its first hearing on tuesday. capitol police will be joined by district of columbia officers who responded to the january 6 attack. c-span3 will have live coverage starting at 8:30 a.m. eastern but you can also watch online at c-span.org or listen with the free c-span radio app. ♪ >> president biden is traveling to cincinnati, ohio, today for remarks about his infrastructure

plan. he's speaking at a union training center at 5:40 p.m. eastern. we'll have it live here on c-span. our guest is gene dodar. gives head of the government accountability office. welcome to washington journal once again. guest: good morning to you and all our viewers. host: what is the role of the government accountability office and what sort of issues do members of congress ask you to investigate? guest: we are an independent organization, not a legislative branch of government to assure the independence of audit, and help support congress in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities and to help ensure the accountability of government to the benefit of the american people. the scope of our

responsibilities are across the entire brett of the federal government -- breadth of the federal government's operation. everything from transportation, the environment, whatever the federal government is in all over the world, domestically and internationally, we provide reports to over 90% of the congressional committees on a regular basis. i have authority to initiate work.under our own authorities we prepared -- we have a shared agenda of things we believe are important given our independent role and things that congress thinks are important and we respond to that . we do over 600 reports a year, 70 7% of our recommendations are implemented within a four-year period of time. as a result of our suggestions

being implemented, there have been financial benefits to the american people of $165 for every one dollar invested. we are a nonpartisan organization. the leader is -- comptroller is selected by a bicameral commission. the comptroller general is selected by the president, confirmed by the senate and you have a 15 year term to ensure your political independence. you cannot be removed by the president. host: we want to get into your investigation of pandemic spending momentarily. we mentioned in the lead-in, we

see ed on the screen behind you, gao@100, your 100 anniversary at gao. why was gao founded? guest: it was founded after world war i. congress was concerned about the debt. they created a budget process. they created the bureau of budget. then they created gao in the legislative branch. our job was to check the payments of the federal government to ensure that they were well supported and legal, given congress's process. we have come a long way from that over the last 100 years through a very multidisciplinary organization that functions now with the executive branch.

while we continue our traditional financial auditor responsibilities, it is only about 10% of what we do. most of what we do is ensure that federal programs, policies, regulations are implemented properly, and we make recommendations for improving the efficiency of government. we have a wide range at gao. recently i found that a science and technology -- we are looking at artificial intelligence, quantum computing, given all of the advances to support the congress in that way. gao's 100 year anniversary is one of celebrating a very dynamic organization that has changed over time to meet the needs of the congress and country. host: boy did congress pile a

boatload of the work on your plate asking you to oversee the ongoing pandemic spending. the number of measures passed by congress in 2020 and 2021. i wanted to look at a couple figures in your latest report. in january 2021 the treasury began analyzing 9 million notices it had to non-filers who may be eligible for the first round of stimulus checks. the treasury does not plan on completing this analysis until fall 2021 after another round of payment -- more than six months after the third round of payments had been issued."

guest: these are people who are among the most needy in terms of having the payment. these are people who do not regularly filed taxes because they may not make enough money. the irs has no way to reach them initially easily. they conducted outreach activities through community organizations and others. we believe they should provide more interim analysis to provide help to these outreach organizations so they can help find these people, and encourage them to contact the irs. this is important. we have issued reports about payments that should not have gone to people for fraud or other reasons, but it is equally important to make sure that all those who should get payments get them in a timely manner. host: our phone numbers are up

on the screen for questions for gene dodaro. if you are in the eastern time zone, (202) 748-8000 -- if you are in the eastern or central time zones, (202) 748-8000. if you are in pacific or mountain time overpayments and l fraud in the unemployment insurance system including the federally funded pandemic -- which authorizes benefits to certain individuals not otherwise eligible for these benefits such as the self-employed." guest: there have been $12.9

billion reported in just over payments. the fraud part of this is very troubling. in the beginning there were not a lot of checks on people. they eliminated some checks. there was tremendous pressure to get money out to people quickly. this was one of the first times in our history where we had unemployment across various sectors in the economy all at once. they emphasized speed over care, and now they have put some checks and balances in place. the pandemic brought out the best in humankind with our marvelous health care workers and medical professionals, the development of vaccines, but it also brought out the worst in humankind, of people trying to exploit the situation.

