in about an hour, george washington university law professor jonathan turley will discuss development in the robert mueller russia investigation. then congressman brian higgins on the house democrats new majority and the leadership elections. [video clip] >> he is a weak person and what he is trying to do is get a reduced sentence. he is lying about a project everybody knew about. >> i could not be more honored. that is not a figure of speech, but is as true a statement as anyone could make, to be honored thehe nomination and support i have from our colleagues in this caucus. >> the only petition -- position that cannot garner 50 votes is the president's position. he is adamant about having a

partial shutdown. he keeps repeating over and over again he wants a shutdown. make no mistake about it, he is the only reason there would be a shutdown. >> if we can put the partisan knives down on the immigration , we fix both sides do that, there is no stopping our country. >> i get yemen. the strategic relationship between us and saudi arabia, but i am not going to blow past it. if that briefing is not given soon, it will be hard for me to vote for any spending bill. ♪ host: good morning on this friday, november 30. we begin with your thoughts on all the news out of washington. 's guiltyael cohen plea, nominating nancy pelosi as speaker, and a potential

government shutdown. you have the administration's stance toward russia and saudi arabia. democrats, dial in at 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independent, 202-748-8002. join the conversation on twitter@or -- on twitter .cspanwj or facebook.com/cspan we begin with the president yesterday before he left for the g20 summit where he is expected to momentarily be joined by the leaders of canada and mexico to sign the trade deal. before he left for the summit, the president yesterday addressed reporters and the reports his former attorney michael cohen data guilty to making false statements to congress regarding a trump tower project in moscow. [video clip] >> michael coco made -- michael

cohen made statements to the house and the senate. he put out a statement talking about a project which was more or less of an option we were looking at in moscow. everybody knew about it. it was a well-known project. it was during the early part of 2016 and even before that. it lasted a short period of time. i did not do the project. i decided not to do the project. we are not talking about doing a project, we are talking about not doing a project. michael cohen was convicted, you will have to put it into legal terms. he was convicted with a fairly long-term sentence on things totally unrelated to the trump organization having to do with mortgages and cheating the irs, perhaps. a lot of different things. i don't know exactly. he was convicted of various things unrelated to us. he was given a fairly long jail

sentence and he is a weak person and by being weak, unlike other people you watch, he is a weak person and he is trying to get a reduced sentence so he is lying about a project everybody knew about. we were very open with it. on this story, the new reporter notes mr. trump's participation in discussions about building a grant skyscraper in moscow showed how the interest of his business empire were a mess with his political ambitions. during the early months of 2016 when the business discussions were taking place, he was publicly pressing for relations between the united states and russia and an end to sanctions imposed by the administration. to get your thoughts on that story as well as others happening in washington this

week. we start with eric in st. louis, missouri. democrat. when richard nixon left office, i don't know that there is a lot of people who support trump who know their history with the way they vote. when he left office, he said "i am not a crook." in about two months, donald trump will be saying the same thing. follow their own constitution in about two months, "i am not a crook," trump will be saying. c, --independent in the d.c., ralph, what do you think? dog and pony all a show. if they do something about it, that means they cannot break the backs of unions. if you don't think one of the

most evil entities in the democratic party are the koch brothers, they are against global warming and environmental protections and they are backing two candidates. to democrats say they want do some thing the borders. republicans say they want to do something about the borders. republicans want to get more votes. i have debated this with liberals before and i consider myself independent. 15ry to say if you introduce million illegal workers willing to work for anything because they make 20 times what they make in their country, somehow they are claiming it doesn't affect the wages of the average american worker, especially the blue-collar worker. thank you very much. host: ok. the conservative drudge report has the same banner as a huffington post, here is the , that, individual one

is how the president is -- tified in the the new york times, their story inside the newspaper about michael cohen reads like this. mr. cohen admitted the discussions went on for at least six months after he told congress they had and did. june 2016. until the deal inscussed a 20 minute phone call with a russian government employee. that same day, the washington post reported russian operatives infiltrated the computer network of the democratic national committee, the first public evidence of the campaign to disrupt the election read mr. cohen said he discussed the

status of the program with mr. trump. some of those exchanges, which continued until january 2016 included the president's children, and ivanka trump and donald trump, jr., both of whom are executives at the trump organization. let's hear from ed in d.c. what do you think? caller: good morning. i am a proud african-american scientist and i understand the intelligence done under the state department and i believe mr. cohen pleaded guilty about the trump tower to be built in moscow. using his own is -- to feed his own pockets and his own wishes, using the american system, going against the american system. what happens here is cohen

admits he had the leave to travel to russia to negotiate the tower project and at the last moment, he pleads guilty said in the past couple of days he is going to and suddenly the meeting is canceled. is united states in america the only country in the world. i am a proud african-american and i work for the state department. this man is an enemy of our state and he is going to use his own personal gains to feed his own pocket to go against our president -- our nation. hillary clinton would have been the best president to have in this nation if we had voted for hillary rodham clinton.

there are three world newspapers that endorse hillary rodham clinton. wrong man.r the this man is an enemy of our state and i proud african-american scientist. host: wes in maine. the real enemy of the state is the democratic party, hillary rodham clinton, and obama. the fbi's credibility is in the toilet. they were corrupt. everybody knows they are corrupt. it is as bad as it j edgar hoover was still back. we all know what he did. it is terrible what the democrats did. they are worried about one guy killed in turkey. americans getting killed by illegal aliens? they want open borders, they want gun control.

with illegal aliens and then they are worried about, we have guns. they have machetes and everything else. host: on the border fight, the --sident yesterday demanding the president has been demanding there is more funding to build the wall along the southern border before he would agree to these appropriation bills left to be completed. if they cannot agree, both sides and get this passed with majority, then the government -- we could see a partial government shutdown. you heard chuck schumer talking about it. the hill newspaper has this headline. shutdown fight over dreamers braided democrats are backing away from a potential for fight over dreamers, making a shift in floor tactics. withprepared to do battle republicans over the major funding bill. shutdown --

would have protected deportation immigrants known as dreamers who came to the country illegally as children. they acknowledged that standoff did not help and may even have imperiled democrats running in trump states like missouri, indiana, and north dakota. they say they have no plans to include protective language in december's must pass spending bill. in's hear from brenda indiana, pennsylvania. democrat. good morning to you. what do you think about what has happened in washington this week? caller: good morning. donald trumpit is lies so much, he cannot keep his lies straight. earlier, you played a clip of donald trump saying everybody knew about this possible russia tower inpossible russia. everybody knew about it, yet when people were reporting

during the campaign, he called them lying, fake news, the lying media and it is all a bunch of lies. now he is saying everybody knows about it. he lies so much, he cannot even keep his lies straight. host: we will go to frederick in oyster bay, new york, a republican. caller: good morning. i have a very brief comment. everybody should give donald trump a break. he has been doing a great job and the economy is doing well. cohen actually should get -- if he can, he should get a pass from the president. the republicans, i want to continue to applaud our party. the next time, we just have to get out and vote more to keep -- thisocratic democratic way of thinking out of our society just for now.

