congresswoman marilyn strickland talks about the russian threat, infrastructure and supply chain issues. join the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages and tweets. washington journal is next. ♪ host: this is the washington journal for february 4. the house coming in at 9:00 today. president biden traveled to new york to discuss support of police, ways to reduce gun violence and anti-crime programs. we will show you portions of what he said in the first half-hour. tell us what you think are solutions to reducing violent crime. here is how you can call us. (202) 748-8000 if you live in the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 in the mountain and pacific time zones. if you're a member of law enforcement, (202) 748-8002.

if you wanted text us, do so at (202) 748-8003. facebook.com/cspan is how you post there. you can also post on twitter. the president met with new york's mayor. in a speech talking about the violent crime president biden laid out some of his thoughts on the topic. you can see this in total at c-span.org and the c-span now app. [video] >> every day in this country, 316 people are shot. 106 are killed. six nypd officers have been victims of gun violence just this year. north philadelphia and wilmington, delaware, washington, d.c., 64 children injured by gun violence this year. 26 killed. enough. enough is enough.

we know we can do things about this. but for the resistance we're getting from some sectors of the government and the congress and the state legislatures and the organizational structures out there. you know, mayor adams, you and i agree. the answer is not to abandon the streets. the answer is to come together. build trust and make us all safer. the answer is not to defund the police. it is to give you the tools, training, funding to be partners and protectors and community needs you. host: that is president biden from yesterday talking about that trip to new york. the washington post writes it marks his most significant attempt to focus on his presidency on an issue that has been roiling the country for two years after calls of defined the

police -- defund the police. violent crime began increasing in 2020. experts attributed to the variety of factors. pandemic related distractions to the justice system and violence intervention programs, a flood of guns on the streets and low police morale following the social justice protests after george floyd was killed under the knee of a police officer. for eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000. mountain and pacific time zones, (202) 748-8001. if you are a member of law enforcement, (202) 748-8002. one of the people talking about the president's trip and reacting to it, senator tim scott talking about and reacting to this on fox news yesterday. [video] >> they have been bad on crime and terrible for the communities they say they have in their

focus. crime in vulnerable communities is really bad for those folks who cannot go anywhere else, and for the officers coming into those communities we are seeing -- he put it on the screen. a 67% increase in crimes against officers. a nearly 50% increase in homicides around the country. what we need is a tough stance against criminals who are violent. we need a tougher stance on the white house, giving officers the resources. host: the wall street journal highlights when it comes to crime and homicides rose 16 major cities in 2021. that followed one of the most violent years and decades. the fbi data showing murders up nearly 30% in 2020 from the prior year.

this story saying republicans are highlighting the rising crime to cast democrats who lead cities as soft on crime ahead of the midterms. they have criticized proposals by progressive activists and politicians to reallocate police funding to social programs and to and cash bail. you can post on the facebook page. when it comes to the idea of reducing crimes, how about better jobs, pay and affordable housing in goods? paul novak says to increase police presence, increase bail. no bail for repeat offenders, stricter leniency guidelines. jim mckenna adding they come scented teaching children from birth things like discipline and consequences for one's actions. weak people are creating hard times for everyone. you can post on twitter.

you can call us on the lines. barry in california starting us off. caller: yes. i believe that the leniency has played a part in the surge of violent crimes. as far as the surging again, it just started again in 2021 when a lot of leniency started occurring. no bail and this and that. a lot of people are getting killed that are innocent people. you have a lot of people that are getting killed because of gang violence. that never seems to stop. you can't say that just started.

a lot of this violence they are saying that just started you can't say it just started. host: joseph up next from bedford, virginia. caller: hello. i have been a gun owner all my life, even as a kid i had a rifle, shotgun, ammo in my room. i grew up in detroit, one of the worst cities on the planet. i'm 60 years old. never been and got involved trouble in my life. the problem is there are already too many laws dealing with firearms. if you look at the places that are most restrictive, they are all socialist cities. the people who really need to protect themselves like in detroit, chicago, etc. are denied that right. they should enforce the laws they have. they have career criminals, gang bangers in and out to the

resolving -- revolving door system. the laws are not being enforced. host: you said they were too many laws but they said you should enforce the laws you have. can you clarify that? caller: the socialist places like chicago, etc., there are a million laws on the books. yet these career criminals -- they do not enforce the laws and sentencing like they should. if they cracked down on the laws they have and enforce them, the criminal would think twice before doing it again. when it is a revolving door system they just laugh it off and do it again over and over. host: mark is next from new hampshire. caller: good morning. i completely agree with the previous caller. i grew up in new york city. new york city has always had his fringe of crime. my problem now is the fact that as the previous caller said the revolving door system.

you want to stop crime in the big cities? the police departments know who the criminals are. they know who the gang members are. what is wrong with a complete roundup and locking up all these crazy, illegal, immoral people? my real disagreement with the system is that the aclu has for decades back the poor, misunderstood criminal. it's poverty. it's lack of education. there are a gazillion reasons they come up with. new york city has the sullivan law. you get caught with a law, gets an automatic year in jail. do your new jersey, couple of states. none of these people are being held accountable. the aclu gets them out. liberal --biden is -- host: joe from new jersey, your next. caller: hi.

i want to say a few things and then you can probably hang up on me. all this started after all the riots started. the democrats did not do a thing about it. they said they were not burning up anything. houses were burning. stores were burning. you talk about they want to do away with some of the laws. what they should do is bring back some of these laws that if you kill somebody you get the chair. no, the democrats don't want that but they do want to kill babies. host: back to the crime we are talking about, violent crime, the problems you decided. what is solution? caller: you have to get tough. the criminals do something wrong , you put them in jail.

host: joe in new jersey. the new york times highlights the efforts of new york's mayor. gun violence have significantly and nowhere have the challenges been more clear than new york city where mr. adams recently unveiled sweeping plans to combat gun violence after a slew of high-profile incidents unfolded in his first few months of office. it includes an anti-gun police unit, a revamped version of the plainclothes crime units disbanded in 2020 after the killing of george floyd. he has drawn sharp criticism from the left over other issues, including a move to increase sweeps of subway and a new approach to new york's bail laws. aoc expressed concern about the policy and emphasized the need to address the root crime. "we risk going back to a tough

on crime rhetoric where policies may be rolled out to make it look like we are being responsible, but could be potentially making this issues worse. and they might play out will politically." crime was the topic of the president's trip to new york. solutions the violent crime is what we are asking about and what you think they are. you can call us, textus and post on social media sites. in california, denise and oakdale. -- in oakdale. caller: first of all, it's ridiculous. the democrats think we are all just stupid. were not stupid. -- we are not stupid. you have democrats on to talk about the guns, but as the criminals you let back out to do it again and again. the way to solve it is to keep them in there or hold the

democrats liable financially like they are trying to do with the gun manufacturers. host: why do you think longer sentences are the solution? caller: i think anybody that will shoot somebody or stab somebody or rub somebody, they deserve to be in -- rob somebody, they deserve to be imprisoned. i think politicians should be mandatory that they have to live or at least be on the streets and communities with no protection to see how it feels in those cities. whether they do it in disguise or whatever, just so they know how it is to live on the streets without protection. host: law enforcement, if you want to give your perspective, (202) 748-8002. gerald in ohio, go ahead. caller: i think they should

