been 21 federal government shutdowns over budget battles. the most recent was in december, 2018 and lasted 35 days.

the next government shutdown may be less than 48 hours away. the u.s. senate has figured out a short-term solution that won't pass the republican-led house. the ball is in speaker kevin mccarthy's court but a significant number of his members seem to be making the rules. good morning, it is friday, september 29, 2023. welcome to "washington journal." we will continue our conversation about the looming government shutdown, to days until the end of the budget year. you can call in, democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002 and if you're a federal worker, (202) 748-8003 use that line if you want to send us a text as well.

we are also on facebook and we will look for your comments and we are on x an instagram at c-span wj. we thought we would have a two hour show because the house was going to go into session at 9:00 a.m. eastern but they are not. the house rules committee is meeting this morning at 8:00 because there is a new stopgap measure, continuing resolution as they call it. eric watson of bloomberg tweeted in about that saying the new house gop stopgap released overnight has 30% cuts to most agencies, the department of homeland security will be affected after government attacks. we will hear about that and what will be ahead from eric watson coming up in a couple of minutes here on "washington journal." the lines for you to comment, democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001 and

independents and others (202) 748-8002.we will have the house life are you at 10:00 a.m. eastern when they gavel into session. this is from the washington times this morning, they are reporting from alex miller.

here is a bit more of what chuck schumer set on the floor last night. [video clip] >> as we get closer and closer to an unnecessary and totally avoidable government shutdown, one thing remains clear -- the only way forward is bipartisan cooperation. that's what we've been pursuing in the senate and i want to salute patty murray but susan collins, leader mcconnell and our republican colleagues as we look to pass the cr. but that is not yet done. for the information of all senators, we will convene tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. to consider dez to continue -- to

continue consideration of the cr so we can avoid unnecessary and devastating government shutdowns. numbers are advised we will hold to votes new for attorneys for the southern district of california and mississippi. i hope we can come to an agreement to pass the bipartisan cr quickly. the government shutdown would be a terrible outcome for the american people. it would gravely impact hey forever troops come our border, food inspections and so much more. if no agreement is reached tomorrow, membership plans on voting saturday morning on cloture. host: senator schumer last night on the floor and they will be in at 10:00 a.m. eastern and we will have coverage of course. we will let you kw 10 a.m. eastern with the house coming in, the speaker will be doing a news conference starting at the same te. we will have live coverage of that and you can follow that on

our mobile app, c-span now. (202) 748-8000 (202) 748-8003 is the line for government workers. we would like to hear from you, federal government workers on the shutdown. let's get to your calls, first to the republican line, alice in louisiana. looks like we lost alice. let's go to the democratic line, lakeside, california. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i would like to say that i think representative and speaker of the house kevin mccarthy will do the right thing because he is a californian at heart. we have a habit of doing the right thing. i think he will basically do the right thing and he will not shut down the government. host: is speaker mccarthy your

representative in lakeside? caller: no, darrell issa is in the lakeside district. i think he will do the right thing because i don't think the sensible republicans which make up the majority of the republicans in congress, they don't want to shut down the government. i think they will do the right thing. the pie partisan committee that works with democrats, there are several of them, more than 20 that have a group that works together. they have already got a plan for plan b. that's why i think we shouldn't worry and maybe the media should stop hyping this shut down and

listen to what's really happening behind the scenes. there is a plan b so i think it's called the problem solvers caucus. one of those leaders was on last night talking about we've got a plan b to make sure the government stays open. host: wilson, north carolina, democratic line -- caller: good morning. my hopes and prayers are that they don't shut down the government as you all have just said, it will affect all of the people that's on social security. that's going to be a lot of people that will have their house note, phone and everything else pushed back. and then having to make up payments on it. i am saying a prayer that they shake hands and reach across the aisle and settle this. thank you, have a great day. host: the independent line is

next, charlotte, north carolina, good morning. caller: i am in gainesville now and i've been working here for a year. i travel back and forth from gainesville to charlotte, north carolina. and i see more and more homeless. every time i go back to charlotte, even in the good areas, you see more and more homeless people standing in the street in gainesville it's the same thing. i think we need a new government . the government does not support the people. they are funding ukraine and its government, a war we shouldn't be having. we shouldn't be killing anyone. we are supporting israel who basically has an open air prison for the palestinian people. that's what our government is doing and that needs to end. we need to close it down. we need a new government. we need to do something different than what we are doing

today. these people do not support the united states, american people, they support wall street and other people. it needs to close down for good. host: this is the headline from politico -- the path has been laid out on the senate side in terms of their short-term spending measures, a 47 day measure according to reports so let's hear what mitch mcconnell had to

say. [video clip] >> and time and again, government shutdowns have made the essential work of the border patrol andice even harder. many of our colleagues have pointed out how border security personnel like the armed forces would work through shutdown without pay. but the full consequences go beyond the partisanship. the report found that shutdowns have delayed maintenance and repair work and endanger the lives of law enforcement officers and created significant border security. vulnerabilities they have forced officials to cancel tens of thousands of immigration hearings and they taken the department of homeland security employee verify system completely off-line.

mr. president, shutting down the government is a choice and it's a choice that would make the crisis at our southern border even worse. host: the end of the fiscal year , 2023 is tomorrow at midnight. there is a short-term spending measure in place in the senate and they will vote on that reportedly over the weekend. so far in the house, they will take up a measure and the rules committee will pick up a measure this morning at 8:00 a.m. eastern. we will likely see the house on some level move -- try to move that bill sometime today. we will keep you posted and you will your more updates. we are hearing from you at (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 and republicans and independents and others, (202) 748-8002. we also have a line for federal workers, (202) 748-8003. let us know if you been given guidance from your agency on the potential of another shut down.

we go to bill and republican line in oregon park, florida. bill, mute your volume on your television and go ahead with your comment. caller: yeah, i think 99% of the republicans in the house and the senate would ok a bill that would -- they want to be able to close the border. if they were to fund that, i think the bill would pass. host: you think that's what it takes, is just a border measure included in that? caller: 99% of them would do that. they would vote for it but they won't stop the democrat voters who are coming in. they will not do it. host: we will go on toerin on the others' line, cambridge, massachusetts. caller: good morning. host: aaron go ahead.

caller: the border control crisis host: if you can call back, that line is making all kinds of noise. we apologize but there is something wrong between us. give us a call back and we will try to get you on the air. next up, jim, good morning. college station, texas. caller: hey there. i was calling in about the dress code legislation that came out recently. i got an impression of the elitism versus the actual polls of people. would this be applied fully if they were wearing a t-shirt and thongs and bikinis? host: next is william on the democrats line. caller: yes, bill.

i believe the shut down [indiscernible] this country will blow up. there will be a lot of problems that come over this. host: are you concerned that you won't get your social security payments? caller: yes. [indiscernible] host: michael is next, democrats line in pensacola, florida.

caller: i am in federal employee. we went through the 90's with newt gingrich. it seems like a frat boy prank. they are disrupting global affairs. all of this for a week or two of attention. people's personal lives go away and they put a lot of circumstances that will not happen. if the senate is not on board with it, is not going to happen so these individuals, i don't want to call them -- members of the house, they are doing it for their own personal attention. it does not work like that. i wish they wouldn't run for congress.

thank you very much. host: thank you for your call. more of your calls ahead but we are joint next fight eric wasson, congressional reporter for bloomberg with the latest on where things stand with the potential government shutdown and the potential deals being made on capitol hill. good morning. guest: good morning. host: let's start with what happened last night in the house. they did get some things done, correct, passing some appropriations bills? guest: that's right, they passed operations bills but the agriculture bill which adds a 40% cut to any programs for rural broadband failed. this shows how painful some of these cuts supported by republicans affect people.

the house is set to vote today with the cr for -- through october 31. it's unclear if that vote will happen. host: you tweeted about that this morning that it was late night and they will get their first look at it, the rules committee will look at it this morning at 8:00 a.m. eastern. are there border security provisions attached to that stopgap measure? guest: yes, [indiscernible] there could be a potential deal. there is talk in the senate with some of the senators and a group of republicans about border funding. that doesn't really make the policy changes these

conservatives want. we are really heading toward a government shutdown. even if the senate gets to the bill for temporary funding, it will be after the saturday midnight deadline. host: help us understand the parallel tracks. the senate has their own plan which will likely move to a vote saturday. what does that plan look like? guest: this is a 47 day stopgap measure. it has $6 billion in ukraine funds and $6 billion and you disaster funds. it's just a group of 93 or so republicans who were starting to oppose ukraine support which is a problem for kevin mccarthy. the house overall is supporting ukraine if you factor in democrats but there are big differences in the way the congress works. they are not even in a room

negotiating between the two sides. the timeline is too short for the shut down to come up with a significant event. host: there are seven lawmakers to watch and government shutdown talks. what's going on with that? guest: kevin mccarthy allowed any single member to have a motion. matt gaetz from florida has repeatedly tried to bring this up. we expect as early as next week, the house will move to this.

they want someone to come in and bail out the speaker. host: we have time for the linchpin. representative chip roy of texas, why is he the linchpin in the next couple of days for the republican conference? guest: he is serious and is not in it for a lot of camera time. he wants to cut a deal and he's trying to push this resolution through the house with deep cuts. he will be the arbiter of the deal and hold the speaker space and the shut down space. host: eric wasson, congressional reporter from bloomberg keeping track of this you can follow his reporting onx @elwasson. thank you for the update this morning. host: continuing with your calls and comments on the looming

potential government shutdown beginning possibly tomorrow at midnight with the end of the fiscal year. [indiscernible] (202) 748-8000 is the is the line for democrats. (202) 748-8001 four republicans. and for independence and others, (202) 748-8002. if you are a federal worker and if you been told what's ahead in the next couple of days pending a shut down, we would love to hear from you, (202) 748-8003. next up is poughkeepsie, new york, go ahead, independent line. caller: yes, as far as the shut down, donald trump's finger is all over that. they are doing his bidding. the hearings are more help me get up jail card -- get out of jail card. he said something about general milley. he said he should be put to death or something like that.

we are going through this kind of stuff for the presidential midterms, it's crazy. as far as shutting down the government, maybe they should. that way these maga people can feel the pain and they are wearing their hats and parading around have great the man is. let them shut it down and do without a paycheck for a month or two and see how it feels. i don't suggest we should do that but sometimes a little bitter medicine might help the patient. thank you. host: on to our again and chris on the democrats line. caller: can you hear my voice? host: yes, we can. caller: yesterday, i watched c-span and thanks for the coverage, by the way.

i was watching this hearing. oh my god. when we talk about shutting down the federal government, it's a play, it's an act. when it comes to the speaker of the house, he should be gone. host: let's go to bob in maryland on the republican line. caller: yes, hi, good morning. nobody wants to see a government shutdown. it's a shame that it's come down to either side won't listen to each other as far as educating both sides on the main issues. i am a federal employee.

