ofn you take a caricature somebody in political cartooning, you are changing the dynamics of their features not only to make them into a cartoon, but to show the dynamics of their personality as well. announcer: sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." c-span's "newsmakers" this week is representative mike rogers, republican of alabama, a ranking member of the seniormost republican on the homeland security committee and a senior member of the house armed services committee, which puts him at the nexus of many big issues we are talking about this week. his district is home to fort benning at as an army depot and air force base. turn youan, let me over to our two reporters. scott, you are up first.

thank youcongressman, for being here today. we have learned president trump approved military strikes against iran in retaliation for downing a u.s. military drone. off 10ed that strike minutes before it was scheduled to happen. we know that gop leaders, including kevin mccarthy, have said there should be a measured response to the downing of the drone. what is your own position on this issue? do you agree with gop leaders that we need to see retaliation, and what might that look like? >> there absolutely has to be some response to that provocative, unprovoked act. but it does need to be measured, and i think that's what the president is trying to decide, whether it needs to be a kinetic strike, like was being planned, or something in the way of other diplomatic approaches to put pressure on them. but i don't know what his

thinking is right now. i think he is going to take some response. reporter: do you believe some members of congress have said the president, before he takes any sort of action, should come anore congress and request authorization for military use of force? do you believe the president now has the authority to launch military attacks against iran? >> correct, i think he does. he did take the time to consult with congress yesterday. he had the leaders of both chambers as well as members of the armed services committee, the foreign affairs committee, and others to talk to him about what he should do. so he did consult with congress about what action to take. but when you have a company like iran chewed down an american drone in international airspace,

i don't think we need to have three months of argument in congress to decide what needs to be done. we have a commander-in-chief to make decisions like this, and it does not matter if it is a democrat or a republican. if we are going to get into a long-term or, it is a different story, but he needs to take action, i think, in a quick manner, whether it is sanctions or connecticut tax. attacks, he needs to make that call. will be muchsia more provocative in their actions toward us because they know we are paralyzed and unable to respond. reporter: the other big story out of the pentagon this week was pat shanahan, the acting defense secretary, taking himself out of the confirmation process to become the permanent defense secretary. president trump has selected mark esper, the secretary of the

army, to replace him as acting defense secretary. do you have concerns that we are now seven months of having an active -- acting defense secretary, trump will have to nominee to head up the pentagon, especially at this time of increased activity in the persian gulf and with north korea? plus, you have thousands of migrants showing up on the southern border. do you have concerns about the fact that we have no permanent senate-confirmed defense secretary?

>> i do. this is the largest organization on the planet. they need a confirmed secretary leading it. i think it is awful that he has had to pull back from what his family was going through. i hope the senate will confirm him soon, but we don't need to have these acting secretary's in charge of these large organizations. it is not helpful at all. ranking membere on the house homeland security committee, i want to talk to you . you have been to the border plenty. the media is not allowed in border patrol stations, so they have not been able to see the overcrowding or the conditions. this week, one congresswoman compared them to concentration camps. what have you seen on the ground in the last few months when you have been down to the border? is a humanitarian crisis, and it is not manufactured.

it is real and getting worse. the fact is over the last three months we have had over 100,000 migrants coming across our border. trendlines.the this is not going to get better. we are dealing with a huge volume of migrants, and there is a different set of migrants. in the recent past, we have dealt with a single male's, typically from mexico. males,t with single typically from mexico. now we have many women and children, and we are not set up to handle them. i am disappointed that y'all are able to get in and see these processing facilities. rc bp is set up to hold a maximum of 4000 individuals in these facilities, and we have over 20,000 right now. we can't let this go on.

some folks on the democrat side may not like president trump or his policies, but this is not about president trump and his policies. this is a humanitarian crisis. these women and children and men need to have housing and health care while we tried to determine for allowingriate into our country, or who needs to be sent back, but they need to have a place to stay while they are here. they come across from central america to mexico, and but the -- by the time they get here, most of them are in very poor health. i am hopeful that soon the democrats will allow my authorization bill to billion in $4.5 supplemental funding to help deal with this. when president trump was talking about wanting to get money for the border barrier, the democrat

party kept saying, well, we don't need barriers, they don't work. what we need is money for health care, transportation, housing. well, that's all this appropriations bill is, $4.5 billion to provide that kind of assistance to the border. the i hear members of democrat party talking about our processing centers being similar to concentration camps, first of all i am terribly offended because these are nothing close to concentration camps. we've got border patrol agents buying toys with their own personal money, diapers and food with their own personal money, trying to take care of these families. if they really think the conditions are deplorable, then bring a bill to the floor to get the border patrol and health and human services the money they need to take care of these people. is aner: there appropriations bill making