[indiscernible] then people will not be so violent. they are watching their ass. maybe they will straighten out a little bit. host: florida, brandon. hello. caller: you said solution. the solution starts at 1314. when i was coming up we had centers all over the country. now we don't have community centers with gymnasiums or afterschool programs. then we had afterschool jobs. these people say there are jobs available. why don't they give jobs to these kids in high school? go to school for half a day, work for half a day. this is crazy. that is what is causing crime. you have so many people out there that have nothing to do,

or are just running around in the street. you have to keep people busy. host: ted in florida. pew research center look at policing and crime and put out a poll that saved americans want more spending on police in their area. adult to say spending should be increased is that 47%, up from 31% in june of 2020. 21% say funding should be increased a lot. support for reducing spending has fallen significantly. 15% say significantly -- spending should be decreased. only 6% now advocate decreasing spending a lot, down from 12% who said last year at the same time. 37% say it should stay about the same, down from 42% in 2020.

tim in wisconsin, you are next. caller: good morning. i think -- thanks for having me. i think the people are following their leadership. they attack each other because basically that's what leaders do on a regular basis. host: how do you attribute that to violent crime? caller: well, we are forced to follow our leadership and our leadership is nasty to one another, are they not? host: you are saying because of that, that would equate to active violent crime? -- ask a violent crime -- acts of violent crime? caller: of course it does. we are forced to follow

leadership, are we not? we attack other people a lot. the war in iraq and afghanistan. sure, we justify it saying they love the twin towers. i'm sure if they did not come up here and blow it up because we did nothing to them. we follow our leadership. we fight a lot. we are americans. we attack. host: kotten grove, oregon. this is wrong. caller: i would like to know why local, state and federal government is not cracking down on the suppliers of these guns to chicago and new york and all these places that have this high rate of murders and crime. host: what do you think that is occurring?

guest: it has been my understanding for quite a while that the surrounding states are supplying these weapons. the authorities are looking the other way, as they always have been. so, the dumb people that are killing their own in the states, you can blame it on them for actually doing the shooting but the states that are supplying the weapons, like they do for the cartels in mexico and other places, our federal government, state and locals act like they have no power to do anything about it. that is my comment. host: a couple of things to watch out for in washington today. it was the u.s. house of

representatives on wednesday advancing a multibillion dollar bill for increasing american competitiveness with china and boosting semiconductor manufacturing. the vote expected to take place today. the house coming in at 9:00 this morning to consider the act. if you want to follow along. it was yesterday, the wall street journal, the number of first-time claims increased for seasonably adjusted jobs. 238,000 to 261,000. claims have risen to hundred 91,000 ending january 15 -- 291,000 ending january 15. that decline and initial claims could be a reassuring sign in the advance of january's employment report which will show gains slowed or fell because of omicron-related of people. that's coming out at 8:30 from

the labor department. look for more information on that as the morning progresses. your solutions on reducing violent crime. caller: how are you doing? the whole problem is everybody in this country is a democrat, republican, socialist. when 9/11 -- when the twin towers were torn down, no one said -- every state in the country went after them. you want to solve the problem, every state has to do their part to take care of this. if one state makes a law, they get in the car and here they are. host: when you say states doing this kind of thing? how would you look as far as

what state you doing when it comes to the topic of violent crime? caller: every state should get together. don't look at liberal or conservative or democrat or republican. look at it as a state. host: do you think states are actually doing that? caller: i don't think they are doing that. they're talking about new york and chicago. school shootings. minnesota, florida . yes, they are going to kill kids. they talk about things are going to change but nothing changes as long as they receive the money from the lobbyists. as long as that happens it will not change. they killed others kids in massachusetts. nothing changed. it was so sad. six-year-old, seven-year-olds with an ak-47 going through their body. nothing changed. host: that is chris from new

york. kathleen from los angeles, california. caller: don't hang up so fast on me. what i would like to say is we have been talking about the same thing for decades. the issue is not gun violence. in los angeles, we have a homeless man stabbed a ucla student. we had a guide wisconsin using a truck to run over people. the media -- the guy in new york pushed the woman into the subway station. we have been talking for decades or for years about how bad cops are. the media pushed how bad cops are. the irony is this. michelle alexander wrote the book "mass incarceration." we have two or three generations of fatherless homes.

the interesting thing is the democrats never talk about data. they talked about how they are smarter than republicans. they never discussed the data. . host: what is the solution for the violent crimes you listed specifically? caller: the democratic party since the 1970's pushed free sex, feminism, lbj racist's society. we have generations of boys raised without fathers. if you look at the data, who commits these crimes? you can push somewhat in a subway, you can drive a truck. host: what is the solution? caller: we have to change our culture. our culture is fatherless homes, have sex without marriage, have no father in the home. the problem with the culture. host: larry in massachusetts. caller: thank you for having me, pedro.

america, let me be very clear. we all know we need police officers. please do not stop crime. they come after the fact. after the fact. again, we need families. spirit is cultivated in the families. again, as a social worker, i'm working with families, right? host: how you fix it or improve that if you are thinking that is going to reduce violent crime? how do you improve that? caller: great question. we have to let parents know they have an awesome responsibility. it's about developing children, measuring them, providing for them. -- nurturing them. our kids have been raised without guidance, no standards, no leadership.

america, more police will not solve crime. after i was murdered or kicked out -- host: that was larry from massachusetts. the fbi making the announcement, looking at the bomb threats at historically black colleges and universities think the fbi said the threats were being investigated as racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism or hate crimes. that would solicit devices were found at any of the locations. the fbi is investigating threats against houses of worship. the investigation is being led by the fbi joint terrorism task forces that involves more than 20 field offices across the country. the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives has announced an investigation. harry in georgia, your next. -- you are next. caller: i would say it rocks

from the head down. kids in the inner cities are not stupid. they see they had a president who broke the law all the time, lied, cheated, extorted other governments. he is still out of jail. host: how do you exactly equate that the violent crime? caller: when a president, for instance, defunds the environment of protection agency, that causes harm to peoples' physical bodies. host: you are relating this to violent crime. are you directly relating those actions from a present to violent crime -- president of violent crime in united states? caller: crime is crime. the republicans insist on flooding the country with guns. you can't restrict guns. they refused to hold the

president accountable for the wrong he does. that does not set a very good example for these kids in the city. everybody else is getting away with it, why should nine? -- shouldn't i? host: mark from colorado. caller: good morning, pedro. how are you doing? host: i'm fine. go ahead. caller: he asked a question and no one has answered. i grew up in the 1980's. i saw a crack when it hit new york. the problem is not what everybody thinks. they savings -- they see the small things. the problem is programs. when you have programs, kids have something to do. they have something else to do.

i am a black man. i hate to say people look at me like i'm an anomaly where i have seven children, no baby mama dramas, four sons who graduated from college. no interaction with cubs. none of that -- cops. none of that. i grew up in an area where i should not have made it past age 20. we have to get back to having -- host: such as what? caller: music programs in school. programs after school. take some of these programs we had. we had a center where kids would go after high school and go work. you don't have schools anymore that have these trade qualities. in new york he had kids getting

jobs without going to college. they would have these licenses to weld. they would have all kind of things to do. host: that is mark from colorado. your solutions to violent crime, a lot of people giving their thoughts on this. james in new york, monroe. caller: listen. two things i want to say that are important. with the gun shooting and all that, all biden has to do is get on television and say no more bullets. stop selling bullets for a year. you cannot buy them. the gang bangers only having 50 bullets left, when issue does bullets, they get no more bullets. when you buy bullets, like a car, you have to have a

license, name, information. if you buy more bullets, theyprt you are buying? they should have more places where they should go. host: why do you think the president has that power? caller: he can suggest it to the congress and those other people making $500,000 a year. number two. when you get caught for a crime, they should have a place where it is warm in the south where you don't have to spend much heat. 1000 acres where you can scout things. said the kids there and they will not be in the city anymore. teach them how to farm.