thanks, again. host: the democrats -- the outgoing and the new freshmen -- the democrats in the house this week have been gathering -- those that will be part of the 116th congress and the new ones gathering behind closed doors to elect their leadership. on wednesday, they elected nancy pelosi, nominated her to be speaker of the house when the house convened in january. have to go to a floor vote in the new york times says nancy pelosi was nominated for speaker by -- by a vote of 203-32, 18aving her short of the 2 she needs in january. it was a secret ballot, but some have announced their position. the following is a list of the confirmed no votes, kathleen

rice of new york, tim ryan of ohio, ron kind of wisconsin, ed perlmutter of colorado, max rows of new york, jeff andrew of new jersey and melissa of chicken. here she is wednesday after securing the nomination. [video clip] >> i am so inspired by it all and grateful to my colleagues for what they have done to place my name in nomination. in the course of these days and weeks, it has been my plan -- privilege to listen to members who have been here for a while and new members and hear their views about how we go forward, convinced that everything we said in the campaign about congress, a new congress that is open and transparent, accountable to the people, that

is unifying in how we do our work and therefore bipartisan to the extent possible is something i think we can, with great dignity, present to the american people as we affect our agenda for the people, lower health bigger paychecks, integrity in government and other issues as we move forward. host: in addition to nominating nancy pelosi to be speaker of the house, democrats also voted for other leadership positions this week and yesterday they elected illinois representative cheri bustos to chair the campaign committee for the 2020 election cycle. she won in the first round of voting. the tally was 170 think -- 117 ustos.for boost us -- b

roll call has a story about house having elected four members to run the messaging arm. -- will chair the democratic policy campaign committee and ted lieu of california, debbie dingell of michigan and matt cartwright were elected as the three new cochairs. some news out of politico about republicans into the 116th congress. jordan to head of the oversight for gop and colin to lead judiciary. house republicans named jim jordan and doug collins to be the top defenders on two keep investigative panels, closing several weeks of intense jockeying for the position. they even as the elected jordan to be a top republican on the oversight committee after mark meadows withdrew his bid for the job at the last minute.

ong collins would be judiciary. you can find that on politico. we are getting your thoughts on all of this news. bruce in rockport, texas. what do you think? caller: good morning, young lady. thank you for c-span. i really enjoy it. i have a question. host: go ahead. i am a democrat and i voted democrat. i have for years. i disagree with the amount of pressure they are putting on saudi arabia over this journalist being killed, which is wrong, i understand that worried on the other hand, they don't say anything about israel going out all over the world and -- to kill you and not admit it. host: where have you read that?

caller: that is common knowledge, they have their own death squad that go out and kill anywhere in the world. look after the olympics where israelis were killed. host: that is not common knowledge. where do you get your news about that? differentom a lot of news agencies and i see on tv and read about it. it is common knowledge that do that. they don't admit it, but they do it in italy and other places. host: what is your point about saudi arabia? caller: why are we so -- host: we are listening. caller: excited about this saudi arabia killing, which i think is wrong, but they never say anything's about -- anything about the russians doing it in england or israel's doing it anywhere in the world. host: bruce's opinion in texas.

tom in fort lauderdale, hi, tom. caller: good morning. i think the american people are going to get a front row seat on something very interesting happening in our political environment. the democratic party will have to decide if they want to investigate or legislate. people are second tired of the democrat party refusing to negotiate honestly to move this country forward. we have problems with education that are incredible. it the press and the democrat party -- you have been at the department of education for x number of years, why is the united states ranked number 37 in the world in education? the democrats work

with republicans to lower the cost of health care? if you have obamacare and health care is expensive, it will still be expensive. if you have a gop plan for health care and health care is expensive, it is still going to be expensive. why can't these people move our nation forward? they are not going to impeach donald trump, there are 53 senators in the gop. they are not going to investigate him. whatever they want to do to disrupt this nation, it will be a waste of time. he will not be impeached. if the democrats want to investigate, they are going to in the really pay for it next round of elections, i guarantee it. people are tired of it. in fortm a republican lauderdale. the new york times, how to deal with saudi's after the killing, they report the summit meeting

which begins today is the first test of the 33-year-old crown prince's ability to maintain his status as a statesman after the assassination of jamal khashoggi. as the leaders assembled, and argentine judge took the first steps in a legal inquiry into criminal charges against prince mohammed. and have a sticky -- and advocacy group questioned -- for he torture of mr. shoji -- khashoggi. said bothts have sides may have committed war crimes. that is iran and saudi arabia fighting that war in yemen, the washington times, the war in yemen and the -- and iran's role .re emerging as crucial points

iran was accused of throwing gasoline on the fire in yemen and other conflicts in the middle east. other u.s. officials say the goal on iran is to bring an end .o the crisis in yemen the state department announced 131 million emergency food assistance packages. week, senators who were unhappy that the trump administration did not allow the cia director gina haspel to brief them on what the intelligence community knows about that ambush in the saudi consulate. they were upset with the administration. lindsey graham saying if he does not get a briefing, which he has been told he will, he will hold up legislation. many senators are unhappy with the president's response to the

murder come a voted for , voted for -- murder legislation that would withdraw support for the saudi led coalition fighting yemen. expected later on. senator graham was one of 14 republicans who joined democrats to advance that motion. rubin in virginia, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to first address that last caller saying the democrats don't need to investigate anything. basically, republicans have been in control for the last two years and all they did was investigate and did not do anything on the issues. now we know we have a pathological liar in the white house. everything he says, you cannot broker with him because he is not an honest broker.

everything he says changes the next day. he said he would work on all the players at the table and work with democrats and republicans on a bipartisan immigration bill and they came up with one and this day, he discounts it. he says he doesn't listen to cnn and all these other places and the first thing he does is quotes somebody from the new york times are all those fake news places. he will lie about anything. he has lied about building a wall and getting the money from mexico. that was the first thing out the door. he lies and lies and lies. if you don't have an honest broker in the white house, how do you get anything done? racist inpathological the white house. all of his policies are based upon the color of not only the people he addresses because he

talks about immigration and not letting these people in because they don't have -- they are from butthole nations when in fact his own family members have come einsteina visa for could how do you give the einstein visa when your wife doesn't qualify for that yet you allow her and her family to come in? then you are going to discount that program. host: i am going to leave it there because the president is's president osiris -- is speaking in buenos aires. kudlow for their untiring work. he or navarro, thank you for the work you put in and so many others. the u.s. mca is the most significant modern and balanced

trade agreement in history. all of our countries will benefit greatly. it is probably the largest trade deal ever made also. the new trade pact will support high paid manufacturing jobs and promote greater access for american exports across the range of sectors including our farming, manufacturing, and service industries. the united states will be able to lock in our market access to canada and mexico and greatly expand our agricultural exports, something we have been wanting to do for many years. this is an amazing deal for our farmers and allowed them to watch cutting edge biotechnology and eliminates nonscientific barriers. our nations agreed to innovate -- to promoteor fair competition and promote higher wages for u.s. and north american auto workers.