progress in the senate, and now house democrats are working on their supplemental bill. it is too controversial to gain republican support, it is said. what say you? you have your own subliminal bill. is there something that could be passed before the august recess? rep. rogers: i was disappointed to learn this morning the democrats had decided not to bring their supplemental bill to the floor this week. we had learned there would be a bill on the floor next week. i have not seen it, so i do not know what was in it, good or bad. we will not be helpful in assisting with this crisis at the border, so as long as they don't put poison pills in the bill that would somehow impede the president's parallel effort to secure the border, we are going to be fine with it. if they try to do that, obviously we are going to have a problem, but this needs to be

dealt with on its face. it is a humanitarian crisis. we need to deal with it without putting extraneous issues in it or dealing with extraneous issues as a part of it. i am hoping that is their intent, because as you may or may not know, hhs is about out of money. by the end of this month, they will be out of money, and cbp is going to be out of money by august 1. there is not a lot of time for us to continue to bicker about this. we need to put solutions on the table. i have offered a solution. they need to bring something to the floor. so far, they have refused to vote on my bill 15 different times. >> i am sure people are wondering what this country might do to better stem the flow of migrants from southern countries. what are your thoughts on that, helping to mitigate some of the situations causing people to leave in the first place? rep. rogers: well, congressman

doug collins of georgia has offered legislation to close some of the loopholes and encourage people to come through , particularly bring in children. i would like to see those bills rot to the floor for a vote so we would not -- i would like to see those bills brought to the floor for a vote so we would not embody these groups. but the president took an excellent to step, putting pressure on mexico to stop the flow into our borders. the central american countries coming to our country have to come through mexico, and mexico was just letting them track across the country. i think president trump getting them to secure the southern is already bringing relief for us. but they will have to help the other countries, stop other people from coming here unless they go through the proper procedures that we invite.

and for us to fix our own immigration laws. >> let me just follow up. people are fleeing desperate situations, and i wonder if through economic aid, more diplomacy, or other methods that are in the country that can help stem some of these situations that are causing people to flee, it is there any role in the united states for stopping the repot of this? you talk about people fleeing for their safety, let's say you flee honduras and you get into mexico, and mexico says, you are welcome to stay here, you are safe once you are in mexico. they are coming here for economic opportunity, and i don't blame them, but the fact is we can't do is take everybody that once a better economic circumstance in their life. i thinkve a role, and we can be better in those countries as far as their personal security, but that does

not mean that everybody worried about their circumstance and their country can come into this country. we can't take everybody. susan: we are at the halfway point. next question. reporter: president trump made a pledge this week saying that he plans to arrest millions of undocumented immigrants. the question now is, do you see that as a plausible strategy, and where would you put millions of people if you had detained them? would they be deported, put in facilities in the united states? rep. rogers: my understanding is he is talking about people who have overstayed their visas that we know no longer have legal status to be here, and removing them from the country. we would not have to worry about a place to keep them. but we are already shifting people away from other dhs customs andhelp the

border protection personnel do their jobs, and ice is already understaffed, so my concern is where they come from. about,what he is talking because i have called for years for these folks that we know are here illegally that overstayed their visas, and we know where they are, and nobody has been removing them. i like that idea. i just don't know where the personnel to do it would come from. reporter: switching gears, you have been a proponent of first responders in rural parts of america. last week we saw jon stewart on the tv host, come to capitol hill and plead with members of congress, implore them and shamed them to try to get congress to act on reauthorizing the 9/11 fund for first

duringers who served that time and responded to that emergency. mitch mcconnell has indicated there was nothing to worry about, but obviously there is urgency with money running out by the end of the year. shouldbelieve this fund be reauthorized, and do you see this happening by the end of the year deadline? do. rogers: i i think jon stewart was doing showboating in that visit. what i found disappointing was he was testifying before a subcommittee in a full committee chamber and made a big issue about all the empty chairs and members not caring when there was only two members of the subcommittee that were not present, and i think he knew that. the fact is, i think this is going to be we authorized by the end of the year -- going to be reauthorized by the end of the year. he may want it to be done sooner than that, but we have our own timetables of getting things

done. we are not going to run out of money by the end of the year, and i think this will be fun. -- will be fine. reporter: back to the the customs and border protection's parent agency has not explained how they will break down some of the funding. some of it would go to different projects, those sorts of things, but in terms of benign border patrol sectors that make up the southern border, i just came back from eagle pass, texas, and when i kept hearing was the union was saying the money was not there in the sector to move on. it was in the headquarters in washington, d.c. what do you know about customs and border protection's plan to, once they do get supplemental funding, how do they go about spending it? rep. rogers: i have not heard the concern you just described. the money in the supplemental bills i have been introduced to,

