thank you. this.t do it because of we are going to say here for a minute. >> today on c-span, "washington journal" is next with your phone calls, followed by live coverage of the house as they work on bills over the interior department and national parks. in about an hour, we will talk to libre initiative daniel garza about an effort by

conservative groups pushing for a deal that would give legal dreamers" so-called " in exchange for border security funding. later, a discussion about the border -- republican shutdown with maryland congressman jamie raskin. [video clip] >> the president repeated over and over, i am not going to sign a funding bill until it adds additional border security and for some reason, half of this hill ignored it and said he is just kidding. >> these people cannot go to their fathers to cover their payment, their cost. can you? can any of you if this happened to you? ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] host: federal workers only this morning on this january 11, the 21st day of the government shutdown. it is payday for hundreds of thousands of federal workers with no pay. how is this shutdown impacting

you? if you are a furloughed employee, dial in at 202-748-8000. if you have been deemed essential, dial in at 202-748-8001. join us on twitter as well at @cspanwj or facebook.com/cspan. before we get to your calls, more from the debate in washington. here is chuck schumer on the floor talking about the impact of this on federal workers. [video clip] >> many federal employees, and 5's,rly the gs-3's paycheck to paycheck. what on earth do these employees and their agencies have to do with disagreements here over security down on our southern border? the president is treating these hard-working americans as nothing short of leverage, ponds

is his political -- in his extract $5ambit to billion from american taxpayers to fund a border wall he promised mexico would pay for. this is ridiculous and it is cruel and it needs to end now. right now. the democratic position is very simple. let's separate our disagreements over border security from the government shutdown. reopen all the government agencies unrelated to border security and let's continue to work to resolve our differences. do not hold all of these workers pawns, ass, as leverage. host: we want to hear from federal workers. do you agree with democrats on not funding the wall or do you agree with the president and what is the impact of the shut down on you.

taking a look at the washington post coverage of the shut down. now on craigslist, facebook, household items from furloughed workers trying to make ends meet. tensions rise in federal prisons as we regards go without pay and work double shifts. will the government shutdown affect your next flight? tsa security is in general. column.gy 202 another headline this morning, this is ridiculous, small business owners can't get loans as shutdown enters day 20. pentagon searching for project it could cut or delay if trump declares emergency and directs military to fund the border wall. a shutdown continues, so does damage to u.s. science. those are departments that do research in areas across the

federal government. shutdown threatens national security, fbi agent's group worn. those are the headlines in the washington post and the impact of the shutdown as it enters the 21st day. saturday will set a new record for shutdowns. from senator james lankford on the floor yesterday stressing president trump gave democrats a warning about this. [video clip] >> president of the united states months and months ago announced publicly and repetitively he is not going to sign a funding bill at the end of the year that does not add additional border security. over and over again in public speeches and private conversations on this hill, the president repeated over and over, i am not going to sign a funding bill unless it adds additional border security. for some reason, half of this hill ignored it and said he is

just kidding. he is not just kidding. he sees the issue of border security, which i do as well, as being a serious issue that has been talked about for decades and not addressed. all of these families are being impacted because half of this hill said they thought the president was kidding. we should be able to do basic border security. this used to not be a partisan issue. host: that was senator langford on the floor yesterday. president trump promised democratic senator tim kaine of virginia that he will sign a bill providing backpay to federal workers once the government shutdown ends, which stretched 20 days. the senate passed by unanimous consent yesterday evening providing that federal workers essential and furloughed employees will be paid once the shutdown is over. federal employees are due to miss paychecks today, which caused consternation in the washington, d.c. region. tweeting out the

government shutdown, day 21 ties the record for the longest in history with 1996 shutdown during president bill clinton's administration. over on the house, this week the strategy has been to try and reopen the federal agencies that are closed one by one, making republicans take votes. the headline on rollcall's website, republican defections on house spending bills to end shutdown tick up. the number of house republicans increased slightly yesterday. thursday the house voted 234-180 to pass a spending bill and 243-183 to pass an agricultural appropriations bill. the votes came after they passed -- a vote on interior and environment appropriations bills is planned for today. the senate has no plans to hold

a vote on any of these bills. two republicans, representative rodney davis and chris smith of new jersey voted for the ag and hud bill along with 8 republicans who voted for the financial services bill. adam kinzinger of illinois, police of new york, fred upton of michigan and fred walkin -- of oregon. .et's go to ardmore, oklahoma irs furloughed worker. good morning to you. what has this been like for you? caller: i guess what america is not understanding is yeah, it is difficult to miss your pay, but we are also given the opportunity to draw unemployment . if they turned around and want to come back and give us backpay, we pay that back.

pelosi, they don't understand this is something that needs to be done. we need something to protect our borders and it is not just because trump pulled it out of the air one day. this has been all the way back to the bush and clinton and even obama when he first got in and it is now a problem that you are going to shut down until we got the problem. in ardmore, we are halfway between dallas and oklahoma city. this town alone has one of the highest drug rates around this area -- in the united states currently for drugs, trafficking just from mexico through to oklahoma city. my personal opinion, i believe this is a necessary thing that needs to be done. government workers are allowed to get unemployment. we are not going to go without

pay. everything is going to work out. this is something -- us americans need to back him and go for the wall to protect us in the long run. host: is today payday for you? caller: yes. host: so you will not receive any pay? .aller: i get my unemployment to -- direct deposit normally would've been on friday. since i am on unemployment, it comes on a wednesday and deposits on our check. host: as soon as the government shut down, did you immediately file for unemployment benefits. caller: yes. host: it was quickly approved in the process started? caller: yeah, there was not a problem at all. as soon you call to do your report on it, they ask you a few

questions and tell you that you are completely eligible for that and all you have to do is do your weekly call ins and all that stuff. host: is there anything you have to do to comply with getting these benefits? besides the weekly phone call? caller: no, you just have to let them know your job will eventually come back and you are under the understanding that if it happens in the government gives us backpay, then we are possibly -- pay that back, but there will be interest. host: how much of your pay are you missing? how much on it -- the unemployment benefits cover? missingi am only basically the taxes that get

taken out. sound likeis doesn't it is that much of a stretch for you. caller: no, not at all. i believe if people really think it through and i mean, really think it through, you don't like trump, you don't like obama, who cares. rightct of it is he was what he was saying on tv a while ago. .he drugs are insane gettingd families are taken apart from each other. that is sad. go toint of it is -- canada and they will not let you through the border without proper documentation. mexico has its problems and i hate that for them. there has to be somebody in

their country that can step up and put a stop to that and we can even aid to the border to help that happen. it would not surprise me at all if any of our presence would -- presidents would not send the military to mexico to help clean that up. host: i will leave it there and add to what you were saying about unemployment benefits. contractors and employees living in d.c., maryland, and virginia applied for under limit benefits . that includes 449,000 29 federal workers and a little over -- roughly 800,000 federal workers affected, 350,000 of whom are furloughed and the rest are still on the job without pay. gwendolyn, who is a furloughed treasury worker in georgia, good morning, you are next. what is the impact on you? is, of the impact on me

course i have responsibilities that have to be paid. we are expected to hold a certain standard as government employees as far as our credit and keeping our business intact arehen the politicians willing to put us in a position where we could lose our credit rating, we will have all kinds of late fees for paying bills late. it takes time to build a good credit rating. also, i need to pay my car insurance. i am not allowed to drive in my state if i am not covered. if i cannot pay my bill. how are we even to go back to work and even start to begin the --fter host: when the government opens

up? caller: yes. host: have you applied for unemployment benefits? are you receiving them? i planned to, but listening to the caller before me, there is no comparison in my regular paycheck. i will be losing a third of what i normally bring home. unemployment might pay my light bill, but it will not pay my mortgage. gasight help me get cass -- in my car, but it will not pay the other items that are important in my monthly financial routine. unemployment is not anything to get excited about. when and if the government opens back up, what sort of -- what is sort of your outlook of working for the government going forward? caller: i am glad you asked. that everyis

republican president has seemed to create a fear and urgency, there has to be something, there are weapons of mass destruction, so we need money to go fight this war, we get government contracts and we share the money once the contract goes out for the $5 billion. you get to billion dollars, i get $3 billion or you get $3 billion to fund the wall and i put those -- $2 billion into my pocket. didn't the republican-controlled congress and senate give him the wall? theis it now placed on democrats that they did not do it for him? they knew it was not a good idea. host: the washington post has an article about the impact on fbi employees. as you are noting, this hurts your credit score.

