, controlled internet with the isp's or anyone else interfering with people's ability to look at content of their choice. atwatch "the communicators" 8:00 eastern on c-span [applause] -- on c-span 2. open phones to end our program. we can talk about any political public policy issue. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. we want to show this story of the day on capitol hill. omnibus spending bill coming together to fund the government the next five months, coming together overnight. "the washington times," negotiators announce a deal. no money to the border wall.

reached that deal late sunday night to avert the end of week government sat down -- shutdown. the one that is currently keeping the lights on. passed byll is congress, it will fund the government through september 30. we can talk about that or any public policy issue you want to talk about. anthony is up first, a democrat. caller: good morning. thanks for the excellent programming c-span has always provided. you had a guest on discussing

constitutional law. , theestion for c-span folks that work there, the wouldics, perhaps c-span have a guest on, a mr. klein, who had been involved in a lawsuit against the telecommute asians industry for having spied on americans for quite some time to 9/11, i am pretty sure. my point is when barack obama came into office, his first signing statement as our president was to squash the lawsuit that had been pending, a class action lawsuit. mr. klein has been part of it. he worked for at&t, i believe. he sat at the table with you. and then, barack obama had basically dismissed it. somehow, the law he signed stop the lawsuit from -- stopped the

lawsuit from going forward. i wonder if c-span could discuss that topic and ask mr. klein what transpired, how he was treated, and what connection it has to be snowden whistleblowing? and this is constitutional law. i had hoped to ask the guest if it was constitutional for barack obama to do what he did. you just said congress cannot change laws to denied people the right to speech. these people were denied their day in court. host: we always appreciate suggestions. all of our segments are available online at c-span.org. joan is next in rochester, minnesota. democrat. caller: good morning. i wondered about the author of the book just on before, i would like to know the difference differenceolitical

on topics and character assassination, which is what happens when this information is about people. hearing everyone has rights as long as they do not infringe on other people's rights. people have the right to privacy , and they do not have the right to have their names smeared all over everything. that is one thing. difference of opinion on a topic, that is another thing where everyone has a right to speak their differences. aboutdo not think talking other people and character assassination of people is a right for anyone. host: do you believe characters as nation is getting worse than in the past? caller: absolutely. especially when that lady talked about the little girl killing herself -- host: when did it start to change?

when did it start getting worse? caller: i think it started getting worse a few years ago. and this political thing going on now with trump -- his whole topics are political -- our character assassinations. anyone he felt like, he put down big-time. sot is so tacky and really unprofessional and undignified. everyignifies himself day. he never says anything nice about anybody. it is very upsetting. i think you would get to the topics. but when you talk about people -- divided we fall, united we stand. when he divides people against other people by talking about them -- she does not have to

talk about the topics people really want to hear about. host: john is next in woodbridge, virginia, independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. -- to some extent, to theit may be due candidates we had this time, but i was wondering what you thought the future of third parties would generally be in terms of elections? the future ofhink third parties is brighter, darker? caller: i do not know. i think it depends on who the for 2020.put in i just figured i would ask. think third you parties did in the 2016 election? do you think they represented well enough it would help grow the third-party movement? caller: i think it might.

voters, for instance, for democrats,ed republicans, and libertarians. but i do not know how well they will do in terms of bringing up of bringing up the vote totals. but i think they did all right this past cycle. under expectations, but pretty good. greg is next, philadelphia, line for democrats. good morning. it is open phones. caller: if trump were to open up the libel laws or use the to get journalists who release information that may be false or have a false narrative, would he be held accountable to the same laws or would he be exempt because he is president? mention -- say we mention "pizzagate," would he be

held accountable? host: the question for our previous guest. about libel laws. maybe two chapters in that book devoted to that. floyd abrams the author of that book. devaris from georgia. caller: good morning. love that time. the caller john made a good point. third parties. there is room for third parties. political class has been taking advantage of us, we the people. but i want to say how much i love c-span and how proud i am of an american. american.g an and also ryan lamb --

host: brian lamb is still here. in thelly beats me in morning. steve is in west palm beach, florida, independent. good morning. caller: hi. basically i am a's bonding to the key medication's issue -- i am responding to the communications issue. having been in the military, i have gotten used to certain aspects of the security issue. nsa has been going through our phones from the 1960's. if they hear someone talking about a bombing plot, they can stay on the line. but if you had margaret is talking about her apple pie recipe, they have to get off, they cannot stay on. if you want a secure country, you have to to give a little bit. host: let's go to wanda in