the auto workers are a tremendous beneficiary. , 75% ofe usmca automobiles must be manufactured 45%orth america and 40% to of automobile content must be manufactured by north american high wage labor in order to gain preferential access to our markets. stop auto jobs from going overseas and help auto jobs that have already left. many companies are coming back and we are very excited about that. this landmark agreement includes intellectual property protection that will be the envy of nations around the world. includes robust provisions on digital trade and financial services and the most ambitious environmental and labor protections ever placed into a major trade agreement anywhere at any time.

we have dramatically raised standards for combating unfair subsidiestices, state owned subsidies for state -- and currency manipulation that hurt workers in all three of our countries because manipulation from some countries is so intense, so bad and it would hurt mexico, canada, and the united states badly. we have covered it very well in this agreement. these provisions will benefit labor technology and development in each of our nations leading to much bigger growth and opportunity throughout our countries and across north america. in short, this is a model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever and this is an agreement that first and foremost benefits working people, something of great importance to all three of us here today.

say, pena i must nieto, and prime minister trudeau, we lurked -- worked long and hard on this agreement. we have taken barbs and a little abuse and it is great for our countries. this new agreement will ensure a future of prosperity and innovation for mexico, canada, and the united states. i look forward to working with members of congress and the u.s. -- usmca partners and it has been so well reviewed, i don't expect to have very much of a problem to ensure the complete implementation of our agreement. que on to thank you, enriu a personal note and wish you the best. this is a last day in office. we appreciate it.

i think i can speak for justin when i say that. [applause] >> we both agree he is a special man and really done a good job. we appreciate it very much. i want to congratulate you on ending your term in office with this incredible milestone. it is an incredible way to end a presidency. i look forward to working with president-elect lopez for many years to come and our relationship i know will be a good one. we have had a great conversations and i think we will have a great relationship or it i would like to invite the president and the prime minister to say a few words and perhaps we can start with justin and we appreciate it very much.

justin, please. host: that was the president finishing up his opening remarks in buenos aires. he is there for the g20 summit and signing the trade deal between the united they tend mexico, what was formerly known as nafta. trade is on the agenda for the president with china as well. u.s.-china explore deal on trade . the u.s. and china looking to diffuse tensions and boost markets exploring a trade deal in which washington would hold in on further tariffs exchange for new talks looking at changes in chinese economic policy. the talks are coming to a head shortly before president trump and the chinese president meet .or dinner on saturday it is far from clear whether the discussions will produce any agreement. this trip to argentina for the president, he is there for 48 hours and originally, he was going to meet with the

russian president vladimir putin . after he told reporters yesterday he would do it and then between telling reporters and getting on the plane to argentina, he canceled talks with putin, saying it was over andseizure of russian ships in theby russia and international section of the financial times, it says german chancellor angela merkel due to meet putin at the g20 said she would demand the release of ukrainian ships and crew and allow free passage of the ships through the sea. the president of the ukraine also has asked nato members to send naval vessels to coastal waters for joint patrols in order to prevent russia from imposing a sea blockade of exports. that is the latest with the

russia-ukraine tensions and the president canceling that meeting yesterday. in new york,ob independent. thank you for waiting. what do you think of all the news that happened this week and today as well with the president in argentina? caller: you know, we live in crazy times prayed i am an independent, you mentioned i called on the independent line, but i think both parties are terrible. the pentagon failed their first ever audit. they cannot account for $21 trillion. $21 trillion. i think we should bring all of our troops back. defend our borders and our country, the heck with the rest of the world. we should not have 800 military bases spread out all over the world conducting operations in 130 countries. that is where this money has gone and i think -- there should

be accountability, heads should roll and i think people should go to prison. host: evelyn in cleveland, ohio, democrat. i want to identify myself as a very proud, christian democrat. i am correcting the gentleman who called earlier and i believe was someone who worked in the justice department and he said hillary did not win the election. she did win the united states popular vote and conceded graciously. i wanted to ask this people who are republican, evangelist, what christ-like characteristics does trump have. about the economy, president barack obama inherited an abysmal economy. he built it up and we are continuing with that. i am not saying trump isn't helping it along, but there is

no such thing as instant gratification in a country. it moves slowly. host: steve in robert's missouri, independent. for taking, thanks my call. i wanted to talk a little bit on the pollution thing. i drove a truck for 30 years and we used to idle the trucks and it burned like a gallon an hour and they came out with generators where it burns like a ourt -- quart an hour. why can't we have the cars running on batteries and have a generator running? that would be one way to help and like the hurricanes, if you cool the water down two or three degrees, you will not it from a category four to category two. why can't we put gigantic ice cubes in front of the hurricane's path a day before it

hits? we need to run that like a military operation and hit it hard. all these people bragging on trump, he is pulling the same thing w pulled and everything collapsed. host: with democrats taking control of the house, do you want climate change to be top on their agenda? wish -- abouti half of them look like they need to go to a nursing home on both sides of the aisle and i wish we had some fresh blood. they will not get off the obama train. i don't like trump or obama. i think that is why hillary lost and that is why we got trump.

what good is it if it doesn't help everybody? host: one piece of legislation they are going to push is increasing voting access. also on the agenda before democrats take control of the house in the 160 -- and the 116th congress adjourns, the tax bill faces a time crunch as republicans struggle to advance their year end tax bill. gop leaders decided late already the measure facing a crowded senate calendar would not get a vote scheduled for today, leaving the fate uncertain. those include proposals to savings, retirement

improve taxpayer assistance at the irs and aid disaster victims. it includes technical corrections to last year's tax law that democrats don't want to accept for free. that vote will not be happening , but there are some more legislative days left before january. tim scott blocked one of president trump's picks for federal judgeship. tim scott said he would oppose the nomination of thomas fire -- thomas farr. fire for hisnder role in a racially charged 1990 senate campaign and his advocacy of election laws and other efforts civil rights groups said were aimed at disenfranchising black voters.

mr.trump could renominate farr in the next congress, but republicans will have an expanded majority. let's go to jesse in maryland, a democrat. good morning. you are on the air. caller: good morning. jim jordan -- they must have swept it under the rug. he has some charges against him for child molestation. host: not against him. caller: somebody he knew, then. host: yes. caller: ok, that is what it was pretty that is all i wanted to know. you need some hals, i notice you

keep clearing your throat. i hope you feel better. host: i appreciate that. the federal's affair undersecretary for benefits addressed the computer issues. he was on capitol hill yesterday and here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> i want to address a misleading nbc news story that gives the impression some veterans will not be made whole with respect to their housing payments. nothing could be further from the truth per each and every veteran on the post 9/11 g.i. bill will be made 100% whole retroactively if need be for housing benefits for this academic year based on the current uncapped dod rates and we will bepring 2020 in a position to provide veterans with new rates where applicable to meet the law known as the forever g.i. bill. each and every, and i mean every single veteran will be made

whole for their housing benefits this year. the rates we are providing for the current year uncapped basic rates based on location's of the school main campus rather than physical location of the student. for many students, the dod- v.a. rate would be equal to or higher than their current payment. the student will not be held liable for the debt. starting in spring 2020, ba will have solved the current technology challenges so the department is in a position to provide post 9/11 g.i. bill veterans the new rates where applicable -- applicable to comply with the new bill. host: let's go to brad in two rivers, wisconsin. what do you make of what has happened in washington this week? caller: it is a mess. i truly believe while this

president is there, it is going in this mess.ay he doesn't believe he needs to answer to anybody. he -- that is the sad thing. he feels he can bypass congress. look what he does to you people in the media. that you guys are fake, enemies of the people. it will not end. you talk about the veterans. i remember when john mccain died. a guy said, he wasn't invited to the funeral. if someone talked that lousy about my father while he was alive, i sure would not let him come when he was dead. the stuff going on with michael cohen, i think it will go deeper than this and make whitewater and the nixon impeachment look , the stuff atlay the border, christmas and the

holidays are coming around and it makes me wonder how my present -- our president can sit in church and saying "piece on earth, -- peace on earth, goodwill toward men." i don't see how anyone is going for thishe dais president and put them or their family in harms way. i am saddened he got voted in. i remember listening to his campaign rallies. it was listening to the same thing. host: that was brad in wisconsin. let's go to when osiris -- buenos aires where leaders of the united states, canada, and mexico are signing that trade deal. we can listen for a bit here.