the justice department has been focused on this, the department of the labor inspector general. i know this is a big concern. we have made some headway on this. this program is administered in the state. every state has different information technology systems, many of which were integrated and were not able to be fixed to do automatic checks. on time we need -- automatic checks on time. we need to modernize our system so they can be responsive to people all in need and protect state treasuries, and the inshore and accurate program that is responsive, timely, but has good program integrity. host: being asked to do all this

analysis, oversight, and investigation of covid spending during covid itself must have taxed your agency. how did you handle it? guest: fortunately we have had experience with this before. i am very proud of the gao in implementing real-time auditing. we had to provide briefings to congress every month and reports to the public every two months. this started back in the global financial crisis, when we were asked to monitor the package to deal with our financial institutions and unfreeze the credit markets. over $800 billion recovery act that was spent to stimulate the economy back into thousand nine. fortunately ash back in -- back in 2009.

we hired some to backfill for the people we immediately deployed to meet the timely requirements congress imposed on us. at gao we have a professional, talented workforce with a deep knowledge across the federal government's operations. we are well-positioned to take on these responsibilities. we centralized our efforts, decided to reprioritize some work more quickly, working to meet these new statutory responsibilities. i am very proud of our organization stepping up to deal with national emergency's to help congress and the country. our job is to make sure that the money being used was actually benefiting, and helping improve public health and public safety and also deal with the economic turmoil brought by the, pandemic

and we have done that. host: according to the data collected by the department of education, as of february 28, states and territories have spent one billion dollars of the $75 billion appropriated through the education stabilization fund for states and territories' education needs." they're spending this on one time bonuses to teachers over the objections of teachers who say this violates the federal funding. guest: there is a lot of flexibility state and local governments have. we have not, to my knowledge,

examined that particular issue, but we have a special effort to focus on the states and localities and their use of the money. they are also being audited by the state auditors under the single audit act where state auditors audit on behalf of the federal government. we get timely guidance out to the states by the federal government treasury and omb in order to make it clear what the auditor should be checking in that case. i will make sure our team looks into that issue going forward, but there is a lot of flexibility that states and localities have. we will check to make sure that is being used appropriately, and only for authorized purposes. host:host: we go first to texas. this is randall. caller: i have a question. thank you both for the

information. does the gao track, and if so, what by way of ratio the total overall spending far coronavirus from the federal government from taxpayers or whatever go to overseas entities? in other words, we spend 10% assisting other countries with coronavirus relief whether that be, shots in the arm or ventilators. does the gao track that? if so, what is that break down to by way of percentage? guest: we do track that. our reports discuss that issue specifically. the amount of money, off the top of my head, it is a relatively

small portion of the 4.7 dollars trillion that has been appropriated so far, but it is -- $4.7 trillion that has been appropriated so far, but it is significant. the ventilators, they lost track of them. we recommended that they track the use of the funds. we look at the federal agencies that are responsible for tracking those funds that are provided to other governments to make sure that they have adequate accountable monitoring and accountability over the use of that money to make sure it was used for the intended purposes. you can check our reports on gao. our website, www.gao.gov.

there is a section on coronavirus. we have appendices in virtually all of our governmentwide reports on this very point, international assistance that was provided. you can check all the details there. host: let's hear from john in bentleyville, pennsylvania. go ahead. caller: you mentioned your organization started in 1921 to monitor the debt from the world war i. i wanted to ask, there was a guest on the program this morning from tennessee that said the federal government has not passed the budget in 25 years. it is law that they pass a budget. i wanted to ask you about the

effectiveness of your organization, and is this something your organization is concerned with or are going to look into? guest: thank you for the question. they do pass a budget every year but it is not passed on time. it is supposed to be appropriated, the decisions made before october 1. the federal government's fiscal year runs from october 1 to september 30. the budget process is supposed to produce appropriation bills for the government. most spending does not go through the appropriation process. as long as people are eligible, they get paid from those programs. roughly one third to 40% of the federal government's budget has

not been spent on -- passed on time. congress uses continual resolutions by which agencies continue their operations at last year's level until new appropriations are passed. sometimes it is a matter of weeks. sometimes it is a matter of months. we have talked about how the resolution process is not an optimal process. we have issued many reports on the consequences of using that process in terms of making it not efficient and effective. i know because gao is affected by this with our own appropriation from the congress so how to plan and manage during this continual resolution process. we also made suggestions on how to deal with the debt issue. there is a limit now on how much

