browse through our selection of c-span apparel, products and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan. shop now or anytime at sheet -- at c-span shop.org. >> the house returns later today. they are expected to vote later in the week to extend funding past the february 18 deadline to avoid a government shutdown. members will also vote on legislation to enforce legislation for sexual assault in the workplace. in the senate later today will discuss executive and judicial nominations.

watch live coverage of the house on c-span, the senate armed c-span two or online at c-span.org or our new c-span now video app. host: we are starting with conversation with mike pence. this is the lead editorial from today's wall street journal. the headline, mike pence is constant -- constitution. this was mike pence on friday evening at the federated -- the federalist society conference in florida. this is what he had to say. pence: there are those in our party who believe i possess unilateral authority to elect -- to reject electoral college votes. i heard this week that president trump said i had the right to overturn the election. but president trump is wrong.

i have no right to overturn the election. the presidency belongs to the american people and the american people alone. frankly, there is no idea more un-american that one person can choose the american president. under the constitution, i have no right to change the outcome of our election. , harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024. [applause] i understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. i was on the ballot. [laughter] but whatever the future holds, i know we did our duty that day. john quincy adams reminds us

duty is ours. results are god's. the truth is there is more at stake than our party or political --. if we lose faith in our constitution, we will not just lose the election, we lose our country. host: former vice president mike pence. those comments by the former vice president reverberating throughout the weekend, including onto the various sunday shows among the appearances on the sunday shows, the senate republican chairman john barrasso. he was speaking on fox news sunday and this is what he has to say about those comments. [video clip] >> i voted to certify the election. i think mike pence did his constitutional duty that day. i feel like president trump and mike pence did remarkable things for this country. i hope they can work out their

differences. we are better as a party when we are unified. we are united in wyoming about what this current administration is doing, with regard to high prices, inflation, open border, crime in the cities. people in wyoming are fed up about what is happening today. my focus is on the future, taking back the house, taking back the senate. the 2022 elections. not the 2020 elections. >> you did vote to certify he did not have the power to overturn the election. >> i voted to certify the elections. i have been to 15 events in wyoming. last night, a hundred people at a boys and girls club dinner. this never comes up. people are really concerned about empty shelves at the grocery store. high prices for gasoline, the southern border with criminals, all these people coming across.

crime in the city. people in wyoming want me to focus on the future, not the past. >> that is where there priorities are. i want to ask you your reaction to the center of liz cheney. >> many of our county parties have already done that. the state party has done it as well. the january 6 commission voted against impeachment twice. we are going to have a very spirited party. it is a light primary hearing in wyoming. it is going to be very engaging. i can tell you liz is going to have to travel the state and make her case to the voters in wyoming if she intends on getting reelected. host: senate republican chairman john barrasso. we are asking as we begin this new week, a question to republicans only. we want to hear your view of mike pence and what you think his role is in today's

republican party. in the wake of that speech by mike pence, got so much attention on friday. a response statement from former president trump. here is a statement he put out through his save america pack saying he just saw pence a statement on the right he had -- on the common he had no right to do anything, other than automatic conveyor belt to get by an elected president as quickly as possible. the former president said the vice presidents position is not a conveyor belt. obvious signs of voter fraud and irregularity exist. that is why the democrats are working feverishly together to change the very law that mike pence and his unwitting advisors used on january 6 to say he had no choice. there is change because they say the vice president does not have the right to change the vote. (202) 748-8001 if you are a

republican in the mountain or pacific time zones. ba your view of former president mike pence. (202) 748-8000 if you are a republican in the eastern states. (202) 748-8001, if you are a republican in the mountain states. >> mike pence is a donald trump coattail rider. everybody hates donald trump because until donald trump went for office, nobody paid attention to politics. now politics is more popular than the super bowl. that is all because of donald trump. mike pence, didn't nobody ask