give it to the poor people. host: i apologize. we have to leave it there, we have a shortened show today, the house coming in at 9:00. two guests joining us throughout the morning. first we will hear from august pfluger, member of the homeland security and foreign affairs committees talking about russia, ukraine, and other aspects of the biden administration foreign policy. later, maryland representative strickland will also be here to talk about that. ♪ >> in early 2001, bethany mclean, at the time a writer for fortune magazine, asked the question in an article, how does enron make its money? her reporting, along with others

who wrote articles, led to a lot of inquiries that were put to the enron management. within a couple of months, the company was bankrupt. bethany mclean's subsequent book "the smartest guys in the room" became a bestseller. since 2008, mclean has made a career of writing about american financial crises. in january, she discussed her reaction to the theranos saga. in an essay about elizabeth holmes, she wrote, or those who believe she is guilty of a great cry, it is a disappointing verdict. >> journalist and author bethany mclean on this week's episode of books notes plus. it is available on the c-span

app, or wherever you get your podcasts. >> c-span offers a variety of podcast that has something for every listener. weekdays, washington today gives you the latest from the nation's capital. every week, book notes plus has in-depth interviews with writers about their latest works. the weekly uses audio from our immense archive to look at how issues of the day developed over years. and our occasional series talking with features conversations with historians and their work. many of our television programs are also available as podcasts. you can find them on the c-span now mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: our first guest is representative august pfluger, representative of the homeland

security and foreign affairs committee. thank you for your time today. guest: thank you, good morning. host: when it comes to this attack yesterday against the isis leader, how much had you been briefed on by the administration what was going on? guest: we received a classified briefing on it. having spent time in syria myself as an airman, it's important that we continue to root out violent extremism, the terror threat has not gone away. somewhat argue, especially me as a ranking member, that the n exus of everything that we have seen in afghanistan and everywhere in the world, it's important to keep our eyes on the ball. host: in terms of the operation, what did you think of it, were you supportive of it? guest: it is obvious that the american military service members were extremely

professional, did a great job, so glad that nobody was injured. supportive of continuing to root out the extremist that would continue to do us harm. host: as for the other aspects of the attack, if you had any concerns about the islamic state, what does that mean for you? guest: i have a lot of concerns about the islamic state, whether it is an erect, yemen, at -- iraq, yemen, afghanistan. have spent 20 years doing airpower. there are estimates that we have 2% of the capability that we did prior to august 30 in afghanistan. i have concerns about our ability to monitor and detect threats, and then to prevent them. host: with the elimination of this leader, what happens to the body itself, is somebody coming up to take that spot? guest: somebody will come up to

fill that gap. i applaud the administration for their efforts. give a lot of credit to the american military for that. host: this is highlighted on the pages of the washington post, the state department and others talking about the idea that moscow is planning a fake attack in order to justify their efforts in ukraine. what do you think about what is going on in russia and ukraine? guest: before answer the question, let me just say that information used to be a supporting actor in warfare. now it is a primary actor. the fact that the russians would even consider your using this as a primary means is not surprising. i think that is exactly what kind of information, media, social media, any other type of outlet, this is exactly what we would expect from putin. it is part of his playbook. he wants to be seen as a victim, so therefore, that allows him to

achieve his objectives. it is dangerous. i hope that we in the western world can get out in front of this and expose the lies he uses to be aggressive and threatened a sovereign country, sovereign borders. host: have you been briefed on that, do you believe on its face that russia is in the process of doing that? guest: i am led to believe, from open press sources, that this is something he would use. if you go back to the playbook with georgia, cyber attacks in the u.s., crimea, this certainly fits the mold. i hope that we in the western world can counter that with real information, not disinformation. host: (202) 748-8000 fo democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 for independents. rep. pfluger is our guest.

you just returned from a trip from ukraine. was the purpose? guest: bipartisan, led by the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, chairman meeks. the intent was to show the afghan people that we are behind them. i had the chance to speak with president zelensky. the questions i asked him more around energy security. whether it was our meetings with nato leaders in brussels, eu leaders, or the president of ukraine himself, zelensky, benoit stream pipeline is the most important thing. energy security is national security. president zelensky said his borders matter and able fight to protect their borders. there is so much to unpack here on our foreign policy approach. deterrence is not easy, it happens over time, it has to be consistent. i have a lot of thoughts on where we have gone wrong with

that deterrence approaching why we are in the situation now. host: does part of that include sanctions? the senate announce they are working on a package of sanctions. me baruch talking about nord stream 2, and he considers it off the table if there is an attack. where are you on the strength of those sanctions, what it would do to deter an actual attack? guest: there are so many thoughts on this. some believe sanctions after-the-fact will work, that you keep the sanctions open an outlook create some leverage over russia. the fact is russia created the nord stream 2 pipeline, started it immediately after they invaded ukraine and took the crimean peninsula. this has been a long time coming. they have the leverage, the upper hand. they produce 50% of the lng that goes into europe as a whole, and now they have created a pipeline that circumvents ukraine. what i believe on sanctions, we

needed to be strong all along. now the threat of sanctions after-the-fact, after invasion, don't seem to have much weight. host: as far as nord stream 2, the state department announcing that if an attack happens, nord stream is off the table, in their words would not move forward. when the administration says that, do you believe it? guest: good question. i hope that is the case. we have heard something similar from germany, i hope that is the case. in this particular instance, there is one thing that putin recognizes. i know this flying in syria. the russian military was participating with bashar assad with their civil war. we were not at war with the syrians but they recognize strength. any weakness that they see, and during our trip -- it was

assumed because one of the speakers told us, why now, the reason russia is going after ukraine at this point in time, they perceive an environment of weakness. that is what putin will seize upon. it is a little too late in my mind. we needed to do something before we got to this situation. host: our guest graduated from the u.s. air force academy, served in the pentagon, nato, served in the air force reserve. when it comes to the body of strength, where is that? guest: the interesting thing about the ukrainian people, for 31 years, they have had independence, they love being free. walking on the streets, you can talk to ukrainian people, russians speaking ukrainians, they love their country, they love their freedom. the most important factor they have is they love being

ukrainian and they will fight for their freedoms. it is not easy, it is not free, but they want to be a part of that value system. host: our first call for our guest is dug in boston, massachusetts. you are on with representative august pfluger. go ahead with your question or comment. caller: unlike russia and iran, the united states is in syria without the invitation of the internationally recognized government. further, the u.s. is in syria without congressional approval. most important of all, the u.s. is in syria without authorization of the united nations security council. in other words, the united states is in syria in violation of international law. i just want to remind you that george bush was advised not to travel to switzerland in 2011

because he was afraid to get the pinochet treatment, the laws of universal jurisdiction. i will take any comments off the air. guest: i would invite you to look at the authorized use of military force from 2001 to 2003. i think your statement is not accurate when you assert there is an internationally recognized regime that has committed genocide against their own people, as used chemical weapons against their own people. the u.s. congress, and the 2000s, authorized force against the violent extremists just like that. i spent almost a year flying missions in iraq and syria against isis and terror organizations that threaten the united states. i would ask you to go back and look at the facts because that is not true. host: speaker pelosi yesterday

said a new aumf is needed. do you think a new one is needed, and how should it be shaped? guest: for sure, i do think we need to look at revising. one of the proposals is that we would take the aumf off the table and not have a replacement but i was against that. i started the conversation with you earlier by saying that threat level is extremely high, probably the highest we have seen since world war ii, so we need that for we take it off the table. this is not a republican or democrat thing. white houses for many decades have taken advantage of the executive power. we in the legislative branch need to get that back here. we need to look at the aumf and revise it to meet the current threats. host: one of the parts of the debate over that is putting a sunset date into a new aumf.