it will affect me but i would rather see some fiscal responsibility on both sides and better communication. it's really sad that both sides, the way they barb each other instead of working together. there are major issues with the government shutdown especially with overspending that needs to be addressed. that's all i have. host: are you on your way to work this morning? caller: i am. host: do you know if you'll be told not to come in if the government does shut down? caller: yes, i work for dod. the military will be doing my position while i am out. yeah, i feel bad for everybody

because the taxpayer is the one who will be affected. they will not have the government workers there. there really are some important issues on both sides of the aisle as far as addressing some of the spending and the border and so forth that i think is critical we get right. host: we've got vicki from washington, d.c., are you a federal worker? caller: yes, i am. host: good morning. caller: good morning. this is really unfortunate. my particular situation -- week relocated from ohio to work for the government. they shut down especially financially would not be good for me as it wouldn't be for millions of people. it's also unfortunate that when

-- when they can't get it right, in congress, it continues to affect average americans. i think we always look at the greater issues but our lives matter as well. as far as ukraine goes, i understand about the humanitarian effort but we are in dire straits in america. i do agree to a certain extent about sending money over to ukraine. i think there are other ways we can be -- we can do things out of the box. let's do some out-of-the-box thinking without us being caught in the middle of congress. host: congratulations on your new job in washington. what brought you here to d.c.? which agency? caller: usda. host: thanks for calling this morning. we go to noah calling from

alabama, go ahead. caller: yes, sir, i was calling to talk about, i'm a retired government worker, i look -- i work for local city government now. we have had government shutdowns before. i've got friends that live in virginia, west virginia and two friends that live in utah. mitt romney and the senator from west virginia, they don't like my friends. that's why they are jumping ship. some of the republicans, i call them rino republicans, i'm an independent, i'm not a republican and i agree with the last caller. she said about ukraine -- we are sending all that money to ukraine and russia is not going to let that go. we need to keep her money here and we can give humanitarian aid. i believe in feeding hungry

people but we need people here at home. as far as the border is concerned, the border guards can even do their jobs now. why should we support the border guards? let them do something else because our borders are wide open now anyway. they are just wasting our time. i agree with the last caller. i think we gave ukraine over $113 billion. i think that money should be spent on our own border. host: i'm glad you got through, thank you. this is from the wall street journal this morning --

the democratic leader hakeem jeffries sounding a similar tone yesterday in his news conference. [video clip] >> effectively saying to us, unless you cut social security, slash public school funding, criminalize abortion care and a whole host of other extreme right wing things they want to jam down the threads of the american people, we are shutting down the government. that is what this whole situation is all about. it's reckless, it's extreme, it's irresponsible. but is there playbook. we've seen this horror show before.

we sought in the 1990's when the republicans shut the government down because they wanted to slash medicaid. we sought in 2013 when the republican extremist shut the government down because they wanted to repeal the affordable care act. we saw it in 2019 beginning in december of 2018 and for 35 days come republicans shut the government down because they wanted the american taxpayer to waste billions of dollars on from smitty people border wall. we've seen this part show before. it's playing out again. an extreme maggot republican shut down. we have simple requests -- extreme maga republican shut down. on a bipartisan continuing resolution comes over from the senate, today, tomorrow this

weekend, put the bill on the floor for an upended down vote so we can end this maga and if you don't, you own this government shutdown. host: a bit of a snapshot from fox news congressional reporter with one of his tweets this morning. taking your calls and comments, (202) 748-8000 is the democrats line, (202) 748-8001 four republicans, independents and others, (202) 748-8002 and our federal workers line is (202) 748-8003. in new york, welcome to the

program, republican caller. caller: i'm from owego. host: i miss read it, the mistake is on me. caller: i think often times crisis is are needed in order to push for needed change. the border definitely needs a change. we just cannot continue to open the borders. they have to do something because of funding of ukraine is ridiculous. however, i wonder why you are not covering the impeachment trial. i knew you guys would not cover that. you are biased in the way you cover stuff. i would encourage people to call in and encourage you guys to be open in the right way and put a tag line at the end of their

comments until you guys adequately cover the biden corruption. you guys will be dragged not doing it. if it was trump being impeached, you would have been all over it but would biden come you don't even cover it. host: we covered that hearing yesterday. we haven't talked about on the program this morning but we definitely cover the hearing yesterday. we will play some of that a bit later in this program. monroe, louisiana is next, on the independent line. caller: yes, i agree with the other caller. let's defund the group of people wanting to put our money elsewhere. get us out of that. that's it. host: part of the sticking point in these negotiations has been funding for ukraine. a measure passed through the house last night, this is the

headline from the washington examiner this morning. catherine from the democrats line and washington, d.c., go ahead. caller: hi, i have been republican and i am not partisan

but i -- but it makes me sick how they are handling this. they had a deal with those republicans. they signed a deal. the democrats are helpless but republicans have broken a deal again. these people think if we stop funding ukraine, won't -- the american people won't see a dime of that money. republicans cut our budget by millions under donald trump. all of that money went into pockets of people whose pockets can even hold any money. -- can't even hold any money. we are falling for something here. this whole discussion is on the wrong foot. we have a problem called the republican party. maga would do nothing if the republican party did not support them. they've supported them again and again.

they have gone on to baiting people with racism. we have a problem in the republican party, not anything except this radical, almost criminal party. host: the majority leader in the senate made a similar argument yesterday on the senate floor about the deal that was agreed to between congress and the white house. [video clip] >> bipartisan majorities agreed to funding back in june. the leaders of the house, the senate, the white house, we all shook hands on this deal. now the speaker and only the speaker is going back on his word.

he is the only one of the five to go back on his word. what he is saying by being the only one to go back on his word, speaker mccarthy is saying he cares more about the whims of the hard right, the hard, hard right than avoiding a shut down. we cannot have that. we need bipartisanship. if he persists in partisanship which he is doing now by looking over his hard right shoulder, he will create a shut down. sadly, every move the speaker has taken since the bipartisan deal in june has been to shred any prospects of bipartisanship. by focusing on the views of the radical few instead of the many, speaker mccarthy has made a shut down far more likely. host: that shut down could happen tomorrow beginning at midnight.

we are continuing with your calls and comments. line for federal workers is (202) 748-8003. jack is in detroit, good morning, independent line. you are on the air. all right, we will go to bernadette in butterscotch plains, new jersey. caller: yes, good morning. mr. jeffries called the wall medieval. all the rich people in the world have walls and guns probably. nancy pelosi has a big wall, chuck schumer has a doorman with probably a gun. the wall works. the what works, everybody. it's not meaty people. -- it's not meaty people. anyone has -- it is not many people -- meaty people - medieval.

there are lots of them in new jersey with security guards. right in putting up the wall. now the federal government has called the texas border patrol agencies to cut the border wire. you can see them come through and their all just walking through from the rio grande river. one thing at like to say, i am a staunch republican from ronald reagan and william f buckley. the floridians have to vote him out. he is such a descriptor and him along with marjorie taylor greene, they are the ones who have done all this to our country. also retroactively, the government people will get paid. they will get paid in less than

a week and probably with a bonus like in other times. host: ella in florida on the independent line, hi there. caller: good morning, how are you? host: i'm fine, good morning. caller: i have left the republican party i'm known independent. i've been a democrat i left their party. they will have to earn my vote. i don't like the democrats or the republicans. i am for the shut down. people will still get their social security, they will still get snap the reason i'm calling is i watched the entire hearing and the impeachment query of the sitting president and the evidence was damming. this is the eighth day in a row you have been sub -- such a focus on the government shutdown. i want to have a conversation about the impeachment inquiry of

the sitting president of the united states of america. host: ok. there is the story from the washington times --

that first hearing was held yesterday. committee is jim jordan of ohio. here's some of what he had to say. [video clip] >> it's what his business partner said. we deposed them under oath a few months ago. he said the request was help from the united states government to deal with the pressure they were under from the prosecutor. the response was that is correct. next question- what did hunter biden do after he was given that request? he called his dad. that's what we are investigating, that's one of the three things professor turley talks about, the influence peddling scheme. is the benefit to your family, can it be of benefit to you? >> it is, there's been a repeated statement you need to

show that president biden accepted direct money in order for this to constitute a benefit even under criminal cases, the hobbs act. the courts have rejected that. they said money going to family members is in fact a benefit. i don't really see any legal basis for that. the strongest cases if you have a direct payment. this idea that you can have millions going to a politicians family and that's not a benefit, i think it's pretty fallacious. >> how about the false claims think? you said to the extent the president has used the white house staff to maintain false claims or resist disclosures can fit into the type of nixonian false statements. joe biden said it was a lousy question of him talking to his

son's business partners and we know it was false. host: that hearing is available and we covered it live yesterday and it's available at c-span.org . we will let you know about some of our live coverage today which mccarthy and h ns conferenceevin is set for 10:00 a.m. eastern. will have that live for you on our mobe app at c-span now. the house is coming in at 10:00 a.m. eastern and that will be live here on c-span. the u.s. senate is also in a 10:00 a.m. eastern in that slot on c-span2. continuing with your calls and comments, democratic line is (202) 748-8000 republicans, (202) 748-8001 independents and others, (202) 748-8002 and if you are a federal worker, (202) 748-8003. gaithersburg, maryland on the democrats line. caller: hi, thank you for letting me call in. two things --

one, i've got two sons, a son-in-law currently in the military and a son that retired from the military last year. i come from a military family. my husband is a retired federal worker and he still talks to his former co-employees all the time. there are some things people need to know. yes, federal workers get paid after the fact. but if they are essential, they still have to go to work and pay daycare while they face a mortgage, while they pay for food and quite a lot of them cannot do that. anybody who is for the federal shut down because they think the

money can be saved and reneging on a deal is the way to do it, should at least donate to all the food banks around army posts in d.c. and maryland including those congressman. they get like a lot of money a month, $180,000 per year. they should be donating their salaries until the shutdown is over. secondly, there are contract workers and a lot of people think contract workers are rich people. they aren't. they are like a cafeteria worker or somebody who fills in for a position that people don't want a regular retirement type thing. they don't necessarily get paid back.

they don't have a lot of money. those of you who are or aren't for the shutdown, please help. the world kitchen is setting up shop to have lunches and dinners and stuff in d.c. help them out, help out your local food bank because federal employees are all over the country. host: another view from maryland on the others' line. caller: yes, i'm calling in regard to the shut down. i want -- i am an african and i came from africa. i want the people to understand how dictatorship runs. they are using this situation to hold the people of america so they can withhold from ukraine. the only time people from

america will come to their senses is when the politicians understand this, they hold them, their livelihood so they can work against the people of ukraine. if you listen to the education they are giving us from ukraine, things that are happening in ukraine, people have to understand that this is not only a ukraine thing. this is an american thing. if your plane goes down, america, i'm telling you, this man will do exactly what he's doing. the reason the politicians are against ukraine is because america is -- politically will go to the president in the country. politicians are using politics against that area so that the

credit will not go to the president that is presently running the country. this is political. everything they are doing is political. they say they don't have the money or they do have the money. they're using this politically against the people of ukraine. if ukraine goes down, if ukraine goes down, you will see the effect of what will happen to america. they are using you in the war against ukraine so that you can go against ukraine. this is pure politics but you guys are not listening to the messages. you are not listening to the messages. it's only when you hold them ransom. host: we appreciate your perspective. the headline here from the

washington post -- here is some of the speech yesterday from president biden. [video clip] >> there is an extremist

movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy. the maga movement, not even the majority republicans share this ideology. i know because i've been able to work with republicans my whole career. there is no question that this republican party is driven and intimidated by maga republican extremists. if their agenda is carried out, it will affect fundamentally american democracy. they are not hiding their attacks. they are openly promoting them, attacking the free press as the enemy of the people, attacking the rule of law as an impediment, fomenting voter suppression and election subversion. did you ever think we would be having debates where banning books and burying history?

