>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including charter communications >> we are just getting started. building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who needed. it. given you a front row seat to democracy -- and giving you a onrow seat to democracy. >> comg on "washington

journal" yr calls and comments the next. alex rouhandeh talks about republican congressman mike johnson as house speaker and what is next on the congressional agenda. we will contin t discussion on house speaker me johnson, the november 17 government fuindeadline and the u.s. response to thisel hamas war with democratic congresswoman, hawaii democratic congresswoman. "washington journal" is next. >> last thing i'm going to say to the rest of the world, they have been watching this drama play out for a few we. we have learned a lot of lessons, through adversity it makes you stronger. we want our allies around the world to know this body of lawmakers is reporting again to

the duty stations. let the enemies of freedom around the world hear us loud and clear, the people's's house is back in business. host: after 22 days without a speaker of the u.s. house of representative, republicans rallied around one lawmakers yesterday, mike johnson, 51 years old from louisiana. he was elected speaker in the first round of balancing, unanimously by -- bal loting unanimously in his congress. you can also text us. include your first name, city and state, (202) 748-8003. you can post on facebook.com or

join us in the tweet -- in a tweet with the handle at c-span wj. let's begin with more from mike johnson after he took the gavel in the house. [video clip] >> i think all of the american people at one time had great pride in the institution. right now that is in jeopardy. we have a challenge to rebuild and restore the trust. this is a beautiful country. it is the beauty of america that allows firefighters like me to come here and serve in the sacred chamber were great men and women have strived to serve together. we stand in a very dangerous time. i stated the obvious. the world is in turmoil.

a strong america is good for the entire world. [applause] >> we are the beacon of freedom and we must preserve this grand experience in self-governance. we are only 247 years into this grand experience and we do not know how long it will last. we do not that the founding fathers told us to take care of it. i want to tell all of my colleagues here what i told republicans last night. i do not believe there is any coincidences delayed manner like this. i believe in the scripture the bible is clear. i believe that god is ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment at this time. each one of us has a huge responsibility today, to use the gift that god has given us to

serve extraordinary people of discrete country -- this great country and ensure it. host: mike johnson on the house floor yesterday after he secured the votes in the first round of balloting to become speaker of the house. sherman of punch bowl news notes in the tweet, johnson got every republican vote, 220. first time that has happened since 2011. it became official quickly yesterday. many reporters on capitol hill capturing this photo, speaker of the house, mike johnson. the sign went up within minutes of him becoming speaker and getting the vote in the house yesterday. this came after three weeks of no speaker in the house.

republicans along with the democrats voted to oust kevin mccarthy from the position. you saw the drama play out in the nation's capital. the republicans then went to several other nominees before landing on mike johnson. the advocate from louisiana, its largest paper in the state had a article yesterday. who is mark johnson -- mike johnson, they said he is widely unknown in capitol hill in that has worked in his favor. steve scalise, jim jordan have longer histories in congress and each accumulated enemies. johnson had less baggage. he is a christian conservative who is close to the louisiana family forum religious group in baton rouge. he spent his legal career spending really just freedom --

spreading religious freedom and biblical values. democrats from their part to have this to say about mike johnson coming from hakeem jeffries, the house. before the vote yesterday but when it became clear that mike johnson would get speakership. >> mike johnson is someone who liked kevin mccarthy, steve scalise, jim jordan, voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election. mike johnson, similar to all of those individuals have -- has a track record of trying to undermine social security and medicare. using important things that are connected to the fiber of our country and end them out we know it. mike johnson wants to the last abortion care and impose a nationwide man. later on today -- nationwide

ban. we will continue to forcefully push back on the extremism and layout with the stakes are for the american people in terms of fighting bipartisan -- finding bipartisan, ground. funding the government that needs to ways in the american people in terms of economic well-being. stand by our allies like israel and ukraine and other parts of the free world. provide humanitarian assistance for palestinians who might be in harm's way, does the things that are necessary both for our country and for the free world. these are the things that would help under a speaker, mike johnson will be focused on as opposed to the republicans continuing to jam their right wing ideology down the throats of the american people. we will fight that today, tomorrow, forever. host: hakeem jeffries yesterday

on the republican agenda in their new speaker, mike johnson from louisiana. we are getting your reaction to the speakership and your thoughts on how this all played out in washington. before we get to your calls, facebook posts, x posts and text messages, we want to share a headline out of maine. 16 dead, dozens wounded in a shooting. police give you details on overnight search for government in the area. a massive -- gunmen in the area. a shelter in place order remains in effect for all of the county with residents told to stay in their homes and keep their doors locked. angela in maryland. democratic caller. what do you think of the new speaker, mike johnson. caller: i know he is part of the

republican study committee, which is the largest republican committee. i looked up their budget today, it calls for turning traditional medicare, the money that goes into it, and to a premium support for private insurance plans. that is the one thing i do not like about the budget. they talk about reforming social security for those that are not yet on social security. they do not give specifics. i looked at their budget from 2023. the republican study committee budget in 2023. they talk about linking the age of social security retirement to your life expectancy age. i hope you ask the republican congressman later on about that. mostly what i have a problem with them on is the same thing is what i have trombone, trying -- trump on.

mike pence said that is what trump asked him to do. he said reject the bryden electoral vote and keep me in his president -- reject the biden electoral vote and keep me in his presence. those are the two big problems i had. if you can ask the republican congressman coming up about the social security and medicare reforms, i will appreciate. host: angela during her homework in maryland. we are going to talk to republicans, lawmakers and lawmakers in the house. we will do quick interviews with them while we keep taking your calls today on mike johnson elected as house speaker. joel. good morning.

caller: i just think it is great that we got a man after deep faith in christianity. it is just great. it is good we got a speaker. sorry about the killing in maine overnight or recently. 20 people was killed. it was terrible. host: and i ask you on the speakership, what do you think the impact on the party would be from not having a speaker for three weeks. ? caller: we saved a lot of money. i am being fishy sis. save a lot of money, didn't we? host: what do you think voters will do, will this have a impact

on them going into 2024? caller: i think i am happy we have a speaker. in 2024, we will see a complete change in the election coming up. the cost of food, inflation and gas and everything. before you disconnect me, how many democrats voted for this man yesterday? i did not receive that. host: no democrats. 209 were present rather than the 212 they have in the house. all to our nine voted for their leader, hakeem jeffries, which is typically how it goes down. the ranking vote for their party leadership. let's hear from you darrell. caller: i was completely giddy when i saw mark john -- mike johnson for the first time in

months who had not a hair of white in his head, finally got a shift to the next generation. i am going to be proud of our children, grandchildren of both parties. when i see is actually happening at this moment, when my generation of 73 are passing our baton to them. host: on facebook lawrence wrote, i think it is good that they got a relatively unknown to take a job so there is not as much political baggage as some of the other speaker candidates would be. you can join us on facebook as well. you can join us on x with the handle c-span wj. from the white house yesterday, president biden during a giant news conference with the

australian prime minister was asked of his thoughts on -- joint news conference with the australian prime minister was asked about his thoughts of mike johnson. >> republican stressed selected mike johnson as the speaker of the -- republicans just selected mike johnson as speaker of the house. he encouraged his colleagues to join in lawsuit. if you win reelection in 2024, are you word that speaker johnson would attempt to overturn the election? >> no. just like i was not worried that the last guy being voted overturn the election. i understand the constitution. host: washington post has more on the road but mike johnson played in the 2022 -- role mike johnson played in 20 22.

johnson numeral is seeking to overturn the vote was influenced by the former president, trump. whose past lawmaker was selected the same year in 2016 to help spearhead efforts on capitol hill. president trump called me last night and i was encouraged to his continued resolve to ensure every legal vote gets properly counted, that all instances of fraud and illegality are investigated. johnson tweeted on november 9. weeks later after ken paxton filed suit to challenge the votes in swing states. he used the connection in writing a december 9, 2020, with the subject line, time sensitive

request from president trump. the brief said it represented a concern members of congress are shared by untold members of their constituents that the unconstitutional irregularities involved in the 2020 election cast out upon it outcome in the integrity of the election. johnson's role was so central that the brief cover page read, u.s. representative mike johnson and 125 other of the house of representatives. the supreme court throughout the case, saying on december 11, 2020, that texas did not have standing. in the wake of the brief failure, some republicans complained to johnson that he had unfairly pressured them to sign him into the filings by invoking trump's name. according to a senior aide who spoke on the condition to describe private conversations.

johnson told his colleagues that he was sorry if they felt sorry according to the aid, he was on the call when johnson made the comment. after the case was talked out, johnson was asked why he think trumps team has failed. he stood by the legal claim and that trump did not have good lawyers. christina democratic caller. we will go to you. caller: i am having trouble voting in an extremist. a extreme people on the right. -- very extreme people on the right. i am just expecting at any time for them to have altar calls and passing out the snakes. have a good day. host: glenn. corpus christi, texas. caller: i appreciate johnson

being elected speaker of the house. jeffers, he is mad he could not buy six republican votes to be speaker of the house. johnson is going to do a good job as speaker. i like how his platforms were laid out yesterday. he is probably going to follow through on all of them. it is time for the republicans to get power back into the house of representatives. i guarantee you this coming election, and a lot of democrats are going to be voting out of office. host: what do you like about the agenda he put out? he said he will pass a short-term continuing resolution. that is what kevin mccarthy did when he was speaker. that triggered some of his republican colleagues. caller: i appreciate that and i

applaud him for that. bringing the senate to our -- notice of all bills that we give people time to read all of the information on the bills. i would like to see them censored like gaetz severely for his interruption of mccarthy speaker of the house. matt gaetz is a crooked -- she is actually a crook. he should actually be in prison for having draped a 13-year-old girl in florida. host: glenn, he says he feels vindicated now that mike johnson is speaker. caller: who is? host: matt gaetz says he feels vindicated for the role he played in all of this that mike johnson is speaker. caller: he should be censored from of the problems that he

presented for the republican party. he caused all of this interruption in the speaker house. he is the one that should be censored severely. host: bill in alabama. independent. caller: good morning. you misrepresented what mike johnson said in his speech about a continual resolution. host: tell me how you heard it? caller: i heard if necessary if they do not get all of the bills done. they already got four or five bills passed sitting on chuck schumer's desk. host: so they are going to try to keep doing some of these spending bills with the hope of not passing a continual resolution.

they are close to the deadline of november 17. do you think they can do it? caller: i don't know. you do not know that either. to correct something else that you quoted this morning. the police in maine quoted live from there speaker that it was 22 people killed. you need to keep up on your information because you are given out false information, greta. host: what i read was a headline and it said more than 16. 22 and numerous people injured. caller: you quote from the washington post and new york times all the time. host: that was a maine newspaper. democratic caller.

barbara. caller: hello. election deniers should be qualified. how is he pro-life? you are not pro-life if you are not toward humanitarian efforts towards the palestinians. whoever follows trump is not a true christian because he does not exemplified not fruit of the spirit. host: ok. here's a little bit about the gentle -- agenda ahead for mike johnson. before his vote he put out a framework for the coming months, he plans to begin the appropriation bill starting with the water bill. more spending bills will follow through mid-november.

if congress can't pass all 12 appropriations bills by the november 7 case funding deadline, which appears inevitable, then johnson would support a stopgap bill funding the government through january 15 or through april 15 based on what can obtain conference consensus said in his letter. that proposal is not new. the strategy goes back to the -- mccarthy and president biden to raise the debt limit. language requires a 1% spending cut on january 1 if the federal government is still operating under a stopgap spending bill. republicans say will put pressure on democrats come to the negotiation table on individual spending bills. scotty. north carolina. republican. caller: my name is scotty.

i am from north carolina. the democrats weaponize in the media and they do not cover everything what is reported. i am bothered with that. it is taking away our freedom. we do not have freedom, we do not have justice in the united states. all of that is gone. we do not have a country anymore. that is all i have to say about anything. host: larry. independent. missouri. caller: you know, this whole thing is a sham. johnson is not a practicing christian, he is a practicing satanist. they all are. host: good morning. caller: i am calling about the speaker.