.eek do say where it goes . i assure you that once by bill is adopted, we will make sure the money is pushed out. it will not be staying in washington. let me switch to some 2020 politics, if i could. this week, judge roy moore, who lost the senate race in alabama two years ago, announced he would be giving it another shot and running for the senate in 2020. he obviously has come under enormous fire for a sexual misconduct controversy and scandal. mitch mcconnell and the president himself have said that ,f judge moore is the nominee he could cost republicans that seat in a very red state, your state, alabama, once again, and hand that seat to democrats for another six years.

do you share the same concerns about judge moore, and that he would hand democrats that seat? rep. rogers: it is possible. i think it is not likely. that was a unique situation in that special election in december. with regards to who our nominee will be this time -- and we are going to have a spirited primary, and i personally do not think roy moore will be our nominee, but whoever our nominee is will prevail in november because you will have the full complement of republican voters turning out to vote, because he did have such a problem, half of the republican voters would not turn out and vote for him. the democrats nationwide made an enormous effort in alabama to make sure they turn out for doug jones was at the same level hillary clinton had in the presidential election. this is going to be a completely different playing field, and whoever the republican nominee

is going to be will be successful next year, but i don't think it is going to be roy moore. >> does that mean you don't welcome his reentry? rep. rogers: i do not. scott: who do you think will be the strongest nominee on the republican side? rep. rogers:rep. rogers: we have four people running now. , tommy bradley byrne tuberville, and we have a state representative, mooney, that is running. any of them would be a strong nominee in the general election. i really could not pick right now who the front runner is, but any of those would be strong. scott: and your senior senator from alabama has been actively trying to recruit jeff sessions to run for his old seat. any thoughts about jeff sessions jumping into that race? rep. rogers: i love jeff

sessions. he is one of my favorite people on the planet, but i think he has moved on and has no interest going back to the senate. he is enjoying private life and being with his family. you have been a chief supporter of the creation of a space force. would you give the audience your rationale of why this is the right direction for our military defense to move in? rep. rogers: we have become heavily reliant on satellites in our daily lives, whether you are doing banking transactions or using your smart phones or watching tv. we have become very reliant on satellites, and most people do not realize that. what's true is the military has as well. we use them for command and control of our nuclear weapons, for the gps system for positioning our troops, guiding our missiles and uav's.

there are a whole host of things we use satellites for, and it is very entrenched in every one of our services. our adversaries have recognized that as well, china and russia in particular, and they have put a sing of the can amount of defense spending into developing capabilities to take -- a significant amount of defense spending into developing capabilities to take out our defense satellites. of our space0% professionals who run and operate these systems are in the air force. the air force is culturally indoctrinated towards air dominance. space is just one of 11 other missions that they have not been applying the appropriate amount of resources to. we felt like -- and this debate started about 18 years ago with the rumsfeld commission, that we were going to have to separate the space professionals into their own organization where they have a culture that makes

space dominance the number one mission. space is now a war fighting to remain -- war fighting domain. one of the things we have seen over the last couple of decades is the air force pulling money out of space programs to fund bombers and fighter jets and tankers, because they are not an air dominance organization. we want to make sure we have an organization that comes to work knowing that the number one is space dominance, that the professionals will be promoted based on merit in space. they have an educational system that promotes space dominance. and we will probably budget to make sure we regain our dominance in space, because now we have allowed both china and russia to have become our peers. that is not an acceptable option for us. the two things we try to make in the armed services

that is always the case is that it is a fair fight and on someone else's homeland. we have gotten into a situation where russia and china will have a fair fight with us in space. that is not acceptable. the space force will allow us to regain the dominant position and maintain it into the future. >> a quick follow-up, there are many visions being proposed in the capital city. under your scenario, with the space force be your own separate command and have a member of the joint chiefs? rep. rogers: yes, and that is true under the senate and house version. we will have a separate service that remains in the department of the air force, but it is a separate service. in the department of the navy, you have the navy and marine corps. we are going to have, in the department of the air force, the air force and the space corps. it is going to be a separate service in the department. one day, maybe 20 years from

now, it may spin off into its own department, but we don't think it is necessary right now. it is important right now to separate those professionals into their own service so we can properly resource them and see them be able to advance our interest in space to regain a dominant position. but the chief of staff of the space force will also have a seat at the joint chiefs. susan: final questions from either of you? anna: with the supplemental expected to pass through the house and senate at some point, we have already passed one supplemental after the government shut down, where do we go from here if lawmakers can't come together and deal with what republicans say are the causes, asylum laws and other policies? is that why president trump is taking action by going after folks who have been ordered deported? they were to granted asylum but are still in the country.