money the federal government can borrow. it is set at an arbitrary level and it doesn't really controlled the debt. all it does is authorize the treasury to make payments the congress has already appropriated and the president has signed into law. the current ceiling expires at the end of this month and is due to be set at the appropriate level where it was suspended for the last year or so. if it does not improve on-time, then the treasury markets get nervous and the government and's up having to pay more premium for the money it borrows -- ends up having to pay more premium for the money it borrows. host: the viewers and listeners

can read more on gao.gov, one of the latest delays -- jeff is next in michigan. jeff, you are on the air. caller: good morning, sir. i will share with you that i work at a military installation here in southeastern michigan. i will share with you that as a guest and employee and a contractual opposition, it is an honor and privilege to work at a guard base. sir, i will tell you i have always heard the words " waste, fraud, and abuse" hence my call today. i am calling as a whistleblower,

regarding the coronavirus moneys being spent. in this instance, we have a company coming in to an office building that is essentially being used by a handful of people, and the building is being treated with high intensity ultraviolet radiation on a daily basis. i am not sure if two buildings are being treated in this fashion or not, but back to the facts that i have never seen any more than 8 or 9 people at one time in this building. i find it offensive that those moneys are being spent there, when our government moneys could be spent with that sanitizing

equipment for corona at our hospitals, nursing homes, or other medical facilities. host: we will hear from the comptroller general. guest: thank you, jeff, for that information. if you go to the website, we mentioned, gao.gov, there is a special section called fraud net. you can report your allegation there, and we will look into it and refer it to the appropriate inspector general or look into it ourselves at gao. we have received hundreds of such complaints during the coronavirus legislation. -- legislation period and we are following up on all of those. please, submit it to fraud net at the gao website. host: this is one finding that

does not have anything to do with spending per se. the gao report says that " the cdc had not developed a plan for enhancing laboratory capacity that identifies objectives and responsibilities for achieving these objectives within the defined time frames. gao recommends that cdc develop a plan to enhance surge capacity for laboratory testing." is this in the aftermath of the failed test ec had -- teasts the cdc -- tests the cdc had earlier in the pandemic? guest: yes. it should be positioned here so you can produce these diagnostic tests.

you can also increase the lab capacity to process the results in a timely manner. we were not well-positioned to deal with this pandemic in that regard. the cdc were off to a rocky start. they rebounded, but this has been a problem plaguing us all along. our recommendations are to make sure it does not happen again. we have similar recommendations for the domestic supply chain. we have made recommendations about having a vaccine distribution and communication plan. we are still working to communicate to the public about vaccines, and the importance of vaccination in this whole process. these are among many recommendations that we have. one of the most difficult

challenges of my job is getting the government to deal with these issues before they become a crisis. gao has a lot of recommendations. we recommended the department of transportation develop an aviation safety preparedness plan for communicable diseases. here we are in 2020, still no plan. i recommend congress require that such a plan he developed. host: -- plan be developed. host: how often are you yourself in front of a congressional committee, would you estimate? guest: 10 to 12 times a year. more importantly, gao witnesses or senior executives testified before congress dozens of times

every year. these testimonies are governmentwide in nature or when a particular committee would request my present, but most testimonies are dealt by -- handled by our individual experts. host: those reports are available at gao.gov. we will feet -- cover future hearings with you and your colleagues. gene dodaro, the chief controller -- >> president biden is traveling to cincinnati, ohio, today for remarks about his infrastructure plan. he's speaking at a union training center. we'll have it live shortly here on c-span. journal"

continues. host: we welcome back congressman tim burchett of tennessee who has quite the portfolio. foreign affairs committee. good morning. one of the reasons we are having you want is to get your thoughts on an opinion piece you have had in the washington examiner, the headline of which, i didn't continues to build a legacy of foreign -- biden continues to bow the legacy of foreign policy failures. guest: i think china is always at the top of the list. china showed the bullies that they are. like a junior high school bully that shoves a kid in the locker. that is what they did with secretary blinken.

