year's most diverse group of lawmakers in history. as always, we take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next.[cl cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ host: the freshman class of the 116th congress has been billed as the most diverse set of lawmakers in history with the first muslim americans, native americans, and latina women serving in office. several of them are dominating headlines and collecting millions of followers on social media. they are pushing legislation and pressuring their party to change . we want you to learn more about this group of lawmakers and get your reaction on the impact they are having on politics and policy. good morning. we will spend today's entire

program with your calls and tweets on the nearly 100 freshman lawmakers that have come to washington. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. .nd independents, 202-748-8002 a fourth line this morning for those of you who have a freshman member representing you in this congress, 202-748-8003. join us on twitter at @cspanwj or you can go to facebook.com/cspan. good morning. we will wait for your calls to comment on this freshman class. c-span has interviewed over 50 of them to learn about their backgrounds. take a listen. [video clip] >> i was fortunate enough to play professional hockey. >> i am a pediatrician through and through. >> we won the lottery in 2010. >> i have been with the cia. >> i was running a restaurant business that has been in my family for 100 years.

>> i was in the technology business. >> i was president of the university of miami. >> i am just a small town lawyer from lexington. >> i am a captain of the national guard, served in afghanistan. servedayor of phoenix, i as mayor for almost seven years. >> i served as the state public utilities commission or. >> i have been a physician my entire life. host: alexandria ocasio-cortez was on the cover of rolling stone magazine along with other freshman lawmakers along with nancy pelosi with the headline "women shaping the future." she is also on a recent cover of magazine. she is also on the cover of this article along with other freshman lawmakers, keep your head down. why congress's youngest members

aren't falling for the sexist trope. nothing signals the rise of the old goat -- old guard -- they also write there is one of the first women to represent iowa in the u.s. house, representative lauren underwood, the youngest black woman to serve in congress. women --e first muslim women elected to congress -- and the first woman to represent her district. katie hill, a 31-year-old advocate for the homeless, married bisexual. all 6 of these congresswomen ran andighly contested contests all 6 of them replaced men over the age of 50. five of them white men. many of you heard of rashida to

leave, democrat of michigan when she had comments that went viral about impeaching president trump. here is what she had to say when we talked to her about those comments. [video clip] >> yes, i am passionate about impeaching the president. being in the united states, somebody my children even hesitate to tell people they are muslim in a country where being a child of immigrants is a reason to treat me less than. passion got the best of me. i am surprised people taken aback by someone like me being able to -- a term that back home is not as controversial. >> did that night say something about your political style? >> i am raw. i am real. i am authentic. i am not going to be your perfect.politician or

i will get arrested if it is the right thing to do. i use words that some people call different names and i called it colorful, it is liberating to be free about how i feel at that moment and i felt it in the room, people felt liberated with me when i was able to just say what was on my mind. host: congresswoman to leave, the first palestinian american the house ofved in representatives from 2009 to 2014. she is one of over 100 freshman lawmakers and we are getting your reaction to the impact they are having in washington, d.c.. peggy in florida, what do you think? caller: i am disturbed about a lot of things going on in our congress right now, especially disturbed by the anti-israel rhetoric coming from the freshman -- and the young freshman women, two of them and

--the mother of i am concerned about the anti-semitism going on and the anti-israel rhetoric. it is not because they are jews that we support israel. only because they are the state in that area that is a democratic state, that elects their officials democratically, that has the same vision we have, that has the same kind of parliament, the same military that we have here and it is very concerning to me they have taken such a stand and it seems like the rest of the democratic party is following suit when i saw how many democrats did not even go to the meeting and loudly disclaimed had anything

to do with -- having anything to do with the meeting, which is a very important part of our support for israel. host: if you have thoughts on the freshman class, we want to hear from you. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. .nd independents, 202-748-8002 fourth line this morning for those of you who voted for or against, but have a freshman lawmaker in your district. what do you think about the job they are doing so far? let's hear from brad in london, kentucky, independent. caller: good morning. i was not aware a muslim american was a thing. i feel i would be as uncomfortable with that as i would someone saying in congress they were a protestant american. apparently the, new congress seems pretty lousy

to me. i am a young democrat, but they seem pretty lousy in that they toe the line, there is a lot of goose stepping on the left that there can be no dissent, they moralo cling to a rigid party platform. i don't understand that, why there cannot be any distant -- dissent at all. i don't necessarily disagree with anything mrs. omar has to say. the factor they were out for her says quite a bit about the democratic party. another thing, they all in uniform lockstep have gone along russia collusion -- i will call it nonsense as far as i am looking at it, it appears to be nonsense and a third thing

and i don't mean in any other , nancy out of concern pelosi became house speaker honestly, god bless her heart, but it seems apparent to me she is having some issues may be with cognitive problems, she is 79 years old. i have seen my own grandmother go through similar issues. host: i will leave it there and let me show you statistics about this class, it includes 58 christians and 6 who identify as jewish. british -- rashida to leave of michigan -- rashida to lieb of michigan. more than 70% of graduate class went to graduate school. 15 have mbas. several freshman at least two graduate degrees. phil in connecticut, good

morning to you. go ahead. isler: this freshman class the stupidest things imaginable, loud, vulgar, no concept of reality or how the economy works . who cares about their education, felicity huffman and lori loughlin taught us big schools don't mean anything anymore. nancy pelosi as the previous caller said before you cut him off, she cannot control these characters. she has as much luck controlling the freshman as she does keeping the dentures in her mouth. if these are the fruits of diversity, bring back the old, white men. at least they knew how to get things done. host: glenn in new york, a democrat. morning fellow americans. i love this new congress. my biggest thing, america's

biggest thing is the hypocrisy on both sides. this new congress is calling the hypocrisy on both sides and trying to get stuff done and i appreciated them. host: it is not just democrat to have new freshman members. republicans have new faces as well and one of them is congressman guy reschenthaler who represents pennsylvania 14th district and he was in the state senate from 2015 to 2019. he is 34 years old. listen to what he told us about his time in iraq. [video clip] calledonvictions, detention orders and 14 of those were for the death penalty. 26, 27.i was >> what did that experience teach you? >> it gave me an appreciation

for the united states and it also gave me a lot of optimism with our role in the world. i thought a lot of the iraqis i looked at look -- worked with -- it at us for rules also gave me a lot of hope for the future in general because i really felt -- so many people were interested in our western style of government and justice. burlington,n vermont, and independent. what do you think about these freshman lawmakers? caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. very impressed with the surge of voter participation in the 2018 elections. we have a freshman congress that represents more people voting than ever before. of course, this swarm of cultural populism on the left and right really doesn't reflect the dire straits working americans are in.

people cannot keep their cars on the road, they cannot pay their rent, they cannot pay health care bills to keep their children safe and healthy. what we need is a $15 and among wage bills, and infrastructure bill that would create millions of new jobs, something that will put food on the table for people and until that happens, it comes off as a bunch of hot air. host: you want to see them making news, talking about those types of issues? caller: the democrats would be behooved to deal with some real economic issues unless they want to ensure donald trump will be in office for four more ye ars. host: do you think the green new deal is one of those issues? caller: it definitely addresses climate change. it's pretty severe. if you took planes out of the skies, that would result in

megadeth's in terms of people not getting organ translates -- mega deaths in terms of people not getting the organ transplants they need. host: the green new deal, the proposed goals being pushed by the likes of alexandria ocasio-cortez transitioned 100% renewable energy in the u.s. within 10 years -- major investments in greenhouse gas mitigation, building a national smart grid, guarantees people working to transition to a low carbon economy. that's go to jonathan in south carolina. what do you think? caller: i think we have a great new congress. i am glad the democrats got the house back to serve as a check on trump and his cronies. i just think they are going to do a great job.

-- especiallyhink the freshman, do you think they are doing a great job serving as a check on the trump administration? caller: yes, i do. the senate under mitch mcconnell is nothing but a rubberstamp. our supreme court is too political, they even reverse their own decisions and we definitely need a check on trump. they gave us a false tax cut .hich expires in five years trump, macconnell, graham, they are going to cut medicare, justaid, and they are doing a terrible job. i don't know why here in the south, the poorest region of the country, why they think they have something in common with

multibillion-dollar corporations and the 1% that controls the wealth. i don't know why they think they have something in common with them and i hope and pray we can get rid of trump. there was definitely collusion. host: heard your point on these new members of congress. john in new mexico, independent. what do you think of this group? caller: i like what i am seeing so far, just to break it down in the most basic terms possible, they represent to me people over profits as opposed to what the republican party has become, which is purely profits over people. until we get a constitutional amendment that bans lobbyist corruption completely and gives free airtime to candidates, we are going to have politicians that have their hands out 75% of the time selling their interest

and selling out the american people. that would be my biggest contribution as someone if i were in congress, i would be pushing for that constitutional amendment and making that a test for primary purposes. one more suggestion to representative to leave -- talib. anyone serious about impeachment needs to investigate how vladimir putin arms the taliban to kill our troops. put that together with the weasel'sfted treason dance in helsinki. -- straight terms out of the treason statute. if you really want to go hard, pats not pick pat -- pitty around collusion.

nato as fastling as he can, insulting every democracy on the planet while cuddling up to every dictator on the planet. he is a cancer and needs to be removed and that is the way to do it. ourect the dots, putin is enemy, not just an adversary. host: that is what you would want -- a freshman like alib tontative t focus on? caller: to use their leverage in the house, they have the power of being able to call up hearings. host: why do you have that opinion? what is it about your background? caller: my background is social work and essentially cultural affairs and my main concern and what i am seeing after watching and being in the trenches since

the child in the 1960's and see what we went through as a nation to get closer to equality at the cost of lives and beatings and shootings and assassinations and to see it all having to be redone, to see the civil rights act being dismantled before my eyes, to see the courts being who callith ideologues themselves constitutionalists while passing an abomination -- we areens united under siege. --t: john is an un-dependent independent in new mexico. you just heard him lay out how he wants to see this freshman class use what he says is their leverage. do you agree, disagree? what do you want freshman

lawmakers to focus on? some house democrats who took a no corporate tax pledge are getting pressure to ditch that promise. three freshman house democrats said more senior members suggested they walk back there pledge. do you agree. ? georgia.a democrat in go ahead. caller: i have been watching c-span for 20 some years. i like this diversified group we have in congress right now with a lot of women and different nationalities and maybe we can learn how to understand each other. 87% of the republican party are white americans and the majority of your callers are white when you hear the republican party make the we do noteat again --

want that to represent to the -- the world knows and i knows as a -- i know as a black man, white americans own two thirds of the wealth. we already know white americans .o mostly everything in america we will give you an equal chance to be ceos or whatever. let it be an example, this is the type of society we want in our country. to therica be an example world that we treat everybody as equally as god created us to be .nd that is what we need all over the world we see these women do not even have

opportunities. as second-class citizens or animals -- showing the world women have equal rights and make suggestions to be taken and try to understand them. not for women, the world would not be what it is. all life comes through the body of a woman. host: we will take a look at the new york times and the chart they put together. 42 women will join congress in january, this was put together right after the election and take a look at the faces of the 42 women who have joined congress for this 116th congress. they have been at work for over three months. what impact are they making? that is our question for all of you spending the three hours of the washington journal letting you get to know these lawmakers

more. we interviewed over 50 of them and you can find these interviews if you go to our website. we have covered hearings with them as well and an earlier caller talked about these freshman being a check on the administration or in some cases reiterating the administration's position. take a listen to representative chip roy from texas on the border and after that is torres small, democrat for new mexico and also on the border. take a listen to their two different perspectives at recent hearings. [video clip] >> how dangerous is fentanyl? >> fentanyl in and of itself is incredibly dangerous. it is a few grains of salt for someone who is naive, inexperienced with an opioid were they to ingest it or succumb from it.

