♪ host: good morning it is wednesday, january 11, 2023.

the house convenes in one hour at 10 a.m. eastern. -- 8:00 a.m. eastern. -- 10:00 a.m. eastern. republicans have a panel -- to address further far right conspiracy theories and undergoing as -- investigation. this morning we want to hear from you. and the weaponization of the federal government. if you support this (202) 748-8000 if you are against it (202) 748-8002

and you can also text us at text (202) 748-8003. and this is a clip of an individual talking about this yesterday. >> this protects our freedoms, however, some unelected unaccountable bureaucrats have abused his power. the other side likes to talk about threats of democracy but they refused to do any congressional oversight. -- the federal government exists to serve the american people and protect our cherished freedoms in chive -- in time with the constitution. however some freedoms and some

unelected unaccountable bureaucrats have abuse this power. to the other side talk about threats of democracy but they refused to do any congressional oversight. just yesterday we learned that classified documents from joe biden's time were stashed in an unsecured closet. the national archives knew about this several months ago before the election, but the american people were just informed yesterday thanks to some investigative reporting. meanwhile the fbi conducted a raid on former president trump mar-a-lago residents. why is president biden able to keep materials in an unsecure location never facing a raid. is it because we have a unfair system of justice? the agency has a history of targeting conservative political groups. a push for audits in

middle-class americans. in another example president biden directed a disinformation board text with policing american speech online. while the board has been disbanded we continue to learn more about how the biden administration pressures tech -- big tech to censor messages that are contrary to their political narrative. and they also actively targeted parents about curriculum in their children's schools and labeled many as domestic terrorists. the american people have made it clear that they want accountability for these abuses. host: that is the chairman of the oversight committee in the 118th congress. this panel is expected to be housed in the judiciary committee and is inspected to be led by jim jordan. and according to washington post

it will have the resources akin to those of the committee selected to investigate the january 6 attack on the u.s. capital. this is democratic congressman ellen schiff talking about the creation of this new panel. [video clip] >> this is about deep state nonsense. republicans claim that the subcommittee will investigate the weaponization of the federal government, but what it is intended to do is undermine the legitimate investigation of president trump's incitement of a violent attack on this building, capital, citadel of democracy. an investigation that implicates that some members of this body want to sit on that committee. make no mistake, this investigation, is to investigate the investors committee will do deep damage to our national security and only breed distrust with our national security professionals who will be reluctant to share with congress

the information policymakers need to protect our country. the committee will also seek to discredit law enforcement like the fbi who are so important in the fight against domestic violent extremism. republicans in congress just do not care. the greatest threats, the greatest terrorist threat to our country comes from violent, right wing will issue groups. and they are sympathizers and republicans of congress. they just do not care. last time republicans were in charge of a house kevin mccarthy pushed to form another bogus select committee which was on benghazi. he did as he admitted to tear down hillary clinton's numbers. a patent political exercise and now mccarthy is at it again. pushing for this bogus subcommittee by accusing members of his own conference. he sacrificed a lot in his bid

for speaker which was his choice, but now the american people will pay the price in the form of a body blow to our national security. host: that is democratic congressman of california on the house floor yesterday. the select committee on the weaponization of the federal government is what we are talking about in the first conversation of the washington journal. it is one of two committees that house republicans created yesterday the other one focusing on threats from china and the chinese communist party we will talk about that panel during our 8:00 our this morning but we are focusing on the weaponization of the federal government that is the panel that was created and we want to know whether you support or oppose the creation of the subcommittee. it is (202) 748-8000 if you say you support it. (202) 748-8001 if you say you oppose it. caller: anthony out of detroit,

michigan says he supports it. host: anthony are you with us? you have to stick by your phone. caller: in new york, good morning. good morning i oppose. host: why is that? caller: because when we vote we select congressman to do a job for us. and instead of having all these things about -- the stuff they are doing i happen to be an 82-year-old woman and i have never seen so much foolishness. and the republicans, the right wing is not there to govern they are there to do investigation that is all they want to do. i think it is absolutely ridiculous. it is sad that america -- i have always said america could have been a great country, but it is not a great country, it is a

country that could have been great. but we have too much foolishness -- host: you said you are 82 years old do you remember the church committee in the 70's? caller: yes, i do. host: that is the committee republicans were referring to yesterday when they said this is a new church committee. caller: listen, the republicans all they do, i remember when they grilled hillary clinton for 12 hours one day. that is all they do. they are not going down there to do anything. we have someone like george santos who is a criminal and he is down there. what are they doing? nothing. nothing. host: that is and in new york. democratic idaho who lead the church committee in the 1970's uncovering the decades of

several -- civil liberties and abuse. and republicans were referencing that yesterday saying they need a new church committee and it is is called to investigate the weaponization of the federal government. and it is oppose, anthony, michigan, we will try again. good morning. caller: yes i support it. there is a lot of abuses going on with social media twitter files. there is a lot to be worried about because there have been twitter files that adam schiff has been trying to contact individuals to try to get over the russia impeachment thing. and i think the republican and democrats i do not support either of the parties. you will not be able to take it too seriously because they will be one-sided with it. but there are a of abuses. host: mis-c, parks bird west virginia, you are next. caller: hello, can you hear

me? host: yes ma'am. caller: i think they are trying to stop investigations into themselves. i do not take too much stock in social media. i am definitely not for it. host: when you say you do not take stock in social media, why do you bring that up? caller: it is a hotbed of people's hate and venom. i do not think it is good to be on their it ruins a lot of people's lives. host: and you bring that up in relation to the twitter files issue that the previous caller brought up? caller: yes. host: that is missy in west virginia. this is linda in west texas, good morning. caller: good morning. host: how are you doing? caller: fine. i don't know what that woman is

talking about i am 70 years old and i think it is about time everybody get investigated. they need to get off of trump and stand there and take it. host: what specifically would you like to see investigated by the committee? caller: the weaponization of the doj fbi. host: on any particular matter? caller: yes, for what they are doing to us with china and trying to cover up everything for biden. host: that is linda in texas this is brandon in texas, san antonio, good morning. go ahead. caller: i won 10% --110 percent supported. that is brandon in texas. if you want to join the conversation about the new committee the house board helped create this new committee yesterday.

it is (202) 748-8000 if you support it. [applause] (202) 748-8001 if you oppose it. jim jordan will be the chairman of this subcommittee. these are his comments yesterday defending creation of the new committee. [video clip] >> it is not a plate when the doj teats -- treats mom and dad as terrorists. it is not a ploy when the fbi pays twitter 3 million dollars. not 1, 2, 3 million dollars to censor american citizens. it is not a ploy when the department of homeland security sets up a distant formation -- disinformation board. because we can tell what is good speech and bad speech. you have got to be kidding me. dozens of whistleblowers do not

think this is a ploy. that is why they came to talk to us. they know how serious this is. the press says this will be fought to -- tooth and nail this is political. but the former chair of the intelligence committee pressured a censor of a journalist. you've got to be kidding me. this is about the first amendment something you guys used to care about. i hope i can get my partisan agreement on protecting the rights that we enjoy as americans under the first amendment the right to practice your faith, right to assemble a government, and freedom of speech. every one of them have been attacked. the government was telling people that you can not go to church a few years ago. capital was closed as a citizen you could not come to your capital that you pay for to address your congress because nancy pelosi would not let you in. freedom of the press i just told

you what the head of intel committee tried to do to a journalist. you have a right to talk if you cannot talk you cannot practice your faith you cannot share your faith you cannot petition your government. the right to speak is most important and that is what they are going after. that is why we have dozens of whistleblowers coming to talk to us. we want the double standard to stop. the idea if you're a pro-life activist you will get your door pick -- kicked in and arrested in front of your seven kids and spouse for praying in front of an abortion clinic. you will have a fbi raid your home but the protests that went on at supreme court justices homes in the aftermath of the leak of dobson union no problem -- dogs opinion --dobbs opinion no problem there. we are not going after anyone we just want it to stop. host: jim jordan commenting over the creation of a new suit

committee -- subcommittee. jim of massachusetts speaking against this new committee here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> the legislation that creates this select committee we were given this on january 2. then it changed. on january 6, we did not get that until 10:00 p.m. january 6 after 13 speaker votes. what changed in the legislation, this is curious, they expanded the select committee's authority to investigate ongoing criminal investigations. think about that. in an unprecedented way. i do not know how many votes that got, but clearly it was important. 13 speaker votes before we got to this. the reason why this is included, and i am sad to say this, is

because we have members in this chamber who themselves may be subjects of the investigation. there are ongoing investigations against the former president. this was added, why was this added? to try and frustrate those investigations. we talk about corruption, and undermining the rule of all, let's understand -- rule of law, let's understand what has occurred here area host: that is the governor of met -- representative of massachusetts speaking on that. if you want to call in and so fort -- support this investigation of a federal government. laurie, livingston, texas. good morning. caller: good morning i support it i am tired of them pointing fingers at each other stating this person did the this person did -- this person did this and

this person did that one, in my mind, they all need to be investigated because they keep pointing fingers at each other saying you did this. and you did that. we will cover up this one and not put this one out there, but we will blow up this person. it is ridiculous. host: roger, virginia, good morning, you are next. caller: good morning, america. i oppose the creation of the committee it is where jim jordan and those guys are wanting to go after -- for the people investigating, the only people -- they are the people that need to be investigated. there are some bloody hands of donald trump. he took the lives of one million americans. and how these guys -- my own

family, i have not spoken with my brother since 2016 over this donald trump make america great bull. know what to do you cannot go to church, you cannot even call it your own family. host: roger, why can you not go to church? caller: because it is like going to a rally. you know, i did not go to church to hear about donald trump, i went to church to hear about jesus christ and him crucified. but the terse has lost its way in america. it truly -- the church has lost its way in america. it truly has. host: what was the tipping point and falling out for you and your brother? caller: it is donald trump. host: was it the election in

2016 or was it a specific moment that happen? caller: it is the election in 2016. the speaker of the house said they were investigating hillary clinton. he openly said it. so, you know, and nobody used, he just kept getting worse and worse taking government funds and putting it in his own account with the military. host: dear remember the last conversation you have with your brother, roger? caller: not really what has it been eight or nine years six or seven, something. host: that is roger in virginia, this is doug early in alaska. good morning. caller: good morning. is it tell kita alaska?

