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host: good morning on this thursday. republicans are officially in charge of washington. the associated press projected has. republicans celebrated with donald trump in washington yesterday. he also returned to the white house yesterday with a welcome back from president biden. both promising a smooth transition. on capitol hill, senate republicans picked john thune to be their leader in the chamber, replacing mitch mcconnell. mike johnson remains as speaker. with control of congress and the white house, republicans believe they have a mandate. we ask all of you what is that mandate question mark democrats,

-- mandate? (202) 748-8900. you can contact us on facebook and on x with the handle @cspanwj. this is the headline from the wall street journal. speaker johnson gets the president-elect's backing to remain as the leader in the house chamber. for public held their leadership election in both chambers. after mike johnson was elected to remain at speaker, he talked to reporters and here is what he had to say. [video] >> yesterday morning we began on the steps of the house. as everyone was flying into work again and we completely 118th congress. we celebrated a new beginning. a new date in america.

we began, as steve scalise told you, that we began with president trump. it was a bit of a pep rally. everybody feels very confident, very encouraged about the days ahead. he gave us an inspirational message and talked about the importance of maintaining unity and standing with the leadership team to go forward. it was well received. that set the tone for our day. we had a productive day. the theme you will hear from all of our members is that we are unified and energized and ready to go. we have to deliver for the american people beginning on day one and we will be ready for that. i want to congratulate the new leaders that have been duly elected to help serve the conference. this is an extraordinary leadership team. those reelected have earned those positions well. this was a group and body that worked together and did some extraordinary things.

putting together a leadership team and decided upon conference rules. i want to tip my hat to the chairs of our most important and active caucuses within the republican conference, the house freedom caucus and congress meant dusty johnson of the mainstreet caucus who worked together with a subgroup to work through deliberate process to come up with the rules. we come out of this excited to deliver the america first agenda for the american people. host: that was speaker johnson yesterday after he was elected by his conference to remain the leader of the house of representatives. the associated press last night projecting republicans would maintain the majority. now in charge of house, senate and the white house. what is there mandate? john in brooklyn, democratic caller. what do you say? caller: they think they mandated to get democracy.

-- get rid of democracy. always have controlling them is the midterm election. we can stop them by defeating them and taking back the house and the senate. everybody wanted trump, that he was good for the economy and the border. they did not think about other things he would be doing like putting all these people not qualified in these positions. i think he is setting up a coup. he said he for could get in, you will not have to vote no more. i don't think he's going to leave willingly. wait until the midterm election. you can stop it. that is all we have. host: the issues you just mentioned were brought up by congressional republicans yesterday when they talked about what is first on this agenda. addressing the situation at the border and passing -- redoing

the 2017 tax cut legislation that passed duringpresident-elect trump' first -- during president-elect trump's first term. those policies were mentioned as top of the agenda for republicans. you mentioned his new administration. here's the front page of the washington times. he gives assurance -- the fox tv host. next to that is trump text -- picked matt gaetz as attorney general. chelsea gavin -- tulsi gabbard as director of national intelligence. the washington times says it is another shocker. let's go to william in ohio.

independent. caller: good morning. i hope you're having a nice day. host: what do you think the mandate is for republicans in washington in the new year? caller: it is going to be crazy. it will be isolationist. please try to take over the whole country -- he is trying to take over the whole country. maybe he will be a good president this time, i doubted, but he's trying to isolate us from the rest of the world and it's scary. isolationists become dictators. that is something we have to stop and the midterms whenever we can. he's the dumbest president we've ever had in this country. host: what if republicans move in addressing the situation at the border? they control the flow of illegal immigration into the country. if they are successful and they

continue tax cuts from 2017, would you give them high marks for that? caller: they ain't going to stop the immigration at the border. he just want to put them in work camps. he lives on immigration. -- this country lives in immigration. that is a long time ago. this country was made from immigrants. some of my ancestors were native americans. whatever trump is doing is wrong. he is just trying to take over. the tax cuts. last time i got a tax cut i had to pay it back at the end of the year. you tell me what's happening. from 2017 to 2020i was paying in . it helps the rich, not the working-class like me.

host: lucas in alexander, arkansas. republican. your party controls the house, the senate and the white house in the new year. what is there mandate? -- their mandate? caller: this is indeed a mandate and i'm thrilled the republicans want to have unified control of washington. this mandate, although the republicans have a full plate, immigration needs to be the first thing they take a bite out of on the plate. i heard because fear mongering and saying they will deport grandma and grandpa. two points on that. i doubt they're going to start by sending an 80-year-old woman back to el salvador with all the heinous criminals that have been let into this country and the numbers they give -- i'm not saying i'm a conspiracy theorist you might as will quadruple it.

at the end of the day, grandma was here illegally. they broke the law. they are in the country illegally. that is my opinion on it. host: lucas wants to see immigration tackled by republicans in washington. james in washington, d.c. democratic caller. do republicans have a mandate? caller: no, they don't. the president should have been vetted and put on trial for what happened -- at the capitol. he should have been vetted before he was president in 2016. the man is not qualified to be president. he said he wants to be a dictator. host: you have got to mute that television and talk for your telephone today. we are asking you with republicans in control of washington, what is the mandate?

what do they need to tackle first to maintain their majority? duane in jamaica, new york. caller: good morning. i am not a trump supporter by no means. i am a centrist. i am willing to give the republicans an opportunity to have their mandate go forward. the problem i have is that they still have disruptors in the congress. they have those maga folks that will disrupt. me as a voter and not voting for trump, i don't see it going very far. you have the new majority leader. he is what i consider a conventional republican who will go by the rules. johnson, i'm not quite sure. he is a maga. i willing to give them a chance. host: in the news reports today

they note the speaker mike johnson will maintain control of the house but with a thin majority. he will not have much cushion. there will be moderate republicans where -- that come from districts that the vice president won. they will put pressure on him. at the same time, the conservatives are putting pressure on him. he does not have a lot of maneuvering, a lot of wiggle room. there's pressure from president-elect trump to push the agenda in the house. are you there -- there? caller: that's a very good point. in two years, they will be another election. the democrats are now going to

be on the defense as opposed to the offense. i think thune will do his best to try to keep trump in line. johnson, i have no faith in him at all and his congressional folks. no confidence. i'm sorry. host: duane in new york on the senator from south dakota, john thune, who won the top spot for leadership in the senate for republicans yesterday. there he is on your screen. he held a news conference with his new leadership team. you can see them there. john barrasso, tom cotton of arkansas, tim scott, james lankford, shelley moore-capito. thune to lead gop and senate and tackle aggressive agenda. he will guide the senate as

republicans work to pass tax cuts, considered trump nominated judges and officials, and navigate battles over government spending, foreign aid and the debt ceiling. thune will need to hold together the republican party given its narrow 53-47 majority when differences with lawmakers or president trump rise to the surface. edward in battle creek, michigan. do republicans have a mandate? what do you think it is? caller: i think they want 51 -- won 51% to 48% of the popular vote. that is not a mandate. the big issues that trump kept harping on the campaign, my concern would be how bad mass deportations would be. if trump is talking about deporting at least 10 million

people from the country, that is going to be -- he goes as high as 30 million. in fluctuates every speech. it's a different number depending on the speech. 10 million to 30 million illegal aliens or people to be deported. that will be extraordinarily expensive and extort nearly difficult. you notice in his victory speech people pointed out he did not mention mass deportations in the victory speech for the election. i am quoting from lawrence o'donnell. he said that terrorist might not be done, the mass deportations might get done. it is going to be extreme expensive, extremely difficult, extremely disruptive. it is my view on it. -- that is my view when it. host: before republicans take

control of the congress and the white house in january, there's a transition underway. donald trump in washington yesterday, back at the white house with president joe biden. they met in the oval office. they sat for reporters before holding a two hour meeting. that's according to news reports. the men and their chiefs of staff in that meeting. listen to what they had to say. they were talking about the transition process at the white house yesterday. [video] >> donald, congratulations. i look forward to having a smooth transition. we will make sure you are accommodated with what you need. we will talk about some of that today. welcome back. >> thank you very much. politics is tough. in many cases it is not a nice

world but it is a nice world today. i appreciate that very much. the transition that is so smooth, as smooth as it can get. i very much appreciate it. thank you. >> you're welcome. thank you all. host: at the white house yesterday. tom in connecticut, republican. caller: good morning, greta. it is a new day in america. priority one is mass deportation of illegal immigrants and closing the border, completing the wall and the new secretary of state marco rubio is a wonderful choice, as is matt gaetz. removal of merrick garland, a totally unqualified attorney general and vindictive to the

nth degree is delightful. i believe we will have peace before the end of the month, and to my jewish compatriots, there is a new bright day coming. thank you for allowing me to speak. host: there are reports that some senate republicans are skeptical that matt gaetz has the credentials to be attorney general. why do you think he should be attorney general? caller: he is well-qualified. he has been vetted by president trump and his transition team. i have complete confidence in donald trump. host: president-elect trump. this is from fungible news. he announced the nomination without giving republicans a heads up. many were absolutely stunned. senator chuck grassley of

iowa stood speechless when matt gaetz -- when asked if matt gaetz. other senate republicans told them privately that matt gaetz cannot get the votes to be approved. the president-elect, from reporting this morning in the washington post, is pushing senate republicans to approve his nomination. here is what he had to say. he plans -- he stayed out of the race for the senate majority leader in the senate. president-elect trump made clear he wants the republican-let senate to bend to his will when it comes to his appointments, asserting he will go around the chamber for some of his nominees. any republican senator seeking