i think it is frightening that we are in this position where we have someone, tramp acolyte, who is now the third in line to assume the presidency. what is this going to mean for legislation going forward for aid to ukraine, for aid to israel, humanitarian aid for the palestinians? the so-called holding of the bible, that is just -- it is just a ploy and a trick. it just discuss me. i am very frightened. host: your question about aid to ukraine and israel appeared in . here is the wall street journal. >> mccarthy, among house

majority leader steve scalise in house majority tom emmer all voted for the stopgap measure that is keeping the government funded through november 17, all three voted for 40 billion in aid to ukraine in 2022. again this year for about 300 million for ukraine security initiative. johnson voted against those measures. now that johnson is speaker, the question is how firmly his beliefs are about the fund or whether he is a part of a perennial vote no, vote yes caucus. advancing a temporary spending bill until january 16 or april 5 is depending on what conference will support while working on those remaining appropriation bills. for next year he proposed passing eight fiscal 2025 budget resolution by april and keeping the house in session in august if the house hasn't passed all of the fiscal appropriation bill at that time.

when he served in the republican committee, johnson presided over eight budget blueprint design to balance a federal budget in 10 years. pushed an idea with paul ryan to turn medicare into a premium support system, which beneficiaries will receive a natural business by health insurance through a regulated medicare exchange. the plan proposed raising the retirement age to 69 for people born in 1950. those details in today's wall street journal if you're interested. wayne in new hampshire. republican. caller: i am a first time caller . i have been watching c-span for a long time. i keep hearing over and over again, and recredit collars -- democratic callers calling --

and on the his people really did -- they do not want to certify joe biden's election, just like millions of other people they know that that election was interfered with. they keep saying that. they keep trying to tie republicans into january 6. it is really frustrating to hear this over and over again on c-span. it is just not true. host: several papers go into it today. we weren't -- rent from the washington post about the legal challenge that mike johnson was part of to overturn the 2020 election, not what happened on january 6. have you read that? caller: i do not read anything that is washington post.

host: you can find it and read it for yourself in today's washington post. chuck. louisville, kentucky. independent. caller: first, the public isn't aware on what has been going on in this house. the house was set when nancy pelosi was in in favor of democratic party. saying that, you must go back to when mccarthy was head of the house of representatives. the first bill he tried to take through -- which was successful, actually it was three. they wanted to make sure that it wasn't.

the law can't past. a couple of days later, nancy pelosi. people do not realize that we have a state now --. host: the speaker election yesterday. caller: this is about the house rules. no matter what you do, if democrats do not like it is not going to pass. have the time they will not even let it come up for a vote. host: donald. north carolina. democratic caller. caller: this is my first time calling. the speaker, i think he is doing a lot of talk about bringing the

parties together. i do not think he is really going to bring together because one of the first things on his agenda that he brought up, he wants to go and give money to israel but he do not want to give anything to ukraine. that is dividing right there. if we are going to keep everything together then we need to work together. host: we are going to learn more about mike johnson's to do list on the "washington journal". we will take a break. when we come back, we will talk about the speakership with newsweek congressional correspondence alex rouhandeh. we will be right back. >> 1970 nine and partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress from

the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings , c-span gives the a front row seat about issues that are debated or decided with no commentary, no interruption and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> if he ever mess any up c-span's coverage, you can find it online at c-span.org, videos of the key hearings, debates in other events feature markers that guides you to newsworthy highlights. these markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. this makes it easy to get an idea on what was debated in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest.

one, watching c-span's series in partnership with the library of -- monday, watch c-span's series in partnership with the library books of america. known for bringing the american west to life, the book addresses the immigrant experience and women issues. watch books that shaped america, featuring -- monday live on 9 p.m. eastern, c-span now or online at c-span.org. be sure to scan the qr code to listen to our companion podcast where you can learn more about the authors of the books featured.

>> a healthy democracy does not just look like this, it looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work. 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, to get the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back with alex rouhandeh here to talk more about the house speaker yesterday. alex rouhandeh, how did mike johnson do it? guest: it seems that once republicans came together in the conference meeting following

majority tom emmer bowing out of the race, speaker johnson really emerges that consensus candidate. congressman of new york told me that once they went into the round of voting, they narrow down a candidate. he emerged the person that can bring the most conservative republicans and the moderates together. other members stressed that he was a listener, someone who will take all voices to account and hear what they have to say. host: like fitzpatrick from pennsylvania, others all voting for mike johnson. why do they see him as someone who will possibly listen and include proposals that they would like to see in legislation? guest: mike johnson's voting record, he was one of the people that post certifying the 2020

election. also opposed the same sex moderate mill. it seems that it came down to bait temperament issue. it seemed to be someone they believe that will hear them and consider their needs. for the more conservative and moderates, he seems to be someone who did not have the baggage that some of the prior members of leadership had. he has not violated any promises. that is sort of how they came to see him as a consensus pick. host: he definitely has experience like the others do or did in leadership position -- doesn't have experience like the others do or did in leadership position. guest: he has never been in the leadership positions. he was head of the republican study committee and vice chair of the conference.

those aren't roles where you are overseeing a broad operation. now that he is a speaker he is going to have a larger staff, he is going to have to do fundraising, he is going to have to leave policies. eight new position for him to be in. he is overseeing a lot more people, has a lot more voices and consideration as opposed to the type of leadership he has to see just as a congressman from a louisiana district. host: how much fundraising? explain to viewers what it takes to obtain and retain a majority. guest: millions of dollars. congressman kevin mccarthy was a top-tier fundraiser and would bring in all of those types of the big donors that the parties need when they are nearing these midterm elections. speaker johnson, he has done this type of fundraising rep -- representing a rural district.

not like the large-scale kevin mccarthy had to leave during his tenure as speaker. host: one reporter noticed he was a 200 and something seniority yesterday. now he is at the top. what is his to do list? guest: he has a big task ahead of him and he has to make sure the government does not shutdown by the deadline. congressman kevin mccarthy agreed to a democrat. that was one of the reasons that the republican teamed up with the democratic party to oust him. that will be priority number one for speaker johnson. he has to really come together and unite in caucus and provide aid to america's allies. there also talks of taiwan being included. i'll have various levels of need. in the -- they all have various levels of lead.

in the ukraine front that is a issue that has divided. while the majority could be supporting the eight by ukraine, it is a very -- paid by ukraine, it is a very --. host: the president has sent over a request of 100 billion, 60 billion four ukraine, 40 billion for israel, taiwan and the border. all combined, will that give to the floor by speaker johnson? guest: it is tough to see that happen right now. mitch mcconnell has been adamant about wanting to cl of those issues grouped together in one building. the house republicans, they see israel funding as their number one national support -- priority. that could be a tough issue for speaker johnson to bring forward, even though a majority of his party seems to support funding.

largely senate republicans have been behind bringing forth that funding, they asked that the president has brought forth those number, those might not shape up to be exactly the goal that present biden has put in place. host: could that be tied to any continual resolution that they possibly have to do. november 17 is when the current continual resolution runs out. guest: i think it is something we will be looking to see in the coming weeks whether those two issues will be tethered together in the pressure allots on lawmakers to ask. when congress nears those types of situations, we could see more done than what is being done under a less pressure circumstance. host: i encourage our viewers to call in and tell us your reaction to hearing that. it will be interesting to hear, especially from republicans.

democratic callers, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. republicans, (202) 748-8001. what is happening over on the senate side while the speaker contest has been under national going on over on the house side. what have they done on appropriations? guest: the senate has been unable to really come forward with anything because they can't really act without a speaker there to bring forth an issue with the house. they are working on the appropriation bill. we have to pass a 12 about the funding deadline, not necessarily the november 17 deadline.

they are working on the appropriation bill for transfer transportation, military construction and housing. three different appropriation bills together, that package is currently in the process of senators bringing forth amendment to bring forth changes . we can see a vote on that sometime next week, which would be a big step for the senate and advancing that. host: is it expected to pass? guest: it seems like it would have the support to pass. those three are not necessarily most divisive of spending bills. all of the members feel like they have their concerns heard. we can definitely see that pass along bipartisan lines. host: what will speaker johnson bring to the floor in the coming weeks of november 17? guest: on the appropriations front, the energy and water is a

top priority for speaker johnson. he wants to get the house back order and have them move forward . the republican, the republican house is important for a negotiation stance to bring back -- forward those bills. they aren't something that the senate or the president would agree to. host: john in ohio. republican. you are up, first. caller:hi. johnson, he is a good guy. a christian. i think it is mostly about the way the way they held on rather than the republicans getting together and actually put their heads together.

host: i am not following. what were you saying? what is by design? caller: not having a speaker yet . it was more putting their heads together and seeing what was doing. host: you agree with how this played out over the last three weeks? caller: yes. host: someone else who agrees is matt gaetz, who says he filled dedicated -- vindicated -- feels vindicated. guest: he sees speaker johnson as someone who can bring the caucus together, who will listen to the conservative priority. he does not have the baggage

that mccarthy has. he has not allegedly broken promise that speaker mccarthy broke. with johnson it is a clean slate. he is someone that they feel like they can work with. host: we heard from matt gaetz and some of the others who voted to oust kevin mccarthy after jim jordan -- i believe it was the second time saying, we will take center. we will accept getting kicked out of the conference. in exchange, those people who are mad at us vote for jim jordan. will the conference take them up on it now that it is not mike johnson, will there be any repercussions from matt gaetz and others? guest: it is hard to see if and when that will happen after weeks and weeks of inciting that some are calling the republican civil war. numbers are -- members might be

hesitant. we will see what the constituents and how much pressure they are putting on their members against those aid. it feels like the republicans really want to look forward and shift to a united front after a costly three week -- few weeks of insight. host: we can pose that question with our viewers on what they think should happen. jenna. independent color. aller. caller: i cannot understand a man who lays his hands to god and says he support this country when he denies joe biden even won it. this is the first leg for our country going into communism. thank you. host: let's take the first part

of gina's comments, what role did he play in trying to overturn the 2020 election. guest: congressman johnson was one of the leaders in bringing forth a brief that was part of a lawsuit in texas to challenge the results in swing states, georgia, wisconsin, arizona. with that brief, he brought forward 100 house republicans signed on to it was brought to cash it was a big effort. host: what role does the former president plague in mike johnson as speaker? guest: johnson was not someone his top choice. he was vocal about supporting jordan. he was very vocal also, his opposition to emer. we thought mike johnson emerge as the candidate. while the president's role was

not the direct -- not the most direct in pushing for johnson, he did play a significant part in helping johnson ultimately take the gaveled. . host: independent. caller: this country is falling apart. $32 trillion in debt. inflation is high. everything is up. mostly the democratic callers think everything is running smooth in america. yes, i do not believe president joe biden got more votes than anybody in history, neither do the average american. i am just concerned, billions dollars to ukraine, israel, other countries and now we discussing how we going to fund

the government on a new bill. the american people are getting pennies. we are struggling out here in the real world. washington is a democrats republican, donald trump, the maca republicans -- maga republicans. nothing substantial for the american people. guest: there are certain -- certainly in number of concerns americans have in situations we are living through right now. inflations are high. many people are hurting. part of that comes through the devastating pandemic that uprooted the endemic. all of the -- uprooted the epidemic. those concerns are being heard. we will see how those various concerns that you laid out play,