is that how you say it? caller: that is it, in the shadow of denali. host: what are your thoughts on this? caller: i am for the investigation i think it should go forward. in my time, in the way i see it, i am checking the media but also watching c-span and previous hearings, you know, from the get go, it seemed like everything was completely offkilter against the republicans and donald trump. but it just did not seem fair. it did not seem fair what adam schiff did when he made up his parity or whatever you call it. where they tried to impeach him. i just think it is not fair. these things need to come out and those people should be held responsible. you should be held accountable

and they should not be in office. we do not need people like that. this two line justice system. it is ok for biden now, this guy, he has documents that he is not supposed to have and hillary clinton had documents and stuff on her email she was not supposed to have. and they go and raid donald trump, i am an independent voter, but i do not see the fairness at all. and with the government going against regular americans. parents show up at teachers meetings completely pistol off --pissed off because the fellows daughter got raped and how would anybody feel? and then to have something come down from the white house saying

you know, we need to put a stop to this. it is an -- to me it is a strike against the first amendment, the freedom of speech, everything seems to be under attack here and it should not be that way. it should be honest, there should be fairness and honesty and i have not seen that with the government on the democratic side at all. host: you said you have been watching c-span with this debate. did you watch last week during the speaker votes? have you noticed a difference of what you can see on the house floor last week compared to this week? caller: yeah i did i liked it. i like to see the -- people call -- i say it is a bunch of people getting together and saying, you know what, we need this and this done and we will fight for this.

but they are trying to put things in order i think in order to try to do a really good job at running the house. and i did see it. i'll heard -- all i heard from jeffrey's was extreme maga conspiracy krapp -- conspiracy crap. that is all of it. they seem so butt hurt over what they did with donald trump. host: they are trying to show you more of what is going on at the house floor at the efforts underway to give you a full picture of what you were talking about. i want to talk about a story from the wall street journal c-span officially requested that our cameras have regular access to the house floor during the 118th congress. citing the positive response of the speaker

election. the chief executive officer susan swain asked kevin mccarthy to allow the network to have its own staff and cameras filmed before proceedings rather than having its own staff and the tightly restricted shots -- rather than the tightly restricted shots provided. and we are exploring a number of options that provide the people more transparent and assessable congress for the american people that is according to matt sparks spokesperson for mr. mccarthy. the c-span letter came as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pushed for expanding coverage among those who made the push in recent days. republican matt gaetz of florida, democratic congressman mark pocan of wisconsin that is the story from wall street journal. and that is what is happening at c-span when we try to bring you the full picture of the house floor. and doing it more often. we will bring you news on that

front as it develops. this is samantha in washington dc back to the new committee on the weaponization of the federal government. samantha, you oppose, why? caller: good morning, this is what appears to be the most corrupt position any party has ever taken. republicans were not bounded to be what we see there today. we see what republicans were fighting. and to have someone like jim jordan who is a person who covered up perverted actions against young people at the ohio state in a sex scandal. and groveled to get people to back off and not talk about his involvement. and then matt gaetz, it has been

proven he has dealt in sex trafficking with young people under age. it is an abomination. it appears to me that this is been orchestrated not only by a person who is a tax cheater, but actually un-american person who has ever walked into the white house. and they are doing this like, i heard someone say the latter-day, it is like having al capone investigate elliott nest. it is like hitler's coming in here to do things to the american people. host: this is robert, covington, kentucky, good morning, you are next. caller: good morning i want to talk about mcgovern. he just complained about he only had a couple days notice on

closing over 2000 pages and they gave him hours and democrats did not even complain. then the lady that just called in give -- he was not proven to do anything. he was cleared in that. my degree is from ohio state. i was there. jordan investigated and he had three people said it happened. three that said it did not what was he supposed to do? he gave a speech that if it did happen it had better not happen again or you are off the team. so this lady is calling in lying about things. robert, -- host: robert, on matt gaetz the thing that you and the last caller called about. the justice department sex trafficking investigation into him stalled by attorneys.

nbc news reported and they have seen credibility of key witnesses in the case. so, that is one of the latest stories on that front. this is gary in michigan area good morning area you are next. caller: thank you. how are you doing, sir? yes i am definitely opposed to this committee. i think it is something to stop investigators from being investigated and to protect trump. and another thing i want to say about mr. santos, i mean, you mean to tell me you can lie about everything about yourself and get elected to the house? so what are we teaching our young people? that they can just lie and get whatever they want? i think it sets a bad example for any type of individuals who lie about everything. i think he needs to be investigated and kicked off. that is pretty much all i have to say. we set a bad as them for -- bad

example for our young people in the country and i think it is terrible. republicans have -- i don't know what type of party i am anymore. i do agree with some of the things they propose, but to have an individual like santos there is a disgrace to this country. that is pretty much all i have to say. host: what are some of the things you agree with that they have proposed. caller: i like that they want to stop the crossing of the border. i think that is a big problem. the thing at the border. i think the democrat -- i am a democrat myself and i think they definitely need to get that under control. and i think we should become energy independent again. so it is not like i hate everything that they have to say or whatever, but i just think they have individuals like

santos sitting up there. it is setting a bad example for the young people of this country. host: on george santos, here is one of the latest stories here is today's washington times. it is to house democrats filing an ethics complaint against the freshman republican george santos who has admitted to falsifying budget his campaign resume in the run-up to his successful campaign in new york's third district. the two members have cited him for failing to time timely accurate financial complete disclosure reports. and it has a congressional probe of mr. santos he is set to arrive on capitol hill. he has been hounded by the media about his fabricated campaign biography. and he is under pressure to resign by democrats and even members of his own party area -- the form leaves out where his money came from and ethics

lawyers say it could be a legal trouble for mr. santos. there was certainly a scene on capitol hill yesterday when the two democratic members delivered the ethics complaint to george santos, democrat daniel gorman -- daniel goldman, and richie torres. this is john, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. bigger than the santos story is that mallorca was also brought up for impeachment yesterday. even bigger than that are the story of our president who was vice president at the time when he left office. he took classified documents and had them in his office where the chinese people that he deals with could it -- get into his office and see those papers. that is a really big story. when you tie that in with all the stuff with hunter biden, the sitting president of the united

states is bonked right now. this is ridiculous. kamala harris will end up being president real soon because of they really do investigate into this stuff, he will be impeached, removed from office probably for criminal charges. so i think there is a much bigger story than the santos story. and not against santos, i do not know why the people of new york voted for him nobody investigated into who he was when they voted for him. but he lined, i am a republican -- he lied and i am a republican mode -- i want him removed. that is ridiculous. but the bigger story is what president biden is doing. host: on president biden and the documents that were in the private office after he left the white house as vice president january, 2017. resident biden making his first comment on the story since it broke early this -- president biden making his first comment

on this story since it broke. and he is traveling to mexico and he was saying i was grieved about the discovery of the documents and surprised to learn that there were any records take into the office. i do not know what is in the documents my lawyers have not suggested i ask what documents they were. i turned over the boxes and they have turned over the boxes to the archives and we are cooperating fully. cooperating fully with the review which i hope will be finished soon and there will be more detail at that time that is the president making his first comment on that story since it broke on monday. this is helen in d.c. your thought on the committee of the weaponization of the federal government? caller: yes, i oppose that. i am thing for to america for the inception of -- exceptional work that everyone does in the federal government as far as

keeping america safe. they knew to stop some of the domestic terrorism going on like new york during the -- i do not understand americans. and then you want -- republicans want to stop the military? it is not a military gauche we do not have a military that is what they are hoping for. -- do not have a military that is what they are hoping for. there looking for russia, iran, a lot of other places the americans have been cap safe because of a lot of other places like the federal government. and every business of america is making sure we do not have threats and doing something about it when we do have threats and find out where they are coming from. host: how do you feel about the

term deep state? caller: i think it is stupid. first of all, all of the flying language. i am an old g. speak english. let's talk. what is woke? it does not make sense. some people are tired of terrorism in their schools and whatnot. come on people, wake up america. i pray for america, i really do. this is all i have to say but americans, please wake up and find out that the america -- that america has taken care of as they fought for us during the war. and they have the money to the military. host: we got your point this is nick in warrington, virginia. good morning, you are next. go ahead nick. or don't, we will go to jeffrey in las vegas. good morning. caller: good morning.

i oppose. i remember jim jordan was asked a question of when did you talk to the fed on january 6? before during or after the attack on the capital? and he cannot even answer it with a straight face now he wants to talk about freedom of's each -- freedom of speech? he cannot even talk. jim jordan. so i oppose. host: paul, kansas city, missouri. good morning. caller: good morning. i support it, but not for the reasons that other supporters seem to be supporting it. the doj, the fbi, local police and law enforcement they are a weapon. they are a weapon against the american people. that is what they -- that is what they always have been.

i, for one, and happy -- am happy -- just like back in the 60's there were people there were happy when the fbi infiltrated the black panthers. i am tickled pink that they infiltrated the proud boys. trying to find out what they are up to. when you get to congress, you've got congressman right now trying with the use of the committee to do it's ackley what the supreme court told little troop -- exactly what the supreme court told donald trump what he could not do witches is find out about an ongoing -- which is find on -- find out about an ongoing investigation on himself. you have those on the republican side who say there are 87,000 irs agents coming to investigate us. first of all, they know that is

untrue. most of it goes towards replacing other people, but who's afraid of being audited? if you are not cheating on your taxes, what is the big deal? so any republican investigation into corruption at the same time while this department of justice investigation over the next two years is going to expose so much corruption. will it show that the weaponization line that they are telling is actually a truth about themselves. host: paul, on the separation of powers issue. the finding out about ongoing investigations issue the washington waste -- host story touches on that a little bit. congressional investigators anticipate that they will have a

team of outside investigators to handle a looming fight over the congressional oversight authority and it could end up in the supreme court. error already grand jury regulations and rules that will prevent the d -- department of justice -- from complying to with subpoenas related to the ongoing investigations. but jordan will likely say he is authorized by congress so this will likely end up in court. and that is what we wrap up about the new subcommittee. again the phone lines, (202) 748-8000 if you support the reach of the new committee. (202) 748-8001 if you oppose. comments from twitter. this is anthony saying i support the notion and i am interested to see what they find but i did not believe either the gop or the dems will have a fair hearing on this issue. mike said i thought democrats wanted transparency. not a single one voted they should be working on economy

border name a few. and andrea says they will use the next two years for vendettas instead of what they should be doing working on the economy, border, to name a few. in ohio, you are up next. caller: yes, hello? host: go ahead, sir. caller: ok, this is what i think it is, jim jordan could run and anybody and everybody knows that he is in conflict with donald trump he wants information to go back and help all of his colleague whether he is the investigator or under investigation. to me, it makes no sense that you would put him in charge of anything or ask him questions for anybody who has something to do with donald trump. it is just like if a attorney had the 30 -- the authority to

go into the doj and see what they will use so he goes back and prepares his own defense. it just does not make any sense. but it is always complicated when high-profile white men have two face responsibility or accountability. they do not know what to do but if it was a black person in the situation there would be no hesitation everything would go smoothly. mark taylor green went to d.c. jail because of white insurrection he was locked up and those were the same conditions when young black men and old black man were going and facing the same term but there were no congressmen or women checking that out. but as soon as a white person gets locked up now we want to put a spotlight on how the jail is run. and like parents and everybody has been complaining about that for years. but it is my agreement that one black folks said our jail

conditions are as soon as a white person is locked up now the jail needs to be tore down because the treatment is so bad it does not make any sense. but like people are not surprised by this this is something we always knew and talked about. there are two forms of justice in america. and everyone knows that. this is a waste of time. one part of a community of the american already knows what goes on it is just a show. thank you. host: this is hannah, dallas, texas. good morning, you are next. caller: good morning. i absolutely agree with the committee. it is about time. there needs to be accountability for our fbi, the doj, and others. they have recognize people and they no longer work for everybody, they just work for the democrats it is obvious. all they ever do is go and change since january 6.