extremists in congress are more determined to shut down the government and burn the place down then let the people's business be done. our u.s. military, this is not hyperbole, i've said it for the last two years, is the strongest military in the history of the world. not just the strongest in the world but the history of the world. the most diverse, the most powerful in the history of the world. it's being accused of being weak and woke by the opposition. one guy in alabama? he is holding up the hundreds of promotions of officers? they don't know what they're talking about. they're pushing a notion that the defeated former president expressed when he was in office. this is a dangerous notion.

this president is above the law with no limits on power. host: back to more of your calls on the looming government shutdown. larry in greenville, tennessee, republican line. good morning. caller: yes, i am calling in regards to this bunch of malarkey between the democrats and the republicans and all the other people about the government shutdown. what would they do if we took their money away from them each month and live on what i live on, $1499 and i've been in the military for over 20 years. i have seen this crab more times than one. and it's all blamed on the republicans but the last one that happened was the democrats. they need to stop bickering between who is doing what to whom and what will happen and

come to an agreement and get this mess settled and stop worrying about ukraine. they are taking care of. we are helping them with military aid and military equipment. host: in past government shutdowns, has your military pension not come through? has that stopped? caller: no, that's what i'm worried about. how can i pay my bills if i don't get my monthly retirement check and benefits from the v.a.? i think i've earned that. along with thousands of other military vets and retirees. this is a bunch of bull. host: glad you got through, lynn in elkridge, maryland, good morning. caller: i will try to make this quick.

you haven't played rand paul's speech. he is resisting sending cash into this sinkhole in ukraine. i call ukraine hunter biden's war. because it reminds me of the way the dismemberment of yugoslavia by nato in the 90's was monica lewinsky's war. it's a vast money laundering operation. the biden administration has been blackmailed into it by oligarchs. and any republicans who are on board with this are on board because they are compromised to support the maga followers. they are bored with hunter biden's work in ukraine is because of the compromise.

if you ever see the movie wagged the dog, you will know what i'm talking about. it's the same in yugoslavia. host: on to chris seen -- christine in one socket, rhode island. caller: good morning, i hope people listen to the guy who called in earlier about what was going on. this is what's going on and if they wanted to know what happened with the biden situation, they would continue with the impeachment with trump. they had their witnesses and they were ready to bring them in but they don't want them. i just feel like from the beginning russia has been involved. we are being compromised by russia. they are holding us hostage because they know the corruption

is going on with trump and the republican party. i wonder how many people should be investigated and brought in front of everybody because of the money they are stealing or they have invested somewhere else. i am so sick of this. the lady from maryland or the one before has to run for congress. get rid of these bones. host: christine and the issue of ukraine is a central part of the discussions over the continuing funding for the government. the house last night passed a $300 million standalone measure. on ukraine this is a text. a couple of other comments about

the shut down. rich is in ohio on the republican line, hi there. caller: great conversation. great conversations. all the presidents up to reagan spent $1 trillion. right now we are breaking $1 trillion in a couple months. we went from $10 trillion to $20 trillion with biden and obama. right now we are looking at $1

trillion a year on interest payment. there is good spending and bad spending. in order to get a fire truck through we have to put 80% of pork and there. that is what is killing us. we have to pay interest on it. we also have to protect the golden goose. if we want to eat the golden goose we will not get anymore. we should protect our border as much as we should protect russia. i do not see why we are getting so confused. the spending, unbelievable the way we cracked through trillions of dollars and say they will not be any consequences. it will come back and we will have to prioritize things. right now someone makes a list and someone says we do not want to spend this but we will put a

budget through. host: appreciate your calls and all of the comments on the topic in the first hour on "washington journal." up next we will get two perspectives from capitol hill. first with republican congressman bob good of virginia and later congresswoman judy chu of california, a member of the ways and means committee. ♪ >> monday, watch c-span series "books that shaped america." we will feature the journals of lewis and clark. the journals came about

following the louisiana purchase. thomas jefferson efficient meriwether lewis and lewis chose william clark to join the expedition. lewis and clark kept detailed journals throughout the trip on the terrain, native peoples, and trade routes. stephanie ambrose will join us to discuss the expedition. watch books that shaped america featuring the journals of lewis and clark monday live at 9:00 on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. scan the qr code to listen to our companion podcast to learn more about the authors of the books featured. >> author charlotte gray is a

canadian born in great britain who now lives in a suburb of ottawa. her book titled passionate mothers, powerful sons is about jenny jerome churchill and sarah delano roosevelt. the former jenny jerome was born in the united states and was the brother of winston churchill. sarah delano became the mother of fdr in 1882. author charlotte gray writes that one of the reasons to write about these women is the reputation is so different within their lifetime have both suffered since their death. >> author charlotte gray on this episodof book notes plus available on the c-span now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> a healthy democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this.

americans can see democracy at work. get informed straight from the source on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. from the nation's capital to wherever you are. the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span. powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: congressman bob good is with us. he represents virginia's fifth district. he is a member of the house freedom caucus. the u.s. house has a 10:00 start time this morning. there is a short-term spending measure being considered by the rules committee at you and your colleagues yesterday worked on getting three more appropriation bills done. does that set the stage for potentially a deal where a

short-term measure will pass the house and get republican approval? guest: i appreciate you noting the house is now past four spending bills. the senate has not passed any spending bills. we have a responsibility to pass all 12 appropriations bills. we are trying to do that in the house. we should have already done it. i believe we will vote today on one or a series of continuing resolutions or short-term funding measures and see what they bring to the floor today and see how that goes. host: what does that short-term spending measure have to have in it or not have a net? -- or not have in it? guest: we have compromised. we are on track for a $2.2 trillion deficit and we are trying to fight for $100 billion in spending cuts this year.

it is an embarrassing low number. that would cut the deficit from $2.2 trillion to $2.1 trillion. that is a lot of money but not much by washington standards. i do not want to vote a continuing resolution because it is our responsibility to pass our 12 bills appropriately as the speaker promised to do when he became speaker. i've said if we are in concert with passing our bills, i would agree to a conditional short-term spending bill that did cut is back to the pre-covid levels that the speaker committed to in january. that means another $10 billion in the month of october and that secured our border. the american people desperately need us to secure the southern border. my hope would be that chuck schumer would agree to cut $10 billion in the month of october. we are on track for a 200 billion dollar deficit in

october, and he would agree to shut down the border with us rather than shut down the government. host: i will get to senator schumer in a moment. on the measure that the house will consider, have you been briefed on that, are you satisfied it is a conditional continuing resolution that could argue or vote? guest: i cannot tell you definitively what will come to the floor. what i agreed to support last week in conference and i try to help bring the conservatives along is if we were passing our bills, and last night was a big part of that, we would have to cut to the pre-covid levels for nondefense discretion which is $10 billion in cuts in october, and we would secure the border. i would agree to doing that. congress only operates when we have to. that is unfortunate history. i do not want to relieve the pressure and then we stopped passing our bills because that

is not a long-term solution. what we do here is critically important. the policies we keep in place along with the spending levels, they will have to live with it. they are suffering under the omnibus spending bill that was passed. we did not pass our 12 individual bills. the democrats voted unanimously to pass that $1.7 trillion spending bill which is because the deficit spending we are having along with the policies that the american people are suffering and we are trying to reverse the spending policies. host: your calls and comments welcome for congressman bob good. (202) 748-8000 democrats line. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independents and others (202) 748-8002. on senator schumer, you know the senate has passed its own short-term measure.

the senator said on the floor yesterday he thinks house republicans should fall in line with the agreement that was reached earlier this summer between the white house, between speaker kevin mccarthy and the senate on budget levels. what is your view of that? guest: republicans across the country were not happy with that. that was an unlimited increase of the debt ceiling and kept in place all of the biden and flows schumer policies which the american people are suffering under. you cannot point to anything going well and it further exacerbates our deficit. there is no limit to the amount of national debt we can accumulate under that agreement until january 2025. i think republicans recognize the ones who did vote for that was a mistake. i believe it was a mistake. we have compromised in the house where we took the amount we voted for in april and the amount the speaker committed to to become speaker -- that was

$1.74 trillion. then we had the agreement for the debt ceiling which was 1.6 trillion. we have to split the difference -- it would be historic by congressional standards. when we are borrowing $200 billion a month. republicans did not get elected to do what republican -- to do what democrats want us to do. the american people gave us the majority for a reason. returning to fiscal responsibility is important. we should already have voted on a balanced budget. we marked up the balanced budget and brought it out of committee. the speaker is committed to do that. host: let's take your calls for congressman good. we go to john on the republican line in georgia. you are up. caller: my question is in reference to ukraine. what is the endgame for ukraine?

i do not see how the united states benefits by getting russians out of eastern ukraine. a lot of people in eastern ukraine were pro-russian anyway. hello? host: yes. caller: it seems to me that russia is not a great threat militarily to us. this is exactly the way vietnam started. host: congressman good? guest: i agree with some of what the caller said. i condemn the brutal unjustified attack by russia. all-american should stand against the russian invasion and condemn that and i'm praying for the people of ukraine, i hope they prevail. i've admired their courage. they have exceeded all expectations. i believe russia has been emasculated, has been weakened on the national stage. i do not know how putin

ultimately survives this. to some degree i agree with what the caller said. i have not voted to borrow money. in the context of what we talked about about the spending, we are borrowing everything we send to ukraine, we were borrowing $200 billion a month. i do not think we need to borrow to fund that war because i've not seen the case that demonstrates the u.s. direct national security interest. i do not know why the u.s. would carry the load of the funding when europe and nato are not doing that. i do not know what the exit strategy is or what the limit of u.s. involvement is. we had an amendment a couple of months ago with respect to ukraine funding that says we required the white house to give us a plan or strategy in order to receive funds to send ukraine and that got voted down. i cannot imagine you would require that. i have concerns about the

ukraine funding. we do not have any accountability for the resources that already been sent. these are complex issues in terms of the border country and what is the u.s. involvement going forward. we also have an administration that does not seem to understand -- the president thinks the greatest that -- the greatest threat to the country as the climate crisis. the administration is trying to force the military to go to electric vehicles. he also thinks combating racism in the military is a great priority which is terribly dishonest and terribly harmful to the military. the way they bungled afghanistan, the way they weakened themselves on the national stage, we are told we cannot win a war with china, how can we send resources overseas and borrow money to send

overseas to fund the ukraine war. guest: i assume you gashed host: i assume you voted no on the $300 million that passed in the house. guest: i did it a majority of republicans voted no. the commitment the speaker made and we change the rules of the republican house in january. we force that on the speaker, to go back to the majority of the majority rule. we actually violated that last night because the majority of republicans voted against the ukraine funding. host: sherry in california on the democrats line. go ahead. caller: i would like to note during a government shutdown if the bureau of land management can still round up our federally protected wild horses and burros and keep them off our public lands. the majority of those animals are sent across the border to slaughter and we never see them again. are those federal contractors still paid to do that?