what do you think about that idea? guest: instead of a date, why not use conditions? a date got us into a real pitch. i think the biden administration will be dealing with afghanistan for a long time because of a date. i am more for conditions. when conditions reduced to a point where we don't need to use an aumf, that's fine, but when a threat level is still high, why would we use an artificial date? host: here is deborah, westchester, new york. caller: thank you for taking my call. i believe we are currently in a geopolitical warfare. we may not recognize we are but it is for energy dominance. russia wants to control the oil. china want to control the minerals. lithium-ion batteries is not your everyday kitchen table talk, but the world supply of graphite, cobalt is being controlled by china. in afghanistan, the richest

country in the world in rare earth metals, but we need for our current future technology. russia and china are the only two embassies left. they will develop that country. then terrace can come out of the middle east, afghanistan, and russia and china have plausible deniability. we need to turn our oil back on. that is our strategic advantage from a civilized nation. we can trade oil and put russia and china back. my concern is that people just don't recognize this. petroleum controls so many products. every time you pick up a plastic container, you are picking up a product that comes from petroleum. we have to turn our oil back on. host: that is deborah in ohio. caller: how much time do we have? i could talk about this for another hour. host: we have 14 minutes.

caller: she -- guest: she is right. energy security is national security. the united states cancel the keystone pipeline and then green lit the nord stream as he put money into an autocrats pocket. putin is now further enriched, has more power, and is emboldened to invade ukraine because of what deborah said. we provide and produce in the permian basin where i represent the cleanest and most affordable reliable energy source in the world. it is an instrument of power. instead of being dependent on russia or china for energy needs, my gut we provided to our partners and allies? there is not a single country in eastern europe or southeast asia that does not come to my office and others like me asking for more lng, power. deborah, you are absolutely right. host: a related story, president

xi of china and president boudin set to meet this week before they go to the olympics. what is the implication of this meeting aside from geopolitics? guest: it's extremely important for the world to want to this, watching an autocratic dictator to get together. president zelensky said something interesting to us last week. when president putin goes to china to meet with xi jinping, he will ask him for his blessing to invade ukraine. this is a massive event in world history, changes the course of everything, the values that were born after world war ii, we fought to have freedoms, is challenged. this meeting represents everything we have been trying to deter. it comes back to energy. every country and every leader wakes up wondering how we will provide energy. we are blessed with that resource. we need to use it to make sure that our partners and allies are secure. host: representative august

pfluger with us. ryan is in columbia, maryland, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am an airman as well. pleasure to talked with you. with russia, could you maybe talk to some of the broader stroke place here? this is putin pushing back on nato, i am sure taiwan is watching this pretty closely because their international status is objectively grayer than ukraine's. i wonder if you could talk about what this means broadly, what this means for you as-nato status on the global stage in general? guest: thank you for your service as an airman. i think your question is spot on. this is not a partisan issue. this represents putin wanting to go back to the hegemony and empire of maybe viewing himself as a czar.

you are back to say that china is watching. this environment of weakness, you go back to 2014 we have to be strong. that doesn't mean military invasions. it means being economically strong, getting a good strong trade deal around the world in whatever we are trying to do. absolutely, putin is sensing this environment of weakness, testing western power. he has demanded that nato go back to pre-1977 levels. as airman, we know that that is a weaker point than where we are today. that is on acceptable. he will not dictate nato terms. every country has its own right to choose the alliances and friends it wants. the ukraine has chosen western friends. it wants to be a part of the western europe and the value system we see. we are worried about what china will do what taiwan, the

implications of this period of weakness that could lead to further destabilization. host: we have a viewer following up on something you said earlier in the interview. he asked, what does rep. pfluger mean by ukrainians tasted freedoms? can you elaborate what kind of freedoms? general living seem similar in russia and ukraine. guest: after the fall of the berlin wall, after the u.s. broke up, the soviet union was no more, countries like ukraine declared independence. for 31 years, they are a free country, they have their own governing system, they have been making strides toward being a democracy, allowing freedom to every citizen and making sure their institutions are less corrupt. they have been doing a good job in making gains there. we have asked them to continue working on that, but the ukrainian people in general have

tasted freedom. what i mean by that is they are a free country, they elect their own officials. they love that form of government, rather than what they had previously in the soviet union. host: joe in new orleans, democrat line. caller: good morning. the subject has been brought up about china and russia having a meeting. my thought is, if the two of those countries form an alliance, and by a miracle, said miracle, trump gets back into office -- when trump was in office, he was almost a puppet of russia. i fear these countries both form an alliance and take over the world. as republicans, you all talk

about howbiden, his foreign policy is that of weakness. as a representative of this country, whether he is a democrat or republican, you senators should be on his side or the good of the united states of america, not just for the republican party. guest: thank you, you are right. we took an oath to the constitution. i couldn't agree more. i looked at that as an airman what i took the oath, i believe in it now as a congressman. it is to the constitution. i am not quite sure about the triple alliance. i don't think that is likely to happen. i would rather not have been what will happen in 2024, but let's talk about what is happening right now.

we still have three years of this administration. when we are urging them to do, what i've been saying since january 2021, when president biden took office, was to be strong against those who would do us harm. whether it is terrorism, isis, or whether it is russia and the maligned influence they have, cyberattack's into this country, sovereign nations being invaded in the case of ukraine. if you want to talk about somebody being worried about the situation, it is taiwan and japan. the alliance as we see it -- it is a cozying up of relationships that we see between putin and xi jinping of china. absolutely the administration needs to be strong against that. host: later today, debate over what is known as the competes act, semiconductors and other things concerning those issues. where do you stand on that?

describe for the audience what will be debated. guest: many things are being debated. my view on this is we need to be targeted, precise, and we need to push back on china. for example, i had an amendment passed last night. overall as a whole, i am against this bill because it has a lot of wasteful spending. it took a lot of bbb pieces and tried to shove it into this bill. my amendment was focused on lng, and it passed yesterday. it asked the state department to provide a report on how we can use energy -- back to the question from ohio -- to strengthen our partners and allies. might now we see an a billion-dollar slush fund energy. i can promise you the residence in the citizens of ukraine don't care about that. what they want is for their electricity to remain on. host: steny hoyer in an op-ed saying, in part, the competes

act will strengthen national security issues by shoring up supply chains, making sure that we can build the semiconductors and microchips that our country needs. guest: we certainly need that. several companies have relocated semiconductors in texas specifically. that is something we need to be focused on. there is so much to unpack when it come to the supply chain issues, we don't have enough time to talk about it, but we need to compete with china. the question of where those rare earth minerals come from -- if we really care about the environment, if we care about our supply chains, if we care about what is happening around the world -- we will do a lot of that here, make sure that our supply chains are not held hostage by other countries like china and russia. host: as for the chips, why does this bill not accomplish that goal? guest: mip pieces aimed at that but all of these other backlogs are weighing it down. i mentioned one, the 8

billion-dollar slush fund. there was an internal debate, not on the house floor, about sending legal aid in the form of $200 million. let's have a real discussion, but the american public have some transparency when it comes to where we are sending the money, what it will be used for, and how it will help us be more secure in this country. host: saint maarten, louisiana. kathy on the republican line, go ahead. caller: good morning, rep. pfluger. i love your state. good morning. my main concern is our national sovereignty. i want to know how you think your constituents feel about worrying about somebody who is not even 80 member of nato -- even a member of nato, and what

is happening on our border. what about our national sovereignty? guest: i am so glad we can end on this question because i'm on homeland security. my number one focus this year has been border security. my district is less than 100 miles away from the border. more fentanyl, more crime has occurred in this country because of the 2 million immigrants that were apprehended. that does not include those who got away. i am worried about known or suspected terrorists entering our country through the border. president zelensky said we have borders and we will defend them. why with the u.s. have any other different opinion? this environment of weakness that i have spoken about has started with a lack of security on our southern border. it is absolutely appalling that secretory mayorkas has not secure the border. we are calling on president biden, vice president harris to go to the border and interact with the agents interact with so

often, and to hear their heartbreaking stories about not being able to secure, not being given the tools to secure the border. you are so right. we will continue to focus on this. it is heartbreaking to see what is happening. the lack of any law and order, the abandonment of states like texas, because this administration is not securing the border. host: our guest is representative august pfluger. thank you for your time today. we will talk about similar issues with our next guest, democratic representative marilyn strickland of washington state. ♪ ♪ announcer: american history tv,