and this gentleman said something about marjorie taylor greene going to the jail to check out the way it is now for a white person. that is absolutely not true she just is getting into congress she actually does care about the people. most people think she is a conspiracy theorist that is him fbi made up thing. it is so unfair we do not get any type of justice for anything i'm not saying republicans do everything wrong but it is time for people to sit and talk about joe biden and his corrupt family and how we compromise that. and instead of making all bad decisions with our energy policies and everything else putting america in debt because we are failing. host: you mentioned marjorie taylor greene i wonder on your thoughts with her in the 118th congress. or her level of influence in the party. what are your thoughts on her standing in the republican right now? caller: we love her.

i think she stands for the people. she is one of the only ones that will stand up and put everything on the line to defend us. he's always talking about how we are overpaying in taxes she brings all the information that the government is not getting. and we have not been able to see because they do not go on the floor and debate the bills. we do not know what is in the bills. but she brings it up in the press conference releasing to detailed information. accountability with ukraine and so forth. she is only one that does that. they can call her maga if they want to but she is passionate about what she is doing for americans. we want public service in our government aside from the bureaucratic and politicians that do not care about us at a certain point. and we need a public servant doing a public service job. not to get rich. host: good morning.

caller: good morning, how are you this morning? host: i'm doing well, tonya, how about yourself? caller: i am doing fine. i want to say they -- that i oppose the action they are doing right now. one thing they are talking about getting rid of the ethics problem committee. that is another wrong thing. they are investigating the investigators that does not make any kind of sense. but people talk about the cost of all the different things that we are having, don't they know that this will cost us even more. and will end up in debt as far as the irs. you know, if you do not do anything wrong, you do not have a problem. the riches are the ones that they are trying to get. i do not understand why people cannot understand that.

and with a former president, they tried to do oversight on him and he would not allow anything to go. and people from c-span saw that. he would not allow the democrats to do oversight on him. so, i think you for allowing me to talk. host: that is tonya. you mentioned changes to the house ethics committee. changes with the rules package that was passed monday. this is the story from the washington post about the house on monday passing how the rules could adjust the ethics of how congress is handled. according to a summary the package includes eight years of board members of the office of term limits -- term limits of eight years on the board members of the office. any board member that exceeds the terms will be removed. and the package also requires

that the board appoints that within 30 calendar days and the hiring and compensation of the staff would need to be approved by at least four board members. democrats and liberal groups declined the proposed changes. the house ethics committee came up yesterday as we noted two democrats and they filed an ethics complaint against republican george santos. i was also in a news conference yesterday that other house democrats called on republicans to denounce george santos. here is some from -- a little bit from the news conference. [video clip] >> kevin mccarthy owns george santos. if george santos was not seated, what with the math have been for speaker mccarthy? he would have to get another vote or get two people to vote. this is -- he owns george santos. that is only reason why he reseated to give george santos the ability to vote for kevin mccarthy.

so let's call this exactly what it is. there should be repercussions. the state and federal government and law enforcement agencies should look into the fec should look into this. and i know there is an ethics complaint filed here as well, but this is a serious issue from someone clearly that is divorced from reality and insanity. but this is a defeat above kevin mccarthy not just santos. vice chairman. >> in queue. the republican rules package says that you cannot hire the staff i think after 30 days. why would they do that? you should ask what is a rational for doing that? it is to shrink the office. if anyone things after 30 days they did not give her laced there eventually will be no one in the office because they do not want the office investigating people like george santos. as the chairman noted, toward santos it was a decided vote for

kevin mccarthy for speaker. and it was also disclosed yesterday that when george santos was fundraising, apparently, his fundraising cursor was telling folks that he was actually kevin mccarthy's chief of staff. that would essentially be conspiracy and voter fraud. of what george santos was doing appears to be highly illegal. you have ethical investigations, but also, you have what looks like to me criminal liability. i think speaker mccarthy needs to talk about things with george santos and really put him out for the nation or expulsion from the congress. >> just one last point on that. if george santos was not seated i would give another nominating speech. host: democrat aguilar and ted lieu there at the press

conference yesterday. and they pressed geordie leader steve scalise on if george santos should be a member of congress. the exchange on capitol hill here is that. [video clip] >> given all that we know now abut -- of what congressman santos did a federal level do you think you should be a member of congress? >> you saw him seated last week there is been no challenge about them. this is being handled internally. we have to sit down and talk with him about it is something we will deal with. just like they are a lot of other things we will deal with h. host: we have about 10 minutes left in the washington journal and we are discussing the committee of the weaponization of the government that is the title asking you suppose or oppose the creation of the committee made on the floor yesterday after it was passed on

the party-line vote. mark in, maryland, -- you are on. good morning. caller: good morning. being a republican, i am not a fan of george santos. i do not want somebody in office who lies about their background. that being said, i am wondering where democrats were when richard blinn -- blumenthal lied about his military service on two occasions. i wonder where democrats were when liz warrant lied about her background saying that she was in law school. and democrats have wide about their entire history. they claim there is a party of civil rights. he eventually have to look at the record. i was listening to c-span yesterday and they were talking about this committee and republicans reporting to go after the chinese capitalist party.

i forget who it was, but it was a congressman on the democrat side that got up and said we have concerns, but there is -- racism. and i thought that is pretty ironic coming from the very party that invented white pursuit premises -- white supremacy ever since -- they had segregation from the next 100 years. they had the civil rights act and the voting act put before johnson. more republican sort -- supported that than democrats. and it is like parish you're -- spare us your nonsense. a lady called back and said a well ago what is woke? we have another word in the english language for woke it is communist. i ask everyone goes back and look at the control of anarchy in the usa a man named gf or jaybird in the 1960's the very

same culture that would had happened in our country has been happening the last six years happen in algiers in the 1960's it happened in the soviet union. it that was ahead of the 1920's. they were going after the rich and the greedy. and 1%. and they did became a totality and state. that is where we have been the last two years. under the democrats. thank you. host: that is mark in maryland. about five minutes left this morning. i did also want to give you a -- get you abreast of the latest breaking news this coming from the skies, more than 1000 flight delays reported across the u.s. this morning after a key the faa computer system failed. the federal aviation administration said it ordered a pause on domestic flight departures until 9:00 a.m. this

morning as it is working to restore its notice to air mission systems which sends notifications to pilots about flight restrictions, hazards, and work in men. the delay would allow it to validate the integrity of flight and safety information. a tweet from the white house secretary john pierre about 50 minutes ago the president has been briefed about -- by the secretary of transportation about the faa system outage. there is no evidence of a cyber attack at this point, but the president directed the d.o.t. to inductively investigation into the causes. and the faa will provide regular updates. that is update this morning. we will give you more when they come again. those departures and domestic flight departures delayed until 9:00 a.m. this morning after a failure system outage from the faa. we have another caller, good morning. caller: good morning.

i am oppose. it is a ridiculous thing. one thing that is not partisan at all is that they are trying to dismantle everything from the cdc to the justice department and fbi. i thought the republicans were pro-law-enforcement. but it seems like they are coming against every institution in america. if they are going to dismantle everything who will be in charge? just a little thing they created? i think about the oversight -- the people that have created this little thing. i do not think it is going to work. i think it is going to dismantle every institution in america. every situation from law-enforcement to using the hospital i think it is the most ridiculous thing that they could possibly do as a power. i think any party that supports people like ellen jones and lumbar are a little bit on the

fringe. they need to be over cited as well. host: that is a lane, north carolina this is john in new york. good morning. caller: good morning. i can only go by my own personal observations. from there i go through my own personal intuition. i witnessed so many investigations day in and day out for the last four years. they did not leave one stone unturned. and today, here, with the thing with biden and the confidential files, if you have them and you are in possession of them and you have them in your closet, you have to answer for them. the thing is, when you got a call in earlier the press seems to be trying -- rather to investigate they are hell-bent on inside a rating. i had no idea why they were in

there. and he didn't even ask what is in them. you think is president of the u.s. with say what is in them? but joe biden was asked to not even ask about them. you guys prepare for request coming in from republicans and democrats and unnoticed, i hope it is my imagination, a lot of republicans that call in you supported the lot -- a lot of the things that they say you go to your tablet but when a lot of other democrats go and you reinforce what they say i hope this is just my imagination. i know you are prepared, in you are asking -- in the question you are asking today, i think it is not to do i think it is to help out what is going on. i really think that this thing,

the fbi in a way that it was handled, it came out on a weekday day were aware of this thing prior at least since november of week before the election and nothing came out until what? recently i don't even know this week. host: jim we spent an hour yesterday on the topic of the documents found in the private office and it continued to be a topic of conversation on capitol hill yesterday throughout the day. house majority leader steves police with innate -- with an exchange with reporters yesterday here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> in the case of mar-a-lago you intentionally withheld the documents for more than a year whereas the biden documents were intentionally -- truly -- were handed over. doesn't make a difference? >> president biden was critical

of president trump in this. the only person that has the ability to declassify documents is the president not vice president. if vice president caller: good morning. the fbi, cia, and the irs has been investigating donald trump says he announced he was running for president. to this day, they have nothing. they have nothing on the man. how much taxpayer money are we going to waste on this witchhunt? you had a caller earlier that said, this committee was going to mess up the law enforcement agencies, well if they're not guilty, it is not going to mess them up. that is not a problem.

host: our last caller in the first hour of the washington journal. plenty more to talk about including of next we focus on a diffen committee, focus on threats from china, joining us in that discussion is weigh of the mercatus center -- weifeng zhong of the mercatus center. and later, democrat judy chu of california. we talk about the republican agenda in the house and democratic strategy in the 118th congress congress. ♪ >> fridays at 8:00 p.m. eastern, c-span brings you “after words” from booktv. a program where nonfiction