they lectured us on human rights. it is seriously pathetic that we would even allow that to go on. it is the difference in leadership. some of your viewers might not like trump, but that would not have happened under him. they are allowed to berate us, for quite a long while, actually. host: news reporting that china had been involved in hacking a u.s. pipeline from 2011-2013, chinese backpackers targeted and breached two dozen companies that own such pipelines. the fbi and dhs unveiled this yesterday. how do you think the administration should respond? guest: when we are negotiating, when he was negotiating with russia, he said, those are

issues you have to keep your hands off of. we did not see this type of activity and i question their ability to negotiate. obviously, we are in some serious trouble. the bully pulpit, my gosh, that is where you have to hit them, economic. we are not talking about bringing troops into the picture. we are a bunch of addicts to chinese goods. covid showed that time and time again, our supply chains are very weak mainly because it was

a virus created in china and released to the world and now we are more indebted to the chinese than we ever were before. it is a continuous cycle and we have to break it at some point. we need to start focusing on that in our international negotiations. guest: you and your colleagues voted on a measure that would expedite visas for some of those afghans who served with the u.s. and their families. the administration opening up a camp to receive some of those afghan refugees. i guess -- what else do you think the administration to do? what do you think about the announcement itself? the move to withdraw u.s. troops. guest: i think it is a positive move. not a day went by that i would

drive by a bridge and see a person who was homeless and half of those are veterans. that is the long-term cost. they called it shellshocked. they give them a shot of morphine in the second world war and send them back home. i think you need to look at long-term effects, not just cheap gasoline when we are talking about the middle east. i think we need to get our troops home. they taken note to uphold -- take an oath to uphold the constitution of the united states. it is not in the middle east. it is in america. under trump, we were an export nation. now we are back to being an

important nation. we closed the pipeline down and then he allowed the russians to open there's backup. long-term effects, people need to start paying attention to what is happening in washington. the man we have in the white house is grossly incapable of doing his job and i think that will continue with every world event that we are seeing. host: tim burchett is our guest. we welcome your calls and comments. for democrats, (202) 748-8000. for republicans, (202) 748-8001. for independents, (202) 748-8002. what are your observations on what is going on in the senate besides the package and how they

want to proceed with a measure that would over base spending $600 billion. this bill is over 3.5 trillion in human infrastructure. a trillion of it is traditional infrastructure, type spending. i think the bill will be dead in the house. speaker pelosi is literally sacrificing on the altar -- a lot of moderate and semi conservative democrats and she is doing that to satisfy her far-left base. it is really a shame. as a republican, we will easily take the majority next time. when i was in the state legislature in tennessee, and

people run down tennessee, but people are coming in in droves from these northern blue states. the reason is because the crazy spending -- in tennessee, we have a balanced budget amendment and we have zero debt in our state. when we pass legislation, if it is about dog catchers, the final legislation is about dog catchers. it is not about pay raises for legislators or bridge projects. that is the problem we have here. these projects have zero to do with infrastructure. if it is such good legislation, let's get an individual bill and vote it up or down. host: when it comes to the house, say the senate passes something, you talked about woke ness. give me an example that members would want in the bill that

would not pass the house. guest: for me, what i want in the bill is roads, bridges, several dams that need work, railroads, airlines, things you would consider -- i could even go as far as internet coverage. a lot of our area are rural areas. i could move the needle as far as that. for the rest of it, it is crazy. it is green new deal projects, it is virtual signaling -- virtue signaling. it has nothing to do with of indwells or solar -- nothing to do with windmills or solar. that is how you get these bloated bills and it is a gutless way to do legislation. yesterday, we passed a very

large bill made up of about 24 or 25 amendments and we should have been voting on each of those individually. instead, they did a procedural vote and they combined them all together. that is a terrible way to do business. we get paid a heck lot of money to be here. the average american citizen does not get anywhere near that paycheck. quit complaining. let's do our job. apparently, that leadership is not about that. it is about virtue signaling. we have to get out of here because we have to raise money. that is not what i was sent to washington to do. host: let's hear from viewers and listeners. james is on the independent line in myrtle beach. caller: i would like to ask you a question.

