action on the outside, some people are in denial, we saw them encouraging the insurrection, as bad as that was earlier, nothing like this has ever been approached. >> hometown of portland, oregon saw protest last summer, what is your take on that? >> it's brutal and we were caught between extremes. we had white supremacist who wanted to shake things up and anarchists. we tried to hijack the black lives matter for their own purposes and then we had a number -- vast majority of peaceful protests caught in the middle of the people who wanted violence and destruction. it was extraordinarily difficult and it's taking a while to turn back to normal. it is a very hard and unpleasant experiencece.

>> so the city is not back to normal? >> it's not. there are scars that linger and when you have the overlay of the covid crisis, it's been extraordinarily destructive. then problems with homelessness, it is still a struggle. >> earl works on trade issues, trade subcommittee in the ways and means committee and we want to talk about trade. there's an article in the washington post this morning the u.s. trade deficit record high in 2021. $859 billion. >> what that represents is people trying to reconnect with supply chain dramatically disrupted. as a number of goods from overseas we haven't been able to get access to. what you are seeing is the

effort to do that. there are other disruptions that will take a while, we continue to be strong in goods and services but i think this is an aberration that's going to quiet a little butut going forward. the legislation we enacted getting tough on the chinese efforts to exploit the loopholes in our tax loss like the provision that allowed them to spend 2 million packages a day in the united states not being inspected, getting under an artificial $800 limit, our legislation would correct that it strengthening americans business. >> are we to reliant on china when it comes to manufacture products? >> i think we have not been tough enough in terms of dealing

with china. the trump trade agreement was supposed to have a number of chinese actions, most notably not a promise to purchase american agricultural product and we haven't stopped them from stealing our intellectual property and cutting corners, forced labor. these are unnecessary advantages the chinese take advantage of and as we did with legislation, it's important to grow enforcement. >> to support president binds to promote center of the olympics? >> yes. >> the competes act, are you a supporter? what does it do 52 billing in the industry? what does it do and how your view does it make u.s. manufacturing strong? >> we have the opportunity to strengthen chip manufacturing,

it's very important. one of the major businesses is intel research and chip manufacturing and other companies involved. united states able to invest in helping us strengthen our supply chain and technology important. the rest of the country, the world is doing a. the chinese have support for their effort and it's overdue but we've balanced by taking a stronger stand against these chinese practices that give them unfair advantage. they went into the wto 20 years ago. wewe still don't have an agreemt with them that allows the united states businesses to compete for business in china even the chinese business can compete in the u.s., i think it's outrageous and we ought to

enforce them and noth let them get away with it. >> political has an article about mask mandate that size mask mandate contact tracing are going away and a lot of blue states are getting rid of the mask mandate. >> i think it's appropriate to relax. americans have responded. in my state, they were amazingly vigilant, better performance in many other states to be sensitive to the needs of protecting their families and others by using the mask mandate's and getting vaccinated. the crisis we have is largely one of unvaccinated people who don't respect the mask mandates. those whoe do have much lower rates of infection and hospitalization but i think it's run it's course with the recent

variant, people have done a good job observing it and it is appropriate. >> so far this year has been about strength of the republicans, upcoming midterms. article on the hill this morning about the senate democrats, senate democrats shipped strategy after progressive agenda altar. what is the talk in your caucus? >> i think it is important to deal with the realities in the senate having a sweeping proposal is not in the cards, it's clear. taking the items that are important and popular and focus on them and the reasonable counter measure. who the good news is what we are proposing is widely reported by the american public dealing with early childhood education, doing

what we've done with infrastructure and going forward, being able to deal with environmental d provisions that are broadly popular. if we take these elements and move it forward, some is better than nothing, already the most sweeping set of enactment ever seen and it's working. this last year we've had the largest increase in employment and any administration in history, almost half a million jobs last month so the programs are working, they are popular, it's appropriate to be more targeted so the realities in the senate. >> we put a lot of topic on the table. heights, michigan on the democrat line. caller: hi.