the coveted leadership position in the u.s. senate must agree to recess appointments without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. that is what he wrote on true social on sunday. here is senator thune after becoming majority leader from his conference talking about the senate's role and confirming the cabinet. this was before the announcement of matt gaetz as attorney general and tulsi gabbard as the director of national intelligence. here's what he had to say. [video] >> do you have concerns about the cabinet picks so far in and choosing nominees who will pass senate confirmation? >> the senate has the advise and consent rule in the constitution. we will do everything we can to process quickly, get them installed in their positions so

they can begin limiting his agenda. -- implement in his agenda. -- implementing his agenda. >> [indiscernible] >> we are going to make sure we are processing his nominees in a way that gives them into those positions so he can implement his agenda. how that happens remains to be seen. we want to make sure our committees have confirmation hearings like they typically do and that the nominees report to the floor. i have said this. we expect a level of cooperation from the democrats. we will look and explore all options to make sure that they get moved quickly. >> while the filibuster remained unchanged? >> yes. >> how you balance maintaining the independence of the senate with passing the president-elect's agenda? >> the senate by the founders'

design is a place where the minority has a voice in our process. we will do the job the founders intended us to do in the senate and that the american people intend us to do. after this mandate election coming out of the american people to work with this president on an agenda that unwinds a lot of the damage of the biden-harris agenda and puts in place new policies that will move our country forward in a different direction. host: the incoming majority leader, john thune of south dakota saying recess appointments are on the table. vox.com.the senate must approve presidential nomination for high-level post, including cabinet positions, ambassadorships and inspector general jobs in a process outlined in the constitution. this procedure is meant to be a check on presidential power. a way of ensuring officials directed by citizen -- lighted

by citizens can guard against the permits of or corrupt personnel. the constitution allows for recess appointments, a provision that aims to prevent prolonged government vacancies by allowing the president to install officials without senate approval while congress is not in session. using such recess appointments, president-elect trump could nominate who he would like without giving the senate the opportunity to object to the pick. it increases the risk of unqualified, corrupt or ideological appointees filling government posts. it significantly expands presidential power. mike johnson, who will remain a speaker, also talking about yesterday to the republicans they gathered in washington about the nomination of matt

gaetz as attorney general and his resignation from congress. here is what speaker johnson had to say. [video] >> i talked with matt. president trump told me that would be happening. matt never classmates who came to congress at the same time in january of 2017. alphabetically we are seated next to each other in the judiciary committee. those are long meetings. i got to know matt well. everyone who served with him, he's one of the most intelligent members of congress. he's an occultist attorney. he's very concerned about -- accomplished attorney. is concerned about the department of justice and the fact he american people have lost their faith in our institutions of justice because of everything they have seen. he's a reformer in his mind and heart and he will bring a lot to the table on that. out of deference to us, he

issued his resignation letter effective immediately to congress. that caught us by surprise a little bit i asked him what the reasoning was. he said you can't have too many absences. there is an eight-week period to select a vacant seat. by doing so today, i have placed a call to governor desantis and said let's start the clock. he is in italy at the moment. we will talk first thing in the morning about this. if we start the clock now, if you do the math, we may be able to fill the seat as early as january 3 when we take the oath of office for the new congress. that would have done us a great service by making a decision on the fly. we are grateful for that. host: speaker johnson reacted to the nation of matt gaetz as attorney general. the editorial board of the wall street journal has reaction this morning. matt gaetz is a bad choice for ag.

"the larger objections to mr. gaetz concerned judgment incredibly. the u.s. attorney general has to make calls and kalus difficult questions of whom to investigate and indict. mr. gaetz's decisions would not be trusted. he's a nominee for those who want the law used for political revenge. it won't end well." that is the wall street journal's opinion this morning. al in highland park, michigan. democratic caller. caller: good morning. what is the question again? host: if you think republicans have a mandate in washington in the new year. what do you want them to do first? caller: they won the house and the senate. this whole thing is interesting. you have the supreme court allowing this guy to have more

immunity. what are the chances if that had been kamala? it's a gamble, right? everything. the supreme court are not dumb people. it was a hell of a gamble. that was incredible, right? then you turn around and the american people put a criminal -- a criminal in charge of the most powerful country in the whole world. a criminal? it turns out -- in my opinion, she lost because these guys don't dig chicks. i'm a black -- they think it's a joke. they think it doesn't matter who is president, it will always be the same. host: i will leave it there and follow up with a headline for

the washington post. special counsel jack smith likely to quit before inauguration. that is headline. the justice department weighing how to proceed with this dockets -- the documents case. frank, republican, from florida. frank, it is your turn. steve, las vegas, democratic caller. caller: thank you for taking my call . it wasn't a mandate. this country is in for a world of hurt. the people he's putting in there for cabinet numbers, that's a joke. they're not qualified. matt gaetz, he's a sexual predator. he's working for a sexual predator. thanks for taking my call. have a good day. host: steve in las vegas, democratic caller.

you were looking at the front page of the washington post. you can see them all listed there and the agencies president elect trump would like them to lead. we will see if that confirmation hearings happen in the senate or if they are recess appointments like he's been discussing this morning. we will take a short break. we will continue to talk about the news out of washington. we will talk with representative buddy carter, republican of georgia, member of the budget, energy and commerce committees about the upcoming agenda and house republican priorities. later, representative john larson, democrat of connecticut, a member of the ways and means committee will discuss the trump administration, the agenda, social security and tax policy. we will be right back. ♪

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cumulatively. it is at 2.7% right now but you have to take it from a perspective of how much it has increased over the last four years. people are hurting. people in my district are hurting. they have to decide between groceries and gas. that is not good. they are concerned about the southern border. that mandate is we have to secure the border and do something about illegal immigration. we have to do something about the drug problem a result of the border being so porous. we have to do something about being respected on the world stage. the people understand that. they want to make sure we are respected on the world stage. we were not respected during the biden-harris administration. they want to do something about crime in our cities. that is important. people want to make sure they feel safe. they want to make sure their family members are safe. under this administration they are not. the mandate for us in congress is to address those issues. those issues that are so

important to the american people. host: when it comes to inflation, what can congress do to bring down inflation? isn't that the job of the federal reserve? the independent federal reserve? guest: let's look at the causes of inflation. the root cause started day one of the biden-harrison administration when they declared war on fossil fuels, resulting in higher gas prices. resulting in higher grocery prices as a result of higher fertilizer prices and transportation costs. although that is the result of the war on fossil fuels this administration undertook from day one in office. we have passed hr-1, lowering energy costs. i believe in all of the above energy strategy. the best of the above energy strategy if you will. that is what we need to do. we can bring down the cost of groceries. we can bring down the cost of gas. we can have energy independence in this country. only if we utilize the resources

available to us in the country. we need to do something about that. that is the way we can help inflation. host: on immigration, would you support mass deportations? guest: let's see what it looks like. that's a very general term, mass deportation. i can tell you one of the greatest experiences i have had as a member of congress is to be able to attend the naturalization ceremony. i did that a couple of weeks ago downing glynn county and brunswick, georgia. judge lisa wood allowed me to speak. we had 32 people from 16 countries who came in to be citizens of our country. what a great, great day. i was so proud to be there, so proud of this people. they were so happy. they were becoming american citizens. that is something that is valuable now. if you want to talk about illegal immigration, talk to those people.

it is not an easy process to become a citizen here in the united states. it is not in any spencer process either. -- and expensive process either that an --an inexpensive process either. host: what would republicans do to address the situation at the border? guest: we can secure that border. we can continue with the fence that barack obama started and donald trump continued and jill joe biden stopped. the supreme court said you need to be doing that. you should be doing that. the biden administration pretty much ignored it. the trump administration, during his previous an assertion, we had one of the most secure borders we've had. i'm very confident he will continue on with that. tom homan, what a great choice

and borders czar. i have a tremendous a meta-respect for him and i think he will do an outstanding job. christine homan dude outstanding job as well. i'm excited about what will happen at that border. i feel like it will result in a decrease in the amount of illegal drugs coming across the border now in the amount of illegal immigrants coming across the border. host: do you endorse matt gaetz as attorney general? guest: matt gaetz, i have served with matt for about eight years now. one of the smartest guys i have known. certainly a firebrand. i think that is with the president it's wanting to do here. he wants to shake things up. the department of justice has been weaponized by this administration. people don't have confidence in our justice system anywhere.

i think that is the message the president is sending with this choice of matt gaetz. we will shake this up. we will make sure that people have trust in the department of justice in nature they are doing their job and they are not being weaponized. host: the wall street journal believes the nomination of matt gaetz sends the opposite message. people will not trust his decisions. they will think he is out for political revenge because of his personality, because of what you were just saying. guest: look, again, the intent of the nomination is to send a message, a strong message that the department of justice is out-of-control and has been out-of-control for the last four years during the biden-harrison been a station. the american people don't have faith in that. the people feared that apartment of justice -- department of justice to a certain extent.

that is not the way we are supposed to be living here in this country. the nomination of the firebrand like matt gaetz sends a clear message of what this president hopes to achieve in the way of reforming the department of justice and the fbi and all the other agencies. host: the congress needs to pass spending bills for the current fiscal year or extend the continuing resolution to keep the government funded past this over 20. you support another short-term -- december 20. should they address spending levels and pass appropriations bills? guest: a lot of that will be dictated by what this incoming administration would like for us to do. if they want us to continue -- do another continuing resolution so they can put their fingerprints on this budget, certainly we will be accommodating them with that.