2024 at the -- played out in the 2024 election. caller: good morning. that sweet gentleman just spoke. he is a wonderful man. god bless him. he speaks the truth. the, this morning was about a previous caller who said that mike johnson --. host: we are not hearing you clearly. you are going in and out. i'm going to have to ask you to call back on another line. joyce. portland, oregon. independent. caller: can you hear me? host: we can. caller: i have a question for the men of they are. mike johnson, so he made it as

speaker but he is also a -- person. if you want to throw your country away with republicans, go ahead. trust and believe they are going to shut the government down. they want to get rid of social security, medicaid, food stamps. they do not care. they rather burn this country down. i really do not care about being a christian or whatever. host: does he trump republican -- is he a trump republican? guest: he seems to have the voting record to say he is a trump republican. he did vote as we talked about to not certify the election. the democratic congressional campaign committee are working to share his records with voters. a spokesperson referred to him

as a jim jordan in a sports coat , alluding to congressman jim jordan and always wearing his jacket. that is the message we are seeing from democrats as they are trying to take back the house in 2020 four. 4. caller: good morning. i am concerned about matt gaetz, the congressman in florida that seems to be the kingmaker. you have to have his support in order to be speaker of the house as a republican. i read on the, which is a straight republican paper. gaetz is -- for providing drugs

to teenage girls for whom he had sex. he had pictures of nude women that he was showing other house of representatives on the house for bragging he had sex with them. this is common knowledge amongst everybody in congress since he is under investigation. nobody even mentions this. he is the kingmaker. please explain this to me. host: the ethics committee investigating matt gaetz? guest: the ethics committee is looking into matt gaetz. some of the circumstances are not clear. stories about gaetz you have spoken about have been circulating for some time. in this very divided congress where republicans need to 17 votes to elect a speaker, a representative like gaetz, if he has the coalition can come and

exert significant influence over the party. that is how we see members of the party exerting that influence. while we had hard wing conservatives in congress in the past. what makes this congress unique is a very small margin makes the congress control a chamber. as gates has said publicly to the media time and time again, he sees significant support in his district. as magus's district supporting him, -- as long as his district supporting him. host: what happened to the motion to vacate under speaker mike johnson? guest: it is something to see. something that is still they are. we do not know whether that is something johnson is going to push for or rather he would have the votes to do so. while johnson does not have that

baggage that some other leaders have maybe not means he is seen as someone who has broken a lot of promises, a person like mccarthy that could anger a letter people. it remains as a threat. something that could come about. unlike the situation with mccarthy with him joining democrats to pass the continuing resolution to keep the government open november 17, while he was seen as violating some of the promises he made to conservatives by doing that, these members seem to acknowledge that johnson did not put the congress in the current situation that it is in. he has to work with democrats on that issue. it is expected that conservatives do not bring forward the same opposition speaker mccarthy. host: in florida. republican. caller: i have a question and a comment. the comment i would like to

point out, every single democrat in the house of representatives continued to vote against all of the republican candidates as speaker, including mccarthy. there were eight republicans that voted against mr. mccarthy but there were 200 plus democrats who also did that. they have helped more than anybody else to -- continue the confusion that has taken place in the house of representatives. the question is, do you see mr. johnson by any chance trying to address the growing national debt? thank you very much. have a nice day. host: before you answer the question, have republicans ever crossed out a vote for a democratic nominee of the speaker of the house? guest: they did not cross the

aisle for hakeem jeffries to his nomination for speaker. host: is this traditionally a party-line vote? guest: it is traditionally a party-line vote. it is something that is seen as one of those lines i generally do not. to the point that the caller asked about the national debt, johnson is a fiscal conservative. he is someone who has drawn the support of those hard right members who have made it very clear that they want to see the national debt addressed. we could see -- expecting to make that a serious priority under his role as speaker. he said his plan to bring forth a bipartisan congress to get both artist working together to address the issue. host: mary lou langley connecticut -- mary lou in connecticut. independent. mary lou, are you with this? independent.

one last call for nearly. mary lou. karen. republican. caller: what maga is trying to exchange the way that washington d.c. votes right now. fundraising, the fact that they wanted mccarthy because he is a great fundraiser is completely wrong. these donators that they are voting to -- they are big corporations. that says something in return. if you want to get reelected, go knock at the doors in your area and tell them why you need to be reelected. they need to pass term limits right away. that was on a lot of people's problems. the fact that people keep calling it. the republicans are not going to take away social security.

i heard one lady call that they are going to take away social security. they are not going to do that. host: we will leave it there. we did have a caller talk about that. first caller out of the gate mentioning the republican budget. she pointed to, which of the papers did as well today, with the republican committee has done about addressing social security, addressing medicare. i do expect more debate on that if there is a bipartisan congress or legislation on the floor to deal with the debt? guest: the republican study committee has put more than their past plans. the idea to slice some of those social security and medicare. it is not necessarily to get rid of it outright, but make some changes to it. i do not see that as being an

issue that republicans are going to really want to dive into, especially due to the fact that they do not control the senate and the presidency. they do not have the ability to make serious changes. it seems like that will not be the top priority on the list of the limited time we have left. host: alex rouhandeh reporting. you can follow his reporting on x with the handle alex rouhandeh . we will take a break when we come back. we will hear from lawmakers on both sides of the house about the house under new leadership in the and the domestic and foreign policy changes that lay ahead for all of them. the international situation in israel, those of the topics with the next two hours for members of congress. we will be right back.

announcer: american history tv saturdays on c-span two. exploring the people and events that tell the american story. the book the mysterious case of rudolph diesel, where he recounts the life of mr. diesel, inventor of the diesel engine in is 1913 disappearance during the lead up to world war i. and on the presidency, a discussion on the 1970 six presidential campaign rivals jimmy carter and gerald ford who became lifelong friends and found common causes in the white house. exploring the american story watch american history to be on c-span to and from the schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/history.

live sunday, november 5 on in-depth, author and former aclu president joins book to be to talk and take calls about civil rights, free speech, censorship and more. she's the author of "defending pornography," and the recently published " free speech: what everyone needs to know, a guide to free speech law." join with your phone calls, facebook comments and text. live sunday, novemr 5 at noon eastern on book tv at c-span2. >> john hancock is one of the most famous signatures in the history of the united states. most people don't know much more than that about him the founder of -- wants to change your

perception of this american signer of the declaration of independence. the newest book is called king hancock. he got that moniker back in the middle of the 1700s. the author writes "his stature eventually rose so high that he became known by both his friends and enemies i that name." >> author brookee barbier on this episode of book notes plus. c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. browse our latest collection of products, apparel, books, home decor and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan. every purchase helps support our nonprofit operation. shop now or anytime.

washington journal continues. >> our conversation for the next two hours on washington journal, your thoughts on the speaker selection yesterday on capitol hill. securing enough votes from his republican colleagues to become speaker after three weeks without a leader. there is also the war between israel. joining us will be members of congress from both sides of the aisle. up first, the congressman from wisconsin, republican. how you voted yesterday. why do you think that mike johnson was able to become speaker on the first round of votes? >> as you saw, mike johnson received a unanimous vote by our republican conference. i think people were looking for

someone who could hold the conference together, old congress together, and i believe that he can do that. he's going to be really focused on the issues that are important to the american people. we got to get control of inflation, energy independence and securing the border. mike johnson knows the issues that the american people are focused on. host: he was not your first choice. explain. guest: yes, i voted for jim jordan the first round after speaker mccarthy when the chair was vacated. mike johnson wasn't out there for the first couple of rounds, but once he became a serious candidate i certainly was considering him. i think he's a good choice. host: what impact will the lack of a speaker for the last three weeks have, in your view, on the voters when they go to vote in 2024? guest: that's a year from now.

while voters may remember that, what they are going to remember the most is what this congress does. and that is why we need to be focused forward. it's unfortunate that we have three weeks that we were not legislating, but we are going to pick up the ball here today and go right back to work. remember, these past about 70% of the funding for the federal government, discretionary spending prior to the motion to vacate. the senate has passed any of that. we've been doing our work. we are going to resume doing our work and pathos appropriations bills. host: if you cannot pass all 12 for november 17 and have an agreement with the senate so that you can get the president's signature, are you in support of passing a continuing resolution, another one to give the body more time? guest: first of all, we are

going to focus on getting those appropriation bills done and over to the senate. they are more fiscally responsible for the american people and they take america in a different direction than what the biden administration has taken us over the last few years. if we don't get them done -- i do not support clean continuing resolutions, but we need important policies for the american people. that is why i supported the continuing resolution that had hr-2. if there is a crisis in america at this point, it is the border. host: and you would support another continuing resolution? guest: it would have to have good policy that benefits the american people. we need to make sure that we control spending, but we have to get some things done. whether it is getting back to energy independence which the

biden administration has shackled us with these restrictions that are not allowing us to produce energy in america, and securing the border. and also we got to get control of inflation. remember, inflation is part is being driven by the obsessive federal spending that has been going on. president biden was warned about that, and yet he went forward with this excessive spending. we have to get control of it. mike johnson knows those are the priorities for the american people. host: president biden wants to provide money for the border between the united states and the southern border. in a proposal that he has put forth the congress, $100 billion. $60 billion for ukraine, $40 billion for israel, iran and the border. would you vote yes on that? guest: in regards to the border, it does not require money. it requires changes in policy. president biden in his executive order first day in office when he said we are going to have open borders in the u.s., that

is what caused this. the change in policy. it is not require money to secure the border, it requires a change in policy. we are going to stand firm as republicans on that issue here in the house of representatives. these bills, whether it is ukraine, israel, the border, they need to be separated. it is one of the things that we did to make sure that we have transparency so that people, the united states knows what we are voting on. not creating these christmas tree bills that deal with them one by one, each of them separately. host: have you had that commitment from speaker johnson that aid to israel with the a separate piece of legislation that would not be tied to aid to ukraine? guest: i don't know if he has made that commitment or not but that is certainly what i would be pressing of all of our leadership.

i certainly encourage speaker mccarthy to do that. you have to separate these bills to be able to allow us to vote on them piece by piece. the american people do not want these christmas tree bills. they want us to vote on these issues one by one. host: what do you think should happen with the motion to vacate? guest: the motion to vacate has been around for 200 years. while i don't agree with its use, i do agree that it should stay in place. i think we need to just make sure that we use it judiciously. i think that will happen here as we go forward. i do not fear the motion to vacate, nor should speaker johnson or any other people who may want to be a future speaker. host: do you think that one of your colleagues should be able to offer up the motion to vacate, or should the threshold be higher? guest: i think it's acceptable, it just needs to be used responsibly. host: what do you want to see

speaker johnson do with the nations that? -- with the nation's debt? guest: we've been talking about a bipartisan debt commission and this could be an appropriate time for that. it's going to take both parties here. we republicans, in honesty, we've not been as good as we should have been also. i think it's going to take both parties working together to deal with the debt problem that we have. it is escalating at a rate that is simply unsustainable and it is causing many problems we've seen here financially for americans. 8% interest rates for homes. we've seen more defaults by banks this year than we seen in quite a while. we have real problems that have been created by this fiscal irresponsibility. we have to get back to it and it is going to take both parties to make that happen. host: what changes to social security and medicare would you like to see to address those two

programs which are driving the nation's debt? guest: we need to get serious about that. you take a look at president biden's budget over the next 10 years, he doesn't deal with it at all. what happens 10 years from now, you are going to see a 23% reduction in social security benefits. i think this could be part of that debt commission, part of a long-term debt that we as americans have and we need to deal with. this is a place where hopefully both parties can come together and reach solutions that are going to make social security solvable into the future. host: how do you do that? what are some changes you would agree to? guest: the most important thing that we can do at this point is get back the provost policy. member, what happens if you have less tax revenues that are flowing into the congress, i think we also need to make sure we have work requirements. what is the estimate, 3 million

to 5 million people since covid hit in 2020 that went to the sidelines and are not working? we've got to make sure people are working so we have people paying into that social security system. host: what about changes to the programs? guest: i think we can deal with that in a bipartisan fashion if there needs to be changes to the age limits. perhaps that is something that could be done. there will need to be some policy changes but i've got to tell you, it is going to require both parties to make that happen. otherwise it becomes a political football and we end up with this push where social security benefits are going to decline by 23%. host: thank you, sir, for your time on capitol hill this morning. we appreciate it. just one of a number of members of congress that we are going to talk to this morning from capitol hill, and then turn to you to get your reaction to what you heard from them on this speaker election.