republicans -- you had it for four years with donald trump. he only did one thing. you act like you are so concerned about what we need, but why aren't you reaching across the aisle and say, let's quit all of this fighting and get this infrastructure going. let's get this immigration bill passed. guest: i love myrtle beach. i spent my formative years

there. you are lucky to live there. first of all, i was not in congress than. i agree that there needs to be reach across the aisle. currently, there is not any in the house. the transportation bill that we passed, over 100 amendments, it went on a straight party line. i had amendment that made a technical correction. it was agreed upon and i was told it was mentioned by democrats on the house floor. it was voted straight party line. they killed it because of being a republican. bipartisan is a myth. that is what -- politics and elections have consequences. i agree with you, we blew it. we had all three branches -- we

blew it. i believe that people trusted some people and a lot of republicans are moderates that want to play ball and don't want to mix it up and make changes. i think that is wrong. elections have consequences and i believe that president trump would probably not agree to paul ryan being speaker. that is where it started. he did not do anything about the wall. he did not pass a budget. we have not passed a budget and over 25 years. he did not fix obamacare. everybody was talking big and republicans were thumping their chests, but in reality, they did not do anything about it. if we ever get the majority again, we will remember that lesson and do something about those things.

i am sorry i was not in congress to voice that opinion. host: tampa, florida, republican line. caller: the pipeline the president got rid of, i know they are trying to do agreed deal. -- a green deal. they let russia have their pipeline. once russia gets with iran, they will be working together. iran is moving back into afghanistan, as we know. russia will use the oil to build up their military and power while the u.s. will be dependent on foreign oil. our gas prices are going to go through the roofs and take our economy down further. i think it is a slap in the face. guest: i agree with you.

nord stream 2, the pipeline that you're talking about that we agreed to with the russians, and they closed hours off. i thought that was a cheap shot. can you imagine if trump had done that and the medias outrage -- media's outrage will be over the top? gasoline prices have already gone up over 40% this year. we will have to address these things. when you cut off our supply of fuel and we become a debtor nation, under trump, we were exporting fuel. it is moving in that direction.

we need to move gradually and we need to be conscientious of people's jobs. they are doing it under the guise of protecting the environment. when our adversaries, like china, we get under these environmental protection acts -- the paris accords, for instance -- the chinese do not have to do it for another 20 years. yet, we will do the honor system and follow the rules. the other side is not. do you think that when this thing is up, they will fold up their hold -- their whole energy plan? heck no. they have a bigger plan. they will put us out of business. we will be indebted to them. we will be enslaved by them economically. host: that caller mentioned iran. there iran negotiations -- the iran negotiations, with a new president taking over in august,

what is the role of your committee in overseeing these talks? guest: we better put a strong foot forward. if iran gets nuclear devices, it is very clear what will happen to israel. they would wipe them off the map. we do not need to do negotiations with iran. as of this past couple of weeks, i tried to kidnap an american citizen in new york. where's the outrage on that? it is unbelievable that we are even negotiating. they are a bunch of thugs. we have to start treating them like that. quit treating them with kid gloves. this diplomacy, handshaking, and wringing of hands -- we are the strongest nation on the face of god's green earth, and we need to start acting like it. if they want to play ball, they

better get in our ballpark. what they are doing is definitely not. the tail is wagging the dog when it comes to iran. our committee needs to's send a strong -- needs to send a strong message. we need to look at our economic impact overseas. until take it serious -- they are laughing at us right now. they are laughing at us. we show weakness, that is when these leaders overseas, they fill up the vacuum. host: this is beverly on the democrats line. caller: hello. good morning. i do not appreciate you calling the president this man. have some respect.

he is the president. do you understand? have some respect. just because you love trump, this man is the president. joe biden. do you know how to say joe biden? have some respect. that is all i have to say. guest: thank you, ma'am. to get respect, you need to gain it. we do not have any respect worldwide. our enemies no longer fear us and our friends are a little skeptical right now. we need to step up. i am afraid that president biden, i do not think he is well. if you watch any of the interviews. he is incoherent. the media has to have preapproved questions. in what world, any journalistic

venue, is that acceptable host: host:? republican line -- acceptable. host: republican line, kelly. caller: i would like to ask about the 2030 agenda. i am curious -- what is the 2030 agenda about? thank you. guest: i do not know. i'm sorry. host: we will hear from -- i have a question for you on twitter. steve says, this representative state would still be in the dark of the federal government did not create the tva, but does not support the infrastructure built. guest: the dams and the projects

are part of traditional infrastructure. it absolutely would support it. the tba has to accept some responsibility, too. they pay their headman over $8 million a year. i daresay, highest paid person -- he is a friend of mine -- he is the highest paid person in the federal government, anywhere in the world of any democracy. there is a huge responsibility. the tva needs to step up and take care of business. and i think they will under his leadership. host: he represents the second district of tennessee. what is the biggest issue locally for the eastern part of tennessee? guest: we have had a lot of violence lately in knoxville. a lot of shootings. folks are rightfully concerned.