if they want us to take care of it, i think we ought to be cutting back. i can tell you in the conference meeting yesterday the overwhelming theme was we have got to do something about her deficit. it is out-of-control. the second-highest line item in the budget now is the interest on our debt. we can sustain that. even our military leaders until this the greatest threat to our country now is our debt. we have got to address that and we can only address it through the budget process. i'm excited about that. we have been starting on it. the budget committee proposed a 10-year plan to get to a balanced budget. we could achieve our goals. host: how will he do that if there is a push by the president-elect to renew the 2017 tax package? the congressional has estimated continuing all of the expiring

provisions would cost roughly $4 trillion over a decade. guest: there are offsets. you have to keep in mind in this country we don't have a revenue problem. we have a spending problem. we have got to cut back on the spending. we have got to address the majority of what is causing our budget is entailed in our budget. 72% of the budget is social security, medicaid and medicare. social security can be fixed without cutting benefits to those who are getting it now or will be getting it in the near future. if we don't fix social security, young people, they will not be there for them. we are being irresponsible if we don't do something about social security. i want to say they can only be done in a bipartisan fashion. it would be political suicide for one party, whether republican or democrat's to try to do it by themselves. from when you talk about

medicaid and medicare, that is the fastest growing area and that needs to be addressed. we have an aging population. he will get worse before it gets better. that will be tough but it can be done. and can be done and we should do it in a bipartisan fashion. when it comes to health care everyone wants the same thing. you want accessible, affordable, quality health care. host: evie in georgia, independent. caller: good morning. good morning to the congressman. i am a physician and i teach academics. part of the pharmacy college. i am calling because i'm in albany, georgia area now.. i was up in the virginia and northeast region.

i have come back to take care of a 90-year-old. the topics you were talking about, albany buttresses to the southeast coast of brunswick island with the between rule counties. albany, georgia, the southwest bridge. are you understanding where i am speaking of? guest: absolutely. caller: let's talk about the economy and the health offering in the future investments that the new congress has come in and provide. brunswick is about 15,000 residents. a small, rural town. does that were your district is? guest: it is. caller: i was just there at sea island, a private island. then you go up to chatham, which is savannah? guest: correct.

caller: savannah is about 147,000. that is the economic structure of your district? it is a port city, the largest economic hand with the structures of the district. then you come to my region. host: we have others waiting. can you get your question? caller: we needed to create border security. well, the small regions of the rural counties where we see the brown people who are doing farming, 70% of the workers in construction, farmworkers, tyson's meatpacking, those are not black and white people who are the traditional residents of your district. what will the farmers do with this? medicaid and medicare. medicaid is in fact a federal funded program. the states match.

the states are not having the burden of this. it is the federal government. also with residents -- host: i will take those for the congressman. guest: she makes a very good point. we often say in the state of georgia there are two georges, atlanta and everywhere else. i represent everywhere else. south georgia is different from the land area.they have that -- the atlanta area. it has to be addressed that way. the first thing we have got to do to address health care costs in this country is to have transparency. we need to see where the money is being spent. we can't see that now. that is what i'm calling on congress to pass the lower cost more transparency act. it. is sitting in the senate now my hope is during the lame-duck session we can get that passed to help us address

health care costs and we can see where the money is being spent and where we need to address issues. she is right. the other point she makes about immigration and about the workers, all of those are extremely important for the two reason she mentioned. ag is the number one industry in the state and also in my district, the coast of georgia, and tourism. we need that program and those workers. yes, that needs to be addressed. no question about that. host: tim in inglewood, ohio. republican. caller: thank you for taking my call. my comment and question is will we be going after all the illegal immigrants that have committed crimes in this country? when i watch and listen to the

news and i understand how the laws have been flipped upside down that we do not level the laws against illegal immigrants and yet we go after our politicians and people like donald trump that have had hoop after hoop to jump through for forever now. i pray and hope this next four years is a path of unity and instead of upside down, right side up. thank you for taking my call and god bless. guest: as you know and as our listeners know, we have struggled in the state of georgia with illegal immigration. particularly in the tragedy that

happened in our flagship university at the university of georgia with lincoln riley. lincoln riley should be here today. it should have never happened with this immigrant who came across the border illegally, detained in new york and then was released and went down to athens and killed an aspiring nursing student who is going to serve people and help people. to that family i extend my condolences. all of us are still remembering that. you hear different numbers about how many illegal immigrants there are in the country, whether it is 16 million or 21 million. it would be naive of us to think some of those aren't here with the intent of causing harm. some of those are criminals. they need to be deported. that is what we passed the lincoln riley act. if there is someone who is detained, they have to be

deported. the lincoln riley act passed the house and is over in the senate now and i called in the senate to pass that law. and we need the law to be addressed. by the caller is right. we have to do something about those. they better follow the laws of this country. host: mark in new york, democratic caller. caller: thank you for c-span. i want to say what the republicans' real aim is will they have control of our government. they want to give more tax cuts to the billionaires. they want to say the deficit is out of control, we have the cut social security and medicare. this is what they are going to do. host: but some congressman respond to that. guest: nothing could be further from the truth.

billionaires pay more taxes than anybody pays. that is such an easy out to say you need to tax the billionaires more. you need to do this or do that. that is far from the truth. what we want the party to do is make sure we are delivering. look at the tax cuts and jobs act passed during the trump administration. that had our economy humming. we were really doing well during that time. if we would continue on with that, cut our spending -- yes, we need to cut. as i said earlier, i'm not proposing we cut social security to anyone who is currently getting it or will be getting it in the future. if we don't address it, it will not be there for our children and grandchildren. that is a responsible and we need to address it. -- that is irresponsible. so we can deliver affordable, accessible quality health care. host: congressman buddy carter,

let's talk to marie in baltimore. caller: you made a statement about america needs to be respected on the world stage again. i'm trying to figure out how the data states was disrespected on the world stage -- the united states was disrespected on the role state. you will send representatives to foreign countries on sexual assault. we now have a president who has committed sexual assault. not rape but sexual assault. can you 20 that to me please? thank you -- explain that to me please? guest: in his previous administration we did not have a problem in ukraine or the middle east. aldus start -- all that started under the biden-harris administration. one of the biggest debacles in the history of this country, the withdrawal from afghanistan that resulted in 13 american soldiers

and citizens being killed. all that as a result of the disrespect and the lack of respect for america on the world stage. donald trump will bring that back and i'm glad of that. i'm so happy he has appointed elise stefanik for the united nations. she will do an outstanding job. we came in to congress together. i have an over some out of respect for her and her abilities. i'm looking forward for her representing us at united nations. we are not respected on the world stage. i look forward to donald trump being president again so he will get the attention of ukraine, the attention of russia, the attention of iran. he will not send billions of dollars to iran so they can fund terrorist like the biden-harris administration did. host: the washington post features the incoming president's cabinet picks so far. you mentioned elise stefanik.

matt gaetz. marco rubio as secretary of state. john reckless to go back to the central intelligence agency. tulsi gabbard, director of national intelligence. lee selden heading of the archewell -- and varmints protection agency -- environmental protection agency. should republicans use recessive equipment or should they follow precedent and have hearings and senators vote on who will serve in the president's cabinet? guest: let me address the picks. outstanding. lee selden and i came in together. lee is sharp as a tack. he talked about tulsi gabbard. i think she's a great pick. marco rubio, wow, hit it out of the park with that.

the president has made some outstanding picks for his leadership team. look, management is not hard to figure out. i did for 32 years and my own pharmacy. i have done it in my office here. surround yourself with good people and that is what the president is doing. as far as recess appointment and whether they should be voted on, to a certain extent it depends on the office. another extent -- that is up to the senate. they have to make that decision. i would want to have a vote on it but, you know, if they have to find it necessary to use the recess appointment, that would be up to him. host: jerry in new jersey. caller: good morning. mr. carter, i'm a democrat. i voted for biden in the primary.

that was taken away from me thanks to the democrats. that is how corrupt they are. i realized it at the time. then they tried to cram kamala down our throat and she was a disaster. i want to thank greta and c-span and most of the news media for helping me make that decision to vote for donald trump, because the propaganda is unreal. they have a lot of problems with the picks trump mate but they didn't have problems with the picks biden made. you look at the array of people they have gotten charge. what a joke that is so let's not go there. as far as corruption, we can take care of the democrats with that. i want to know, are you going to -- musk and ramaswamy will help pick out stuff out of the budget. i'm hoping you listened carefully to what they are doing.

they will be transparent about it because i think that will help you a lot too with helping -- it will expose a lot. you can't see everything when you are inside like that. greta, thank you. i love the expression on your face. trump won with democrat votes. mr. carter, please work with him, do the right thing, tell this country get out of the mess we are in. i appreciate you guys. thank you. guest: what a great point. if you are going to -- if you have a budget out of control, you want to go to the experts. elon musk and ramaswamy, they have succeeded in business at understand it. i'm excited about what they are going to be able to bring to the table and what they are going to be able to point out to us. let's hope as the caller pointed out that we have the wisdom and

discernment to be able to go in and listen to them and to take the suggestions they make and act on them. it would be irresponsible of us to ignore their suggestions. that is what the president wants. that is what he is trying to lay the groundwork for. let's get the experts in here, see what they think and let's go from there. host: before we let you go, we have a few menace left. -- minutes left. you have sponsored the disaster reforestation act. tell us about this and the hurricane helene on what is happening with the environment. guest: it has been a rough summer in south georgia. a rough summer in the state of georgia. tropical storm debbie caused flooding in my district and throughout the state. we had hurricane helene, one of the most destructive storms we

have ever witnessed in georgia. and hurricane milton did impact florida. that is why we have to address fema and the small business administration. that is the number one priority i have in the lame-duck session no as we come back, to make sure -- session as we come back. the disaster deforestation act is important. georgia is the number one forestry state in the country. trees are so important. i always relate to the saying when you breathe fresh air, get on your knees and thank the farmer who planted the trees. we need trees. they are carbon sinks. a percent of pollution in georgia is removed by trees in the forest and the carbon sinks.