as well as the israel-hamas war. rob, democratic caller. good morning to you, go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you again for c-span. your representative there was a bit insincere. right away when you're talking about social security, the best and easiest fix is of course to remove the cap from wherever it is. $120,000. just remove it and you'd solve a good portion of your social security problem. very vague answers, but in any case, i didn't really call about him. i think the republicans are so foolish because my first vote, i've always voted democrat. a couple times independent over the years for ross perot. i'm sure there were a lot of crossover republicans that voted for ross perot back in the day.

i would vote for nikki haley. the next time around. i voted one time for george h w. that was the one time that i crossed over to the republican side. nikki haley to me looks like a reasonable alternative, and i think that republicans are so foolish for doing anything really. there are probably so many democrats like me that would put her in office because we are middle-of-the-road -- host: are you saying that because you see mike johnson as not middle-of-the-road? titus back to the speakership. -- tie this back to the speakership. guest: i know he has got a track record where he is an election denier and if he is going to go down that road, i think we are going to go off a cliff if this

speaker turns out to be one of these guys who is going to pander to the likes of matt gaetz. you had a guest on a few days ago that talked about how germany handled their speakership, and he said basically that their rules are such that they can't vacate a speaker without having or voting on another guy simultaneously to take his place. so if there are going to be changes made to that process to vacate, i think that we can take a lesson from our german friends. host: all right, rob. north carolina, republican caller. caller: yes, ma'am. i'd just like to respond to the last caller and say that i feel

like you haven't watched mike johnson in the committees. i'm very happy about republicans selecting mike johnson. i wanted jim jordan but when it comes to all those people in congress and trying to figure out who the house speaker was, i was getting a little bit annoyed with republicans. they were choosing people who you didn't really know anything about. everybody was upset when mccarthy got the speakership, and i'm glad that mccarthy got ousted so we could have somebody that is more of an icon. someone to bring the republican party together. he talks about mike johnson being an election denier. mike johnson was in the committee talking to people about denying the 2016 election. everybody talks about republicans denying the 2020 election, but i remember russia, russia, russia. host: ok.

front page of the usa today, gop crowns johnson speaker. three weeks of house gridlock finally ending on a vote of 220. all republicans present. johnson became speaker of the house yesterday. the 56th speaker of the house. 51 years old, from louisiana. that means both the speaker and the majority leader steve scalise are from louisiana. those positions filled by members from that state. matt in potomac, maryland, independence. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i'm a former mccain republican and veteran. and the republicans lost me when they supported someone as corrupt and compromised as donald trump. when they insulted veterans, and

when they were hypocritical about casting a giant tax cut that blew up the debt and deficit with benefits mostly going to corporations and the rich. but for the first time in air history, we didn't have a peaceful transition of power. and we know, full stop, that mr. johnson played an important role. probably as important a role in one arm of the seditious conspiracy or the coup as jim jordan, scott perry and others who have not yet seen justice. what we saw yesterday was that the republicans chose, including those in districts won by president biden, to circle the wagons around an insurrectionist life johnson.

i'd like to see what mr. tiffany's role was in the insurrection other than voting against certifying the election, and what he sees as the long-term outcome of being an election denier and tying the republican party's hopes to someone who supported the fourth string candidate when he stepped out of his fraud trial in new york the other day. thank you. host: mississippi, democratic caller. hi, kathleen. caller: i was sorry to hear about the people in maine. i'm sorry to hear about the people in galveston. i'm sorry to hear about all 50 states.

georgia, south carolina north carolina, we don't know what is going on. we have to vote. i hope everybody gets out and votes because we don't want to go down in destruction. it's sad. i feel sorry for us. host: all right, kathleen. david, florida, republican. hi, david. david in crestview. we are listening to you. caller: yes. i want to say that the idea of taking the cap office social security is probably the best way to approach the problem because our wages have gone up, and that is what the key is.

those things need to go up to match the people that enjoy social security. the rich are doing social security as well as the poor are doing social security. host: part of the question over what will speaker johnson do when it comes to the nation's debt and deficit? wall street journal notes that when he served as head of the republican studies committee which represents house conservatives, johnson provided over a budget blueprint designed to balance the federal budget in 10 years. among other things, it pushed the idea long associated with former republican house speaker paul ryan to turn medicare into a premium support system in which beneficiaries would receive financial assistance to buy health insurance through regulated medicare exchange. the plan also proposed raising the retirement age to 69 for people born in 1960 and later. the current retirement age is

67. colorado, independent. caller: good morning, fellow americans and people of both parties. i would first like to say make sure you go out and vote. register to vote and be a part of it. on the house speaker, i am most grateful and thankful that at least a republican has finally been with a speaker, we have finally gotten a speaker. with that i would say there is no crossover in voting. for the people out there who don't understand that, i apologize that it has been -- for you to know that yet. host: joanna, germantown,

maryland, democratic caller. let me try again here for joanna. germantown, maryland, democratic caller. caller: good morning. host: good morning to you, go ahead. caller: my main comment is about ukraine, but i want to respond to that republican congressman you just talked to. number one, president biden didn't come out on january 1, 2021 and say we are not going to have an open order. he never said that. secondly in 2021 as well as in this packet she is proposing, money for border protection. more border agents and more immigration judges. and guess what, republicans voted against that. they voted against that in 2021. but my main comment is about ukraine, the funding for ukraine. we had a moral and strategic obligation to ukraine. first of all, let's talk about

the strategic. if we allow putin to go in with his tanks and just roll over and decimate ukraine and take them over, you've got to remember that he said that he wants to re-create the soviet union. he has already talked about going into poland and the baltic nations once he manages to overcome ukraine. then we are involved. we are involved because poland and the baltic states and all the other eastern european states are nato members, and we will have troops on the ground and it will be a big wide war. so that is the strategic thing. but we also have a moral obligation. a lot of these folks talk about what good christians they are, but you're going to go in and just abandon these people? and if we do abandon these people, no ally in the world is ever going to trust us again, ever. we have a moral obligation if we believe in christian values.

that is christian values right there. we cannot abandon these people and just allow them to be mowed down. host: you heard from the congressman from wisconsin saying he wants any aid to israel to be separate from aid to ukraine. the wall street journal notes that mike johnson previously opposed aid to ukraine when it has come to the floor. other members of his leadership team, one of them voting for ukraine aid. so that is a discussion point between republican colleagues and their new speaker going forward because the president has proposed $100 billion in aid for ukraine and israel, taiwan and the border. cindy in san jose, california, independent. >> thank you for taking my call. thanks for taking my call, i

will try to be quick. first of all, i 100% thank you, sister, agree with everything she said. i mean, i'm sorry that i missed the republican congressman because i wanted to ask about mike johnson's role in overturning the election. i was wondering if he was going to shame me and tell me to shut up like all those little juvenile republicans did the other day to the reporter, which is a valid question. we are not going to stop asking, especially now. also, the border, very quickly. can we remind everyone that years and years ago we had a comprehensive dell, but what stopped it at the very last moment with the special interests, because they didn't want to pay payroll taxes and bring people out of the shadows

and let them have good working conditions? matt gaetz actually said that and addressed that on the floor not so long ago, saying sorry special interests. i give him a little credit for that, but that is it. and finally, consider paying congress hourly instead of salary. if they didn't get all these free days off all over the place, maybe they would work a little harder. host: the wall street journal, new york times -- excuse me, washington post, we've read from both of those papers today. this is the wall street journal. johnson played a key role pushing false claims of election fraud, signed by 126 house republicans supporting the lawsuit filed arguing that texas could challenge the election results in four swing states won by president biden. at the time, johnson heavily lobbied for republicans to sign onto the letter, suggesting that

trump would be watching to see who signed, which some members took as a threat. at the time, democrats were still upset that one member argued that then house speaker nancy pelosi should bar the gop signatories from taking their seats, saying that they were attempting to obliterate public confidence in our democratic system by installing an unelected dictator. johnson also joins the one hundred 46 other republicans in voting against certification of the 2020 election results. richard, augustine, georgia, democratic caller. caller: good morning. what people need to remember about mr. johnson's track record on voting which you just nicely stated, he voted against the infrastructure bill which would help the state of louisiana. and i traveled to the state of louisiana from new orleans to shreveport. and also, johnson and tim scott

in the senate, two black men, they voted against the voting rights act. they are a disgrace to american black people voting against the voting rights act. and also, i'd like to point out the fact that inflation is caused by corporate greed, not government policy. one of the tv stations had a video showing the coo of kellogg's and another co talking about they intentionally raised the prices of their goods to help create inflation. in the economy was doing good and people were earning fairly decent wages. still, i believe it could be more. and that house speaker johnson, he is not good for the country. when he voted to believe that

the 2020 election was stolen, no it was not. the federal courts said that they were not and so did the supreme court. let's get real, republicans. you guys want an autocratic dictator who lied over 30,000 times to be president and he does not mean any good for the country. that is that guy from new york named trump. host: washington, republican. let's hear from you. caller: good morning. i have two statements to make. number one, i'm glad we have a new speaker. let's get on with business. number two, i'm disappointed with social security that the rich get to stop paying social security tax once they make $160,000 in the year. they need to continue paying social security tax like the rest of us poor people. host: robert in chicago,

independent. good morning to you. caller: thank you very much for taking my call and doing a great job. my comment is simply this. i have voted both democrat and republican at the national level and the election of mr. johnson yesterday, while i'm glad the republicans got somebody to be the speaker to get going with business, the fact of the matter is until there rid themselves of donald trump -- until they rid themselves of donald trump and this election denial, they are not going to win next year. i'm unbelievably disappointed that those of us that remain republicans sometimes at the national level are stuck with having to deal with donald trump and all of his nonsense. he has such a distraction. i think you very much for taking my call. host: robert, did you vote for former president trump in 2016? caller: no, i did not. host: let you are an

independent. caller: yes, i am. host: you voted for republicans in the past. caller: yes, absolutely. i'm 60 plus years old. george h w bush, sure. this election denial and stash well, there's five reads -- well, there's five reasons and five seconds that donald trump should not be president. when gentlemen like that who are patriots and are so successful leave and administration under the circumstances that they did, i am with them. i am out. and i hope that mr. johnson stops with the election denial. thank you. host: some other headlines for you, this is from the wall street journal world news section.

israel agrees to u.s. request to delay the invasion of gaza. you can learn more in the wall street journal. the pentagon is rushing to deploy air defense systems to the region's local wall street journal is reporting. there's also this headline in the washington post. u.s. details intelligence clears israel in that hospital blast. the ultimate assessment that the strike was not the result of an israeli weapon was based on two primary factors. first, the damage from the strike was consistent with a rocket and not israeli munitions such as a bomb dropped from the air or artillery rounds, which would have caused significant structural damage to the hospital building and left a large crater. images show only light structural damage. second, analysts were able to track the trajectory based on video shot from four locations. cameras capture the flight of the projectile which analysts judged to have been launched within the gaza strip.

the rocket then travels northeast and about 10 seconds after launch, the motor became unstable. the plume fluctuated in intensity and a few seconds later, a large splash. there is this from the new york times, and their analysis. widely cited missile video fails to shed light on the hospital blast. this is the report. israeli officials and palestinian militants lame each other for the explosion. multiple videos assembled and analyzed by the times show that militants were firing dozens of rockets minutes before the blast . the fiery explosion of hospital is consistent with its rockets falling well short with unspent fuel. it goes on to say the footage also suggests that two explosions near the hospital could be seen within two minutes of it being struck. an israeli military spokesman

told the time that military explosions were not striking within a range that endanger the hospital, but declined to say how far away the nearest strike was. a week after the tragedy, much remains in question. more from the new york times this morning. morgan in pennsylvania, democratic caller. good morning to you. caller: thank you for c-span. the new speaker of the house, let's see. host: hey, morgan, could you please meet your television? -- mute your television? caller: yes, ma'am. the new speaker of the house is complicit with overturning the election. which a lot of americans think means he committed treason. he's a hatemonger against homosexuals. he don't believe women have the right to make decisions with their own bodies. he also is an ally to white supremacist groups. all you have to do is do your homework and research this guy.

