eastern and on c-span radio. "newsmakers" is next. i hope you have a great week ahead. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] >> next, "newsmakers" with .ongressman bob goodlatte after that the director of national intelligence and the directors of the fbi and cia testified on a senate hearing on global threats. "newsmakers" is pleased to welcome bob goodlatte representing virginia's sixth district. congress, hes in has announced he will not be

running next year, but he has a full plate between now and in the end of the term. we will talk about the issues. thank you for being with us. -- let me introduce you will be asking questions of representative goodlatte. i think that we are starting with you. >> thank you for being with us, today. unfortunately, we saw another tragedy with the school shooting in parkland, florida. secretary, we just learned, has made comments that congress needs to hold hearings looking into these types of issues dealing with school shootings. , youleadership committee have not chosen to go that route into gun violence. 'o you think that mrs. devos recommendation is a good one? we will consider

that. we do think that communities need to make sure that they're doing everything to keep their secure. i know that a lot of measures are taken today that were not taken 20 years ago when i first started visiting schools as a member of congress. you could go up to the door and walk right in. now they are always locked and someone is always arranged to meet me at the door and sighing the end. those protections -- those precautions need to be taken. we need to learn more about it each time that we have a major tragedy like this. committeeff on my that communicate with law enforcement, at the fbi and local levels, and gather information so that we can look at what might be done. i think that most of the things

that need to be done relate to the laws that are already in existence. obviously, we need to do more. all of these mass shootings involve mental illness. we need to do more to make sure that people are getting treatment, and that people in these situations are not getting access to guns, or that when are promptlythey reported so that people can get assistance to them rather than getting to a circumstance like seen.e i've always been a strong advocate for enforcing the hundreds of federal and thousands of state and local gun laws that are on the books. there has been an uptick in this administration, and i commend the justice department for making this a high priority. i think that more can be done to make sure that when people have strong purchasers -- straw purchasers and lie on instant check forms to purchase firearms

that they are not entitled under the law to have if they have a mental health commitment or a criminal conviction, that more can be done. if you go into a gun store and fill out the instant check form and lie on the form, which is a felony, the odds are still less than one in 500, more than one in 500, that you will be prosecuted for that crime even though they found you out because on the instant check it revealed you lied on the form. unless we let people know that there are consequences to the laws we will have more abuse of the laws. the first step has to be to enforce the laws. >> staying on the issue of gun violence in looking at it from a thereent perspective,

have been a lot of questions over the last 24 hours over the fact that the federal government is for bid and from studying -- theidden from studying issue of gun violence. he can't regret that decision arguing that we should be studying this. what would you say to americans about the fact that we are forbidden from even having that examination? rep. goodlatte: as it relates to mental health, that should be done. dickeynot spoken to jay about that. i do not think it is inappropriate if the original author of that says to take a look at it to see if there's a promotes that which the core purpose of the centers for disease control, to prevent disease not address issues that are related and happen because

someone has a disease like mental illness. scott: the shooter in parkland, torida was reportedly able purchase the ar-15 weapon when he was 18 years old. he was able to purchase and ar-15 at 18, but unable to purchase a case of beer. do you see any problem with that? rep. goodlatte: in virginia i think you only have to be 18 to purchase, but be that as it may i think that that decision is one that individual states can make. i do agree there should be a minimum age. it would not be inappropriate for states to examine with the based on their experience with people using firearms. on the other hand, there is a long tradition of families working with their children to educate them about firearm

and hunting traditions, and other traditions using firearms legitimately and for personal safety that should be promoted. education about firearms is a critical element to that. alan: the issue of approaching this as a mental health issue, i want to make sure i am understanding. the gun violence has been deemed a public health epidemic. to manyleading thousands of u.s. deaths. are you saying that we should not study that from the perspective of gun violence and gun ownership? rep. goodlatte: i'm saying that the center for disease control has a mission for preventing disease. there are many things in our society that we would like to have done differently, and it may or may not be appropriate

for the centers of disease control. one aspect of gun violence is the misuse of guns by people with mental illness. that seems to be something that could be discussed. when you look at mass shootings, a very high percentage involved that. there are many other issues related to gun use that do not involve mental illness. therefore, the issue of having studies done for political purposes as opposed to studies done for trying to find a way to cure people of mental illnesses that lead to miss using firearms are 2 things to be examined in a different light. alan: switching to something that is very much in the news today, immigration. ae president endorsed