if they will replant the trees, those property owners can get a tax deduction for the value of their property. after year seven, they don't get anything and they cannot harvest until 2025 or 30 years later. an open window with a are just at the mercy of nature. we encourage them. it will be win-win-win. they can replant trees, they can sustain, at all of us win because it serves as a carbon sink and helps with pollution. host: sid in upper marlboro, maryland. independent. caller: hi. congressman, a lot of people are saying a lot of things about matt gaetz but i don't see it that way. i think he will do what the president wants him to do. my question is, you know, we had during the israel war a lot of

international students who thought they had the right to free speech and the right to protest and disrupted our campuses and created a lot of problems with anti-semitic views and attacks on the jewish students. what do you think matt gaetz was going to do with that situation? guest: look, honestly i don't know matt's views on that. i suspect matt is just as concerned as anyone about anti-semitism. we in the republican party have been the party to bring this to we have been the party to bring this to light. you will remember at least a phonic was the one in the committee meeting to call it out , and certainly i'm sure matt would address this as well. i might mention also that i've got a bill right now in the house, the education committee

to continue funding for the education of the holocaust. so many of our students today don't even know about the holocaust and we should make sure that we never forget. never forget what the jewish people have gone through. and that is so important. i'm reading through the bible this year again. i've done it before end of doing it again this year, and in god's promise to the jewish people, and all of us in america should make sure that we uphold it. host: congressman carter, republican of georgia. thank you you as always for the conversation with our viewers this morning. guest: thank you. host: coming up, we will go to the other side of the aisle in the house and talk with democratic congressman john larson of connecticut. before we get to that, more of your reactions to republicans in control of washington. they believe they have a mandate. if so, whais it? there are the lines on your screen.

we will be right back. >> just a message of unity and a message of great economic policy, great to have elon musk. i think the first thing we got to do is kickstart this economy, get some energy back in production and do great things for the american people. just a message of unity. >> i thought it went great. this is where the work is going to get done. >> i thought it was very positive. he's looking forward to a great first 100 days. he was in an upbeat mood and very much reflected on what he had learned in his four years as president, four years out and why he very much wanted to hit the ground running. >> it was just a great morning. everybody in the room, having the 47th president take busy time, he supposed to go see joe

biden but he came to the republican congress to say listen, the american people spoke loud and clear, we have a unified government. now let's get to work and do the people's work. let's go in and make america first, america always, and america first agenda. it's a beautiful thing. it's a beautiful morning. a beautiful morning. so donald trump thanked us for our reference and we thank him for that. i don't know if we have a majority. don't believe we would, quite honestly. donald trump doesn't have blood in his veins, he runs on motor oil. that man is a machine. he is a machine and he is always fighting for the american people. >>'s agenda. fired everybody up. couldn't be any better, to be honest with you. >> it's electric.

it's almost like a football game, it's electric. >> he was very funny, he was very accessible, saying hi to the members he knows, just getting anecdotes or just cracking jokes. mike johnson said mr. president, you want morality of the day before the election. i'm tired, i don't want to do them, but i'm going to do it. you know the way he was just being very funny and explaining those last hours before november 5. we are delighted. >> everybody was having a good time. the president obviously in a good mood. going to the white house, they could probably get higher walls. he's in a good mood, everybody's in a good mood. let's get ourselves organized here. host: yesterday, c-span spoke to

republicans after they met with president elect on capitol hill. you were just listening to their reaction, what they heard in the room from the president-elect in washington yesterday, returning to the nation's capital after securing the presidential contest last week. he was welcomed back to the white house, to washington, i should say, by house republicans. he met with them first and then you went over to the white house to meet with president joe biden. when he met with house republicans yesterday, i want to show you what he had to say at the top of that conversation. he talked about the results of the election. >> so you know we had like historic kind of numbers. especially for the president but we won't get into that. but the house did very well and i think we are responsible for 31, helping you with dirty one.

meaning we could have lost by quite a bit. are you looking at five or four? doesn't matter. we got used to one for a little while. when you used to one, you can use to anything. i just want to thank everybody. we work with a lot of you to get you in and you helped me. and my numbers were, so they say, 129 years, the most important election in 129 years. that's pretty good. 129 years ago, it started at 100. it's a great complement. wew on the majority by 7.1 million which is great because republicans aren't supposed to be winning the majority. marjorie, you know that.

host: president-elect trump yesterday in washington talking to house republicans, noting that they were up in the count last night after the president-elect spoke to the associated press, officially calling the house for republicans. this is from c-span.org results, and you can see republicans with the magic number, 218 to democrat 208 in the chamber. there are still nine uncalled races. we go to washington post website, you can see the uncalled races in democratic-controlled seats. those are the great out seats as well as the republican districts. we will see what the final number turns out to be for control of the house. the associated press after all the television networks calling the lower chamber of the house for republicans.

they will hold the majority there as well as in the upper chamber in the senate and the white house. the party leaders say they have a mandate. if you agree, what is it? texas, democratic caller. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my phone call. i just feel that the mandate, they are really not going to do anything. they have control of the house, the presidency and the senate. and nothing is going to be done because they have already started the chaos with their nominees, nominating for different seats in his cabinet. and nothing is going to really get done. all of this has already begun by matt gaetz responding from his position to take on the attorney general spot which he is not qualified for, and a couple of

young people that are not qualified for positions that they are trying to push through by the president deciding to give them a recess. why do you need a recess when you control every thing already? thank you very much. host: talking about the picks so far by president-elect trump for his cabinet. there they are on your screen from the front page of the washington post this morning. frank in tennessee, independent. good morning to you, frank. caller: thanks for taking my call. i just really, really would be astonished if the mandate would also include let's stop sending billions of dollars over to ukraine and israel. i think that what is going on in

israel, we should not be paying for an out and out murderer. i think we could impress the world by stop funding so much death. thank you. host: frank, are you still there? you said you'd be surprised if it did not include that. caller: yeah, i would be surprised if we stop funding all of those things i just mentioned. host: the president-elect middle east pick signals staunch pro-israel policy by former governor of arkansas in the real estate developer will serve as key middle east envoy if picked by the senate in the new trump administration. and then there is this related headline to share with you also

from the new york times this morning. aid delivery to gaza remains low despite u.s. warning to israel. fewer basic staples, medical supplies, gas, food, water getting into gaza. michael in charlotte, north carolina, democratic caller. ctrol both chambers and the white house in this new year. do you think they have a mandate? >> yes, i do. as they spoke about the mandate forgetting illegal immigrants out. but what are they going to do about all those who are facilitating those illegal immigrants. they are aiding and abetting the breaking of the law. but think about the unspoken mandates that they have. i just looked online to everything the donald trump is

selling. isn't there a moments pause saying that he cannot benefit from his position, that's all he's doing? he's ingratiated himself with all these picks. even when i look at huckabee being appointed, huckabee said there should be no two state solution, and that is the united states position. host: all right. caller: i think it is more about the unspoken mandates that he has than the spoken ones. host: jim, florida republican. caller: yes, i'm a lifelong republican. i grew up an elected democrat from the labour party, so those are my roots, but i became a republican as an adult because of ronald reagan, like a lot of us.

anyway, if there is a mandate, the mandate is a rejection, if you will, of the policies of the last four years providing harris administration and the democratic party. the woke, transgender, promoting of transgender issues. the war on fossil fuel industry, and of course, inflation. telling us it was just transitory. in the democratic party had no one to blame except themselves for this. the mandate would be a rejection of these policies that we lived under the last four years. and i am not a trump fan. i voted for him ultimately this third time, but i debated it and i even told my wife i regretted it when we walked out of the polling place from the early voting. host: why regret it?

caller: i am concerned about mr. trump's lack of intellectual curiosity and his own moral purpose to, and now it seems with some of these picks, and i live in florida. i was early in support of marco rubio and i think he is an excellent choice for secretary of state. matt gaetz is a pedophile, a sexual predator and has no business being the attorney general of the united states of america. it is just disgusting, really. and i really don't think what they chose for leadership yesterday approved mr. gates. host: what if they use recess appointments so that there is no senate seat. caller: that's a good point. i think it is a bridge too far, but i think the new senate majority leader has got a

backbone. i'm from the upper midwest, as i just told you. we are pretty stubborn people, pretty strong people. and i think he is not going to be won over by mr. trump. host: let me get your reaction to this about that senate leadership contest. it was held yesterday. all of the candidates were running for rick scott of florida, john cornyn and john thune. the candidates also are a product of change of pace or how mcconnell has run the chamber, backing a more open amendment process and more feedback with senators, and also their top priorities would be securing the southern border and reauthorizing tax cuts set to expire at the end of 20 when he five. they also all said that they would be open to recess appointments. in the ultimate winner of that contest, senator john thune, repeat that to reporters.