thank you, republicans. just when i think you can go no lower, you always make a liar out of me and go even lower. thank you for c-span. host: new york, republican. caller: three quick points. the speaker led the election denial for trump. he has an extreme right-wing fanatic. he also wants a nationwide ban on abortions with no exception. listen carefully. no exceptions. a nationwide ban on abortion. he is an extreme white ring person. -- right-wing person. the guest you had on before didn't mention that trump added $8 trillion to the debt of this country. i voted for the guy in 2016.

i voted for him again in 2020. but i wouldn't vote for him if he ran again. and i'll tell you another thing, too. he should be in jail. if you did what he did you would have been in jail a long time ago. another point on social security. without hurting the poor. you stop the coalers. it is the coalers which are killing social security. what you have to do is figure out how much you want to distribute each year in the way of a raise and give everybody the same amount. they guy that is getting 3000 per month gets a big raise. the little lady whose husband worked and she didn't because she was taking care of the house gets maybe $100. host: got it, frank.

frank talking about cost-of-living adjustments, colas, which is how the government figures out a bump in social security payment every month. cnbc with this headline, u.s gdp growing at 4.9% annual pace in the third quarter, better than expected. you can read more of that if you go to cnbc.com. frank in philadelphia, democratic caller. caller: hello. i just think they made a good pick for speaker of the house. he is a man of god and i want to give him a chance. and has anybody ever learned that jeffrey's is the nephew of louis farrakhan? do they know that? host: tom in ohio, republican. your turn. caller: how are you doing, doll?

listen, i've tried to get through to you people before on this. there were 51 government officials, all obama appointees, and they lied to the american electorate and said that hunter biden's laptop was russian disinformation. that is absolutely a false statement. four polls have shown a 10% of biden voters would not have voted for joe at all. so if you do the numbers, biden is an illegitimate president. he should be impeached for his disgusting lies about his traitorous son and his criminal influence. one more thing. host: then i will ask you a question. caller: wake up, democrats, your party is going marxist at warp speed. we talk about election fraud.

philadelphia, detroit, minneapolis. 20,000 more votes counted than registered voters. it is called election tampering. host: wondering about the impeachment inquiry happening on capitol hill and whether or not this new speaker, speaker mike johnson -- when, in your opinion if at all sure that he brought to the floor? caller: i hope it is immediate. joe biden is a lying criminal who should not be in the white house. he is destroying this planet just as i warned. we've got to get him out of that white house. host: from the new speaker mike johnson, voted in yesterday on the first round of ballots, all republicans present, 220 of them voted for louisiana republican to service their speaker. nadia in virginia, democratic caller. caller: thank you so much c-span

for taking my call. probably the last time i will identify as a democrat given what is happening in the middle east. there are three major events in history and we are witnessing one. there were the holocaust, the ukrainian famine, and the gaza genocide. it is so sad to see that america is really buying all these lies, whatever netanyahu is peddling. at the end of the day, where is your morals and christian values, america? double standard. we can send all the money and weapons to protect one occupied country called ukraine. we pray for them, but when it comes to palestinian lives on the gaza strip which at been under occupation since 1948, it

is not a life worth saving. please, america, do your homework. you are witnessing a genocide and you could change it. host: there are some news reporting's on that in the new york times -- excuse me, wall street journal front page this morning. a couple of headlines for you. hamas fighters have trained in iran before the attack. the wall street journal reports about 500 militants from hamas and an ally group to palestinian islamic jihad participated in exercises with the israeli revolutionary guard, according to officials, according to sources for the wall street journal. below that, the west bank feeling fears of a new front, the smuggling operation is raising the specter of a new or

and poses a growing threat to jordan. a staunch u.s. ally which borders israel on the west tank and has been struggling to contain a growing flow of drugs and arms. wall street journal, if you want to read more. bail in new york, republican. bill? caller: yes, thank you. what i'm calling about is a lot of calls are coming in attacking the new speaker, and one of your morning shows had an interview with him and he seemed like a very decent man. you could tell by the interview that he had on your show. at any rate, what i'm really calling about is everyone is bringing up and attacking the fact that he wants the election overturned. that is not the point. he is a constitutional lawyer. a constitutional scholar. and what he is saying simply is

true is that the state constitutions did not follow the constitutional law during covid. regardless of how the election turned out, they did not follow the constitutional state laws. they did things for the board of elections that were not supposed to be done as to how people voted. he's not talking about overturning the election or saying it is a fraud, he is talking about the constitution. just look it up, folks. host: do you think that speaker johnson needs to clarify what role he played? caller: he could clarify it, i suppose, if these attacks come. he could say look, i'm simply

showing you that the states did not follow the constitution. they made changes to the law that were not in line with local boards of elections. regardless of how the election turned out, he wasn't for or against overturning an election. he is simply stating what is in the constitution. so constitutionally, the election was not what it should have been in 2020. host: understood. we will pause on calls but if you are on the line, hang with us this morning. if you are waiting to call in, please do so now. joining us from capitol hill is democratic congresswoman chrissy houlahan, member of the armed services and intelligence committee. the argument from that last caller, i think you're were listening to him. he said that mike johnson wouldn't try to overturn the election, that he is a constitutionalist and he said

constitutionally, he was arguing constitutionally there was something wrong with the 2020 election. guest: first of all, thank you for having me and second of all, i guess i would differ with the caller in some ways. i'm grateful that we do have a speaker of the house right now. i'm hopeful that speaker johnson will be one of those people who can understand that his background and past needs to be set aside so that he can lead all 435 of us and having to govern this country. but it is clear that he did as the caller indicated, lead the -- that was signed by 100 or so republicans to express dismay and try to overthrow the result of the election. so that is part of what happened and how he proceeds from here in terms of moving forward remains to be seen. i am hopeful that he will rise

to the occasion and that the government will be able to -- the request for supplemental. all of the things we need to do as a body to get work done. host: continuation of bills in the hopes of passing them and if need be, a continuing resolution to come to the floor. do you agree with that strategy? guest: is a good strategy. i hope that we have a strategy, something closer to the january 10 or the november timeframe. i think today we will begin the appropriations process, but my concern is that he already seems to be -- in terms of what will be in terms of this continuing resolution. not allow people like me to vote for --.

if there are draconian cuts to programs, i also will not be able to report that. i'm looking forward to working with this speaker. i've always been a bipartisan member of this congress, but it remains to be seen how he believed this very fractured republican. host: how would you vote on the president's 100 billion dollar a package to ukraine, israel, taiwan, and money for the border? guest: first of all, i'm hoping that that supplemental package will be addressed as an issue that is contained and not separated. second of all, i would vote positively for that. i believe we are at a really important crisis moment in those areas where we need to make sure that we are helping ukraine, that we are helping israel, that we are helping the border. and so i would vote favorably for that.

my concern is that they will be separated. my concern and confusion is why ukraine seems to be somehow the outlier there. it really is important that we continue to support ukraine in the battle for their democracy and the battle for our democracy around the world. host: how would you grade the president's performance in handling the israel-hamas war? guest: a very very good question and a very very difficult job that president biden has undertaken to try to manage our relationship with -- in this very difficult time for israel. i think he has done a pretty remarkable job. similar to the job he has done in unifying the surrounding issue of ukraine and the support of ukraine and similarly, frankly, as he is doing with the pacific region. there is real concern that the rise of china could end up as another conflict area and he is

doing a good job of managing all the allies. host: this is the headline in the washington post, rising calls for a pause in violence. biden shifts tone, stressing the need for a palestinian state. would you agree? guest: 100%. i'm a veteran myself and one of the things that i have expressed in writings previously was that i really do hope that israel thinks really hard about what the next steps are and inks really hard about the implications, long-term implications of those next steps. we have first-hand experience with these kinds of battles and wars and there are enormous, unintended consequences that are possible here. and so the opportunity presented, the horrors that have been going on in that region, stop and think about a lasting

peace. and what that lasting peace looks like i believe is similar to what the president is saying, is a solution where people can live in peace side-by-side. host: are you concerned about the rising tension in the middle east and the countries surrounding israel? jordan seeing their citizens protesting and the other middle east countries in that region. guest: sure, it's impossible not to be concerned about that. it is worrisome and possible that the region, hamas will expand into the region and you can see why. there's a reason why we have a confluence of all of these issues, and the several major religions of these worlds are here. you can understand the implication and the wave of concern that emanate out from that area. it's absolutely a possibility, which is why president biden

and secretary blinken and others like him are so essential. host: have you been briefed on that hospital blast? what can you tell us about who is responsible? guest: i obviously can't, nor should i reveal anything in the classified realm. i would say that the majority of opinion with high confidence is that this was not an israeli strike, that this was rather an errant missile coming from within gaza. host: what do you want to happen next in this situation in the middle east? guest: i would like there to be, for lack of a better word, a really clear understanding of what the plan is. i understand very much so the feeling of desire and retribution for the heinous,

heinous crimes that hamas has levied on the people of israel. but i do hope that netanyahu's administration thinks really hard about what the strategy is. and that what the endgame is here. that is what i'm hoping for. and of course, i'm hoping for peace. my hope is that it is a two state solution. host: and why? why have those concerns, explain that for our viewers. guest: which concerns, i'm sorry? host: why do you have those hopes that you just outlined? guest: well i think it's pretty easy. as we experience when we were under attack as a nation, be very reflected very reactionary. it's understandable. but we also have the law of war that we collectively as civilized nations need to make sure we are adhering to, and we have a responsibility to save

civilian lives. that is why i am concerned. host: democrat of pennsylvania, member of the armed services intelligence committee, thank you for some of your time this morning. we appreciate it. back to calls. mike in ohio, independent. hello there, mike. caller: good morning, c-span. either way, today is my birthday. it's the big 7-0 today. host: happy birthday. caller: the last time i voted was 1972. i know what it's like. to lose the election. 2016 and 20 2016 was a real forest fire. like a forest fire, five or six square miles burned.

now, the gop, that is a good comparison. it may be similar, but it is not comparable. you cannot compare those two. second of all, one more thing, in 2020, it was a green bay sweep type of plan. and finally, donald trump himself and his followers, he didn't wear a mask, he didn't get vaccinated. me and my friends, some of them look like me, a bunch of old white guys. a bunch don't look like me. but we all got vaccinated, we all wore a mask. we went out and we voted. donald trump went against his own voters by telling them about

vaccinations and masking. host: new york, democratic caller. caller: what i called for is this. they say that the economies are -- what is the word? well, anyways, republicans are extremely -- to run this country -- we have too many people that are high strung, and people do not need extremism as a leadership role in this country. that is why i wanted to talk about what do you think of it? host: marissa, alabama, republican. marissa? in alabama, republican caller, are you there? i'm going to try one more time here for marissa.

there we go. alabama republican. caller: have you got me now? host: i have you, go ahead. caller: ok. i'm willing to speak on the ssi disability. what do people like me do that has crushed their disc and splintered off two of their discs and crushed one and then had 57 surgeries on the bladder? why do you think that we deserve , that we don't deserve anything? because i've worked and i paid for mine. host: tie that back to the speaker election. are you concerned about social security disability under speaker mike johnson? why do you bring that up? caller: because the lady on here on the journal, she had a caller talking about it and she kept asking what about it, what about

it? like she wanted to end it. and i would like to know why, because there's people out here that truly cannot work. host: we were talking about addressing the nation's debt and doing so by looking at those mandatory spending programs, medicare and social security. erin, silver spring, maryland, independent. caller: i wanted to comment on the congresswoman's previous remarks about the conflict between israelis and palestinians. is that ok? host: yep. caller: they keep going back to a two state solution, and it should be abundantly clear that israel has no one that they can really negotiate with. the events of october 7 clearly show that the political leadership in gaza as well as the palestinian authorities

simply are not interested in a two state solution. i think there needs to be a reckoning with the fact that only when the political leadership and political culture of those areas change will it be possible to come to some sort of agreement. i actually think there should be a two state solution, right now it really needs to be off the table, talking about that until there is a change. i don't know how that will happen. clearly it is a long-standing issue. there needs to be it's not even -- it's not just a territorial issue. it's also a theological issue that people take their religion very, very seriously. in israel and the palestinians. there is a theological element to what hamas does. they speak about that in arabic on their local television. they don't talk about it as much when they speak in english.

