you can also join the conversation on facebook and twitter. good morning and welcome to "washington journal" on this thursday, december 4, 2014, one week until congress has to complete work on a current onget deal before it expires thursday, december 11. will talk about that later on this morning's program. we will start for the first 45 minutes or so talking about the grand jury decision not to indict a police officer in an in new york city.

our question to you this morning is about your fate in the justice system, your faith in the local and state police departments, the federal justice department come the grand jury process. want to hear from you. the numbers on the screen. a reminder to turn down your television or radio when you call in. you can also join us on social media. we will get your calls momentarily. we will start off with a look at the headlines and the reaction late yesterday to the grand jury decision in new york city. here is the front page of the "wall street journal" and their headline. this is a picture of time square last night. crowds filling time square after

the grand jury declined wednesday to indict an officer in the death of an unarmed black man. this is the star-ledger out of new jersey and their front page, courtesy of the museum, looks at some of the protesters inside grand facial -- grand central station. a man symbolically chokes himself with a scarf during a protest there. also on the front page of the "new york times", they also have a picture.

that decision for the grandeur the -- the grand jury in new york city came down midafternoon yesterday and by about 7 p.m. eastern time there was reaction from the justice department and attorney general eric called her calling for a federal investigation. here is the headline from the hill. eric holder calls for a fed probe into the goner debt. here is what attorney holder had to say. [video clip] federalere to see a investigation into mr. garner's death. yesterday, i spoke to his widow to inform her of our intention his potential civil rights violations. i have also spoken to president obama and mayor deblasio regarding our decision. host: here is the headline on

the person you believe that investigation, the washington post with attorney general nominee lynch two lead garner civil rights investigation. you might merit 1990 case against new york police officers who were severe -- you severely beat and sodomized a haitian

immigrant with a broken off broom handle. one officer pleaded guilty and another was convicted of assault and civil rights violations. off with your reactions, tyrone. caller: good morning. please don't cut me off. no white police officer will ever be indebted for killing a black person. republicans control this country and we are not going to get to justice and law -- as long as the tea party, rush limbaugh and the like are controlling this country. they marched in front of the white house with tea party republicanlags, and flags commendably did a thing. no white police officer is going

to be convicted for killing a black. given this scenario that this is a grand jury in new york city, how do you justify that they came down with that decision? caller: the grand jury was misled on this decision just like they were in ferguson. they were given the wrong direction. they were given the wrong directions to follow and that's why they came up with this decision. the videotape explains itself, and it will never change. let's go to edward in jersey city, independent line. good morning. i'm having mixed feelings now. withow with the case trayvon martin in florida, that didn't work out. we know was -- in missouri with -- mike brown, that didn't work out. here in new york city, it's not working out. i believe in the strong arm of

the federal government trying to come down and balance the powers .hat be, but it's very hard when i voted for barack obama, it really was a vote to indict the system. it was a vote against the status quo. we believe that he could help change this all. that is why we voted for him. we wanted to move to the future and away from the past. systemth in the justice -- the grand jury cannot get an indictment. we safe in the streets? i've grown up in the city. there are different realities from where i live and where others live. this is just disgusting. i don't know how we can even remain sane. we need protection. the president can do more. this camera move, it's not going to do anything. i don't know how you feel about the cameras, but they are not

going to do anything. host: you are talking about the president's efforts and calling for funding to provide body cameras for police officers. how about a? 260 $3 million, but that won't do anything for the tanks and the rifles and everything for the 1033 and militarized police in our neighborhoods. we're divided by race. host: do you think the so-called militarization, is that exacerbating relationships between the community and police? caller: yes. host: just on a day to day basis. caller: yes. where i live, we would be considered to be a ghetto. we have homeland security, humvees come and all of our mayors and creditors invest in correction and policing. -- and senators invest in

correction and policing. everything else is thrown by the wayside. host: let's go to diane, good morning. caller: no, i do not have any faith in the justice system. i want to tell you a quick story about what happened to me one day. i am a 61-year-old woman. it was on easter sunday. i'm coming through shaker heights, which is a suburb here. had the bright lights on posted by didn't know i had bright lights on. i was driving my son's car. it was broken. the shaker heights police pulled theyer and the first thing asked me is that i told them, no, i have an intriguing. are you sure you have an intriguing? no, i have not intriguing. well, reset the abcs. i recited the abcs. this cop tried to make me think i had been thinking when i know i had not been drinking. he wanted me to say that i had the intriguing so i can't -- so

he could snatch me out of a my car and taken to jail when i am completely innocent of what he was accusing me of doing. this is racism. a cost us, they have in their minds that we're going to take you to jail, even when we don't do anything wrong. host: diane, how recently did that happen? easter.this past it hasn't been a year ago. abcs, right through the didn't stumble, didn't bubble, it didn't look drunk. why was he trying to say i had one? host: we're talking about your faith in the local just -- local police department. and the doj. 30 people weree arrested in protests last night. has all street journal piece that says it was fueled in part by social media.