>> thank you very much, everybody. [applause] host: trade deal signed therebetween canada, the united dates, and mexico. you can hear him saying which one matters and the prime minister of canada telling him "we each get a copy." the president has a full agenda for the next couple of days in argentina, meeting with other world leaders.

as we noted at the top, the president will not be meeting with vladimir putin, he canceled that meeting. stateside, the washington post this morning with the headline comey fights bid for closed testimony. comey is asking a federal judge to quash a subpoena insisting he -- postpone the testimony until that can be rolled on. lawyers for comey wrote he is fighting for the committee's bid to force him to testify -- not to avoid doing testimony, but prevent the joint committee by using the pretext of a closed interview to pedal a distorted narrative. comey and loretta lynch were given subpoenas as part of the committee's investigation into two charged probes --

toey said he was willing testify publicly, but would resist doing so behind closed doors. thank you forr: taking my call. i wanted to discuss the border issue. even if they put a border -- wall on the border, we will have people lining up to get in. poverty and violence is driving this problem and prosper -- prosperity can happen in mexico or the u.s. the american dream should be more than just making middle-class because they keep country. are a rich that is not true, we are a blessed country, but not everyone is rich. if god has streets of gold and mansions in heaven, he wants that on earth for all of us.

i think all the leaders and all the countries need to get the concept of we deserve health, prosperity and our souls to prosper to where things are good. host: the border and a wall along the southern border is at the heart of the debate over spending bills that expire next week. leader the minority chuck schumer in the senate talking about the possibility of a government shutdown. [video clip] >> president trump has a simple choice of two good bipartisan options. if he decides to support either ae bipartisan dhs bill or continuing resolution, i am confident both would pass by .omfortable margins the only position that cannot garner 60 votes is the president's position. he is adamant about having a partial shutdown treaty keeps

repeating over and over again that he wants a shutdown and it, he isstake about the only reason there would be a shutdown. if president trump wants to throw a temper tantrum and shutdown some departments and agencies over christmas, that is certainly within his power. he has two more sensible options available to him. it would be a shame if the country suffered because of a trump temper tantrum. it is the president's choice. host: that was chuck schumer on the floor talking about the possibility of the government shutting down. in nashville, tennessee, republican. caller: yes, i want to talk about the inauguration of 2012 and 2008 of barack obama and

hillary clinton became the secretary of state. host: ok. ,aller: during the inauguration hillary clinton prophesies things and told of things on television about nashville, galveston,texas, things that boyd edison howell, the purchaser of the vineyard of god and a branch of the united states company -- america,keepers of people don't even know about this branch. there are things in that inauguration that you cannot find now. when you go back to the inauguration and google it, all you find is segments. you will not find the whole

inauguration because they both talked about god. god said in the end, i will put one in the white house and one in the wilderness. they talked about the one in the wilderness and i am talking about the ones in the wilderness -- in the white house. host: you can go to our video library and watch the inauguration's going back many, many years. you can find that if you go to c-span.org. wall street journal, pension picks panel to bypass deadline. they will miss the headline on addressing -- deadline on addressing shortfalls on multiemployer pension plans. the committee was established in february to improve the solvency of multiemployer pension plans maintained under collective-bargaining agreements between a union and several employers. the pension benefit guaranty -- the government's pension

ensured. friday's deadline, a proposal would not be eligible for expedited floyd -- floor --cedures, making passage chances of passage remote. there is this headline on the economy from the wall street journal, the fed signaling less rate certainty in 2019. greater flex ability and .lliance on data the washington post as a story in the obituary section. many c-span watchers will rep -- recognize his name, ed pastor who served in congress from 1991 to 2015 was a champion of the state's transportation project. he was 75 years old and a state's first hispanic congressman. the cause was a heart attack.

host: let's go to anthony in regina beach, independent, hello. caller: hello. good morning, america. i would like to say no one is against anyone trying to find a better way of life. there are people in leadership and those countries are making things hard for them. furthermore, when people are crossing over the lines and nobody really knows what they are coming with and yes, they are coming with things that basically have been eradicated and done away with in the united states. if we don't pay attention to this, we are going to pay for it later. whether it be the new strain of things showing up in kids and people, when these things affect us at some point in time in the future, it will not be good for us. we need order and if it is not

instigated -- donald trump should get his $5 billion, period and that is it. host: al in missouri, a democrat. caller: i would like to tell all of you in 1982 when reagan came big raise in a their paycheck in congress. now they all got caught and they scared. this is reagan law and reagan law finally got them all caught. host: james in mississippi, independent. caller: good morning. i wanted to say i am 31 years old and i have been passionately following politics pretty much my whole life and i found it very confusing the last few

years to try to understand how to navigate all these different media outlets and try to understand which narratives are to most productive for me understand what is going on in my country and make an informed decision when it comes to going to the polls and it runs the gamut from fox news and msnbc, which both like to talk about how it is their party in power and everything will be good to on the other end of things, you have people like chris hedges paid to chomsky who get speak all over the country to talk about how america is on the verge of collapse. it is confusing to understand where we stand when there are so many different narratives at the same time. host: todd in michigan, independent. caller: good morning. the problem is if you look at

the big picture, when i was born was 37, the population billion. it is now 8.5 billion. that means it is more than double the last 50 years and grown exponentially. these countries that hold -- do whatever they have to do to get water, food and whatever. the only thing that is going to solve all these problems is population control in a world government. host: let's get to barbara in new jersey, a republican. your reaction to this week in washington. caller: good morning, greta. i am calling in regard to

president trump is doing such a great job for all of us. why doesn't they give him a chance? i just don't understand. he fights for us, he wants the wall to be built so people come in like they should, the right way, instead of just coming over and barging in. give them a chance and as far as chuck schumer saying he is taking tantrums, he should be ashamed of himself, our president is only trying to make it a better world for all of us and that is my comment. host: up next, we are going to turn our attention and talk a little bit more about the progression of the robert mueller investigation and michael cohen with jonathan turley. later, brian higgins will join us to talk about nancy pelosi, the future of the party and the legislative agenda.