it is an issue. i think some congresspeople need to be a little bit brave and address that and talk about how we can move forward. if at all possible. host: i'm going to leave it there. we'll go back up to capitol hill. congressman doug lamalfa republican of california, joining us this morning from capitol hill. thanks so much for your time. let's begin with the election of speaker mike johnson. guest: i'm really pleased we have a speaker in place and can finally get back to work after three long weeks. mike johnson i have known for quite a while. we worked together on a lot of issues on the floor. floor messaging. he's been a strong leader on our communications and in our conference. as we went through many candidates here, he became the obvious choice for me as a man who could lead the way and do it with good humor and the right attitude. i'm excited about mike's speakership.

host: do you anticipate a change in tenor and/or policy from speaker johnson? guest: each person in leadership, speaker mccarthy, who i was a strong supporter of, and still disappointed what happened to him, each will have their own flavor how they deal with things. the direction of the conference is still largely going to be the same on particular responsibility. american jobs, restoring america's strength in the world. and many of the other topics that republicans always talk about and try to work on. mike will have his own way of bringing that forward. i think the priorities remain the same. host: will you be onboard, or are you onboard with his plan to address the current spending debate and possibly pass another continuing resolution if the house and senate cannot come together by november 17 on the remaining appropriations bills. guest: certainly we have a lot

to do in a short amount of time. trying to do as many appropriation bills as we can in the next days. that's important. why is it important to your viewers, we do the appropriations process it's a much more transparent one. the committee works it through on your channel. we debate item by item more or less on how spend will go g when we have to get forced into a continuing resolution, hopefully a short-term one, that this bides us time as we did with the 45-day we did recently. unfortunately we lost half of those days messing around with the speaker battle. we have to focus on doing the appropriations committee way because that is going to be a lot more, as i said, transparent. we have a window of time to do several of those bills f it takes a short c.r. after that i can live with that. as long as we keep processing via the appropriation process. i'm not interested in another omnibus got bum dumped on us --

got dumped on us last december t took oft table doing much budgeting for the rest of that fiscal year. now we are in a new fiscal year we need to do it properly. host: would you support the president's proposal of $100 billion in aid to both ukraine, israel, taiwan, and the border. guest: i have some heartburn on that because certainly the immediate priority is how we can help israel and taiwan is an issue as well. we need to be paying a lot of attention there. i don't know what kind of level of funding that needs to be, tore just america projecting strength in the south pacific. israel needs more need help. ukraine, i think we need more reviewing on that. the package includes $61 billion out of a total of $106 billion. there are a lot of people around the country on more money on ukraine without seeing a path to victory or result everybody can live with. we are not seeing that. it's more and more.

israel -- i would like to separate the issues out. i can certainly support a good package for israel. we can certainly talk about taiwan. ukraine needs more review. not that i'm not sympathetic. putin is there. the ukrainian people are good people. especially at the ground level. leadership i wonder about and the other things going on. i think we need to continue to make an effort there. just throwing more money at it, many of us have a lot of fatigue for that. host: congressman, the papers this morning talk about the role mike tomorrow johnson played in -- mike johnson overplayed in trying to overturn -- guest: nobody was overturning the 2020 election. host: you how do you see it? guest: they were looking into irregular kwraeurts the way elections were conducted. pennsylvania changed the rules without legislative action. other states, michigan, what was the deal with accounting there. looking into what was legal or

illegal about that does not take the questions that needed to be asked about that election. let's not try and soil mike with doing good legal work on seeing what actually happened after the fact. host: did you sign on to that amicus brief he passed around to you and your other colleagues? guest: absolutely. i was one of 147. host: the amicus brief. you were also one that voted against certifying the election results. guest: we had the opportunity on the floor to have the debate on pennsylvania and arizona. those are the only two that senators would come forward and help us have that debate. i thought let's not -- what's not known widely the pennsylvania swhrao*ur sent a letter the day before to ask us to put the brakes on the process because they became uncomfortable with how their own state certified the election because there is this big hurry to get it done by december 12. that's why there are questions in the air of the legality and not requiring signature

verification. you can point to a list of things that had questions on it. saying we wanted to overturn the election is a tired old song. host: the supreme court rejected the case brought forth by the texas attorney general. and mike johnson supporting that case. the supreme court rejected it. guest: they said there wasn't standing on that. i guess it's tough to prove what is standing these days as far as who has an interest and whether in this case election goes or other areas of standing that sometimes court rejects pretty legitimate claims people might have against the e.p.a. taking someone's land or somebody's water. we don't have standing. that's hard to figure sometimes. host: what do you want to see speaker johnson's do on the nation's debt? guest: a lot more spotlight on it. not just thomas massie with a

counter saying $33 trillion on his lapel. it's, indeed -- as we see interest rates go up, the service on the debt will devour what we have left over discretionary funding in this country. we are having to come out of this covid era with massive amounts of spending. and the so-called inflation reduction act. i can't keep a straight face on that. and then we had a infrastructure bill which there is about 10% was good infrastructure. 90% was a wish list for the democrats they were able to pass during that time frame. we are throwing ourselves into a massive increased debt. that's driving inflation, making normal folks have a more difficult time paying for fuel, energy, for rent, food. the price of food -- they claim only somewhere between 8% and 17% inflation depending on the number. you go to the store you find things doubled in price. you look at new vehicles. everything is over 50 grand for something of size.

it's not affordable in this country. we just had that three years ago. what if we go back to the patterns we had then, pre-covid, pregovernment trying to centralize everything. whether the federal level or state level. my home state of california, lord help us there, it's-t comes down to getting fiscal responsibility and putting people back to work and producing american energy, producing american agriculture. we have a farm bill we need to pass soon. so we have stability in agriculture. we have a lot of work to do in the short term that brings us stability back for what americans need. le porous border we haven't -- the porous border we haven't talked about. have the ability to control who is coming in and out. does anyone not believe with all the terrorist possibilities of all the people coming into this country, what we can see with terrorist cells in this country when someday they hit the green light and it's go day. who knows.

we are seeing already enough flairing up on these hamas -- flaring up on these hamas protests. right outside this door a little over a week ago, they blocked off independence avenue to have an illegal protest there. 200 people were hauled out of this building. you didn't get to conduct things in this building because of that illegal protest. that cause an insurrection -- that called an insurrection? no. host: congressman, go back to three weeks ago when the motion to vacate was offered on the house floor. do you think that there should be a rules change lowering the threshold of who and how many people can offer a motion to vacate? guest: we were nervous about that rule when it went through. it was part of the package in order to get moving in january on that. i would picture a better threshold of not just one or two or even five guys being able to bring that forward. it's an arbitrary number. i thought maybe a threshold of

25 on a motion like that might make sense just so there isn't the whim of a few. they might not be getting their way on something. host: congressman doug lamalfa, republican of california. we always appreciate your time. thank you for joining us from capitol hill this morning. guest: appreciate t. host: we'll hear reaction to what you heard from the congressman. john in troy, michigan, independent, hi. caller: hi. i'm actually calling from michigan. i'm working on a project right now. i thought it was interesting what rep lamalfa said our topic is political polarization. i feel like representative lamalfa's disagreeing with an omnibus bill represents political polarization. we want to be compromised we have a new speaker. i feel not having an omnibus bill would add to more divide between the two parties.

host: how old are you? caller: i am actually going to be 18. host: you are working on your student cam -- student documentary project, or contest. what is your topic? what's your focus? caller: well, we chose the second prompt, what is the biggest change over the last 20 years. so we talk about political polarization. not achieving compromise through radical sides of the political parties. host: for those that don't know, john, what resources are you using for your documentary? caller: we are using the c-span videos. we like clipped a couple portion from this very show right now. host: i wouldn't be surprised if this phone call made it into the documentary. caller: that would be awesome. host: john in michigan. good luck to you. rich in nutley, new jersey, republican. caller: good morning, greta. first of all let me say this

about "the new york times." they were holocaust deniers. it's on the record. you have the records. and they denied everything about the holocaust, number one. the congressman just spelled out all the misinformation that was being put over when the election was going on. number three, ok, all the deniers that you keep saying, ok, i haven't seen you say anything deniers on the democrats' side when trump became president. you didn't scrutinize hakeem jeffries when they made him the democrat leader. he was a denier. pelosi was a detphaoeur. about 15 others were. bring them on. question them. bring on tlaib. bring on omar. they were spouting misinformation for weeks about what was going on. you are never going to have a

peaceful solution when one side wants to kill you. you can't have a discussion with these people. they want to kill you. they want to run them off the face of the earth. you can't negotiate with people like that. host: george, alexander, virginia, democratic caller. caller: can you hear me? host: we can. hi. caller: hi. i am a little bit concerned about the upcoming speaker johnson and his views. i don't think they align with the bible. and i'm also a little worried that -- about what representative dublin said about california just a second ago. why is he representing his state if he wants to talk so much crap about it. host: congressman doug lamalfa from california, the republican. ivan in oklahoma. republican. caller: i'd like to start out

with apologizing to the capitol police's family and all the capitol police that died the other day during that insurrection. i ain't heard you all yet talk about hakeem jeffries lost 19 votes for the speaker of the house. 19 times he lost. why are we sending money to ukraine? sick and tired of biden. i believe he ought to be removed from office. and all these people representatives that hate our country and don't like the way it's run, why don't they just leave our country? we would be better off without all those people. host: deborah, in montgomery, alabama. democratic caller. caller: good morning, greta. i just want -- the other guy that was speaking.

an election denier. this is not an election. but what they did was try to overthrow the government. they had an insurrection going on. they have been cops and everything else. that's totally different. with regard to mike johnson, mike johnson is just, in my opinion, because i watch you all every day, and i watch all of these hearings, he's just jim jordan with a smile. i don't know somebody put that on the internet the other day. he's a very radical person. he just does it in a nice way. with regard to what the congressman said, not only did he write the brief, he also represented trump in -- during his impeachment. he was one of those lawyers. in my opinion trump will now be running the house of representatives, and i don't think that a lot of these people

have a clue what an insurrection is. they keep comparing actual people protests to what happened on january 6. they want people protest to be the same thing. and it's not. that was all i have to say. you have a good day. host: deborah there in montgomery, al a*fplt we'll continue until the top of the hour this morning getting your thoughts on the speaker election on capitol hill yesterday. three weeks without someone in that top post. republicans came together on the first round of voting to put in mike johnson in the position. and also your thoughts on the israel-hamas war as debate over more aid to israel is front and center now that the house is back in business. there is also this news from nbc's website yesterday, in case you missed it. the former president storms out of the civil fraud trial after facing off with foe michael

cohen. trump was called to testify for the first time in paperwork, and he was found $10,000 for violating his gag order again. rich in pens grove, new jersey, independent. hi. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i think israel is in a no-win situation. unfortunately if they don't attack hamas it's going to happen again. if they do attack hamas, they are going to be accused of war crimes. your heart has to bleed when you see what's going on from the videos from gaza. it's tragic. hamas put those people in that situation. pull out of gaza, hamas would destroy what the israelis left behind. they would immediately start attacking israel. they put a blockade on in self-defense.

