house, the guest arrivals on the red carpet, and dinner toast. watch tonight 11 p.m. eastern on c-span. on the free c-span now video app, or online at c-span.org. >> a healthy democracy doesn't just look like this. it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work. when citizens are truly informed, our 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 opponent own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. a recet is highlighted in a recent story, looking at the view of congress in light of the speaker

election. the economist asks folks if the lack of a speaker was a problem. an amount saying overall it was helping government. 25% saying it had no effect and about 50% saying that the lack of a speaker was hurting government. among democrats, that view about hurting government is shared and independents as well, as well as republicans. that is how the parties break down when it looks at the operational view of congress. maybe this election process has impacted you and how you view congress you can let us know how you view congress. you can let us know on the phone lines. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. louisiana representative mike johnson was chosen last night to become the speaker designee.

that vote will take place at noon on the house floor where he will try to gain the 217 votes needed to become the house speaker. punch bowl takes a look at some of the things working in mr. johnson's favor when it comes to that, saying that johnson has a good chance of getting to 217 after former speaker kevin mccarthy he may be the best position of any house republican to do so. he can lose only four votes but he can make it. house majority leader steve scalise and judiciary chair jim jordan have offered support. three gop lawmakers voted present last night in a private gop only roll call vote. there were only 23 -- there were 23 absences. this is where johnson's problems will be, if he has any. some may be holdouts, but there was an event last night that some gop lawmakers attended instead of the vote.

if republicans cannot elect johnson as speaker, the game is up. moderate republicans will go to the floor and join with democrats to elect patrick mchenry. the house has been without a speaker for 22 days. members are fed up with the paralysis, the lack of a speaker, and the process over the last three weeks affects you as far as how you view congress and how it operates. you can let us know. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. clearance in tennessee about the view of congress and the speaker election. he is in nashville. good morning. caller: good morning to you and to america. i am a lifelong republican and

pleased they finally have a candidate and i encourage anyone , most of us never knew this particular individual, i would encourage you to look at -- google resume. he appears to be a solid candidate and i hope this group will elect him with no no votes. i would encourage many of these republicans to not allow the press questioners to stand and talk for five minutes before questions. it is pathetic, the way the press has treated this entire situation. it has been so one-way. host: how do you view congress

and how it operates? has it changed your opinion of that? caller: i have been discouraged, especially for one tennessee congressman that joined that. i think that was atrocious. but better to get it done. the public should not be surprised that there are some differences of opinion rather than the echo chamber that the democratic caucus uses and uses wastefully. host: your view of congress and how it has been affected by the house election -- the speaker election process. a viewer from hawaii, democrats line. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes. caller: it has been three weeks.

the house has not yet had a speaker. i'm always on the side of someone -- hakeem jeffries has always been someone that i would hundred percent support. there are a lot of things that need to get done and we need to get back to work. the house needs to get back to work and get business done, funding for israel, for ukraine, and protecting underserved communities, making sure that all of america stands united. it is really all about doing what is right. whatever could be happening today when the house is meeting for the floor vote, i am prepared. we need to get together. we need to do what is right and we need to heal this nation. our nation has suffered so much

and we want to make sure everyone does what is best. host: let's go to deborah in massachusetts. again, your opinion of congress and if it has been affected by the speaker election. caller: we have all been impacted. first, congress cannot do anything. basically, the house of representatives is supposed to be an appropriations body and he cannot do that. right now, if something really major would happen, let's say korea would do something or china would do something, the house of representatives is who calls war nothing president. right now, we cannot call war. we cannot do anything. they have left is paralyzed. the republican party is in shambles. the press is not going after

them. they are going after themselves. as mitt romney says come at they do not believe in our constitution. i do not think they do because right now we do not have a functioning house of representatives. what they have done to kill this -- i think they are going the way of authoritarianism with the republican party. they seem to only go after whatever their leader wants. that is what they do. they cannot seem to think for them selves. i believe this man is also one that does not believe that president biden's president, so i do not think it is working out at all for us. host: patty in connecticut, republican line, you are next up. caller: i have to say i agree with the last woman that called and i am a republican. the republican party is a disgrace to this nation. the crazy eight, as they are

called, seem to be running it because they are running it at the behest of trump. he seems to be running congress. the joke is always they are going to elect him speaker. this country is in shambles because of these republicans. everything that biden has tried to do, they have voted against. they have done nothing but criticize him since he came into office. host: what is your view of the latest speaker nominee? caller: it is a disgrace that man is dangerous, just like the rest of them that they tried to nominate. host: why? caller: he denied biden as being president. he is kissing the ring of trump.