him to overturn the elections. he was asked to send the electoral's back to the states. if you had covered the pennsylvania, i forgot the guys name, he actually requested the electors be sent back. now i would love to have mike pence on this show after the -- comes out. there is overwhelming evidence at this point. it is ridiculous what is going on at this country. it is ridiculous the coward and of these gop career politicians. enough is enough. people are not stupid. host: you said nobody was asking him to overturn the election. let me read former president trump's statement from early last week. the reason president trump put the statement out is the ongoing effort in congress to review, update the electoral vote count

act. that act dating back to 1887 was the year. president trump the statement out as members of congress were working on that effort saying, " the vice president had absolutely no right to change the presidential election will -- election results in the senate, despite fraud and many other regularities, how come the democrats and rino republicans, like wacky susan collins are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the vice president to change the results of the election? actually what they are saying is that mike pence did have the right to change the outcome and they now want to take that right away. unfortunately he didn't exercise that power, he could've overturn the election." caller: he could have said in the process what would have been overturning the election. there was fraud. you know there was fraud. for all your listeners out

there, i want to let them know that you are funded i the same people that those msnbc. you are funded by the people who do business with communist china. host: we are funded by you and cable subscribers across america. we are a couple pennies on your cable bill every month. the question we are talking about is mike pence. caller: you are unfaltering news. it stops altering me. you are funded by the same cable corporations that are canceling oan, that are censoring people. that is who funds you. that is who funds you. who signs your paycheck? who owns c-span? who owns you. host: jason, i appreciate it. we are trying to have a conversation about mike pence. we are cable and satellite's

gift to america. this was what was created back in the 70's to give you access to the democratic process. we are funded by your cable bills every month. that is how it works. christian, phoenix, arizona, you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you so much for taking my call. i watched pence's statement on his failure to send electoral votes to the state. the democrats want to change the votes. this underscores that we are a republic and a republican form of government. we elect our representatives and our senators to go into office to represent us, the people. contrary to whatever the democratic media says, whatever

politicians may go on tv and say, we are serving our democracy, we are democratic. no, we are a republic form of government. congressional procedure and parliamentary procedure in the 12th amendment and law through u.s. 15 sc that all of these things explicitly state that the vice president is the chair of the count. it is written into law. frankly, what should have happened, the vice president should have sent those electors back to the states that had all these issues. we do not have to go down that path, we already know what those

issues are. then the democrats would have found their legal challenges and we have -- we would have had law in the court. you would've had many of these democrats activating their groups in their cities and counties. literally laying themselves out. the republicans are trying to stop biden from getting into office. woe is me. that is what would have happened. so christian, what is mike pence 's role in the party today? what do you think about him? caller: she doesn't have a leg to stand on. go to any state republican meeting or a republican club by the state party. talk to the people on the ground. talk to the people on the ground in pennsylvania, wisconsin, georgia, with -- michigan, wayne

county. mike pence doesn't have a leg to stand on. he will never be elected again. he is only trying to save face because they are so many rhinos sitting in comfortable studios on tv and the democratic media giving him these talking points but the reality is they will never go into any of these states or a trump rally or any republican meeting or talk to the people on the ground. host: that is christian this morning. this is virginia out of maryland. good morning, you are next. caller: good morning, how are you. ? host: doing well. caller: i find it interesting the american public is so critical. i don't care what anybody is saying because i sure can't find that in the constitution.

because it is mike pence, i am switching from democrat to republican. i think for once, we have a man that is going to stand up for the constitution and not the party. host: i tell you, virginia, we are trying to talk to current republicans only. a conversation currently happening inside the republican this weekend. especially in the wake of mike pence's speech he gave on friday. just, if we could, for the first hour, republicans. your view of mike pence and where you see him in the republican party now? don, what do you think? caller: i missed the friday night speech he gave. i have seen a lot of the speeches he has given over the years. i even looked him up on your archives that you have. i thought he did such a good job

is vice president. he was heartfelt and he always delegated when marines were killed and brought back. republican. i am not a democrat calling in. i hope president trump i am a republican. i am not a democrat calling in. i hope president trump would definitely take time to consider mike pence because he was faithful. he did what was required of him. host: if former president trump runs for the presidency again, do you see these men ever working together again? you want them to be on the same