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announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: we are joined by representative marilyn strickland now. thank you for giving us your time. guest: thank you. host: from the armed services perspective, how much information have you received about the isis strike? guest: it was pretty straightforward. we were able to find that the leader of isis, who has really been engaging in terrorism in different parts of the world since 2019, and we were able to find this person. he chose to sequester himself with his family and blow himself up, so we actually sent a special forces in and did not have an airstrike. the administration and our brave men and women who did the mission should be commended. host: as a person who is on the

committee, do you receive information before the fact or after the fact? guest: it depends. we do not want to talk about classified information and plans like that, so we heard about it after the fact. host: when it comes to the call of the troops, when it comes to russia and ukraine, from a armedn -- an armed services perspective, what do you think about the troops for that? guest: russia has amassed about 100,000 troops on the border of ukraine and belarus, and we want to make sure that diplomacy is our default position, but we want to be prepared in case there is an invasion. i want to remind folks that this is the biggest buildup of troops since world war ii in that part of the world, and we want to be prepared. we know that putin wants an authoritarian regime. we we want to make sure we are protecting democracy. host: to the extent on how far

the u.s. should go, we have seen equipment and troops being provided, is that enough? guest: it depends, there are still diplomatic channels being pursued. we want to make sure that our nato allies work together to make sure we are using diplomacy, but in the event we have to engage we are preparing troops, transportation, logistics and doing what we can to support the effort. host: have you received information about the story playing out today about the state department and others saying that moscow was contemplating taking the attack in ukraine as a pretext for an incursion into ukraine? guest: it is possible that that is happening. you can think about the way the information is disseminated in the 21st century. there is information on the internet, you can videotape anything to make it look like anything is happening to justify an attack. so we need to understand what is

fact and fiction, but we stand at the ready. host: our guest will be with us until 8:30 a.m. if you want to ask her questions. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. and 202-748-8002 for independent. it was yesterday that speaker pelosi talked about this idea of an aumf and the need for changes. do you think changes are needed? what changes would you support? guest: as we think about -- can you explain it. host: the authorization for use of military force. guest: speaker pelosi has said, if we need to, we will employ sanctions, we will have use of force if needed, and it is something we have a responsibility to do. working with allies, if we have

to use force, we will go there, but diplomacy is the first path to pursue. host: as far as major changes, do you think that is bound to happen in this congress? guest: it is hard to say. we have talked about authorizing military use in congress, but at the same time we do not want things to be politicized. the president has the authority, but i think members of congress want a say in it. the challenge is many people's families have not served in the military, they do not understand the sacrifices made, so we want to make sure if we make the decision we do it in a thoughtful way so we are defending democracy and is our allies. host: you served as the former mayor of tacoma, washington, so as a mayor, yesterday the president traveled to new york and he talked about crime, talking in new york city, but on a larger scope too. can you duck about your concerns

on crime, particularly from your background as a mayor and where the president is on these positions? guest: when you think about being the mayor of the city, public safety is always the number one issue people have. that's the paramount duty of leaders of cities. at the federal level, there are things we can do to help local governments. as we think about the challenges we have with crime, we cannot deny the pandemic has not had an impact on people's emotional well-being. we do not have enough restrictions when dealing with common sense gun laws. and we need to make sure we are doing things that help people not engage in violence. as leaving about what is possible, the department of justice wants to engage in more community oriented policing in we need to get guns off of the streets. and we have to support our local governments. it does not matter what your background is, what your zip code is or where you come from,

every person has a right to be safe. we want a nation that is safe, just and secure, so i am glad president biden visited new york to think about how we can work with local governments to keep our communities safe. host: what do you say to the idea of supporting the police themselves, the men and women who serve, particularly as the president talked about defunding the police -- how do you make an effort to support police? guest: i will tell you that every mayor wants to support receive city and police departments, they are essential to the work we do in local government. there are things we can do at the federal level. we can make doj grants available, making body cameras available, and making sure we are able to recruit and train people to keep our communities safe. it is a multifaceted approach.

it is supporting the needs of local government because every city is unique and have different needs. as we talk about this conversation regarding defunding the police, it is interesting to me that when the u.s. capitol was attacked, republicans voted to defund the police, they did not want to support the capitol police. so this has become a slogan, but democrats want a nation that is safe, just and a secure and we want to support local police because we want our communities to be safe. host: do you think that those who supported the movement, democrats, do you think that hurt them over all when it comes to perception of the party? guest: when you think about the communities that talked about defund the police, elected officials, it is less than 1%, but if you think about slogans that are controversial, people take them on and weaponize them. even for those who have talked about how we do with law enforcement, it's a fact that police would rather spend their

time doing the work of policing. but we ask them to be social workers, we ask them to do things beyond the scope of their job, so trying to find the best way to deploy resources to help those in need to prevent crime, and make sure those who do commit crime are handled by the law. host: rep. marilyn strickland currently serves the 10th congressional district in washington state, joining us for this conversation. our first call is from kentucky. caller: yes, is this marilyn strickland? guest: it is. caller: this is in regards to the foreign policy discussion regarding germany. and the possibility of inflation. i believe america has been very nice to israel, but not as good

of an ally as germany has been to america, buying our weapons and participating, and cooperation with our country. i wonder about the possibility of the u.s. fails to uphold law and order and defended germany, whether germany might withdraw its support of the u.s. dollar and american foreign policy in the middle east. guest: germany is a longtime ally of the united states and that relationship is strong. with the biden administration and with vice president harris taking the helm, we are improving our standing in the world and restoring what happened with the last administration. so i believe the relationship between the u.s. and germany is not in peril. we will continue to be allies.

host: representative strickland, one of the things as far as geopolitical topics are concerned and will be debated today, is an act that deals with the topic of marijuana, something you have been supportive of. tell the audience about that. guest: it will have a component regarding safe banking. we know that the use of cannabis, whether it is for medicinal or recreational use, has been approved in 30 states in the country. we have stores, we have manufacturers, but because it is still on schedule 1 federally, it makes it hard for people to get secure banking. by removing it from the schedule 1 act, we can allow safe and legitimate banking. by doing that, it takes away marijuana stores having to be cash businesses, which increases safety. in washington, lately, there have been robberies of marijuana

stores because they have a lot of cash. by having secure banking and leading banks participate in this commerce, we can keep people safe, we can let the product and services flow. it is a safety issue, and it is legitimizing businesses at that many voters have said that they want legal. host: talking to interested parties, are the banks ready to come forward should the schedule change happen? guest: there are banks ready to come forward. host: as far as republicans who support it, how would you characterize it? guest: in 2012, washington state put on the ballot the ability to use recreational cannabis. it passed in the state. when you look at a map of were democrats live versus republicans by precinct, across the board it was supported. host: our guest is here to talk about issues. a previous guest had concerns about spending overall. what do you think about what

this act does, particularly what it will do for supply chains. guest: what the competes act does is it acknowledges the fact that we rely too much on imports for our critical supplies, everything from semi conductors and chips that go in the things we use every day, to medical equipment and all the things we want to make sure we have access to. so this is not a conversation about the grocery store not having crackers on the shelf, these are essential things we need. by making america more competitive, by manufacturing things here, by using our authority to make sure we have the supplies here, it will make us more competitive. the act also invests in research and development, so it is a way for us to be more competitive globally. host: skip is on the line. good morning. caller: i'm an air force veteran

