from kellyanne conway, epa's scott pruitt is speaking now. conversations taking place on our companion network c-span2. here on c-span3, we'll pick up our coverage of the conference at about 1:00 eastern with remarks from health and human services secretary dr. tom price. again, our live coverage here on c-span3 starts at 1:00 p.m. eastern. chairman chancellor angela merkel is in town on a visit to the white house today. she was supposed to arrive earlier this week, but her trip was postponed until today due to the recent unexpected snow. president trump will hold a joint news conference later today. live coverage for you, expected to start at about 1:20 eastern and watch it on c-span2. next week, the house intelligence committee looks into allegations of russian influence in the 2016 elections. fbi director james comey will testify on the issue. you can watch that live starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern monday here on c-span3. and, of course, this coming monday, the president's pick to

be the next supreme court justice neil gorsuch will begin his confirmation process. starting at 11:00 a.m. eastern, the senate judiciary committee will hear opening statements with questioning of the nominee slated for tuesday. again, you can see that live at 11:00 a.m. eastern on monday on c-span2. we got a preview of the hearing this morning on "washington journal." >> so what do you think about the u.s. supreme court? we're out with a new survey today, available on our website, c-span.org, and joining us is robert green, he is the pollster for berlin. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> let's go through some of the highlights. according to the survey you conducted on behalf of c-span, 90% said the supreme court decisions affect their lives and 82% saying the supreme court appointments were an important consideration in their vote in 2016. did these numbers surprise you? >> i tell you, the only thing that surprised me was as big as

the numbers are, they have gotten more intense over the eight years that we have been conducting research on these subjects. periodically for c-span. eight years ago, the first time we did it, the strongly agree on the 90% was in the 30s. now it is almost 50%. to put it another way, almost 50% of americans strongly agree that the decisions have an impact on their everyday lives. other thing i was struck by and you see this in that 81% number you mentioned or 82% number you mentioned is that it is bipartisan. it really cuts across the parties, everybody feels strongly that the appointment -- the -- what happened with the supreme court was an important factor in their vote. >> can you walk us through the methodology of the survey, who you polled, when it took place, and what was the margin of error? >> yes, i can, thank you. it was, first, conducted very eventually, these are very, if

you would, fresh numbers. we conducted online interviews from march 7 to march 9 last week. we conducted 1,032 interviews among likely voters. the margin of error on the survey is 3.05 of the 95% confidence level which is just another way of saying if it were possible to interview all americans, and it is not, but if it were, 19 times out of 20 the results wouldn't vary more than three points from what we see here. it sounds tough. >> and let me put another number on the screen, and for those listening on c-span radio, 71%, that's the number of people in the survey who follow news about the president's nominee for the supreme court neil gorsuch. we mentioned that number because presumably we could have some additional vacancies in the coming years under this administration. >> yes. yes. the -- well, again, quite a large number, 71% are following.

we had a follow-up question, it is really not only is it 71% obviously, 7 in 10 americans are following the news in recent weeks concerning president trump's nominee. but by 3 to 1 margin, people are following this nomination more closely than they have those in the past. >> so with an eye on what we presumably could expect on monday, when judge neil gorsuch will raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth as he testifies before congress, what do you think, based on the people you questioned, they'll be looking for next week. >> i think they'll be -- first, they'll be following closely. i think there is going to be -- there is always a lot of attention paid to potential nominees to the supreme court, i believe it will be even more, if you would, than what we have seen in the past. what we see out of the data is

that the intensity, which was not inconsiderable eight years ago is greater now. >> do you think americans see a direct connection between the high court and their own personal lives? >> yeah. yes, i do. i do. i think -- i mean, they tell us they do. it shows up in how they vote. this is outside of the poll, but i think it is interesting how often on c-span and just other places when you, you know, citizens are interviewed or, you know, just in some sort of new setting how often supreme court nominees or appointments to the supreme court matter and how they look at issues. the one thing i will say is i don't think there is -- the public is always -- this is part of what we look at in the survey, they would like to know a lot more about what the court is up to and they don't really get the opportunities they like to. >> well, you teed up my next question perfectly, robert green. it is no secret this network, since its inception, actually 38