.et's go to our republican line tommy is a neon, kentucky. caller: i am 65 years old. i do not have much respect for our criminal justice system. human rights, thing the equality, even freedom by the rulers of this world, there are too many gods on earth. the balance of justice in the hands of lifetime politicians has stacked the deck manifestly

against we, the people. , the plea -- the government always wins. it's an ugly world with the devil is allowed to control our courts. host: more of your calls coming up as we talk about your faith in the justice system. back to your calls momentarily. it is a one-week deadline for congress to finish up work on a currentget, their spending measure expiring on december 11. we are joined by dan newhauser of national journal to talk about what is ahead in the next week or so in the halls of congress. andsoon will the senate house get around to getting us any package done? thanks for having me on. the spending package will most likely be voted on next week in the house and then potentially the following week in the

senate. senator harry reid has already said that the senate will most likely have to stay in a week, pushing right up against the bed -- the deadline before any potential government shutdown. trouble, been a lot of but i think most people can now rest assured that there will not be a government shutdown, that one way or another, the government will be funded through the end of the year. of your pieces has the headline "reid and pelosi are split as house floats omnibus plan." what is going on there? guest: there is a lot of posturing going on and using leverage to get cut sessions from other side. -- concessions from other side. the negotiations right now are going on at the appropriations committee level. each side is trying to put a rider, policy writer --

amendments, everything that it affects policy to the epa to our california.ng for there is all kinds of stuff in there. but that has really been overshadowed by this debate over obama's immigration executive action. obama granted work visas, or said that he will begin the process of granting work visas to millions of undocumented immigrants within the united states. happypublicans are not with this. they say it is a constitutional overreach and they want to do everything in their power to stop it. including some measure in this phony bill. -- inot clear if leader this spending bill. it's not clear if leadership wants to go along with this. it is not clear where the

funding would come from to fund this executive action. many conservatives in their conference are balking. a host of different ideas, everything from temporarily funding the entire government until january or february 2 only funding dhs -- to only funding dhs through -- throughn february. republicans don't have enough votes in the long conference to pass this thing right now. we'll see if that changes. year, there was a world in these discussions. what is his role in the discussions in the omnibus spending bill that is supposed to be done by next thursday? guest: he did have a meeting with several of his republican colleagues yesterday in the house and urge them to do everything in a power to block

the immigration executive action. heis unclear how influential is being, because frankly, the members had already been on board with doing everything in their power. certainly potentially moving the needle somewhat. and then when this gets over to the senate, we will see how much he can hold up the process as far as refusing the cloture and so on and so forth. is problem in the short term where exactly house republican leaders fund the votes to pass it. that democrat nancy pelosi now has leverage, it's because republicans will probably have to rely on her to field some democratic votes. of those amendments that i talked about earlier are being negotiated, she can tell folks, if you want our votes, you have

to keep a few of these writers off the bill. off the bill. host: house gop wants omnibus to block d.c. pot law. what are they proposing? --guest: anddment houseent passed the earlier this year. d.c. is the overseer, if you will, the budget -- or the congress is the overseer of the d.c. budget. is, want, republicans that they want to include some provision to cut off funding for enactment of the recently legislated ballot initiative. everything from making costs minimal to fund an enforcement issue. there would be some cost

associated with it and congress could then d.c. from doing so. d.c. from doing so. republicans are advocating for this behind closed doors. it is an clear where the final negotiations will land regarding d.c. host: you can read his reporting and national journal.com and follow him on twitter. thanks for the update. we get back to your calls and comments about the justice system. what is your faith in the justices him like after the grand jury decision yesterday not to indict the police officers in the chokehold death of aragon are in staten island? lee, you are on the air. go ahead. you are onlo? host: the air, lee. we removedlo? host: to michael, albuquerque new mexico.

robert in new mexico, i apologize. go ahead, robert. i just want to contribute to this by stating that i am hispanic of european descent and albuquerque, new apdco has had 25 murders by in the last two years and the justice department is now in the city and they are overseeing what goes on with arrests and things like that. and also, what has been happening here, one officer was just terminated for not wearing his lapel camera. but what i wanted to state was .his i've been stopped on several occasions. on one occasion -- and i don't drink whatsoever, nor do i have .ny history of it

i was stopped and i was made to do a walk for 45 minutes. i was taken tois the detention center. i was arrested. i blew into a device and it came out double zero. after the people stated that i contacts, there was a private vehicle and i was heralded back down town 20 miles away. in the process, my vehicle was towed. and every thing that went on with that. i believe that every city, ,robably the united states

should be overseen by the justice department to take care of this, to remedy this situation that is happening with ofpanics, blacks, and people minorities in general. host: that is robert from albuquerque, new mexico. "washingtone in the times" this morning, a first look at the protest last night, coinciding with the christmas tree lighting in rockefeller center. a crowd gathered in downtown manhattan. [video clip] for years about the dangers that he may face. who would never