thank you for taking my call. i am surprised as a democrat you let me call in. and the last three days you have republicans calling in only. since the beginning of the year that was your eighth republican call in only and only one democrat and no independent. i just want to say to the congressman, great job, keep up the great work. we need to get rid of these republicans they are nothing but a stain on america. you had a caller with the gop only calling and, a woman caller said it was not trump supporters who broke in to our capitol. really? come on. keep up the good work. let's get ridke w of this republicans left and right and change your name to fox span. f.

host: that was david in madison heights, michigan. we will not make you respond. guest: let me say, i was there. i was out in the crowd. those who were not protesters -- those were insurrectionists and it was definitely a trump crowd. that has been validated by some of the republican leadership who were on the ground and responded. host: next call is donald, democrat in burlington, new jersey. what would you like to say to congressman blumenauer? caller: good morning. i cannot even begin to imagine what it must've been like in the capitol that day. i am calling because i feel there is a lot of hate right now going on in congress, the senate, and especially fans of certain television network, fox. that's because it is no longer about facts, it is about opinions.

these people just read the teleprompter and they believe every word they say. because of that people have started to get more and more hateful and they don't want to cooperate. if you listen to the call they say, we have to get rid of pelosi, we have to get rid of who ever. we need to work together. as far as masks are concerned they work. a republican called yesterday and said they work. that is all i have to say. please stop watching fox. guest: i think your caller is right and opportunities to work together. that is one of the reasons i am encouraged about being able to take the more popular elements that have been advanced with the president's agenda and deal with them on an individual basis. there are a wide range of areas they don't have to be fiercely partisan divided. you will have nancy mace here, republican from south carolina, who i am working with on

cannabis legalization. this is an area that does not have to be partisan. we can come together with reform. there are a host of things that i hope we can focus more intently on things we agree on, like standing up to china. these are areas where if we are spending more time working together, we can move around this and not be focused on the extreme and allowed. host: adam kinzinger was quoted saying he was fearful of a civil war in america. do you agree? guest: there are some who i think are fomenting that and adam's experience, i can see what he would say that. he has been treated shabbily by the republicans and on the receiving end of vitriol that is unimaginable. i worked with him on a variety of things like dealing with immigrants, iraqi and afghan immigrants whose lives were at

risk because they worked with us. i found him to be thoughtful and independent. i do not think we are on the verge of civil war but this is not a good time in our country. why i want us to find things we can work together on to have some progress and change the course. host: congressman, has redistricting lent itself to more extreme elements in both parties? guest: the way it has been pursued too often is that it definitely caters to the more extreme voices. when you have districts that have been drawn to be entirely republican or entirely democratic with extreme gerrymandering it tends to squeeze out folks in the middle and promote the loudest voices. what we have seen in the republican party designed to embrace the trumpian elements. very thoughtful republicans.

i don't always agree with them but i appreciate who they are and how they put somebody like tom rice as a target. my word, it is really unsettling what has happened to drive these people out of the republican party. host: roy is a republican in georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. i just have a question. after the 2016 election there were several democratic congressman that challenged the election and it was allowed to run its course because they did not have a senator to go along with their challenge. biden did not entertain it. this time there were several congressmen willing to come forward to challenge the election. in addition to that they had several senators there were going to support it. the difference between 2016 and

2020 is it did not run its course because of the suppose it insurrection. but trump had told all the people who would listen to him go to the capitol and encourage your congressman to do the right thing. that is when everything fell apart. they did not want the challenge to go forward. they were people in there to try to interfere with that and there were people from antifa and black lives matter that started that. and there were policemen that did not try to stop it. they were successful in stopping the challenge to the election. host: we got the point i think. congressman? guest: your caller is flat out wrong. this was not antifa and black lives matter. i was there, i saw them. it is clear there was an

unlawful effort to stop the election. the claims that have been made and litigated by trump supporters of irregularities, there is i think 62 legal challenges. they were all dismissed except for one on a minor case. there is no question joe biden won the election and there is no question the procedure that followed was open, transparent and fair. host: michael, beacon, new york, democrat. caller: how are you doing? i have a comment and a question. the january 6 committee is doing a fantastic job. they are exposing the coup the trump led. the biggest problem we have is that fox, they don't report

