announcer: c-span, where history unfolds daily. 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white court, andsupreme public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. announcer: the white house did not release an address this week. a democratic weekly address was addressed by a governor. he talked about the government shutdown and border security. chris.i'm a senator from the great state of maryland. a few weeks ago, president trump told the country he would be proud to shut down the government if he didn't get his way so here we are. two weeks into an unnecessary government shutdown because

president trump and my republican colleagues are playing political games with the important issue of order security. we all support providing strong and effective border security, but we shouldn't be wasting taxpayer money on an ineffective, 2000 mile-long wall that the president said mexico, not american taxpayers, would pay for. the president has not even spent all of the border security money already allocated by congress, and now he is demanding billions more. more than he asked for in his own budget request for this year. we didn't need to come to this. we hadfore the holiday, a big bipartisan vote in the united states senate to keep the government open. the white house indicated the president would sign the bill. byn, after he was criticized right-wing talkshow hosts, the president flip flopped and

former republican speaker, paul allow afused to even vote in the house on the bipartisan senate bill to keep the government open. as a result, parts of the federal government shutdown and families across the country and our entire economy are paying the price. mr. president, this is nothing to be proud of. every 15 federal departments and dozens of agencies have closed, and many services for american families have ground to a halt read from small business support to farm service centers, to supplemental food i goes to soup kitchens, food banks, and pantries. at the same time, more than 450,000 federal workers are doing their jobs without getting a paycheck. including more than 41,000 federal law enforcement and correctional officers, and up to 80% of the department of homeland security employees,

including the men and women providing border security. over 380,000t, federal employees have been for load without pay. furloughed without pay. i have heard from federal employees that i represent who spent christmas and new year's worrying about how they will make ends meet if the shutdown continues. injury, thet to trump administration suggests to barterers try handyman services in exchange for rent money. and to pay out of their own pockets the highering of lawyers. give me a break. the shutdown affects every part of our country. federal employees are based outside of the extended washington dc metropolitan area. almost one third of federal workers are veterans.

this government shutdown is part path, of a president who puts his personal whims and effort to support political points before the needs of the american people. fortunately, with democrats taking control of the house of representatives, we have a new path forward to end the trunk shut down -- trump shutdown. right after they were sworn in on thursday, the house democrats quickly passed two bills to keep the government open. one bill would find the department of homeland security at current levels, the same level president trump previously signed into law, until february 8, and give the congress and president time to try to resolve their differences over the best approach to border security. the other bill, which would fully fund all of the government agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year, has the same bills the senate or

senate appropriations committee have already passed on a bipartisan basis. both of these bills from the house would ensure federal employees are paid and not punished for a shut down they had nothing to do with. this is a straightforward, simple solution. news, president trump has already rejected this commonsense legislation. he wants to keep all of the shut government agencies closed until you gets more money for his unnecessary wall. even the eight federal departments that have nothing to do with border security. now, senate republican leader mcconnell and his caucus are refusing to even allow a vote on this proposal, despite the fact that many of them already voted in favor of the same funding levels. this is political cowardice at its worst. the president told the country he would be proud to shut down the government and proud to

assume full responsibility for the shutdown. now he is pointing fingers at everyone but himself. the key to ending the shutdown is in his hands. with his support, the senate could move immediately to pass this legislation and and the shutdown. let's do the right thing. it's time to end this government shutdown so we can have a happier start to the new year. thank you. announcer: today's day 15 of the partial government shutdown. president trump says he will only sign legislation if it includes money for a border wall , which congressional democrats oppose. under new democratic leadership, the house of representatives improved -- approved legislation to reopen the government but not provide funding for the border wall. mitch mcconnell said the senate will not vote on that bill. as the debate continues, you can follow the story on the c-span networks with live coverage of the house on c-span and see the senate on c-span2.

c-span's washington journal is live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. sunday morning, a look at the trump administration's foreign policy with the director of research at the foundation for defense of democracy, and okie henderson news director from radio iowa along with paul steinhauser, a political reporter, will talk about potential candidates of the 2020 presidential election. willgn affairs magazine assess policy challenges facing the u.s. in 2019. be sure to watch washington journal, live at 7:00 eastern on sunday morning. join the discussion. announcer: tomorrow, on c-span's newsmakers, ew democratic newsmakers in the house of representatives.

newsmakers, sunday on c-span at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. eastern. announcer: c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service. by america's cable television companies. today we continue to bring you , unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> we want to introduce you to kai-fu lee. he is the author of this book, china, silicon: valley, and the new world order." we will talk about that book in a moment, what first, give us a sense of your background and some of the jobs you have held. kai-fu: i have a phd in artificial intelligencom