they didn't want this. it was brought upon them. this is a no-win situation. the world will turn against them to be accused of war crimes. it's just going to continue. god help us all. thank you. host: cassie, monroe, michigan. republican. hi. caller: hi. i want to remind everyone that it was a democrat who shot the republican steve scalise on the ball field with other republicans that were shot by a democrat. it's not just republicans that are extreme that the democrats seem to call in and say. i say go, trump. host: dorothy, omaha, nebraska. democratic caller. hello to you, dorothy. caller: hi. thanks for taking my call. i called in about israel and palestine.

i am wondering does israel remember what happened to them in germany, because they are doing the same thing to the palestinians. the bible says vengeance is mine. i will repay. israel is doing what god should do. and in the final end in the bible in zachariah and revelation, it talks about the nations coming against israel. i am afraid for them if they don't stop. that's all i have to say. host: andrew in arizona, independent. hi. caller: hi. how you doing? host: morning. caller: first of all i want to say happy birthday to the caller earlier. it happens to be my birthday, too. host: happy birthday. caller: thank you. i want to talk about the speaker's race. i think we ought to give johnson a chance.

as far as the election denier stuff. i appreciate the fact that he was a constitutional lawyer and he wanted to check out all the inconkraouts -- incongrewities in all the other states. people have to remember the states run their own elections. the congress has nothing to do with states' elections and shouldn't. i guess that's all i have to say. host: darell in florida, republican. hi. caller: yes, ma'am. i want to congratulate mike johnson on the speaker. getting the speaker position. i also i want to say that the democrats keep running their mouth on here about election deniers. nobody's denying the actual

election. people are just checking in to a lot of suspicious activity. host: what do you think was the ultimate goal of those cases and in particular this case brought by the texas attorney general backed by mike johnson? caller: you got trump hundreds of thousands of votes ahead in all these states. you wake up and biden is ahead. host: ok. let's go back to yesterday after mike johnson was handed the gavel by democratic leader hakeem jeffries. and spoke to lawmakers in the chamber. he came to the capitol steps outside and kpoebg to reporters. here's -- spoke to reporters. here's what he had to say. >> we are going to speak with clarity and conviction and consistency to the american people. we are going to tell them what

we are for, what agenda we are pursuing, and why it is best for every american. why it would give them more liberty, opportunity, and security. we are going to speak to that clearly. we are going to act consistently. and we are going to exec two things here, trust and teamwork. this group will deliver for the american people. i said it in the chamber. i will say it here. we are going to govern well. and i think the people are going to be very pleased with those results. we are so grateful. aim so grateful and-tkeurpbl' so grateful and humbled -- i'm so grateful and humbled to get a unanimous vote on the floor by my colleagues here. we went through a lot to get here. but we are ready to govern. that will begin right away. you have all heard me talk a lot today. i'm not going to belabor the point because the sun is bright and too farm for the fall. i'll say -- warm for the fall. i'll say this we'll dispense the celebration that is traditionally follow because we have no time for either one. the american people's business

is too urgent in this moment. the hour is late. the crisis is great. and america we hear you. we are reporting again as i said in there for our duty station that. will begin in just a few moments. this entire group will go back to the house floor and we are going to pass our resolution in support of the nation of israel. our closest alley -- ally. you are going to see an aggressive schedule in the days and weeks ahead. are you going to see congress working as hard as it's ever worked. we are going to deliver for the american people. i'm grateful to have this opportunity. i want to thank you for being patient with us. i promise you it will be worth it. god bless you. host: congressman mike johnson, republican of louisiana. he's 51 years old. promising that the last three weeks will be worth it. yesterday the former president, donald trump, up in new york for his trial there, spoke to reporters about mike johnson as speaker. it came -- those remarks came a

day after he had panned the bid by minnesota republican tom emmer. here's what the former president had to say about mike johnson. >> thank you very much. i just want to congratulate mike johnson. he will be a great speaker of the house. we are very happy for him. known him for a long time. tremendous leader. tremendous man. comes from a wonderful place, louisiana. he's going to be--going to make us all proud. at this time yesterday nobody was thinking of mike. and then we put out the word. now he's speaker of the house. i want to just thank all the supporters that i have. i want to thank alt supporters that mike has. and again, he'll be a great speaker. you'll be very proud of him. thank you, everybody. host: former president on mike johnson becoming speaker. we are getting your reaction to his speakership as well. will in quincy, massachusetts.

independent. caller: good morning. i'm not too much into foreign policy, but this morning it was very unfortunate, sad thing for me that the shooting in maine where 20-plus people were killed. and gun rights are probably say, well, what do they say? i think everybody should have a gun. it would stop a lot of killings. and i don't want to go on and on about it. it's just an opinion. thank you for taking my phone call. have a good day. host: ok. william. william there in massachusetts. richard in alabama, a republican. hi. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: good morning. caller: i just had questions about mike johnson and election denial. i think the public has a very short memory. certainly the democrats do.

there is active steps taken to try to unseat the current president back then. if that's not election denial to the in theth degree -- nth degree i don't know what is. host: ok. let's go to howard in north carolina. democratic caller. caller: top of the morning to you, everybody. we got a lot in the news about the israel and hamas. look, god's people is going to do what god's people need to do. and if we believe in the word of god, then we know that israel is going to retaliate, even though there are going to be innocent people involved. people always talking about they have to eradicate hamas. we have to eradicate hamas. but don't people know right here

in america we got our own hamas. i know my people had to deal with hamas. we call them the klansman. i know the jews have to deal with people in america, we call them neo-nazis. we got the proud boys here. the insurrectionists here. and they worrying about hamas. please, america. let's get this place straight. we had 22 encounters of people slaughtered in america and nobody ain't saying nothing about that. what is wrong with america? thank you, c-span, we need to get our act together. host: howard. yesterday, last evening, in washington, at the white house, the president held another state dinner. this time for the australian prime minister. if you missed any of the pomp and circumstance, that goes into a state dinner, and official arrival of a head of state, you can find it all on our website, c-span.org. the guests that attended.

the dresses that were worn. and the toast given by the two leaders. "the new york times" this morning says joe biden and first lady wear lebanese. could the timing be could he continuesence? doubtful. they note that although dr. biden has worn this designer on many other public occasions. she's a lebanese american designer. dr. biden has praised him for his work. for the american first lady to wear this to a state dinner at this particular time seemed less a coincidence than a specific reminder of the power of diplomatic relations and what it means to work with this particular administration. not to mention the sign of faith in the american melting pot as a place of unity across backgrounds rather than division. mary lou in new jersey, independent. hi. caller: hello, greta. thank you for c-span.

this is a very good enjoyable program this morning. good morning to everybody out there watching and listening. i want to make two comments regarding mike johnson. first of all, i think he is a perfect pick for the speakership. i have watched him over the years in hearings. he seems to be a good man. a moral man. and i think finally we will see what a good speaker of the house should be. i want to make another comment regarding people that are calling in showing concern for his comments about the 2020 election. the sad part of it is there is one man whose name is not being mentioned that should bear some responsibility for what happened in 2020. and that is mike pence. mike pence certified an exemption when he knew there were irregulars--irregularities enough to warrant further investigation.

i don't know if a lot of people know this. if you have any way of going back and watching the tape after that election was certified, he fist pumped nancy pelosi indicating to her -- host: mary lou, the former vice president said it was not in the constitution for him to play the role that you and others would like him to play. if you want to go to our library, our archives, go to c-span.org. watch the video that you are talking about. you can clip it on website as well. go to the original source on c-span.org. and watch for yourself. easterny, ohio, republican. hi. caller: hi, how are you. i have a couple things to say. i'm a retired person over 70. and this whole thing for both parties, they need to work together and get things done. mike johnson, aim glad he got the skwrofpblt we don't know a lot about him. we know he did work with donald trump a little in 2020.

and didn't believe that the election was stolen like trump said. our biggest fear in this country is mr. donald trump. this guy is a con man, coward, bully, a tpharcies, pwrepblg pr*epblg dissed man. i have never seen a person that says the things he says over the last seven years. he knows he's guilty. he brought all this on him. the january 6 thing, when he told everybody -- if you want your country back, go fight for it. nobody took our country nowhere. and the phone call in georgia where he wanted change of votes. and classified information to ohio. and all the other things. the republican party needs to get away from donald trump and move on. he's too dangerous. look what he's done. if these republicans -- if he this would have impeached him three, four years ago we would not be going through this all this. he would have been long gone. whatever he wanted to do. but this guy is dangerous for himself. he's dangerous for america.

we don't need him in there again. from what i'm hearing they have enough stuff on him to indict him, to convict him. use the 14th amendment section 3. if he doesn't go along with any of this, then he's going to take a plea deal. one way or the other early next year or go to jail for some time. host: all right. i'm going to leave it there. we'll go back up to capitol hill. jill tokuda who is a democrat from hawaii. armed services and agricultural committees joining us from cannon house office building. thank you, congresswoman, for your time. what do you think about speaker mike johnson? guest: well, i will tell you, standing here today, i definitely feel a bit anxious. more so i feel urgency. we have been without a speaker over the last three weeks. finally with the fourth pick it's about trying to get to work on behalf of the american people. now, what speaker johnson is going to have to realize is he needs to be a speaker for all of america.

when you take a look at his positions, actions and words he has been anything but that. it's about how he is now going to have to step up, quite frankly, work across the aisle, and do what's right for this country. that's how he will be judged. ultimately he must lead to be a speaker for all of america if we are to be successful on behalf of our constituents. host: he said the house will continue to work on appropriations bills up until november 17 when this current stopgap c.r. measure runs out. if, then, they need to go to another c.r. he said he would put one on the floor. will you as a democrat go along with that plan? guest: we need to make sure that government does not shut down. as you know, especially for my district that includes la haoeupba, it's an -- la high in a-lahaina it's important. another continuing resolution, which i do believe is inevitable. we'll have to pass another continuing resolution. it needs to include resources and funding that the biden

administration has put forward for foreign aid and domestic aid. we are talking about $150 billion plus of resource that is are sorely needed right now to our ale leighs in israel, humanitarian aid in tkpwaz, ukraine. you look at the southern border. childcare. so many different aspects, disaster funding. that is critical. disasters continue to happen every day. it's a part for the c.r. on november 17 must include these funding elements. host: what is the update on maui? guest: it continues to break our hearts. what inspires us is the strength, tenacity, real sillency of the people. everyone is struggling. the most basics things you take for granted, housing. where will we be living. not just now in the longer term future. business aspects. supporting our small almost tiny microbusinesses having the ability to stand up and rebuild at this particular point. it is a struggle.

it is difficult. everyone is at various stages of grieving. it's the resiliency of our people. the ability to come together and support each other. the world has wrapped their arms around us. that continues to propel us forward. host: what phase of recovery would you say maui is at at this point? guest: we are finally in that point where people are being allowed to go back home. they have have for the last few weeks. for some to say goodbye and look forward in terms of what rebuilding will look like. all the cleaning efforts. this will take time. what needs to take time is bringing the community, the people of maui and lahaina together to determine what the future looks like. that's the devastating part of this. it's about how we will find ourselves in all of this. by reaching out to community. engaging community in what will be the rebuilding effort. we are in a critical transition point where people are saying

goodbye to what they remember and what they will always hold dear as lahaina and their homes and looking forward to the future of what it could be and must be going forward. the community will envision leading the way. host: congresswoman, what will you and your colleagues from your state be pushing for in future aid to hawaii? guest: we are so blessed the first c.r. had $16 million. that was critical. we have seen it at work in our coming the last few months and we need to see it continue to go forward for maui and every other community hit. we need to start to drill it down. we sent letters to the president, to our appropriations, talking about the fact that everything from aid, for farmers, rural communities, helping us to rebuild our schools. actual infrastructure that destroyed. everything from water to sewer to roadways. small business support. economic development support. we have lost up to a thousand

businesses, much of them just small mom and pop operations that can't rely on cash flow they had to be able to rebuild. so many things. when we look at t it's a whole of government approach. entire government approach that needs to be part not just in the response, but in the recovery and rebuild. we have great asks out there. and we are imploring on all our colleagues to support us and show america that when disaster strikes anywhere in our country, this is how government, the whole of government, responds to take care of our people and communities. host: congresswoman, you are a member of the armed services committee. member of the progressive caucus as well. what do you want the u.s. response in words and action to look like when it comes to israel and hamas? guest: at the end of the day, israel has to have the ability to defend its people against terror. to strike down terror where it's at.