ticket again is what you're saying? caller: yes i do. i think i can trust them both. i think he brought the right balance to the candidate, trump. host: that is don in riverside, california. back in 2016 before mike pence was picked for the ticket, another name in the mix was former new jersey governor chris christie. he was in florida as well and was asked about the former vice president's speech on friday. this is chris christie from abc this week. http://twitter.com/cspanwj --[video clip] >> chris christie you can answer that question. where does he stand? >> on january 6, he spoke loudly and i am glad he put words to

it. i do not know why it took him that long. january 6 was a riot that wasn't cited by donald trump. in an effort to intimidate mike pence and the congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week, overturn the election. they are trying to do a cleanup on aisle one. he actually told the truth by accident. he wanted the election to be overturned. donald trump didn't respond to what the vice president said. i think it is akin to a kid standing in the corner holding his breath. it is immature and it is beneath the office that he held. host: chris christie on abc's this week, yesterday. taking your calls. republicans only. what role do you see form of president -- former bryce -- former vice president mike pence holding today? caller: mike pence was fine.

o runs you? yes, it is comcast, say you are unfiltered but you are not unfiltered. the only on the previous caller hit it on the head. at c-span, who runs you? it is comcast. you say you are unfiltered, you are not unfiltered. the only unfiltered you do is when you cover the house and the senate. that is it. other than that, you are covered by comcast. it is liberal. just liberal. host: do you want to talk about the question? caller: i am so happy you are doing the gop republican thing. it is very rare. donald trump was the best president in the history of this country. he had african-americans,

mexicans, everybody was working. everything was good under trump. all biden had to do was follow trump's plan but he didn't do it. now look at us. come on, people. get a grip. whatever the democrats want to put on abc, nbc, cnn, everybody, google, facebook, twitter, it is all democrats. host: george, texas, you are next. caller: i agree with the first two gentlemen you had on your show entirely. pence failed utterly on what he was authorized to do under the constitution. but the problem is, the democrats don't want to go there. they didn't want to question,

the question to be asked was, did pence think the electoral votes cast work correct in the procedure. nobody asked him to overturn. trump did not ask him to overturn the election. he asked him to do his job and say i am not satisfied with the electoral process and send it back to the states to be re-examined. that was what was wrong. the trick with the news media is they want to spend it that he wanted to overturn it. all he was doing was questioning it and that is the way the constitution is. now the democrats are attempting to essentially change the law and make the vice president even more useless than he already is.

i am not speaking specifically about pence. i am speaking about the position in our republican, republic. host: so, george, to the former vice president's point in that speech on friday, would you be ok with vice president, harris in 2024, 2025, counting the electoral votes? would you be ok if she said i am not satisfied and i want to send the specific state the results back to the states. would you be ok giving her more power in that position as the chair of that meeting? caller: let me stop you right there? you said giving her the power to overturn, no, that is not what i'm saying. i said the vice president has the power to examine the procedural vote and send it back to the state for re-examination

of what they are certifying. it is not the question of giving the vice president any power to stop or change it. it merely says, the public is, in my opinion, has questions and send it back to the state. if the states are going to re-examine and reassert what they send, then everything is fine. this is just one more check and balance in the entire process. host: jeffrey, sarasota, florida , good morning. your view of mike pence in the republican party today. caller: thank you for taking my call. what i would like to say is i am very happy with mike pence and his position in the republican party for a variety of reasons. he is a moral man. he had traumatic experiences as a congressman and later a

governor. the problem a lot of these callers are missing, i am a history teacher, that is, what would challenging this election, as president trump has said due to our country historically speaking. if we go all the way back to 1828 with john quincy adams lost the electoral college to andrew jackson and wanted the house of representatives and they picked adams, quincy adams. jackson, -- they went for years and went back in one. richard nixon, in 1960, had incredible information, we did not know. the kennedy -- the kennedy campaign had flipped some of the

electoral mechanisms in chicago, illinois. he could have made an issue of it and challenge but he didn't because he thought it was hard democracy so he let it go. john cornyn in 2000, he did challenge it. the problem is in 2020 very similar to it. there were irregularities. the people were very upset about them. they were with -- they were real in philadelphia, around the country. a conspiracy, and if we could prove it would be very difficult. that would have been a very dangerous thing to do for pence to send it back or to stop the certification on the spot.