are you there? your reaction. caller: i watched the press conference, i am a bit of a junkie. i watched a lot of their stuff. again, my perspective on it is that that is what he said at the press conference. let's see what he actually does, with the senate actually does in this time before the new president is put in charge. i just don't see it happening. but again, i do not have a crystal ball here at my house. we are in a new political environment. my point is that i think we have some sanity in the u.s. senate, and really also in the house of representatives. he seems to be all in for trump,

but i think he's got a backbone as well. i just think mr. trump is going to find that our system of government is three branches, and he doesn't quite seem to grasp how it works still. and i think he's going to run into some headwinds. host: i want to get a little history from the washington post about senator john thune. serving as majority leader during a second trump term marks a remarkable journey who just four years ago was working to thwart the haggling president's efforts to overturn the electoral college certification of joe biden's victory. after trump's loss 2020 told reporters that the senate would reject trans-challenges to the electoral results like a shot dog. trump later called a primary challenger to them. when they launched, he did not endorse trump and instead fact a

colleague, senator tim scott, republican of south carolina. but in recent months he worked to fix his relationship with trump and pitched his leadership of the role in which she would work closely with the president as a team. listen to senator john thune following the republican election in the senate yesterday. >> is a new day in the united states senate and a new day in america. the american people have largely -- loudly rejected the failed policies of the biden harris schumer agenda. this republican team is united. we are on one team. we are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues to enact the president's agenda. we had a mandate to the american people. a mandate not only to clean up the mass left by the biden-harris-schumer agenda, but also to deliver on president trump's priorities. we will make sure that the

president and his team have the tools and support that they need to enforce border security laws to remove the violent criminals who are wreaking havoc in every one of our states. we will work to make america prosperous again by streamlining the bureaucratic machine and overturning costly biden harris regulations. we will work to restore american energy dominance. not just our energy security, but energy dominance, which will lower costs and bolster our national security. i'm excited to get to work with this team right away. i want to thank my colleagues who place their faith in me to serve as leader and those who were supporting another candidate. i promise to be a leader who serves the entire republican conference. we will have an ambitious agenda that will take each and every republican working together to be successful. host: senator john thune now

leave the republican party in the senate, in the 119th congress. chosen by his colleagues yesterday to replace senator mitch mcconnell, who is stepping down from that leadership post. on the senate floor, the current majority leader, chuck schumer, democrat of new york congratulated senator thune on the victory. >> i've just been told that senator john thune will be the next republican leader in the senate. i congratulate him on being chosen by his colleagues at the next republican leader. i look forward to working with him. we've done many bipartisan things here in the senate together, and i hope that continues. as you know, i strongly believe that bipartisanship is the best and often the only way to get things done in the senate. host: the current senate majority leader chuck schumer on

the or yesterday congratulating the incoming majority leader, senator john thune with republicans leaving both the house and senate in the white house and the white house in the new year. they believe they have a mandate. this morning we are asking you if you believe that, what is it? sean, democratic caller. >> good morning. no, they don't have a mandate. he won by less than 3%. there republican party seems to claim the mantle of law and order, and yet mr. trump was tried and convicted for 34 felonies prior to the selection, and didn't spend a day in jail. the rest of the world is looking at that and says how is that law and order? thank you for taking my call. host: baltimore, republican. caller: thank you for taking my call.

i don't know what the mandate is, but i think is to register as a foreign agent and put in place an arms embargo and stop all funding to israel. that should be the number one priority. host: deandre says that as a republican in baltimore. larry in georgia, democratic caller. caller: yam. first i would like to make a statement to the american people. first of all, i would like to say that for the election, i'm 74 years old, and kamala harris and donald trump ran for president of the united states and the president that the american people chose with the person they wanted. now, for the mandate and stuff,

the policeman of the united states are the greatest police force in the world and they want to destroy the justice department, which is our greatest justice system in the world and our police force and they talk about them, how well they are. host: how are they planning to destroy it? you're saying republicans -- caller: they already said that they are going to try and destroy the justice department and they are going to trying to change the rules and regulations on what we got and what we have been doing for the last 40 or 50 years in the justice department. and they have been putting people in jail who aren't supposed to be going to jail. host: larry in georgia. in other news this morning, we want to share with you a full-page obituary in the washington post this morning.

conservative lawyers pause marriage equality. in a conservative constitutional lawyer, he argued for the vote recount case that helped george w. bush secure the presidency and too much to prize, later joined forces with a liberal opponent from the election lawsuit in a successful effort to overturn, one 2008 ban on same-sex marriage died november 15 at a hospital in falls church, virginia. he was 84. the debt was announced by his law firm. mr. olson was a partner and no cause was noted. here he is pictured here in the washington post obituary today, making his way through the crowd outside the supreme court in 2000 after making arguments for george w. bush in the florida election recount case. if you go to our website, c-span.org, you will find many events with the late ted olson.

you can find that there at c-span.org. ted olson dying yesterday, causes unknown from the washington post reporting this morning. they'll in texas, republican. him bill. caller: yes ma'am. i would just like to say, ma'am, that we just had the election and the people have been screaming for the last four years about the border, the economy, and dealing with terrorists. biden and harris just placated to them. they wouldn't shut the border down, the child molesters, rate best --rapists, killers coming into this country. they would listen to the people

that have to pay rent or houses or buy groceries, they wouldn't listen to them. they wouldn't listen to them, and white people, black people, hispanic people, they voted. 75 million of them screaming to them, telling them that we need to do something. so finally last tuesday, we got it across to them. host: bill, from texas. you and others may be interested. funding cuts remain on track. 2.6% increase in consumer prices is unlikely to derail another cut in december. front page of the wall street journal this morning. newport, rhode island, independent. mary [no audio] caller: i just want to remind

everybody that kamala harris got 40% of the vote to donald trump's 50% of the vote, and so it wasn't a blowout election, and there's a lot of us feeling pretty much disenfranchised. we are going to be watching him and we are going to be getting more active. and speaking up. thank you. host: that was mary in newport, rhode island, independent. this morning we are talking about republicans now in control of washington after the associated press last night called the house for republicans. they had earlier called on election night the senate for republicans. that television had who had already called the house in previous days, and the associated press following suit last night. now, republicans in january 2025 will be in control of the white house, the house, and the senate.

coming up on washington journal people talk with congressman john lawson, democrat of connecticut and member of the ways and means committee to talk about this incoming trump administration and republicans control of the chambers. and then later, discussing potential supreme court vacancies and how president trump's second term could shape the federal judiciary. we will be right back. >> c-spanshop.org is c-span online store. browse our latest collection of products, apparel, books, home decor and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operation. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. attention middle and high school

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washington journal continues. host: congressman john lawson, -- john larson, democrat of connecticut. the ranking democrat on the subcommittee on social security. let's begin with the election results. this is the washington times this morning with the headline democrats left to alter playbook to win back voters. are you stunned? guest: no, i'm not stunned. i'm disappointed, but i am not stunned. this has been a close race in the cycle, and we have work to do as democrats and the most stunning thing is the number of people who didn't vote. when you look at what trump got in terms of the three times he has run for president, he's gotten roughly the same amount of votes. and joe exceeded that when he beat him by close to 8 million

votes. so i think part of what we have to analyze is what we need to do to get those voters out. host: what do you need to do? >> i think we need to talk directly to people about the things that matter to them. we could recite verses of all the countries in the world going for international covid, we came out of it the best, even with everything we went through. in terms of the economy, in doing what we did with respect to 16 million in job growth and also having at the same time a lowered ability to pay off our debt. i mean, these were things that we didn't communicate in a manner that impact that discussion. and even with all that, if you don't have difficulty paying your grocery bills, if you are

having difficulty paying the heat, you are concerned, and your concern remains about the economy and things that matter most to you. i also think we should have really focused a lot also in the short and long-term on social security. we could spend three hours talking about that, and you know this, but it's been over 54 years since congress has adjusted social security. a few things that happened since richard nixon was president. and so the public has gotten a little upset, and i think they have set a pox on both your houses. and you can see that even with the success of president trump. really hasn't pulled many more votes than he did in 2016 or 2020. all this talk about a mandate, i'm not so sure about that with both houses being very close,

etc. but hopefully, and i mean this sincerely, we can get something done. host: would you support republican efforts to continue the expiring tax provision of the 2017 tax cuts put into place when president elect trump had during his first term? guest: i think that is where the focus is going to be on the ways and means committee. i think we have to have thorough discussions. you may recall back in 2017, there were corporations asking to go to 21%. this discussion has to be renewed. and hopefully engaged in a bipartisan way in the best interest of the american people and the economy. host: on immigration, when you support continuing the wall and other restrictions? guest: i think security along the border is important. i think we have to emphasize

that and follow through to settle people's minds. but again, you had chris murphy with a proposal on immigration and on security and the border. linda sanchez, same thing. a comprehensive task for citizenship and reforming of the immigration system i believe is what we need. but we should be able to work together with republicans on that. massive deportation of people is not the way to go. host: so you think democrats will listen to what the voters had to say this election and work with republicans on the border? guest: i think democrats and americans expect us to work together and i think you will see that where we can agree. and where we can agree, i think we can make great progress. but where we disagree, we are going to have that discussion and hopefully a very public discussion, not one behind closed doors. >> congress will have to pass

fiscal spending bills for this fiscal year. they are under a continuing resolution. what do you think should happen? should we pass another continuing resolution? guest: no, but that is what the proposal has been by republicans. they think it is a political fact because they will be controlling the presidency and both houses that they are looking at correcting this in march or next september. i don't think that is the way to govern, especially when there are so many concerns out there, not the least of which are farmers. and there are a number of republicans that want to deal in regular order. i talked with -- last night and she is hopeful, but she says we got to pull together and understand the impact that this is going to have on americans today. and people can't wait to march

or next september. they need help now. host: we are talking with democratic congressman john larson. we'll take your question in your comments as well. catherine, democratic caller. caller: here i am again. i didn't get my wish, but here we are. you are in the minority to all the gop's feet to the fire so we can get some work done in the 119th congress. host: catherine, what do you want them to get done? caller: i want them to pass the border, i want them to leave social security alone and medicare at the moment, i listen to him and i like what he said.

guest: catherine, your social security is safe and should care, but we need to expand it. it hasn't been expanded in more than 50 years. it's long overdue. we hope that when the president has put forward some ideas with regards to social security, including people who work no longer having to pay taxes. it is in fact double taxation. we've had that in our bill social security 2100 even when trump was president, but they chose not to act on it now. the difficulty with what the president is proposing, certainly democrats and republicans believe, they support the fact that you shouldn't have to pay taxes on your social security. but you've got to pay for it. otherwise that impact the trust fund. we want to make sure that not only are we protecting social security, but we are expanding

social security as well. there's over 5 million fellow americans that get below poverty level checks currently in the country. congress hasn't addressed that. most of them are women of color. why? because they were at home caring for their children or when they were in the workforce during this time, they were making far less than their male counterparts. it's long overdue. we need to create a new floor for social security so that no one who pays into the government's number one anti-poverty program for the elderly and the number one and i poverty program for children retires --. host: washington, independent. caller: mr. larson, good morning to you, sir. how long have you been in the congress, and how many bills have you actually written that got passed?