anything that trump wants is what these people are doing. host: you can continue calling on the lines. you can text us if you wish at (202) 748-8003. you can post on social media. several of you have done that. vicki mayfield offf facebook saying, it is refreshing to see them fight to do what is right for a change and they need to stop all the spending. people are addicted to unlimited spending. jay saying i have nad a positive opinion of congress and this is reaffirming that opinion. the only difference is now there is a reason why congress cannot doomething to help the average person in this country. another viewer off of twitter, both parties are a joke. either party could elect a speaker if they cared more about the country than their party. it was rep. johnson: after that election last night that got him

the title a speaker designee, went before cameras talking about what he sees as next steps and hopes to do should he gain the speakership. >> democracy is messy, but it is our system. this conference, this house republican majority, is united. i am honored to have the support of my colleagues and this is servant leadership. we are going to serve the people of this country. we are going to restore their faith in this institution of government. america is the last best hope of man on the earth. abraham like and said it. ronald reagan used to remind us all the time and we are here to remind you that again. we will restore your trust in what we do here. you will see a new form of government and we will move this

quickly. this group is ready to govern. we are going to govern well. we are going to do what is right by the people and the people are going to reward that next year but we have a lot of priorities ahead of us now or the world is on fire. we stand with our ally israel. we have a busy agenda. we have appropriations bills to get through the process, but you will see this group working like a well oiled machine. we owe that to the american people. the people up here have been sent here by the people of this country to do this job, and we are going to do it well. we commit that to you. inc. you for allowing us to go through the process and get to this. it was worth it. we will serve you well.

the intention is to go to the house floor tomorrow and make this official. host: that is what you will see at noon today and we will watch on c-span and follow along on the app. to see if representative mike johnson can get enough votes to gain the speakership. we are asking you about not only the process but also what you think as far as how congress operates. bernie in kentucky, democrats line. caller: hello. i'm going to give this congress a little latitude. they are going through short and are times. i will give them some latitude and some time to work themselves out. this might sound -- i believe everybody up there is working hard. i think they are up there doing their job.

probably only a handful people in this country could do that job. yesterday's last call on the journal was the call of the year. i am so glad you were the host. i hope that becomes a trend, the journal as a learning tool in classrooms. i have not seen a better call all year. host: that was a great call. for those of you who want to see the program yesterday, it took place at the end of the program. axios looks at about johnson -- representative johnson's relationship with former president. he was a defender of the former president the impeachment hearing and led to the amicus brief signed by more than 100 house republicans in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. liz cheney released old videos highlighting johnson's

involvement as well as the quote in the new york times that called him the most important architect of the electoral college objections, according to reporting from nbc. again, mike johnson will take his place and see what happens as noon approaches today. in jefferson city, missouri, independent line. caller: if the democrats would nominate tom emmers and all vote for him, he would get at least five more votes from the republicans and become the speaker. it will be better than the maga ring kisser johnson. listen up, democrats. host: what is it about tom emmers that you support? caller: he did not vote against the -- during the election process, he did not vote against

biden for whatever trump thought they stole the election and everybody else like johnson voted to cast out the votes. host: the washington post, their lead editorial today, democrats should help elect a republican speaker. this is the case they make, saying republicans have considered even trying some of these options. they said what they have not done is rely on democrats to make the map -- math work. democrats have routinely backed their leader for speaker, the point of which is to raise the threshold for the republican candidate to achieve a majority on the floor. this has allowed a small number of gop radicals to deny a majority to the various speaker candidates. democrats have more productive options. at least a substantial number of them could vote present, changing the map and lowering the threshold to achieve a majority. mr. mchenry could get the votes

to be temporarily in charge or the knox -- next tom emmer could become speaker without having to placate the far right. the government will otherwise have to close this month. democrats would sign line those with too much influence during kevin mccarthy's brief tenure. this is from eric in west virginia, republican line. your view of congress in light of the house speaker election process. >> caller: the way i see this, matt gaetz and those eight congresspeople have created a problem. i think history will show that they were trying to save our country from bankruptcy because

in the future when the debt is greater than the gdp and we are paying a trillion dollars interest on the debt, they are going to have to start cutting some of these social programs for people. then we will realize that maybe this was a time that was right for what happened. and i cannot understand how joe biden can use the piggy bank of the federal government to buy votes like canceling debt for college people. host: darrell from georgia, republican line. caller: trump has his hands all in this mess.

he goes to true social and basically just canceled mike emmer -- tom emmer out. that is what killed him. these insurrectionists that do not believe that biden won and all that -- he wants these people in. it is not just him. we know about trump, but it is three of them. there are three guys killing this thing with the congress and killing this country. it is donald trump, sean hannity, and steve bannon. those three men have their hand all in this stuff. host: your view of congress during this process? caller: congress -- they are all scared. everybody is scared. everybody on the republican side is scared to death of trump.