how can the trump administration take it into its own hands? rep. rogers: i think you are exactly right. that's where we have to go next. first we have to take care of the crisis with the appropriation bill. i am hopeful that will happen in the next week or so, and hopefully before hhs runs out of money. the next thing we have to do is have this debate on what to do with our immigration laws. hopefully president transactions will spur that debate -- president trump's actions will spur that debate. both: one final question, the gop leaders kevin mccarthy and steve scalise backed a pay raise for lawmakers on capitol hill. what is your position on the pay raise for lawmakers? rep. rogers: i think they are appropriate for all federal employees, and members of

congress are federal employees. i propose a law that every time a federal employee gets a pay raise, members of congress will too, and i think we should go back to that practice. you very much for being our guest this week. anna, you referenced in your question your reporting from the border. we started taping once a month to different border sectors. what are you seeing that the public does not know or members of congress might not know if the debate needs to happen? anna: i have seen border patrol agents coming up to me and speaking to me when they should not, but saying, our hands are tied, and we are doing all sorts of jobs, and it is the sector working with headquarters in d.c., and agents

are saying not enough is being done. not enough white tents are going up and other actions being taken. sometimes customs and border protection has worried that if you put up more outdoor, temporary facilities, it will incentivize more people to come. between this disconnect agents and management, and i think a lot of the times, what we see is a child has died in custody, border patrol is blasted as a whole, and agents really feel like they are not being represented. they want to do more, but they are not allowed to just go roby and do their own sort of additional operation. you have the top republican on the homeland security committee who is surprised to find out that reporters can't get access to thieves facilities. is there anything congress can bring to bear on the agency said they allow reporters to see what is going on?

interesting.uld be i have not been at a border patrol facility in a year now, and i think i have been on 12 trips since february. it is really border patrols therit to have media in e. it is not just one border patrol station like the one in el paso that was reported to be severely overcrowded. a hundred holding stations on the southern border, all overcrowded. they are not that severe, but some of them are very overcrowded and not sanitary. if the public can see that, it might give congress a little more push to get more funding. rogerscongressman expressed his hopes that president trump's actions will spur congress to have an immigration debate.

congress has been circling around immigration for years now. is there anything that will move them on this issue? scott: i don't think so, in this election year. the president, when he talks about the crisis on the border, thousands showing up, that motivates his conservative base and he can act tough on the immigration issue, so he uses that as a political issue, but that does not bring the two parties any closer together. democrats, in the same way, have used immigration and the daca issue as a political tool or weapon in the past elections. we are starting to see that take shape for the 2020 race as well. susan: and meanwhile, tens of thousands of people keep coming to the border. it is at 110 right now. question, onuick

iran, the president says he does not need congressional authority. do the democrats on capitol hill agree with him? scott: no, i think they would like him to come to congress and make that request, but republican leaders are very clear. aumf'slieve previous cover any action by the president on iran. of course, those were passed in the wake of 9/11 and had a focus on terrorism in the united states, so this is a very different situation. but the white house and the republican allies from capitol hill will argue that the president does have the authority. susan: that's it for our time. thank you for your questions this week. announcer: c-span's "washington

journal." saturday morning, a look at recent tensions between the u.s. and iran with seth jones at the center for strategic and international studies, and nina far a talks about the epa's announcement repealing president obama's signature climate change policy. and as the use of artificial intelligence increases, paul rodham will join us to talk about the regulation of artificial intelligence. join washington journal sunday as we mark the anniversary of the stonewall riots, a key point for the gay rights movement. we will take your calls. saturday on "book tv," we are at the massachusetts historical society in boston to historians who are

contributors to c-span's "the president's book." >> john adams is not a democrat. that is absolutely the truth. in the spectrum of the founders, in terms of those who really believe what they said, was that all men were really created equal. jefferson, who i don't believe did not really say that. adams did not believe that and he had a fear of the mob that was overwhelming and deeply undemocratic. that's why he came the closest to advocating a monarchy of all the founders. that is absolutely true. announcer: then at 9:00, political strategist roger stone offers his account of the mueller investigation and the 2016 election. which6 was the year in

the mainstream media, abc, nbc, cbs, cnn, and to a lesser degree fox, lost their monopoly on the political discourse in america. only through the rise of a vibrant, robust alternative media based in the internet was donald trump able to win, because it gave him a platform for him to mount his counterattack. donald trump is the greatest counterpunch are in american political history. [applause] announcer: watch all weekend on c-span 2. ♪

speaker pelosi: the house will be in order. >> for 40 years, c-span has provided america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events from washington and around the country, so you can make up your mind. created by cable in 1979, c-span is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> virtual reality. artificial intelligence. privacy, cybersecurity. that's this week on "the communicators." to two to introduce you people from samsung. why are you here?