>> can you see this picture of a certain amount of substance relative to the size of a coin? >> yes, it is a penny with a few grains to it. >> is that amount of fentanyl enough to kill a human being? >> based on purity, absolutely. true they thought it was too dangerous to be around the president of the united states? kindmuch fentanyl at this of amount, a gram or two milligrams that would fit in 112 pounds of fentanyl collected between the ports of entry by our own data, it is a massive amount and would kill millions of americans. is that correct? >> in a variety of ways, including sprinkling on drugs and people don't even know it is on there. in california, people just thought they were snorting powdered cocaine.

all 14 of them overdosed, not even thinking they were taking opioid, thinking they were doing some other drug. >> i am the only member on this committee that represents a southern border district. it includes 180 miles, almost, of that southern border and a lot of it is remote, rugged terrain. we have seen in recent months my district has inked variance -- experienced more migrant families showing up at the port of entry. as we learned through the tragedy of two migrant children deaths under custody, most of the facilities near these rural areas are not equipped to process large groups of migrants . we have to ensure agents on the ground have adequate resources and technology to effectively patrol these areas, keep our communities safe, and provide quality care to the migrants at

our border. what changes in policies and procedures have you implement it can adapt to the rise of people showing up at the border showing up between ports of entry specifically in these remote areas? >> what we have done, i would take it a couple different ways on the health screening as you know, particularly because of those remote areas, many migrants when they reached the borders our very sick. hhs,ve worked with cbp, the previous governor, and your current governor about this issue. i have asked my bipartisan advisory council to look at this issue on families and children and what we can do better. we screen every child that comes into care. host: that was two freshman members, the last one -- we spoke with her recently as part of our freshman profile series,

she worked for senator tom udall, she is a water rights attorney and she was talking about she lives along the border and she is worried about border security and talks about it in her interview. if you missed any of these and want to learn more and listen to backgrounds, stories, where they came from, where their parents came from, you can go to c-span.org. immigration and border security is in the headlines with the president saying he will shut down the border if it doesn't get under control. the washington times with the headline and illegal immigration superhighway, traffic jams at ports of entry increased along with trump anger. chip roy tweeting this morning, we have a duty to secure our border, we have a duty to be serious about our offer of asylum to the select few truly being persecuted without turning it into a profit machine for cartels.

that is one freshman congressman, he is a republican of texas and worked for senator ted cruz and the former governor of texas, rick perry. paul in new jersey, republican. what do you think of this freshman class? the lastn response to two callers, i want to respond to that. one of the callers mentioned trump wants to get rid of nato. this is what i call the trojan horse party and that is what you are seeing with these freshman congressman. party is what i call the trojan horse party. you can tell by the callers that called in. the person talking about trump wants to get rid of nato. that is not what trump said. we are paying 77% of the nato bill and he just wants them to kick in their fair share.

the other person called it equal opportunity. these are the same trojan horses that don't want to talk about the fact 78% of all afro-american children are being born to single afro-american women, they don't want to talk about the root cause of decade after decade generational afro-american poverty and crime. the we have now because of trojan horse party is activist judges, judges who make up their own laws and expound judicial supremacy, which is becoming a gigantic issue in this country that nobody wants to talk about. it's amazing how these political parties do not want to do their jobs and right away go to the courts. nobody wants to talk about that. thoughts in new

jersey. the senate has 10 freshman new faces and one of them is jacky rosen who represents nevada and she tweeted out dreamers are inspiring young people who are working for a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities. also, congressman -- and that is jacky rosen of nevada, one of the 10 elected senators. 100 new elected representatives, one of them is abigail who represents virginia, former cia operative, foreign aid is a strategic element of our national security party that helps create and maintain stability and lessens the risk to our nations and allies. the administration continues to pursue a reactive foreign policy and ban all proactive efforts to thwart threats. some freshman lawmakers with their thoughts on news of the day, let's go to ohio.

caller: good morning. thesed like to ask freshman something. i would like to ask them to look into the democratic 30 senators from the democratic party that have paid off for sexual advances. i would like to know who they are and if adam schiff is one of them. that is all i have to say. host: elaine in texas, a democrat. caller: hi, greta. i have been watching since 1979. host: that is great. what do you think? the fact you have watched all these years and watched lawmakers come and go, what do you think of this class? caller: i love them. these young people have a chance . if those men who have been there since world war i would go home, it would be better. stop being mean, give young

people a chance. satan, justust like people. i think they are beautiful, give them a chance and they will do well. can i say one other thing? host: sure. caller: i watched headline last night and it was beautiful. my main thing i watched when a thosecame in, a tornado, barracks in that area have still not been repaired for the military people. forget about that wall and get down there and fix that. host: she said she watched headline with aoc. people are referring to alexandria ocasio-cortez by her twitter handle. bill, who is your freshman lawmaker? i want to point out i am in a new district. i used to be represented by

.onni costello the districts in pennsylvania have been determined by the court system in pennsylvania, so i did not even really know what district i was in. outskirts of philadelphia only way ash only -- all the way out in. i am not really happy with mrs. two offices she has in pennsylvania on the far districts -- i am far from there, over 20 miles and i don't know why she did not pick an office out maybe towards me, ender to the whole western of her district, i guess she doesn't care about representing us. i am a little concerned about

what she is going to do in congress. before i was represented by a republican. i don't really like the way they redistrict pennsylvania. i don't think it was fair that the courts stepped in and did it. i think the courts should be open to another evaluation. i think she got voted up because she was the republican in name only. i am looking for someone who is going to represent my conservative family values in congress and i am a little concerned she might not be doing that for me. host: a couple other freshman tweets for you this morning. antonio delgado, a democrat tweeting about education this morning saying it is the great equalizer in our country, yet too many are held back because they cannot afford higher education or are saddled with

debt. we must continue to grow on progress made. --ilhan omar, i will be voting yes on the war powers resolution. the war is a humanitarian issue and a human right crisis. -- introducing the resolution in the senate and the house. lawmakers will be back in washington this week, so there will be more action and you will be hearing more from this freshman class. ahead of that, we are calling all c-span watchers, especially those of you who watched this network over the years and have seen new freshman come into washington. what do you think about this group? let's go to williamsburg, virginia, independent. caller: good morning. i am calling from williamsburg.

i am a special forces veteran. i don't believe we have any business being in yemen. i was in yemen for several years in my previous job and i also believe we should abolish all pensions and benefits for all representatives. thank you. in pennsylvania, independent. caller: good morning. is mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. host: apologies, go ahead. caller: i would like to see the independent line rotated to the top of the list, i have called multiple, multiple times, 50 times may be about that point. more than a third of the public self identifies as independent. even your -- even your callers, it is more than a third and you

do not rotate that number. i don't know what party you are from, but you are shaking your head usually took confirm everything negative about donald trump. that tells me you support that. fromisten to a lot of crab somebody from new mexico saying whatever about the president. he is elected to do a job, that is what the president is supposed to do. onene is always right, no is always wrong. the dialogue today is all one way or the other, nobody listens and the worst violators are that--of that are the democratic party. host: what about the freshman class, greg? caller: it is too early to say. it is too early to say. if the number of freshman, you

listed them, 60 in the house, 10 in the senate, you have only talk about the -- talked about the female democrats in the house. in the house, you focused on the female democrats and there have only been a handful that have made any kind of headlines. it is way too early to say if they are making a difference. some of them are making headlines, absolutely. are they making a difference? that is a different question. host: you are saying no? or too early? caller: too early. host: we have been showing you other lawmakers as well in this congress and we have interviewed over 50 of them in this congress. one of them is kevin hearn from oklahoma, he talked about his business upbringing. he was a mcdonald's franchise owner for years. here is what he had to say. [video clip]

>> i have been a businessman my whole life. jobs and businesses, every president since then. mcdonald's franchisee for 22 years tomorrow. alsoars in mcdonald's, but real estate and banking -- all of which have been transferred to my wife. we have about 1000 employees. >> what got you into business? >> my undergraduate is in engineering. i was working as an aerospace engineer in 1986 and space shuttle blew up in the industry changed forever. i had an opportunity to get into mcdonald's franchising business. $100,000 years to save and that was the last time i received a paycheck from anyone other than myself. i signed both sides of my paycheck for >> 22 years now. what do you think that has taught you? >> i have lived on the others of

late -- regulations and tax policies. in extreme poverty, spent all my time in school living on food stamps and i made a conscious decision after i graduated high school that i would never take another dime from the federal government. i have worked my entire life to put people to work. i have hired from entry-level to executive level folks over the last 22 years. host: congressman kevin hearn if you want to learn more about him and others. we talked to over 50 of them and we will continue to do so on c-span as we learn more about this -- these freshman lawmakers . former president obama met with them as well. the headline in the washington post, president obama cautions freshman house democrats about the price tag of liberal policies. some tweets from his visit, we

will start with antonio delgado hist was inspiring to hear continuing vision for progress for america and the former president tweeted a picture of himself talking to the lawmakers . last night i had a chance to meet with freshman democrats in congress, it is a young, diverse class stocked with a bunch of my campaign and administration alums who have taken the torch. this group will be driving progress for a long time to come. one of them was mike levin who ateted fantastic to see barack obama. i appreciate him taking time to meet with freshman members, miss you in the oval office every day. nick, who is your freshman lawmaker? caller: my freshman lawmaker is veronica escobar. host: we spoke with her as well. what do you think? caller: she took over from my

former congressman, beto o'rourke. he is running for president now. too early, greta, for my congresswoman. the marine corps. she was on city council here in el paso and then she was on the county board and now she is in congress. host: did you vote for her? caller: i did not vote for her, no. host: why not? my --: she was just not since i have been back home, i be innown her to politics, whether city hall or congress, and now in but it is too early for her, but i will give her a chance, maybe

in two years if she is still around. host: what would you like her to be focusing on? like for her to be focused on the border, greta. -- the area of the border, we have 1700 percentage increase in people just 4001 -- last week in one day. built for patrol was male, mexican, men, not families with children and now we have to take them to get checked out. if they have a sickness, take

them to the hospital. we had two children sick that past away in our sector and i feel sorry for those children, but their parents drag them up here with no food and no water. when you are on the desert, you dehydrate real quick. host: if you want to learn more about your member, congresswoman escobar, go to our website. she talks about living on the border, but her family's history, her grandparents migrating from mexico and the farm they have had in the area for decades. go to c-span.org to learn more about her. larry in arizona, republican. hi, larry. larry, good morning. are you there? caller: let's go to sharon in arkansas, independent. hi, sharon. caller: hello, greta.