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♪ >> middle and high school students, it is time to get out your phones and start recording for your chance to win $100,000 in total cash prizes for the grand prize of $5,000 by entering c-span's “student cam video documearcontest.” for this year's competition, we are asking students to picture yourself as a newly elected member of congress and tell us what your top priority would be and why. create a 5 minute to 6 minute video showing the importance of your issue from opposing and supporting points of view. be bold with your documentary. don't be afraid to take risks. there is still time to get started. the deadline for entries is january 20, 2023. for competition rules and tips on hget started, visit our website at studentcam.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: focus now on a new health select committee aimed at

putting a variety threats of the chinese communist party. joining us is weifeng zhong, good morning. i want to start with a clip from the chairman of the new select committee talking about the need for this committee on the floor yesterday and the threats posed by china. ♪ >> we see this aggression here at home. undermining our economy and good paying american jobs. it is here at home where the parties extraterritorial totalitarianism terrorizes chinese student studying at our universities and target americans of chinese this end. it is here at home where thousands of americans are poisoned by fentanyl manufacturing in china and distributed thanks to a chinese money laundering network. it is time to understand the

urgency other thread. it is time to reclaim our economic independence in key areas. the select committee will expose the ccp coordinated strategy to undermine american leadership and american sovereignty while working on a bipartisan basis and with the committees to identify, says approaches to counter ccp aggression. host: the artist the other thread he talks about their. how urgent do you think is the threat from the chinese communist party? guest: he pointed out valid concerns coming from china because of how china turned out to be after 20 years in wto. policymakers in washington had hoped china would become more open society by joining the wto but i do not turn out that way. it turned out to be more

authoritarian particularly under xi jinping's administration. he pointed out valid concerns. it is a welcome move to see congress tackle the challenges. host: a select committee that will focus on threats from the chinese communist party, not red march, why that framing? guest: a lot of threats concerning chinese behavior was because of what the communist party in china was driving it. if it of the behavior example, it does not matter whether the company is owned by the state, but when it comes to even privately owned companies, they sometimes have to follow with the private -- chinese communist party once. they're hitting the right target in terms of china's behavior. it is not because of the regular

chinese people. host: when it comes to the economic and technological threats, what is been there biggest victories against the united states? what is the biggest cost to the united states on that front? guest: economic engagement between the united states and china has increased a lot since 20 years ago. some of the engagement has been taken advantage by beijing for leverage. there are having deals with the chinese economy and it was if those deals, -- that is not being calculated in the west. they cannot anticipate beijing will behave that way. how do we tackle that without hurting ourselves too much? that is the biggest challenge facing policymakers. host: what is the trait balanced

between u.s. and china? guest: the united states has been having huge trade deficits against china and i did not change even during the chubb administration. -- that did not change even during the trump administration and when the u.s. imposed tariffs on chinese goods it did not deter the trade deficit that much. that speaks of the fact that we are engaging with chinese economy. we buying cheap goods from china and that is not going to change a lot even though you are on the margin imposed on terrace. host: what would work? is the idea a pullback from the economic engagement? guest: the calculation about the tariffs was imposing tariffs, we would force china to abandon unfair practices that a lot of

them including domestic fronts when the comes to competition with foreign fronts. beijing did not change his behavior even with the tariffs which means it is more viable -- viable than paying for the tariffs. now is the time to turn our attention to technology and how the chinese behavior, china has been turning to the media space and higher education system. which representative pointed out. those areas are hard because we want to defend our freedom but we do not want to do it while compromising our own freedom at home. if you economic changes, that is the freedom u.s. universities have enjoyed. we want to counter, you do not

want to compromise economic freedom institutions have had domestically. that if the trade-off. host: if he was talk about the new -- to talk about the new select economy, weifeng zhong is with us. to join the conversation, phone lines as usual, democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. you talked about china wanting to influence the media space. are you talking about the concern over tiktok or that and other issues? guest: that included, but the most common behavior before was china buying pages on major newspapers and they dump the chinese new paper on these papers.

they will purchase entire page so that. that was, in the u.s., but in other countries including u.s. allies, we have seen china will provide agencies content to overseas media outlet. some foreign news outlets ran it while technology it is from beijing. it is a lack of transparency. my be there freedom -- it may be there freedom to have economic deals with china, but even if they have the freedom come sometimes they're not transparent in the lack of transparency was concerning. host: on tiktok, what is the concern over tiktok? guest: many technology companies in china own a lot of data off

american users and overseas users and sometimes the information can produce intelligence on foreign countries. we have seen data leaks in the system where china was able to use the information to back up who works for federal agencies, who are important people. that is what we are seeing with we chat, the chinese version of another messaging app, and tiktok is known for having data privacy issues because there access to the information. that is different from any other tech platforms we use. host: even to the work of the select committee, will make it successful? guest: the major trade-off. it is easy to be tough on china, but we want to be mindful that u.s. china relations -- not much

is at stake economically speaking, but it is easy to say let's go all out. let's go as tough as we can and that was the right strategy under president reagan. now, american businesses, american consumers are at stake. we want to be careful when we go tough on china, we not hurt ourselves. when we have a trade war, we hurting american consumers and businesses and we did not achieve any of the goals of changing chinese behavior. does a lesson we should learn carefully. host: are we so in a trade war with china? guest: we are. the tariffs imposed by donald trump are under place under president biden. we have seen no change from beijing whatsoever. host: chance, you are on.

caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. i want to ask about, i was reading in a book titled the end of the world is just be -- the beginning and he talks about cp is so powerful now that most of the people agree to whatever he says. there is no counterpoint to him. he does not read any reports of what is happening. he is disconnected from what is

happeninghappening and how it'so destroy china. agrees everything he says and how it is going to happen and what is happening? guest: very interesting question. many people have the same observation of him. but i think the reason protests began changed by a lot because it wasn't obvious to many observers that beijing abandon zero public policy. now the chinese authorities are in a tough position because if you look at what the chinese media are say to the people, they are saying we visited overnight and that was correct.

the communist party is always correct. it is not always the fitting to authority -- defending the authority of cp but people have seen giving him what he wanted which was the lifting of the lockdown. the people across the country have seen that, the compromising factor of xi jinping's role in china. only time will tell how much damage is inflicted on him and how the next 10 years of his rule will go. host: what was it about these protest made a difference compared to others in the past? guest: after team is there are mostly on non-political issues

like pollution if there was a factory near my home i will go protests. when you get enough people from the you have other protesters. there never about political issues until this time. this time people came up, there not chanting only to lift the lockdown policy but also the officials. they do not like them. that was the first time since 1989. host: tim from south carolina, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to know, how much financial influence the chinese have in south america? i watched a program about how they went in there and they dump billions of dollars in different

parts of south america. when they did they got the contract to build a lot of stuff down there. it was a massive amount of money. how much investment do they have in south america? guest: the question is pointed towards the major foreign policy initiative founded by xi jinping himself when he came into power in 2013. the exact dollar amount depends on the country you're looking at and the difference in form of interest. sometimes they come in loans. an infrastructure project, they typically, take the form of chinese loans to the countries. sometimes they become a debt problem because it is tight. residue with economic conditions locally.

sometimes there are other forms of interest where china provides funds to media companies and they selling content like weapons that beijing provided content to media outlets and if you run this, you get payments. it differs from forms and purposes in which region we are looking at. overall these influences have been rising in the last 20 years. that is because china was trying to use international institutions they are part of including you in -- united nations to leverage votes on issues. in general, the developing countries is a good target for beijing. assiduity historical legacy --

has to do with the historical legacy china used in the past were in central asia and then xi jinping came up with the term of silk road on the ocean which led them into southeast asia. i've heard this phrase, it sums up the chinese interest. for a lot of these countries, if you do not like -- take the road , why economic engagement sometimes is concerning and that at the same problem of what we have seen in washington. host: why is china still allowed to trade on the open market given the documentation of human rights violations in the country? guest: that is a valid concern.

how many people were actually in the camps? when it comes to trade and goods, we import something from china, anything from walmart or amazon, some of them could be made but it is hard to figure out which parts are made with forced labor. when he tried to ban it goes from china, you are in the trade-off i spoke about, because sometimes you can target goods and sometimes you are looking at this made with forced labor. when you impose policies like this, it is easy to miss, it is also easy to wrongly been goods that are legitimate.

not everything is made with forced labor. if that were the case will be back to the soviet union scenario. host: donald, you are on. caller: there's a lot of talk about trade. if you look back at built-ins administration, nafta, that is where most of this crap started. they say republicans past that, that is not true. there is no weight there public's could have passed that. they did not have the numbers to do it. the democrats had to have help them. host: talking about and after the air. the president meeting this week with the president of mexico, of

canada, how much influence does china have on our neighbors to the north and south the yucca -- north and south? guest: some might say it is easier because of the fact that there are more chinese immigrants in canada then there are in u.s., proportionally speaking. it's always easier to influence china relations overseas because they read chinese language newspapers. for newspapers in chinese language and it is what makes canada an easier target than the u.s. when it comes to mexico, it is similar to other south american countries guest book about, it is on -- it is similar to the others we spoke about. left to watch how the development goes. host: to join the conversation. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000.

independents, 202-748-8002. we are talking about the new select committee created by the new house republican majority. this one focus on threats from the chinese communist party economic, technological threats. some democrats take into the house floor to oppose the committee among them, hank johnson of georgia. here is what he had to say yesterday. [video clip] >> we watched china rise. we know their activity and competition they pose economically, national security, intellectual property, human rights. we know where we stand with china and each of those issues are covered by jurisdictions that exist right now. any investigation that is done can be done through the existing committees. why are we creating this committee? i fear it is to create a

platform to unleash anti-asian unleash anti-asian hate and division. host: hank johnson, one 65 members of congress who voted against this committee creation. 265 members voting for this committee -- 365 members voting for this committee. your thoughts on his concerns? guest: it is natural to see some are opposed to it. it is a good reminder as we try to stand against china, beats up on china's influence, we should not overdo it in essence that we turn it into against chinese immigrants. targeting the chinese communist party is the correct move. it is not about the chinese people. there are a lot of chinese immigrants in u.s. they love the freedom they have here. the same is true for a lot of

people living in china. the people who came out to protest, they do not like the regime they are living in now and that is why they were chaining for more freedom, not just the thing the lockdown policy. it is important we stay on a policy issue. we stay on the policymakers and we do not target chinese people. host: nancy, good morning. caller: good morning. people say the biden family is a crime family. is there any proof of that? guest: i did not follow that storyline. host: good morning, republican. caller: good morning. do you have information or something does disturbs me yucca