think to do anything wrong, but a history still hangs over us of the dangers he may face. we've had to train them all over the city for decades and how to in dealingl care with police officers, who are there to protect him. sense ofs painful contradiction that our young people see first -- the police are here to protect us and we honor that, and at the same time, there is a history we have to overcome because for so many of our young people there is a fear. and for so many of our families there is fear. i've had to worry over the years. berlin has had to worry. -- for elaine has had to worry. that are so many who feel in the city, is my child safe? and not just from some of the painful reality, the crime and violence in some of our neighborhoods, but safe from the

very people we want to have faith in as their protectors. host: new york city mayor bill de blasio last night. asking your thoughts on this morning's "washington journal" about your faith in the justice department and the grand jury and the police department. this comment is from edwin, who as long as grand jury's are not balanced to equal the blend of communities, the result will always be the same. another one from gary says the staten island cop is guilty of nothing but bad judgment. resisting arrest for a major grandmas with thing to my for swellings -- selling smokes, another. the new york city should give her gardener's widow and kid $60 million and save the attorney's fees. and jim says, soon no one will want to be a cop and then the criminals will run wild in the streets.

bill says, you still cigars in missouri and you are shot you seldom see the new york city and your choke to death. another says i stole cigarettes as a kid. used to sell them for friends. was in been killed by a cop. -- wasn't killed by a cop. must have been lucky or white. michael, go ahead. caller: i'm an african-american man, 50 years old, born and raised in the northeast. not in the state of new york. fixve a couple of points to this problem. number one, i feel like black people themselves, we really have to tighten up on our end -- understanding of the country, how it operates, and what we can do to prevent the era garners -- eric garners, the mike brown's, the tamir rice's.

once you are caught up in the system, which is very old, and birthed in slavery, it's going to be a tough role. i also want to see recommendation is very important with solving these problems. i see a lot of people, several talking about on how latinos and other minorities are being abused and targeted by the police, and that's just not true. solve athink you can problem unless you speak clearly about the problem. it's a problem about african-americans, just like slavery and jim crow was about african-americans. a lot of people have benefited and co-opted a struggle and a story that they never really were a part of. and the problem in new york is those police are targeting black men. they are simply targeting the males. it is a criminal town with the mafia and these police and giuliani have the gall to get on national media and tell people,

hey, they are committing the crimes. that is crazy. there are crimes being committed every are -- everywhere and they and usinging them them as fodder for the criminal justice system. the heart goes out to the garner family. my heart goes out to the african-american trinity. we better tighten up -- the african-american community. we better tighten up. and get our can indication's more solid stop host: let's go to texas, and on the democrats line. iller: my name is anna and grew up in east texas, sundown town. host: what is a sundown town? if you wereeans black, you were not caught out in the neighborhoods after the sun went down. listened to a lot of the young blacks who have called in, and the previous color. er.calller

i know this policeman would get off. it's just that simple. we all want to say that -- presidentma obama is not the governor of your state, he's not the district attorney, he's not the police chief. he is not the city council person. he is not the school board president. i say this because i have lived in a small town and when i came of east texasut combined are there would be problems when you moved to small towns. but what i did, sir, my husband and i joined the police academy in de soto. and you still do it, citizens on patrol. --cks in the slack selection in this last election, we had a black district attorney in a state of texas who did an amazing job in the innocence project. he lost by 3000 votes. didn't have to.

it is about the vote. us -- up when people told the worst whipping i ever got, a.k.a. a dream peterson when they talked about him using the switch, my mom used a switch. $.25 i took out of the poll tax receipt jar to buy candy. i remembered that. i voted. i have five sons and three grandsons. parent, -- i have three in college. when they are going to the highway, you fear that some a but i tell them, you have to vote. from new york to texas to wyoming, if people don't get out and nexus eyes their vote, then nothing will change. host: anna, thank you for sharing your comments stop we welcome your calls. -- thank you for sharing your

comments. we welcome your calls. the numbers are on the screen. and your comments on social media as well. today for the new york daily news -- -- for the usa today -- also, a look at some protests in the parts of the country. ,his one in washington, d.c. this one brings traffic to a halt in dupont circle. demonstrators spotlights them -- the deaths of brown, that is,

michael brown and garner. at least 100 people marched from the white house to do count circle -- to dupont circle. from around the country, the denver post with the story about a march in denver that actually injured police officers. hurt and hit by a car. hundreds of high school students were marching. and this one was a headline from newspaper, "the tallahassee democrat."