chattanooga. good morning. caller: good morning. i was thinking about the third parties. on an earlierin date, i said donald trump was like the underdog and bernie sanders was like a big cat. really knew what he was talking about and could help the people and no one understood what i was saying. rudes not trying to be about donald trump. i was just talking about when it comes to politics, he was just a television person. as far as c-span, i would like to say that i am really happy cane i am at an age where i hear the evolution of people and what they are thinking on the television. host: what do you think about to sell aent's job

replacement for the affordable care act? how do you think that is going? since there were so many people that were put out of the sayomy, if they want to that, those people should do like everyone else. just be patient and see how that works. in thehe lead story "wall street journal" is trump pushing for a vote on health care. the white house and topper publicans trying to build momentum for a new health care vote. but skepticism remain be stumbling block in that effort to undo the affordable care act. a few minutes left for open phones. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. let's go to virginia.

sarah, republican. morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. i am calling in -- i am one of those frustrated republicans, i imagine. i really hoped congress would look at the issues and not the political standing. we need good health care coverage. the affordableor care act, is in such disarray now, where is the democratic option to fix it? we here do not repeal it, do not replace it, but when are the democrats going to stand up and say we have a plan to fix this? we all want to work together to make this country better for everyone. but everyone has to participate. everyone has to come to the table with their options, not

just their opposition. host: should repeal be an option? of the whole thing? and starting over? caller: i really wonder. i would like to see a democratic option to fixing it. i really would. i want affordable care for everyone. i think it is a wonderful option. i think it is something we desperately need to address. we have a lot of low income, a lot of seniors that are picking whether they can put food on the table or to the doctor. i understand this, but we all need to work together. and we need to start hearing from the democratic side some options to fix it so we do not keep throwing out appeals and replace -- throwing out repeal and replace. let security options to fix so we can get on board as

republicans and say that is a great option, let's do it. but until we can get that working back-and-forth and not just the "i am a republican, you are a democrat, we cannot work together." host: john is in san francisco, and independent. good morning. caller: thank you for the great open phone discussion. i wanted to put out to the c-span audience about trump's attack on syria, the tomahawk missile attack, and how, the day after, once he did that, the immediate immediately changed and became more favorable to him . what it was all based on was the gas attack that occurred, and the gas attack had a lot of strange aspects to it, to the point where -- here is what i am asking myself. why would assad uesse gas and kw "hat was the one "red line

get him international condemnation. the other thing is they are not really get confirmation. they got samples from the rebels holding the area, but no one asked who were the rebels holding the area and no one got a real organization to go in and investigate. they do not want an investigation because this was basically a staged operation to get what they wanted. a trump attack on russia. so now the whole idea of why can't trump get along with russia is down the road. host: do you have any evidence of that? caller: the evidence is there is no evidence. to say who it was that perpetrated the crime, or even if there was one -- you do not have western journalists -- cnn does not have their person around where the attack was. because it is rebel held

territory, which means it is probably terrorist territory, so it is not safe for a western journalist to go in. host: all right. matthew in new jersey. caller: i would like to comment talked aboutan who ethics in the policy page. clinton andllary cheating with the news organizations and everything? she wants to talk about ethics, how about that? host: ok. one story to remind our viewers of this morning, news coming out yesterday that the first cuban-american congresswoman elected to congress said she is retiring. the 64-year-old republican was

elected last november to florida's redraw in district, a stretch of miami-dade county that is heavily democratic. a district that democrats will eye in the 28 team election -- 2018 election. salt lake city, utah, good morning. i tried to call earlier. the gentleman who was here before talking about the first --ndment, if a congressman before they take the oath to protect and defend the constitution of the u.s.. after that taking the oath, they

are under the oath. whoever does mislead during that , he is reliable and can be prosecuted because he took the oath to defend the constitution and he is misleading. that is my comment. host: let's go to westminster, maryland area in public in. -- a republican. republican and from the beginning -- host: i'm listening. caller: i don't like trump's personality.

he'sody language tells me trying to -- you call people names, and doesn't matter who. let's go to junction city, kansas, a republican. caller: good morning. , in this country we have to register a party and we have three to choose from. most people when they register

feel like they have to vote that party and they do not, they then jump the party line and vote for the candidate of their choice. in this past election, we did democratrepublican or good running candidates. host: we are going to take our viewers to the center of strategic and international studies program getting underway on japan's strategy for the trump administration. we will see you back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on the washington journal. you will find the exits are back behind you and you go down one floor, exit down through the we will meet at the corner of national geographic down left and left.