and my other question is what are the democrats going to do about reducing our national debt and deficit? thank you, have a great day. guest: thank you, bill. i've written several bills, but most notably, unfortunately, the build alliance most focused on is social security 2100. and that is a bill to reform the social security system from top to bottom and make sure that we are taking care of people that haven't seen enhancement in social security since richard nixon was president in 1971. so there needs to be an across-the-board increase bill for all recipients of social security, so they can deal in this post-covid and inflationary time with the expenses they are seeing and the cost that are rising.

now, it should also be pointed out and it is often not, but social security is a separate trust and has nothing to do with the deficit. having said that, we don't want to put the trust fund in deficit, either. so that is why these things have to be paid for. and what we've offered to pay for is to make sure that we lift the cap. most people don't even understand that there is a caps on social security. so we lift the camp on people over $400,000, which means essentially they would be paying the same thing as a person paying 50, 70, 100, 100 25,000 pays throughout the course of a year. and that will provide the pay to both expand social security and also expand insolvency. host: steve, republican. caller: thank you for taking my call.

first of all, i'm a republican. the reason the democrats loft set -- loft so big, and it was a big loss. you look at the math. over 80% of the united states one for republican so this was a big loss for democrats. i'm going to tell you why. bad policy. work -- the policies of the democrats are destroying this country. and we had a great compare and contrast. when donald trump was president, wages were going up, everybody was working. interest rates were down. we had a good thing going on. he did all that by going uphill against democrats. we are going to show you what good policy looks like and i hope you all learn from it because i want us all to be well-off and to succeed in this

economy, and i do wish the democrats well, but only if they change their policies to help this country and to help the world. look what is going on in the world right now because of democrat policies with the military. host: steve, let's get a response. guest: we look forward to working with our colleagues but i just want to point out as well that when you look at the economy that joe biden inherited from president trump, and then look at what he did, unemployment at an all-time low, 60 million new jobs created, we've got to continue to work together to keep moving forward in that area. but as we talked earlier, even with all that, if you are sitting across the kitchen table and you see your grocery bills going out, cost to you more money to put gas, we often make sure we are articulating that

and directing our focus at the people who need the most help from their government. and we look forward to working with republicans, and hopefully they cooperate and we can work together like chris murphy did with senator lake. we can do that. the president said we don't want that, we would rather have the issue then have the problem solved. let's hope that we get beyond that and get away from the issue and actually solve the problem. host: will go to connecticut. elizabeth is there in bridgeport, independent. caller: you've answered some great questions about raising the cap for income. but what about the age. i've heard many people in both parties talk about raising

social security age to 70, and adjusting completely impractical when you look at the physical nature of many people's jobs, and a lot of americans who are in their 50's and 60's. i want to know what you think about that and if you have some more specific plans. thank host: you. host:elizabeth in bridgeport. guest: that is a great question. first and foremost, i think most people don't understand, here is what the republicans present. many have said that they want to see the age raise to 70. what i think people don't understand is for every year you raise the age, that is a 7% cut in benefits. in their goal is simple. people are living longer, therefore they should work longer. depending upon the job they are in, that could be quite difficult. but the bottom line is this.

if you are living longer, you should then therefore be living less? so a 21% cut in benefits and social security currently is a cut because of congressional inaction is wrongheaded. our proposal in 2100 says that we stay at age 67 because that is important, and then we enhance social security so that people getting an across-the-board increase, so we now know we repeal the gpo, which impacts firefighters, teachers, police officers as well. and also make sure with regard to disability, that there is no more long waiting. we've actually had people die waiting to get their disability payment. so these are the things overall. it's not just a matter of keeping social security as it is, but protecting it. and that needs to be done to also guarantee that that doesn't

mean cutting it. what we need to do is enhance it. host: we are talking with congressman john larson serving his 13th term in congress. we will go to ray in california, democratic caller. caller: hello, mr. larson. the reason i called is because i found out that approximately 16 million people are in college right now. assuming half of them are republican and half are democrats, back in the primary, in chicago, many of the students decided that they were going to boycott the primary. i believe that those people that boycotted the primary along with anyone else who agreed with them are one of the reasons that, as you mentioned, there were so few democratic votes. approximately 10 million fewer

than our last election. and i believe that that is the reason that the vote turned out the way that it did. my question is what are the democrats going to do to get the college aged people who have a problem with the border in gaza? what are you going to do to get them back into the political system and to vote democratic? guest: i think we have to continue the outreach and i think we have to educate them and bring them back. clearly just getting through college today, the cost of college has been astronomical. i've gotten three of my children through. i understand the impact. but more importantly, not only getting through college, but also recognizing and joe cornyn and i have done several of these up in connecticut, where people who may not want to go to

college but want to develop the skills and reintroducing skills around manufacturing that pay incredibly high wages. electric boats with submarines and f-35's. to your point, i don't think that we have to continue the outreach. and again, appeal to that generation about the fact that climate change is real and these are some of the concerns that they share and fear and also getting through college and having the ability to go into a job after you complete your college or other educational opportunities that could be provided to you. and that way i think you keep them involved and committed. host: what about the war in gaza and those who felt that they could not vote for the democratic ticket because of that? guest: it's going to continue to

be a big issue. we certainly support israel, our most trusted ally in the area, we have strong disagreements as has the president with netanyahu and the way that they have conducted that. president trump has said he wants to be the piece -- peace president, let us hope that is the case. i think there needs to be a cease-fire and we are focused on a two state solution that both palestinians and israelis can agree on. host: kurtz, republican. it is your turn. florida, one last call for you. folks, you've got to mute your television, just listen to the phone. gary in connecticut, independent. caller: good morning, represented of larson. guest: good morning gary.

caller: i've been a lifelong democrat and about two and a half years ago i became unaffiliated. because i just didn't feel that my party was listening to me. i still actually vote democratic, i just no longer contribute financially. all the very important issues, you are the guy to answer it. i want to know why they cap on social security payments. not just raised, but removed? in my opinion this would completely make the system solvent and allow for perhaps more cost-of-living increases for senior citizens. host: most people don't realize there is even a cap. the current camp right now, approximately $170,000.

after that, people don't pay in. in the real outrage as president biden pointed out, he said i will not raise taxes on anyone under $400,000. so he put the camp on people over $400,000. that is about 6/10 of 1% of the united states population. but just with that money alone, we would both be able to expand social security, and what we are asking is for them to pay their fair share, what everybody else pays. this is not new taxes. it is the nascent safety net for capitalism and entrepreneurialism. it allows people to be able to take risk and go out there and create jobs. and if they fail, and the unintended consequences are that people are laid off or out of work, they have their savings. franklin delano roosevelt is still with us today but it has been congress's lack of focus on social security and making sure

that that program again, as i said earlier, the number one anti-property program for the elderly and for children, and more veterans for lie on social security disability than they do on the va, it is that essential. and highly regarded by independents, republicans and democrats who all believe that expanding it, even if it meant paying for it themselves. what biden proposed and we've supported was lifting the camp. but to your larger point, why is there a cap? that goes back to when social security was first being enacted , but it is something that congress should be undertaking, and i think we will. host: what reminded you of the solvency deadline for social security? guest: well, the solvency issue right now, it is 20 of 34.

and what that means is back in 1983, a lot of p -- a lot of people say that was 40 years ago. ronald reagan and bob dole got together. they didn't want to get rid of social security. reagan thought it should be privatized. bob dole said no, this helps too many people out. but what we can do is come together for saving social security, which they did, but they did so at the time by raising the age, and then also putting in place programs which of course limited and prevented teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc. from they or their spouses getting social security that they had paid for. so we will have to alleviate that as well. host: pennsylvania, republican. caller: good morning.

the first thing is about the 11 million votes that the democrats didn't get. i don't think that they didn't vote, i just don't think they were harris. in the second thing is how much money did the government and especially nancy pelosi take out of social security, and how much did nancy pelosi take out for the impeachment on donald trump the first time? tell the people with that number is. thank you. >> a common misunderstanding, and i hear this all the time, the trust fund has not been rated, money has not been taken out. it remains intact. in fact it is so strong insolvent that the last time congress really did anything to enhance it was 1971. richard nixon was president of the u.s. it was interesting that eisenhower and nixon, they

understood as well that this was the number one anti-poverty program for the elderly and also for children as well. that has got to remain the focus. no money was taken out of the trust fund. you probably will understand this readily. with 10,000 baby boomers a day becoming eligible for social security, that large population, the largest in our history is drawing out of the trust fund. and so therefore it has created yet another problem for congress to deal with to make sure that -- and the enhancement of social security. republicans, democrats, they all agree. they understand the benefits of this program as bob dole did. a number of republicans want to see this.