this weekend, our c-span cities tour travels to riverside, california to feature the city's history and literary life. here is the mayor talking about the diverse population and the economic impact of the reserve base and the citrus industry. [video clip] >> riverside is really in center california. you have an hour to the beach, the mountains, we are a very diverse city. latino in0% are origin and there is 30%-something caucasian. 12% or so of african-americans and less than 10% asian and native american. a couple of interesting populations are the death and heart appear -- deaf and hard of hearing. there are two schools for the

deaf. the southern california one is here in riverside. how riverside got its start came from the navel orange and that came to riverside from brazil and 9 million descendents later, we had another gold rush, the citrus industry created another economic boom in southern california that grew from riverside and expanded once we had the trains and sent them all over the country and the refrigerated box car came to fruition. we were able to send those all the way to the east coast and asia and that is when we became the wealthiest city in the country per capital because of all the money that was associated with the citrus industry and the orange industry specifically. part of our demographic is here partly because of the citrus industry and another large

portion is here because of the air force base. the air force base back in the 1920's began as an airfield and now a reserve base, if not the largest in the country. we will continue to support and advocate for the reserve base because of the economic impact. a lot because of the social capital it brings -- to >> washington journal continues. back we want to welcome our guest to talk about the trump administration. what is your reading of the guilty plea yesterday? >> they are more questions than answers. it represents an ominous stage for the white house. how serious it is is an open

question. caroline is not your ideal witness for anything. he seems to have achieved this almost perfect record of the accused of lying to everyone on everything at every time until this point but mueller is saying i think he is telling the truth now. that his mosting damaging to the president is he lied to congress about win negotiations and discussions were going on with regard to this project in moscow. it did so in part to limit the russian investigation. if the president knew he was going to lie or encouraged them to lie that could represent a serious crime. it could be subornation of perjury. those represent serious torpedoes in the water that could hit the white house depending on what he says next.

trump allegedly continuing negotiations during the campaign, that is not a crime. saying, critics are supplies for them a possible reason why the president was solicitous towards the russians. so there is a lot of stuff floating around in the air. we don't have anything concrete that would connect president trump with a clear crime. post reports what you are saying. some argue mueller appears to be person showed trump speaking a financial endorsement on a private project while vladmir putin was offering to say flattering things about drug.

>> this is not the first of those allegations. the clintons were criticized because huge amounts, tens of millions were given to the clinton foundation when hillary clinton was secretary of state. the washington post reported a lot of that was an effort to buy influence and access to hillary clinton. the amount of money being given to the foundation dropped at a huge rate. when you make those types of arguments you have to have a , there.there major of washington -- that is the nature of washington unfortunately. >> what do you think robert mueller is doing here? >> what i find most interesting about this, this is a guy who mueller wanted to plead guilty. over what was

essentially the draft plea agreement mueller wanted him to sign. muellerinteresting is is clearly punting for trump. the four there was speculation, is he trying to back trump. i think it is clear the answer is yes. tose are moves by mueller get a clean shot at trump. they did not succeed. does he have something more than these individuals? >> michael cohen has made many statements to the house and senate. he put out a statement talking , which wasroject more or less of an option we were looking at. it was written about in newspapers. it was a well-known project. it was during the early part of 16. it lasted a short time.

i did not do the project. doing aot talking about project. we are talking about not doing a project. convicted, iwas guess. he was convicted with a long-term sentence on things totally unrelated to the trump organization having to do with the irs. and i don't know exactly. he was convicted of various things unrelated to us. a fairly long jail sentence. he is a weak person. by being weak unlike other to do, what he is trying is get a reduced sentence. he is lying about a project that everybody knew about. we were open with it. >> this is another curious

aspect. he shouldn't be talking like this about cases he might be involved with but that is something he clearly is not listening to his own counsel and many people in congress. out, heg that stands calls this guy a bomb and how unbelievable he is but he was your personal attorney. he was the guy that you kept on sending people to. it really has the striking conflict. when the special counsel investigation began i said publicly, he needs to sever michael cohen. visitation was well known to most of us. who had and lawyer awful reputation. that was my first priority when asked what legal advice would you give the president. ultimately lots of people said that but he didn't listen. brought them to his resort to

have a public dinner and embraced him. it doesn't make a lot of sense to most of us. even just retaining someone like michael colin. >> what to make of paul manafort? oneanafort is not the first . clearly manafort did not give mueller what mueller wanted. or at least all of what mueller wanted. and hours ins these interviews with mueller. presumably he gave them something. this is the first time he has had a witness blow up on him. you had pop who was the first big lead. he became almost a hostile witness. notably the court refuse. the court gave papadopoulos

exceptionally light sentence. it is not clear what he has gotten. so many witnesses seem to have pushed back on mueller. with manafort there is this intriguing question of whether mueller played manafort whether manafort played mueller. manafort looks now like he had a plan all along to basically switch sides again. this is a wonderful beltway sort of side quarterbacking. mueller got this plea right after manafort was handed his head in virginia. he was not only convicted of multiple counts. he came with the table being

swept of all counts that he would have been convicted on everything. he was heading to d.c. where it was a worse trial waiting for him, where he was looking at horrific allegations come all of which seemed supported by the prosecution. mueller,lips with avoids those convictions. plates to 10 counts and sits there with mueller for months. many people think that mueller was dangling a plea. send him a way she could do that unless trump pardons him. host: we will go to houston, texas. caller: i'm trying to call why everybody links to

trump. why is everybody excusing trump of everything? like all these people are not credible. trump.fend here is not there. all this collusion and stuff with russia, everything. he said russia, if you're listening do this. what he isust ignore doing. what is going on here? man controlling everybody in the united states here now? everybody is looking at the united states and just laughing. this is terrible. guest: the best advice i would

give you is don't be played by either side. both sides are throwing stuff into the air. solely at to look what facts have been released in terms of criminal conduct. has been no there finding directly linking him of a clear crime. that doesn't mean mueller can't do that. more importantly when you talk about apologists for trump or kinde accused of the same of spin ultimately they don't matter. what matters is the special counsel. he is driving hard. the last two weeks has shown he is still trying to back trump. the only reason for these conflicts to come up is they did not give him material on trump. you can rest assured at least one person is not falling for

that type of spin. that is robert mueller. host: tony in florida. caller: good morning. a pleasure to speak with you. mr. trump recently declassified documents that the doj and u.k. particular did not want released. my question is what happens when the declassified documents that show the bad actors of department of justice and fbi all become public, and the truth comes out this investigation was paid for by the clinton gang. fusion gps was involved and possibly british in my six involved as well. what happens when this information comes out? thet: i'm interested in files application. i think there are legitimate questions about what happened.