-- stars meet the last 30 years they have been having chinese baby tourism in california and the last time i googled it, what happens to these children? they go back to china and get trained to be spies or maybe even president of the u.s. is airborne -- because they are born with u.s. citizenship? do you have any information on that? guest: i do not either. host: brian in virginia, independent. caller: i'm glad to hear the guest informed about the historic knowledge of engaging economically with china. during the reagan administration, they wanted to engage with china to be more internationally prevalent --

relevant, the trade policies, free-trade had nothing to do with the ceos wanted to get access to china's cheap labor and manufacturing. they knew then they were using slave labor. they knew then there are doing genocide. they knew then that china xenophobic. they built that big wall for a reason. knowing this, they still went over there to undermine the unions in u.s. to get labor over the china. also if the manufacturing. closed manufacturing here. they use taxpayers money to build may venture in china. they have china built their industrial mike. that is economic treason. the american private corporations did.

they still do not want to debase from china. they are still making excuses. espionage china has done, the american corporations taught them how to make their stuff. they opened the door for espionage in the first place. you cannot have people manufacture it yourself without teaching them property to manufacture stuff. guest: it is a valid question. when china first joint the wto, the hope, even domestically in china, i still lived in china at the time, i remember the trade negotiations from beijing, were

not very popular in china because people in china, the view was we do not have a good deal. the chinese society want to be more open. what happened later on will change. in the context of trade, china relies later on, several years down the road, forced labor institutions could help them gain advantage in trade and make the production cost lower. the bad behavior of using forced labor on a larger scale happened later on. turn to be an unexpected development even for many people in china. they did not know forced labor exist in a large-scale.

host: weigh is a research fellow at the mercatus center. you can find my twitter -- him on twitter at weifeng zhong. up next, judy chu, democrat of california has a talk about the democratic strategy and the 118th congress and later is freshman republican of tennessee to talk about why he ran for congress and the speaker vote last week. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ book tv on c-span 2. former republican senator and

co-author jo early took a critical look at economic disparities in the united states and how they are measured with their book the miss of american inequality. at 10:00 p.m. on afterwards, co-authors of crisis in the classroom sure the concerns about the education system in america. watched the tv every sunday on c-span 2 and find the full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. >> there are a lot of places to get clinical information. only c-span do you get it straight from the source. the matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for

word. if it happens here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> pre-order your copy of the congressional directory of 118th congress. it is your access to the federal government with bio and contact information for every house and senate member. important information for congressional committee, the president's cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. scan the code at the right to pre-order your copy today. it is $29.95 plus ng a handling. every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations at c-spanshop.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining is now is congressman judy chu of california. she was served on the committee, the ways and means committee. good morning. guest: good morning.

host: on the first built the first built a republican majority moved, claw maze of in funding to the irs. you voted no. why did the irs need that funding right now? guest: for 10 years republicans have started the irs of money it needs to function pretty as a result, 30% of the taxpayers -- tax auditors who will make sure the ultra-wealthy pay their share of going away. they have left the irs. 70% of the audits of the ultra-wealthy taxpayers have declined. we are losing money that should have been paid and we have lost it is estimated, $7 trillion worth of tax money that should have been paid over the last decade.

that is why democrats put $80 billion in the irs so that it could audit the ultra-wealthy. these audits will not be done on anyone making lower than $400,000. it is for the ultra-wealthy. the other important thing about the $80 billion is it will improve customer service. i hear from so many of my constituents who say they have been for hours on the phone with the irs waiting to get somebody to answer so they could fix a terrible tax problem. that should not be the case, but the irs technology has not been updated in a long time. it needs to be updated and the need to be irs agents for the

people. i was a strong no vote on this bill that took place on monday trying to take away that money, but there will not be able to get that bill across the finish line because it will certainly not pass the senate and not be signed in by president biden. host: one headline of the washington times today, 87,000 new irs agents could be on the chopping block. with this $80 billion great 87,000 new irs agents? guest: we are talking about having money to make sure those who retire will be able to replace and we will be able to restore tax auditors who have left main duties to be able to

audit the ultra-wealthy. we are talking about people who have expertise to be able to challenge vast army of accountants and lawyers the ultra-wealthy are used -- they use to abate a their fair share of taxes. many times the tax auditors are outdone by ultra-wealthy who can find multiple ways to evade paying their fair share of taxes. host: congressman judy chu is our guest this morning until 9:00 a.m. eastern you can start calling in. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. in our previous segment we spent the past have our focusing on the new select committee, focused on threats from the communist chinese party.

your thoughts, how did you vote? guest: i voted no on the select committee. one thing, the items the select committee is to address can be taken care of by committees that already exist. in fact, the ways and means committee which has jurisdiction over many of the issues including trade, but i also voted no because i'm concerned the select committee will be used as a way of casting aversions against a api. we know when president trump used the term china virus to define covid that many anti-asian hate crimes occurred, including 11,500 anti-asian hate

crimes because he stilled suspicion against a ppi. this particular committee needs to ensure that does not heighten the xenophobic rhetoric a api. when there was u.s. depend competition, there was a terrible murder that occurred against a man in detroit who was bashed in the head by two autoworkers who simply blamed him for them being out of work. we do not want that situation to occur again. host: viewers calling in, a question before we go to the phones. have you been tracking the faa computer outage this morning? granny domestic light in the

country. your thoughts on the effort to fix the problems? guest: i am alarmed because we know how disruptive this can be. it is why it was so important for us to pass bipartisan imperfection act which would upgrade the airports around the nation to make sure they are functional. we should not like these -- let these technological problems freeze the airports and the flights coming out of our different airports. host: we are expecting domestic flights to resume 9:00 a.m. eastern. as the press secretary said, the president is briefed on this. no evidence of a cyber attack at this point. investigation is underway. that is the latest and we will keep you updated. some calls for you, congresswoman.

in maryland, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. what has happened with republicans and a small government? this is the issue of immigration where they refuse to hire the necessary numbers of people to do the work. we need more people to do the work. they refuse to hire the necessary number of people to do the work. it becomes a problem. guest: i totally agree with you.

we have a system in this country of asylum, and those who fear persecution can apply for that asylum in this country. but we do not have the agents who can process the asylum claims. we are many thousands of people behind in the caseload for this. we do not have enough immigration judges who can make decisions on these asylum claims. this is why we are backlogged. it was made much worse under the trump administration. we need to have the funds necessary to make sure these cases can be taken care of. i fully support making this system functional again.

host: tom in virginia, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. your last guest before the congresswoman was fantastic. we need more authoritative voices like your previous guests. the important thing to consider here, when the congress, the woman is saying anybody who is concerned about china, xenophobic. this is a national security threat to the future of the united states. anybody who is paying attention can see how aggressive china is being with regards to economic and military dominion over the world. it is not rhetoric. i work in national security space. the other thing to be concerned about, this congresswoman is saying, the ultra-wealthy our

enemy -- this is a half versus have-nots. but if you go do your research, people will find out the top 1% or 2% income earners pay 80% of the tax revenue that is collected through the businesses they own and personal income tax. it is an astronomical amount or percentage of taxes that are collected paid by the top 1% or 2% and in the bottom 50% of the u.s. pays basically no federal income tax. it is only the 50% above and the vast majority of taxes paid by the top 5% of u.s., which is people over 300,000 or $400,000. guest: i want to clarify what i

am saying about the select committee on china. i feel we should hold china accountable for his policies. it's policies in which they are not following the wto mandates, the human rights violations, the economic aggression that they have been engaging in. these are legitimate issues the select committee should address, but i worry about the rhetoric. i worry about the xenophobia that could be brought down upon asian americans that are in this country. there was a case of a woman in the department of commerce, dr. chen, who was arrested because of the xenophobia as a spy for

china, wrongfully arrested and only two months ago she was awarded $2 million for this wrongful termination. in the meanwhile, her life was ruined. these are the kind of civil rights violations that can occur at the rhetoric and xenophobia get to the boiling point. on taxes, it would be great if the ultra-wealthy were actually paying their fair share of taxes. but did you know, it is actually those who on the lower end of the spectrum who actually pay all of taxes daca that is because those taxes are taken out of their payroll. they automatically pay those taxes. it is the ultra-wealthy who have passive income through

investments that can evade paying their fair share of taxes. that is what has been going on, especially in the last decade. host: robert in tennessee on the democrats line. caller: yes. i was thinking about the taxes and the irs. i understand they pay them and they get audited, but the poor they are trying to say we would get audited more. the problem i understand is back when we had big bottom of the housing think, there are people in the buildings making a million dollars in our where i can work five hours overtime and get paid two dollars an hour test taxes taking it all up. we need more irs to work on this.

host: congresswoman. guest: i feel your pain. it is hard to make a living. taxes can take a bite out of it, but if we are able to properly audit the ultra-wealthy, we could have a better budget. we did have a budget that has income it is supposed to have, so that people like you can live a higher quality of life, can get the food on the table, and pay your rent. host: john in louisiana on the independent line. caller: good morning. i was going to ask, what does she think about the 87,000 new hires for the irs, when they first put that out, they were seeking, they needed to be able to carry a sidearm or some kind

of weapon. what would be the reason behind that? guest: this is not true. this is one of those pieces of rhetoric that republicans are putting out, but no. we are not talking about irs agents going out there armed to people's doors. i have to emphasize such audits would not occur for people that are earned under $400,000. this would be for the top 1% will have questionable taxes, which are obviously questionable. it would be for the select few that can get an army of accountants and lawyers to evade paying their fair share of taxes. host: 10 minutes left with congressman judy chu. on the house floor today, there

is going to be born alive abortion protection act considered from republican ladner -- waggoner, this is happening amid the month that would have been the 50th anniversary of roe v. wade decision. your thoughts on the abortion debate in the 118th congress ? guest: the born alive bill should not be on the floor. the reason is for one thing, killing a baby is a crime in every state of this country. if there are -- is a decision in which an infant is dying, this is something that could be between parents and a doctor.