years ago this month has been an advocate for cameras in the court for the oral arguments. there are roughly 74, 75 oral arguments to take place during the course of the judicial year and the survey said what about how americans view cameras in the court. >> fully three in four likely voters in the united states support television coverage of the oral arguments. in other words, cameras in the supreme court, cameras in the courtroom, if you would. that number is, again, a very strong majority, similar to some of the other numbers we have spoken about this morning. what is most striking about it is over eight years, there has been a strong increase in support for cameras from 61% of all voters to 76% in this latest survey. that's pretty impressive. it is -- that has been a subject that is bubbling up from the ground, if you would.

people want to -- they would like to know more, they care more than they did in the past, and they cared then. the ability to see the oral arguments, i think, is very important. i'll speak to that for just a moment. the supreme court has, it seems to me, a problem which is that it is interpreted, if you would, by the media, by the president, by the congress. they never allow their work to speak for itself televising oral arguments would let people see that they operate in a serious and constitutional manner. and that, i don't think it is clear at all to people. according to the polling, sort of think it is something like congress. and i -- it is strange that they would let that -- the ability to let people know they're working seriously, they leave that outside of their control. >> and, of course, the final decision rests with the justices who serve on the u.s. supreme court. >> yes. as i understand it, yes, obviously, i think they have to decide to do it. they have done it in all 50

states. british do it. the canadians do it. i think it is important because otherwise people will make assumptions that are unwarranted. and particularly where they make controversial decisions, i think it is very important that people see that they're thinking about this very seriously. >> robert green, who is principle and also the pollster at pen shown berlin, known as psb. the full survey is available on our website, check it out at c-span.org. thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you. this week is sunshine week. an annual campaign for greater public access to government. it is also c-span's anniversary week. 38 years ago on march 19th, 1979, the house of representatives opened its debates to tv cameras for the first time and the cable television industry launched c-span to bring the congress into america's homes. >> gentleman from tennessee.

without objection. >> mr. speaker, on this historic day, the house of representatives opens its proceedings for the first time to televised coverage. i wish to congratulate you for your courage in making this possible. and the committee who has worked so hard under the leadership of congressman charles rose to make this a reality. television will change this institution, mr. speaker, just as it has changed the executive branch. but the goodwi will far outweig the bad. every member of this body must ask himself or herself how many americans are listening to the debates which are made. when the house becomes comfortable with the changes brought by television coverage, the news media will be allowed to bring their own cameras into this chamber. in the meantime, there is no censorship, every word is available for broadcast coverage, and journalists will

be able to use and edit as they see fit. the solution for the lack of confidence in government, mr. speaker, is more open government at all levels. i hope, for example, that the leadership of the united states senate will see this as a friendly challenge to begin to open their -- >> under the rules the gentleman's time has expired. >> the marriage of this medium and our open debate has the potential, mr. speaker, to revitalize representative democracy. >> and in 1986, the cable industry launched c-span2, to carry the senate live. all of our congressional coverage is is webcast live, archived and searchable for free at c-span.org. c-span tv, radio and online are provided as a public service of our cable and satellite affiliates across the nation. and now it is the group freedomworks, they held a rally on capitol hill earlier this week urging congress to repeal

and replace the nation's current health care law. kentucky republican senator rand paul was among the speakers who criticized house republican leaders calling them weak-kneed, adding the health care law replacement is rittled with problems. other speakers include senator ted cruz, congressman mark meadows and utah senator mike lee. this is just over an hour. >> we are live on sirius xm satellite radio, the patriot channel, channel 125, i'm andrew wilkow, host of wilkow majority. we're broadcasting coast to coast, all 50 states. your voice will be heard by millions upon millions of people listening to the radio right now. let's begin the program with our friend, president and ceo of