i have been a critic of pfizer. courtt encountered the when i was an intern at the nsa and had to go into that court. i became an opponent of the court which i think is only loosely defined as a court when you consider the standards they use. every american should be troubled. part onlied in large opposition research by the opposing party of donald trump, and the opposing administration does raise the question. i'm not convinced that is the case but seeing that application would help. there is a lot of overclassification that has occurred. we have had the fbi refused to release information. when that is finally released, it is clear this was not a

legitimate argument for classification. some of the material the fbi has been fighting was material that would embarrass the fbi. it would not disclose sources and methods. it would be a good thing to have greater transparency. >> what about james comey wanting to testify publicly? >> i think comey is dead wrong. i don't even know the basis in which you go to court and say i'm not going to answer a legitimate subpoena because the conditions aren't right for me. most judges would hand your head in the courtroom. that tear counsel and say you don't get to choose. that is the point of a subpoena. -- it is an indication not an invitation to a tea party. they say just come. what he's trying to do here is delay until the democrats come

to power. a lot of judges would be miffed saying you are trying to use this to delay. i do not think he will be successful. host: let's go to hot springs, arkansas. surely. caller: good morning. i have watched on c-span2's two separate times. mr. seymour hearst, a reporter. he made this documentary. i don't know why other people had not watched that. it seems like if they would just show that everybody, especially in the mornings when people are watching, he said this whole thing was started by him. , evene the cia and fbi dick cheney involved in it. if i know that and i'm just an

in the country, why is everybody in washington act like they are so crazy and don't know anything. not anfirst of all it is act. they are crazy. that is very helpful. people have to dig into this on their own. when i said don't be a chomp, voters have been played by both parties and it is not the first time. reporters have to keep their wits about them. they have to look into this on their own. truth there are arguments on both sides of this. i think there is a legitimate are you from trump supporters that how this investigation began is worrisome. that the extent to which the steele dossier was used, the fact the person was targeted was never charged.

it is not clear what was there to justify the secret investigation. on the other hand there are legitimate reasons ordering special counsel. i didn't support the special counsel investigation because i was not clear on what the crime was your supposed to have been articulated crime. collusion is not a crime. that is something i wrote about at the beginning. , andtrump fire james comey said now we need a special counsel, the public has a right to expect an independent investigation. at the end of the day history is going to show there is merit on both sides but both parties have tried to spin this in a grotesque way. which should give the president the most worry? guest: that is an interesting question.

it is the biggest torpedo in the water? i would have to say michael cohen. even though he has zero credibility in terms of his loose understanding of the truth. i went has this unethical practice of taping clients without their knowing it and he has kept all of these records. the greatest threat is probably .n a federal election violation those types of collateral crimes. not dealing with russia. there is no indication he was a key player in the most serious allegations. but he could get the president trouble on those collateral issues. that is not good. manafort there is also not a clear indication manafort was ever that close to trump. he had a her rent a sleep bad reputation in washington before this started.

most were flabbergasted the trump administration picked paul manafort. he was perfectly radioactive. he had sleazy associations. i sleazy approach to the law. he parachuted in for a short his ukrainianinto contexts. if the russians did want to collude and you had to round up the usual suspects, paul manafort would be on top of that list. that is a guy who will collude with anyone at any time if it works for him. that is why mueller looked at manafort. this is the guy if i wanted to do something like that would be on the top of the rolodex. been anybody charged with collusion? host: no.

a lot of people were talking at the crime of collusion. there is no crime of collusion in the criminal code. people begin to accept that and they say how about conspiracy to defraud the united states? you get looser and looser in terms of definitions. cautions, you have to be careful. they are extending these crimes to a point that could come back you ared us, where criminalizing what may be political activity. as of now there is no crime i connected to the president. he issued this statement that he did not know about lake -- wikileaks. that doesn't necessarily mean you can't have obstruction of other crimes. if robert mueller agrees with that, that he doesn't have it evidence on those points it is going to be harder to extend the

criminal narrative against the president. be the crimeuld that he would hand over to the house? guest: i would separate two things. it is going to be a target rich environment. once the report gets to the house, it is going to be damming . the president has made the situation worse for himself by a lot of statements and actions. ,f he had not fire james comey if he fired him at the beginning of the term or weighted to the end and fired him we would never have had the special counsel. fresh investigation would be over. -- a lot of the investigation would be over. a lot of this is self-inflicted wounds. i think the greatest threat to the president has always been collateral crimes. election violations and those things.

those may be coming out in the report. they may be able to investigate that further. the issue of state charges, if the president were to fire -- his pardonfort, doesn't save anyone from state charges including himself. this will continue until the end of his term. hello. one quick comment. this whole special investigation, grand jury, none of it is very good. it doesn't sit well with me. i can be asked about something i did that was not a crime that i do not want to talk about and should not be made to, should .ot be forced into a room i don't call that just is. when i think about the comment

about what a bad guy putin is. are we the pot calling the kettle black here? greta, get well soon. host: thank you. , the: what i would say president has every right not to .nswer questions a president should answer questions. not because it was the smart move as an individual. it is because he is the president of the united states. i thought bill clinton was wrong in creating this narrow scope of questions. i still don't understand why can start agreed to that. he is the president accused of violating federal law. they should investigate those questions. the rightshave all of citizens. bill clinton could have just said i'm going to plead the

fifth. i'm not going to answer a question. that would be the end of it. instead he tried to talk himself around perjury and ended up committing perjury. a federal judge said it was perjury. that is the one thing the president can't do. you are going to refuse to answer and be held in contempt? you can't live. he has not made many statements to investigators. he's only made written answers. vulnerability is actually much limited. the people that are more at risk are those that made a lot of statements. people like michael: and like donald trump, jr. who is on the record with a lot of sworn statements. one of the questions that all of us are looking at is whether robert mueller might go after

donald trump, jr.. if he actually did, this would change -- change rapidly. not in a good way. he could get a response from a father, not a president and this could turn ugly. fire people.could he could hand out pardons. he could take aggressive action. one theory is that if donald trump, jr. did have some vulnerability it would make sense from mueller to do it last because he knows this is a tipping point. things will turn ugly. that does not mean he will. there are a few people watching closely that be the subject of potential indictments.

with all of these -- what -- roger stone. maybe oliver stone. the interesting stuff of the last two weeks, not only is he hunting for trump, but he is really hunting for stone. host: let's go to michigan. caller: good morning. about -- heler, made the statement -- several points. the average american does not agree with what is going on in this country in terms of suppressing people, holding people down. the ugly language mr. trump uses. our value as human beings. have.sic needs we he

they don't agree with that. but you are right in one way. both sides are involved in maligning the american people. putin is not a healthy individual. if he has his way he will take over this country. the red trees in the white house, that is the color of the red and the russian flag. of -- you want to see john kennedy's motorcade. she caught that motorcade. president kennedy told them to stop she stuck out her hand and said mr. president can i shake your hand. my knees shook president obama's hand in detroit a month ago. he wasn't looking right at her. she said mr. president. he shook her hand.

that is what the average american wants. they want to be recognized. they want to be valued, and they want to be supported. meaning,fe that holds i don't think the trump family recognizes those values. they have never lived them. host: any thoughts. guest: wonderful stories print a share your view. one of the most depressing things about being in washington today is not only how disconnected both parties are the voters, but how contempt you can see for voters with elected officials, we have become a nation of chumps. every election we get plagued with blue state red state scam. we vote for both parties. they come men and rarely do what they say they are going to do. you will see the same leaders

coming out this week with the same faces. nothing really changes. these elections are about them. i'm not sure how we can change that accept we have to stop being chums. we have to stop letting them play us. they are serious things in these investigations. we have toof the day sit around together and make a decision, how can we go forward with these leaders and parties who play us every single election and nothing changes? to a republican. caller: i don't think most people aspire to shaking presidents hand. i laugh when you referred to the special counsel as independent. 10you flip a coin 13 times

times in a row and got -- he has 13 democrats investigating trump. give me a break. this is biased. half the american people would stand for any kind of conviction. opposedirst of all, i mueller selection. i think that, i can't imagine how he ended up on the list. i wrote a column almost immediately saying you have got to be kidding me. mueller interviewed for commies job. comey, interviews mueller.