we should not be interfering with their decision as politicians from washington dc. it is a personal decision. but republicans are using the born alive inflammatory title to try to chip away at a woman's right to make a decision about her own body. i think the right to make a decision about your body should be made between you, your family, your doctor. that is why i am the author of the woman's health protection act which would restore roe v. wade as a law of the land so that every person in every zip code of this country can have access to an abortion and can make a decision that is right

for her. host: why weren't democrats able to move the legislation when you had control of the house and senate and the white house? guest: it is because of this terrible think called the filibuster in the senate. we were able to pass woman's health protection act out of the house, twice, so that was really important. it was the most supported pro-abortion bill passed in the history of congress but when he got to the senate it face the filibuster in which you have to have a super majority to pass something else. unique 60 votes to pass -- you need 60 votes to pass a bill. and we did not have 60 democratic votes in the senate. it will stop there -- was

stopped there. there are senators for eliminating the filibuster for this bill and i hope in the future when democrats control the house again, indeed, we can eliminate the filibuster in the senate. especially for this bill. host: marcia in new jersey, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes ma'am. caller: ok. thank you for c-span. i feel sad when i hear the ultrarich may avoid paying their fair share of taxes. children in the united states need an education to get a job

and colleges and universities have to be -- have been too expensive. we need to build more technical schools so that children can learn a trade to support themselves. how do you feel about this? guest: i thank you so much for the thoughts. i think, what could we have done with a $7 trillion that were loss because the ultra-wealthy did not pay their fair share over the last decade? we could have improved our education. we could have made higher education more accessible. we could have made sure that our

public schools get the dollars they need. there are so many needs. we could've had paid family leave so families can make sure can take care of sick loved ones. we could've had the child tax credit extended, which is an important -- incredible program, when it was in operation and reduce poverty for children by 40%. there is so much we can do to help those who are working so hard to put food on the table and to pay their rent. host: joe in maine, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to follow up on what you just said. when are you going to do these things? when is it going to happen? when is this congress going to come together and do things for

the american people like you keep promising? democrats and republicans. talking about taxes, when is it ever right to not pay -- your fair share? when has that ever been right? we are going to change the tax code. we are going to fix this. nothing ever happens. i'm glad to see you here on c-span but you're being paid hundred $74,000 a year. can you tell me why you and the congressmen, senators get that and more? if they make you a head of a board, you get extra money. you tell us you're going to help the poor american people who are suffering. just use the quote, struggling to get by. you are not struggling to get by, are you? i would like to see this congress investigate the first

ppp money? where did that disappear to? tom brady got some. the catholic church got some. the senator parents. her mitch mcconnell's mother and father got some of that. is that true? guest: that was quite a few topics, but let me say, the salary for congress members was determined before i got here. one thing for sure, we pay our fair share of taxes because it is taking out of our payroll. we need to make sure everybody pays their fair share of taxes. we have taken the first big step of making sure that occurs. that is what the $80 billion for the irs to be able to get the agents it needs to audit the

ultra-wealthy. i think you're going to see a big change in the near future as the irs is able to get his functioning back after being starved of funds the last 10 years. the ppp loans were the subject -- improper actions at the beginning, and that the wealthy company like ruth chris steakhouse for using their multiple franchises to get $20 million a ppp loans but there was a huge outcry of this and as a result, they have had to return those loans. they were shamed into doing that. this is why we in the small

business committee give a $60 billion set-aside in the ppp loan so that the financial institutions that have the closest relationship with the most vulnerable businesses, credit unions, community banks, they were able to get the loans to those who had the greatest need, like veterans, people of color, woman, and those in underserved communities. as a result, the book of the ppp loans they go to those most in need. host: while last caller, sean

from california. caller: good morning. there is a lot of things to discuss. i do not have an issue with hiring the 80,000 agents per we need those agents. we need our money to go into the irs system to upgrade their computers. i am a native of california. we pay our taxes here. those taxes come out of our -- my income wages. wages. for the last two years under the trump administration, i do not know what has been going on. however i have been finding i am having to pay taxes at the end of the year. they are saying they are not taking out enough taxes.

i agree with the decision to hire agents to make our system better. i do not like when i hear the caller talk about marjorie taylor greene. marjorie taylor greene ripped us off. you know not to take money like that from our country. now we are being blamed for it. host: we are running short on time congresswoman, i give you the final minute. guest: you talk about a situation that should not have occurred with the trump tax bill. that is where they put a cap on state and local taxes. you are from california and it affected so many people in california who are not able to deduct as much as they used to before 2017. that was very unfair because we

should not be doubly taxed. we are already taxed by state and locality and we used to be able to deduct that fully. in california we certainly pay our fair share of taxes. that benefited us greatly. that was a much fairer system. host: i appreciate your time on the washington journal. congresswoman judy chu, democrat from california. thank you so much. guest: thank you. host: coming up at 9:30 we will be joined val our second member of congress, andy ogles, republican from tennessee.

until that it is open forum. any public policy issue or political issue, democrats, republicans, and independents. those numbers on your screen. start calling in now. we will be right back. >> be up-to-date on the latest in publishing with book tv's podcast on books with current nonfiction book releases as well as industry trends with interviews. find book to on c-span now, our free mobile app, or wherever you get your podcasts. guest: there are a lot of places to get political -- >> there are a lot of places to get political information. only at c-span2 you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from,

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world of politics at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episode of "walls -- "washington journal." c-span now is available now at the apple store and google play. download it free today. c-span now is your front row seat to washington, anytime, anywhere. >> "washington journal" continues. host: any public policy or political issue you want to talk about, it is your time to call in. democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents, (202) 748-8002. an update on the issues in disguise. it was just before 6:30 eastern that the faa sent out this notice that the faa is working

to restore its notice to air mission system. we are performing final validation checks. operations across the national airspace system are affected and will provide frequent updates. that led to a stop at airports throughout the country. it was just about 15 minutes ago , the latest update from the faa say normal air traffic operations are resuming gradually across the u.s. following that overnight outage of the notice to air mission system that provides safety information for flight crews. the brown stop has been lifted and we continue to look into the causes of that initial problem. from secretary of transportation pete buttigieg this tweet about 15 minutes ago. the faa has determined the system is restored and the nationwide ground stop will be lifted immediately and i have directed an after action process to recommend the next steps.

that is the latest from the federal administration admission. it looks like flights are getting back underway this morning. your phone calls and open forum. john is up first in the keystone state, a republican. good morning. are you with us? then rehoboth beach, delaware. good morning. caller: i want to make one statement. there are two families which are presidents which are accused of being criminal families. we are in a sad state when our politicians do not find qualified people to do this job. we have gone to the point where it will be the lesser of two evils. thanks very much. host: maryland, democrat, you are next. caller: i want to make a statement.

before a person can run for president he should be required to get a top-secret clearance. if that happens we would not have as we are now. host: miguel in texas, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. ever since the speaker it has been made me give up on the republican party. if there is anyone out there who feels the same way it is also a centrist i recommend everyone to sign up for the forward party. the partisanship is really annoying and i just want to say that. host: what is the main goal of the centrists right now? caller: the main goal is trying to bring back bipartisanship. today people think bipartisanship is an ugly tool.

the overall goal is to bring back centerleft and center-right politics into the political sphere. we believe there is an answer to immigration. we think there is a bipartisanship to that one. host: what is the bipartisan answer to the immigration debate? caller: i think the bipartisan immigration thing will be a hard blind when it comes to the enforcement of orders but also looking at who we take in. a majority of americans support -- it is one of the things we can work on rather than talking with each other. guest: that is miguel in -- host: that is miguel in texas. glenoaks maryland, independent. caller: i had a question. if the corporations pay the workers more money, wanted that help pay off the debt also? there are a lot of corporations

that make money off of debt spending. is there any way they can contribute to the debt? thanks. host: back to the constitution state, this is joe, republican, good morning. caller: are you? host: what is on your mind. caller: i was just listening to congresswoman chu. no matter what question you ask the democrats, they always blame trump. i wanted to tell her that when trump was in the white house i was able to eat, i was able to pay my rent, i was able to pay my heating bills. everything has tripled. now in connecticut the electrical bill will go up 50% and it is because of this green new deal. as far as immigration, they don't care who comes in. all they want is votes. that is all there is. thank you for taking my call. host: atlanta, georgia.

emmanuelle, independent. caller: good morning in happy new year. i was lucky to have the opportunity to pose questions to the guest before your last guest. i would love to have asked him what was the assessment of china's presence on the economy of africa? did not get a chance to do that. their concerns and fears about the rise of china. most might be legitimate but it is the natural course of human development. you have the rise and falls of civilizations and it appears it is china's turn to become the next superpower. some of these fears people have, true students of history understand this is just the cycle of humanity.

it would seem to meet we should seek to have good relations with china as opposed to those who deem them negative and bad. that is my comment. have a great year. host: mitchell, republican, you are next. caller: i would like to say i think the united states is in good shape. we have a lot of problems. these things can be worked out. the democrats and republicans need to realize they are americans and they need to work together for the better of the nation. god bless america. host: what is our biggest problem in this country? caller: i do not see a lot of problems that cannot be worked

out. we have a lot of people living on the streets. we need to help those people. people who are able to work -- they do not know how to work because they know how to work the system and get free food and free money. host: this is dennis in michigan, independent. good morning. caller: i would like to address the comment about the rich not paying their fair share. it is congress who writes the tax code laws and i think they are taking advantage of what congress has written. that is all i had to say. thank you.

host: if they are concerned they should write better laws? caller: i think even if they did , the cpas would find a way to get around them. host: to minneapolis, minnesota. virginia, democrat, good morning. caller: i wanted to talk about balancing the budget, the so-called budget. the republicans want to balance the budget. they are probably not going to allow the debt ceiling to be raised and they will hold social security and medicare hostage. i am on social security and medicare. i paid into the system for over 50 years. i do not understand how over the

last several decades congress has dipped into social security money and taken it away for things like war and paying for their little projects alongside whatever they were doing. i just hope that not only republicans and democrats and independents see what they are going to do, but there is going to be a lot of people that are going to be hurt, including the whole country, if they do not raise the debt ceiling and do not fund the government as it is right now. they just want to stop all of that. host: that is virginia in minnesota.

about 15 minutes left in our open forum. (202) 748-8000 for democrats to call in, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents is (202) 748-8002. in the first hour we focused on that story that broke on monday of classified documents being found in an office of vice president, former vice president biden. at the time those documents found in november. the president's lawyers alerting the national archives, returning those documents to the national archives, releasing a statement yesterday about the documents being found and a lot of attention on that story since, including from the sick -- the conservative editorial forward of the washington journal, taking a look at the situation and say news analysts are cautioning this apparent mishandling of materials is different from former president trump's mist tabling of hundreds

of as if i documents, saying that is true as far as it goes but mr. biden had no authority to declassify documents unlike the former president and is not covered by the presidential records act that gives the former president access to documents from the presidential years. mr. biden had no authority to hold such classified documents in his private office. none of this is to say that mr. biden should be prosecuted, but it is a soft before the gander political moment and it bears on whether the justice department can fairly prosecute mr. trump for similar mishandling's. the editorial board from the washington journal today. it was yesterday as he was on a trip to mexico city with leaders in the north american nations that president biden made his first statements about this story. here's what he had to say.