guest: i will acknowledge i do not know the answer to that question. that is the first person who has expressed concern with that with respect to a government shutdown. i will tell you 85% of the government continues to operate. only 15% of what is nonessential. i am not sure if that would be essential or nonessential. if there is a temporary shutdown or temporary pausing nonessential operations, social security checks continue to go, medicare continues to function, veterans benefits continue. federal employees pay would be delayed but everybody gets back pay and that is the law and that would happen. host: monte in phoenix, arizona. caller: i have a couple of comments. this whole thing about a government shutdown always seems

to be something that winds up to be a big deal, and it is, but the problem is the republicans want to cut spending. we all know this country needs to cut it spending. taking out big chunks or even small chunks at the tail end is not all that helpful. what needs to happen is when they are putting together their budgets and the bills, there needs to be serious conversations with the democrats and the republicans about how they are going to start trending down what we will have in deficits. there is no way in the world we will get rid of that $33 trillion in one or two administrations. it will take a wild to do that, if ever.

guest: you're exactly right and i think it is one of the threats to our country is our spending in national debt. we are starting to have consequences in away way regular americans can understand. i think in the past it has been abstract. i heard on the previous segment of caller made the point that our national debt has increased tenfold since ronald reagan was president. we hit three or $4 trillion while he was president. now we are at $34 trillion. it will cause an economic and financial collapse if we do not deal with it. i am doing everything i can to try to force spending cuts. i am on the republican task force as well. i hope to be a part of the new debt commission the speaker is trying to create in congress and deal with our mandatory and discretionary spending. it is unsustainable and i think

families are finally connecting that federal spending in washington is impacting their lives. inflation is up 20% since joe biden took office. it is worse for essentials like housing and groceries and utilities and certainly gas at the pump. that is a direct result of that policy. in addition the biden assault has raised interest rates drastically which has raised housing prices. young people cannot afford to buy that first home. the average mortgage costs $1000 a month more in interest than it did when joe biden became president. host: congressman bob good's financial and budget background includes a 17 year career with citi financial. let's go to marianne, republican caller, in mansfield, ohio. you are on the air. are you there? ok, we go to john on the

independent line from chicago. caller: can you hear me? host: yes we can. caller: i would say the difference between the last administration and this one is light and darkness, right and wrong, good and evil. moving the country forward or backwards. peace or war. the private sector experienced two years of going without a paycheck. or never got their jobs back. lost their businesses and still not recovered. let the government experience what we experience and we have not come out of it yet. guest: i cannot agree with you more. well said. i would echo that by what standard of measurement could you say the policies of the biden administration and democrats had total control for the first two years, republicans

have the house but the government was funded through september by the democrats last year. by what standard would you say anything is going well in the country? we have record invasions -- we have record inflation, we have a border invasion, rising crime, we surrender our energy independence. there a reason why the president's approval ratings are so low, there is a reason why he is behind in the polls. this is a president who makes jimmy carter look competent and makes barack obama look moderate. voters will have a choice next november on what the direction is for the country, what the vision for the country they think we ought to take. we have to address that with our spending. that is why the american people gave the majority to the republicans, and we have to step up and meet that moment and do with the american people elected us to do. host: are you concerned about what voters will think if a

shutdown turns into a lengthy shutdown? guest: i appreciate that. i get asked a lot about the impact on federal employees. in my district i have 800,000 people, six thousands of which are federal employees. i cannot make the decisions just with a 6000 federal employees. john mentioned the private sector. the private sector suffered terribly with the policies in place during the covid virus situation. the government response to that crushed the economy, crushed jobs, crushed our kids in schools, crushed our freedoms and trampled on our constitutional rights. we have 330 million americans. we just do not have federal employees. the private sector is suffering and the american people are suffering. with the decisions we make not just when we find the government, how we fund the government, the policies in

place and the level of spending we have will cause a tremendous impact on the american people. host: let's hear from ray from fremont, california. democrats line. caller: two things i wanted to mention. i wanted to mention as far as the background that inflation is not caused by anything president biden does because he does not have control over prices. by the way, it was oil prices dragging inflation, that is the biggest element why we have inflation. it is a good idea to talk to some corporate heads and say you are couching people. you still make money. let's improve the quality of life. publicans seem to always make

these huge tax cuts for their donors. wealthy people. they say if you do not cut my taxes do not come back here. i am wondering why is it that the tax cuts can be reversed -- there light will stay on. they will be able to buy food and whatnot. why not reverse those. corporations got a tax rate reduction in the very wealthy corporations only contribute about 6% of the revenue. host: we will get some response from congressman good. guest: let me address the tax part of that. after the trump tax cuts and

jobs act we were taking on revenue within the history of the country. when you cut taxes revenue goes up because when you try to discourage something versus tax policy we get rest of it. we were taking in more revenue than we ever had. if we were just bending at the pre-covid levels we would be recognizing a half $1 trillion surplus. now we are spending nearly $7 trillion. we are taking in $5 trillion for the first time in the last couple of years. i would also push back on what the caller said with respect to who the tax cut that offense. about half of the country does not pay any federal taxes. the trump tax cuts provided tax cuts to every american that was paying taxes. it doubled the standard deduction that benefited not just the wealthy, that benefited

regular income americans. it increased the child tax credit and increase the exemption for individuals. that impacted individuals and helped our economy to grow. we had the lowest unemployment in history during the trump presidency for all demographic groups. we had real wages growing for the first time in many years. now we have real wages decreasing because inflation is overwhelming any wage increase. you have 3 million less americans working then working when trump was president. we have 10 million or 11 million open jobs we cannot fill because we have taken away the work requirements for federal subsistence, for welfare payments, for food stamps, all of that has been stripped away. we have able-bodied americans not working. we have the lowest labor participation rate we have ever had, meaning individuals of working age who are able to work his lowest labor participation rate we have ever had.

with respect to spending the president is responsible for inflation. almost all economists and financial experts agree it is the federal spending that is causing inflation. we have not had that since jimmy carter. the president declared war on fossil fuels, on the petroleum industry, he has restricted access to capital and financing. he has restricted access to permits and more drilling. he has threatened to do even more. he has just announced he will not allow any drilling in and war which is less than 1% of the land impacted by that. the president has caused the increase in energy prices by design. host: will wrap it up, maybe want to keep it brief, your response, a question from michael on twitter. he says tell us what you're going to do to improve the material conditions for the vast majority of americans? cutting the budget is one thing

but what about how the remaining resources will be utilized? guest: you are right. the american people are suffering. we have to bring down inflation. we should stop raising the interest rates because that is exacerbating the cost to the american people. we could get energy prices going again. we are the cleanest large energy producer in the united states. we need to stop allowing able-bodied americans to get federal subsistence without having to work. and we are borrowing to do that. host: we appreciate you stopping by. congressman bob good, fifth district of virginia, thank you. coming up next, we'll be joined by democratic congresswoman judy chu of california

announcer: book tv every sunday features leading authors discussing the latesbo. live douglas rushkoff thor of survival of the richest joins book tv to take calls and discuss in depth -- human it on ami, cyberculture and more. and then on afterwards, new york terms reporter looks at the successes and failures of the last four decades. this is in his book the time. he is reviewed by book contributor john -- watch book tv every sunday on c-span 2 four watch i need time -- watch anytime -- work watch anytime online at motive you.org -- at

book tv.org. announcer: monday -- books that shaped america. we will feature journals of lewis and clark, came about following the louisiana purchase, they commissioned mary other lewis to lead an expedition to explore the west all the way to the -- pacific ocean. the quest covered nearly 8000 miles from 1804-1806. there are detailed journals throughout the trip throughout the terrain plant and native people and potential trade routes. there are several books on the lewis and clark expedition and they travel the lewis and clark trail. watch books that shaped america featuring the journals of lewis and clark monday live at 9 p.m. eastern, on c-span our free video -- c-span now our free video mobile app or on

c-span.org. and in our podcast you can learn more about the books featured. announcer: washington journal continues. host: congressman -- congresswoman welcome to the washington journal. we know it will be an active day ahead with a day and a half ahead with the potential we know it is the end of the fiscal year but the potential government shutdown. what are you hearing about what you may vote on today? guest: we have not heard anything. there is a great cause for concern there should be a vote on continuing resolution. but there has been no announcement and no announcement of plans for the weekend. so, we are just fearful that this government shutdown will occur and so many people will suffer.

there are so many things that could affect americans negatively if there is a cut to social security and slashing of funding for public food. and if there is a criminalization of reproductive care and abortion. these are the consequences for the government shutdown. host: so here since is now that we are likely to see a government shutdown at midnight tomorrow night? guest: well, there has not been any indication that there is a resolution to this. in fact, there are members of the republican caucus saying under no circumstances with a vote for a continuing resolution. host: the white house, speaker mccarthy, and the senate came to an agreement on budget levels. what is your concern about why the budget levels have not been

adhered to in that case? guest: there was an agreement reached when we had the last crisis on the debt ceiling. republicans reneged and there were members of the republican caucus that said the cuts were not deep enough for them. that's why they reneged on the agreement and this is why we are in the situation we are in right now. host: do you feel that your caucus views are being heard by democratic leadership in the discussions over discontinuing resolutions? guest: we can say that democrats are united. we are on the same page and we want to move forward with the 12 spending bills. we cannot get them done in just two days, it will take at least a month and a half. that is the senate continuing

the resolution is a good solution because it expands a time limit to about a month and a half from now. and also has some other excellent provisions in it. for instance disaster relief and ukraine eight. aid . host: we welcome our viewers to join the conversation. to do that you may call democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, and independents (202) 748-8002. do you think that speaker mccarthy will have to rely on bipartisan votes to get this through? guest: it is possible but i do not think he's ready to do it yet. as we get deeper into the government shutdown that may be the only solution for him. he is weighing whether his own republican caucus, if they would out seat him.

that is why that solution has not come to the forefront yet. i think that is a solution. host: do you think this is a moment that calls on president biden a veteran obviously of the unit us -- u.s. senate and many budget battles in his career to get directly involved in negotiations or discussions on continued resolution? guest: look, president biden came to the table and resolving the debt ceiling crisis. there was an agreement made and now it is clear that the responsibility for resolving this lies at the foot of speaker mccarthy. he has the dissension within his own caucus. he has resolve this with them and get them to come on board. host: alright let's get to our callers and comments for congressman judy chu (d-ca)