that makes mueller a witness. how rod rosenstein put mueller on the list, trump is correct. where i disagree, i understand people are upset about democrats that are part of this team. i'm going to -- i may be a chump, but i'm going to give them benefit of the doubt. i don't like a couple of the people select did because of the past cases. they are professionals. on itsork will be judged face. people look at this report. thus far i'm underwhelmed by what mueller has produced. he has largely indicted a bunch of people for hacking. we learned more about the hacking effort. in terms of non-russians it has

been shooting the wounded. hitting people like michael flynn. indication the original agents did not think that was an actionable false statement. they were not pursuing him for a charge. mueller did. i'm underwhelmed. we will have to see what he comes up with. host: kevin is in chicago. a democrat. caller: you are underwhelmed. i'm underwhelmed by your presentation this morning. you start from the premise of disagree with everything and vocal about it on fox from the very outset of this. the both sides are playing you for chumps? that is ridiculous. democrats aren't doing anything here. stop that. false equivalency. defense attorney. you are the politics for this.

charliet have to be chan. you do not have to be her joe perrault or sherlock holmes to connect these dots. you know full well dangling a pardon at this stage in an investigation, it is witness tampering. it is sending a message to someone under investigation. several people disagree with you for citrus lay -- vociferously. don't know what scholars disagree with what i said. i did criticize trump for dangling the pardon out. thought was inappropriate and could be used as part of the narrative. kevin, i understand you would prefer to say it is just republicans are chums. the democrats aren't. that sounds like someone who got

played by his side. both sides, that is how you get played. you convince the other side all of those people are chums. in reality i have been critical of both sides. trump in thefended sense that all i have said is you need to separate yourself past -- the passions of the politics and look at the actual crime, and whether we have a crime. many people argue collusion was a crime for months and then they accepted it was not a crime. we have to look concretely at this. i can simply promise trump will indicted and everyone will be thrilled on that side of the aisle. that is not true. you can look at objectively what is a crime and what the evidence shows or you can engage in this

is a recreation. turley, you can find more of his writings on jonathanturley.org. back, brian higgins at our table to discuss nancy pelosi, the leadership, and the legislative agenda. we'll be right back. >> sunday on q&a we visit the washington library at mount vernon for the 2018 debates program. discussing what it means to be american. >> one nation indivisible was a kind of all -- we're altogether. that is somehow elemental to would it means to be an american.

the american character when it america.be valley forge. the ability to temper mize, to be like a guerrilla fighter, to live off the land, to be able to do what we need to do to get the job done. groups were included in what an american is. minority groups were not. women were not considered citizens. that changes over time. over time more and more people are brought into the american family. night on q&a. >> brad meltzer will be our guest. our live call-in program on new

eastern. his book with the escape artist debuted at number one on the new york times bestseller list. as other books include the book of fate, and the first council and eight other best-selling thrillers. with brad meltzer live sunday from noon to 3:00 eastern on book tv on c-span two. >> washington journal continues. brian higginsman back with us to talk about the democratic party leadership happening this week. you were one of 16 democrats who signed a letter of non-supposed -- nonsupport. how did you vote? nancy pelosi. for

i broke with her based on an issue as relates to health care and protection for pre-existing demographics that pre-existing conditions. we talked about it read we agreed to move forward and to work in principle to get something done on that issue. it was good enough for me. host: you spoke with the leader over three days time. guest: i did. prior to thanksgiving. we reviewed what occurred in june with my experience with her and her senior staff. to listen again. we came to an agreement. every member of congress, your vote is your legislative tool. this obviously, it is enhanced. i felt it was an opportunity to use it to achieve to larger

public policy objectives. a infrastructure bill of trillion dollars which not mine only. allow people to insurancere as an option. it is a popular health care system. it always covers pre-existing conditions. i believe it can save individuals 40% when compared with a gold plan on the individual market. is an aged demographic that is statistically older and their utilization is higher. their insurance premiums are much higher. in backing palu c higgins got what he wanted and so did she. a vote for her. quite she did. aloof and called her misguided at one point. >> i did. it was based on my experience with her senior staff.

i felt as though they were not giving serious consideration to an issue that was very important. i support of the affordable care act despite its flaws. he represented not a finished but a start. the democratic majority, we needed to hold up something affirmative to people to give us an opportunity to become a majority. this was an important issue relative to better health care, lower costs, better quality and a good political strategy. pointednted -- we had a disagreement on that. guest: when the congress adjourns what do you think should be first on the agenda? and infrastructure bill. the last time was 15 years ago. we have spent more rebuilding roads and bridges in iraq and

afghanistan. that is inadequate. deficientructurally bridges, tens of thousands of broken roads. ourwer systems that pollute rivers. it is nothing compared to what they need is. there is a tendency to look at infrastructure in terms of need. the need is clear and compelling. we have to look at it in terms of economic growth and job growth. a trillion dollar infrastructure bill would create 11.5 million jobs, 2.3 million a year. for 60 jobs every month months. you are adding $200 billion to the economy each year. that is a little over a percentage. we could potentially get to 4% economic growth if you do that as we did 20 years ago.

had surpluses. not deficits. a lot of people in washington talk about spending. what we really have is a growth problem. if we invest in the growth of the american economy through infrastructure we will see good growth. cut that some people say through dynamic scoring, trickle side, there has been a tax cut in human history to has ever paid for itself. the best you can hope for is a $.30 return for every dollar of tax cut. infrastructure pays for itself. in every dollar you spend terms of roads and bridges you get a two dollar return to the economy. that is a good investment. host: we are taking questions about the democratic leadership, future of the party and legislative agenda as well. phone numbers are on your screen. i want to go back to the vote

for nancy pelosi. the floor.o to she needs to hundred 18. do you think she will get the votes? guest: i do. there are different reasons why people oppose her. peoplee good principled by and large. i think that other members are coming along. here is the problem for me ultimately. these members were committed to blocking the democratic leader becoming speaker. there is no viable alternative. you need to stand up if you want to run for speaker. here are the reasons you are running. in the highly unlikely event that the effort to block her succeeds,ing speaker you are giving an opportunity for someone to grab it that has not earned it or is undeserving

because they are not willing to stand up. with the election of a new generation of leaders and other leadership positions, you are creating what has not been there in a wild. that is a bench. strength to assume a democratic leadership later ron. as you know, leader pelosi is characterized as a transitional leader. it is clear to what that means. i think that was good enough for me. >> cathleen rise, one of the democrats who voted against her, here is what she had to say. >> we need a leader see a transition. not a terribly productive conversation. there were no surprises today. we knew she was going to get a

majority of the votes. that was clearly what we have been saying all along. none of us want to take this to a floor fight. voters have to be heard. i'm hoping people have conversations in the future. >> people need to know when the leadership team plans on turning the reins over to the next generation of leaders. we just elected the most diverse group of leaders to the house in our history. they deserve to know when the ship is going to change. host: do you agree? guest: first of all i think it is good they are negotiating with her. we all have one vote. those votes are greatly enhanced in the circumstances. specific pointte

at which they will leave undermines negotiating position of house democrats that are now in a majority or will be when negotiating with the white house and the senate majority leader. i think again the democratic leader characterization of herself, as a transitional leader is clear about what the intent is. i am comfortable with that. others part of that group of 16 have to get comfortable with it. the fact they are engaged in a negotiation indicates that it is not going to succeed. i am confident leader pelosi will have 218 votes on the floor and that would be a good thing. host: let's go to dominic. i want to talk about nancy pelosi. i'm a union man.