at the same time we must always be mindful we cannot lose our humanity. humanity must be the first ander foremost thing. whether are you talking about israel, hamas, the southern border whether we are talking about the halls of congress right now. that is so critical to understand that there are so many people suffering right now. so much devastation. we cannot move our humanity through all of this as we engage. we must start to look forward meaningfully at what peace looks like in this particular case. a two-state solution can never be far from our discussion. that must always be the end goal in everything we talk about. how we work towards peace. host: jill tokuda, democrat of hawaii. thank you very much. back to your calls. harry in new york, independent. harry. caller: yes. hi. i have multiple issues regarding the israeli-hamas war. hamas is a diabolical terrorist

organization. you must ran a banner underneath your tv program saying hamas manifesto says that they want to kill all jews and kill them from the jordan river to the sea. hamas has caused multiple massacres killing americans. we must stop them just like we must stop the nazis in germany. we decimated germany, the allies, in order to get to the nazis. unfortunately there is collateral damage caused by that. but we must stop hamas. gaza was given to the people in 2005 by the israelis and freed that area. unfortunately hamas took over. and killed p.l.a. people. they still are in control. as long as they are in control we'll never have peace. regarding the humanitarian

issue, they are holding 220 hostage, including americans. they must free those hostages, otherwise they get no humanitarian because if they are humanitarian they would free the hostages. the other thing is israel is not an apartheid nation. they have over one million palestinians living in their country who can vote, move free, make money. there is no apartheid in israel for those people who think that there is. and they have a voting rights, also. host: gary, morefield, west virginia. democratic caller. hi. are you with us? gary in west virginia, democratic caller. ryan, arizona, independent. hi. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say -- check in to the world because it's

getting crazier all the time. the people who were saying how dangerous trump is. trust me trump has his faults. we got the -- the world is in chaos. it was better four years ago. better under trump. my 401-k, my crime in my city which is not that bad compared to a lot of cities. seattle, d.c. crime creme is out of control. border is opened. what happened in israel, bad situation there. they think trump is the problem. the insurrection? look what happened in russia with the wagner group. our media lied to us made us think insurrection is crazy out-of-control thing. it was a riot that got out of control. do they deserve to be punished? yeah. totally overblown, yes? host: ryan's thoughts in arizona. on capitol hill yesterday over on the senate side of the u.s.

capitol democratic leader chuck schumer, the majority leader on the floor yesterday, urging both parties to come together in these critical few weeks as they face that november 17 funding deadline. >> i would say to my colleagues in the house, my republican colleagues, if you try to do things not in a bipartisan way, it's going to lead to gridlock and other things that hurt the american people. both parties recognize we must support our allies in israel against hamas. both parties recognize that we must support our friends in ukraine against putin. both parties know that we must fight the scourge of fentanyl coming through the border. outcompete the chinese government. and support taiwan. so to my republican colleagues, house and senate, let's work together to ensure that passing the supplemental remains bipartisan because only things that win support from both sides will make it to the president's

desk. host: majority leader chuck schumer yesterday. jeffrey in canton, ohio. democratic caller. good morning. caller: people need to realize that mike johnson and jeffries both are represent tillian. reptilian. are you telling me i live in a country where caucasian people see stuff in the sky and they refuse to find out -- host: republican. caller: yeah. host: you have to mute your television, please. caller: yeah. i just want to say a couple things. greta when you first started i thought you were a certainty person. but surely c-span gives everybody's opinion. thank you guys for doing that.

a lot of times i hear you -- there is a heritage foundation. there's epic times, "new york post." you ask the republican callers where did you hear it? you are a journalist. you know where they hear this. i think you should go to wikipedia and change that you are a centrist because you are not. i can see you doing the democratic talking points while you're there. the speaker is a new breath of fresh air. to call him an extremist, from the coast, the east coast to the west coast and how everybody in their nutty minds think out there. the rest of america things like him. he still believes in god. the first thing he did when he came there is try to get 53 tpwhrerb mayne --men congresspeople to be nice to each other. 51 out of 53 did that. i would give him a chance all you democrats. i think he's a good man. thank you. host: all right.

tom's thoughts there republican in illinois on mike johnson, the new speaker of the house. connecticut, independent, hi janet. caller: hi. how are you? host: morning. go ahead with your thoughts. caller: my thoughts are that watching mike johnson's address made me feel good. i'm old veteran from vietnam. i thought of things that have happened that made me so sad he's going to bring our country together, which is what we should be, together. never mind making opinions on just one day this man has been speaker of the house. let us all come together and look above. look below. look around. and see who we can be friend with and talk to and get this country together. and working as it should.

host: janet, what did you like about mike johnson yesterday? caller: just about everything. he had seven -- can't remember exactly the goals of how he put them. but they were so suck seupbgt. they were wonderful. i said if looked at all those things that's what we should look at. that's our country. host: janet talking about that moment in mike johnson's speech, acceptance speech when he was handed the gavel talking about his seven principles. if you missed it go to our website c-span.org. on our website you'll find points of interest from the house floor. when you hit the video player, gold stars will indicate those points of interest. you can listen to the remarks that mike johnson delivered on the floor yesterday when he became the 56th speaker. terry in oregon, democratic caller. hi.

caller: thank you. i wanted to do one business thing first. every since you guys changed to the new setting, there is a problem -- a technical problem. i stream you on my desktop every morning. and there is all of a sudden there is a snag and what's showing on the screen and your volume. it cuts out. then the volume gets louder. and you go back like about 15 seconds. it continually happens every day. and i just don't know if you guys are aware of that. the issue i also was very pleased when you directed the caller to go to the tapes on mike pence, when she made that comment. you said that wasn't his position to do that. thank you very much. i appreciate that pushback.

and now on to my call. i thank you for being so generous with the time. i just wanted to say that i am hesitant with mike johnson. the fact that we still have so many magas in congress. and -- i get really tired of them saying that they represent all the people. they don't. they are very narrow focused on a part of government that doesn't serve our democracy. and i have been really pleased with all the callers this morning. the ones i don't agree with and the ones i do. i'll say happy birthday to those two callers. thank you very much. host: all right, terry. newark, new jersey. republican. hi, lefter -- lester. newark, new jersey.

republican caller. hi. caller: hi. host: we are listening to you. go ahead. caller: i just want to ask -- i want to ask about johnson, congratulate on him his win. host: all right. congratulating mike johnson on his win. tacoma, washington, independent. caller: hi. thank you for taking this call. i think that mike johnson may just be the ticket because he seems to be a constitutionalist. we have to get back to the fact that the constitution stands for everyone. and our enemies celebrate. we should celebrate and embrace our diversity, individuality, and freedom.

the u.s.a.'s greatest strengths they embody us, and our enemies fear those strengths. they use them against to us divide us, deconstruct us, and destroy us. i believe that what mr. johnson really stands for is not having the government decide all of our differences. the government wasn't designed to go into and decide every single person's different attributes. as far as the -- hillary and trump debate, both of them fully believed, they believed they won. whether they did or not it doesn't matter. they believed they won. we need to focus on individuals and not their personalities. host: i'm going to leave it there. a couple headlines to share. this is the "washington times." congressman jamaal bowman agreed

to bleed guilty to a local -- plead guilty to a local crime pulling a fire alarm on september 30 during debate on a government tpupbgd bill to avert a government shutdown. mr. bowman's office says the lawmaker has reached an agreement with the d.c. attorney general for the charges to be dropped in three months in exchange for a formal apology and $1,000 fine. there is also this in the "new york times," justices luxury are r.v. loan was forgiven. firms of the private loan -- terms of the private loan were as generous as they were clear with no money down, justice clarence johnson could borrow more than a quarter million dollars from a wealthy friend to buy a 40-foot luxury motorcoach, making annual interest only payments for five years, only then would the principal become due. despite the nature of the 1999 loan and lengthy extension to make good on his obligations, justice thomas fails to repay a

significant portion or perhaps any of the 260,000 230 principal according to a new report by democratic members of the senate finance committee. nearly nine years later, after justice thomas had made an unclear number of the interest payments, the outstanding debt was forgiven with ethical and potential tax consequences for the justice. that's "the new york times." richard, california, democratic caller. richard. caller: hi, good morning. thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to make a comment about the speaker johnson that was voted in yesterday. i'm a democrat. i have been a democrat all my life. and i'm willing to give the guy a chance. even though they say he's an extremist. hopefully he'll do what he's supposed to do. and the fact that they say all these things about him, well,

everybody has their problems. the democrats and the republicans, they all have their problems. we need to get past that. but -- on one side the republicans have got to come to reality. that they do no harm. and that they are so straight that they do nothing wrong. and that's what bothers people. it bothers the democrats, it bothers everybody. so they need to own up to what they do. and i think that's basically the problem that they are having now. not getting along. host: all right. jeffrey, warsaw, ohio, republican. caller: i just wanted to say that -- some things that concern me. if you look at the obama-biden administration. fast and furious

armed drug cartels. then you have -- they supplied isis with arms and things. and gave the taliban maybe $5 billion in weapons and things. they have given money to iran -- host: jeffrey, tie this back to the speaker election. guest: caller: now the board remembers wide open. i think he'll do a good skwrofpblt like the -- job. like the fact as he's a christian. and -- one of the things i likem interview people like mayorkas and head of the d.o.j. how he said we are going to forego -- forgo the celebration that is usually go along with it and turned around and said let's go to work.

host: you liked all that. house is gaveling in in a few minutes here to begin their legislative work today. we'll bring you gavel-to-gavel coverage here on c-span. for those of you unfamiliar with mike johnson, how he has questioned witnesses in hearings or his other work on capitol hill, find more about him, if you go to our website. c-span.org. at the top of the website is a search engine, mike johnson. you'll see how many total videos he has in our archives. make your way through the videos, different hearings that you care about. the topics, and see how he asks questions of witnesses and the answers that he got from them in hearings. bonnie in sarasota, florida, independent. caller: yes. thank you. i'm very worried that we have another right-wing person in

charge. everyone that adds to the pile just wants to undo our democracy. it's very disturbing. thank you. host: headline in the "washington times," speaker johnson breaks house jam. yesterday, 220 republicans, all united behind mike johnson. maryland, democratic caller. caller: yes. thank you for taking my call. i did listen to some of the speech of johnson and i was struck by how he started out about the creed that all men being created equal and the right to pursue freedom and happiness. that has not been the history of this country. it started out with enslaving people. and then you have to look at the deeds that are done by the speaker. if you look at his activity, the deeds, he can say a lot of things who he's supposed to be, but as a christian, the bible

talks about helping those that are the least among us. and to follow someone who repeatedly lies, a bunch of corruption, discredit the democratcy, elections, look at those things i question. the or thing about as far as the debt, when we look at the debt of this country, which a lot of it was constructed by the republican president with all the tax cuts. the tax cuts have caused us to be in the situation. if you do the math, the math tells us expenditures have to also be cut with revenues. that wasn't the case. it's just a problem when you look at the deeds of johnson. i don't really expect too much that was said by the famous writer that trust what people show you. host: all right. maryland.

michael in maine, republican. we have to make it quick. the house is about to gavel in here for their legislative day. caller: good morning, greta. pleasure being able to speak with you. i just been listening. i think so much democracy when i see the voter denial which the democrats have done every election. when they say cross-examining the aisles, they do that until they become in power then they don't vote anything that -- dealing with the republican party. speaker pelosi wouldn't even allow bills to come to the floor if they had any kind of republican position in it. i think we ought to actually start realizing that the right wing pie, the far right, they are constitutionalists. they believe in this country and what it stands for with the constitution and the bill of ri