proposal from senator grassley that contains what they refer to as the 4 pillars of what an immigration bill should look like including legal protections for dreamers, money for the border wall and border security, a limit to family-based immigration, and the end of the diversity visa. he did offer support for a bill that you co-authored that includes those, but also includes other enforcement measures. ified, ag e-ver crackdown on sanctuary cities, and others like that. what happens if the senate, through everything going on, comes out with the grassley bill. is that something you can house cand the embrace, because it is not as tough as yours? rep. goodlatte: we worked for

months with a lot of members of the house to produce that securing america's future act, which includes provisions that you generally described. there is a lot more detail to it, obviously. that is a way to a way to interests taking care of daca recipients. the president created a dynamic that pushed this to the front border. he ended a program that i think was unconstitutional, and immediately turned to congress and said "you should fix this." we took that seriously. thehe same time, he and speaker of the house have been very clear that we should take the steps necessary to make sure that this problem does not persist in the future. that is where the other 3 taylors of the proposal -- pil lars of the proposal come in.

we have added e-verify because , andrks extremely well because when you use it the sector of the economy that is the most radically affected his 80% or more where of workers are not lawfully here. we need to have a workable guestworker program. the current program does not work, though there has been an uptick since the obama administration of people using it. still, the vast majority don't use it and it is very costly. programsal is we have a that works for the farmers, the workers, and keeps agriculture in the united states, a very important a part of the economy and affected by competition from many countries around the world. many things that we produce in the united states to put on the dinner tables of americans can

be produced here and in dozens of other countries around the world. we have to have that program. more needs to be done in immigration. this is not a comprehensive immigration reform bill. least a dozen or more immigrant visa programs, all of which have various faults for reform. -- have various calls for reform. about 70 items that the department of homeland security wanted to see acted upon. fewer than half of those are in the securing america's future act. then you have many more people that are unlawfully in the united states that are not addressed in daca. there is plenty more work to be done after this is a good down payment on making sure that we address this pressing problem

for young people that are brought here, in many instances by their parents at a young age and consider this their home, as well as addressing it from the standpoint of making sure that in the future of and other people do not flout our laws. respect for the rule of law is one of my highest priorities. immigration lawyer i helped people immigrate to the united states from more than 70 countries, so i'm very much pro-immigration. however, we are a nation of laws and we have to have respect for the rule of law. i think we're losing that when we go through one or more .dministrations i jim please this administration is taking that more seriously. -- i'm pleased that this administration is taking that more seriously. in my time in congress, i intend

to focus on immigration reform issues. follow-up, what are the chances that your bill gets a vote on that house for. i member you told me that the whip count was very good. i heard other accounts that it was far short from what needed to pass on the house floor. rep. goodlatte: i am on the with team. what happens is that you get a count back that tells you they lean yes and others that are undecided, others leaning no, and others who are outright no. when you take that counted you take the various it -- you that counted you go to the various individuals or groups of individuals and you say am a what will it take to change this? a lot of the information, and we do not talk about the details of en theip count, but giv

complexities, a lot of the undecided folks are people that are trying to understand better how it will work. they get information from a somebody inor washington and say i'm not so sure about that. those things need to be clarified. there will be a lot of that activity over the next few weeks it.e we explain as a part of that, we will probably learn things about our own legislation that can be tweaked to improve the bill. it is not at all different from the usual process that we go through when major bills are brought through the whip process. it is important information gathering. as you can imagine, with something as complicated as tax law and also having emotions it.ched to

kit is an education process, making sure people understand how it works and what may not work for some people so that some changes can be made. when you make changes, you have to check with the people already supporting the bill to make sure that when you make the change you will not lose their support. diverseorking with a array of people and organizations to make that happen. i feel good about it. the complexity of everything you listed, speaker ryan has set up interesting prior -- interesting parameters for resolving this. he said he would not put anything on the floor without white house approval -- rep. goodlatte: we do have white house approval. the white house put out a statement, and we stay in almost daily contact with not only the ,resident, but his key advisers

about what works and does not work. alan: he said he needs the majority in the house to get something on there. a bill like senator grassley's, which also has the president's support, has been rejected by the freedom caucus. in the house, there is more support for yours, but that would lose a lot of the democratic support. how does the speaker navigate what is turning into such a tight window to get something through? rep. goodlatte: his instructions to me is get the bill done. he, the leader, and the whip are all in to get that done. we expect the senate to do the same thing. at some point, this week or later, we expect the senate to produce a bill. we hope it is a good bill. this is an issue that once the