a group representing fbi agent's warned -- working without peg rowand just personal -- without pay grow anxious. in a letter to the white house and lawmakers, the root -- group wrote of their agents are subject to high security standards that include rigorous and routine financial background checks. missing payment on debt can create delays in securing or renewing security clearance and disqualify agents from continuing to serve in some cases. helen in brooklyn, your daughter is an essential worker, do you mind telling us where she works? caller: she works for the metropolitan detention center in brooklyn, new york. host: so she is going without pay? caller: yes. the reason i am calling in is i heard the furloughed employees talking about unemployment. essential employees are not capable of applying.

as soon they determined they are an essential employee, they tell them they cannot apply for unemployment because they will be getting their pay. i wanted to know, do you have additional information on that. host: i don't off the top of my head. maybe others could call in as we continue talking to federal workers only. what is your daughter saying about this? caller: she is at work and she cannot call in. she is saying after the shutdown of january 18 that she started to pay attention and be responsible. that is not the point. like the young lady said previously, they are required to submit their credit reports every year. they cannot be in debt. they could not be in debt to get the job. to force them to possibly be in debt after most people only have

two to three months and after that, they are in debt and it goes in their credit report and they get called in. we don't hear anything about the government saying they will do anything about that. employees outtial there that are all going to be put in a situation where they cannot get benefits because they have essential employment. she was sounds like -- prepared. it did she save money? did she have a large amount of money in a savings account? caller: no, ma'am. she is married, but there is not a lot of money in the savings account. a vacation had to be canceled and that money will have to be used to sustain. host: the washington post again this morning, military looking for possible wall funds.

one possible workaround for trump is a little-known section of u.s. code governing the military that allows the defense secretary to tap money in the consisting military budget for urgent projects in support of troops deployed in a national emergency. it limits the administration to assessing money congress already has appropriated, but not yet been obligated, committed to specific projects. the president could take a different route, which he was considering thursday, a separate statute allows the president to terminate army civil work projects in the event of a national emergency and apply that to resources deemed essential for national defense. trump is considering taking a portion of the disaster funding congress allowed to the army corps of engineers that has not been spent yet. there is about $10 billion left on obligated in the defense budget.

in addition to $13 billion that rolled over from the past five years. would you like the president to take this route? to use money for the wall by declaring a national emergency? oscar in texas, you are an essential employee of the tsa. that means you have been working. have you noticed some of your colleagues are not showing up or quitting? want toi really don't put them out there like that. that weot to understand are just sort of like blue-collar workers and we have a life we have to maintain on the daily besides just having security and safety on airlines. when you areeaking

not having any type of financial andility and you show up you have to. you have to show up because you have a duty. not getting paid -- you come you are really thinking about, is it really worth it? this promise in the future , whichever time that might occur that we might get paid next weekend or the days to no guarantee. is i have never followed politics as close as this year and last year. nothey kind of hinted that this was going to come.

to me, it is like it is personal. i see one side trying to negotiate and another side trying to actually bully. let me just say this one thing. i live in texas. i live in texas. that first caller being in oklahoma, i don't know what she is talking about. drugs are everywhere. if there is going to be anyway moreop drugs -- you get drug trafficking through planes, airlines then people trying to jump all wall or dig under all wall. -- under a wall. host: oscar in texas. let's go to ken in washington, d.c.. you are an essential employee, what do you do? caller: i work for the

legislative branch of congress. host: was today your payday? caller: today is my payday, correct. host: what has this done? what is the impact on you? caller: i have two kids in college. i support them. the most of the college -- the college said they could do -- basically the first payment i missed, they said they would give me two weeks from that day to pay on it. if not, they are not going to be able to go to school after that. me iebts i have, they told -- lessy $100 here or than the amount i have to pay, but the day the shutdown ends, i have to pay it back within full to at least one of my debtors within 72 hours. that caller earlier was obviously either mistaken or

lying because if i pick unemployment, i have to pay that back as well. it is not a grant, it is money you have to pay back if you take unemployment. host: if you get back pay, then you have to pay back the unemployment. caller: correct. if you take unemployment, you have to pay it back. i don't know where she got her narrative from. employee she is not an or an agency that explains everything clearly. .t is very unfortunate i am close to retirement, but i would have to go into my retirement to support my kids and the other things i have. i get charged for that, too. i get interest on my dollar, i would have to pay that back for i am eligible to retire. support way i would

this person in the white house by any way with this money he wants is if he gives complete, unrestricted access to his taxes and who eos. if he does that tomorrow -- who he owes. if he does that tomorrow, i would support it. you show me your debt, who you owe and allow the mueller investigation to take his information and then do what you want. if not, the truth should be told. in the military and ports of entry are the main entry, that is where the biggest amounts of drugs come over this country. most of the time, by sea. i am in a position where i can only do the best i can. caller: are you thinking about selling any assets? host: -- caller: probably a couple of things.

you have personal items like a motorcycle, things like that that i have already paid off. i don't know. i don't know what i am going to do. i don't know. host: farm country titans belt as help ends. in in upstate new york, paying more -- on the brink of ruin. she and her husband had up to $350,000 to keep the dairy ofning after 31 cows died pneumonia. their last lifetime -- lifeline was a federal loan, derailed by the shutdown. farm country stood by president trump even as -- as the government shutdown drags into its third week, some farmers say the loss of crucial loans, payments, and other services pushed them and their support to a breaking point. nancy pelosi held her weekly

news briefing with reporters yesterday and here is what she had to say. [video clip] >> the fact is what the president is proposing is not the best way to protect our borders and i want to correct the record, he has not told the truth if he asked me in 30 days if i would support berger security ant -- border security and i said no. he knows and the people in the knows what happened. he said in 30 days would you support a wall? and i said no. he talks about drugs coming into the country. 90% of the drugs come in through the ports of entry. we are proposing to build the infrastructure of the ports of entry and strengthen that, the ports of entry. spend the money, hundreds of million dollars, but accessible to have the scanning technology

forcan cars coming through drugs, contraband of any kind, weapons even. prepare the roads to facilitate immigration and trade in those regions. -- shall we say almost technological wall that can be built is what we should be doing. i don't even know if the president wants the wall, i think he just wants to debate on the wall and he is having some difficulty with it because now -- would you think a person who has confidence in the strength --his own arguments with his those he is debating bit -- with our the american people, to have confidence in your own position, why would you say you have to shutdown down the government so people will heed what i am

saying? it is a bad thing. host: speaker of the house yesterday and the headline on roll call, negotiations for a larger immigration deal have fallen apart. lindsey graham throws in the towel on talks to end the shutdown. he is now calling on the president to invoke executive powers to try to build the wall on the border with mexico. speaker pelosi's refusal to negotiate virtually ends the congressional path to funding .or a border wall barrier it is time for president trump to use emergency powers to fund the construction of a border wall. i hope it works. he said earlier in the afternoon yesterday he was done trying to find a solution for a path to reopen one quarter of the government that is now closed. federal workers only this morning. we are talking to furloughed