you have one side blaming law enforcement for some reason. we need to start looking within. we need to start looking at homes that have no fathers. we have a huge problem with that and personal responsibility will have to take effect. you had a shooting in school where the officer had to go into a restroom and there was a lot of back-and-forth and the officer was cleared, obviously, because it was a justified shooting, as they say. the young man had a gun on him. some of the folks are not too accepting of that. the reality is the policeman did the right thing. it is east tennessee, though. we have a real independent streak. it is a great place to live, low tax area. our state legislature does a

wonderful job. host: let's go to tom in illinois, independent line. caller: good morning. tennessee, one of my favorite states. i am from tennessee. you want to clear up the viruses and the malware and ransomware? you sue microsoft. they put out a faulty product. if you buy a car and the accelerator sticks, you sue the manufacturer. i have a degree in electronics. they put these viruses, cookies and malware on your system because they want to track you. they want to know where you spend your money, who you talk

to, what you are buying, etc. they do not have to have these cookies on your system. they could have it on their server. they want to track you when they are not -- when you are not on their system. guest: i think it is gutless. congress is gutless. we do not hold their feet to the fire. big tech, we rail on big tech but still we are like dogs at the trough and we take their money. ultimately, that will be where it lies. if we could get some people with guts, you have people like rand paul in the senate who rails on stuff like that. he really needs some help. he needs some folks with technology backgrounds to articulate that position. i agree with you 100%. i have been in those arguments.

they can control that stuff by turning the switch. the reality is what they are interested in doing is selling our information. these multibillion-dollar corporations. the chinese are notorious for that. while way -- who while way -- h uawei, they can do that. we have countries going online with them. it is the way it is now. we have to address it. host: let's hear from carolyn in baltimore on the democrats line. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. to the representative, i am one of the left-leaning thinkers that you talk down about. i would have to agree with the gentleman from south carolina that asked about reaching across the aisle. you talk about us being bullying and biden -- compromise is a

good word. the environment has made compromise look bad. it takes more strength to agree to compromise, to reach across the aisle. we are expecting you. you said it is not possible, but it starts with you. i would ask that you make every attempt to compromise, reach across the aisle. that is what you are sent there to do. being a bully is not impressive. being a bully is, to me, childish. we tell kids on the lot not to bully. guest: i am not a bully because i am in the minority. it is always interesting to me democrats always want to talk about let's negotiate, the republicans do not want to negotiate when we are in the minority and they are in the majority. they don't need us.

all of these big bills dealing with international affairs, transportation, they have not negotiated one bit. we were not involved in any of the formation of it. i would suggest to you that it will begin with the majority. the minority is waiting. host: a couple of nominees on the senate side, article -- democrats are calling out senator ted cruz. senator murphy said this about it -- ted cruz is making it very hard on the president. he is holding up every single state department nominee right now. the republican strategy is to try to make it as hard as possible for president biden to manage crises around the world. guest: that is a bogus argument. ted cruz has a philosophical

problem. you have people who will be heading up these organizations. one was involved in environmental terrorism thing. you have to dig deeper into who these people are. you have a lot of problems in the state department. that is one of the areas that should've been cleaned up before. they are what is running this government. host: here is esther on the republican line, ohio. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. one of the things that your program does is to bring truth out of the media. congressman, i thank you for the work you are doing in our nation. my father was a world war ii veteran. to see all of the stuff happening in this nation, i am very disappointed. we were coming together as a nation, but i see such a divide here. our god does not see color.

i would pray that we could get it together. i am for life and we need to repent on abortion in this nation. then we need to get back to god and our constitution that this country was founded on. i am sorry, we will be -- god will forget that we are here. host: i will give you some final thoughts this morning. guest: i agree with basically what she said. i believe the lord is going to enact his judgment if we are not very careful. we turned our back on him. we could easily become a third world country if we are not careful if we do not assume some responsibility. i am pro-life and i appreciate that. it is always good to hear from folks like-minded. host: tim burchett

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] >> watch c-span's "washington journal" live at 7:00 eastern thursday morning and be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. washington jo. host: shawn thierry represents house district 146 in texas. representative thierry is here with many of her democratic colleagues from texas. guest: good morning. thank you for having me.