-- robbie is on the republican line. go ahead. caller: can you hear me? host: yes, go ahead. caller: ok i cannot say much to congressman chu but i googled this deficit thing yesterday and the federal deficit spending started in 1777 just finance the revolutionary war it has only been brought to 01 time since then in 1835 when jackson brought it to zero. and he did not use voodoo economics to do it either, he charged heavy tariffs, sold off federal land, and vetoed every spending that did his presidential run death. if you do not believe me google, they say that children will pay the debt that their parents made that's been going on a long time. thanks. host: ok we would like to hear

your comments. guest: let me say we can reduce the deficit. president biden has a plan for that. in the first two years of his presidency he reduce the debt and he has a plan to reduce it by 3 trillion more dollars from now. and making sure that corporations pay their fair share. we can reduce it if we do it in a commonsense way, if we do it in a way that makes sure that americans can continue to live not by this horrible government shutdown that is only blackmailing the government doing what a small group of people want to do. too many people will be harmed by a government shutdown. we must reduce the deficit in a commonsense way. host: tracy is calling for minneapolis on the independent line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call.

i've got a question, how is it that we have war so long and spend so much money, you know, and now that we are not in a war in afghanistan how come we don't have that money that we spent during that time too, you know, circumvent the costs that we have. i know we put a lot of money in there when trump was in office and it has been building and building and building. now that we do not have a 20 year war, how come we can't -- you know, why do we not have the extra money that we spent with the war? guest: so, there's a lot of reasons for the deficit. one of them actually was what trump did during his presidency which was giving a huge tax break to wealthy corporations. in fact, president trump promised to reduce the deficit.

instead, the deficit increased by $7.8 trillion because of this huge tax break. some people think if you give us a tax rate to the ultra-wealthy it will help trickle down to the middle class and low income people of the country, but you know what? that has never happened. instead, it stays at the top and the wealthy keep it and become wealthier. host: the house yesterday as you know congressman voted $300 million in additional aid to ukraine. a stand-alone package that passed the house last night. how did you vote on that and what is your view in general for the eight on in -- on ukraine -- aid on ukraine?

guest: -- we know that if russia is allowed to take over ukraine there is no stopping them in terms of them going on to other countries. we must make sure that ukraine remains a sovereign nation. that is why we need to have that aid. that is why the senate actually, also, sent over a package with the stench of ukraine eight. -- stretch of ukraine aid. we must see this thing through. host: ok next caller. caller: reagan pushed for tax cuts, the trump tax cuts, that is why we are in a situation we are in today. also you had nancy mays on your program a couple weeks ago. she said there would have to be spending cuts.

immediately she turns around and says there's also going to have to be tax cuts. she just people out and did nothing. tax cuts and spending cuts she did nothing about the debt. and also remember that trump is the apple of putin's eye. thank you. host: what is going on in ways and means in the taxation committee of the house? guest: well, we want to make sure that trump's harmful tax cuts for the wealthy do not continue. in fact, many of them are expected to expire in 2025. then, we will have a greater balance in our budget and there will not be such a huge tax cut

for the wealthy. in fact, we want to restore the child tax credit. that is one great thing we did during the covid-19 pandemic. that is we were able to increase the child tax credit for families with children. it reduced the child poverty level in nearly half. that was a substantial relief to so many families across this country. in fact, they took that money and spent it on essential goods which actually helped the economy. host: what are your concerns now that much of the aid to families is coming to an end? guest: i am very, very concerned. we have critical deadlines that are happening right now as of september 30. there are going to be substantial cuts to childcare so there will be a tremendous cliff in terms of availability of

childcare to so many families across this country. i am extremely concerned about this and i really think we have to do something to help families across the nation with this. host: alright we will continue with calls and comments ron from michigan, independent. caller: yeah, judy, i have studied politics for a long while. you people both democrats and republicans you know exactly what you need to do going forward. my main concern is, let's go back to the time of trump when he was building the wall to prevent migrants from coming in. just people were making all kinds of sounds, wire you doing this? why are you spending millions of dollars on the wall? what i would like to know is why is biden allowing the migrants to come into this country. it has taken the united states

in a level of drug use going forward 6, 7, 8, 9 years. i have concerns for my grandson when -- facing those issues when i leave for heaven. i'm 82 years old. and my second question, how much money, maybe you know, how much money is being spent on border control? how are you going to keep those people from coming in at the amount they are coming in at? you can complain about trump, but now you need to look at biden, he is spending billions may be as far as i'm am concerned -- i'm concern on the border. host: all right let's give you a chance to respond. judy. guest: one waste of money was a border wall. that would have brought our economy down to a ridiculous degree, but one thing that i am

four and, in fact, it was a proposal that was put forward yesterday as we were voting on these appropriations bills was for more money to control the fentanyl that is going through the borders. you know, these drugs that are so harmful to americans are coming through those ports of entry. we need better ways of getting to them. that is why i was for that kind of money going to security at the port of entry. i am also for faster processing of the immigrants who are coming over the border to ask for asylum. you know, many of them have very compelling cases, some may not, but the american system provides getting a fair hearing for your

case, but we do not have enough asylum judges and immigration judges to hear the cases. the system is broken there and we need to be able to process those cases much more quickly. host: our guest is chair of the congressional asian-pacific caucus. and your group just had a chance to review the new report from the u.s. office on civil rights, the commission on civil rights i should say. you said you applied the release on the report of anti-asian racism. what did you find out in that report? guest: we found out that there are increased ways of combating anti-asian hate. i am very proud to say that we were very active in getting the covid-19 hate crimes bill passed. we just met with the u.s. justice department that is in charge of this. i have to say that they have been very proactive in making

sure that there are attorney generals that are having these no more hate kinds of campaigns across the nation in every jurisdiction across the united states. and also, there are hate crime that are insuring that law enforcement --ensuring that law enforcement is handling hate crime. and this bill was the greatest advance in hate crime prosecutions in 30 years. host: let's hear from gina on the democrats line in independence, kentucky. caller: yes miss chu, thank you for being on the show. i think you are a very important person to be in congress because i think -- take everything for

granted. i've watched you several times on the floor and you contain your composure all the time. i know sometimes it's pretty hard, but i would like you to explain about how if the republicans have their way about social security, how much and what are they intending to cut from the social security program? and then the republican party is talking about waste and spending, but yet when the president sent for spending bill down through the military, republican party added on 20 some billion dollars that was not requested. and i would like to hear your comments. you have a good day and i thank you for being an upstanding citizen. host: thank you. congressman chu. guest: there is a grave danger to social security with what republicans are proposing. you know, we all pay into social security and we do it because we

want to make sure that in our old age that we can be taken care of. in fact, before social security, half of seniors were at the poverty level. they had nowhere to turn. social security dramatically change that situation. that is why we've made social security and entitlement that is something will continue on regardless of what the budget is from year-to-year. you will get your social security payments, but republicans have proposed to privatize social security, to make it like your 401(k). now, you know, a 401(k) can sometimes be great but sometimes it can perform very poorly. the other thing they are proposing is to raise the age for eligibility for social security. and then there is another proposal that thinks, well,

maybe social security should be renewed every five years. well, that means it is not an entitlement anymore. you would actually have to go into a battle to renew social security which would leave so many millions of seniors with insecurity and an inability to know if it will be around for the next few years of their lives. so, we cannot have that. host: let's get a call or two more for congresswoman judy chu. jay, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to ask a couple questions of the representative. one, does she have any clue how much money is being spent monthly on just maintaining the

illegal immigrants that have come into the country to date, let alone the ones getting ready to come in? and the other question i have is why is it that when the democrats say that they -- it is everybody else's fault that immigration has not been taken care of because the republicans do not want to cooperate, yet every time the republicans try to do anything with immigration, the democrats always put in this thing where anybody that came in up until this date, we will just go ahead and make them all citizens. it doesn't make any sense that you have an immigration policy that one side wants the mass immigration, the other side wants to control the mass immigration. host: all right we will let you go there we talked a little bit about this but if you would like to elaborate go ahead. guest: i want to point out

something very important that many americans do not know which is that undocumented immigrants actually contribute more to our economy than they take. that is they pay taxes, for instance, they pay sales tax and other types of taxes. they may pay into social security, but actually, they are unable to get the benefits from it. so, actually, it is a net benefit from the united states economically. it is because they are and you -- undocumented that they cannot access those benefits. they live in the shadows and they may have been in the country 20-30 years working at jobs that other americans do not want. so, there is the necessity for them in so many areas of our industries, but they are unable

to take the kind of benefits that other americans and other workers would have. that is why i think they should have a chance to get out of the shadows and gain some legal permanency. host: congresswoman chu thank you for joining us this morning. we have sad news, this report and multiple news outlets are saying this, but this is from nbc senator dianne feinstein a trailblazer in u.s. politics and the longest-serving woman in the u.s. senate has died at the age of 90. i am sorry to have to tell you that. guest: oh my goodness. oh, she is my senator. she was my senator, so i am just stunned. host: we are so sorry for you and all of your fellow californians and the california delegation on capitol hill. again, thank you for being there

with us this morning on washington journal. guest: thank you. host: still more ahead here on the program, washington journal we will continue with your phone calls and comment as we get closer to a potential and now seemingly likely federal government shut down at mud -- at midnight tomorrow. democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 7480, independents (202)48002. and federal workers yearin is (202) 748-8003. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellit. 2023] [captioning performed by the national capong institute, which is responsible for its caption content and cucy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: live sunday on -depth, author and media theorist joins this --joins book tv to talk about the

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think for the book that shaped the country. go to c-span.org/books that shaped america. select rord video and in 30 seconds or less tell us your pick and why. be sure to watch books that shapemerica live monday at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span. ♪ announcer: healthy democracy doesn't just look like this, it looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work. where citizens are truly informed. a republic thrives. get informed straight from the source on c-span; unfiltered, unbiased, word for word, from the nation's capital to wherever you are because the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span powered by cable. announcer: washington journal continues. host: the house of rules meeting

this morning around 8:00 we think continuing the latest resolution efforts to keep the federal government from closing tomorrow at midnight at the end of the fiscal year. we continue our conversations with you about that. you may call democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002. we also have a line for federal workers that is (202) 748-8003. just to let you know, our schedule the house is coming in 10 :00 eastern. we have live coverage of that on c-span. this 8:00 -- the senate is coming in as well and we will likely have a boat on a measure they passed with the extension -- a vote on a measure they pass with the extension of -- a separate package that the house will take up. we hear they will vote on that on saturday.