how are you doing today? host: i am doing well. what do you think of these freshman lawmakers? caller: i think it is too soon to tell. come into congress with all these ideas. newuld like to see these theressman study constitution and read the history of socialism. i think they need to do this are highlyy all educated, but they are ignorant of a lot of things. congressman and contributors to society, need to know. i am 81 years old. i have voted since i was old enough every election and i was a diehard democrat for many years. i have been a republican and now

i am an independent and i like some of the things both parties do and i don't like a lot of the things they do. host: what are some of the good ideas? what are some of the bad ideas these freshman lawmakers have had? the socialistic -- the bad ones are the socialistic ideas they don't understand. notink they are just educated enough. they have education and most of them are lawyers or social workers and that does not give them a lot of knowledge about the constitution, how our country was formed and what makes good american citizens. two ofet me introduce these freshman lawmakers maybe you have not heard of. the first one is brian stiles who succeeded paul ryan. he took over for him in that

first district of wisconsin. he worked for the former speaker at one time when he was younger, an attorney, also university of wisconsin board of regents. after that is haley stevens. you heard president obama talk about a former administration officials -- some of them have taken over in districts and haley stevens is one of them. in this interview with us, she talked about her role in the obama administration. we will start with brian stiles first and then haley stevens of michigan. [video clip] >> fresh out of college i had the opportunity to work with paul ryan back when he had to explain to people who he was. no longer the case as he left congress as speaker of the house. >> what stood out to you in that experience? >> i look at that experience and

realize your work ethic and --egrity really impact how impactful you can be. you couple that with devout determination to deliver on some policy objectives you are fighting for, there is unlimited runway to be impactful if you are willing to go and do the hard work policymaking, building consensus on ideas. i learned the importance of a hard work ethic and to deliver on promises you make that i did on the campaign. >> i worked on the hillary for president campaign. when she did not win the primary, i went on to the obama campaign and when president obama won, i was asked to serve in his administration on the transition team and then as somebody thinking what do i want to do in this administration? looking at the economic climate and certainly the wish s and --

the recession hanging over michigan. if i am going to do one thing, i will put up my hand from michigan. i was asked by steve ratner to serve as his chief of staff on the u.s. auto rescue in the department of the treasury. responsible for saving general motors and chrysler. that bore a hole career for me manufacturing economic development and 21st century job training. host: haley stevens talking there. our previous caller said many of them are attorneys, some of them have different backgrounds from what you would expect from a lawmaker. lauren underwood was a former nurse and tweeted out this morning i know health is no , that's whyarantee we need paid sick days and why i am proud to cosponsor the healthy families act read a new

freshman senator from arizona, in 2019, span calls are predicted to make up 42% of all phone calls. we are working to hold illegal robo callers accountable. you also have senator mitt romney, a familiar face for all of you, mitt romney tweeting it is time we start paid family parentslutions to help in the critical first ever few months of their children's lives. our proposal gives parents the facts ability -- flexibility to take time off work without pay. mike levin tweeting reminder that since day one the trump administration has been taking deliberate action to sabotage our health care system meanwhile house democrats are fighting for the people to lower the cost of health care. these are the issues these freshman lawmakers are talking about on social media or pushing

in legislation when they are here in washington. we want to get your reaction to this class. roy in las vegas, a republican. c-span.thanks for the previous caller, the 81-year-old lady i think hit it right on the head about the high educated freshman class. the problem is the colleges are so liberal and the social really just seems to be dominating the democratic party. it's not the democratic party ofm back in the j -- days john kennedy. that along with the influx of all the immigrants that will be having so many more forressional votes california -- to the point now that it is -- california will

determine who becomes president and the liberal agenda is kind of overwhelming the country, i believe. carolina.in north it democrat. caller: good morning, greta. i would like to make a comment i am heartened and pleased regarding the diversity of the new freshman class and i would like to contrast and compare that with the lack of diversity of the c-span hosts. you, as a host, only host one day a week. the other 6 days are hosted by men. i would love to see more diversity in terms of the hosts for c-span. moving on to the new class, i think hopefully they will do and promote legislation regarding the rightist existential threat to our country, which is climate change. 68 of thesee to see

new representatives are christians and i hope they will look at it from a christian perspective of stewarding what god has given us and to promote legislation that gives us 100% renewable energy, gets us away from importing oil primarily from countries run by dictators with the exception of canada. i look forward to the promotion of legislation regarding health care so that those that are -- so thatlth care they protect the affordable care act which has been decimated or tried to be decimated by the republican party. host: is health care one of the reasons why you voted in 2018 and part of your decision-making

of who you voted for? caller: absolutely. that and climate change. looking at climate change, if you think we have an immigration problem now and a health-care care crisis now, by 2050, you look at the increase in asthma, heart degree -- heart disease, and other conditions caused by climate change, this is why i think these two are the biggest priorities for this new congress. i applaud diversity and range of education. these are highly educated elected officials that i think are going to do the best for constituents. host: what do you think of the special election in north carolina for that seat that is still open from 2018, redoing that election there?

caller: i think it was the right move and it bothers me they are always pointing a finger. when you point a finger at democrats and there are three fingers pointing back at you, here we see the republicans -- there is a classic case of voting fraud and disenfranchisement. i hope and pray the democrat wins in the ninth district so that we have another democrat to join this illustrious new -- host: i think you meant the third district. caller: the third district, i am sorry. host: i ask that because this freshman class from 2018 is becoming part of this race in the special election for the third district. north carolina republican makes her first add all about aoc.

of 17le nicks, one republicans running for the nomination in north carolina third district has made aoc the focus of her first ad. take a look. [video clip] , sheexandria ocasio-cortez has the media, she has the followers, but bless her heart, she has some terrible ideas. guaranteeing government jobs for some while killing small-town jobs for others. her green deal is a bad deal for north carolina. approve this and i message because i will stand up for socialism. back to gil in north carolina, democrat. what do you think of that? caller: i find it interesting she is attacking alexandria ocasio-cortez. she represents her district in the bronx and she is not saying anything about the person she is

running against. the gentleman who is running i am sure has policies who are -- why isavor and alexandria ocasio-cortez her bogeyman? she is taking this from the playbook, she has to make an is -- whywhy is why is she so afraid of the congresswoman who won her district fair share and by a wide margin? this is just deflecting. about her issues in her third district and talk about the policies she wants to promote. why is she so scared of alexandria ocasio-cortez? host: dominic in new york, independent. good morning. caller: let me remind that guy from north carolina what this woman is doing.

amazon was going to open in -- people create jobs were going to open businesses. cortezdy loves this kid, , but they don't agree with her policies. i think this is what the lady was trying to bring up. this is not 1790. somebody that wasn't born in this country can take this position, especially if they come here with a different agenda. this woman talks about israel and people that support israel, it is ridiculous. i think the law should be changed. if you are going to be in congress or the senate, you have to be american-born. this is your country, we cominge

with some radical ideas to change the whole thing. one other thing about the affordable care act. there representing one of the biggest unions in the country. we told democrats you are not taking our health care. they said the unions are exempt, the whole federal government was exempt. none of these politicians use the affordable care act. under medicare you have over 200 million people that are exempt with no way of paying for it. you remember nancy pelosi standing up in congress saying we had to pass it. she knew what was in it. there was no way of paying for it. they wanted the $450 billion from medicare. to pay for it. they couldn't afford it. instead of coming up with a better deal -- have a good day. host: dominic, i want you to

look at these faces. these are first-generation freshmen members. there are democrats and republicans in this list of freshmen and the 116th congress has at least 13 lawmakers who are immigrants or the children of immigrants serving. that includes more than just freshmen in that list. we are spending today's washington journal getting your thoughts on this freshman class. what do you want them to focus on while they are here in washington? what do you think of the job they have done so far? keep dialing in. republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. .ndependents (202) 748-8002 join us on twitter or facebook. we are introducing you to some of the lesser-known freshman, c-span has spoken to many of them.

take a look at the lawmakers that are being put together to give you an idea of their diverse background. i am raw and real and authentic. i'm not going to be your polished politician. >> they are called detention orders in their system. 13 of those were for the death penalty. >> i used to write my diary in code and would send myself on secret missions which meant snooping in my parents things. i had such a fascination with this idea of finding the answers to questions nobody else could find. a i remember being 10-year-old and asking my parents for a subscription to newsweek. they looked at me like i was crazy. they were not people that talked about politics that much. >> a creationist is a person who believes the earth was created by some external force.

some people and i am personally one of those who believe that god spoke the earth into existence. is a lifelong republican who has never voted districtocrat >> the -- never voted democrat until me. >> the district is primarily caucasian. to decide they would put their confidence in me to represent them in congress and be the first african-american to represent the state is a tremendous honor. >> i was in the national -- i'm in the national guard for 22 years and jumped out of a perfectly good airplane a few years ago. i is still serving which i think is a great thing. on anas born on raised indian reservation. my family came there to grow food for the calvary. >> i grew up in texas. when i was growing up in houston the mayor of houston was a woman.

i had a sense that women could be and do anything. of the freshmen lawmakers of the 116th congress. we are getting your reaction this morning. here are some tweets from new members. passed same-sex fairness act. women and men same job same page. this new congress is working for the people one bill at a time." debbie hollinger is on of the first to native american women tweeting " no one should be in fear of attending a concert, going to school or dancing at a nightclub. i will advocate for gun violence legislation. join me today." katie hill a democrat saying, " i am proud to cosponsor the protecting pre-existing conditions and making health care affordable act. we are lowering health-care costs for communities and ensure

people with pre-existing conditions have access to care they need." max rose, democrat from new york, " the opioid epidemic is the biggest public health crisis pushingand the family oxycontin new how dangerous and addicting their drug could be. @tishjam leading the fight to bring justice." are these the issues you want freshmen lawmakers focusing on? let's hear -- let's hear from larry in sierra vista, arizona. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: hello, can you hear me? host: we can. caller: i am a republican and i live 30 miles from the border. there are checkpoints between me and tucson. manned, the lightly dogs are probably gone.

the things you roll right through. it is crazy. host: tie this to the freshmen lawmakers. what about them and border security? caller: we have two of them and the democrats i know have buyers remorse on both of them. host: who are you talking about? caller: christian cinema and gil patrick. they are nothing more than toadies for schumer and a low c. they both voted against the wall, they know better than that with the constituents here. they are just following schumer and pelosi. it is crazy. there is talk about a recall. elected with a lot of money. commentsut derogatory

about trump and the economy and everything. and what the democrats had already put in. they are both dangerous to the counties. we have an air force base, davis .ir force base, and army base we have large defense contractors. these folks are dangers to our economy when screwing around with the defense budget. me introduced folks to ann kirkpatrick who you were just talking about. she is not new to congress although she was a freshmen. she represented arizona from two thousand 92 2011 and 2013 to 2017. she challenged senator john mccain and lost that bid. here's what she had to tell us about growing up on an apache

reservation during her childhood. raised on theand fort apache indian reservation. my family came there at the beginning of the century to grow food for the calvary at fort apache. when i had a surplus they opened the general store. you lived and worked on the reservation? >> yes. apache was my first language. >> what was that like? >> it was great. lots of freedom. got to spend a lot of time riding horseback. upbringing. i thought that's the way life was and i had no idea about washington, d.c. at that time. host: what did you learn? >> i learned respect for a different culture.