workers and essential workers. how is this impacting you. at the white house, they stopped paying the water bill and 156 of 359executive mansion's full-time employees are allowed to report for duty because their work is considered essential. maryland. [no audio] -- we are listening to you. what has this been like for you? caller: i am prepared for it, but this conversation needs to be a one-sided conversation. this is not democrats doing this, this is number 45 doing this because this guy is incompetent and weak. he needs to harm people just to get his way. and i wonder why

our senators -- every time you talk about republicans, it has to be lindsay. there are 60 more that can talk on this. we need to get the government open and let people work. i cannot believe this is happening. when obama was president, you guys were on his case left and right. he had enough sense not to do anything like this. you should bring on a congressman to have them, when they shut down the government, they lose their pay also. in new york, you work for the tsa. you are on the air. caller: hi, greta. the lady that was on before this guy who said she had gone and filed for unemployment, no, she was either fabricating or

misstating something. if you get that money, you have to pay that money back because you have a job -- what she said was incorrect. i have a cousin who works for and -- he is a traffic controller in the sky. traffic controllers are working extra shifts, three and four hour extra shifts and as a result, it is causing a fatigue on the job and people are getting tired and people are getting sluggish and this will lead to a catastrophe. it hasn't happened yet, but this might lead to that and you know what? these republicans go all around. it's -- you talk about it is time for this investigation took

close. when bill clinton was being investigated, it took three or four years. republicans had an offer from democrats. nancy pelosi and schumer came together and offered 25 million --daca andd this this and that and other things. he listened to and colder and sean hannity and this guy in the white house from south carolina -- as a result, this is a manufactured saying. this thing is a manufactured saying. what we need is smart technology. 75% of the drugs are coming through legal ports of entry. up portso strengthen

of entry. we need technology. we need more employees for border patrol. what happened to mexico is supposed to pay for this? said republicans were going to pay for this. host: the president yesterday went to texas and met with officials on the ground where they had before him weapons they had seized, drugs as you were talking about. those apprehended at ports of entry. the president then did go to mission, texas, to look at the border and this is what he was told by border agents on the ground. [video clip] this have 55 miles in sector. we started a job in 2006 and we need to finish that job. we need the personnel and

resources and infrastructure in order to control this border and manage it. part of our area is covered on our east side. that accounts for about 6% of our traffic. where we have no fencing, over 90% of our traffic occurs in those areas. >> okay, folks? you don't have to say anymore. this, i spoke before never told you to say that. >> no, sir. >> it makes sense, i should have told you to say that. he said it perfectly. they have grueling problems. and a lot of death. washington yesterday on the 20th day of the partial government shutdown, the washington times has this caption of the picture of federal employees rallying outside the capital to protest the impacts -- impasse between

congress and president trump. federal employees will not be receiving their paychecks as scheduled today. we covered this rally so if you missed it and wanted to hear from the federal employees, you can go to our website, c-span.org. after they spoke on the capital, they marched to the white house to protest. what doin georgia, fda, you do? caller: i am a biologist. host: what kind of work? exactly. caller: we sample and check food filtration.ants and we try to ensure the food coming into america is safe for consumption. --t: are you consumed concerned if you and others are not working? i am very concerned and this country, this nation should be concerned. this president should be concerned. federal employees don't go to

work arbitrarily to go to work and do nothing. we serve the people. we work for you. if we are not performing our jobs, that is a service not being done. somebody is going to suffer for that. host: what could happen if the food is not inspected? caller: common sense, america. what do you think is going to happen. host: is there some food being asked -- being inspected and other that is not? caller: essential personnel perform their tasks as well as they can. you cannot perform the tasks of an entire force. naturally, there are things that will be missed or not checked, assignments and private inspections that will not be done. you cannot perform the task of an entire department with a third of your staff. it is not feasible. host: laura in texas. hi, laura. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. host: you work for the irs and you have been furloughed. caller: absolutely since december 22 and it is really starting to pinch. have $125 in my bank account and that is supposed to see me through the end of this. i don't expect to be paid today because that is not the way the game works and i don't lame president trump for putting his foot down over the wall. there is a lot of blame that goes around a congress that wants to play chicken with the lives of their employees who work for the government is unacceptable. these people get paid thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars and they are not worrying about meeting their obligations with respect to their bills. it is very disappointing and

frankly, these matters are too important for pelosi and schumer and macconnell and everybody else to be playing games with our lives. host: laura in austin, texas. in texas. go ahead. hou.r: i work at i am calling because i am a federal worker and those here at tsa are committed to serving the people, the public and getting travel through safely. however, if we do not get paid, there will be a consequence to be paid. we are the middle class. federal workers are the middle class. what part do they not understand? we have to get it right. host: what will the price be? at the ballot box and how you vote? or the economy.

caller: not the ballot box. yes, the economy itself read we are the middle class. host: okay. the federal reserve chair jerome powell talked about that yesterday as well, that if the government shutdown continues, you will see it in the economic numbers. we covered his remarks. if you go to our website, you can watch it. new york times this morning, this is a story and all the papers, michael cohen set to testify before congress. his decision to appear before the house oversight and reform committee february 7 sets the stage for a blockbuster public hearing that threatens to further damage the president's image and clarify the death -- depth of his legal woes. the machinations of

the machinations of mr. trump's inner circle and key moments under scrutiny by both the special counsel, robert mueller, and federal prosecutors in new york. set your calendars, february 7, house oversight and government reform committee. joe in new jersey, retired coast guard. good morning to you. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. my issues today -- in the history of the united states coast guard, we don't get paid today. we are military service, the fifth branch of the u.s. military. we are in homeland security because that is how alexander hamilton set it up. we are the only service that can make a civilian arrest, the only legislative body that carries subpoenas in our bag. i have been retired two years and i am an -- eight disabled -- i am a disabled retired veteran. now our retirement is in jeopardy in the most frustrating part is me and my fellow coast

guardsmen have already earned this benefit. i don't hear anybody talking about u.s. coast guard tyree's. we are in the same boat unfortunately as my fellow coast guard who are currently furloughed. it is to the point of ridiculousness. we are the united states coast guard. what if the ceos of each unit said we would not perform inspections today and the foreign vessels we inspect start lining up all the ports? then they will get calls in congress from our international trade partners. maybe that is what should happen. retirede in new jersey, coast guard worker. sarah langford on the floor, we -- senator langford on the floor, we told you what he said about president trump and he talked about the impact of the shutdown on unpaid workers. the technology company in tulsa that will have to begin

-- >> the technology company in tulsa is a contractor for the federal workforce. for those selling their cattle -- they cannot cash that check because they cannot get a second .osigner and that affects them we have a federal worker that contacted us and said she is a contractor and as of a couple of days from now, she will not be able to pay for her son's tuition to get back to college. it will be too far of a stretch. the food banks have started stocking up and reaching to federal employees that if they don't get a check starting tomorrow, they will be stretched to get a check and they will need additional assistance, many time ash many of them for the first time ever. the normanamily in area, south of oklahoma city that typically handles the contract for housing for those students coming to faa into the

academy. those academy students have all gone home and they are losing $5,000 a week due to the shutdown and the lack of housing for those folks and it is not just empty facilities, that are -- that is employees being furloughed that our contractors. this affects your lives and real people. this is an exceptionally avoidable shutdown. host: senator langford talking about the state of oklahoma. it's not just the washington, d.c. area where federal workers are impacted. take a look at the map, oklahoma, 46,000. if you go out west, new mexico, 127,000. arizona, 29. on and on in the west. there is a large population of federal workers on the east coast. maryland, 137,000. virginia, 73 and west virginia, 81,000.

, good morninghoma to you. what impact is this having on you? caller: yes, ma'am. my friends and i are working and not getting paid for three weeks and we are having trouble. i wasn't able to pay the rent and we got letters to give to our bill collectors. my car payment said they cannot accept that letter and some of my other friends said their bills said the same thing. it is difficult. host: the letter the agency told you -- caller: they gave us letters to give to our creditors and said we are continuing to work, but not getting paid so they said to give these letters to our creditors, but they are not working in some cases. host: what are you going to do? caller: we are continuing to work and pray they can work this out quickly so we can take care of our families. host: what if it stretches on

for two weeks, three weeks, a month. what would you have to do? caller: we would have to look for other jobs if we cannot support our families, waiting. it is sad because we have been in system for years. host: are you close to retirement? are you staying because of the benefits of working for the federal government? caller: yes, i am close to retirement and i have friends that are a couple of years away as well and we like our jobs. we want to keep them as long as we can, but they are making it difficult. i have a young child i am trying to get through school and pay for her expenses as well. host: that was denise in oklahoma. the president this morning holders can, h1-b rest assured changes are coming which will bring simplicity and certainty to your stay, including a path to citizenship.

we want to encourage talented and highly skilled people to in thecareer options united states. let's hear from david in arlington, virginia. you have been furloughed. what do you do? with hiringrk to stopwhich we have doing at this point in time. host: what could be the fallout of that? caller: we are not going to hit our numbers to bring in border patrol agents and possibly customs officers would be one of the impacts. one of the solutions that has been proposed that instead of the wall, we hire border patrol agent. that is a thorough and lengthy process that is getting shorter all the time, but we want to make sure we hire the right people. that is becoming more difficult to recruit if we are shutdown.

who wants to do a job where you are going to be laid off for three weeks every once in a while? up the pointring that in terms of conflict resolution, both sides seem to be dug in so much that there is no way out of this. what is going to have to happen is both sides claimed victory acknowledging they did not get everything they want and i cannot see how they get to the middle. lindsey graham's idea of making the problem bigger said there could be a win for the democrats seemed to make sense and i am sorry that did not get any traction. story,euters with this the u.s.-led coalition said it andted syria withdraw indicated the start of a u.s. pullout that has been clouded by mixed messages from washington.

the president announced he decided to withdraw 2000 u.s. troops. it stunned allies. senior u.s. officials were shocked, among them, jim mattis, who quit in protest. russia said it had the impression the united states wanted to stay despite the unannounced withdrawal of troops . the u.s.'s decision injected new certainties into the eight year long syrian war and a flurry of securitywere resulting vacuum -- that is also a front page story on the wall street journal, pentagon pushes forward on the syria pullout. john bolton said this week the u.s. would not leave syria until turkey promised not to target the u.s.'s kurdish partners, throwing the withdrawal plan

into turmoil. defense officials said the pentagon hasn't received new direction and until it does, they are proceeding with withdrawal plans. back to our conversation, federal workers only, the impact of this shutdown on you, talking to furloughed and essential employees. employee whoential works at the agriculture department in athens, georgia. caller: good morning. how are you doing today? host: good morning. caller: i am a food safety chemist with the united states department of agriculture. i am an essential employee and have to show up to work without getting pay. one thing i don't hear my federal employees saying is it is tough during a furlough -- government shutdown and i am one of those employees that lives paycheck to paycheck. i was telling the screener, this proofentially a session

job. my counterpart to do food safety -- if there is a recession across all sectors of industry, tens of thousands of people get laid off and government workers don't have to suffer that fate. i started working with the usta under the obama administration and i cannot tell you how much free time with pay we were given. the day before christmas, you got to leave for hours early with pay. fourth of july, you would get to leave work for hours early with pay. it is a very cushy job. i know it is tough, but it is an extremely low stress environment. you work monday through friday, you get the weekends off, the federal holidays off with pay. you knowral employee, this going into the job that if there is a government shutdown, you will either have to get

furloughed or show up to work and not get paid. you accept that when you accept the job. host: so there is an exchange, you are saying. caller: yeah. we get back paid anyway. i call my credit card companies and tell my landlord this is happening and they are very accommodating in my case. it may take a hit to your credit score. i am not too sure, we will see what happens. if you have a good history paying your bills on time when there is a government shutdown, there usually is not a problem. i see a lot of my fellow employees complaining, but a lot of them never worked in private industry and a lot of them don't know what it is like to work a 12 hour day or whatnot in private industry and worry about their company getting acquired from another company and getting laid off. there's a lot of job security and a lot of paid family time is

given to you. it is one of those things that comes with the territory and it's really not as bad as -- you just don't hear it in the media. you don't hear what i just told you in the media. you hear i for stuff for federal workers. they cannot live paycheck-to-paycheck have to show up to work and not get paid. they don't talk about the recession proof aspect of the job, which is a nice safety net to have. that is what i wanted to comment on. thank you. qiagen --in athens athens, georgia. you have been furloughed. what is it you do for the department? caller: i actually conduct audits of importers for the department. i work for customs and border protection, but we are covered over -- under department of homeland security. host: if you are not there and your colleagues are not there,

what is not getting inspected and are you concerned about it? caller: i know of one case where i had scheduled to go out for a site visit at a company and we had to cancel already. we have one scheduled next week. these, obviously, if we are still furloughed, are not going to be completed. that is two cases out of how many other cases in our department at least. could happen?what are there national security concerns? what is it? caller: it could vary. without going into too much specifics on my end of my specific jobs, could be anything from -- we do audits of importers to see if they are following rules. also, some cases we deal with special priorities like forced

labor and other things like that. it could vary depending on where you are in the country. one of my concerns, too. we have five new employees in my office and they just started anywhere from september to december. what are these new employees going to do? are they going to be here when we come back to work? as well as the support staff in our office that is not as fortunate as we are. and very concerned for them i think our congress needs to getover it and grow up and this over with because the longer they push this, the worse this is going to get and they are not caring about these people and it is just a shame and the hypocrisy coming from

ish sides on this issue ridiculous. host: you want to see them find some middle ground? caller: i want to see it on both sides, to find some middle ground. especially from the republican side, the hypocrisy coming from especially senators like lindsey graham, throwing his hands up in the air. these guides are being paid -- guys are being paid huge amounts of money to do their job. they are not doing their job. if they are not doing their job, they should be fired. host: joshua in new york. washington times headline, pump payout slams obama's misjudgment in middle east and asks the allies to help isolate iran. in a speech in cairo, the secretary of state and what was framed as a direct response to president -- former president obama upon speech in cairo in

2000 nine, the secretary of state laid out a sweeping vision for u.s. policy in the middle east using a major speech to reassure allies of america's staying power as a liberating -- call on states in the region to join the trump administration's push to isolate the common enemy of iran. you can go to our website and find that speech there. tennessee, you work for the irs, you are not -- you haven't been going to work for the past three weeks. what hasn't meant for the bottom line? caller: my issue is i am going to have to go into my emergency savings to pay my bills and i am not certain how long that will last me. coworkersve other that have already applied for unemployment so they can pay their bills and necessary living

expenses. host: how long will your savings last you? caller: i am thinking somewhere between two or three months. host: two or three months. caller: that is just myself. host: after that, what would you do? caller: i don't know what i am going to do. i may have to reach out to relatives. i have coworkers that both the husbands and wives work for the irs, so we have coworkers that neither one of their employees are getting paid. mildred inis tennessee. another international programming note for all of you, this is the world news section of the wall street journal, story about venezuela leader starts a new term on a bleak note. president maduro was sworn in yesterday for a second term on thursday amid an economic crisis marked by hunger.

we will be covering a discussion here in washington today on the future of venezuela, the political situation. you can go to our website for more details on that. let's hear next from wanda in california. is work for the pentagon, that right? for the defense department? caller: i worked for the internal revenue service and i alled to say that this is manufacturedump's problem. he said he would not blame democrats, pelosi and schumer. he said he would take total blame just like he said mexico would pay for it. he had money offered to him. he turned it down.

he had the house, the senate, and the white house and they never did anything. mueller is about to come out damming information that will be impeachable, and he is diverting, dissecting -- distracting everybody's attention to a wall, and there talked aboutl that what donald trump did in 2004 on "the daily show." you come out , you need to find a way to go through it, go around it, go over it, but never give up. a wall could never stop anyone. that is out of trump's own mouth. wall it was a figurative

in a speech he was giving to college graduates, right? but a: he is nothing liar. i would also like to say that anybody who continues to think that the democrats, who just came in to office, that this is their problem when nancy decided to vote on the same deal that he told his republican congress and his republican senate, that he would pay for, that he would fine, all of a sudden when limbaugh told him not to sign it, he -- sign it, paul ryan refused to send it up. this has nothing whatsoever to do with democrats. host: that was wanda in hayward, california. you can continue to follow this story is a government shutdown extends today 21 today.

c-span,find it on c-span2, and c-span.org, and get the free c-span radio app. you can follow along if you do not have a screen. coming up, three groups affiliated with the conservative -- is pushing for a deal that gives dreamers permanent immigration status in exchange for border security funding. after the break, we will talk to daniel garza. raskin will, jamie be here to talk about a 21 of the government shutdown, and how it is impacting government workers in his district. we will be right back. ♪ >> pennsylvania's midterms included a number of special elections to fill the seats of members who left congress early. shifting district boundaries, new district names, and the addition of four women, all democrats, delegation that had

been all-male. two of those women enter the house in november slightly ahead of their colleagues. one representative included a special election to represent the seventh district for the last month and a half of the 115th congress. there was also a general election to resent the newly constituted 50 district in the 116th congress. she was previously an attorney in private practice and had served on her local school board. specialrace included a election to represent the 15th district. running for congress, susan was the first woman to be solicitor for allentown, pennsylvania. earlier in her career, she was an attorney in private practice. voters in the fourth district elected madeleine dean who previously served the area in the state house. she began her professional life

as an attorney, but later turned to academia, teaching english and writing at a university. congresswoman christie cool us down now represents the sixth district and is the former president of a non-profit organization that promotes early childhood literacy. she also served three years in the u.s. air force. republican dan meuser was elected to represent pennsylvania's ninth district. earlier in the decade, he was at the head of the state's tax office. prior to that, he was an executive in his family's company that manufactured scooters. joyce 13th district, john was his first bid for public office. he is a medical doctor who has run a dermatology practice with his wife and 1991. represents pennsylvania's 14th district. he was previously a state's senator, and before that, a district judge.

attorney in the u.s. navy. new congress, new leaders. watch it all on c-span. "washington journal"" continues. garza of libre's initiative could what is that? there are hundreds of donors that contribute to our group. freedom partners is one. they are a conglomerate of 300 to 400 americans. host: and this is an initiative by -- guest: they are part of freedom partners. host: what is it that you are pushing for when it comes to thisborder security -- border security/immigration

debate? what would you like to see? guest: our priority is the dreamers. daca that will qualify for obama put in place. what we want to see -- we feel immigration is good. it makes our economy stronger. immigration has created wealth for themselves and for our nation, and we want to continue for a flowcommodate of immigrants to make america stronger and richer. the present priorities can be leveraged to gaining the priority of those on the other side, the dreamers. republicans are in support of dreamers. that is what we want to do. we want to see an end to the shutdown. fuse one priority with another. host: do you feel there is a

deal to be made? guest: absolutely. there are senators trying to make that deal. there are congressmen and women on both sides. openre talking about being to the other side. six senators met with the vice president yesterday talking about this deal. we feel we can leverage one priority over another. as a shutdown continues, the pain intensifies for americans. i think you just had an hour here where people are suffering because of the shutdown. and so, how do we solve the situation where one side doesn't appear weaker on the other end? at the end of the day, people are holding on to political capital. one of the ways we can do that is in both sides get what they want. host: so the president gets $5.6 billion, and in exchange,

dreamers get permanency? talk of certification, i guess? guest: what is even better is that the american people get more and half border security. the american people really are the ones who benefit from a permanent solution for the daca recipients. right now, what we have is uncertainty for the dreamers, right? look, they don't know with their future holds. even their employers or educators, who have them in their schools, don't know what lies ahead for them. and so, if we could resolve that to a permanent solution, that makes america stronger. i understand there are political positions, power at stake. but what is really at stake here are the lives of 1.8 million kids. also american money and american security. i think that matters. that is what we have to hold congress accountable to.

you can solve these two issues at one time. host: the president of the washington times declares -- if the president declares a national emergency, which he said he would possibly do yesterday, what does that mean for any sort of deal? to thate are resistant because that will complicate the situation even more. the president has to keep in mind that he has a broader agenda that he has to contend with as we move into the future. that spirit ofk bipartisanship, and if you're going to circumvent the congress out of frustration, similar to what president obama did on daca , andse, as did not act then we know that the courts rejected it, but the situation here is you will send in motion consequences, unintended consequences that will come back invite you. if he acts out of emergency,

that doesn't resolve the situation with the dreamers. americans support a solution for dreamers, so what you will do is unleash consequences that i think will be bad for america. host: democrats can dial in at 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. independents 202-748-8002. and if you live on the border, as 202-748-8003. --and if you live on the border, you can call in at 202-748-8003. prospects do you think of the deal coming together at this point? you have republicans were meeting with the president on this. who are they and was on your side? guest: we are hopeful, which is why we are involved in this effort. there are already senators who

the white house on this issue, like graham, kautsky. yes several others who are on board -- you have several others who were on board. there are other congressmen who are involved on the other side. what is also important here is other organizations, like the u.s. chamber of commerce, has come out and endorsed this plan. those on the left. we are now working on the coalition of groups, on the right and left, who will take on this effort to: congress on both sides to come together and compromise. situation with immigration, it is a complicated situation. no one side gets to decide what immigration reform is. they both have to come together and agree, and that takes consensus and compromise.

here in washington, sometimes compromise is a bad word because you don't get exactly what you want, but it is still progress and it is still moving the ball forward. it is a 90 win for both sides -- it is a net win for both sides. host: the rollcall has this headline -- lindsey graham throws in the towel with talks with the government shutdown. what do you know about his efforts and has he given up? guest: he has -- [no audio] way at somesame point on criminal justice reform. pressure to keep the on both sides. americans on the left and right have to believe in the government and the processes. this is the process we have to work within we will continue to pressure -- we will continue to

keep the pressure on. there is a lot of pain and suffering because of a government shutdown, and we cannot just give up. conservativert's website has an article that read -- blocking amnesty value not to vote trump and 2020. supportiveappen very -- we have been very supportive of the president on tax reform and his appointment to the ,upreme court on the regulation on simplifying the government in so many ways. even commending the president for committing citizenship for many dreamers when congress picked up those bills, but we're also going to hold him accountable when we disagree with him, and when the policies

don't align what we believe is a pro-freedom agenda we are refilled independent and proud of that. we are not beholden to any party and you can see that by breitbart holding us accountable, and that is fine. breitbart can spin things the way they want to. it is a great four, but obviously, they are free to give their spin. we have our first caller. go ahead. caller: good morning, greta and daniel. i would like to talk about the rule of law that is not being enforced. that is the whole problem for 20 million american citizens. law that isle of not enforced. that is the whole problem. california's being overpopulated. we don't have enough water for all of the people who are here already.