that is why they are scared to make a decision and when they do make a decision they are scared to stick with it because they have to go back and see what he thinks about it. that is why they can never move forward. host: from ruth in indiana, independent line. caller: i agree totally with the last caller. one of our biggest problems is when we go to vote we do not look into who we are voting for. we just pull the lever for a republican or pull the lever for democrat. i do not have the benefit of being able to easily look up on the computer the history of people and so forth. i watch mainstream media and c-span and pbs and find out what these people represent, what they are going for and so forth, and that is how i vote. i have voted for a lot of republicans, but i have no no

sense of anything in congress anymore. i just do not believe in -- they got radicals up there. we are voting them and because we have not paid attention to who we are voting for. but be more serious -- let's be more serious. host: have you had a chance to look into rep. johnson:? -- representative johnson? caller: the fact that he cannot accept the fact that biden became president fair and square and that is the view of most of these guys running, my own representative here in south bend voted not to certify him. the guy that took over for her -- she was tragically killed in an accident. same thing. when i call his office, they do not care what your name is or what district you came from because they do not have any intention of replying to you. they are just doing what they

want to do. forget about what the american people want to do. host: that is ruth from indiana this is marion in california texting us. you can do t se. my view of congress is an example of our government coming undone. the deliberate division and corruption we are following the path of powerful governments through the centuries that fell. this is if you were saying 21 days -- 22 days actually without a speaker of the house. a great republican failure. again, a variety of ways you can post if you want on social media or facebook. jeff, republican line, in louisiana. hello. caller: i am from louisiana, born and raised. mike johnson is one of the

sweetest and kindest men you will ever meet with a kind young family. i heard the previous caller talk about his support for protesting the election results. you have to remember what district we come from. that was the popular sentiment at the time and that was before january 6. but he is very approachable, deliberate. he was a very well-known attorney, kind man. kind neighbor. a young man and somebody who i think really would get along with both sides. he would really be a blessing for our country and for the republican party. he is a staunch conservative, but he is not a fringe conservative. i can tell you that firsthand.

host: that is jeff in louisiana. c-span has a tradition of interviewing incoming freshman when they enter congress to talk about their experiences, their background, what they hope to bring to the position. rep. johnson: sat down with us -- representative johnson sat down with us as a freshman. he talked what efforts he wanted to make to improve the tone on capitol hill. @cspanwj -- [video clip] >> we all talked of and how we wanted to change the tone in washington and raise the level of civility. i drafted a document called a committed to civility. 53 of 55 freshman members signed onto that. we made a contract with one another that we would raise the level of decorum and treat one another with dignity and respect because i think that sets an important example. >> how does that play out amongst those who have been here for a while?

>> we are in a different era now. steve scalise is from my home state of louisiana and a dear friend of mine. that got everybody's attention, even national media. there has been a lot of discussion about the level of discourse here ultimately leading to violence now and a majority of the american people, over three fourths of the american people believe that is true. there is recognition that we have to change that and it has been gratifying and encouraging to see people from different parties agreeing on the idea that we need to do this better. i think that is what the founders envisioned and intended and that level of statesmanship that we used regard and respect in this country, i think we can get back to that and do a great service to everyone. host: more of that interview available on our website. rep. johnson: will face the whole house at noon today to

determine if he can gain enough votes to become house speaker. brendan is next in pennsylvania, democrats line. caller: i'm calling in regards to coming into congress right now. i'm talking from experience of being a former politician in my career choice. i have -- whenever it comes to gerrymandering situation, where we got people in that we did not vote for, and then the lack of knowledge for the people that did get voted in, we are paying the price for those votes right now. you can see they are doing it more for social reviews than for actual law. they want to fight they want to picket each other. there is no camaraderie in anything they are doing. it was all started to have a bunch of members work together,

but the three branches of government -- you have a fourth party coming in and trying to manipulate the situation to try to cause more discourse. host: let's hear from eddie in massachusetts, republican line. caller: the guy from virginia really summed it up. it is the interest rate on the debt. they are so high the last couple years. they have gone up 5%. he is worried about it reaching $1 trillion. the reason they are funny because these people, it is the continuing resolutions to continue the budget and the deficit spending. the president is just wanting to add another hundred billion dollars to the deficit. it is a worthy cause, but you have to cut out the waste, the welfare in the country. congress has to do it.

thank you. host: do you think the lack of a house speaker's want to complicate men -- matters considering the funding deadline in november? caller: of course it is want to be in trouble. they are going to stop government. host: would you consider than a containing resolution a short-term fix? caller: no. that is why they are voting negative, the continuous resolution. they are ok with $2 trillion deficit spending each year. that is the problem. that is why they are so negative. host: this is from gary, democrats line. caller: republicans want to fight culture wars, the assault

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