i internalize the apache culture. when we moved off the reservation i had a really hard getting into the angle european western culture. eventually i did, i thought it for a wild. just realizing that there are different cultures to be able to work in multiple -- i really treasure that now. >> does that inspire your desire and motivation to learn chinese? >> it does. some missionaries coming to the reservation when i was a child from china. they thought apache sounded a lot like chinese. when i had to take english in college at -- a language in college i thought i would sign up. i signed up for a mandarin immersion course of his summer and i loved it. apache is four tones and so is mandarin. it was natural. the simple structures are very

similar. >> did it come easily? >> it came easily. host: larry, did you know that other congresswoman? caller: what a joke. she is from the indian nation. she should be the loudest wanting congress for the wall. the indian nation has quite a bit of the area along the border with illegals coming through there. now she is talking about that. that doesn't mean a dang thing. we are spending $9,000 a second on illegals. over $60 billion so far this for of taxpayers paying illegals. indian nations have a real problem with drugs. she should be jumping up and down to protect the indian .ation

what a fake. i was raised on a farm. i worked my but off. my wife is korean, she is naturalized. night studying the flag and the constitution for her to pass her tests. illegals come in that could care less. all they want is to be leeches. kirkpatrick came in and she got a lot of money. just what you talked about now she has turned it against us. host: larry from arizona, republican. let me introduce you to michael waltz from florida who was a special forces officer in afghanistan. the first green beret are elected to congress. he described his role in searching for missing army private. a soldierivate was

that walked off his face, he deserted his base in 2009 on june 30. that's the day i took command in that rotation. i was an army special forces in southeast afghanistan including the province where he was stationed. he stacked up his gear, left his weapon behind. he sent emails to his father denouncing what america was doing there. in my view he did not desert, he defected. he went to the enemy and was working with the enemy until his circumstances changed. i have been vocal in the fact that he is not a hero. i was glad to see the army finally bring justice but he should not have been declared a hero by the obama administration. i think it showed how tone deaf they were about military service members think. host: that is congressman michael waltz. you can learn more about him on

our website. sherman in oklahoma, independent. what you think of this group of lawmakers? should i think that they thinking that they know everything. they should come into a new position with open minds and open years and learn from the people that are already there. if you come to a job and you just started and you have never , you don't want to listen to the people that have been there for years. you're not going to make it. i think that they should focus on the legislation that we need right now. host: what do you think that is? what we neednk

right now is immigration. even though they may not agree with the president or like some of the decisions i think they should support them. him but ially like support him. i think he has done some good things. i think the immigration should have been done a long time ago. orderly ametered and way to get people into the country. they can only handle at the port of entry 70 cases a day. not 4000. host: all right.

n in washington dc, democrat. caller: good morning. i want to specifically address a caller from a few calls ago who was talking about ilhan omar not being born in this country and asserting because she wasn't born in this country she might have an agenda that is not american. that is racist. body of sos is a many people who represent their districts. that american hope is in this big pot of ideas will stir into a consensus that represents the best of america. is one of the many diverse freshman legislators who represent their district and

they also represent the way america looked. the republican party does not ofresent the full breadth how america looks in all of its colors and hues and its religions. say the freshman class and specifically the faith.ts, they represent they are running on aspirational goals. you hear about climate change and paid sick leave. all of these issues we are not used to hearing. they are running on an agenda of faith while republicans continue to a spouse beer. fear of immigrants. -- fear of soy many don't -- fear of democrats. fear of the other.

my final point is that it is important to understand that democrats are running on context. they bring context to the conversation. the united states is a land that was taken from american indians. it is very interesting. i have traveled through this country and i have been to certain places like denver, places aroundo the country that are named after indian territories. honestly i feel within this country something is wrong. there is some type of atonement that has not happened that has not been addressed. of deatheel the amount that has happened when this country was taken by anglo-saxon european people. host: i'm going to have to leave

it there. as you are making your point that these lawmakers who are hereens who were not born are citizens and now they're representing their districts and reflecting as you were saying on their district. i was trying to find the exact numbers. representative of omar is somali-american and many somalians have migrated to the minneapolis minnesota area. i was kind to find the numbers on that. point she has a very diverse district as well. not just dominated by somali americans. she has a diverse district. if you are interested this is certainly something you can look up and find yourself. melissa in arizona, republican. caller: what i would like for the new members is for them to consider freedom of the american people. it is so extremely important at

this time. where a familya just a couple of weeks ago who had a child with a fever that broke after leaving the doctor's office. had 20 members of the swat team smashed down their door with the and pointed at the family seized their children. the little boy had a fever during the day. the parents took him to the doctor. and the fever dropped to 100 degrees. in police department came and sees the children and the department of -- the parents have been in custody. the parents went to the court and have explained what the situation is and the children are still in the custody of the department of child safety.

the kids were seized and they have not been returned. that is a frightening scenario we live with. because children are seized without warrants and without cause and without due process. was the reason for seizing the children? supposedly child had 105 degree temperature at the doctor's office. , take him toaid the emergency room. asked to look at the thermometer. and when she got out of the doctor's office they went immediately and got a new for robert are -- thermometer.

he was laughing and playing with his sisters in the backseat. what doe question is, you want these freshmen lawmakers to address? i want them to address the fourth amendment and protect people who are being attacked by cps. countrywide. by child protective services. -- therth amendment says law says you should not sees a child unless there is imminent danger of bodily harm or death in the time it would take to obtain a warrant. a parent never had the opportunity to speak to a judge. host: heard your point. that is what she is hoping the freshman lawmakers focus on. congress andn in she is one of the only female doctors as well. to represent the eighth district

in washington state. the aca gaveut " millions of americans who were not insured access to affordable care. now donald trump and the doj are trying to take that relief away. i am proud to lead the fight to stabilize health and protective coverage for pre-existing conditions." she talked about health care and how it inspired her to run for congress. >> i am a pediatrician and i've been taking care -- i've been doing that for the past 17 years. this is a big leap to leave the practice i love to run for office. the 2016 election was a huge turning point for me. there were a lot of things in our country that changed then including reproductive rights, health care, our environment, and lots of things that matter to children and people with chronic illnesses.

i also had type 1 diabetes so that gives me even more of an insight into what my patients and people all over my district were feeling when there were all of these efforts to repeal the affordable care act. a lot of citizens did. i rallied and called my congressman and went and met with his office. i explained how harmful it would be for my patients and people like me with pre-existing conditions all over the district if we appeal to the affordable care act. i decided who better than a pediatrician with a pre-existing condition to go to bat for the people who can't. host: kim schrier explaining that is why she ran for office. is that why some of you voted for these new faces? we want to hear from you this morning.

if you have a freshmen in your (202) 748-8003. republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. .ndependents (202) 748-8002 use theirthey should leverage in congress and some said they have not been there long enough and should learn from others and stay quiet. representative alexander ocasio-capo has gained 17.3 million followers. oc has gained 17.3 million followers. dan crenshaw i republican from texas over 300,000, close to 400,000. arianna pressley a democrat from massachusetts has over 250,000.

compare that to the leadership in congress. pelosi has 2.3 9 million followers. kevin mccarthy the minority leader in the house 255,000. chuck schumer of new york, democrat, 1.7 4 million. compare that to majority leader mitch mcconnell, over 840,000. charlie from new york, independent. what are your thoughts on this class? caller: the one thing that is positive in relation to the new class is it is a diverse group that probably have professions outside of the main profession of most lawmakers, i would love to know what the number is which is lawyers. there is no rational reason why we shouldn't have more representatives who like the last person you had on who was a doctor.

i feel that there are educated people who are blue-collar workers as well as white-collar workers who should be representations of who represents the population. in light of the fact that somebody said we should listen to existing members. the problem is that in this country still as capitalism has gotten so out of control and i believe in capitalism as it exists. -- on the democrats and republicans a significant amount -- there are exceptions but they are the minority. the new class our young people and they are diverse people. is itst important thing is a diverse group of -- youuals who represent

have an idea that they -- that a lawyer which is the most occupation of the congress, with respect to that profession at time goes on over the years and ages it is less of the atticus finches in representing in the congress then there are generally speaking. things, ist important think it would be nice if c-span did this one thing. call in whereng a only people -- i am an old guy i should not call in. only people 35 and under call in. we don't leave this planet to them. the two most important things in all mine -- in my mind is nuclear proliferation and the planet. as it relates to air and climate and whatever.

and the fact that those things are not predominant in most everybody -- don't misconstrue. health care is important. gun control is important. many issues are important. disparaging in terms of wages what the bottom line is. ,hose two things are important people of my age should realize that we will be gone and the planet will be left to young people. host: he is saying colors under 35 only. we encourage callers to call in and let them -- let us know what you think of the freshman class. many of these freshmen are in the 30's that we have spoken to and 40's. what do you think about the impact they are making or what do you what them to focus on.

charlie was talking about having backgrounds that are different than previous years. not as many attorneys. there are two nfl football players, one professional hockey player and one mixed martial arts fighter. medicale five professionals, three doctors, one dentist and wonders. five have worked in education or were teachers. they come from all walks of life. i played professional hockey. >> mcdonald's franchisee for 22 years. >> i won the lottery in 2010. >> state senator for florida. >> the cia. >> running a restauran.' >> running a technology business. >> i was president of the university of miami. >> i am a small-town lawyer from

lexington. captain of the national guard and served in afghanistan. >> mayor of phoenix for almost seven years. position for my physician.ion -- o of these new members have worked for the cia or been in the military. what do you think of the job they have done so far. frank from delaware, republican. welcome to the conversation. caller: i am just calling in reference to these people that were elected to congress. i think about 40 of them are the biggest liars in the world. host: why do you say that? caller: you can see their politics. all they want to do is fight donald trump.

i have watched everybody since 1960, all the presidents. he is the best thing that ever came down the road for the american people. they don't like him because of that. because they are trying to change this country. they want this country to not to be about what it was but going forward they want to be something they perceive it to be. democrats,ge head they are communist which is what i call them, they will be in a lot of trouble. host: frank's opinion in delaware. bob in pennsylvania, democrat, what you think? caller: i can't say much after that. i am a democrat. i am a union man. a machinist, retired. astopped voting for democrats few years back. they just talk out of both sides

of their mouth. one thing we can say for sure with this new crop of congresspeople is that they all look about within 10 years of each other and they are all products of our public school fairlyand probably recent graduates of college. i think that is why most of them don't know anything about civics the political comings and goings and how to put bills out there. they don't know anything about the law. we are going to see in a short amount of time that the suggestions and bills don't have merits to stand on. hopefully it gets people more involved with the school system. and the school board and take back what our teachers are teaching the youngsters.

most people don't even know what socialism is. is going to show very quickly here that we have a bunch of rubberstamps in congress. josh carter is a new freshman democrat and he tweeted out this. " i will say it once again pre-existing conditions must be covered. every person in our community has a right to health care. i'm ready to fight any attempt at repealing the aca along with you all." the new york times notes of that nine of the republican freshmen's or endorsed by the hard-line conservative house freedom fund. 25 of the democrats are progressive's including four who will represent districts president trump one in 2016. 19 others also one in districts the president won.

face isfreshmen congresswoman lucy mcbath who is a democrat from georgia, 30 year employee of delta airlines and her son died of gun violence in 2012. here she is at a recent hearing talking about the impact of that on her life. >> gun violence is an issue that is deeply personal for me. 2012 my son was shot and killed by a man who opened fire on a car of unarmed teenagers at a gas station in jacksonville, florida. jordan was 17 years old. weekuld be turning 24 this on february 16. after his death i dedicated my life to advocating for commonsense gun safety solutions. was the shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida that year that finally motivated me to run for congress. two membersbrought to the state of the union as my guest.

they experience a tragedy no parent should ever have to endorse or their daughter was killed when a man entered a yoga studio in tallahassee, florida and shot six people killing two before taking his own life. she had a bright future ahead of her and was eager to do good work in the world. her dreams were cut short by hateful man with a firearm. she was only 21. there are too many families experiencing tragedies like ours every single day. the pain of losing a child to gun violence never ends. it is in that pain that drives me to do this work to prevent gun violence. host: lucy mcbath representing georgia's six the district. one of the 100 or so new faces of this congress. tall, you have a freshmen in your district in new york. you are an independent. good morning, paul. who represents you?