we have forced fires that are created because -- we have forced fires -- we have fo rest fires in our power lines are not being taken care of. we have high bills, high taxes. our kids don't have the right amount of teachers because the classrooms are overpopulated because there are too many people. the rule of law needs to be followed. the supreme court -- apparently, the administration is waiting for the courts to decide on daca. come to immigrants america precisely because of the respect for the rule of law. there has to be a rule of law. there has to be order. americans are the most compassionate and generous people in the world. but americans also respect order

and respect the rule of law to be followed. but sometimes, our laws are too restrictive. and are imposed -- and impose themselves. public policy should allow people to prosper, and sometimes those laws get in the way. sometimes the over criminalize and overburdened people with regulations, with mandates, with statutes. for example, in the 1920's, we passed the prohibition law. consumption and production of alcohol. and millions of people were arrested as a felon for wanting a beer. were the bad people? majority, but the vast were good people. immigration is good, but our system is bad right now it needs to be fixed. it is a bad law. these are not bad people. these are generally hard-working

and industrious, law-abiding people. i said that immigration has made a stronger and have made america better, right? and so, we need to continue the legacy because that is what we were founded on. we are a nation of immigrants, so are lost need to accommodate innovation at the flow of people. host: an update on where the daca situation stands and the court. in november, the court will laid against the program -- the court to endnd upheld a ruling 600,000 an protects off who came to the u.s. as children for deportation and allow some to work legally in the u.s. the administration planned to end daca. has toge ruled that it

continue allowing immigrants covered by the program to renew their two-year grants a protection. there are three different rulings in three different circuits against the administration. all of which the administration is appealing. what happens next, do you think? -- i: so, the ruling missed the first part. host: do you think this will go to the supreme court? game tohis is the end get into the supreme court. the courts are getting more conservative. obviously, administration had a victory with daca, which they were going to extend the release to the daca children. framework,itutional they could also apply the same toriage -- the same merit daca, and i am concerned.

look, we did not totally agree with president obama. spirit of the the action, but not the way he did it. i don't know if they will sustain daca. i am concerned about that, which we need to act now, and we need a legislative, permanent fix. it is the responsibility of congress to take these kind of reforms. they are the only ones who can give certainty to the 1.8 million kids. and -- [no audio] playing those kinds of games with the children. the decision was made for them. there parents decided to bring them illegally, and they should not have to pay the price. host: a democrat in chicago.

thanks for waiting. go ahead. caller: good morning. i am glad you read what you just did. trustedrump cannot be to honor a deal that involves daca. he cannot be trusted because as you just read, he currently has an appeal on its way up to the supreme court, so he can destroy daca. that was also one of his campaign promises, to end daca, so democrats would be foolish at this point to trust in and honoring any commitments. him in honoring any commitments. host: can you trust the president? guest: we can trust the president. he is the president of the united states. he is legislative authority. -- he has a veto

power. he is a major actor in our legislative process. there is no question about it. we will work with the president. we will work with this white house to get solutions done. what we want to do is be that bridge that can bring both sides together and propose solutions that i think are beneficial to both sides here. but we have to work with the president. there is no question we will work with the president and we respect this white house. it is important for americans to understand that this is the process we have to work within. there is no circumventing this process. host: dawn is next from cleveland. caller: good morning. i have a comment. i think we need to build the border wall. and i understand there are a lot of bleeding hearts out there who are thinking, what about the poor children? what about the angel families who do not have to -- who no

longer have their adult children by their side? generationaln theft over decades over the illegals, coming into our country, a lot of them criminal, a lot of them dealing drugs. it is gone. it is gone. . 22 illegalere are immigrants living in this country right now. i got to believe it is higher than that, but it has got to stop. unfortunately, i feel bad for the federal, essential employees that are furloughed right now, and they're paying the price. i think president trump should sign the executive order that congressmen and senators will

not be paid until they can reach an agreement. host: go ahead. guest: that is the sentiment that is expressed by many americans until there is a loss of security at the border. , live in mcallen, texas exactly what the president was yesterday. i have parents on the other side of the border. i go to and from mexico and across the border. this is a situation that is real to me, what is happening in mcallen. we must enhance security. that is the first rolling of government, to protect its citizens. ofthat is the first role government, to protect its citizens. i think the parliaments, this president -- i think the president feels he was elected to build this wall, and congress

feels they were elected to stop the building of this wall. i think we can put pressure on them to come together, were both sides can achieve a little bit of what they want, and allow the other side to gain their priorities. that is the system we have to work with, but that sentiment that there has to be intense security is a real one. and anything that can increase sensors on the ground, infrared cameras, infrastructure along the border, i think the president has asked for 230 more miles of wall. if we could trade that for a dreamer solution, we welcome that. host: what is your personal story? your parents still live in mexico? guest: mike pence are from a small town in mexico. -- my- might parents parent are from a small town in parents are from a

small town in mexico. they married, came together, and lived in california. we were farmworkers until i was 18. it was the best of times and the worst of times being a farm worker. it is hard work and does not pay much. but you know, we traveled together. it was about family and i love might parents. i grew up a conservative in a christian family. host: translated to freedom markets. guest: the office of public liaison.

host: paul in west palm beach, florida. independent. caller: hi, thank you for taking michael. thank you for taking michael hall. -- thank you for taking my call. the democratic party wants to make them legal and get citizenship. [indiscernible] , and heresame old comes a president who wants to take care of the border. the country will be great. host: ok. guest: i recognize his contributions, and i expect -- and i respect your sacrifices, just like might parents sacrificed. host: did they come here

legally? guest: they came here legally and worked hard as farmworkers. they took their savings and opened their small business. just like this gentleman here, you work hard for a while, you risk your capital, and maybe you make it, or maybe you fail, if you persist hard enough. in america, this is a country where anybody with nothing can achieve anything. that is what might parents did in the paved the way for me. but he mentioned amnesty. amnesty is synonymous with grace, and i believe in grace in getting people a second chance. i was a high school dropout. being a farm worker, i had to work a lot. i, ged and was back on track and one of the college and became a police officer, i decided to get involved in a public policy way. i got a second chance.

i believe in getting people second chances. that is what we do. repeat people english, drop chaining -- we teach people english, job training, all of these things to empower people, to prosper and to thrive. i see what this gentleman is saying. in america, people work hard, and we want to make it a legal process. host: david in denver, colorado, democrat. caller: good morning, greta. good morning, mr. gaza. appreciate your efforts to try to resolve the situation. aam coming at this from progressive perspective. and i would like your reaction to these three questions i have for you. let me hear what you have to say. first of all, haven't we visited

daca in exchange for border security? didn't we do that in 2017 and it failed? secondly, what about the other illegal immigrants? are we just going to take care of the daca recipients? what about the other hard-working people who are here, but they are not properly documented? and then finally, and this is coming towards some of your calls, from eye perspective, there is a racist right-wing anti-immigrant bent that trump has tapped into that wants to blame every social ill this country has on illegal immigration. host: i will leave it there because we are running out of time. go ahead, mr. garza. guest: the president doesn't have the house anymore and that amex -- house anymore and the dynamics have changed.