an at 10:00 eastern, the speaker kevin mccarthy will hav a news conference is morning at 10:00. he will lay out what he pes to happen on the house floor and beyond. that is at 10:00 a.m. eastern. you can follow that on our mobile app, c-span now mobile app. as we mention, as we wrap up our conversation with california congresswoman judy chu the news we are hearing about is the death of california senator dianne feinstein. senator feinstein dies at 90. the senator a trailblazing democratic power -- served in the sentence -- in the senate 30 years. and she was 90, she suffered from frail health and mental issues it made it difficult for her to function alone and she stepped down -- there were calls for her to step down but she

consistently rejected. her staff was informed at nine :00 a.m. and the spokesperson for her office did not immediately respond to her request for comment. let's get to your calls and comments of what is going on on capitol hill. henry is up in new york city. caller: yes i want to first say my condolences to senator feinstein colleagues and family for her passing away. and i want to ask all of the republican voters out there, what do you stand for? right, do you really believe in your politicians and the skill -- and the bills that they are passing. do you really believe that they have your best interest at heart? there's going to be a lot of people that are not going to have any money, work, or food and as long as i've been in the mountains, i've never -- in america. i've never seen america the way

it is right now it is a sad, sad day in america. the democrats, we are trying to help somebody and receive, and you know it is just not right. that is basically it. host: richard on the line republican color also from new york. hello -- republican callers also from new york. hello. caller: caller: caller: i would like to make a comment about the last caller. you cannot give away things. -- caller: i would like to make a comment on the last caller. the democrats love war. they love to spend and spend and spend. they gave money to ukraine, money we don't even have. not this generation, but the

next four or five generations down the line, they're going to be paying this bill. so, we just got to harness the spending. let's have the shutdown. the shutdown will prove that we will rein in nonsense spending. i don't want to spend money on homosexual reading for children and stuff like that. no one wants to spend this money. let's do line by line like you do with your checking account. everyone in america has a checkbook and when they overspend, they get -- you can't do that. and america overspends. thank you. host: to michigan, we hear from nicholas. hello. caller: can he haur me? ok, cool. i have a couple of points of order. the fist one being the ukraine war. the way i see it is we have

putin's basically gone rowing and painted -- rogue and painted himself into a corner and he's never going to stop. the problem is, biden asking for $24 billion for more war and what i say is, how about a surgical strike? we could with one thing take out putin with a hail fire blaze missile. that thing can hit a moving target in a vehicle with no collateral damage. it seems to me like solving putin would be easy. on that front. the next topic would be -- it is not time to be cutting corners and doing things like that. it's time to invest in the people. what i'd like to see happen is universal basic income at $2,000 a person for everybody. and the way we want to award that is we as the treasury and the government are going to invest in you, the people, to show us what the investment is worth. and i guarantee if you give everybody $2,000 a month just as a pilot program, you'll see some real results and they'll use that money wisely and get

themselves out of a hole. because everyone's talking about here how this is the breaking point, we're going to shut down. no, we're not. all we have to do is do our job and do it well so we can sustain the system. i also guarantee that if anybody even tries to shut the government, the real people here in washington, d.c., we will keep working and what will happen is that simply anyone who walks out will not be the government and when they can't come back, we'll say, we're the new government. because we've been doing this for years. if they try it walk out on us, they'll call that a volunteer quit. if anyone is trying it to shut down the government. host: this is another story, more reporting on the death last night of senator dianne feinstein. the headline, senator dianne feinstein, a trail blazer in u.s. politics, and the longest serving woman in the senate, dies at 90. this piece, this featured piece by rebecca and david, senator fine steen of california, a vocal advocate -- feinstein of california, a vocal advocate of gun measures who was trying to

find common ground with republicans has died. according to two sources familiar with the matter. she was 90. feinstein, the oldest member of the senate, the longest serving female senator, and the longest serving senator from california announced in february that she planned to retire at the end of her term. she faced calls for her resignation over concerns about her health. after she announced her retirement, president biden hailed his former senate colleague, calling her, quote, a passionate defender of civil liberties and a strong voice for national security policies that keep us safe while honoring our values. after feinstein missed votes in late february, her spokesperson said on wednesday, march 1, the senator's in california this week dealing with a health matter and hopes to return to washington soon. the california democrat was a vocal advocate of gun control measures, championing the assault weapons ban that then-president bill clinton signed into law in 1994. and pushing for restrictive laws since the ban's expiration in

2004. that's from nbc. other reports saying the senator died last night at the age of 90. angela is in oklahoma city, oklahoma. angela, go ahead, on the independent line. caller: yes. i agree with some of the government, i'm sorry the senator died and everything else. but why don't they close the border? how much money are we paying for the immigrants to be here? that's a good question. what are they making off of us? host: all right, thanks for that. south dakota is calling, we'll hear from ken. ken in south dakota, republican line. go ahead. caller: yes. i just, as a former border agent, i would like to say that your previous guest, just about everything she said about what's happening on the border is untrue.

drugs are actually coming between the point of entries at an alarming rate. it was when i worked and it still is. it's not all coming through the port entry. we don't need to be wasting any more money on the port of entry. we need to secure our border. we are on the verge of losing our southern border completely. never in my wildest dreams have i ever thought that it could get this bad. it will destroy this country and it is in the process right now. host: how long were you -- did you work as a border guard, ken? caller: i was down there for six years. and then i went back several times on details. host: appreciate your perspective this morning. john is calling from johnstown, pennsylvania. democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning, bill. in his book, it's still the economy, stupid, george bush promised to keep the social

security in a lock box. however, he took $1.8 trillion over eight years away from social security. so i don't trust the republican party at all with social security, believe me. and i don't hear the outrage for ought the money -- for all the money we spent on the credit card in iraq and afghanistan and somehow that kind of got lost in the shuffle. by the way, why would anyone vote for a president who says he wants the general milley executeed? i don't understand how anyone can be supportive of a president or ex-president trump. i don't know. it just boggles my mind. that's my comment for today. host: some comments from members of congress on the death, the news this morning of the death of senator dianne feinstein at the age of 90.

this is florida senator marco rubio saying --

host: calling from center ridge, arkansas. welcome. better ridge, arkansas. go ahead with your comment and mute your television while you're at it. kennedy, you're on the air. all right. we're going to go to elizabethtown, kentucky. it's james on the republican line. caller: yes, sir. i just would like to say that this country is going to hell with joe biden in office. it is, i mean, everything he touches is higher than what it was. it's the highest it's been in 50 years. what is he thinking? and all the immigrants coming across the border.

who is going to feed all these people? us taxpayers, that's who. that's all i got to say. thank you. host: all right. thank you. steven's in fort lawedderdale, florida -- lauderdale, florida. we'll go to our democrats line next. steven, you're on. caller: good morning, c-span. i just want to make a couple of comments. the first comment is, everybody's worried about the border on the republican side, but you never hear them worry about democracy. which is pending to fall off a cliff. the other comment i'd like to make is to a republican caller a few calls back that said that we were overspending and we certainly do overspend in our government. but he made a comment that he doesn't want any money spent on homosexual sex books. well, i'm a homosexual, i pay taxes all my life and a model citizen and i don't want any money spent on heterosexual books. thank you and have a great day. host: all right. it's michael on the line from ohio. independent caller. welcome.

caller: yeah, i would just like to point out that the whole country says democracy and independence is on the line with the war in russia and ukraine. well, why instead of keep sending them money, why don't we just go take care of the war or a couple countries get together and take care of it? why leave the underdog make the fight and keep pouring money into it? also, with biden in there, nothing's going to get better. they need to get rid of him. not necessarily put trump back in there, but put somebody in there and get the country in the right direction. thank you. host: we're continuing this hour hearing from you on the looming government shutdown. (202) 748-8000 is the line for democrats. (202) 748-8001, republicans. and for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. if you're a federal worker, we do have a separate line, (202) 748-8003. in a nut shell, from the hill, their headline, house set to vote on short-term funding with

shutdown appearing inevitable. they write that the congress is less than two days to fund the government. and a shutdown is looking all but inevitable. house republicans early friday morning rolled out their latest stop-gap funding measure and intend to vote on it later in the day. but it will get no democratic support and faces conservative opposition. the senate on thursday advanced its own stop-gap funding bill, but it is likely to need until sunday for final passage. lawmakers in both chambers are sounding increasingly pessimistic. just a reminder, our live house coverage here at 10:00 a.m. eastern this morning. the senate live at 10:00 a.m. over on c-span2. to the independent line. tim in tram, kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. thank you for taking my call. i live in kentucky but i also lived in texas. so, big concern of mine is all

these illegal aliens coming over. and what congress and the senate, you know, what are they going to do about that? host: in your mind you feel they have insufficiently addressed the problem that is currently happening on the border? caller: oh, yes. because since biden took over, that's the most illegal aliens that's ever crossed the border at one particular time. and that needs to stop because that's going to take money out of -- [indiscernible] -- from texas, across the united states. host: let's go to josephine in livingston, new jersey. independent caller. go ahead. caller: good morning. it sort of leads me into what i wanted to discuss with the

passing of dianne feinstein. she came to power because the mayor and harvey milk were shot, killed and she then became mayor. so her insistence on guns came from that. but let me just say one thing, which i think most people don't -- are not aware of. we're worried about the mexican cartels, we should be. we are selling -- americans are sellinger one million, let me repeat, one million guns a year to the mexican cartel and then you wonder why we have fentanyl? really? the tpwupbs have nothing to do -- guns have nothing to do, oh, but it's people. one million guns a year. shame on the gun industry. thank you. host: to king george, virginia. tina's on the line. go ahead. caller: yes. i'd like to say i called kevin

mccarthy and all the republican senators and i tell them, give the democrats nothing on their woke ideology, on the border, and on them going after their political parties. give them nothing. we are not going to pay for them going after people like trump and we pay for it. i don't believe that my tax dollars should be spent on anything that the democrats are doing to tear down this country. and there's a lot of them that needs to go to prison for treason. including nancy pelosi that set up january 6. it's just appalling the democrats, all they do is lie in our face, they got the media on their side, they even call it out. they're doing it in front of everybody. and they're sitting there lying to us. they're nothing but a clown circus and i think a lot of them need to go to prison. and it just doesn't seem like they're held accountable for

their actions, of all the tearing down the cities, burning down the cities, and we call that peaceful protesting. this is just uncalled for. they need to clean house. and trump's the only one that's going to be able to do it. host: ok. on to arkansas and diane's on the republican line. go ahead. caller: yes, good morning, thank you for taking my call. host: you bet. caller: i believe that the administration that is in office now has a planned strategy to destroy this nation. people out here are hurting. they have inflation higher than we've ever had it. utilities are up, gas is up, groceries is up and they don't care about the american people at all. talking about the shutdown. that's the topic.

as soon as they got in office, they closed down the keystone pipeline, shut it down. shut down a lot of permits for drilling across this country. put on a lot of regulations to hurt drilling in this country. opec is driving up the price because they got us, because we've shut down drilling here. which has drove everything up. we are giving money to ukraine, crazy amounts of money. you know, i'm not saying we shouldn't help them, but not in the volume that we are. there are all kinds of other countries that are part of the u.n. that should be paying their fair share and if it was any other country, fighting any

other nation except for russia, we would not be giving these volumes of money. we would be calling for ceasefires, we would be calling for negotiations. but we're not. it is a way for them to funnel money in huge amounts. they are giving money for what trump wanted, he wanted $21 billion to start the first section of the wall. they're giving $35 billion, which is way more than that first section, we're letting 10,000 illegal immigrants in the border every day. that's what they catch. those people have to be fed, they are coming in our cities, our cities cannot control that volume. host: and let me ask you, in

terms of a government shutdown, do you think a potential government shutdown will force democrats, for example, to pay attention to some of the issues that you've just raised here? caller: no, i don't. i think they have a planned strategy to destroy this nation. and to throw us into a one-world government. i do not think they do, i think they are totally out of touch with the american people, but i think personally, i don't think shutting down is an answer. but i do think cut the money off to ukraine. cut it off. until other nations -- you've got all kinds of european nations, you got 190-something nations in the union. let them come up and cough up some money. host: we're focusing on the potential government shutdown. the tha*bgs will happen today in the u.s. house likely taking up a continuing resolution and votes this weekend in the senate

on their version, a longer-term 47-day continuing resolution. and the senate will be live this morning at 10:00 eastern over on c-span2 and the house here on c-span. the senate will be down one member. senator feinstein dying at the age of 90 last night. here is the "los angeles times" with their headline this morning. host: the associated press and other media outlets reported the senator's death. feinstein was a towering political figure for decades. she was the oldest member of the u.s. senate when she died.