caller: i live in rockville center but my representative is aoc. -- i mean i aman a conservative but i tend to vote republican. i feel bad for aoc. i think she is sort of the sacrificial lamb for the democrats. she is garnering a lot of attention and i think that attention is ultimately going to do her in. i think isen deal beyond preposterous. i think she is well-meaning but i didn't -- don't think she knows what she is and four. i would love to hear comments from this freshman class after their first term. when reality will sink in and how they will deal with one another. the leadership of both parties has been grossly ineffective the last couple of years. i like what trump is doing with

regard to calling out the leadership and getting people to think more clearly about what they are there for. host: what do you think of the job she did and her line of questioning -- i don't know if you have seen the hearings where she sits on oversight and government reform she received accolades for her questioning of the president's former lawyer michael cohen. did you see that? caller: i didn't. stay iny i tend to touch. i did not see that line of questioning. i think cohen has his own problems. host: let's not go down that road. let me show you another what folks were reacting to. >> on october 2018 the new york times revealed that quote " president trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990's including instances of outright fraud that greatly increase the fortunes he

received from his parents. he alsoer stated " helped formulate a strategy to undervalue his parents real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns sharply reducing his tax bill when those properties were transferred to him and his siblings. mr. cohen, do you know whether that specific report is accurate? >> i don't. i wasn't there. >> who would know the answer to those questions? >> alan weisenburger. >> what help for the committee to obtain federal and state tax returns from his company to address that? >> i believe so. host: the congresswoman from new york representing the 14th district. the youngest member of congress. that was her line of questioning at the hearing with michael cohen with the house intelligence committee. others say they will follow up on the name that she gave and

looking into the president's tax returns. mickey in milwaukee, wisconsin, independent. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i recently moved to wisconsin from minnesota. i live in a suburb of minneapolis. where all ilhan omar is a representative. i am originally iranian. my name is mohammed and i had to change it to ricky. bass/--s been a lot of backlash against republicans -- muslims. people like representative omar who carry religion on their sleeve are working against the cause of anti-muslim and islamophobia. for the most part people are mistaken. they think of muslims as terrorists. i don't want to go into that.

in the line of questioning of ilhan omar of elliott adams -- elliott abrams she called adams in the hearing. even though i don't agree with everything abrams represents, i think ilhan omar's questioning will soon go to him. highly educated person. she took everything straight out of wikipedia about elliott abrams. they are going to fasten my opinion. a lot of people have called in this morning saying it is too soon to say. i don't think it is too soon to say. these people ran for over 12 months prior to being elected. they have social media profiles. you have seen them in hearings. i think it is very obvious what everyone's objectives are. people have called about socialism. there are some in a different varieties of socialism.

the 81-year-old lady who called this morning complaining about socialism. if she is on medicare that is a form of socialism. and lenin marx thousands of books have been written on socialism. the union gentlemen that called, if you are in a union that is socialism. i moved here from minnesota to wisconsin with my legal name being mohammed. it was very difficult. muslim name and you go somewhere to rent a truck it is very hard. these are my comments. people should travel to washington, d.c.. i was there recently. they should visit the capital. it is really moving. they should walk up and down the national mall. they will have a different feeling about how things are run in the united states. host: i want to show our viewers the moment you were talking about.

minnesota democrat ilhan omar who sits on the foreign affairs committee. here is her questioning of the special envoy to venezuela. >> in 1991 you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from congress. inarding your involvement the iran-contra affair for which you are later pardoned by president george h. w. bush. why membersderstand of this committee or the american people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful. >> if i can respond to that. >> it wasn't a question. that was not a question. i reserve the right to my time. >> it is not right. members of this committee cannot attack a witness that was not permitted to reply. >> thank you for your

participation. in herresswoman omar questioning. she represents the fifth district in minnesota. she became a u.s. citizen in 2000. her background as nutrition, education and elected to the minnesota house of representatives in 2016. lester from newark, new jersey. publican. your thoughts on the freshman class? crap about this the freshman people -- they do more evil -- the democrats are going to get more evil -- [indiscernible] frankly frankly frankly i used

to be a democrat i used to vote for clinton. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] my rights have changed. i am a born-again christian. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] host: raleigh, north carolina. dorothy, democrat. i just wanted to say that the freshman class is wonderful as far as i am concerned because they do have ideas. it is notabout it is ideas of hate and division, thank goodness. i am a christian as well. people talk about -- they are

not talking forcefully enough or getting the message out about what climate change would do. i remember it was missouri are -- the understand that when landslide like that here in the u.s. you can't live on it or grow food on it. it contaminates the water. those people that live there have to migrate somewhere. the republicans keep talking about a wall. the way the climate is going we may have to go over the wall into mexico. give climate continues like it is. they are not thinking. host: dorothy in raleigh, north carolina. the freshman be more forceful on the issue of climate change. one headline about the freshman this morning. aoc and other house freshmen resist new incumbent favoring

the triple c role. a new incumbent favored policy of house democrats campaign are by arching her supporters to donate directly to individual candidates instead of the parties. that one democrats their own seat after fighting a democratic incumbent. caucuses are harmful for the deidra placita uninvolved policy -- challenging sitting democrats. the reaction from aoc. rule to blacklist and boycott anyone who does business with primary challengers is extremely divisive and harmful to the party. my recommendation, if you are a small dollar donor path your and give yourccc money to swing candidates instead. some great ones and then she goes on to list. / " i believe in our party but we

cannot lay claim to prioritizing diversity and inclusion when institutions likely dccc amp limit policies to silence new voices and historically marginalized communities. let's go to charles in new jersey, independent. what do you think of these lawmakers? caller: i am glad to see fresh young people in the congress. i am an old guy, i am 70. i was a democrat. i have always been independent. will vote for the person not the party. as far as these young people in ,ongress, young and middle-aged they have fresh ideas. i think that's what this country needs. as far as climate change, something is happening. they can call it what they want. the polar caps are melting. we are having more floods and storms and something going on.

as far as what a person is or where they come from, i am a christian also and it is not for us to judge, leave it up to god. green is a new republican congressman in tennessee representing the seventh district. a former nominee for u.s. army secretary, served in the u.s. army and former health care executive and former state senator. he is also the freshman president for the republicans of is 116th congress here he talking about how he met and interviewed saddam hussein. the position of the task force that was hunting saddam i planned the medical portion of all the missions. if we were going to go new omission i would know where the nearest surgeon was and how any operating room's they had. when we took casualties where we

had to redirect sue. on that mission it was like hey we think we got him. we follow the helicopters. then we caught him. that night i got to interview him for about 5.5 hours. >> you interviewed him? >> i interviewed saddam. i don't think it was attended to interview. they said what you spend the first night with them? and he was just talking to me so i spoke for about 5.5 hours. >> what topics did you cover? >> it is fascinating some of the stuff we talked about. it was mostly historical. --e why did you and invade kuwait or start the iran-iraq war. some of it is not in any other history book. answerddam gave me his on why he and rated iran and started that war i think that is the first time it was ever heard. sure the story later.

>> he shared that story in a book. his time with the former iraqi leader. bernard in ohio, republican. caller: hello, how are you. host: what do you think of these lawmakers? caller: unfortunately we have only heard from three of them and those are all aspirational claims that are tough to do on a financial basis. i am an immigrant. nine and myat age parents had to wait for six years from brussels and we had to have three things. , myad to have a sponsor father had to have a job and we could not become a burden on the state. no welfare and nothing. we need a national id card that allows us people who are --citizens

not able to have voting rights, not able to have emergency room care. every other country in the world we just give away a lot of stuff that we can afford to pay for anymore. with all these immigrants coming from the south it is almost impossible to have the border patrol control who is coming into this country and know who is coming into this country. as far as the other thing they need to do is have laws that are changed so that immigrants cannot claim they are being tortured in other countries and that makes them able to come having opposed to financial reasons to come here. as far as medicine goes i'm a retired physician. obamacare for most people do not understand what it turned out to be. it turned out to be a glorified welfare program. in 2008 and nine had insurance because i dealt with it all day long.

it had insurance that was good. -- $750 and up double deductible. the could not afford to see opposition. the deductibles went to seven or $12,000. that was the deductible. there was a co-pay on top of that for each visit. it became so impossible that people could not afford it. they had no health care. do is goeally need to back and have the insurance companies reinstitute the insurance policies that were in effect in 2008 and 2009. go back to the $500 deductible. host: bernhard with his comments about health care. several of you have mentioned that as well as climate change very it -- climate change. the first african-american representative from colorado was honoredthis "

to join nancy pelosi and fellow members of the select committee on the climate crisis to introduce house resolution nine to keep america in the paris agreement and take real action to curb carbon emissions." that is an issue he is working on. -- georgia'snd legislature recently passed an extreme ban on abortion before many women even know they are pregnant. georgia women and women everywhere does our political leadership that will defend their right to reproductive health care, not undermining their access. porterswoman katie tweeting out " as a member of the equality caucus i am committed to ensuring equal rights for trans gender individuals. i was proud to display this flag outside of our office this week in support of trans and gnc members of our community." " pay equity is not a partisan

issue, it is a moral imperative." these are the issues these freshmen lawmakers are focusing on. do you agree or disagree? what do you want them to talk about. nicholas, pennsylvania, democrat, good morning. caller: hello. i want to comment on the senator from new york aoc. i think she is doing a good job. i think her idea that people should donate to the individual and not to the party is how it should be. i think the problem in the past has been with the two-party system. i also want to comment on the socialism issue. our country is based on three different parameters, socialism, this social-- security is socialism. our fire department and police

department are all social programs. the people coming on to your show and saying that socialism is bad, capitalism can be bad also. if you don't have any rules on the road that people can do whatever they want. that is why you have these rules put in place. one last thing is that what has not been mentioned with these new party -- new young people coming into the office is that the majority of them are in the democratic party not the republican party. the republican party is still older white men. thank you for your time. host: nikolas in pennsylvania. let's go to steve in texas, democrat. steve, good morning, go ahead. say that just want to i think the freshmen members are doing a good job. i think it is great we have all that diversity. the only negative i would have would be that maybe they are a

little naive about some things. they will figure it out as they go along. one more thing. donald trump is not the best thing he is the worst thing. i think the security part is these people not only do they not care what he does, that is the scariest part they don't care. host: steve in texas, democrat. as we showed you earlier these freshmen lawmakers, some of them are immigrants themselves and children's of immigrants. this is a group of first-generation freshmen lawmakers. tj cox of california, anthony gonzalez of ohio, chrissy houlahan from pennsylvania. powell from florida. rashida tlaib from michigan. the pew research group put together this graphic and this headline.