house and the senate has passed an issue it will be ripe to work out issues. not everyone will get what they want, but it is important that we and -- that we address this issue and make sure that we address the docket issue and the s the docket issue -- daca issue and our immigration system works from the enforcement issue and moving it in the right direction. that we start working towards a merit-based immigration system in this bill, and that is equally important as part of the process. the freedom caucus speaker said how ryan handles this issue will be a defining moment for the speaker and that there will be he handlesuences if

it poorly. a lot of people took that as a threat against the speaker. do you believe his job is at risk? rep. goodlatte: no, i don't. i believe strongly that he wants to accomplish objectives that are very similar to the objectives of the geordie of the republican conference in the house -- the majority of the republican conference in the house. with markg also meadows and other folks, and my goal is to keep it like that. we also have other groups, the tuesday group and the main street group, we are working with them as well. caucus ofrgest republican members in the house. we are working with all of them on getting this bill finished and passed through the house. >> one more question, you have

been abundantly clear how important it is to improve border security to ensure that we don't have future waves of illegal immigration in the future. you are clearly on record on that point. in this current debate, and you consider it is necessary for dreamers to have some legal protection? rep. goodlatte: yes. i have taken that position from when the president ended the program, which i felt was illegal. he said you have to address this, absolutely we have to address this. i view this as an opportunity for the dreamers and the country , the american people, to address an issue that has been on the back burner with the problem getting worse due to neglect and lack of clear guidance on enforcement will stop when you build respect for the rule of law, and when you

reward those people that come to the united states as immigrants , and make sure you reduce the opportunity for people to do so, you are improving the situation. that is not to say we don't need dreamers and other people, we just want to see it done legally. we are the most generous country on earth with illegal immigration. we have one point one million green cards issued. there is no other nation on earth that is remotely close. we have 25 to 30 million people year that visit the united states for a host of reasons. for education, business, travel, and 70 other categories that we recognize for non-immigrants entering the united states. we want them to come here, be safe when they are here, and be sure that the people that come

here are going to be safe when they do. i support the efforts to make sure that the borders are more secure and the visa processing system is more effective. one of yourcott: colleagues, trey gowdy, has opened an investigation into the white house, handling the rob porter situation. looking at his employment at the white house, as well as the security clearance issues surrounding his employment, does your committee, because it has jurisdiction over the fbi and law enforcement agencies, have any plans to look at those issues or hold hearings? rep. goodlatte: we are being briefed on the issue. i'm pleased that trey gowdy is an investigation. sometimes we work together with him, as we have on other investigations going on right now related to the fbi and the

department of justice's handling related to one of the candidates for president last year. or is a special counsel handling the other. -- there is a special counsel handling the other. we work with the committee to handle those goals. we want to make sure the security clearance issue is working properly. we do not want people within appropriate records working in the white house. we want to make sure no one in a high profile position for the president of the united states can be blackmailed, or anything like that. the matter does need to be looked into and we will work with chairman gowdy and his committee and take appropriate action in our committee if that becomes necessary. obviously, you are retiring after a long service in the united states congress. for the your plans

future in the next couple of years? might we see you come back to town on k street? rep. goodlatte: when i ran for congress 26 years ago, i said that i would stay for 12 years. now i'm going on 26. that and the fact that i talked to my wife on the telephone four nights a week for all of those years means that we are ready to make a change. i have always wanted to do something else, but i don't know what it is. the ending of my chairmanship this year provides a good jumping off point. i've said i'm not ruling anything out over in. i will think about it. iat i have found since announced in november is that that time has been very precious , given that everyone said there is a lot of things that we want you to do in congress before then.

we have been extremely busy. i plan to consult with a number of my former colleagues on both sides of the aisle, for whom i have respect, about the things that they are doing and ideas that they have. i am open to a lot of different possibilities and have not settled on anything, nor do i plan to for a while. i plan to finish this year and work on issues like immigration, government surveillance, ofyright law, and a host other things you are about to tell me we don't have time to talk about. >> i am. i will invite you to come back because we only got through 2 issues, and that list is long and important. thank you. back after this chairmanion with the of the judiciary committee. we spent a lot of time on guns and gun ownership after the florida school shooting and

immigration. i will do those in reverse order. the senate is working its way through something on immigration, and the house has its bill and other considerations in play. he said the speaker said get it done, but that has been a challenge for congress. where do you see immigration going? >> the senate, who knows what will come out of there? we expected something to get out of the senate and run into a roadblock in the house. that we are seeing such a struggle to get out of the house probably bodes really for the future of this. is moved overis to the house, the president has endorsed 2 bills. one from senator grassley, and one from representative goodlatte. he obviously favors his bill, but he did not answer how he could resolve that with democrats. his bill will probably get