we give 1.1 million green cards a year. they estimated there will be a 40% reduction. we do not want to see more of a bottleneck. we oppose set forth pillar. but now, because the democrats control the house, he has to table back his demands. because the dynamics have changed, this is more of a viable solution. the second question on daca i had a chief of staff in the west wing who said he wanted to resolve the situation. host: which chief of staff? guest: calhoun. he wants to resolve this to get to the next phase. i think this white house wants to do the same. this is phase one. phase two would've addressed the other folks who are here without

documentation. angstericans have an about security in america, about their futures, and i'm sympathetic to that. i parents have the same concerns and angst about their future and their children, and sometimes they could not express a properly. i will give him the benefit of the doubt. he calls them racist. we need to listen and understand each other. anyway, have some passion -- have some compassion for each other. that is how we will keep it civil. host: you can learn more about the libre initiative if you go to libreinitiative.com. thank you for the conversation. we are going to take a break, but when we come back, jamie raskin a maryland will talk about a 21 of a government shutdown, and how it is impacting federal workers in his district. ♪ >> coming up this weekend on

6:45 p.m.turday at eastern, california democratic senator kamala harris details her life and career through her book "the truth we hold." >> i believe the strongest politics are collision politics. that is about understanding the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. again, rejecting the ideas that we live in silos and we don't share values, concerns, and we don't share the same kinds of thoughts about what we need and what our families need. the majority of us is so much more in common. >> at 11:00 p.m. eastern, and author talks about his latest book. , with they say so crisis we have seen growing over the last few years, i have

really -- i have rarely ever heard an american leader today address the present crises in the light of the founding vision. addressing the better angels of the americans in the light of liberty and justice for all coming from the declaration. another words, there isn't a moment -- in other words, there is a moment where courage and wisdom. no one will make america great again if they made a great in the first place. >> sunday on afterwards at 9:00 p.m. eastern, a journalist discusses her book "it was all a dream." by an editoriewed in chief. >> barack obama that elected as president, and our political climate has totally changed. so, you know, for me, it was the

idea that the american dream may be impossible for black americans, maybe it wasn't crated for us, this idea that you can do better -- maybe it wasn't created for us, this idea that you can do better than your parents. that does not seem like a reality, even now, and that is a profoundly disappointing thing. >> much booktv this weekend on c-span2. -- watch booktv this weekend on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: back to the table, whoressman jamie raskin sits on the judiciary committee and represents a large number of federal workers. before we get to the impact on the shutdown, i want to get to your reaction. the president readies emergency plan. the declaration would face challenges and is looking for a workaround on this wall. what would be the reaction from democrats? guest: we recognized along that

this is a political emergency situation for the president. not a national emergency. controlhe president had of the senate, the white house, congress for a year. he did not bring it up. he did not bring this wall up when he had control. it was not after the democrats win in 2019 that the president now considers this a political emergency. we were not elected to go on since -- we were not elected to go spend $5.7 billion on a wall. we are not going along with that. to the extent, the president is essentially surrendering, and he knows there is not bipartisan consensus for his wall in congress, so he will attempt to do through administrative powers. it might be progress because it will relocate the controversy from congress to the courts, and

we can reopen the government. that is our major messages that we need to reopen the government. our people are suffering. their public services that are not happening -- there are public services that are not happening. i got people am i district who came to talk to me and they are working on e. coli, salmonella, insect infestation of food and are being told they cannot come to work. there are essential governmental services being interrupted and this has nothing to do with homeland security, nothing to do with the wall. what we passed in congress is a set of bill saying, let's be open all of the departments that have been closed. state justice, epa, hud, commerce, and someone. and we will have the discussion about homeland security and the wall, but why bring down the rest of the u.s. government? it just makes no sense. and today, this marks the longer

shutdown in american history. in president is succeeding doing something were no other done,n policy has shutting down the government. i had some air traffic controllers who live in might district today send me copies of their pay stubs. you know what it says on them? zero gross pay, zero net pay. americans across the country should feel if they got a pay stub that said zero. host: if you support the shutdown, call 202-748-8000. .f you oppose it, 202-748-8001 and federal workers can call 202-748-8002. according to roll call, the college will file legislation to stop the president for declaring

this a national emergency for the border wall. howdy respond to critics -- how do you respond to critics who presidents,ious leaders of the house, of all supported the idea of a wall in the past? guest: we have to distinguish fair is border security legislations that democrats and republicans supported alike. some have included things that could look like a border fence. standards,hin the push and pull, of the legislative discussion. campaigned on building a medieval-style border wall. and the promise was that mexico would pay for it. he tried to get mexico to pay for it, and the president of mexico said, absolutely not shut the president down. to in the president comes

congress now that we have a democratic majority in the house, and said, would you pay for it? they said absolutely not. and now, he said he will redistribute money that was passed for hurricane assistance and earthquake assistance another disaster relief for those purposes, in florida, texas, puerto rico to the purpose of a wall, whether he is a legal process -- whether he has a legal powers to do that or not, we don't know. host: keeping the democratic majority was elected in november to stop the wall, period, end of story? guest: absolutely not. we want to pass prescription drug reforms so we can lower prescription drug prices. we want to make sure we have health care for everyone in the country. we want to solve the crisis of climate change. the oceans are warming more than

we thought they were. the oceans are warming at a 40% higher rate than was originally estimated. they want us to do with that -- they want us to deal with that. they want us to pass the dream act. we were elected on an ambitious agenda for working people, not to shut down the government, and certainly not to build the president's fantasy wall. i think a lot of republicans are starting to move over and our direction. i think we have a dozen republicans who have voted to reopen the government. no matter how you feel about the wall, why should the wall be used to shut down research taking place at the fda? why should it be used to stop housing programs at hud? why should he be used to interfere with scientific research. research? it makes no sense. host: where does backpay stand

for those with have been furloughed and deemed essential? guest: the legislation that the house asked last week to reopen the government includes a provision for back pay for all federal workers. here is the problem. effected shutdown has not just 800,000 workers, 400,000 who have been sent home, 400,011 ordered to work without pay, it has affected an equal number or even more people who are private contractors and employees of private contractors. some of them make a lot of money. some of them make way for little money at all -- some of them make very little money at all. we have always paid back the federal workers. i am confident we will do it

after this debacle ends, but what are we going to do about the huge dislocation to the rest of the economy? what about all the small business people who have restaurants, shoe stores, and so on? who have suffered over the last several weeks? we have to bring this to an end now. host: margie is in philadelphia opposes a shutdown? caller: yes i do because it makes no sense. and the news media is making it ,ook like it is just between hello? host: yes? caller: making it look like the democrats and the president, and we have three branches of government. mitch mcconnell refuses to take the bill up? why? because president doesn't want the bill on the floor because he knows it would pass. i mitch mcconnell is not doing his job, and the news media and the democrats are not holding fireman his feet to the

but they want to blame the democrats. host: ok, margie. guest: margie makes the essential point here. first of all, when they had majorities in congress, he did not push for the wall. it was only after democrats won the majority in the house of representatives and beaten million more votes and picked up 40 new seats. now that is what he wants to use to shut down the government and he been attacking the federal workforce ever since he got into office. her point is correct. i don't want -- mitch mcconnell doesn't want to put a bill on the floor the president doesn't want to sign. that is against his constitutional responsibility. whatenate should be doing is in the best interest of the american people. if the president wants to veto it, let him, and let's override it, but why should he completely capitulate to the president.

that is spineless. host: hi, andy. caller: hi. i have one, and one question for you. if the white house does declare it looksl emergency, like from what i was reading yesterday, nancy pelosi was not committing -- some democrats would supported coming seemed to be a mixed message. let's assume that the house did approve, even though that was was -- there was the report that the republicans and the freedom caucus in north carolina, cautioned that the white house but not necessarily, even if it was a national emergency, and the white house assumed they could get those funds through the pentagon, would necessarily open the government.