iran when the affordable care act was trying to be passed. the union said you are not taking her health care away. unions were exempt because democrats can't devote against the union. every government employee was exempt. 155 million people exempt from the affordable care act. why we have to find out what wasn it before -- in it was 155 million people were exempt. host: good point. >> of americans like the health insurance they have, they should be able to keep it. unequivocal.e we need better options. i think the private insurance model is to screw people. they are profit oriented.

the age demographic, their premiums are too high. too many co-pays and deductibles. if you gave individuals an opportunity to buy medicare at their own cost, watch how quickly private insurance will change their behavior and protect people with pre-existing conditions. you need a public option. medicare is the best public option that already exists as a counterbalance to private insurance. it is a complicated industry. health care generally an insurance particular. the trouble starts when they need it. defined the coverage was not what they thought it was and the expense and co-pays and adoptable is our exorbitant. it knocks people around. a million people last year out

for bankruptcy because of health care costs. "will go to maryland. angela. caller: hello. thank you for finally putting the public option back in the acm. the medicare buying and is great. it is going to cut bills and half and give them comprehensive coverage they want to worry about pre-existing condition denials. hopefully that goes well eventually you will lower it to everyone who has had a total of 10 years of employment that wants to buy in. it would sure feminists cannot -- medicare trust funds. . host: there is one thing people

need to remember. why do private insurance 10 years ago fight so aggressively against the public option? they were not afraid it would not work. they knew it would not work. i think the federal government needs to do a better job on behalf of the american people to use the leverage we have. we have 58 million people on medicare. there's 30 million people that thehealth insurance at veterans administration. that is a lot of leverage. braids, are negotiating let's use the leverage republicans and democrats him and everybody in between, the american people and the federal government, to get 80 better deal for the american people, to drive down the costs and drive up the quality. host: he will go to a democrat. caller: i just wanted to say

supporter of a big nancy pelosi. i was wondering if barbara lee stepped forward. more progressive folks like her. she was one of the few who stood up against the iraq war. has done some great things like the affordable care act. i have respect for her but she refused to do anything about the crimes of the bush administration. we fear she is going to do nothing about the crimes of the trump administration. in fairness, nancy pelosi was adamantly opposed to u.s. intervention in the iraq war. i will tell you that was a smart decision at the time. taken out a bad the sunni by the name of saddam

who ownsand you know iraq today? iran does. that is too big a price to pay for the lives we have lost. the 6800 american soldiers and 4-6,000,000,000,000 dollars. a fairness nancy pelosi had strong and courageous position against the war much like barbara lee. host: a republican. caller: i did not like his comment about insurance companies and profits. most of youlk about democrats come up with the idea about this one payer. imagine if we had one payer for groceries. everybody on monday would go into the grocery store and load

up on all the groceries they wanted because the government is going to pay for it and tuesday the ball be nothing in there for them. with health care you're going to have to ration. it is going to end up like england, where they refuse to serve you when you get a certain age. , you of your ideas democrats always act like you are progressive. really what you are, you're just full of old stupid ideas that don't work. host: let's get a response. guest: thank's for the call print respectfully, we spend $3 trillion a year on health care. there is a difference between health care and groceries. health care is 18% of the american economy. we simply want to ensure that the money goes to health care and not just the profits of private insurance companies.

you've got providers, doctors, fish dish and specialists, and you have the patient. the vast majority of the money should be exchange between the two of them. i don't think you need insurance companies as a broker for that. that is where the rationing occurs. health insurance, if you look at any group of the biggest apartment is billing. what billing does is likely insurance companies. to get people coverage for the treatments a doctor determines they need. we are goingying to tip the playing field to the advantage of patients and doctors and other providers. is good.ere medicare prior to the enactment of medicare, less than 50% of older americans had health insurance. private insurance didn't want to write a policy for them. they used too much health care.

it was not profitable for them. is 97% of seniors who have health insurance. except doctors, except medicare. the growth has been cut considerably to around the rate of inflation. that is what economists would refer to as coughing the cost curve. medicare has achieved that. to allow people to buy medicare is a health insurance option would properly influence and level the playing field in the private insurance market as well. hello congressman. and raised a democrat. the democratic party left me a long time ago after mr. reagan.

there is no trust fund. the democrats spent that money over 50 years ago. ,f it had not been for that medicare would not have a problem today. host: the house is coming in early. i want to get a response. ,uest: what i would say to you my colleagues in congress, my republican colleagues you should talk about the moral horror of passing on the debt and deficit to the next generation. , more debtave done and deficit in the history of the country. ist to me is something that egregious and something that we hope to turn around with investments in the growth of the american economy. last time we have budgetary surpluses, when we had growth at 4%.

i don't quite understand the idea around previous administration's providing huge tax cut is that were never paid for. there is not a tax cut in human history that ever paid for itself. we talk about supply-side economics, trickle down and the new term, it is just a rebranding of that old discredited theory. here is what we know. it just does not work. it is not ideological. it is commonsensical. if the color looks at the record he will see where the vast majority of debt and deficit has been accumulated. it has been under republican controlled washington. we will hear more from nancy pelosi, holding a news conference at 11:00 a.m. eastern time.

coverage of that, you can listen with our free c-span radio app. real quickly before the house comes in, will there be a government shutdown next week? host: my hope is that there will not be. my hope is that there will not be. people should keep something in mind. the most powerful branch of the federal government is the united states congress. branch ofowerful congress is the house of representatives. over the last couple of years the congress has been marginalized by the white house. it is afraid to act. 80% of americans have a low opinion of congress. you go to congress, you choose

the constitutional powers you have to change neighborhoods. my hope is, i would admonish and encourage my colleagues to live up to the constitutional obligations all of us took an programso, and promote that will grow the economy through health care and many other programs i think are important. thank you for the conversation. >> the house is going to be coming in here any moment for the legislative session. it begins here early. they will take a vote. it was supposed to be on the second tax cut bill. we understand that is not happening today. they will come in for the legislation this legislative session now.

the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered bay our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. loving god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. in the waning days of this 115th congress, we ask your blessing, o lord, upon the members of this people's house and most especially upon the leadership. it is on their shoulders, the most important negotiations of this congress have been placed. they have been entrusted bay their fellow americans with the awe -- by their fellow

americans with the