, athundred 16th congress least 13 of the lawmakers are immigrants or children of immigrants. cox, democrat tj from california represents the 21st district. a businessman and mining engineer. we spoke to him as part of our profile series. this is what he had to say about this country. >> my dad came from china and my mom from the philippines. they met at montana state university back in the 50's. when my dad finished up his phd he took his first job in california. does your parents migrate from china and the philippines respectively? >> a classic immigrant story. the land of opportunity. my mom used to sneak into all the american movies. my dad went from england to canada.

a lot of ex-pats were kicked out of china after the revolution. >> what did your parents say about that journey? >> it came down to my mom was telling me when i was growing up. get to work. classic immigrant story. you come here and work hard and take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that america gives to all people. if you want to learn more about him you can go to our find our interview with him along with more than 50 other freshmen republicans and democrats. the previous caller mentioned the look of the republican party. , gopis a headline representative disappointed by the number of republican women in congress.

the only refreshment publican woman elected to the house in 2018. that will be representative carol miller, i republican from west virginia saying she is disappointed by the small number of gop women serving. frank is in new haven, connecticut, a republican. stephen who is in laurel, maryland, and independent. caller: i just wanted to say that i think this freshmen class is more reflective of the country. many of them are in place due to reactions of gerrymandering that wereone where republicans separating out democrats and chopping up districts. we found that this groups represents more of a wider cross-section of america. we have a freshmen here in

he is a and multimillionaire. he owns liquor stores all across maryland. he is also a democrat. he is not a communist. i don't think he is a socialist either. it is interesting to hear people things as socialism that clearly are not. thank you for that. host: we spoke with david trone about being the co-owner of total wine. you can see that if you go to our website. let's go on to john in chantilly, virginia. a democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just want to say that i think the freshmen congress needs to run something. the polling about the congress are very low. they need to run about

something, what the republican did. did. i think they need to understand that they have the comedic a with the republican congressman. have an open door. do not close your line. listen and learn. that is the way. it is not only one party can do all the work. others,o not work with we do not need attack back and forth. we need things done. republicans and democrats work for us. the people who are struggling can stay two-- you years, but they can replace you. i want to say one more thing. i am from somalia. i am proud because she opens doors for immigrants, like you just showed us. i can guarantee those who are attacking her, we will have more from different places for next time because we

know how to get our seed and we will defend our values. we are part of america as they need to understand that just because she is a muslim woman does not mean that she does not have a right. >> john's thoughts and virginia. we are at the top of the hour here, continuing our conversation with getting your reaction to the freshman class. we have over 100 new house lawmakers and attendant new senator's kite what impacts you think they are having -- senators. . what impacts do you think they are having? democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001 independents, (202) 748-8002. we want to hear from you this morning. interviewed over 50 of the house freshman. all of them so far have been

house members. to give you an idea of their backgrounds, what they did before, we have put together a quick glimpse at more than 30 of them. take a look. [video clip] >> i was fortunate enough to play professional hockey. a 2010.n the lottery in >> i was state senator. >> i have been with the cia. >> i was running a restaurant business. clinton --esent present clinton's chief -- >> i am a small town lawyer from lexington. >> i am a captain in the national guard. >> i worked for a congressman from minnesota. >> i was mayor of phoenix for almost seven years. a stateved six years as public utility's commissioner. >> i have been a physician.

>> i am real, authentic. i am not going to be your polished politician. >> i had 92 convictions. they are called detention orders. my diary andwrite code and i would sometimes send myself on secret missions which meant snooping and my parents' things. i had such a fascination with this idea of finding the answers to questions that nobody else could find. >> i remember being a 10-year-old and asking my parents for a subscription to newsweek. they looked at me like i was crazy. they were not people that talked about politics that much. >> what is a creationist? that is a person who believes the earth was created by some external force. some people, and i am one of those, believe god spoke the earth into existence. >> my dad is a lifelong

republican who has never voted for a democrat until you voted for me. >> the district is predominantly caucasian. it is 2% african-american, maybe less. for them to decide they will put their confidence in me to represent them in the united states congress and me the first african-american to represent the state is a tremendous honor. >> i am in the national guard, 22 years in now. just jumped out of a perfectly good airplane not too long ago. raised on an and indian reservation. my family came there at the beginning of the century to grow food. >> i grew up in texas. dan richards was our governor. when i was growing up, and he has been the mayor of houston, watching them, i had a sense that women can be and do anything. >> a quick look at some of the new faces on capitol hill in the

hundred 16th -- 116th congress. we are getting your reaction to this group of lawmakers and what you think their impacts have been and what you hope they will focus on during their tenure here in washington. politico put together this article recently. it is like high school is the quote. meet the house's freshman clique. democrats are forming alliances in a bid to gain friendships and influences. nine andthe gang of the gang of nine, according to politico, these are freshman democrats quickly bonded over their shared military service and more moderate politics, each one in previously held by republicans. you also have the self named squat, most high-profile group of freshman democrats, younger women of colored. they are social media savvy and

doing all they can to swing the party to the left. there is the squad. a casio cortez -- ok's you cortez -- representative ok's casio-cortez. -- look for them to rise in leadership. websitethe politico's this morning if you want to check out that story they wrote about the alliances being formed among these freshman lawmakers. let's get to your calls. lakewood, new jersey, republican. >> good morning. caller: i am appalled at some of the callers. i'm 81 years old. my whole family and myself were democrats until just before obama became president. i was going to vote for him

until i see his background. i am -- i love trump. he has done more in two years were our country, more for the blacks, for the hispanics, for everyone. he wants to protect americans from all these here invasions, from the drugs, from people who want to come and hurt us. what is wrong with that? as far as the young people in congress now, i find them very radical. why is the organization roaming around the halls of congress? they are a radical group. i am not against all muslims. i am against the radical ones. that caller before that was a muslim, he sounded like a radical muslim because he is trying to protect himself. my doctor is a muslim.

nothing -- they are trying to take over. some other freshman tweets this morning -- rick scott recently tweeted of all of the dem plans have one thing in common, they drive up the cost of health care. i grew up in a family without health care so i want to make sure american families can afford quality health care and their medications. the other native american woman elected to congress -- the discriminatory transgender military ban demeans the service of thousands of brave trans service members and does not reflect our values. today, i voted to reject the shameful ban. after years of people it income growth under president obama, we are seeing a rise in wages.

more proof that president trump's tax cuts passed by a republican congress are working for everyone. democrat in new jersey -- our military should not just reflect -- protect our values. it should flex them. it is why i voted to stand up to the military ban. great to join my friend in the effort to increase flexibility for workers while negotiating salary, time off, and compensation. this empowers women and working parents. everyone should have the opportunity to achieve the american dream. those are some of the issues these freshman are focusing on. marlene in north carolina, independent. going to say something. my family has been here since 1684. we fought in the war kari we

have done all this. i see changes that frighten me for my country. thatr as the young woman is a muslim, she would need -- would not even be here if george 67,000d not brought somalians in one swoop into this country and put them in the area she is from. citizen, i am appalled because every one of gets $1000 a month from the american taxpayers as a refugee. host: where did you read that? caller: that was when it first happened back in 2000. he literally brought an entire group of somalis. remember one thing -- the somalis were the ones that drug our dead marines through the street. host: this is part of an effort for political asylum because the

country was at war at the time. caller: why would you -- why would you bring them here and establish 67,000 people that in theready put somebody united states congress that was not even born in this country? host: you think if you are not born in this country you should not be able to represent a district that reflects -- caller: representing people that george bush and the republicans brought here and put into an area so they could accomplish this. joe, oklahoma city, democrat. caller: good morning. wonderful show you are conducting. i did want to make a couple of comments. one is i am extremely excited about some of the democrats that made into office. a lot of times you'll hear the

democratic conference claim that you have to be close to the senator -- center to get in but what they will not tell you is every bit of support and money to the neoliberal and a center democrats and trying to force out the progressives like aoc. they have got the right idea. most of them got those ideas see what bernie sanders has lived and voted on his entire life. 80% of the people would vote him in. i want to make one comment to the trump supporters out there. it is very easy to waive your orange pom-poms for trump, but if you take a look at what he is really doing, if you look at the lobbyists that are now directly running agencies and departments, if you look at the aboutishment -- he ran draining the swamp and getting

rid of establishment people. cavanaugh, bolton -- those are people right out of the bush white house. i think trump people need to stop and think. how is it that trump has more goldman sachs and wall street executives working in his administration than any administration? friends. hillary's he is not draining the swamp. he is the king of the swamp. host: frank in new haven, connecticut, republican. caller: good morning, everyone. what do you think of the freshman class? muchr: i see it as pretty in competence i want to keep sis -- you know the k i s stuff? follow the law. stop the hate. we are blaming this, that, the other thing. look at the people that got caught already.

please. love. host: ok, frank. california, tom, independent. just have the same advice is your last caller. all these people who got elected, they were elected by the people. this was not a job interview. this is something that people thought they had something good to bring. they were not pandering for everybody else. remember the law. be a good citizen. crap.is other colorado'solks in six district sent to washington representative jason crow, former army ranger who served in iraq and afghanistan, attorney, and advocate for veterans. we spoke to him and this is what

he had -- what he said about why 9/11 led him to stay -- sign up for active duty. [video clip] >> i was moved by my time in the national guard. we were a, i knew country at war and i could not ask other people to do my fighting for me. i decided to go active duty. i joined rotc and asked for an active-duty commission and graduated toward the top of my class and ended up choosing infantry as my branch and airborne training and ranger training at the next thing i knew i was leading a push -- a platoon of paratroopers in the invasion of iraq in 2003. >> how are you involved in that invasion? >> i was an infantry officer leading a platoon of paratroopers, the 82nd airborne division. right after graduating college in may 2002, i went to infantry school and airborne school and ranger school and took over my fort braggon at

north carolina the next thing you know we were in the desert of saudi arabia getting ready for the invasion. the invasion launched and my platoon, my battalion was tasked with helping deal with some of the units that had bypassed during the invasion. we found ourselves quickly in combat operations and fought in a several day long battle where i earned my bronze star and ended up invading and helping capture baghdad. congressman jason crow representing the sixth district of colorado. andy, kentucky, democrat. what do you think of this freshman class? caller: thank you for what you do. congressional everything in washington right misleading are very and they are leading us down the wrong road. i am 56 years old. i would be 57 on may 17.

the democratic party i have known, they used to stand for something. my grandfather and grandmother were alive and my dad and uncle were alive, the democratic party stood with -- for what was right. they were conservative. , theyemocrat party now field.y off in left the people were misled with a voted for them and we need to get back to the bible. we need to get back to being civilized. if we do, our country will prosper. if we continue to go down the road we are with bernie sanders and all of them, we will be -- our country will be in trouble. i voted for trump and i think the world of mr. trump and we need to be praying for mr. trump and his administration because the left is trying to hurt him. nancy pelosi needs to wake up. chuck schumer needs to wake up

and turn to the lord and start voting the bible. you voted for president trump in 2016. why did you vote for him? what were the issues? -- i didecause he was not agree with how the democratic party was voting because they support abortion and trump is pro-life and he is trying to help our country. host: in the 2018 election, did you vote and who did you vote for? what party? caller: 2018, i voted for republicans. i voted republican on the state level because some of the democratic party is not steady for what is right. they are not standing for the bible. in kentucky, we will have a primary this coming year and i will talk to a democratic candidate.