>> people know i take classified document seriously. when my lawyers were clearing up my office, they set up a secure office for me. they found some documents in a box in a closet. as soon as they did they realized there were several classified documents into that box. they did with they should have done. they immediately called the archives, turned them over to the archives, and i was briefed about this discovery and was surprised to learn there are any government records that were taken there to that office. i don't know what is in the documents. my lawyers have not suggested i ask what documents they were. i have turned over the boxes to the archives and we are cooperating fully with review, which i hope will be finished

soon, and there will be more detail at that time. host: back to her phone calls. hearing what is on your mind. this is it in georgia. good morning. caller: can you hear me all right? i just want to mention two quick things. one is the national debt. i want all democrats to listen very carefully. the way the government has been paying off the national debt is they have been paying the interest on the debt, and that is it. if they paid $1 billion a year towards the debt on the principal and paid the interest, we would have the national debt wiped out in 31,000 years. people need to think about that. the second thing i want to talk about is representative jeffries

on the democrat side. he got up there and made a speech with all of the democrat standing behind him and he said five policemen were killed in the january 6. that is a lie. thank you. host: rebecca in california. independent. good morning. caller: good morning, everyone. i wanted to make a comment. maga now stands for making america groan again. i am sure i am not the only person that has been groaning. it is unfortunate the whole speaker situation happened, but now we see for ourselves this is what we are in for. that is it. have a good day. host: it was c-span in the chambers of the house covering those 15 speaker votes, giving you angles you do not usually see because c-span does not

usually in charge of the cameras except on special occasions. c-span trying to change that, requesting our cameras be allowed regular access to the house chamber in a letter yesterday to the speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy. this is what our co-chief executive officer susan swain said in her letter, hoping c-span could use our own staff for the cameras to fill the floor proceedings on behalf of this didn't work and other news organizations rather than rely on the tightly restricted shots provided by government employees usually. this was the response by kevin mccarthy's office. a spokesman with this statement to the wall street journal. we are exploring a number of options to open up the people's house to ensure a more transparent and accessible congress to the american people. i should note several members of congress pushing to allow more

freedom for c-span to use our cameras in the house chamber, including matt gaetz, the republican of florida, and the democrat of wisconsin making statements about that in recent days. anthony in maryland, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning and good new year's to you. c-span does a wonderful job. had c-span not been in the chambers last week during the voting for the speaker, we never would have noticed what a turn of events occurred in the last vote to get mccarthy into the chair. i watched him twist to that man's arm and several other republicans go back and say you have to change your vote and they got it done. the general and from florida is right. we have a lot of problems.

unfortunately the republican is looking backwards, still talking about the 2020 election, what we need to be moving forward talking about our problems. we need to work to get our house in order. we did get the debt down and inflation under control. i am getting really to go buy groceries. what i paid last year is not the same for 2023. that is where we need to go with that. host: this is jose in takoma park, maryland. republican. caller: i have a couple of things to say about central america. i have lived in this country for more than a decade and what i am seeing right now is the worst of the worst.

i want to understand what we are seeing is not normal. all they care about is something called democracy that does not exist unless it is real democracy. if you disagree with what they say you are a bigot and a racist and you do not belong to anything. what they have done to this man is awful. they have tried to get this man from the time he announced he would run for president. thank you. host: roberta in florida. independent. caller: there are 70 things to talk about. i thoroughly enjoyed c-span coverage last week and hope it continues and of the transparency continues for america. the things i am concerned about now that republicans are in the

house, i would like to know some problem-solving ideas. what to they have short-term and long-term to solve the problem on the border, including immigration. this can be solved if they would work it out. they talked a lot about inflation. i would like to know the plan. gas, there are 7000 permits outstanding. i do not hear anyone talking about that but joe biden. hold the gas companies accountable. social security could be solvent if they continue taxing everybody. as long as you're making money and pulling money in it, tax it. thank you very much for your time. host: new york city, this is michael, democrat. good morning. caller: i want to say, echoing what everyone else seems to be

saying. having your cameras in the house was a godsend. everyone should see what they are doing. secondly, laws need to be followed in this country and congressmen need to be held accountable. those who gave aid should be removed from congress. they do not honor their oath of office. on current events, i was wondering if you think the faa communities -- computer system was hacked this morning. thanks again for your coverage. host: the white house press secretary saying there is no evidence of a cyberattack at this point. that is what she tweeted out not long after that the faa story was making the rounds after that brown stop happened. caller: i did not hear that. we will see what develops from that. it is a little unnerving. host: there has been promised

investigations by the secretary of transportation and the white house as well. we will see what comes of it. this is mary in florida, republican, good morning. caller: this is my first time calling. i want to thank you for the coverage last week. i found it very interesting. i have one question. i find it hard to believe anyone would pay their lawyers hourly rates to clean out an office, and why would your attorney think while he was doing janitorial work he has the right to open the boxes and read what is in them? host: you're talking about the finding of the classified documents. caller: gas. in president biden's office. -- yes. in president biden's office. host: reno, nevada.

good morning. caller: thanks and hello to the nation and everyone watching. it is hard to not be stumbling over your words but i think one of the major problems today is inept partisanship. i want to bring up the example of the supreme court grabbing onto the biden student loan forgiveness. it affects me. i have about $9,000. i expect they will slap it down and continue partisan politics where you if you have nine different since beings from nine different galaxies you could see that helping the american people is the right thing to do. they should be for this. i would've loved to ask mrs. ch u. she kept referring to paying rent and food on the table. i have a job that pays me a fair wage. i will never achieve

homeownership. the american dream is dying. that gentleman who just came on from central america, he was so light on. there was a lady from north carolina. there are hundreds of millions of us. partisan politics is cowardice and they are cowards in our congress right now, all of them. thank you for your time. host: this is john in california. good morning. caller: good morning. my question was for congresswoman judy chu. i was concerned about the hiring of the tax agents. people going over $400,000 or whatever. i wondered if there is anywhere in the bill that is this not also going to target lower income people.

you can update the technology but it can end up hitting the poor. host: congresswoman judy chu from california. another member from california. congresswoman katie porter, favorite of the progressive wing, the wall street journal writes she would run for senate in 2024, the first big-name to enter a hotly contested race for the seat currently held by dianne feinstein. katie porter is 49 years old. dianne feinstein is 89. many democrats have privately said it may be time for senator feinstein to step aside because of concerns about her age. she recently the client to serve as president pro tem, positioned

for the most senior senator in the party. the california primary is where the most competition is likely to occur. under state law the top vote getters advance to the november 2024 general election. no more calls in this segment. it is 9:30 on the east coast. next we will be joined by our second member of congress. it is andy ogles, republican of tennessee. stick around for that discussion. he'll be with us until the house comes in at 10:00. we will be right back. >> friday at 8:00 eastern, c-span brings you afterwords, a program where nonfiction authors

are intviewed by journalists, legislators, and more on their latest books. this week talkshow hos armstrong williams and civil rights attorney ben croft share their concerns about the education system in america. they are interviewed by the politico education reporter. watch afterwords every friday at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> star this year off shopping our new year's sale going on now at c-spanshop.org, c-span's online sure. you can save up to 20% on her collection of books, hoodies, and more. scan the codhe right to shop new year's deals now through monday at c-span shop.org.

c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington. keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of four proceedings and hearing from the u.s. congress. white house events, the courts, campaigns and more from the world of politics. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and with scheduling information for c-span's tv networks and c-span radio. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. downloaded for free today. c-span now. your front row seat to washington. a time and anywhere. >> there are a lot of places to get political information. only at c-span you get it straight from the source. no matter where you're from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network.

unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here at work here or here or anywhere that matters , america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: andy ogles joins us. days into his freshman term of congress. formerly a mayor in tennessee. why did you want this job? guest: in tennessee i was like a county mayor. i was like a mini governor. during covid almost all of the authority shifted down to york county executive and during that time i kept my county open and refused to comply with any of the mandates and i put it on the individual to make the choice best for them and their family. the economy in my community exploded and our covid cases remain the same.

i am not here to litigate covid. i was fighting for the rights of an individual. i had a good friend that died of covid. i will not be dismissive of covid. i do not want the government in my life. i fought against that as mayor and decided to run for congress to do my part to keep d.c. out of tennessee. host: five days in your freshman term. two years from now what will you have accomplished up in spirit a successful freshman term? guest: i am an economist. we have a budget crisis that is rooming. we are in a recessionary period. we have to get real and address that and that should not be a republican issue or democratic issue. secondly we have a border that is out of control. when you consider 60% of the children that come across the border are sexually assaulted, that is a problem.

whether you are a republican or democrat we have to fix that. we have to make sure we remain the top predator in our economy. they will continue the undermine us as a nation, both militarily and intellectual property. we have to take the stand and say we are america, we are first. host: what committees are you serving on? guest: to be determined. they just went through the process of selecting the chairman and the remainder of the committees will be done monday and tuesday. host: what you want to serve on? guest: i have been vocal that i would like to be on one of the committees that deal with the budget and banking. in addition, judiciary or foreign affairs, i did work in the human trafficking space and have a great deal of experience.

they will ask you to put together a list of six committees and they tried to give everyone at least one of the communities -- one of the committees they would like. host: five days into your term. it would have been more if not for that protracted speaker vote. you are one of those members who was not voting for kevin mccarthy through the first 11 rounds. you came around in the 12 round. why? guest: for me it was never about the person in the chair. i like kevin and we have become friends over this process. it was about the rules and my ability to do my job as a rank-and-file member. mark green is a colleague from tennessee, good friend of mine. jim jordan is a good friend of mine. if those people running for speaker i would like the same rules package where a member can offer an amendment on the floor. where we have 72 hours to read a bill, which is not a lot of

time. the germane decision has to relate. it cannot be some out of left field kind of amendment. if it is a bill on a particular item it has to be about the item. the idea that we will do a continuing resolution, their automatic budget cuts. these types of things are transformative and it empowers every single member of the house of representatives, whether you are a republican or democrat. host: viewers were watching the video because the cameras were able to pay on the chamber of you and kevin mccarthy during one of the thursday rounds of voting in -- not a heated conversation, but very much a tight conversation. what was that conversation like? guest: i can see it on the monitor. that was one of those moments where kevin was, there was a

particular issue i had taken issue with and he came over to talk to me one-on-one to talk about that issue. we had a great exchange. there is a smile on my face. we talked about points. i have a great deal of respect for mccarthy, i think you will do a great job as speaker. when you look at the passing of the rules package, the fact republicans came together and passed it speaks to his ability to unite the conference. unfortunately the clip that went viral is the part where he was tapping on his chest. the story behind the story is i had received a text from a donor class that was less than friendly and i had reached out to kevin to say i did not appreciate that. what you saw in that exchange was him saying i had nothing to do with that, i apologize. then we move forward. host: what is the donor class? guest: just what it sounds like.