and i am worried about our voting rights. i cannot understand why republicans would not pass the voting rights act. guest: i cannot understand either because it has consistently been renewed over the years. suddenly, this year, it is not being passed. i want to amplify something here. voting rights have nothing to do with letting people vote who should not be voting, this is about making it easy and trying to combat what is happening. 19 states have passed laws to restrict voting rights, including everything from reducing early voting, making it harder for people to wait in line, to not allowing mail-in ballots. what the act does is it establishes election day is a national holiday, it makes it easier to vote by mail by expanding that, it makes it easier to vote early, and it deals with the voter suppression and discrimination. there are proven cases of this where the precincts are closing and it is being made harder to

vote in communities that are comprised of black and brown people. we need to pass the voting rights act. and it is so important to democracy because right now our democracy is very fragile. host: we did have a guest come on, saying that it supersedes what is happening at the state level when it comes to voting. guest: i would say this. if there were not shenanigans happening in states, perhaps this would not be necessary, but there is evidence and lawsuits being made. if you pick about what is happening at the state level, there's secretaries of state who certified elections, there is a movement to challenge people from both parties to insert people in those positions who will not do the right thing. county auditors are being challenged. this is a conversation about the voters, but there is also a move to replace people who certified the elections. so we have to stay vigilant and make sure that we pay attention to an important fact, people

have the right to cast other ballot and anything done to prevent that is un-american and unconstitutional. host: what is your impression of the bipartisan effort to change the electoral count, how the votes are counted after election day? guest: that is a step in the right direction, but not enough. as we continue a march to ensure that people are able to vote, i will say i do believe that what has happened with the voting rights act has awakened a group of people. so you will see the largest get out the vote effort taking place in the upcoming elections. you will have people who will increase voter participation. so trying to suppress the vote may backfire in a big way. host: ed in california, republican line, you are next. caller: representative, kudos to you for speaking out about curbing the violence of crime in america. i'm happy to hear you say that.

and ensuring tranquility within our country. what are your direct feelings about the administration's lack of protecting american sovereignty on the southern border? i'll listen to your comments. guest: it is interesting. i think there has been a talking point manufactured about what is happening on the southern border. when the vice president went to the border and went to some of the states there, she talked about the challenges we have. we want to make sure that we are protecting our border, but we also have to make sure that we are addressing humanitarian crises that happen, that we are not separating families. this is a conversation about immigration in general. it's not restricted to our southern border. we have people who come from all over the world to this country and in will continue to want to come. there is one important thing happening right now. we have challenges finding workers to do jobs in every single sector.

so it is my hope, as we look at immigration policy, we look at it in its totality, that we do not target one part,and if people want to come, that they are being treated with respect. we can protect our borders and make sure we are not separating families and putting people in danger. host: earl in ohio on the independent line. caller: good morning. i'm 83 years old. and the vice president always has a special campaign. i have a suggestion for vice president harris. if we can get a law and order thing where we stop killing each other. it's out of control. and medicare, it should be the same about us not killing each other. guest: first of all, congratulations on being 83 years old. i have so much respect for people who have lived that long.

you are right, every nation it feels as though we have become increasingly violent. and i tell folks that when we think about what it means to be an american, to exist in this society, we need to focus on doing it peacefully and respectfully. i believe the pandemic has exacerbated people's behavior, not necessarily for the good. i have seen it on airplanes, how people are driving and the spike in violence we have seen. on we need toe, -- one, we need to invest in mental and emotional health. we need common sense gun laws. three, we need to practice kindness. it sounds corny coming from a federal official, but sometimes we need to recognize our humanity and ask ourselves, why is violence the answer to something? is it because somebody does not have access to a job? are they feeling like they are in despair?

the other thing i would add is unfortunately, violence is primarily committed by men. so what is happening with boys and men in our society where they feel like violence is the first resort? but we should not be violent as a nation. we are a beacon, we need to live up to the promise of who we are as a nation and make sure that everybody feels safe and is treated with respect and dignity. host: rich on the democrats line. caller: you know, what the congresswoman was saying, the part about where men have grown up in this society, that this is how we enforce our will and -- in dealing with a problem. when i look at a lot of what happens out there, you know, people in power, the corruption and stuff and the prosecution -- you know, for people with

violent crimes, they are prosecuted heavier than the people who were stealing millions of dollars. there is no equity in the justice system for people who react and to take the law into their own hands. and assault weapons, who needs them to go hunt deer? they are what they are for. host: thank you. guest: assault weapons are made to kill large numbers of people quickly, that is a fact. i completely agree with you when we talk about justice, that it is not equal or equitable because different people get treated differently in the system. we want to make sure that we are holding people to the letter of the law. we want to make sure that people are treated with dignity. and we want to make sure that we do not favor one group of people over the other, so i completely agree with you. host: it says that you are a

member of the bipartisan historically black college and university caucus. i on to ask about the bomb threats of the last two days and if the caucus will address the issues with the fbi or in some fashion? guest: we have been vocal internally about how this needs to be elevated. if these bomb threats were happening across traditional campuses, it would be front page news. i know there is a lot happening right now, but as a graduate of clark atlanta university and a part of the caucus, we need to make sure that when these threats take place, we take them seriously. we are living in times where people are making threats against groups of people and races being used as a weapon to hurt people. we want to make sure that these historically black colleges and a student to attend them have the ability to feel safe and secure. so we are making sure that these are investigated, we will hold people accountable and they will be prosecuted. host: the fbi has been assigned to this, is that enough?

what do you want to see as far as investigating the matter? guest: working with local police, looking at images from cameras, and making sure the fbi follows through. host: a caller on the republican line from missouri. caller: i have a question and a comment. i got a voter id card in the mail last saturday. and on the back of it tells different ways to vote. and it says you can take a utility bill, or other government document, it says all kinds of things you can take. don't you think that is a way of cheating, because anybody can get a hold of anybody's mail, because we threw our mail all the way all the time? -- throw our mail away all the time? host: thank you. guest: here is the deal, there are people who do not have

access to id's. sometimes and they are elderly, sometimes they are young people, or sometimes they live in poverty. so the ability to use your utility bill is something that is completely legitimate. i want to cover something. the u.s. does not have a problem with too many people who should not vote trying to vote, we need to get people who are registered to vote to vote and we need to register more people. there's not enough of voter participation, so we are doing everything we can so that people who have a right to vote can vote, and they have something that proves their residence and their name. host: danny, hello? caller: i would like to comment on the state of our current foreign policy establishment. uh, present company excluded, of

course. hello, representative. guest: hello. caller: we seem to be tapped int o a very old way of thinking, cold war thinking and a zero-sum game seems to be operative in the foreign policy establishment. i though policy 101 included giving a way for your adversary to back down in such a way to save face. but i think putin would probably go for some negotiations on european security. and we could get out of this crisis that we are in. guest: thank you for the question.