but stop them in the past has been the pay force. i don't think this is a time when we should be cutting social security coming out of a global epidemic of covid and global inflation and seeing people hurt at home. that is a very strong kitchen table issue that we need to address and correct. host: your reaction to president lump -- president-elect trump picking his cabinet so far? former colleagues of yours and current, as well. >> i think the president is entitled to pick whoever he wants, and to pick the people that he feels are going to be most loyal to him, and that is what he has indicated and what he has said. however, we have this thing called confirmation. so they are going to have to go through that process. and probably the most controversial is representative

matt gaetz, but he's got to go through confirmation. and in doing so, i think the public will become aware of those choices. those choices are a reflection of the presidency and how he intends to govern. he's entitled to put forward anyone he wants who he believes will serve his administration and the nation best, but the senate get a shot to look at that as well. host: if republican use recess appointments to put these people in these posts, then what? guest: than they are taking their power and abusing it and i think the public will take notice. but i still think mitch mcconnells in the united states senate who respect the difference between the branches of government, separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches, and a senate who very much guides their confirmation,

that is something the american people are going to be watching. we will see who stands up or who think that this is a wise thing to do. host: ike in north charleston, south carolina, democratic caller. caller: i'll just give you a message here, my man. this is why people get tired of politicians. make it short and make it sweet. here is an example. you had the perfect chance, which president was it that started this in the first place charging people for college? it wasn't always for profit. that was ronald reagan. these people are not educated to how we got where we are at and across the problems. i will put in a quick one on immigration. hopefully people out there are aware that since 2005, they have put off bringing in the full

effect of the real id act. now, the last i heard, it is supposed to come in 2025, which means all of these folks are now going to have to be verified on their jobs and they will have to have this id. that is something coming at them. they don't know that those taxes are going to be going up because of republican policies we passed. as for the people that worked for a living, all -- by the way, one other thing, they were talking about the deficit. why didn't you tell them that biden brought down our operation deficits? you have got to get better at messaging. you have got to be short, sweet, and to the point, brutally honest, and educate these people on these policies and what they have done to our country. and illegal immigration, by the way, you carry the burden of that. it is your fault, and we don't have enforcement, and people

coming here with expired bases and we have more people coming to the airport than the border. host: we have got a lot to discuss. we will have the congressman respond. guest: if i can remember, it was not so short. he is probably sweet, and he has mentioned ideas that should be mentioned, as well. to think that congress is not acting is a misnomer. acting and having hearings and then actually turning something into law are two different things. so, like, i appreciate your concerns, and would acknowledge that shorter and sweeter we can be, the better off we will be in terms of messaging, but there is a lot to get done for student loans to the impact of climate change to immigration, and there are a lot of good ideas and

resolutions that are out there. they should go through regular order. like it used to be, and in terms of making sure there are hearings, there is testimony, they are done in the public, and then they go to the respective floor for a vote. it will be interesting. i don't know if people are aware of the culture vote and i don't know whether or not the senate, once they are organized, will use that. host: republican, maryland. caller: hi, representative, nice to speak to you. guest: nice to speak with you. caller: if i say elon musk, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? guest: elon musk, inventive,

creative, wealthy. host: what is your point? caller: he supported trump, so a lot of democrats as a partisan do not want to listen to him, but he is the edison, he is doing it, he is making templates, he is making spaceships. he knows about government regulation. i hope the democrats listen to him when they say, we don't need this regulation or this. this is one of the most successful businessman we have seen in our generation. guest: i think you are correct. trump and he are working together and he can get rid of inefficiencies. and everybody ought to be open to that, and there ought to be public hearings, how he would do

it, and what the impact would be on individuals, etc. i don't disagree that he is bright and talented, and is advising president trump, but that is the president's prerogative to bring that individual there, but the ideas he put forward and in a democracy, they have to stand the test, the scrutiny, and the public hearings that should take place so that we fully understand his ideas, and if they have good ideas and they should be embraced, we should take them up. host: they are looking that elon musk to head up some waste reduction commission. guest: that is question number one. and what authority should they have over eliminating bureaucracies.

that should go to public hearings and that should be open to the public. if they are good ideas, the congress will embrace them, and with control of the senate, the house, they have the opportunity of regular order to do that. host: from texas, spencer is watching on our life or democrats. i, spencer. caller: hi, how are you doing? host: morning. caller: good morning. i'm going to be short and sweet because i think i have said it all. that is basically the same thing i wanted to tell these democrats. i consider myself a democrat, and eileen more socially liberal , typically conservative, but one of the problems i think is you had several callers ago who was pushing policy, like, mccright policy created this mess and when you spoke, you did

not even address it. if it is not the policy, would you leave stuff out there hanging like that, or he says, it is the policies, the policies of joe biden created this mess, and then you don't address it, you leave it out there, and it is almost like you are saying so the politics are creating this mess. i'm intelligent enough to realize that lots of these problems that occurred, a lot of this has fallen out from covid and what do joe biden's politics have to do with the price of eggs? he did not create the bird flu or kill off all the chickens and you have to speak simply for people because, i mean, it is the truth. and i'm not going to say they are not smart, but they don't think that deeply about things. guest: 16 million jobs created, unemployment at its lowest level, but that is mostly to

say, we can go down the list of accomplishments, but if we are not messaging and it is not getting back to the public, they don't know. sitting across the table, they are still dealing with post-covid issues and inflation, and it impacts them personally, and we did not do a good job of communicate in that, so i think that has resulted in the election and also in a lot of people not coming out to vote that should have. host: senator john larson, appreciate the conversation. thank you. guest: thank you, thank you to the viewers, as well. host: when we come back, we will talk to wall street journal's jess braden on foot --jess bravin on potential supreme court vacancies and how president trump second term could shape it. stay with us. ♪ >> the house will be in order. >> this year, c-span celebrates

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be vacancies that president-elect trump would then get to fill. what are the validity of these rumors? guest: it is interesting. historically, there was a time when the supreme court was seen as something apart from politics, you would see the members of one party vote for a nominee of another, most recently, we know that the justice scalia was approved by the senate, and justice ruth bader ginsburg, there were three against her, but those days are over and out's is treated as a prize against the political parties, and we saw that after the death of scalia and 2016 when republicans would not consider any nominee by president obama, we sell that again more recently in 2020 when justice ginsburg died and republicans rushed to confirm amy coney barrett to her seat

before they lost control of the white house and senate. now, we have three justices who are in their 70's, and both, craddick and republican activists speculated it would be an opportune time for them to find others rather than judging our nations laws. immediately, it was liberals who talked about justice sotomayor, the eldest member of the liberal block, now diminished, 70 years old, appointed i president obama in 2009, and if she were to step aside, in theory, the democrats, president biden could nominate a successor, the democratic senate could confirm her before they turned over the senate to republicans in january. similarly, republicans, knowing that they do not want to have habits of their ideological allies, what happened to the liberals when justice duesberg died, -- justice ginsburg died, they were looking to the elder

conservatives, clarence thomas, appointed in 1991 by george w. bush, he's approaching the record for 10 years on the court. he 76. justice samuel alito, 74 years old, pointed 2006 5 president george w. bush. these rumors began circulating read we saw articles about it, pundits talking about it. those senators explicitly asking for this, but the chatter reached the supreme court because we talk to people, both of the justices, and found they were annoyed by this kind of speculation, and we reported i think fairly confidently that neither justice sotomayor or justice alito have any plans to leave right now for purposes of political expediency. host: justice samuel alito plans to remain on the supreme court, your headline. let's talk about the current docket and what cases they are

looking at. can you describe the picture what will be presented before the high court? guest: compared to the last term where we stop a case about presidential power that paved the way for president-elect trump to return to the white house, we saw cases involving abortion, we saw controversial and important issues. so far the docket this term is not as significant. in some issues, it is important. there is a case about transgender youth that is coming up in december. there are other significant cases by definition of the supreme court, but we have not seen the kinds of things like major abortion rights, affirmative action, or executive power cases we had in recent years during the biden administration. but we are likely to see some after president trump returns to the white house. if he does implement what is a

very, one could say, bolder conception of separation about powers under our constitutional structure, there is likely to be litigation that would end up back at the supreme court, whether that is dismantling civil service which has been known since the 1800s, imposing recess appointments in the manner he has suggested with congress deliberately going out of session so that he could do so, these issues, as well as the massive immigration roundup, many things he is talking about are very aggressive assertions of power, and they may face some challenges under our structure. host: are there groups out there gearing up for a potential lawsuit on those fronts? guest: four sure. by the way, we have seen this under president obama and trump one and biden, as well, that

when they take certain steps that are opposed, to chamoli but ideological opposites, they end up in court, and stash particularly by ideological opposites -- particularly by ideological opposites, they end up in court. the attorney general's from democratic states have been clear that when they heard president-elect trump campaigning promising to be a dictator on day one, they heard that and thought that is not what we are into. and they actually began gearing up their own litigation units to be ready to respond if he does think they believe to infringe on their own state prerogatives. there are activist groups that view president-elect trump's campaign agenda as contrary to what they believe in, the aclu, which has an aggressive civil liberties perspective, they have all said they are ready to

respond in court if the new president does think they are legally in error. host: you mentioned the idea of recess appointments. the president-elect has picked some controversial folks to possibly lead agencies, matt gaetz and others, that is the reporting this morning. and president-elect has said that on sunday he would like if you ever become senate leader, to push some of these votes through in a recess appointment. why would that present a legal challenge or potential legal challenge? guest: let's remember what a recessive appointment is. in the constitution, anyone who was an officer of the united states needs to be confirmed by the u.s. senate or anyone who is a principal officer of the united states. those are the ones people are most concerned about, cabinet rankings and high officials --

cabinet appointments and high-ranking officials. when the senate is in recess, the president can make a temporary appointment that will last a session of congress and that was drafted in the 1700s because they do not have exactly the kind of communications and transportation technology that we suffer under today, you might say. no offense, of course. so there is a stopgap provision. over the years, president's have tried to use it as a workaround when they run into obstacles in the senate with some of their appointees. presidents reagan, bush, clinton, obama. they have all used recess appointments to try to get around a transient senate for more controversial issues or because the senate is sometimes really slow getting around to its business. about 10 years ago, four recess appointees to the national labor's relation that obama put

forward were challenged by businesses that lost rulings, so these numbers are not legitimately in office because it was a recess appointment to be the supreme court agreed and said for the first time what counts as a recess, 10 days, a 10 day span. if it is longer than 10 days, it is a recess. it is inappropriate to use that provision, so the senate then automatically could prevent recess appointments, which is generally what they try to do by simply having fake sessions, pro forma sessions to gavel themselves in and out of sessions and they are done. so recess appointments really went away. what trump is asking for is unprecedented, according to our reporting and discussions with historians. he is asking the senate to deliberately go out of business so he can appoint people to high offices without their advice and

consent. that seems to be an unprecedented ask, at least publicly, and something the senate has never done. host: we are talking with jess bravin of the wall street journal, the supreme court corresponded. join the conversation by dialing in. democrats, (202)-748-8000. republicans, (202)-748-8001. and independents, (202)-748-8002 . remember, you can text us, as well, include your first name, city and state to (202)-748-8003 . let's go to mary lou in connecticut, independent. good morning. your turn. caller: good morning, yes, hi. i'm calling because talking about the supreme court, and everybody is so worried about age.