that is from florida, the headline courtesy of the museum -- newseum. back to your calls. call from ohio. say that would like to the justice system is never going to work until the double standard has changed. is, frankn by that

serpico, the u.s. officer recently said that the problem with the police today is they have no accountability and that they can literally get away with murder. and that is kind of true, because the police can always use the defense that i feared for my life. if you are an average citizen and you do what happened in ferguson, you know, someone tries to take your gun, they run away and a come back at you, and you shoot them, you will be charged with murder and thrown in jail. the same thing as what just happened in new york with a police officer. if you did that and you were a civilian, you would be thrown in jail and charged with murder. the police can used "i feared for my life." you can use it, but it's not a defense for a civilian. as long as there is that double standard, you will not have a correct justice system. host: to nuevo, california, raven am a democrats line. the previous color was

right, it is a double standard. ishe previous caller right, it is a double standard. the police are afraid to adequately do their job without paying -- fingers pointed at them. and we grew up in an area of high crime that was gang related. i was coming home and the swat team was looking for somebody. they had me down with guns around me. i laid there and i respect to the law and i did what i was told. when they got everything situated and cleared i said, you guys be careful, and i went into the house. them.r held that against i always understood that is a dangerous job they are doing. and with this -- these shootings and with the kids these days, they have very little respect. i am a father and i have kids of my own and i teach them respect and i teach them to come in at normal hours and to be

responsible. in this day and age, you just have to know the boundaries. to be doing illegal activities, it has consequences. int is where the fine line the conscious is. host: kentucky, joshua. go ahead. the main emphasis we need to place when discussing these kinds of issues is that police brutality is not strictly a racial issue. this has been going on for years. become become the -- progressively worse. there is a strong possibility that regardless of the race of the victim that the police have been acquitted more than they have been convicted of a crime. element of thel could -- recent events

turn out to be a positive thing, because it is shedding light on the issue. enough people are becoming concerned that they are starting to talk about these things. but again, this issue needs to be addressed as a whole. downeds to be investigated to the training that the police officers are receiving, because it doesn't seem like this behavior is happening in isolated instances. it seems to be fairly widespread. issues, you are talking about a problem where you are starting to find the root of the problem. i think that would be was training. you could always to the body cameras, or something. we have to start changing things. when these instances we -- occur, we can riot and make noise, but we have to have some action on these items. kentucky,caller from joshua, mentioned training. a look,york times with snapshot look of some of the incidents in new york city of

what they call fatal police encounters in new york city. this is just over the last 10 years or so. ending -- well, not ending, but air garner died in july in staten island. the latest was on november 20. our caller also talked about training. thatew york times writes the encounter exposed apparent lapses in police tactics and raises questions about to be aggressive policing of minor offenses in a time of historically low crime.

thehe caller mentioned, president calling for some 50,000 police body cameras to be used, for funding at newly $265 million. the next call, john on the democrats line. what is your faith like in the justice system? caller: it depends. i have come to understand that there are egoists, opportunist, and dedicated in any profession. i am a retired d.c. police officer. for 17 years, all i did was work with juveniles. started i pulled up to the curb and yasmin to go check this man. i got out and search this man myself.

i searched him. i patted him down and found nothing but an afro comb. in those days, that is what black men had for their afro. he tells me to get back into the transport vehicle. i get in the transport vehicle and he put the handcuffs on the man and put them in the act of the transport vehicle. about a week later, i'm call down to the prosecutor's office. he asked me about the gun that was found on the man. i said, what gun? i was the searching officer. there was no gun on this man. the man had a comb in his pocket. i searched him from top to bottom. do you know that white officer was not suspended or fired? host: what year was this? how long ago? caller: i joined the department in 1968. this was about 1972 or 1973. let me give you some more, just briefly. white officers have a vial of crack and they tell this black then they are going to

plant this on him and lock him up. i reported that. nothing happened. two white officers and a black man with a knife. i'm going to plant this on u.n. lock you up. i reported that. nothing happened. they have said they called internal investigators who need to do their job. is, if you look at ferguson, the prosecutors are the problem. if the prosecutors would stand for the law and not protect the police officers who are there are theretect -- who to protect the citizens, you would find things going about the family. what is amazing to me is you have cameras now to protect the officers from themselves. but you have witnesses telling the people what is going on, but only the cameras are going to exonerate the police officers and not what the witnesses are saying. about five more minutes flat. we will try to get as many calls as we can. let's go to jonesboro, anthony. caller: good morning.

find mostings that i unbelievable about this business , if a york, firstly , stop, weshould say have a problem, we want you to move on or whatever, then the .erson should comply or not be surprised if they are tackled. but the thing i find most unbelievable about this event is, how many rules can you have? i believe this man ended up dying for selling individual cigarettes. find the most ridiculous of all. oh, i lost you there. sorry about that.

next we go to nico in gibson berg, ohio. the police have been and profiling black people since the 1960's. now, suddenly it's getting all of this attention. now that a bunch of african-american males are being killed for selling cigarettes, walking down the street with -- in the wrong neighborhood with a hood on. how are the police protecting the people? how is that camera protecting the people? maybe they should give the officers, when they go through this and they are shooting people 50 times, you know what i'm saying, just for being black and walking down the street, maybe they should just fire them at higher some police officer's that are dedicated to the people.