as i mentioned earlier, diplomacy is always our default position, but unfortunately the people with whom we are trying to negotiate with do not cooperate. putin does not support, for example, the democracy happening in ukraine. so absent diplomacy, when we try hard we have to employee sanctions, we have to do what we can to protect democracy across the entire world. host: one more call, susan from california on the republican line. go ahead. caller: yes. ok, this voting rights act -- you are trying to federalize the elections and take states' rights away. it's easy to vote. in your way, it is easy to cheat. host: that is susan from california. guest: as someone who has served in local government and is now in the federal government, i

completely respect states' right but the states are up to shenanigans. 19 have passed laws that restrict access to the ballots. if those things were not happening, we may not have to intervene at the federal level. the whole concept of states' rights at the onset of this country was about preserving slavery. if we think about the conversation, yes, we want states to have rights, but they have to do right. when they do not, the federal government has a responsibility to protect the constitution and make sure that we live up to our ideals. host: this says that you were born in seoul, south korea. guest: my father was a military man. when he was stationed in south korea, he met my mother, i was born, and we moved to the united states. i'm a proud african-american woman, but a proud korean

american. host: the democrat from washington, representative marilyn strickland, a member of the transportation and every structure committee, as well as the armed services committee. thank you for being here. the house is set to come in at 9:00 a.m. until then, if you want to participate we will take your calls, 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans, and 202-748-8002 for independents. we will take your calls when "washington journal" continues. announcer: are u.s. intelligence agencies prepared for espionage threats from china, russia, iran and north korea? we examine that question on sunday with hoover institution's

senior fellow amy ziegler, the author of "five lies and algorithms." >> we are living in a moment of reckoning, where the intelligence community has to undergo a radical transformation and reimagining to deal with the threats driven by new technology. so i think about these threats, driven by technology in terms of five things they create for the intelligence community. more that can work across vast systems. more speed, because threats are moving at a faster pace. more data that intelligence analyst must confront in the world. we are drowning in data. more customers of that do not have security clearances that need intelligence. people like voters need to understand. and more competitors. that is probably the most challenging, which is that u.s. intelligence agencies do not

dominate the collection and analysis of information like they did in the cold war. announcer: our guest with her book, "spies, lies and algorithms." you can listen to all of our podcasts on our new c-span now app. announcer: every sunday, leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at noon on in-depth, a law professor will be our guest, taking your calls and discussing race relations and inequality in america. her many books include "the failures of integration." and at 10:00 p.m., congressman ro khanna shares his book "dignity in a digital age," when

he offer suggestions on how to close the gap. interviewed by julie england. watch the big every sunday on c-span2, and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime a booktv.org. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: this is open forum. you can call the phone lines or send us a text at 202-748-8003. comment on any of the segments you saw earlier today, or comment on the president's trip to new york to talk about violence and violent crime. he talked about the need to find anti-crime programs. you can see his full speed yesterday on our website at c-span.org and also on our c-span now app. [video clip] president biden: it is time to find a community police and the people who will protect them.

as i said, we are not about defunding, we are about finding and providing the services you need beyond the guns. we need more social workers. we need more mental health workers. we need more people there, when somebody is about to jump off a roof, we need somebody who knows how to talk them down. we cannot expect police to do every single thing that needs to be done to keep the community safe. it's time to fund policing to protect and serve the community. i'm going to increase funding for the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms and the u.s. marshals office. funding will see a reduction in violence. in the next year's budget i will try to double down on this investment. host: that full presentation is on our website or app. don in maine -- dawn in maine.

caller: i wanted to mention that i read that white americans did not bring slaves to the u.s. in the beginning. it was the portuguese and they brought them in through louisiana because they were given land by the united states. and they brought the slaves over to work on their farms. americans and saw what a prophet that was and then we went and purchased slaves. we purchased slaves, but we did not bring them here. host: ok. when it comes to information from the labor department and jobs creation, the jobs report, employment has risen by 467,000 jobs in january. at the unemployment rate has changed little at 4.0%, saying

that things have been relatively unchanged and growth has continued in leisure and hospitality and in retail trade and in transportation. those are the current numbers from the labor department. caller: i wanted to do an addendum to your guest you had on in the last half hour for the voting rights, specifically to callers and listeners. so much is not go through somebody's trash to get a utility bill or equivalent to go to the polls. all that document is used for's to validate it with the poll worker to the name registered on the boat or polls, just for a little bit of clarity. host: james in chicago, democrats line. caller: yes, i was calling about

the politicians always talking about our open borders. they want to build a wall. they had a wall in berlin and they had armed guards and barbed wire, and they were ordered to shoot to kill. and that did not stop the people from crossing the wall. what politicians need to do is make the laws different. host: the white house put out a tweet saying that today president biden will sign an executive order to improve timeliness and cost for federal construction projects, that will improve efficiency and job quality for 200,000, including a $15 minimum wage. this is from marie in new york on the republican line. caller: i wanted to comment on

the illegal immigration. i work for a personal injury lawyer. yes, some of the immigrants are hard-working, but a lot of them pull scams, like pretending to be entered on construction sites, motor vehicle accidents, and they are allowed to sue the insurance company and they win millions. and nobody looks into this. i do not think it is a good idea to have this kind of open border policy. host: from tom in lawrence, kansas, on the republican line. caller: yes, i want to comment on the guest you had on before into voting. -- and voting. most democrats do not think we have a problem at the border. congressmen or government

officials, none them are at the border. why can't republicans and democrats, the senators and news media be down there? we do not see any of that. and the whole time there is something going on. we need reform. and we need to stop people from coming into this country until we have laws that are fair for everyone. host: tom in kansas. the new york times reporting that medicare is planning on covering home tests related to covid, the policy would allow beneficiaries to pick up tests at no cost at the point-of-sale, and without the need to be reimbursed. that was said on thursday, adding it would be the first time medicare coverage whole cost covered at the counter.

and there was a pushback on private insurance covering the test. in michigan, hello. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: i want to make a comment. i'm wondering why in the world there's -- police reform. why is it when police get killed -- nobody wants anybody to be killed -- but black men have been killed by police and they have families, too. that'wants -- that's what i do not understand. how many people did not vote for biden. some have denied it. some do not believe biden is present. --president. the democrats are too slow.

they need to wake up and start fighting back. i'm sick and tired of it. [indiscernible] host: earlier this week, president biden talked about crime issues. and on the senate floor, chuck grassley, a top republican on the judiciary committee, talked about fighting crime across the u.s. and what he saw was the cause. [video clip] senator chuck grassley: it is not a secret on how to keep crime out of the cities, out of their subways, out of their streets and out of their stores. send police where the crime happens. tell the police to arrest criminals. prosecute those criminals.

do not release dangerous criminals out on bail. it's a very simple and effective way to reduce the amount of crime. you know what won't work, some of my colleagues on the others of the aisle think the solution is gun-control. but here is the issue, gun-control won't stop criminal from pushing an innocent victim in front of a subway, let alone keeping in criminal from obtaining an illegal gun. the real problem is enforcement by the police. the crimes -- began in june of 2020, when blue cities nationwide pulled the police off of their streets.

and progressive prosecutors at that time stopped prosecuting. and these blue cities started bill reform policies that release to violent criminals into the streets. no police on the streets. but a lot of criminals on the streets. it's no surprise that crime has risen. host: let's hear from tony in brooklyn on the democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i've lived in new york city for the past six years and i was in boston before that, and i can tell you whether you are wearing a red tie or blue tie, things have changed. and i think it is something that you have to look into what is happening in these cities. there's little mental health and human services. bail reform has been an interesting experiment because

they did it with cash bail, and that is what they did more or less in philadelphia, so you can see a direct correlation there if you look at the numbers that way. if a kid gets caught stealing, he should not sit in rikers for three months because of it. but if you are continually committing crimes and you can just get out, steel, break windows and it happens again and again and nothing changes, i do think it needs to be fine-tuned slightly. but new york city is new york city, so you cannot walk around with your headphones on and think everything will be rosy. i think people need to develop a sense of common sense. and hopefully things will get better. host: tony in brooklyn. alan in mississippi on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. one thing i would like to say,

there's three words never used in politics -- yes, no and why. the why is, why there was an attack on the white house. when president trump was president, he presented a wonderful speech representing wonderful people, and everything else, and they ended the speech and what did nancy pelosi do? she ripped it up in front of millions of people. and that must have been absolutely disgusting that one of their representatives could be so stupid.