i like him tremendously. we talked quite often. rocky atkins. he is conservative. he is moderate. host: so you can vote for him. caller: yes, most definitely. i think a lot of rocky. party on thec local and state level will vote for the bible and stand for what is right and we can win again. host: a conservative democrat in kentucky. in congress is congresswoman debbie holland from new mexico met one of the new -- few native american women elected to congress. she serves as the new mexico democratic party chair 2015 to 2017 and she is focusing on native american issues. i want to show you part of a hearing recently that was about missing and murdered indigenous women. [video clip] >> the silent crisis of missing

and murdered indigenous women has been my top priority sense long before the ink sworn into congress and i am here today to hear your testimony to help find solutions to this long-overdue issue in indian country. i am wearing red today in honor of missing and murdered and i wanted to mention that. indigenous women deserve to be protected just like anyone else in this country. this is why i have been working diligently with my colleagues on bills to basic protection for for publicupport safety, including the survive act, which increases resources for victims assistance through the crime victims fund, need of use, and tribal officer protection act to extend protections to children and law enforcement personnel involved in domestic violence incidents on tribal lands and savannas act

to protect native american women by increasing communication and accountability among states -- state and federal lines and address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women. host: we learned more about congresswoman deb haaland when we interviewed her for our freshman profile series. you can find that on our website , c-span.org. another new phase in congress is marthaswoman -- senator mcsally, who was appointed to the seat left by the late senator john mccain, a republican. she made news recently when she talked about sexual assault while she was serving in the military. [video clip] >> like you, i am a military sexual assault survivor. unlike some hebrew survivors, i did not report being sexually assaulted. i so many brave survivors,

did not report being sexually assaulted. i do not trust the system. i blame myself. i was ashamed and confused and i thought i was strong what felt powerless. the perpetrators abused their position of power in profound ways and in one case i was preyed upon and then raped by a superior officer. i stayed silent for many years, but later in my career, as the military grappled with scandals and their inadequate responses, i felt the need to let people know i was a survivor. i was horrified at how my attempt to share generally my experiences were handled. separated from the air force at 18 years over my despair. like many victims, i felt the system was raping me all over again. ast: i should clarify -- not

new face to washington. a new face to the senate. martha mcsally served in the house before she ran for the senate seat against kristin sinema. she lost the seat and was appointed to serve out the rest of the late senator john mccain's seat. we are getting your reaction to these freshman lawmakers. what do you want them to focus on? what is first for you on their agenda? serving her first term in congress tweeting recently that as a proud member of the lgbtq caucus, i will do everything i can to make sure trance -- transgender people will not be erased by violent fear or prejudice. i am committed to she -- safety and equality for all. the longest-serving hhs secretary under the former president clinton and university president, now a freshman in

this hundred and 16 congress, tweeted the president's decision to cut assistance to el salvador, guatemala, and honduras is counterproductive and goes against all united states stand for. pulling the plug is dangerous and poses a greater risk in the northern triangle. it is long past time that our daughters are paid the same way we pay our sons. yesterday, the house took a big step in the right direction bypassing the paycheck fairness act and i was proud to help lead that effort. that was last week. congresswoman sylvia garcia -- as a member of the equality caucus, i am proud to fight against the trans ban. we must commit to transgender equality and recognize the courage it takes to live authentically. i will keep fighting so everyone can live openly and free from discrimination. veronica escobar, who represents el paso texas -- after two years

of horrific and inhumane policies, the majority of the -- 90 days in we have begun our work on reform. for you, reform means greater power to deport children. for us, it means living up to american values. austin, texas, republican. theer: i am concerned about new congress. there is too much involved in the policy of wanting socialism. members are the going to find noah socialism really means. it would destroy our country. another thing is that the hatred on both sides is unbelievable. there is a scripture that says anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and there is no

eternal life in him. if you want to check it out, it 3:in the book of first john, 15. they need to work together to get something accomplished. they are not getting anything accomplished because of the hate and it involves democrats and republicans. i appreciate you taking my call. let's go to lake bay, washington, independent. caller: good morning. i am an elder millennial. what i think about this new congress is i think three quarters of it got elected into the positions they are because of the dramatization by the media. unfortunately, the more people focus on appealing to their

emotions, the less they appeal to their own logic. that has led us to have a whole bunch of freshman congress members who are highly polarized. i miss the days when we had independent congressman. whenever something is voted for now, all the votes are either yea.nay or blue we do not have any independent thinkers anymore. that does damage to our country. host: a caller from maryland mentioned his representative, david chon, representing the sixth district. he owns the nation's largest e retailer, total wine. >> i started a small mall beer and soft ring retailer in harrisburg, pennsylvania. i opened that my second semester at the school of business. on a total strew string -- shoe

string. we painted the sides, we build stands,ers, built the and i began the retail business. that has blossomed. fast forward couple decades later, a lot of hard work later, to a company called total wine. total wine is the largest retailer in the united states privately owned for wine, beer, and spirits. we operate in 23 states. we have over 7000 team members. we do over $3 billion in sales. host: if you want to learn more about congressman sharon -- trone, go to c-span.org. carol in new york, democrat. what you think of the 116th congress? caller: i am not going to speak about the congress as a whole,

but i do want to give a shout out to to my freshman representative, anthony brindisi. he defeated a tea party type. is evenike about him -- 1%,he won by about 8% he has remained true to his campaign promise to be a slightly left moderate. about his action so far is as a member of the problem solver blue dog democrats, he has reached across the aisle and worked with a republican from pennsylvania to introduce legislation that would agriculturalllow immigrants to work year-round on

a new york dairy farms where they are needed. has --u have a guy who who is trying to be an effective legislator for his district and i know he is going to face a lot of opposition. he already has faced opposition from the indivisible types within the district. he is going to face opposition tea partyme right types. i thought i would give him a shout out as what i believed to be an effective congressman. , wehistory of this district had a republican, richard hanna. he did endorse brindisi. telling theanna audience when he endorse brindisi from ever that brindisi

is going to have to vote a lot of ways in the center that will -- thus all the left of the party. solid left of the party. host: what were the issues of the campaign? caller: i think it was the candidate. am -- i consider myself pretty but to beerate, perfectly candid i found the other candidate to be abrasive, offensive, and totally doctrinaire when it comes to things like gun control. positionhad a nuanced

because remington arms is in his district. catholic and i think he in terms of a hot button issue -- abortion. women have a right to choose. i am not for it. was -- one of the things that was wrong with claudia tenney's she never held a genuine town hall meeting. print easy has had half a dozen already around the ash brindisi -- brindisi has had half a dozen around the district. if you tell me you cannot have a forum with the constituents, you have a long road to get my vote. host: echoing some of what you have said is a tweet by congress member brindisi. gething across the isles things done, glad to partner with a republican on a common on more skilled and

stable workforce. caller: that is the incident i was referencing before about reaching across the aisle with a pennsylvania republican. that during the election and he demonstrated tentativehe was a rep -- representative in the new york state assembly. he sent out a questionnaire on the internet -- what you want to see me do? i said i want to devote your conscience and i think he has done that. feet toot hold a guy's the fire every time on issues that you support. he is bound to vote against you sometimes and he is a moderate. i trust his judgment. if he disagrees with me, so bad for me. host: a democrat in new york.

carla, a republican in north carolina. caller: how are you? good morning. it has all been interesting this morning. we have been going all over the place. i wanted to talk about especially that dccc issue. i am watching the democrats. sit backblican, it is and watch it happen. -- as you block them six like the nine and the and the middle, i am watching the middle sit there and go the point of where i do not think reaching across the aisle or getting anything done -- and i have watched the

speeches and how disrespectful they have been to anybody that sits in the chair. saying this is imploding. this is actually imploding the never seen some that point.ch you aree article referencing is in the headline ocasio-cortez and other house new incumbentt rule. one called it divisive and harmful. for the campaign committee to adopt a policy preventing challenging sitting democrats. is tweeted out the dccc cruel to blacklist anyone who

does business with primary challengers. my recommendation -- if you are a small donor, small the roller donor, halt your donations to the dccc and give directly to swing candidates. we have some great ones. fungus woman presley desk congresswoman presley saying i believe in the -- in our party but we cannot make claims to diversity and inclusion when institutions like the dccc lament policies that threatened to silence new voices and marginalized immunities. -- community is. a freshman on the republican texas. dan crenshaw from he gave a speech at a washington press club dinner and joked about his fellow freshman. [video clip] >> i am blessed to be part of a memorable class. we have made a lot of noise so far.

much has been reported about the democrat freshman class and i get it. they are not a bunch of white men. i know. we are doing our best. of the 2020g a lot presidential candidates and they are taking notes from alexandria ocasio-cortez. they are letting loose and being cool and endorsing the green new deal. democrats are not the only ones trying to copy aoc. not me. i'm not talking about me. i'm talking about matt gaetz. [laughter] to be the gopted aoc. godspeed, brother. host: dan crenshaw, a freshman in this 116th congress joking about at gaetz, a sophomore serving his second term. he was a freshman in the 2016 election.

tony in new jersey, independent. i wanted to say thank you because if you look at the other 24 hour cable news networks you really get no idea who is in congress besides the few that are vocal and who they want to promote because it promotes angst and brings up there -- the amount of people watching. that goes for the major 24 hour news cycles. bringing thank you for the less vocal members of congress. host: thank you. watching today, what have you learned or what has surprised you from what we have shown you of our interviews with these freshman? caller: that they are not all as radical as cnn and fox and ofryone wants you -- some

them are and you will get that across the line. gray will be a range of for the democrats and republicans. host: what you think about them? caller: the new lawmakers? i think they have to -- i'm a person that figures we have to lean more toward the middle. the more polarized we get, the more problems we have. who therd to determine new congressmen are because you are really -- they do not get the airtime. as a person who is not in d.c. and does not sit in the chambers, it is hard to understand what they are trying to get across. host: you can tune into c-span. we will cap of -- cover the house floor. but also these hearings we cover here on c-span. i encourage you to go to our website, c-span.org. there are high-profile, interesting hearings this week alone where you will see some of

these freshman lawmakers questioning those that are testifying. all of those details can be found on our website, c-span.org . janice, new jersey, democrat. withr: i am very upset congress. forefathers who came through ellis island and i would like to see people actually go through for the safety of our health. if they are coming to this country, i do not care where you are coming from, you should have to make sure they have no diseases. we have a measles outbreak. host: what does this have to do with the freshman class? caller: they have got to get together and make sure they keep our country safe from all diseases that are coming here,

possibly through these people that do not know they have them. host: so you want one voice in congress on board security. -- border security. caller: i do not care how me voices, but they have to be the right voice. they have to be for the safety of the people in this country. we have enough problems with diseases and everything else. as far as illegals, people coming here, i do not understand. if they come here and they now they want citizenship. actually -- their -- dr. children, i do not have much against them. do their parents know the english language? this is janice in new jersey, a democrat. this is what she would like to see freshman lawmakers and lawmakers to focus on.

franklin, wisconsin, republican. caller: i believe congress should get together and work as a whole as it used to be back in these -- in the 60's and 70's when they were able to cross the aisle and work with each other. the mueller report is done. it is time for congress to act and do the people's work, not the individual fighting we have amongst democrats and republicans now is the mueller report is over. we need to have people on both sides work for the people as they were elected to do. host: franklin's thoughts in wisconsin. some other tweets this morning from the freshman. i am proud to science -- stand with my colleagues to sign this brief recognizing the state's authority to recognize whether our tax dollars should be funding.