this. how are we going to get the truth to america? because until this country lives with truth we will always be divided. in this non-truth coming from the republican party does not stop. how do we get the truth exposed to the people? they are not getting the truth. they are getting lies. host: thank you. congressman? guest: that is indeed a challenge and fox news is one of the most extreme examples. it is interesting that people who get their information from fox news actually know less about what is going on in the world and people who do not listen to the news, there are alternatives. i think c-span provides a service both in terms of what has happened in congress and allowing opportunities like this for people to air their views,

but you have public broadcasting. npr, pbs, there are a number of local news outlets. people can get the information if they want it. part of the problem is what happened with social media that has taken an outsized influence and it is distorting. but what is happening, for example, with the investigation on capitol hill. it is very thorough. it is slow going. it is not exciting theater but we are finding out about the extraordinary steps donald trump took to try to overturn the election, right down to the fact he is violating the law by the material he takes out of the white house illegally. but things are coming out. the truth is going to come forward. the committee is doing a good

job. there are a few republicans that are dismissive and quite critical of what is going on. i think it is going to build between now and the election but the record will be clear for people who have any sort of independent judgment. that is not everybody, but it is enough i think to make a difference in terms of a reset both in terms of politics and public policy. in the end i think the american public will support a reasonable approach, hold trump and his accolades accountable, and be able to move on for what is good for america. host: covers men bloom in our, the house yesterday passed another resolution -- congressman blumenauer, the house yesterday passed another resolution. will the appropriations bill return? guest: yes and i will say there

has been significant progress toward a spending bill that would be reset to the new level of funding rather than freezing in the past. continuing resolutions are awful in terms of restricting what can be done. for example, we passed a major infrastructure bill on a bipartisan basis which would put $550 billion to rebuild and renew america, everything from roads and bridges to broadband. but until we get the new budget top line numbers approved we cannot get access to it. but there is remarkable progress that is being made. by credit rosa delauro in the house and republican colleagues who are working hard to get that. my every indication is there is progress that has been made because america needs to have

access to this money according to the higher levels of spending and we are getting close to it. i hope we reach a point where we actually do the budget process without having to resort to these continuing resolutions which are very disruptive. host: last call for the congressman comes from paul in fulsome, louisiana, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: good morning. go ahead. caller: i would love to have a deep discussion with this representative. but i would like to ask you one question. i sat automation to chemical plants, refineries, the energy sector. let's just get -- you say you have these great agendas that the people want and you cannot

get through congress because of republicans. that is such nonsense. i want to ask you an intelligent question and see if i can get an intelligent answer. i know about 2000 engineers that have called on the last 20 years. there is not one who says with these electric cars that biden is doing and basically cutting our own throats with the energy sector, not doing throats with y sector. and all these pipelines being shut down. what is your question -- host: what is your question? caller: how do you charge your electric car? with what? guest: this is a very good question. what we are seeing now is an explosion of renewable energy.

it is now cheaper to have wind and solar than coal. there are opportunities now with the battery technology, wind and solar that we are able to meet the nation's energy supply over the next 10 years with less reliance on fossil fuels that's poisoning the planet's atmosphere and leading to global warming. louisiana is the worst example of being pounded by climate change. they are losing their shoreline. they have had extreme weather events. louisiana needs a reset. and i hope that within these policies we will be able to invest in alternative energy and environmental restoration and broadband that louisiana needs desperately. host: for those meeting you for the first time, how long have you been wearing the bicycle? guest: i started a bicycle program and i have been

advertising this now for over 25 years and congress. every day, a giveaway thousands of them -- every year, i give away thousands. host: the longtime democrat from announcer: “washington journal" continues. host: joining us is representative nancy mace, you first termer from south carolina, a republican. you just went through a second covid diagnosis, didn't you? guest: yes, at the beginning of the year. i believe it was omicron based on my symptoms. i did christmas virtually. i did not go out for new year's. and i still got covid-19 for a second time and being vaccinated. i was sick for a couple weeks, actually, and it was a symptomatic long after i tested