host: mac in baltimore on the democrats line. caller: the guy who just got off, i do not believe anything he just said. chuck grassley should be ashamed of himself for acting -- yes. host: you have to stop listening to the television. there's a delay. go ahead. caller: my thing about chuck grassley, what he said, it is absolutely ridiculous. the republicans have no right to even talk about crime when they have not done anything about crime. host: john is next. john from minnesota on the independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. i wanted to add onto a couple

earlier colors, like the one from -- callers, like the one from michigan. most people do not go to the border because most of the media and politicians are corrupt. some journalists go to the border, do a report, and share it with the nation. but they haven't for 1, 2 or three years. that was more of a statement. host: ok, mike from maryland on the democrats line. caller: i was going to speak on another subject, but i have been hearing the callers talk about the crime and defunding police. ok, from my observations, i've lived in different cities and a lot of the crime was happening due to the opioid epidemic. in the suburbs and in the cities, people were getting hooked on prescription drugs,

and it did cause violence despite, just like when crack cocaine was out. this leads to a bigger problem, so are people do not trust the pharmaceutical companies. it happened with the opioids, now they want us to trust them to give us a vaccination. and at the end of the day, the pharmaceutical companies, the cities, local governments and federal government will have to come to the people and build that trust back. once they do that, crime, getting vaccinations out, will change. host: a couple stories to share with you. this from politico, a report from yesterday saying members of the republican national committee are pushing for resolution center with representatives, wall stopping short of calling for expulsion, a resolution that cleared a

committee vote on thursday is likely to be improved by the full-bodied today. the measure rebukes them further involvement in the committee investigating donald trump's effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. a national committee person from california, one of several different sponsors of the resolution saying, this is not about them being anti-trump. there are other people in the party who are anti-trump whose names are not in the resolution, but these two people took specific action. again, that is reporting from politico. and the democratic national committee, the hill reporting that the dnc, white house and other groups are growing discontented about how to create a national network to support president biden's agenda and enhance his image. leading some to be -- of the plan of 2022. the strategic vision seems to be

slipping away after admission of overreach and wasted resources. while the white house still has to figure out how to build an outside infrastructure, they are quickly trying to shift blame to people outside of the white house, according to a source, adding it is disappointing because for 10 months before the election we had time. you can read more of that on the hill's website. now andrew. caller: thank you for having me. a change of pace. i wanted to thank all of the responders for their continued efforts in taking care of us during still this covid situation, especially the ones that do not get mentioned as much, like the pharmacy workers. we work really hard and grocery store workers and all, we do not get paid the highest, but i hate

to say that we are jumping on grenades, but when somebody comes in sick, if it was not for us the store would not be open. so people still get their needs met. i want to just think all --- thank all the first responders. host: a caller on the democrats line from texas. caller: the reason a lot of people are not working is because a lot of people are afraid. you have the weather going wrong, you have got people running into stores and killing people. you have got -- it looks like you have a war with russia coming up. and the reason people are afraid is because people do not want to work because they are afraid to leave their homes. and just like social security. when you die, social security gives you $250 for your funeral.

after they have taken thousands and thousands of dollars from you. the world, i do not even expect the world to be here for 2029, because what is going on -- read your bible, people. these are your last days. host: the unemployment rate is now 4%. that figure from the labor department as of 8:30 a.m. and when it comes to business related use, of the wall street journal saying bankruptcy at its lowest rate since 2006. the one factor driving the slowdown has been the government's program of massive stimulus. a change leading to more funding for distressed companies has also made default increasingly avoidable. it goes on to say that lester chapter 11 filings dropped to a

level not seen since 2006. even those resulting from this pandemic. less than half seen during the 2009 high. louis in orlando. caller: i want to say being somebody from cuba, who fled castro, i am so disappointed in how immigrants at the border are being treated. when you look back to castro, we were taken in in mass. there were no problems. people were fleeing a horrible situation. but why is it different now? they are fleeing cartels and gangs in mexico, in guatemala.

as somebody who went down to the border in el paso, i see the conditions there and it is horrible. host: david in north carolina on the independent line. caller: good morning. i've been on hold for a little bit and i wanted to pass along the good economic news that we got. payrolls came out, and as you mentioned it they were up 467,000, much higher than the expectation of 150,000. and the prior month was revised up from 199,000 to 110,000, so another 300,000 on top of that. unemployment rate did go up from 3.9% to 4%, but the labor participation rate took a pretty good jump, up to 62.2, so that

means more people are coming back into the workforce. and the hourly earnings rose 5.7%. apparently, the higher wages are bringing people back into the labor force. and that is good news for the economy. host: on the independent line, robert, greenville, north carolina. caller: good morning. i'd like to know why the supreme court justice clarence thomas is lobbying. and also telling the big lie, 100% behind donald trump. and she has been paid as much is $200,000 by a corporation that her husband was on a case. he should have recused himself. and as a supreme court judge, i think that he should be looked

into. his wife is using her husband to make money. and tell a big lie. it's insane. host: linda in new jersey on the democrats line. caller: good morning. hats off to the guy that was just on. i want to thank all of the policemen. my father was a police officer. i think that the police are being morally decapitated. and i do believe that there should be stricter gun laws. there should be a cap on suing taxpayers every time there is an error in judgment. i would like to see anybody else step into the shoes of our police men every day, walking up to dark windowed cars, walking into any home wondering if there are rifles pointed at them.

my hat is off. and with ultimate respect for every one of them. people make mistakes and these attorneys that chase after the mistakes of policemen, where are the attorneys when there are black shooting black and the children are dying? where are the attorneys going to those families? host: if you are a follower of sports, you may be interested in hearing that washington's football team and allegations made, this is from roll call, saying former employees of the football team have brought accusations against the owner. they are looking at a toxic culture within the franchise. speeches turned graphic. women saying that they used sex objects to increase sales.

they told stories of being harassed when working for the team, which at this week changed its name to the commanders. a team marketing coordinator told the house oversight and reform committee that a dinner at a restaurant, the owner placed his hand on her thigh and she had to remove it to avoid a scene. if you want to go to our website at c-span.org, that hearing will be there concerning these allegations. and you can also go to our app at c-span now to watch it there. adam is from california on the independent line. hi. we've got just a few more minutes before the house comes in. ok, let's go to charles in south carolina on the republican line. caller: good morning. i'm charles. my question is, i was looking at the news yesterday and i saw that they were talking about

they killed the head devices. and i saw -- head of isis. and i saw a close-up of the building and i did not see any blood. if somebody blows himself up, you should see blood somewhere. host: you would expect that on the outside of the building? caller: the inside. the inside of the building where the guy blew himself up. there was no blood. if you look at it there was no blood. host: are you implying that did not happen then? what are you trying to say? caller: i cannot believe it really happened by the way it looks. if three or four people blow themselves up, you should see blood. host: ok, charles in south carolina. jeffrey in michigan on the democrats line. we are running short on time. go ahead. caller: good morning. last week, you talked about

people not -- businesses not being able to find workers. well, i know a lot of people, their parents are actually taking care of their kids, buying their car insurance, their cigarettes and the kids are staying at home. why would they want to go to work if the parents are paying for everything for them? host: jeffrey in michigan finishing off this round of open forum. if you want more information on today's jobs numbers committee can go to our website at c-span.org. and there you will find hearings we have talked about. the house will consider the competes act when it looks at the semiconductor industry and other things, you can watch that play out on the house floor. we'll take you now to the house of representatives.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. february 4, 2022. i hereby appoint the honorable madeleine dean to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be