host: so jeffrey, the reason we are having this conversation is, the effort to overhaul electoral count act. that effort to underway groups in the senate. we are turned -- talking about the sunday shows this morning. senator joe manchin saying that overall count act is going to pass the senate from today's new york time. that process still waiting to carry out. we do not know what the said language would be of overhauling that process of promises there would be an overhaul. about a half an hour left in this conversation. republicans only, if we could. just talking about former president mike pence and what you see is his role today in the republican party. john and giulia ben, arizona. good morning, you are next. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, sir.

caller: i told the guy before, i actually didn't vote for trump last election. i voted for him the first time but i didn't vote for him the second time. the first time i actually voted for pence. the first time i didn't vote for pence because he disappointed me the way he stood up to trump. he became trump's lackey. host: john, you are a republican? caller: that's right. i am a republican. host: who would you like to see run in 2024 against joe biden? who would you like to see win a primary? caller: i kind of like the guy in florida. whatever his name is. he talks like he understands the constitution.

trump had no use for the constitution whatsoever. he really disappointed me. i didn't vote for him because i didn't think his approach, because he kept saying i could do this as if he was running the whole government. i didn't like that at all. the president, congress, the senate, the judicial branch and all of those are equal. he thought everyone had to fall in line behind him and i didn't like that at all. host: on the constitution, we showed this from the lead editorial from the conservative editorial board of the wall street journal. mike pence's constitution.

too many in the gop have lost their constitutional morals to one man. trump controls the republican party and have a 2020 four nomination if you want it. but someone should remind voters that trump ended as a three-time election loser he mobilized democrats against him in historic numbers to casa gop the house in 2018 then the white house in 2020 and finally the two georgia senate seat in 2021. his conservative and things helped to avoid more than one trump in self implosion. loyalty has always been a one-way street. they will write for the former president. that is the wall street journal

editorial today. this is donna. good morning. caller: good morning, john, thank you for taking my call. i think mike pence has a lot going for him. he has got a conscience and he has got a lot of wisdom behind him. i think, like the last gentleman mentioned, who do you like for a presidential candidate and he said something like santos. desantis, yes, he is young. he may get his day. mike pence can probably bring more normalcy to our country. i truly believe this. i hope he does run. host: you think he would run against the president he served under, donna? caller: i think he should.

absolutely. trump may have done a few good things but it has come a ways. i am a republican but you have got to stand behind what you believe. i don't think trump did our country that much good. mike pence might pull us back together. host: that is donna out of arrow beach, florida. donna, just pulling up some of the latest polling on republican primaries in 2024. this from morning consult. their poll, this is the end of january. a tale of two trumps: testing 2021 gop primary. asking who republicans would support worry 2020 22 matchup. one featuring donald trump and one featuring donald trump, jr.. if trump senior runs, the

primary voters will be about 50% according to -- would support president trump. ron desantis and president trump garnering just over 10% in that polling. other names that got significant numbers, mitt romney, ted cruz, nikki haley. this is linda out of birmingham, alabama. you are next. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am doing well, linda. your view on mike pence and his role in the republican party today? caller: there was no reason for him to send those electoral accounts back to the states. there was no fraud noted. the big lie was going on then, the big lie was going on now. donald trump lost that election. host: as a republican, did you