host: we'll hear from rochell calling next from sierra vista, arizona. hello there. just make sure you mute your volume on your set and go ahead with your comment. caller: hi. i would like to understand, you know, as far as our budget and price gouging with our military spending, with, you know,

ukraine and just asker nall and military spending -- just asker nall and military -- arsenal and military spending, we can't afford to take care of our elderly, our senior citizens, our homeless and even asylum seekers and refugees, i would like to ask our federal government to give us a rundown of where my tax dollars are going. is that possible? host: appreciate the call. yes, you can find -- that information is available. you absolutely can. there are all sorts of resources available including links on our own website, our congressional section, at c-span.org. we'll go next to kathleen in texas. hi there. caller: yes. i want to call and talk about all the spending to ukraine. we can't afford it.

ok? this country is busted. they can't afford anything put back on them. you know, the democrats, it's the republicans' fault. republicans say it's the democrats' fault. who is writing the checks? biden is giving money to everybody. and he is not accountable for nothing that he does or says, got his fingers into everything. why? how come he's not accounted for? he's the one that's giving the money away. what are they doing, they're going to break the country, you know. the country is already broke. my daughter can't even afford to put food on her table for her children. and that's everybody in america. it's not right. it needs to be stopped and i call joe biden out on treason. host: all right. linda is on the democrats line in ottawa, ohio.

linda, good morning. caller: hello. good morning. i would just like to express my feelings about how angry we are in this country. some of us consider ourselves democrats, some of us consider ourselves republicans. but actually we're all americans. and i believe that we should all work together to solve the problems in our country. otherwise what is going to happen to us? what is going to happen to our future, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren? it's just really sad. the situation that we as americans find ourselves in. i as a democrat do not always agree with all the policies that our administration has right now, but i just like to listen to every side and then i make up my own mind. and also, i would like to tell people that call in and call

illegal immigrants aliens, they are not aliens. they were born on this earth. god made them just as he made everybody else. and also, we have found that -- my husband and i, as we go shopping to malls or stores, we have found out that we run into some people from other countries and that we talk to them, because my husband's very friendly, we talk to them and my husband asks a lot, where are you from? we're from mexico. what are you doing here? we were send the here, we were brought here to work. just in one of our local counties, just for the fair they had peep from mexico -- people from mexico working at it's a fair -- at the fair. host: at the county fair? caller: yes, sir, at the county fair. my husband asked, how did you get that job? they said, we were brought here to work at the county fair. now, isn't that -- doesn't that tell you that some of these people that come across the

border, yes, they come to work. and so -- and why do they come to work? because there's a lot of people here in america, as americans, we don't want to do some of these jobs and these people come over and do it. and it's just -- i just hope that america just comes together as people and that we stop arguing and fighting and just see each other as humans. host: thanks for your call, linda. a few more comments from members of the u.s. senate on the death of senator dianne feinstein. reported this morning, reportedly dying last night at the age of 90.

host: to arkansas next. tim is on the independent line. go ahead, tim. i'm sorry. hang on a second, tim. it helps if i push the button. go ahead, tim. caller: good, ok, thank you. listen, from the first day in office, joe biden is a self-described dictator with 50 executive orders to shut down things that america needs. everybody needs energy. and when you contradict the flow of energy, guess what, prices go up. so everything's up. but we're suffering from rampant corruption in this country. you don't need to spend all this money unless it's to do things like increase the slave trade.

this is -- we've got 10 million that's going to come over in just his first two years. the greatest migration in the history of the world. everybody cannot live here. being american is a privilege. and if you just say, well, anybody can come in, it doesn't mean anything, then there is no more america. we have no more border. i'd like to see the budget slashed. i'm not happy with 8% cuts. i'm more happy with 25%, 30% cuts. you can't spend an extra $2 trillion and keep that up. the price of servicing the debt is going to be everything you pay for and there won't be money for anything else. there's a marxist theory by a couple of college marxist professors. you have to overload the system to destroy the system so you can remake the system in your image. that's what we're going through now. we're going through a time of

transitioning into marxism where the government will control everything, they're going to take away your cash, they've already -- you can't increase the money supply by 25% without having 25% inflation. everything is the law of supply and demand. i'm very sorry, but you can't work with democrats who want to destroy this country. and i find it hard to work with some republicans who want to go along with it. i vote shut it down until you get real cuts. there's no reason to spend that extra $2 trillion because it's just going in people's pockets. host: all right, on to latisha calling from temple hills, maryland. republican line. caller: yes, i want to send my prayers to the feinstein family. i watched her over the years in the congress and the senate there. my prayers to her. and my dad was a federal agent for 35 years.

he died in 1992. and i'm all for democracy and i was raised -- i'm 60 years ode. i was raised -- old. i was raised, you know, with honesty and stuff as a child. and i believe in my heart that biden should be president and why would people or american people vote for a liar when we teach our children not to lie? because you tell the truth when you're disciplined as a child and i think biden and other -- and the democrats aren't perfect at times, but i give biden credit and i praise him and his staff and they're being honest and they're trying their best for all americans. and i'm grateful for that. host: all right, appreciate your

call. tyler on the line next. from pennsylvania. democratic caller. go ahead, tyler. caller: good morning, everyone. just want to say a few words about dianne feinstein. it's a beautiful day, actually. from her legacy to yelling at climate activists about worries of climate change, to waving a confederate flag during her time as senator. but, yes, good morning. and good news and i hope we get to -- host: all right, this is a view of dianne feinstein from david cohen in "politico" this morning. a look at the legacy of dianne feinstein is the headline on his piece. he writes in part --

host: let's hear from tom calling on the independent line in yuma, arizona. good morning. caller: good morning. yeah. i'm worried about this government shutdown because i am a union member and i am a civilian contractor working for the government. but yet the government's going to shut down, however the government employees are joking about, hey, it's a vacation for us because we're going to get paid anyway. where the civilian contractor who does the same or if not more work than the civilian government worker, we don't get reimbursed as the government does. so you've got -- it's a two-tier

system, if you're a government contractor. as opposed to a civil service government employee. and that's part of the problem, i think, with our two-tier system of government. where, you know, congress is going to get paid but people -- other people are plot going to get paid -- people are not going to get paid. host: sounds like you've gone through this before, tom. caller: yes, i have gone through this before. you know, and it's frustrating for us contractors. i wish they'd come together and it's like the border situation down here in yuma is just out of control. people are upset about ukraine, why is all this money going to ukraine when you have veterans, i'm a veteran, we have veterans who are not being taken care of.

however, the v.a. system is really making strides to make it better for us. but the government is just -- keeps -- you know, the republicans and the democrats are both birds of the same feather. you got the left wing and the right wing. that's why i'm an independent. host: appreciate your getting through this morning. the shutdown, if it does happen, will be the 22nd shutdown since 1976. this chart from pbs news hour shows those shutdowns since 1976. the first one dated back to 1976. and there may have been ones before, this is how far back this chart goes. to 1976. our most recent shutdown, way down at the bottom of this chart, started on december 22, 2018, and continued for 35 days. 21 shutdowns over the course of,

what is that, 47 years or so? let's go to shirley -- i'm sorry, john in shirley, new york. john's on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? i'm calling about the shutdown. one, stop giving money to ukraine. take care of our own. two, shut the government down to get results to lock the border down and start deportations. we are being invaded in new york, in this country, and not one politician is doing anything. we need to secure the border and make politicians be held accountable. you can't do your job, you're fired. we need trump back in to straighten this country out. he's not a politician, he's like you and i and he tells it like it is. and god bless him and he's coming back strong. and god bless america. thank you. host: all right. ken in golden valley, arizona, on the others line. ken, what do you think about a potential government shutdown?

caller: i'm calling on the -- as a former federal employee. host: yes, sir. caller: i've been through 35 years, i've been through a lot of shutdowns. it is true that federal employees do get reimbursed. i mean, they don't lose any money. they get paid after the shut shutdown. except for the people that are considered essential, of course then they get -- they have to work and so the thing with government employees is all the people that are nonessential basically get a paid vacation. and the people that have to go out and work because they're in stuff such as law enforcement, they work alone for that period of time. host: you heard -- caller: the contractor that called in. host: yeah, i was going to say, you heard his experience. i guess in most cases, contractors don't see anything, don't see any back pay, correct? caller: well, whatever business

the government's carrying out during that time, a lot of it gets shut down. so, yeah, i can sigh where it hurts a lot of other people that are contractors or that don't actually get a federal paycheck. i agree with that. host: all right. thanks for that, ken. cheryl's on the line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to say that i think people might consider in this country going to what is called a ranked system of voting. and do away with political parties. certain states in this country already have ranked voting. alaska being one. if they did not have the ranked system of voting, then sarah palin would probably be the new senator from alaska. but anyway, the way it works is you have your choices and you submit your ballot and then they

calculate and then it works that the bottom drops off, they get recalculated, etc., until -- anyway. so puppy has nothing to do with it and it will be a more representative form of government. host: you have had experience with it locally there in north carolina or otherwise? caller: i have not. i have just heard the concept talked about and i understand there are about five states in the united states that currently use this system. and i just think we should take a very serious look at it. because i personally am just sick of democrats and republicans, both of them. i used to be a republican until i decided that they were just off the rails. so just please consider something like that. i just want us all to get along

and it's just -- these people are tearing this country apart. host: appreciate your call. we'll go to rudy in california. democrats line. hi there. caller: good morning, bill. god rest dianne's soul. she was a good woman. may she be dancing on the clouds. the shutdown is going to kill our kids back there because they're in the military in virginia. it looks like we're going to have president biden and trump for the presidential nominations and i hope president biden will not debate trump. maybe once, but other than that, don't give trump the platform to spew his lies that he continues

to do every day. so that's my take for today. thank you very much, bill. host: all right. about 20 minutes away from -- 20 more minutes left of the program, 20 minutes away from the u.s. house coming in at 10:00 eastern. we will have live coverage, we will hear more about where they are, their latest continuing resolution package, which was introduced overnight, and considered by the rules committee this morning. so we'll hear more at 10:00 from the senate and live coverage here on c-span. we'll also cover the u.s. senate as we always do when they're in session. that's at 10:00 eastern also over on c-span2. we'll cover at 10:00 this morning a news conference with house speaker kevin mccarthy. that will be at sock as well -- at 10:00 as well and that will be live coming up, available on our mobile app, the c-span now mobile app. 10:00 eastern. so a lot's going on at 10:00. you have the mobile app, you won't miss any of it. winfield, louisiana, is next. karen, good morning.