-- and higher some police officers that are dedicated to the people. here is another comment on twitter. cosan the accidental death of a person can still be a criminal offense. and another come he did not die hours later in the hospital. he died on the sidewalk as people watch. , honda takesdline a recall national as takata refuses to budge. that hearing, by the way, available on our website www.c-span.org. let's hear from mary in maryland, democrats line. men killed byack white police officers. it's time to start the police department all over again. host: where do you get that number? caller: democracy now, amy

goodman. that channel, she tells the truth, and you know you've had her on there. ,e need to do something including civil forfeiture. stoppednow why you get and forced to say whether you are drinking? because police departments make money off of people. and they make money off of people when they cannot pay their fines. they put them in jail and the cycle goes on and on. the justice department has its hands filled. you've got to start over. i would say, fire every police out here, especially young white police officers because the training they've got is dumb and stupid. start over. have a police force that is maintained by the citizens. we're the ones who are hurting. we are the ones who should have the say so. host: how would citizens maintain the police department? caller: you would have a panel because thebeings,

grand jury as for the police officers now. you would have to have a grand jury of citizens. thank you for your comment. one more call here on your faith in the justice system. lets you from displaying, illinois, james. you knew to your television or radio and go ahead with your comment. -- your television or radio and go ahead with your comment. surfaced up my name is james and i'm a veteran of the marine corps. i respect everybody's opinion. believe on a broader perspective it is more of a class issue. go down into an impoverished white neighborhood and you get police officers profiling there. i think it's more of a classy equalityssue -- class

issue. i also think this is an issue for the people. although i believe in a policeman's line of work and what they have to respond to, i believe the aggressive nature that is occurring currently, that this is more of a people's's issue and less about racial. it is encompassed around the eight -- the racial aspect because a lot of these areas are such. host: we appreciate your input. we will hear some congressional reaction. our guest on the way to the "washington journal," hakim -- hakeem- newhauser jeffries. and later in the program, sean duffy, republican of wisconsin,

also on the budget committee. we will talk to him as well. more of your calls coming up as "washington journal" continues. ♪ >> the c-span cities tour takes tv and american history tv on the road, traveling to cities to learn about their city and literary life. this time, we travel to waco, texas. >> as we began to receive the vinyl to be digitized, to be saved, we began turning over the b side of the 45s we received.

first of all, gospel music was not widely heard in the white community, and what was would only be the hits, if that. but the b side would be heard even less. what we discovered was how many of the b sides were directly related to the civil rights movement. there are very few databases, and none of them complete on gospel music. we did not know the sheer number of songs that had songs like "there ain't no segregation in heaven" type songs. possessing one of those songs, much less singing it, would have been a very dangerous thing in the south. it's a risk. the texas ranger hall of fame, it was set up in 1976 for the 175th anniversary of the rangers. it honors at this .30 rangers who've made contributions to the service, or gave their -- at , 30 rangers who made

contributions the service or gave their lives in service. it begins with stephen f austin. successful with his rangers. they fought not only to make the onlyreasonably safe not from indian raid, but when the texas war for independence broke out, the rangers played a major role in texas gaining independence by staving off the mexican army long enough to allow the colonists to build their own army and develop a strategy. and as a result, texas became its own independent nation, the republic of texas, for about 10 years. >> watch all about waco, texas on saturday on booktv. "washington journal" continues. host: democratic congressman hakeem jeffries represents

brooklyn in the congress this morning and he joins us to talk about budget issues and other things as the 113th congress winds down. talking to our viewers this money, reaction to the grand jury decision on staten island yesterday. what was your reaction? guest: good morning, bill. it's good to be back. miscarriage was a of justice. it's hard to believe how this grand jury could not have come in the a single charge context of the chokehold death of era garner, the took place -- eric warner, that took place for all the world to cm and was on video. it has been banned by police. the medical examiner ruled that his death was a homicide resulting from and chest compressions.

we know that he called for assistance and said "i can't breathe" 11 different times. and on those 11 occasions, the ignored on the scene him. this is a tragedy. we need to look at our broken criminal justice system and its inability to deliver accountability, often when an officer delivers excessive force, particularly in the context of a young unarmed african-american man. where does this leave your faith with the new york city justice system? the police department, and the grand jury process? i continue to believe in america and our capacity to rise to the occasion when faced with challenges. we've had challenges, particularly along race relations from the inception of the public. a serious problem, an epidemic of police violence that we have to confront. and there are people all across

america who understandably have lost faith or never had faith in the ability of the criminal justice system to provide equal protection under the law. those are not just words. that is the 14th amendment of the united states constitution. we have some real work to do. it will require presidential leadership. it will require the justice department to move forward, as they have indicated, with a full and fair investigation as to whether eric garner's civil rights have been violated. and congress cannot run away from this problem. we have got to run toward this problem and be part of the solution. given that your party is the minority again going into the 114th congress, what does that congressional leadership look like ecco guest: i've already been part of a task force on over criminalization that took place in the last two years of the judiciary level. five democrats, five republicans. significant ideological

diversity. a justice system that has resulted in far too many people in america being incarcerated of all races, far too much prosecutorial discretion is exercised in an inappropriate fashion. and far too many restraints being put on judges in terms of the administration of justice in a fair and equitable fashion. i think that could be a starting place, fixing the criminal justice system through the lens where we can find common ground. host: and your background is as an attorney, correct? guest: absolutely. you could say i'm in it -- i am a recovering attorney at this point, but i practice for nine years. announcingdent obama this week's call for 50,000 body police cameras and the funding to go with it. what impact do you think that will have? in theit's a modest step right direction. certainly, in the ferguson case as to where there was a lack of clarity as to what happened, and

you had witnesses differing in their accounts, as what often occurs, and certainly the police officer communicating a version of events consistent with his desire to be exonerated. but many other witnesses indicating that excessive force seem to be used, body cameras would have provided clarity. but the garner case illustrates is notdeo footage alone significant. because we saw the entire encounter unfold as it relates to the chokehold death of eric garner, yet this grand jury did not indict. host: back to the business of congress, today marks one week before the current budget agreement expires. a budget bill is coming up in the next week or so. what are the challenges there for you? guest: we've got to be able to fund the government and get out of a cycle of constant crisis. -- the full term

funding mechanism has been employed because of congress's unwillingness to simply do our job. i'm hoping that in advance of december 11 will we -- when we run out of the lawful authority to fund the government, we will apply a funding mechanism through the next fiscal year so we can deal with the other problems facing the american people that they have elected us to solve. approving -- be will you be approving the funding of the body cameras echoed guest: i hope that comes up in the next congress. host: our guest is representative hakeem jeffries. we invite you to join the conversation. and you can join us on twitter. you were an instigator behind the effort monday night for these so-called special order

speeches. reacting to the ferguson grand jury decision. how did that come about? guest: the cbc felt it was important to address the issue head-on in criminal justice system and the need to really tackle the issue of how police officers interact with communities of color all across america. we have seen problems in ferguson and problems in staten island. recently in the brooklyn district that i represent, we had an unarmed 28-year-old african-american male who was shot dead by a police officer allegedly by accident, but the bullet went right through this man's chest into his heart. this happens over and over again. it happened in the cleveland case with tamir rice. that wed to make sure took this issue seriously and that we focus on the problem in a manner that would be beyond words and move toward action. what is your relationship

like with the new york city police department? guest: i have a very good relationship with the new york city police department and a great deal of respect for the department. they are there to protect and serve. people want the officers there. we just also want equal protection under the law. and police officers should also want a better relationship my because their best ally in crime-fighting can be areerating citizens who there to commit a gate in terms of the crime-fighting efforts. -- here isentioned a a tweet here indicating that attorney general holder will be aaveling to cleveland where 12-year-old african-american boy was recent shot by a police officer. let's get to a call in fort myers, florida. this is carl. caller: thank you for taking my call.

thented to comment on recent incident in new york -- are you there you go host: we are here. go ahead with your comment. thank you for the by wanted to comment on a recent incident in new york. there is a solution to these problems. i'm almost 70 years old. time, so whenong a cop tells me to do something, i do it. you don't resist cops. if they tell you to walk on the sidewalk, walk on the sidewalk. don't argue with them. if they tell you to put your hands up, they want to handcuff the recent incident, you do what they tell you and there will be no problem. that is the problem with these people that they don't want to obey the cops. that is the simple problem. i mean, it's simple.

i've never had a problem with a cop in my life. host: ok, carl. theghts on that? guest: sentiment that you want to comply with a lawful police order, i think should be obvious. i appreciate you making that -- that observation. but when you look at the video, eric garner is frustrated by the harassment from his perspective that was coming his way with respect to the allegation that he was selling loose cigarettes. that is an administrative violation. it is certainly not a capital offense that should have resulted in his death. but if you actually watch the video, which is the benefit of us having the footage for every american to see, there is a point early on in the encounter where garner throws his hands in the air in a clear position of submission, but he's taken down by the officer and put into a chokehold, which by the way has been unauthorized by the police department for the past 20 years. it was a violation of police

procedure. help by sayingor i can't breathe 11 different times. occasions,ifferent this officer and other officers failed to respond. that is the reason eric garner is dead. homicide, according to the medical examiner, and we have got to move forward, understanding those artifacts buried host: bob in west virginia -- those are the facts. bob in west virginia. you are on the air. what i wanted to say is i am a former d.c. homicide detective. it is always a trap whenever law enforcement takes someone's -- a tragedy whenever law enforcement someone's life. however, i see we keep talking

about the medical examiner said it was a homicide. taken, whether a justifiable homicide, or not, is really a homicide by the medical is enters office. -- examiner's office. a police officer, you see we are talking about a chokehold. what the person did was not a chokehold that is taught in law enforcement. so, it was not a chokehold. it was a bar hold across the throat. as a former police officer, would you say there was another way to do use that situation? yes.r: he could have called on the radio for more police officers to come.

the gentleman was extremely large. i am sure, the officer, as you see in the video, is a lot smaller than the person he was trying to arrest. been any there specific discussion yet in new york city about their encounters with the public, and not just this one scenario? us have hadal of conversations at the highest level of police and they have indicated there is some training that needs to take place. with respect to the medical examiner, i appreciate, bob, your perspective here. the medical examiner did determine this was a homicide. the question for the grand jury is, was that justifiable? you just indicated correctly that it could have begun a different way. the chokehold was not a justified tactic and it did result in eric gardner's death.

the morning, catherine. caller: i have a suggestion. my dream budget would include a project that would bring the country together. i will call it "usa power of the planet." a huge top priority project. in the past, we had the manhattan project, going to the , and ihe great society think the u.s. needs to spend put amounts of dollars and our minds together to create fusion energy. nonpolluting,, and there are groups working and if we could focus and have a , not 20 time frame years, to create fusion energy, it would be good for the world.

oil and coal and energy producing companies wouldn't like this. we have to include them by letting them help earn a certain percentage for maintaining or running be the buddies dared we have closed down the cold minds -- the coal mines. >> any sort of -- guest: notion of a big project that could capture the attention and the imagination of the american people in congress, it is important. we have a comparable -- crumbling infrastructure system. we have fallen behind. i agree we have to look for things that bring people together and hopefully, in the next congress, we will do that.

about thell ask you bill on the floor today. your colleagues, it is a bill to stop the president for -- from implementing. what do you think of this legislation? guest: we have got a broken immigration system and for too long, more than 300 days since bipartisanpassed the bill designed to fix our broken immigration system, the house of representatives would refuse to act. it is important for the president to step forward. every president since the white house in 1956 has enacted some form of executive action to deal enforcement. a bill that has been done 39 times. it is an probe etch it is appropriate for the president to do it in this instance, but as the president has said, we should figure out a legislative

solution to the problem. host: how much is immigration and legal status in issue in your district? guest: i have got an incredibly diverse district. african-americans, latinos, south asians, the orthodox , there are more than two dozen languages spoken that i represent. we are a gorgeous mosaic of the country in many ways and that is a wonderful. feedback from your constituents on the president's plan? >> certainly. immigrants build the great big apple, just like they have helped to build the country. they are supportive of the president's actions.

next up, kansas city, nate on our democrat line. in 2014, the u.n. anti-torture panel, that they are investigating indianized suggestive of police brutality, especially against african-americans. more goodbly does than anything. a lot of the things i noticed a going on is identical to what happened in nazi germany. when hitler told the people, they're going to make the middle-class pay taxes for the poor people. that is pretty similar to what is happening now with so-called obamacare. that, he starts putting a lot of money in the military and things like that to hold onto his power and stuff

like that. is, he had to demonize a group and the group he demonized was the juice. we all know how that -- how that worked out and how some of them got out of there but a lot of them got killed and they was killed on the streets and stuff like that. history is kind of repeating itself and the american people have to understand that there it they said, they will not let this happen again. i am glad they are investigating now. not not know why it is being talked about. they could if they wanted to, but the world will not let it happen again. my fathery i'm a fought for this country and now we might have to have another country, here to save lack people. -- black people. nothing can historically be compared to the holocaust and the transatlantic slave trade.

nothing can be historically compared to the native american genocide and there is a agile place in hell reserved for those who perpetrated those international horrors. but there clearly is a problem in this country as it relates to our broken criminal justice system and the inability to deliver justice whenever an unarmed afghan american male has been killed far too often by police officers without just nation. a problem we have to tackle. e-mails.welcome your this one is from taylor, who said, i really dislike the fact that the president and mr. mulder are trying to make eric gardner's death about race. --

guest: this is a free country and protests are embedded in our opportunity. i support their right and people all across america who protest. this is america and we are all entitled to inspection -- two expression. host: how concerned were you that might get out of hand? guest: in new york, we have a long history in the aftermath of these types of tragedies, where there is a real or perceived injustice in the context of police brutality and using excessive force, responding ,orcefully yet peacefully engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience or marches on the expressions of outrage among but doing it in a peaceful fashion.

africanone when an immigrant was shot 42 times by four police officers, reaching for his wallet or his keys on his way in to his apartment. there were peaceful responses when sean bell was shot 50 times by police officers on the eve of his wedding day. an unarmed young african-american man. the response was peaceful. in new york, we will continue to be aggressive in expressing our outrage and seeking change. i fully expect that to be done in a peaceful fashion. i was here in washington overnight and i will be back in new york tomorrow at the end of the session. host: back to calls, lawrence, welcome to our republican line. i am a 75-year-old white wobbly. host: what is that? outer: you can figure that

and you can do some research and find it out. the justice system is not broken. it cannot be broken. you as a lawyer know full well how much lawyers and the law are involved in this whole mess. it is a very difficult mess. back to 1937. what happened was the harrison stamp act. the entire war on drugs is the root cause for all of this. is what has to be changed. what is happening in d.c. right now have to be addressed. senator andy harris, boehner, and the rest of the congress that will go against d.c. law, and interfere. thank you very much for your service, and thank you, c-span. host: larry tweets about body

cameras. he says their part of the problem and the increasing cost of policing cause >> separation. separation. guest: is very good point about our failed war on drugs that resulted in the over incarceration of individuals. people behind bars have committed largely nonviolent drug offenses and only 8% of people behind bars actually engaged in violent crime. a stunning statistic, one where i think democrats and republicans can agree we need change. the other area i think we can move forward is to reevaluate the militarization of police apartments. there was a vote in july of this year, an amendment put forth to roll back the military surplus program. i voted against that amendment at the time, believing military

surplus equipment in a post-9/11 environment in new york city, experiencing the horrors of 9/11, was a useful thing. but i think we have all got to reevaluate that program at this instance. ant we saw in ferguson was aggressive, military like response on american soil. that was unfortunate. host: on this bipartisan effort on incarceration, we have seen this with republicans and democrats. is any legislation coming out of that? hope. there is great we still have divided government, even though republicans will control both houses of the united dates congress. we still have a democrat in the white house and two years left. he has got a job to do. we can put partisan politics aside. we're heading into a presidential cycle, but i think americans are tired of the

perpetual campaign where as soon as one and am a the other begins and there is never a -- an opportunity. host: the morning, robert. -- good morning, robert. caller: i agree with the who mentioned the things about the nazis. the comparison with not see germany and with the united to the nazidentical party in germany. education in this country, just like a lot of people in institutions, and a lot of german juice did not believe jews did not -- believe what they saw. thing is happening with extremist republicans in this country. they're undermining, defunding,

holding back, the same things happen. verbalrman joseph perpetuated that stuff and the same thing is happening with fox news. let's go back to the comment in terms of republican reaction. what have you heard republican colleagues in terms of reactions to not only eric garner but the decision last week? >> there has been a lot -- last week? do has been a lot of silence although there have been many who believe we have a broken criminal justice system and an over criminalization problem in america and that we spend too much money incarcerating individuals in an inefficient fashion and that there are threats to liberty and the threat for government overreach and taking away your liberty. point, on an historical

we have to look at the legacy of slavery if we will look at anything. we have overcome a lot in this country, but we still have a long way to go or we move from slavery to jim crow, to the civil rights act in 1964 and 1965, the voting rights act, but we still have to figure out what makeneeds to be done to sure that equal protection under the law is truly a reality for everyone. you mentioned president obama and political is writing a reaction to it yesterday. talking about the second time in two weeks that he is addressing a racial issue and a decision by a grand jury. what do you think the president's role in these situations am a is it important , visit ferguson or new york? guest: i do not think he .ecessarily needs to visit

the attorney general is the appropriate person in that regard and the attorney general and isited ferguson visiting cleveland today as i understand it. we hope to see him in new york sometime soon. the president indicated this is persisted int has america for far too long and a lot of people in america unfortunately believe it will never change. his promise that it will change and it will be different this time and we will have to translate those words into actions. host: a couple more calls. but here from barbara, missouri. what i want to ask this representative of our government is, what is going to be done about the existing abuses, the ones regarding michael brown? something has to be done about those existing conditions. it is obvious, the people in the street, as we are, that we have gotten to the point where this

federal government must take over the policing that is happening at the state level, which is nothing but a continuation of jim crow laws in the body of the police, that we as a country can believe that darren wilson was so afraid of an unarmed black teenager, and andad guns in an automobile the power of the police force behind him and he was so afraid because he is an -- a policeman, that he has the right to murder people. for: is it appropriate federal takeover of the police department? guest: you're right about. gartner and the force was excessive. one of the things to point out about darren wilson that i find interesting is that he himself was 6'4", 210 pound. he had a badge, a gun, and entire police force behind him if necessary, and yet he's -- he chose to fire that weapon more than 10 times, striking michael brown.

that is why we need the benefit of a trial. i agree with the point that there is an inherent conflict of interest between local prosecutors and the police department am a because prosecutors rely on the pulleys order toevery day in move cases forward through the criminal justice system. a symbiotic relationship. it is hard to then turn around and expect the prosecutors will go after law enforcement officials who engage in the excessive use of police force. that is light in this instance, six members of congress, myself, in august, called for a federal justice department investigation of the violation of. gartner's civil rights. but we need to look at a state-by-state level on whether we need independent special s to step in whenever law enforcement officers e