vote for trump in 2020 -- 2021? caller: no. host: who is the last republican you voted for that you like? caller: george bush. host: who did you vote for in 2016? caller: i voted for hillary clinton. host: what makes you if republican here today, linda? caller: i am headed out of that. host: you are headed out of being a republican? caller: because with -- it was awful. he provoked it. that was linda in alabama. this is diane, you are next. caller: good morning. this is diane. thank you so much for taking my call. i am proud of mike pence. i am just a little angry that he waited so long to stand up to

trump. i have been a republican for the last 20 years and i am an african-american. i am appalled at some of the things that trump did and i think that god needed someone in the republican party to stand up and say that no one man has the power to overthrow the government. so, yes, i am proud of mike pence and i am glad he did what he did. if he runs for president, i would vote for him. if donald trump runs for president, no, i would not vote for him. now, nor did i vote for him in 2016. i didn't like some of the things he said out of his mouth. he does not represent me, he does not represent what a true conservative republican christian is. host: diane what is a true

conservative republican christian believe right now? caller: that is someone who believes and principles, morals, who does not go around calling, grabbing women by whatever. and someone who stands up to the constitution. it stands for what our constitution represents. not someone who wants to be a dictator. that is exactly what trump wants to be. regardless of how many people -- she lost. i am glad he lost. and i hope to god he does not run again. host: that is diane out of florida. republicans for the next 20, 25 minutes this morning. asking your view for representative -- former vice president mike pence. what do you think his role is in the wake of the speech he gave friday night that gave -- that

got so much attention over the weekend. and on the sunday shows yesterday. you can call the republican line, split regionally. if you are eastern, (202) 748-8000. if you are a republican in the mountain time, (202) 748-8001. also looking for your text, (202) 748-8003. go ahead and keep calling in. i will show you a little bit more from the sunday shows yesterday. this is face the nation. this is current senator marco rubio being asked about the current -- the former president speech friday. [video clip] >> do you agree with mike pence? >> if the president runs for reelection, i do feel he would have the power to beat biden. i do not want, harris to have the power to overturn that

election. >> so donald trump was wrong? >> the vice president does not have that power. if the vice president has that power, donald trump would repeat -- would defeat joe biden. , harris would have the power to overturn the election, i do not want to wind up there. >> this is a turning point for the party. does the rnc speak for you when it says democratic led persecution of ordinary citizens --. was january 6 political discourse? >> anyone who committed crimes on january 6 should be prosecuted. if you committed violence and you were there to hurt people, they should be prosecuted. the january 6 committee is not the place to do that. this commission is a partisan scam. the purpose of that commission is to try to embarrass, smear, embarrass as many they can get their hands on. >> do you believe that is what your republican colleagues are doing?

>> i know that is what they are doing because they are focused will be on january 6. an older member of the rnc whose husband just died, she was not even in washington on january 6. she wasn't even in washington on january 6. she cannot afford to lawyer up. and she is being harassed by this commission. this commission is a partisan tool to go out and smear and attack to get their hands on is many people as they can, including people who were not in washington january 6. host: senator marco rubio, a republican of florida. on this issue of january 6, those who came to washington protesting on january 6, -- and arrests in the wake -- in the wake of the capital. in texas, this is what he had to say about how he would handle those who are being prosecuted

for january 6 if you is reelected in part -- as president. trump: people have been asking me about it, if i run, if i win, we will be -- we will treat those people from january 6 fairly. we will treat them fairly. if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. this hasn't happened. so all of the other atrocities that took place recently. nothing like this has happened. what that unselect committee is doing and what the people are doing running those prisons is a disgrace. it is a disgrace. we will treat them fairly and we will take care of the people of this country. all of the people of this country. host: president trump last month in texas. taking your phone call this morning. republicans only. >> we will leave this here to

keep our 40th commitment live. the session will begin with member speeches and then later today, 5:00 p.m. eastern debate on force arbitration of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. also this week, members taking up to -- budget has the february 18 deadline. pursuant to the order of the house of january 10, 202 2-rbgs the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the i chair will alternate recognition between the parties with time equally allocated between the parties and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and minority whip limited to five minutes, but in no event shall debate continue beyond