, been john rhodes -- i voted against speaker pelosi's attempt -- i stand with the people of tennessee in our shared desire to secure our border. you can read his statement there. donis layla -- the president's decision to cut assistance is counterproductive and against all the united states stands for. it poses a greater risk in the northern triangle. some of the tweets this morning from the freshman lawmakers. of of them was a republican tennessee, a former business executive and a longtime farmer. he comes from generations of farmers. [video clip] >> i am blessed to be the eighth generation in my family to farm the same land in the sixth district of tennessee. my forebears arrived in 1790 from north carolina. they had a revolutionary war

grant of 2500 acres. today, i have a 2000 acre farm, much of which is part of that original land grant, and part of which has never been out of the family throughout that 228 year history. >> how has your family continue to farm for these decades? >> it is remarkable. i only get to take credit for 19 years. it is remarkable that generation after generation that this family was able to pass the land down and it stayed in the family. it did change names a few times. there were times when daughters took possession of the property and it had their husband' name attached to it but an unarmed -- uninterrupted stream for that time. not in myhat is branch of the family is still in the family through other branches. host: john rose joins the ranks of the 100 new house members in

the -- and the 10 new senators. the freshman class is 98 total, 89 in the house and nine in the senate. 62 democrats, 36 republicans. the average age is 49 years old. 38 women and 23 minorities. 23 have served in the military or at the cia. we have 50 minutes left in our conversation with all of you. -- 15 minutes left in our conversation with all of you. joel is calling, a democrat. you have a freshman representing you. caller: give me a break. host: we missed the name of the freshman. caller: i cannot ramp the guy's name -- remember the guy's name. when these people got elected, nancy pelosi was so happy, just

.ike she was when obama won they screwed up so bad down there for two years when obama was there. now they are doing the same thing. i even called her office and told her. tell these young congressmen to keep their mouths shut. take them down to the bowels of the capital and show them out. all these people do is run off at the mouth and in two years they will be thrown out of office. republicans do not play that stupid game. happens tot congresswoman bloch. shoot -- they do not want minorities. they do not want women. fact.s a they all come in there and think they are big shots. they are not going to do nothing.

the last thing they will do is clean the restrooms out. host: roger, union, michigan, independent. caller: hello. calleri thought in congress thea head. host: you thought they had what? because youadband do not wear hats. host: they change the rule for congresswoman omar. caller: why do they change the rule for her? this is the united states of america, not somalia. host: she is a muslim american. caller: that does not make no difference. this is america not somalia. host: in america, can you practice a different religion? caller: you can, but do not flaunt it. do not get up there and say i am

here and you guys will abide by my rules instead of anybody else's. host: roger in michigan. james, san diego, california, republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. my call is about immigration but directed to all of the house of representatives. 'he house of representatives districts are determined by population, not citizens. there is going to be a census taken in the near future and those districts that they uponsent may go away based the reduction of of population rather than citizens. when that happens, maybe we will get control of our country back. over 75,000 immigrants illegal that just came across the border this month.

if you take that and factor it out, it is a million over this year. a couple more tweets for you. hornesswoman kendra tweeting out this morning i was proud to stand today with survivors of service providers of women and men from both sides of the aisle to an -- introduce ce against women act. there is nothing partisan about protecting women. -- to protect infants who have been born alive. this is not about abortion. this is about saving innocent lives. democrats have said no 19 times. shameful and wrong. one of the first women from iowa -- we have been all over i will's first district focused on infrastructure and the

important work needing to be done. grateful for proactive community leaders and looking forward to order ships ahead. dusty johnson from south dakota -- a big day. it will be the most advanced bomber in the history of the world and alcorn will be its first home. this mission will bring hundreds of new jobs to south dakota and maintain our state's place at the forefront of keeping our nation safe. he is a republican. that is what some of the freshman are focusing on. do you agree or disagree with their priorities? in georgia, democrat. caller: good morning. i am a black indian and i still do not have my permanent rights. you have to vote every 25 years to give people the -- of caller the right to vote and 25 years is going to come up and if they

take away the right to vote under the civil rights act and i do not have the right -- or anything. i think they need to make a permanent right for people of color in this country to vote and not have to vote every 25 years. the second thing is, being a native american, i think they need to respect our sacred ground. host: so these are the issues you will like these freshman to focus on. mike, illinois, independent. caller: the biggest problem we have is comprehensive immigration reform that has been put off over and over all these years and president trump said becausek the reason is he does not want those people to become voters. you have all these people if they gave them a pathway to citizenship they will vote republican and they know that. that is why this has been obstructed. how is it possible that we

cannot get immigration reform done, especially when we control the house? it does not make sense. host: you want the freshman class and the democratic freshman most of the elected were democrat, you want them to focus on immigration reform. >> they need to pass a bill and send -- caller: they need to pass a bill and send it to the senate. the american people need to make more senators democrats or independents because this will continue until the people take back the rights. another thing people do not understand. i am an american citizen. there are hundreds of thousands of us that are also involved in this because we are married to other from poland or countries that are not considered mexican.

issue than ager lot of people realize and it is tearing families apart. int: you might be interested a discussion that happened last week with the former governor of california, arnold schwarzenegger, and the former attorney general in the obama administration, eric holder. the supreme court was taking up rural -- oral arguments of political gerrymandering and they went to the national press club to talk to reporters about the issue. arnold schwarzenegger was echoing what you're are saying here, that if we do not have political gerrymandering, the result, he believes, and what california has shown come is you have more people in the middle and they could then come to an agreement on issues like immigration reform. the supreme court hold -- heard those cases friday. we aired one of them friday and the other will air tonight. the two cases are looking at north carolina and maryland. you will find more details on

c-span.org and you can watch that event. patrick, kentucky, republican. i am concerned about this immigration problem. -- common reason sense tells me you bring these people in and what you are doing is taking away from the american people. if you want to use that money, use it to support the true americans in this country that are struggling, that are not having that hand up. host: tie this to the freshman class. the freshman class, it seems like they are allowing all these immigrants to come into the country and not considering what it is doing to the country. host: how are they allowing it? caller: they are pandering to

this -- the democratic party that says we have to consider them. it is a humanitarian crisis. what about the humanitarian crisis in the country for our people, our americans? berry in new hampshire, democrat. caller: my congratulations on putting a fantastic program together. you must have done a lot of research for this. i am a democrat. i am 80 years old. ocasio-cortez is fantastic, a very sharp woman. and the lady who came from somalia. by wearing her religion around her head, she may be a little less effective. isething i find wonderful getting rid of the arm of the party and these new people are

raking away -- breaking away and the democratic party will start to represent the rank and file of the democrats. host: what do you think -- what you think the outcome is? what is the outcome on public policy? caller: it is hard to predict, especially when it concerns the future, what i think that, for example, urging people to donate to the individuals who are running rather than the credit party will get -- democratic party will get us away from situations we had were the party would stifle people like bernie sanders. i am 80.e mentioned i may be olden years but i'm young and my thinking. i think the winds of change are good. the freshman class of republicans are also very refreshing.

an article we showed you earlier about the freshman and the work they are doing -- they wrote this. there is a clear need for more elected officials from younger generations. look at last spring, when multiple older senators asked mark zuckerberg genuinely embarrassing questions about the social network, proving they did not have a basic understanding of how it worked or made a profit. askedhatch, who is 84, zuckerberg how do you stay in business when users do not pay for your service? founder replied we run ads before cracking a smile. it was a cringe worthy moment for younger audiences, who no doubt thought these are the guys in charge of this thing? let's go to aurora, illinois, independent. what you think about this group of lawmakers? because of theit

infusion of the new youth. i think hopefully they should reflect the ideas of what is happening to the people. most are probably struggling to pay their college bills, looking for jobs, and having a difficult time with medical and housing. theeed to get back to reflection of the people. one guy said it good. we look forward to the future. ever since ronald reagan, we were losing jobs like crazy and we did very little when health care skyrocketed and pensions when away, schools astronomical. you need almost three jobs to pay for tuition. when we have talked to these freshman lawmakers, many of them have told us, when it comes to student debt, that is one issue they can relate to.

many of them are still paying off their debt or just pay them off. the 116the age of congress. is. 48 years old some of the members who have come in are in their late 20's or 30's. early 40's as well. if you missed any of the interviews we have done, no to our website, c-span.org. you can go through and listen to these freshman in their own words telling you about where they came from, where their political philosophies originated, what they did before. you can learn it all if you go to c-span.org. let's go to cheryl in michigan, a republican. caller: the reason i am calling on the green work alexandria started out. she has got to check out greenland or iceland. i saw a scientist. you cannot swim in it and the

lake is getting bigger. it is pure methane. he says this methane it is putting out more gas than 3 million cows. she wants to get rid of the cows , what you call it, that are gassy. this lake without more of that gas -- puts out more of that gas than 3 million cows. how are you going to stop that lake from growing? it is a natural part of the earth. host: we will have to leave it there. thank you for watching and calling in this morning. "washington journal" will be back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. enjoy your week. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

eastern,t noon coverage of the house, starting the day with morning hours speeches. this week considering reauthorization of the violence against women act, which expired in february. it aims to provide additional resources for victims and a good supervision involving domestic -- includes a provision involving domestic abuse and firearms. in the senate, work continues on a bill to provide nearly $13 billion aid to areas affected by hurricanes, wild fires, and other natural disasters, and a resolution to shorten the amount of time the senate has to consider certain nominations from 30 hours to two. you can follow live coverage of the house on c-span and the senate live on c-span 2. newslive today, a

conference with the director of the census bureau discussing operations and preparations for the 2020 census. you will have the live in about an hour, 11:00 a.m. eastern time, on c-span2. later, a series of discussions on health care, climate change, and digital privacy, listed by the group new daem action fund. you can watch it live online at then.org or listen live on free c-span radio app. >> this week on "the communicators," ncta president and ceo michael powell. mr. powell is interviewed by a "washington post" reporter. is -- talk of demise is dramatically premature. the industry has transitioned to broadband that helps concentrate competitive pressures on video

and it manages video better than people would have imagined. i think they are starting as businesses, consumer delivery systems. they recently announced a really bold initiative in which they attempt to dramatically increase broadband reach to american -- broadband speed in american homes. >> watch "the communicators" tonight at 85 eastern on c-span2. -- at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. >> all this month on c-span we will feature the winners of our studentcam documentary competition. high-school students created videos answering the question, "what does it mean to be american?" our second place winners are eighth graders at natomas charter school in california, where c-span is available through comcast. there -- the winning video is called "equality for all -- progress for lgbt

writes." >> being an american means you have a right to share your opinions. >> freedom for all people >>. > cap freedom and have equal rights. >> you are welcoming of all cultures. >> america is a place for everyone. we welcome people of different cultures, religions, and beliefs. although america is a very diverse country, individuals who are members of the lgbt community are often disregarded. america is a culture of diversity. >> although certain states have protective laws for lgbt citizens, america needs stronger federal protections for every american.

hether at the national level we are equal. at the federal level, not that much has changed. what is have to pass called the employment nondiscrimination act, and that would protect the lgbt community. there is 28 states where it is still currently legal to fire someone -- [indiscernible] >> if you are targeted, or assaulted or victimized because of her gender, or sexual orientation, it takes a long time. >> there are many organizations that claim lgbt citizens should not be given the benefits of society. >> there is a fairly a shift w-- definitely a shift when there

were states that started to allow gay marriage. it felt like a dam breaking. societies and falling apart because --societies and falling apart because gay are getting married. >> you have a much harder time hating that person. know in your you school would not be free to live life openly as they do without having influenced their friends. >> are great strides through media that made folks with an lgbt family member or friend to more comfortable. med cano think have a negative impact onia transgender individuals. when you see someone like

ititlyn jenner, she leveraged and other people see it and think that this how it is. many[live in poverty. >> historically members of the lgbt community have been mistreated, but this led it to activism for rights in the united states. >> members of the lgbt community protested. this is a key turning point. when harvey milk was elected as the city council supervisor in 1977, he was the third openly gay elected official. without our country was moving forward. -- we thought our country was moving forward. less than a year later he was assassinated. our country was still struggling to become inclusive.

is a lot of violence towards trans women of color. >> we feel like people are victimized because of their gender or race or orientation, people have to live in an area where they don't fear. >> this doesn't trouble forward. it can go backwards if we don't work hard. we can't be complacent. preserving the gains this country has made requires perseverance and vigilance. we have of the gains made our being, if not taken away, attempting to be taken away. of times when people don't understand or don't have the adequate education, they don't know how to place the

ball. comes with some bounds for the l -- leaps and bounds for the l and g portion of the community. >> raise awareness fight educating youth, educating citizens within the community. we as a society, we has a country, we as a state have to practice all of it -- not just saying we are tolerant. we have to be willing to open our minds and realize that we all have the same rights. >> the more educated they are about the community, the better --y will be able to accept not necessarily understand, but at least accept the fact that we are here and there is no way we will ever be a race. >you -- we will ever be erased.

winningan watch every>> documentary online at studentcam.org. " road to of c-span's the white house" coverage with former congressman beto o'rourke. he kicked off his campaign with a rally in el paso, texas. from saturday, this is just over half an hour. playing]wn"