those people who donate to campaigns. part of my job is to raise funds. host: he was upset about you not voting? guest: that is correct. i get it. what a lot of people saw was a messy process. john quincy adams was a member of the house of representatives, he was a senator, he was an ambassador to many countries. he became president of the united states and he came back and he read for the house of representatives? why? because it is the body of congress that debates and argues. it was his most favorite. when you saw was government working. gridlock means government is not spending your money. what is important is that process is we treat each other with respect. you will see me going over to the democrat i'll introduce

myself to various democrats and putting a face with the name. i am very conservative. that does not mean we cannot be friends. there is a moment in the chamber where aoc comes over to meet and gives a handwritten note to two my children, because we made it a point to become friends. once we -- once the debate is over. you have andy ogles and aoc over here. if they can be friends, you have to get something done. host: what is something you think you can get done with aoc? guest: to be determined. i am still getting to know her. i would say i think the border crisis is a problem. fentanyl. in impoverished areas of the inner cities, college campuses, it is a plate that is sweeping the nation. when you think about four or

five or six or seven-year-old children being sexually assaulted at the southern border, we can fix that. that is not a partisan issue. we have to work together on this and fix this border and we have to empower the men and women who are on the border and protect them because their lives are at risk. it is becoming a war zone. that is an atrocity. it is a sad state of america when you think about a country you have a good currency, you have a strong military, but you have a sovereign nation with sovereign borders and we do not have that right now. host: congressman andy ogles is with us. the fifth district of tennessee. with us until 10:00 when the house will come in. until then, your phone calls with the new congressman. democrats (202) 748-8000 is the new number, republicans (202) 748-8001, and independents,

(202) 748-8002. we begin with independents in las vegas. caller: good morning. i just have a couple of things about the republican party, about the border. whenever democrats say is a broken system. it was not broken. i'm not sure why republicans do not push back on that more. i wonder if there will be an investigation with the new records issue with biden as opposed to trump. i feel like what biden did was worse because he was not the president and had no business to have those records, especially when they were not locked up in anyone could have had access to them. also the censorship is running rampant. it is horrible. host: you bring up three big things. one we talked about a little bit. guest: thank you for calling in and i hope i said your name

right. the border. you are right. we cannot have a porous border. my midlife crisis is i went into law enforcement. i was a reserve officer and went into sex crimes and ended up working in the human trafficking space and ran an organization that operated globally. i can tell you a porous border is a problem because drugs are coming over. bad actors from other countries are coming over and children are being exploited. this is from firsthand experience from someone who worked in that space. i could tell you it is a horrible place to see people. i have children. i would walk over glass to provide a better life for my children. i do not blame anyone for wanting to come here, but we have to have a process that works. we talk about the confidential

documents. what i like to do instead of passing judgment, let's remove some of the rhetoric. how did it happen? was there any damage done to national security? furthermore, how do we prevent it from happening again. let's do an after action report. i think we need to approach that for both trump and biden. let's take the rhetoric out of this and move forward. we are in a recessionary period, and inflationary period. our debt level is unsustainable. let's focus on running the country. any investigation should be about justice, not revenge. justice, not rhetoric. i have absolute faith in jim jordan he will do that. he is a man of integrity, and we will see as we move forward he will represent our country well. host: silver spring, maryland. this is rachel, democrat. good morning.

caller: representative andy ogles. why do republicans always reference the past? a time when the majority of caucasian people own slaves, native people were being butchered, women were treated as cattle? that is not a time to remember. it was chaos watching the nomination of representative mccarthy as the speaker of the house. it was chaos. the american people saw it, and we will remember. i hope the republican-led congress, the majority of the republican congress will work with the democrats and govern. thank you. host: thank you for -- guest: thank you for calling in. you raise good points.

the importance of acknowledging the past is so we can learn from it. i live out in the country on a farm and i like meat. if you're a vegetarian do not take offense. i like sausage. the process of making sausage is messy and you do not want to see it. what you saw is the sausage getting made. we had healthy debate. the rules package we were able to negotiate works for republicans and democrats. a democrat, republican, and independent can offer an amendment on the floor. what we were fighting for was for a better outcome, for rules that empower me as a member and get us back to what you would consider regular order. thank you for calling in. like you said, let's not focus on the past. let's learn from the past. host: mary in california. republican. good morning.

you're on with congressman andy ogles. caller: good morning, c-span. i just want to say i am very proud of the republican party in the house. i am happy they look forward to clean up the house. as far as the argument they held up the house -- i just want to say thank you very much. guest: thank you for calling in. i want to reiterate. when i took a stand, i took a stand on principle. jim jordan, if he were running i would want the same rules package. if we had not reached a consensus on the rules i would not have voted until we had the rules. it was never anything personal. you saw the republicans came together, we elected a speaker and begin passing good legislation, and we will take a break after tomorrow for a few

days and we will come back to d.c. and we will continue to run this country and fight for you and i. you can be a republican or a democrat. 80 7000 irs agents is unnecessary. what i would like to see is us hire more border security agents. let's equip them. they are in a war zone. we do not meet the irs targeting middle-class americans. that is what will end up happening. there are not enough billionaires and super millionaires to keep 87,000 agents busy so they will target you. host: it was not personal. by around 14 or 15 you think it got to a point where it had become personal? guest: most people saw the exchange with matt gaetz and congressman rogers. i think emotions were getting the better of some. i will say matt and the congressman have since made up

and committed to working together. rogers and i have spoken and we had a great conversation talking about that was a moment. we have a country to run so let's do that. host: to bonnie in greenville, south carolina. independent. caller: good morning and i thank you for letting me have time to talk. this gentleman on the tv, the so-called republican. i want him to know we have lost children in our country. american foster children are being given out in the country like puppy dogs. if it interests mr. ogles i would like you to see what is happening to our children that are not wanted and passed around to perverts, to people who sexually exploit them.

you are a joke. host: let's let the congressman jump in. guest: thank you for calling in. any time a child is a victim, all of our hearts should break. whether that is someone in the foster care system, someone coming across the southern border, or a young child that is a victim of violent crime in an inner-city. our most pressers asset -- our most precious asset is our children. i have devoted part of my career to fighting for the lives and sanctity of children. just know that based on my experience as a father of children, as a father who has buried one of his hood children -- one of his -- as a father who has buried one of his children, i take the lives of children very seriously.

my career speaks for itself. when you look at my face and sincerity when i say i am here to fight for our kids. i do not care where they come from. i want our children to have a better life. host: nashville, wanda, republican. good morning. caller: both of my sons are veterans. iraq and afghanistan wars. my biggest concern right now with the united states is how we have the migrants coming across the border, some of the terrorists that have come across with them, as well as all of the drugs, the sex trafficking of women and children. we have a hotel in new york that

is being paid $500 per night to house the migrants. food is being put out in a dumpster behind that hotel because the migrants will not eat that food. there are fights going on nightly. host: because we are running short on time, what is your question? caller: my question is when it is something going to be done about the border? when is something going to be done to protect the american people from the cartel and the drugs that are coming across this border? guest: first of all, you said you had two sons that served in the military? thank you for your sons, their

service, but also thank you to you. i have family that is active duty. having members of the family in the military can be stressful and take a toll on the family so i want to thank you for our service to our country. having worked in the space of human trafficking, understanding the impact it has, not only to the individuals that are victimized by the community they go into. it is something that has to be addressed. we have people in this country that are on the terrorist watch list. we have to shut the border. it is an economic issue, it is a national security issue, and a humanitarian issue. thank you for the call and duly noted. host: about five minutes before the house gavels in for the day. you are talking about your background earlier and he mentioned you worked with dr. laffer? who is he?

guest: a world-renowned economist and he is the author of the laffer curve. you can look up the laffer curve. he is the architect of two of the three largest tax cuts in u.s. history, the kennedy time -- -- the kennedy cuts, the raven cuts, the trump-pence. i had -- and the trump cuts. i had the opportunity to work with them. he has worked for many administrations and given counsel to many governors and it has been an honor to get to know him and become a friend but also a student of his. host: art laffer with 21 appearances in the c-span archives. watch any one of them on c-span.org. his most recent from august weight 21. it might be time to get him back on the washington journal. guest: he has a huge fan of dinosaur fossils so you might

ask him about that next time. host: charlene from west virginia, democrat, good morning. guest: i am tired of hearing about the border. this is something republicans throughout all the time. they've had their time in the senate and congress and they have not fixed it. then you have matt gaetz that was supposedly a sex trafficker. you have jim jordan that turned his back on students in ohio that were telling him the doctor was doing things to them. then you have steve scalise who says he is the guy from kkk, that guy but without the baggage. i would say cleanup your caucus. guest: thanks for calling.

i'm not sure name-calling is productive. we have a country to run. the border is an issue. it is an 85% issue meeting 85% of americans are concerned about the border, about fentanyl, about crime. it is an issue we have to work on in a bipartisan manner, which is why of been reaching across the aisle to build those bridges as we look for solutions. i am outcome driven. i have been an entrepreneur and worked on advising governors on tax policies. here in congress, as i look at the story building, i'm focused on outcomes. it will take republicans and democrats working together. i appealed to my colleagues in the senate to do the same. host: a question from one of our viewers who calls itself the c-span review asking if you will

support impeaching alejandro mayorkas for what the c-span review says is complete dereliction of duty to protect this nation. guest: my initial instinct would be i agree. that being said i think it is important everybody have their day in court. we have to look at the facts. we have to look at timelines. this cannot be about vengeance, it has to be about justice. did this individual do their job or not? i would argue he did not but we have to have a process that is fair. host: a day in court. impeachment a day in court for the president. what are your calls by some in your party to impeach president biden? guest: i take impeachment very seriously. whether it is a secretary or the president or vice president. i think the process has to be thoughtful. is that on the table? absolutely. if they failed our country or

were derelict in their duty to our nation, then the facts should be aired out in the house and they should be charged accordingly. we should be careful not to judge before we have all the facts. i have my own opinions but let's go through this process objectively. host: see if we can get in michael in schenectady. independent. go ahead. caller: my question is why not make illegal migration a serious felony and pass a law that anybody who breaks the law in that regard can never be a citizen? guest: we have laws on the books that make it illegal. the problem is the enforcement or the lack thereof. that is one of the things you will see. the judiciary and oversight committees addressing. you can pick a lane. economics, national security, or the pure humanitarian crisis. pick a lane.

if you look at those objectively the border should be restricted. host: where you see your lane on capitol hill in general? guest: as someone who has had the privilege of working for dr. laffer, i would like to be on the fiscal bang side of the equation. host: congressman andy ogles, republican from tennessee. appreciate your time. come back again during your term in congress. that will do it for our program this morning. we are back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific. we take you live to the house of representatives. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. 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. january