caller: yes. i would just like to say when we start voting again, everybody needs to consider who they're voting for. because if they keep voting these people in that keep tearing down our country and opening our borders and everything, then nothing's going to change. i just want to say, we lived in utopia with trump and now with biden and his administration, we're living in sodom and gomorrah. host: it's mcclain, virginia. matt on our government workers line. what are your thoughts? caller: i think, like a lot of federal employees, it's just very discouraging that we're all in this situation again. i think your chart showed it earlier, federal employees went through this very situation as recently as 2018. a lot of us were furloughed, you know, most of the agencies are furloughing a majority of their work force.

and while an earlier caller did mention correctly that federal employees will get back pay if the government shuts down, one thing to remember is that many federal employees are like most of americans. they live paycheck to paycheck. during 2018, the shutdown went on for more than 30 days. you know, how many americans can afford to go a full month without pay? so i think it's very discouraging, a lot of my fellow employees are eligible for retirement and so they continue to look at this broken process, disparaging of federal workers, people saying, you know, they're not providing critical services. what's to keep them continuing to work at the federal government? there's a huge portion of the federal work force that's eligible to retire. if you're thinking about going into public service, you're going to think twice if you start having these shutdowns. and there's no consistency and

you don't feel confident that you're going to be able to continue working. host: that last shutdown was in 2018 into early 2019. seems like forever ago, but it's just five years. how did you endure that shutdown? caller: well, ate into a lot of the savings, we were kind of fortunate that we've always prepared kind of for a rainy day. we never thought it would be for this. we thought it would be for some sort of other emergency. you know, one of the reasons public service was attractive was that we thought it was a steady job. you might be able to make more in the private sector but working for the government, it's like we're giving back to the country, but it's stable work. you feel like you're doing something. it just feels like, you know, congress is not meeting their obligation to do what they said they should do, do what they should do, which is fund the

federal government. there was a deficit reduction deal earlier this year to limit spending. what's frustrating is that nobody got exactly what they wanted out of that deal. and now you have a lot of members of congress that aren't abiding by that deal. what's to prevent anybody from making another agreement if you don't think the other side's going to live up to that? i think that's what's frustrating is that, you know, it seems like groundhog's day again. with the current makeup of congress -- host: matt, i think we lost you. sorry about that. still up on the screen there. we'll go to liz in new jersey. liz on the democrats line. thanks for your call, by the way, matt. we'll go to liz. go ahead. caller: yes, good morning. i wanted to send my condolences to the feinstein family. i followed her career and it was very impressive and i think a

life very well lived. as far as the shutdown, most of these shutdowns, if not all of the recent ones, have been occurring when the republicans had any control over the house of representatives. so, a lot of americans vote and want a check and balance, like if a republican's in the white house, the democrats hold the house. or biden being a democrat, they would like to have a house of representatives that's republican. but that presumes that the republicans want to run government, that they want to adhere to negotiations and not expect everything to go their way. and the current agreement that was met over the summer for the extension of the debt limit, they've now decided that even

though they agreed to it, they're prepared to walk away from it. we can't operate as a nation that way. so if they're not interested in governing, when we all march off to the polls, whether this november or next november, we have to give some serious thought as to why we keep electing people to the house who are obstructionists, bomb throwers, they aren't interested in governing. they're interested in some sort of performance that they can get on fox news. so i think we have to seriously consider who we're voting for. and if you're a republican and you're a federal worker and you're facing a shutdown, examine who you voted for and see if your congress person is one of the ones obstructing the

shutdown. thank you. host: on to steve who is calling from idaho on the republican line. hi, steve. caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. i believe that this government shutdown was anticipated long ago and it's being used as a lever by both sides of the aisle. and i really think that people need to start coming together to fix our problems. i mean, most of the populus knows we're $33 trillion in the hole and we cannot stop spending money. i have to stop if my checkbook is at zero. what makes them so different that they think they can do that and just get away with it and nobody out here who votes for them is not going to see that? that's all i got to say. have a great day.

host: all right, steve. appreciate that. in cloverdale, indiana, we'll go to mark on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. this is mark. the reason i'm calling is we got to get at the basic problem of why we have a government shutdown. there are two basic reasons. number one is people don't want to work anymore. we got too many people that are riding in the wagon instead of pulling the wagon. i worked until age 75, 80 hours a week. and i paid my taxes and if everybody did that, we would have tons of money in the government. the second major reason why we do not have enough money in the government is because so many children were aborted. if we had 70 million, plus all

their descendants living in the united states, fully employed, we would have plenty of money for social security and for any programs that are absolutely necessary. host: all right. mark and hopefully more of your calls here in a moment. with the house coming in at 10:00 eastern. we'll have live coverage here on c-span. we mentioned earlier this morning, we talked about the story this hour, the death last night of 90-year-old senator dianne feinstein of california. we're joined, dianne feinstein, one of the longest serving senators in the history of the senate. jason, welcome to the program. thanks for being here this morning. we'll talk to jason in a moment. we'll continue with your calls and go to elizabeth city, north

carolina. caller: good morning to you. how is everything? i wanted to call in regards, i'm a federal employee, i work for the d.h.s. u.s. coast guard, actually, with the aircraft repair facility. and contractors and federal employees work together through this and the way that federal contractors are budgeted overlapse the corridors so there's continuance with the contractors. so federal contractors actually get paid very well. i was one for many, many years. and the overlap -- they overlap the funding so they have continuance. there's nothing wrong with that. some people like to complain about civil service getting paid but we all have to go to work because we're essential workers.

when we don't get paid, the contractors are paid actively and they're paid at a higher rate in most instances than an experienced federal employee. so -- but we're going to work through this together. and i like what the caller from indiana said and i also like how people, you know, identify the concept that we have to work together and those people in washington have to work together in order to make this function. and it's about time it happened. so let's say our prayers and keep our nose to the grind stone and keep moving forward with a positive attitude. and we'll get through this. host: all right, appreciate it. we're about 10 minutes away from the start, eight minutes away from the start of the u.s. house session. live this morning here on c-span. 10:00 eastern. we'll also hear from kevin mccarthy, the speaker of the house, holding a news conference at this same hour.

we'll have live coverage of that on our mobile app, c-span now. we'll go to viola on the republican line in rockville, maryland. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: hi, good morning. so, the reason why i'm calling is because i believe america has to be thought of how exactly the whole illegal immigrant situation, like their life kind of is here. so living amongst illegal immigrants for 13 years, i can say that they do benefit a lot from this country. and they don't get much. and how do they do it? they come here, they pay a lot of money to the cartels, they pay about $8,000 to $9,000 to come to this country.

right? and they have to bring drugs because i was married to an illegal immigrant and he came by himself because he didn't have enough money. so he had to, like when it was time for him to cross the border, it's controlled by the cartel. so he had to bring drugs to this country so that he could be able to come here without getting killed. host: appreciate your input. we're joined next by jason dick who is the editor in chief of "c.q. roll call" joining us to talk about the death of senator dianne feinstein. jason, quite a legacy of senator feinstein. the last couple of years have been all about her age. and her service in the senate. but she leaves quite a legacy on a number of other issues as well. guest: yes. i mean, absolutely, bill. the legacy is one that's deep and certainly people in california, you know, are aware of it.

this is the first woman who was a mayor of san francisco, she was elected in a special election 30 years, she chaired the intelligence committee during a very difficult time in relations between the intelligence communi a congress. was one othe chief architects of what became known as the torture report, that gave the public an idea of exactly what the intelligence community was doing in the name of the american people during the war on terror. she was the top democrat on the juciary committee. i mean, just a huge, huge legacy for her and one that will be, i think, linked with certainly the former speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, another big san franciscoemocrat and another obviously trail blazer there and the first woman speaker. host: it's interesting to see some of the republican reaction. obviously you see the sympathy, the tweetses and condolences and things like that, but several members, including senator

marsha blackburn from tennessee, saying, we worked across the aisle. she and i worked together on music rights for songwriters and on big tech issues. there were a number of republican senators saying that they appreciated her working across the aisle. guest: absolutely. and this is something that gets lost, i think, in classifying people as san francisco democrats or liberals or california democrats. there is not a template from which it comes. san francisco was a democratic power base and continues to be for years, but there is a very pragmatic approach to politics with dianne feinstein. she held very strong views on things like gun control, on abortion rights and so forth. but that didn't mean that she didn't want to work with her colleagues. it reminds me a little of the speech that the president gave yesterday in arizona, my home state, about john mccain. john mccain and joe biden lived and wo together for years,

lived in te city, i should say, and worked together in the senate for years and evegh they came from very different approaches to politics were always able to work together. same thick with dianne feinstein. she hy strong opinions, a very strong policy position on very polarizing topics, but found a way to work with colleagues across the aisle. host: we've got the u.s. house, the senate is coming in. so we'll certainly hear some tributes to senator feinstein. the house coming in at 10:00 eastern. but just one more question for you. now the look ahead. a number of candidates have already mentioned they want to run for senate when the seat is up in 2024. but now gavin newsom, the governor of california, has a decision to make. guest: he does, absolutely. coincidentally, we're supposed to sponsor a roll call, a senate debate forum next sunday with adam schiff and katie lee and barbara -- sorry, katie porter and barbara lee, three house

democrats who are all running for the seat. you know, in that situation, gavin newsom says he does not -- one, he said he didn't want to replace her at all. he didn't want to appoint anyone at all because he wished her best health. now he's said he will appoint, he promised to appoint a black woman. barbara lee would be the first black woman on the list for a lot of people and she's from oakland. but newsom has also said he doesn't want to put his thumb on the scale and appoint someone who is already running so that they would be an incumbent going into this. at this point the list gets a little hazy. oprah winfrey has been mentioned as a possible sort of caretaker, a short-term appointment, because it only lasts until the 2024 election and when the successor is sworn in. so it gets a little interesting here because newsom, you know, has sort of boxed himself in with some of his pledges to appoint a black woman and also not somebody who is currently

running. we're reporting away as we speak on what happens next. obviously the senate, with the margins and with the shutdown looming and so forth, they want to be at full strength. they want 100 senators. so i would think that newsom would have to make this decision pretty quickly. host: our viewers and listeners keep track of all that at rollcall.com. jason dick, editor in chief of "c.q. roll call," thank you for being with us this morning. guest: thanks so much for having me. host: that will about do it for our program this morning. if i could take a moment, a point of personal privilege, as they say, in the u.s. house here on c-span. i retired from full-time work here on c-span two years ago. but i've been hosting this program on a monthly basis since then. well, this morning is my last show with toya washington. there are a whole bunch of people i'd like to thank at this moment. but the house comes acalling and we've got to go here. but i do want to say, the people i want to thank the most are

you, the audience, the viewers of toya washington, -- viewers of washington journal $. i've come to appreciate how important this program is and what a privilege it has been for me to host it. it has been a privilege of my broadcast career. and i thank you for that and hope you continue to watch and listen, call in and support this program. it is a national treasure. that will do it for me. we are back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern. we hope you are as well. and happy birthday, peach. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives.