students to tell us what issues they want to hear from the presidential candidates. the white road to house coverage and get all the details about our student cam contest at c-span.org. good evening from washington. it is it :00 p.m. in the nation's capital -- it is 8:00 p.m. in the nation's capital. president obama will be addressing the nation from the white house. thes marks the only for third time he has spoken from the oval office. the white house is in dicating he will be using a podium with a desk behind him. the situation room with members of his national security team. during the meeting, he decided he would proceed with tonight's address. a statement was issued last

night indicating the present will focus on the investigation into the killings in san bernardino, california, which left 14 people dead and 21 injured. he will talk about the broader threat of terrorism faced in the hosmeland. the white house is saying they will use this address to reassure a jittery nation. loretta lynch said this morning she wants to make sure that, "as a country, we do not want to give in to fear." the attacks in california are the first time attacks linked to isis hit the u.s. in a moment, we will open the phone line to hear your calls. president obama: good evening. on wednesday, 14 americans were killed as they came together to celebrate holidays. they were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply.

they were white, black, latino, and asian, immigrants, american-born, moms and dads, daughters and sons. each of them serve to their fellow citizens. --served their fellow citizens. all of them were part of the american family. tonight, i want to talk to about this tragedy, terrorism, and how we can keep the country safe. the fbi is still gathering the facts, but here is what we know. the victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their coworkers and his wife. wereve no indication they part of a terrorist organization overseas or part of a broader conspiracy at home. it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of islam that calls for war against america and the west. they had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs.

this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people. our nation has been at war with terrorists since al qaeda killed nearly 3000 americans on 9/11. we have hardened our defenses. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots here and overseas and worked around-the-clock to keep a safe. and counary ter-terrorism officials have disrupted terrorism overseas, killed osama bin laden, and decimated al qaeda leadership. over the last two years, the threat has evolved into a new phase. better atme preventing complex, multifaceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turned less complicated --

turned to less complicated acts like shootings that are all too common in our society. it is this kind of shooting we saw in fort hood in 2009 and chattanooga this year, and now san bernardino. as groups like isis grow andnger in iraq and syria, as the internet erases the distance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the san bernardino killers and to boston marathon bombers. i have addressed this every morning in my intelligence briefing. since the day i took this office, i have authorized u.s. forces to take out terrorists abroad for cicely because i know how real the danger is. --precisely because i know how real danger is. two youngr to daughters, i know that we are

seeing ourselves at parties like those at san bernardino. we see our children in the faces of the young people killed in paris. war, manyuch americans are wondering whether we are confronted by a cancer with no immediate cure. here's what i want you to know. the threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. and anydestroy isil organization that tries to harm us. values orandoning our giving into fear. that is what isil is hoping for. we will prevail by being strong, smart, resilient, and relentless , and drawing upon every aspect of american power. here is how. first, the military will continue to hunt down terrorist

plotters in every country necessary. in iraq and syria, airstrikes are taking out isil leaders, infrastructure, and since attacks, france has ramped up its efforts in our military campaign to destroy isil. we will continue to provide training to tens of thousands of iraqi and syrian forces on the ground. in both countries, we are employing special operations ateces who can acceler the offensive. we will continue to invest more in approach is working on the ground. third, we are working with friends and allies to stop isil operations, cut off their finances, and prevent them from recruiting fighters.

we have surged intelligence sharing with european allies. we are working with turkey to seal the border. we are working with muslim majority countries and muslim leaders here at home to counter the vicious ideology they promote online. fourth, with american leadership, the international community has begun to establish a process and timeline to produce cease-fires and a political resolution to the syrian war. doing so will allow the syrian people and every country, including our allies, like russia, to focus on destroying isil, a group that threatens us all. this is the strategy to destroy isil. it is designed and supported by our military campaign there's -- military commanders and counterterrorism experts. we constantly examine the

strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done. that is why i have ordered the department of the state and homeland security to review of visa waiver program with which the san bernardino attackers came to the country. we will make it harder for terrorists to escape from justice. here at home, we have to work together to address the challenge. there are several steps that congress should take right away. to begin with, congress should act to make sure no one on the no-fly list is able to buy a gun. what could possibly be the argument for allowing a terror suspect to buy a semi automatic weapon? this is a matter of national security. we need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones used in san bernardino. i know there are some who reject

any gun safety measures. the fact is that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, no matter how effective they are, cannot massify every would-be shooter, whether motivated by isil or some other hateful ideology. but we can and must make it harder for them to kill. next, we should put in place stronger screenings for those who come to america without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether they have traveled to war zones. we are working with members of both parties in congress to do exactly that. finally, if congress believes, as i do, that we are at war with go ahead andld vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists. for over a year, i have ordered the military to take thousands of airstrikes against isil targets. i think it is time for congress to vote to demonstrate that the

american people are united in this fight. my fellow americans, these are the steps we can take together defeat the terrorist threat. let me now say a word about what we should not do. we should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in iraq or syria. that is what groups like isil want. they know they cannot defeat us on the battlefield. isil fighters were part of the insurgency we faced in iraq. but, if we occupy foreign lands, they can maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of troops, draining our resources, and using our presence to draw new recruits. ,he strategy we are using now airstrikes, special forces, and working with local forces fighting to regain control of their own country, that is how we will achieve a more sustainable victory.

it will require us sending a new will not require us sending a new generation of americans to fight and die on foreign soil. here's what we cannot do. against onern another by leading this fight be defined as a war between america and islam. that is what groups like isil want. isil does not speak for islam. they are thugs and killers, part of a colt of death. -- cult of death. they account for a tiny fraction of more than one billion muslims around the world, including patriotic muslim americans who reject the hateful ideology. the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are muslims. if we are to succeed in defeating terrorism, we must communities as some of the strongest allies, rather than push them away for

suspicion and hate. that does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has spread within some muslim communities. this is a real problem that muslims must confront without excuse. muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocably reject the hateful ideology that groups like isil and al qaeda promote. to speak out, not just against acts of violence, but also those interpretations of islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity. but, just as it is the response ability of muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all americans of every faith to reject discrimination. tois our responsibility reject religious tests on who we admit into this country.

it is our response ability to reject proposals that muslim americans should somehow be treated differently. when we travel down that road, we lose. that kind of divisiveness, that the trail of our values-- betrayal of our values plays into the hands of isil. muslim americans are our friends and neighbors, our sports heroes, our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. we have to remember that. i amllow americans, confident we will succeed in this mission, because we are on the right side of history. we were founded upon a belief in human dignity, that no matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of god and equal in the eyes of the law.

even in this political season, even as we properly debate what steps i and future presidents must take to keep the country safe, let us make sure that we never forget what makes us exceptional. let us not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear. we have always met challenges, whether war or depression or natural disasters or terrorist attacks, by coming together around our common ideals as one nation and one people. so long as we stay true to that position, i have no doubt that america will prevail. thank you. god bless you. and may god bless the united states of america. >> the president from the oval office addressing the nation for about 30 minutes. minutes. phone lines are open.

202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. independents.or tomorrow, homeland security secretary jeh johnson talks about his department's operations with kevin baron. that will include a discussion on counterterrorism and border security. live coverage will get underway on c-span2 tamara morning at 8:30 a.m. we will be hearing from michael mccaul, chair of the house security -- house homeland security committee. 9:30will get underway at for those of you on the west coast. national met his security team yesterday and decided to deliver tonight's address to the country. this is only the third time he

has used the oval office. the phone lines will be open 7:00 a.m. eastern time. julie from staten island new york is on the line for democrats. the reaction? i trust president obama with the safety of our country. he is a smart man. he got osama bin laden. he has taken out a whole lot of other terrorist people to protect the country. think we need to come together as a nation and show him the support and understand that we voted for him. he is a smart man. i trust his judgment. i feel safe with him as president of the united states. one of the goals of the ministration was to reassure jittery nation. did he do that?

caller: absolutely. i have never questioned all he was doing. you hear pundits saying he is weak or doesn't know that. they don't know what he looks at. everybody forgets that he got osama bin laden. he was the most dangerous man in the world. where able to get him other presidents and nations were not. is joining us on the line for republicans from new jersey. what did you hear tonight from the president? caller: i heard facts. i heard half-truths. he is leaving some of the truth out. they targeted jews and christians on a christmas party. word afraid to say the "islam and terrorist -- islamic terrorist."

it is getting under the american people's skin that he is afraid to say this. president.logetic he's got to stop. host: we're getting your tweets. "it is a terrorist problem, not a gun problem." had us a tweet with the #cpanchat. ,aller: the way i understand it i'm worried about the gun thing. if you keep us from getting our guns, the way i see it, terrorists are not going to get them legally anyway. if you keep us from protecting ourselves, how do we protect ourselves? i think, as he called, they are getting everything illegally. it is not like they are coming mean, they're

still going to get their weapons. that makes us weaker as americans from protecting our families. i do believe we should go over there and just take care of them once and for all instead of every time you turn around having to go to war with this same type of people. host: but that is the question. have you take care of them? -- how do you take care of them? he said no ground troops, and airstrikes, but what else should we be doing that we are not doing? caller: for one, when they are coming, i mean we are sitting here. we know they are trying to attack us. we are letting them. are we letting them come in here? there should be better background checks. whence they are here, i am not saying not to help people, but i think they should keep tabs on them and see if they buy assault

rifles or weapons. if they are buying stuff to make pipe bombs. when you see they are purchasing stuff like that, they should be investigated and checked out. host: thank you. you're looking at the north portico of the white house. the president is addressing the nation just after it :00 eastern time. 8:00 eastern was--as this tweet." i this tweet. "i was hoping for a much more aggressive tone." solomon is on the line from austin, texas. that the understand president wants to keep the communists in the country. we have isis. we cannot police other people's

countries when we are a have them in america. --already have them in america. we can only do so much for other countries. bitave to back up a little and focus on taking care of america. host: thank you so much. the house will be back in session tomorrow. likely more reaction to the works on acongress stopgap spending bill to put in place to extend into early next week. we will have live coverage on c-span with the senate on c-span two. elizabeth from hudson ohio, republican line. what did you hear tonight? caller: well, i was quite

disappointed by the president's stance regarding the muslim community. is,ink what he is saying you know, the ultra stick-- the altruistic thing we want to believe as americans. i get that. but these guys are smart. they know what they are doing. they are turning our ideology against us. there are softening our hearts with fellow muslims. buts a hard line to take, at this point, we need to wake up and see and hear and experience what is going on. we need to be more resolute with the military and with our ideology, which may be a little harsh at times. but, this is not going to fly with me anymore.

i am just more looking at harsher republicans with a harder line. i really believe this is a war and we need to pay attention. host: when the president said tonight, "we will destroy isis," do you believe him? caller: not at all. no. not at all. josie said, "there was nothing new in the speech, and i do not feel safer." you can watch the speech anytime at c-span.org. we will run it again in about 20 minutes or so. tammy is joining us. independent line. caller: yes. that we wentto say to war in afghanistan. war in iraq.

anything to us. yet, isis is over here destroying american lives. we are not going to do anything about it? it doesn't make sense. host: we leaving out the investigation into the shootings. killed, 21 injured in san bernardino. rafael, good morning. caller: i was calling. i just feel like the president has great ideals and knows what is going on. he is just confused, there is a lot of people out here. know that thelly president is trying to focus on the muslims. not making are

everything that. -- bad. host: thank you. eric levenson says, "nothing unexpected. these guns were legally bought. we need to correct that gigantic loophole." the president also spoke about gun safety and the revision of gun laws. part of the debate that we focused on this morning on the washington journal is based on the editorial yesterday. new yorkge of the us times. the first time in our generation that they have published an editorial the front page. caller: the president's speech tonight is still people killing people, not guns killing people. if the president wants to take away the armored vehicles and military equipment from the police departments, we will be

in big trouble. host: thank you, bill. let us go to sherry, joining us from fort lauderdale. i wanted to comment, to make a point very clear. for us to get anything accomplished in this country, democrats and republicans must come together. if we do not respect each other, how do we expect other countries to us act us -- to respect us? if people don't like obama, they should respect the presidency of the united states. if he had some backing from republicans are congress or anybody else, then we could come together, and we could have a safer place to live in. thank you very much. host: think you for adding your voice of the conversation. secure that

anything will change to keep this country safe." minnesota, independent line. thatr: you know, the woman spoke, she took the words out of my mouth. what i want to say is congratulations to her for having that kind of thought process. there are a lot of people that don't realize how divided this country is. democrats and republicans are ignorant on tv. what do you think the american people are thinking? you have a lot of people choosing sides instead of saying, hey, we need to come together. what that means is that one of the things that really bothers me is he just gotten saying, in said, we have a belief. everybody is supposed to get along. it does not matter your color. the color thing he has talked about has been broken a long time ago.

people still see color. they are not seeing americans uniting with americans. we need to unite. host: what would you have wanted the president to say? caller: if there is a threat, let me tell you this, if a cop is still threatened, he takes a person out, most of the time when they are unarmed. we have people who want to take the american people out. he has not said anything that was strong enough to make me believe that he is actually going to do this. he is a very intelligent guy. there nothing strong enough out here that he hasn't said already. we need to take these people out before america is done with. we need to do it together. host: think you so much for the call. davis says, "we have an agenda to get rid of cells -- get rid

of guns, so we can protect ourselves. people kill people." did you watch the whole speech? caller: i was very happy that president obama used this opportunity to talk about gun control little bit. i think it is unbelievable that 89 gun deaths happen every single day. 49% happen without background checks. this is a gun problem. how can we make the argument that people on the terra watch terrorhould have guns -- watch lists should have guns? congress care about inanimate objects more than the lives of the 14 people that died? when you hearh, from the nra and other supporters of gun rights and the

second amendment, they say that the only way to protect yourself is with a firearm. you cannot take away the constitutional right inherent in this country. second i think the amendment was written a long time ago. the constitution says we had the right to own slaves. times change. we have to evolve with the times. i understand people having their guns. it's an amendment, it's the rights, but we must agree that we have to be stronger on the background checks. that should not even be a question. after all the mass shootings that have happened. host: elizabeth from washington, d.c. josh is joining us from fort pierce, florida. your reaction to what the president is saying from the oval office? that i wascomment is in the marine corps. i knew a lot of marines, a lot

of my family. one thing i knows that the president has a direct line to the marine corps. one thing i do know is that the marines have no fear of going in to the isis stronghold. we took falluja out. it was a matter of weeks, not even. he needs to take the chains off of our leaders and let them go to work. airstrikes will not cut it. nowask any marine right what they want to do, they want to go over there. no questions asked. take the chains off. let them go. host: this is a tweet the cayman. "it seems congress is not doing their job. they have not voted or authorize

any actions in at least six years. congress, do your job." lindsey graham of south carolina south carolina issued a tweet saying, "the president is intentionally misleading the nation about the threat we face from isil." henry is joining us from atlanta. democrat line. good evening. caller: yes. veteran.is i'm a everybody criticizing the president on what he needs to do , but a lot of those folks don't realize that going to war takes takes thees time, and effort of killing people and wounding veterans, and they come back home, and they don't want to take care of them. i agree with the president and what he is doing. a lot of people don't want to

say this, but i will set. -- say it. all of this stems from the bush era. we would not be in this mess if bush had not gone to afghanistan and iraq. us.e people did nothing to is, why go over there thinking all of this you won't have backlash? host: another tweet, peter king from new york, saying "the speech was a total failure of leadership in defense of a failed policy. no substance, no change of policy." democrat line. good evening. what did you hear from the president, what is your reaction? caller: good evening. i'm actually a marine corps combat veteran from the first

gulf war. host: thank you for your service. caller: thank you. i think they need to make public some sort of sunshine law regarding the legal review or for anyess being placed american being placed on this list. it seems like it might be arbitrary. host: the no-fly list? caller: yes. what it takes to be placed on the list or taken off the list. it doesn't sound like it would constitutional maybe, yous far as know, being legal. the: you know, one of arguments is that many people can be falsely put on the list and then constitutionally denied rights to protect themselves if you want to buy a firearm.

caller: yes, sir. they shouldieve have the right. maybe there should be more background checks as far as the gun show loophole. gunsr as taking away long or high-capacity magazines, i don't think that is right. i'm a lifelong democrat, but i also believe that, you know, the second amendment. "it is as if he never spoke. he said nothing new. everything he said was fluff to buy himself time." we have the republican line from washington state. caller: i heard the same thing that most of the republican colors heard that color-- republican callers heard.

all fluff. " it brings a"isil, whole meaning to the caliphate. he is sending a message to israel and the world that he does not care. l," the borders are under the dead center of the caliphate. if you would quit saying that and call it what it is, "isis." radicals. host: thank you. we'll be talking about the threat we face in the homeland from terrorist organizations, including daesh, isis, isil, whatever phrase you want to use. we will have jeh johnson tomorrow morning.

tomorrow afternoon, east coast time, 12:30 east coast time. texas willaul from be speaking at the national defense university. both of these events will be live on c-span 2. this is the third time the president has addressed the nation from his oval office during his presidency. here's what the president said to the nation just a few minutes ago as he talked about the threat from terrorism. and, moving ahead, what is next. here's the president. president obama: good evening. on wednesday, 14 americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays. they were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply. they were white, black, latino, and asian, immigrants, american-born, moms and dads, daughters and sons. each of them serve to their

--served their fellow citizens. all of them were part of the american family. tonight, i want to talk to about -- to talk to you about this tragedy, terrorism, and how we can keep the country safe. the fbi is still gathering the facts about san bernardino but , here is what we know. the victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their coworkers and his wife. we have no indication they were part of a terrorist organization overseas or part of a broader conspiracy at home. but, it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of islam that calls for war against america and the west. they had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs. this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people. our nation has been at war with terrorists since al qaeda killed

nearly 3000 americans on 9/11. in the process, we have hardened our defenses. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots here and overseas and worked around-the-clock to keep a safe. -- to keep us safe. our military and counter-terrorism officials have disrupted terrorism overseas, disrupting safe havens, killing osama bin laden, and decimated al qaeda leadership. over the last two years, the threat has evolved into a new phase. as we become better at preventing complex, multifaceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turned to less complicated acts like shootings that are all too common in our society. it is this kind of shooting we saw in fort hood in 2009 and

chattanooga this year, and now in san bernardino. as groups like isil grow stronger in iraq and syria, and as the internet erases the distance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the san bernardino killers and to boston -- the boston marathon bombers. i have addressed this every morning in my intelligence briefing. since the day i took this office, i have authorized u.s. forces to take out terrorists precisely because i know how real danger is. as a father to two young daughters, i know that we are

-- that we see ourselves at parties like those at san bernardino. we see our children in the faces of the young people killed in paris. after so much war, many americans are wondering whether we are confronted by a cancer with no immediate cure. well, here's what i want you to know. the threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. we will destroy isil and any other organization that tries to harm us. without abandoning our values or giving into fear. that is what isil is hoping for. instead, we will prevail by being strong, smart, resilient, and relentless, and drawing upon every aspect of american power. here is how. first, the military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in every country where it is necessary. in iraq and syria, airstrikes

are taking out isil leaders, infrastructure, and since the attacks in paris, our closest allies in france have ramped up its efforts in our military campaign to destroy isil. we will continue to provide training to tens of thousands of iraqi and syrian forces on the ground. we will take away their safe havens. in both countries, we are deploying special operations forces who can accelerate the offensive. we will continue to invest more in approaches working on the ground. third, we are working with friends and allies to stop isil operations, cut off their finances, and prevent them from recruiting fighters. since the attacks in paris, we have surged intelligence sharing with european allies. we are working with turkey to

seal the border. we are working with muslim majority countries and muslim communities here at home to counter the vicious ideology they promote online. fourth, with american leadership, the international community has begun to establish a process and timeline to produce cease-fires and a political resolution to the syrian war. doing so will allow the syrian people and every country, including our allies, like russia, to focus on destroying isil, a group that threatens us all. this is the strategy to destroy isil. it is designed and supported by our military commanders and counterterrorism experts. we constantly examine the strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done. that is why i have ordered the departments of the state and

homeland security to review of visa waiver program with which the female terrorist in san bernardino came to the country. we will make it harder for terrorists to escape from justice. here at home, we have to work together to address the challenge. there are several steps that congress should take right away. to begin with, congress should act to make sure no one on the no-fly list is able to buy a gun. what could possibly be the argument for allowing a terror suspect to buy a semi automatic weapon? this is a matter of national security. we need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones used in san bernardino. i know there are some who reject any gun safety measures. but, the fact is that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, no matter how effective they are, cannot

identify every would-be mass shooter, whether motivated by isil or some other hateful ideology. but, we can and must make it harder for them to kill. next, we should put in place stronger screenings for those who come to america without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether they have traveled to war zones. we are working with members of both parties in congress to do exactly that. finally, if congress believes, as i do, that we are at war with isil, it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists. for over a year, i have ordered the military to take thousands of airstrikes against isil targets. i think it is time for congress to vote to demonstrate that the american people are united in this fight. my fellow americans, these are the steps we can take together to defeat the terrorist threat.

let me now say a word about what we should not do. we should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in iraq or syria. that is what groups like isil want. they know they cannot defeat us on the battlefield. isil fighters were part of the insurgency we faced in iraq. but, if we occupy foreign lands, they can maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of troops, draining our resources, and using our presence to draw new recruits. the strategy we are using now, airstrikes, special forces, and working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their own country, that is how we will achieve a more sustainable victory. it will not require us sending a new generation of americans to

fight and die on foreign soil. here's what we cannot do. we cannot turn against one another by leading this fight be by letting this fight be defined as a war between america and islam. that is what groups like isil want. isil does not speak for islam. they are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death. they account for a tiny fraction of more than one billion muslims around the world, including patriotic muslim americans who reject their hateful ideology. the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are muslims. if we are to succeed in defeating terrorism, we must enlist muslim communities as some of the strongest allies, rather than push them away for suspicion and hate. that does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has spread within some muslim communities.

this is a real problem that muslims must confront without excuse. muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocably reject the hateful ideology that groups like isil and al qaeda promote. to speak out, not just against acts of violence, but also those interpretations of islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity. but, just as it is the response ability of muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all americans of every faith to reject discrimination. it is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. it is our response ability to responsibility to reject proposals that muslim americans should somehow be treated

differently. when we travel down that road, we lose. that kind of divisiveness, that the betrayal of our values plays into the hands of isil. muslim americans are our friends and neighbors, our coworkers, our sports heroes, our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. we have to remember that. my fellow americans, i am confident we will succeed in this mission, because we are on the right side of history. we were founded upon a belief in human dignity, that no matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of god and equal in the eyes of the law. even in this political season, even as we properly debate what steps i and future presidents must take to keep the country safe, let us make sure that we

never forget what makes us exceptional. let us not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear. we have always met challenges, whether war or depression or natural disasters or terrorist attacks, by coming together around our common ideals as one nation and one people. so long as we stay true to that tradition, i have no doubt that america will prevail. thank you. god bless you, and may god bless the united states of america. >> on the next washington journal, jonathan martin on the at have theld trump republican party establishment is responding. vidino details a report on isis supporters in america. emma examines the

education department. join uscall us and on facebook and twitter. washington journal, live on c-span. all persons having business before the honorable supreme court of the united states are admonished to go and give their attention. landmark, on c-span's cases, we look at the case of baker versus carr, the decision that ruled federal courts could intercede in the drawing of election districts. pro-war and called it the most important case of his tenure on the court. here's a portion of the actual oral our demand--oral argument. >> these voters lived in five of the largest cities in tennessee.

they are the intended and actual victims of a statutory scheme which devalues, reduces, their right to vote to one 20th of the 1/20 of the value of certain rule residents. >> populations in states like tennessee had a majority of rural voters move into the city. held aural districts voting power equal to larger urban districts. a group of voters in nashville challenged it and took their cases to the soup in court. has continuingrr relevance today, as the term "one person, one vote" is still being debated. , the author smith of "on democracy's doorstep."

that is live, monday night, at 9:00 eastern time on c-span, c-span3, and c-span radio. for background on each case, order your copy of the companion book, "glamour cases." --"landmark cases." it is available at www.c-span.org. >> on wednesday, instead of the sual prime minister's questions time, they held a debate on whether the u.k. should launch airstrikes against isis in syria. david cameron supported the motion, which passed. this includes speeches by jeremy corbyn and scottish national party leader angus robinson. this is just under two hours. >> we now come to motion.

i wish to call the prime minister. i beg to move the motion in my name. the question before the house today is how we keep the british people say from the threat posed by isil. let me be clear from the outset. this is not about whether we want to fight terrorism. it is about how best we do that. i respect that governments of all political colors in this country have had to fight terrorism and have had to take people with them as they do so. i respectpeople-- people who come from a different view and those who vote accordingly. that provides of some reassurance to members across the aisle from us. >> i give away to the honorable lady. >> he is right in his opening statements to stay how

important--to see how important this is on all sides of the house. [indiscernible] >>--against the right honorable friend. i respect people who disagree. i respect the fact that governments of all colors have had to fight terrorism, and i respect that we are all discussing here how to fight terrorism, not whether to fight terrorism. mr. speaker, in moving this -- i order -- the prime minister is not giving away order. he has the floor. pm cameron: i will take dozens of interventions. i'm conscious of not taking too much time. i promise i will give way a lot. in moving this motion, i am not pretending that the answers are simple.

the situation in syria is a credibly complex. i'm not overstating the copper dilutions -- the contributions our serviceman can make. i pretending that military action is any more than one part of the answer. i'm absolutely clear that we must pursue a competence of strategy that includes political, diplomatic, and humanitarian action. solution must ultimately be a government that represents all of its people, one that can work with us to defeat the evil organization of isil. -- speaker, not with others notwithstanding all of this, there is the question at the heart of this debate. we face the fundamental threat to our security. isil has brutally murdered hostages. this is the worst attack since 7/7 on the beaches of 10 easier.

-- tunisia. since november of last year, secured forces have foiled no fewer than 7 different plots against our people. the threat is real. do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy the threat, or do we go after the terrorists we their heartlands, or do sit back and wait for them to attack? >> it would be helpful if he could withdraw his comments from last time. no one on the side of the house will make a decision based on any such remarks. threatened from doing what we believe is the right thing, whether those threats come from online activists or our own people. everyone in this

house should make up their mind on the argument in this house. there is honor in both voting for and against. that is the way this house should operate. that is why a want to be absolutely clear at the start of my sentence, this is about how we fight terrorism not whether we fight. i will make some progress and then give away in a moment. in answering this question, we should remember that 15 months ago, facing a threat from isil 524 to, this house voted 543 for airstrikes in iraq. on monday, i spoke to the present of iraq in paris. he expressed his gratitude for the vital work our forces are doing. yet, when we reached the border with syria, a quarter they do

not recognize, we could not get access, even though we know raqqa headquarters are in and that is where the plots are formed. we are facing an amendment signed by 110 members of this house.-- 0 we're-- facing an amended signed by 110 members of this house. not one of them is a terrorist. will you apologize for your deeply offensive remarks? terrorism--we fight -- we are talking about how we fight terrorism-- [interruption] pm cameron: my argument is that we should not wait any longer.

the action we propose is legal. it is necessary. it is the right thing to do to keep our country safe. and my strong view is that this house will make it clear that we will take up our responsibilities rather than pass them off and put our own national security in the hands of others. i give way to member. >> i have just returned from baghdad, the route has been cut off. everyone on the ground tells me unless we attack isil in syria, all they will do is regroup and come back and attack our country. >> i think my honorable friend makes a very important point and it's very clear that it exists in syria as well as iraq is a