almost no democratic support. even though he sounded eager to get this done, i did not hear anything that will lead me to believe there is a solution. remainhe two sides really polarized? >> certainly. on most bills, let's take zeroatte for example, democrats are cosponsoring. is important.8 it will take almost all of the republicans to get behind the bill for it to pass the house floor. right now, even the republicans are divided. -- what we understand promote we understand, the support is nowhere near to 18. from what problem -- we understand, that support is nowhere near it to 18. -- 218. , republicans are

divided on the issue of immigration. there are a few that wish that prevails ando nothing happens on immigration and the so-called daca children are left in the lurch. that will be a real fear for democrats and immigration activists. >> moving on to the issue of guns, schools, and public safety, the chairman seemed as though he kept pushing mental illness as a root cause and state and local official responsibility. is that generally the republican stance, and do you see that with the number of school shootings we have seen already in 2018? >> it is interesting. in the last 24 hours, secretary devos called for meetings in congress. secretary mnuchin did not oppose

them.we heard from representative goodlatte that it is not inappropriate, as he put it, for the government to spend more time looking at it. that is different from what we are used to. usually it is, we need time to get away from it, let's not politicize it. to hear voices saying that they are not opposed to hearings or studies coming from the government, to me, seems like a step we haven't seen before. of course, we are focusing more on the mental health side, not the gun ownership side. it is a step, not a big one, but a step. >> what took me by surprise was he suggested that states look at the age limitation. in parkland, florida, he was 18 years old.

even buy a case of beer. that is something states will look at, especially in the i will note, in the wake of the las vegas tragedy, there was a lot of bipartisan talk about legislation to curb the so-called bump stock, and nothing in these last few months has moved on bump stocks. there's been no legislation. there's been no action by the a.t.f., and it's sort of like once it was -- once that issue was out of the newspaper headlines, everyone sort of moved on until the next tragedy came along. >> just to follow up on that, it's states right now, florida is not the place where you're going to get much gun restrictions. it's controlled by republicans in the congress and governor rick scott. what we've been seeing out of the current legislative session down there are efforts to make it easier to purchase firearms, rather than making it harder. so the idea that that state is

one that's going to respond to this by suddenly making it harder to purchase guns is, i think, a little far-fetched. >> we have 30 seconds. one question about the white house and rob porter's resignation and f.b.i. background checks, where do you see the rob porter story going with regard to oversight? >> well, it's interesting that trey gowdy, the oversight chairman, surprised a lot of people this week by announcing that he would -- he was conducting hearings into rob porter and the white house's handling of his employment, especially related to whether, you know, the concerns about his security clearance were, you know, raised to the highst levels. apparently there was some discussion from the white house chief of staff and others high up in the administration. and so, you know, goodlatte said he supported trey gowdy. >> the speaker also endorsed his rights to it, yeah. >> supports this investigation as well. i think you can say it's the

first sort of real oversight we're seeing of the trump administration separated from the russia investigation, which is now very convoluted. you know, it will be very interesting to watch this as it unfolds. >> i would note, of course, that trey gowdy is retiring, so he doesn't have to worry about any sort of political backlash from the president of the united states. that may be one reason why he feels free to pursue this course of action. >> we'll see how this plays out. thanks, gentlemen, for your questions and for being on "newsmakers" this week. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] >> tonight, the book "crash back," the power clash between the u.s. and china in the pacific. >> first of all, there's a public shaming, and china has lost a lot of face. it's hard for westerners to get an idea what that means to the asian culture, especially

someone that's as big and as proud as china. they lost a lot of face with that, and they came away with the never again mentality. they start after that mindset we will build up our navy and we'll build up our missile defense forces, in such a way that we never lose face like this again. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's "q&a." >> tonight on "after words," former u.s. trade negotiator and senior senate staffer ira "rogan."ith his book >> politics was supposed to be about finding a way to overcome some of those differences through principled -- through extended discussion and a real legislative process, through

principled compromise. it wasn't supposed to be about one party winning on their own. the times, as you know, the times in history when one party has been able to do this on your own are very few. maybe 1933 and 1934, f.d.r. dealing with the depression. l.b.j., 1964, 1965. but even l.b.j. reached out to republicans, and f.d.a. had republican support the first two years. >> watch "after words," tonight on c-span2's book tv. >> on tuesday, the director of national intelligence, c.i.a. director and f.b.i. director, among other intelligence and curious chiefs, testified at a senate intelligence committee hearing on global terror threats. this is two hours and 40 minutes.