thought that would be a way the government could open, but i am not sure. the second comment is, we heard yesterday that the number -- the white house is trying to have a number of accepted workers come back to work to limit the impact to the public. i understand what they are coming from, but the way that will backfire and calls more hardships for federal workers -- and cause more hardships for federal workers, it could lengthen the shutdown. i would like your comments. guest: thank you. those are excellent points. all, weall -- first of cannot allow the united states government to go down the path of the president just between an emergency, and then re-channeling money that is been legislated for specific purposes. the provisions that exist in federal law offer real national

security emergencies. hurricanes, or earthquakes. i would help that might conservative friends would be very suspicious of a process with the president decides he can act in a manner of, you decree aautocrat and national emergency. but there is no guarantee that the president coming even if he defined an emergency, let's reopen the rest of the government. but i do think it would give political cover to the republicans who have grown very tovous about the clamor

reopen the government, and would allow them to say, the president can deal with the border emergency, and we can work on it through administrative means, and let's vote with the democrats reopen the government. i think that is what would happen. i think they are looking for a way out. and your point is also correct when you say they are now, theuse of the intense -- intensifying public pressure, the demonstrations around the country, there were thousands of people at the white house yesterday. they are looking for ways to blunt the impact on the public. we know there are millions of people facing not getting their tax refunds. they are looking for a way workershe irs to have process tax refunds, and now they are looking for a way to make sure that 30 million people will get their snap benefits. we don't know if it will work,

but at that point, why don't we just reopen the government? all parts of the government should the essential. if not, should not have been out there. when i talked to the people am i district affected by this, i'm impressed by how much honor they have in the work they do, how and commitment they have, the fact that the president has no idea but the federal government actually does every day. fda does, what the scientists do, what the air traffic controllers do. those jobs are for real and we need those people at work. host: melissa supports the shutdown, and then we will go to keep in fargo who opposes it. go ahead, melissa. caller: i am calling to say, while i do sympathize with people who are not getting a paycheck, and that is something that -- [no audio]

the husband who went to work and you know, whenever come home again. that is a permanent situation of something that has been lost. i think that gets overlooked. deliberate -- the other thing is, i think a lot of the wall is being denied by saying it is to keep you pullout. it is to force a legal way of coming here. if we do not have laws in this country and we do not follow them, i am an american citizen, but if i leave the country, i have to leave and reenter properly, so i don't understand what is so difficult about a bipartisan solution. i think reopening the government should be something that should be focused on. but i think our legislators on both sides, republicans and democrats, have a duty to be bipartisan and come up with a

solution, instead of running it their own way and not having any compromise to solve the problem. host: melissa. let's go to keith. keith, you oppose the shutdown. go ahead. caller: yes. what good does a shutdown due? i am against the wall -- i am against this wall. the mexicans come over here and do the dirty work. they come over here and they are the ones working in the beet fields. maybe help the government with food stamps and so on. the water over and mexico i hear is so bad that they drink booze because the water is so bad over there. we should be helping them out. not shutting them out. host: all right. guest: thank you for both of those calls.

on the first one, we are trying to be as bipartisan as possible. the bills we pass reopening the government for the same bills that were passed unanimously by the republican senate. we basically said that the bills they already endorsed. it is only after the president sought and colter and the other right wing commentators on fox news for the president changed his mind and dragged his whole party off to say, the shutdown -- whole party up to say, let's check down the government. the caller mentioned, maybe it is not a big deal that they are missing a few paychecks. actually, it is a real problem. a lot of mica stitching to living paycheck to paycheck. i spoke to one gentleman -- a lot of my constituents are living paycheck to paycheck. i spoke to one gentleman who has two kids in college. in order to meet monthly expenses, he is having to take money out of his kids's 529

college plan and his retirement fund in order to pay for his family. there is a 10% penalty for doing this. who is going to take the 10% penalty? donald trump? i don't think so. i have heard people putting their mortgage on a credit card. the president of the acu union sunday shutdown and might district, providing -- shutdown in my district, providing meals to families that are affected by the shutdown. there are other examples of this taking place. but you know, the caller also said, you know, what about the federal workers at home and security? -- at homeland security? those are the ones were not getting paid right now. they are being furloughed or

being forced to work without pay, so it is a completely nonsensical policy that has been adopted. and i want to agree momentarily with the final caller, who said, we are a nation of immigrants. other than the descendents of slaves and native americans. and what we need is comprehensive immigration reform because the system is broken and we have to get back to work as a congress. you to open up the government and get to work. host: let's go to tennessee next. you oppose the shutdown. good morning to you. caller: yes, ma'am. -- $5.7 billion is not a lot of money. i don't know why a lot of democrats, nancy pelosi just doesn't go ahead and give president trump the $5.7 billion. then is not going to work,

he will be aligned president trump to make a full of himself. guest: look, there is a difference between $5.7 million and $5.7 billion. we have invested billions of dollars for border security and border safety, and we are willing and eager to invest more. most of the legal drugs coming into the country the president is talking about coming to ports of entry. agents, talk to border the technological means we need in order to detect drugs coming in, in order to deal with the cars and the trucks that are coming in. andnow a lot of contraband undocumented people are coming through the airports. the wall is not going to help any of that. what the wall will do is create decades of litigation with thousands of texas landowners who don't want the government taking of private property in building a wall on it and doing

construction over many years. we are going to have eminent domain lawsuits for as long as the eye can see coming out of texas. the president has described himself as a king of eminent domain. int is how he operated atlantic city, new jersey, where the kicked out a lot of homeowners in order to build the casino in the garage for the casino, so he doesn't think there is a problem with that, but talk to the landowners along the border. they don't want construction going on in their backyards for many years. this is a nonsensical solution, which is why nobody wants to pay for it, and it doesn't make sense, but let's have that debate. we willing to have that debate, but please don't shut down the government of the u.s. and hold your breath into your face turns blue just because you did not get your way. , retired, independent federal worker. your thoughts, jim? caller: i'm 100% for the wall.

all of these people calling in. i would love to see you move into this neighborhood. better yet, walk around the neighborhood at night. this neighborhood has been overrun with illegal immigrants. before 1980, it was a leave it to beaver neighborhood. you got cars all over the lawn. i could walk outside to get the garbage can, looked on the block, and that is where three kids were killed, chopped up. kids probably grade school, with smartphones. who are paying for those smartphones? i don't get it. host: what about his concerns? citizens havecan

said illegal immigrants coming into the country are getting benefits, health care, etc. some of them feel like they cannot afford themselves and they don't to the government helping them out. guest: the only benefit that is mandated by law for undocumented education.ublic beyond that, nothing is mandated by law for people who are here on an undocumented status. i am here with the caller with kids in smartphones. we have -- with kids and smartphones. but i am afraid the caller has fallen for a lot of the fear and paranoia that the president and congressman steve king are trying to promote in the country. we are a nation of immigrants coming you know? james madison -- we are a nation of immigrants, you know?

james madison said that this was a place for political freedom all over the world. i don't want an open border with mexico. mission invest with border security -- we should invest with border security. we should be investing in asylum judges. and if people don't have a legitimate asylum claim, they have to get to the end of the line and come through legal migration. but what in the heavens does that have to do is shutting down the government of the united states, and sending american workers home, and withholding wages from 800,000 americans? that is a policy that a foreign enemy of the united states has never been able to accomplish. in a wartime, we never shut down our own government for months or years as a president has threatened to do. it doesn't make sense to me. host: the house is about to gavel in for a 9:00 a.m. morning session. i will try to get involved in

tyler, texas. can you make it really quick? caller: yes. at the time of our founding, there was one guarantee in the constitution. and you know what that was. host: tell us bob, in seconds. [indiscernible] call 24 offices yesterday and no one knew it. host: we have to leave it there. jamie raskin, democrat a maryland. we will go now to the house floor. live coverage here on c-span. representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]