look, i'm 92 years old, and i know what i'm doing. i have all my faculties, and i'm just as smart or dumb, whatever you would like to say, or smart as i ever was, and my age has nothing to do with it. it is your health. and because of medicine, the advances in medicine, that is why we are all living so much longer. that does not mean, look, people at 89, 95, a lot of them, i played cards four days a week with people that age. we know what we are doing. host: are there any of the sitting justices who have health concerns? guest: first of all, mary lou, congratulations on making it to your 90's and i hope there will be many more years ahead for you in connecticut. the issue is not really that these justices are losing their marbles. no one is suggesting any member of the court is incapable of doing the job, and viewers can

find out for themselves and listen to the arguments in c-span's library, and you will see that they are all quite with it. that is not the issue. the issue is health. ruth bader ginsburg was all there in her mind up until the end. she was 87. she had a lot of health problems and health issues, and age and health are sometimes correlated. that is what people are talking about. supreme court justice to serve for life, so when you talk about the supreme court, you are looking at the geological timescale opposed to the political cycles of the house, senate and white house, which turnover with regular frequency. that is what we are looking at. justice thomas has been there since 1991. that is a long time on the supreme court. since these vacancies occur so rarely and can occur without any planning with the unexpected deaths of justice scalia and justice ginsburg, people who

care about the ideological direction of the court are making these calculations. the justices, we don't know exactly how much they are calculating, but they don't like this kind of talk. one of the influential people on the right, under dileo, who advised president trump in the first trump administration on his appointments, and remains a powerful figure in the conservative legal movement, he said the other day, almost an exact quote, not exact, but he said it is rather undignified to treat the justices like they are expired meet in the grocery store. he is trying to tamp down that talk, may be because it might have the wrong impact could have a contrary impact on what the justices decide to do. host: in the final weeks of the 118th congress, senate democrats are moving to expeditiously approve federal judges before

the president's term ends. explain that procedure and how both parties have used it to try to shake the judiciary, why is it important to watch? guest: in theory, the law is the law, and the judge's law applies, and we have to say that as far as we know, all judges do apply it fairly, but what they think the law requires depends a lot on their jurisprudential philosophy, what they think the law is about, what they think the constitutions and principals really mean, so there is a big difference between what liberal and progressive and democratic inclined lawyer stick about the law and what conservative, republican and maybe libertarians think about the law and what the constitution is calling for and how to apply it. each side tries to get people who share their philosophy into these positions, and maybe a 95%

of the cases, it does not make a difference. you committed murder, you did not commit murder.you embezzled from the bank or you did not. but some issues is where the laws not clear and it requires an extra step, and that is what these battles are really about. at the lower federal courts, it is very easy for judges to time their retirements because they can take something called senior staff, and that allows them, if they've served a number of years, to continue on the job. kind of working almost sort of for free because they would get a similar pay if they retired, but judges can remain hearing cases and so one, but their seat opens up, and it could be filled. you will see towards the end of an administration or beginning, judges appointed by democrat or republican, taking senior status at that time to create a vacancy at any republican or democratic president cannot fail.

that is mainly what we are seeing with the biden administration, what we saw at the previous trump administration, or sometimes they just sign off, unfortunately, or sometimes they quit so they can work in private practice or what have you, but that is what we are seeing. host: david, massachusetts, dependent. we are talking about the supreme court. good morning. question or comment for our guest? caller: kind of a commenty question i guess. a lot of women have complained when trump put a couple of people on the supreme court that they voted against roe v. wade. and they don't think that men should have any say in it yet, in 1972, the only men on the supreme court, but now that there are women, we have them both against it, what is their problem? they would like to stuff the supreme court now, and i would like to find out what he things

about adding more people? guest: what do women want? i really cannot answer that age-old question, but i can say that one's view of the law is not necessarily determined by one's anatomy, and we have seen that in general women are more supportive of abortion rights than men have been. that does not determine what any the visual may think. the supreme court is not a place we would like to look for general statistics about the population to assess what they think. one other abortion cases have come up, we saw a case that overturned roe v. wade in 2022, you had two women and one man in dissenting from that, justice stephen breyer was among the dissenters, and you had a woman in the majority to overrule roe v. wade, justice amy coney barrett. it is hard to extrapolate to the supreme court stereotypes about

women or men might think about this issue, politically, and the great abstraction of hundreds of millions of americans, we note statistically that women are more supportive of abortion rights than men are, and i don't think that comes down to which gender they would like to see appointed to the supreme court. host: are there more legal questions for the supreme court to answer on the issue of abortion? guest: there are tons of questions about abortion that the supreme court may be called upon to answer. some may have to answer the last term involving a conflict between the biden administration's application of federal law about emergency rooms, and the band abortion. the biden administration said up a woman shows up at the emergency room and has a grave health issue that calls for an abortion or she will lose her fertility or some other important bodily capacity, then federal law requires that emergency room to provide one.

and the state of idaho says, no, it does not. that was an issue that came before the supreme court. they did not answer it. they fought off all the questions for a future case. there are other issues that may arise. some states discussed criminalizing travel to other states where abortion is lawful, whether they can prosecute someone who leaves their state to obtain an abortion elsewhere is a question. there is a question on whether an antique federal law from the 19th century makes it illegal to send abortion medication through the mail. there are many questions that could arise under this, and then we don't know what legislation congress may take up or the administration under president trump that could promulgate to further restrict abortion. we certainly know that they will not expand it, but we don't know if they will take further steps. host: we will go to jim, republican in idaho.

caller: hello. if you have four democrat judges , by law, we now have four republican judges, and you cannot impart favors [indiscernible] guest: four and four equals eight, and that is an even number, so what happens when they split on a case westmark that is not efficient for a courts when they have to make a decision in the legal answer is yes or no. the super court learned that early in its tenure because the first supreme court had six members and congress changed it to an odd number because when you need to have a majority, you need to have an odd number. there is no partisan requirement for u.s. supreme court. the justices do not think of themselves as democrats or republicans, even if the public tends to.

it is true that all the conservators right now are appointed by the republicans, all the liberals were appointed by democrats, but that has not always been true. one of the most progressive chiefs of justices, earl warren, was a lifelong republican candidate for president and nominee for vice president, republican for governor of california, and he ushered in civil rights revolution that ended school segregation and expanded terminal defendant writes and did many other things that conservatives are still steamed about today. on the other hand, you have had some appointees of democrats returned to -- who turned out to be more conservative like justice byron white, who had been appointed by president kennedy. so, there have been more variation in past years. right now, we see a strong identification between a pointing party and judicial

philosophy of a justice. host: what is the public view of the supreme court and are the current justice is concerned about it? guest: there is the public view, from what we have seen for many opinion surveys, and academic studies, right now is negative on the supreme court, it is historic lows of public popularity or confidence, and that is mainly since the year 2020, when justice ginsburg died in justice barrett was appointed, and the court shifted very hard to the right. a 6-3 court can move much more aggressively than a 5-4 court, were any single justice could conceivably break in ideological stalemate or try to find some kind of compromise, which is what we had when justice kennedy and o'connor were on the court the previous years. the main reason the court's

popularity has fallen is that democrats tend to a lesser degree and independents have lost confidence and it has stayed sort of the same. and the reason that is problematic, legal scholars say, is that the credibility is whether the losers think they were created fairly. whether they say they don't like this outcome, i understand it, i don't agree, i accepted, and that is what we pretty much have until 2020 because the court was not so easily and did not hold as tracking an ideological agenda, and if you would win one day, maybe you would win or lose another day. right now, the court has lost confidence in people who think that they are losing unfairly. that is really what scholars say is the problem. from the supreme court point of view, they are not supposed to care about popularity.

they are supposed to do what is right, even if the majority disagrees, look back to the 1950's, when the court began dismantling segregation in the united states. that was not popular, and in one region of the country, the south, more popular in the north, but the court went ahead with it, even though it was unpopular and they faced resistance in the areas where their decisions were taken effect. but the court had lost the respect it had across-the-board in previous decades. host: what was the impact of alleged ethics violations and has the court responded? guest: that is hard to say. it has not helped the court, but we do know that i looked at a recent survey by work at law school earlier this year, and then net disapproval rating, the public disapproval, the ones with the greatest disapproval,

justices thomas and cavanaugh, and they were both known for certain ethical or behavior questions that were raised, i have not seen the site that focused exactly on the ethics issue, but headline reports that say they were undisclosed gifts from billionaires and so on, that cannot be helpful to a court who would like to see itself is really above this craft of consideration. there is no obligation of bribery or anything like that, it is a little vague and a swishy question when you are associated with people who have their own ideological agendas, i would is that say about the court independence? does that look right? that seems to be what ethics scholars are asking. host: james, scottsdale, arizona, independent. caller: good morning. basically, to be completely honest, i was mostly a lifelong

democrat until 10 years ago. i switched to the independent party, mostly because of the problems we seem to be having nowadays with media, and listening to mr.!, i have quest -- mr. jess bravin, i have questions because it seems like he skews what he is saying and it is not factual. host: in what way? caller: one thing he pointed out was that trump said that he became like a dictator. he never said these things, but the media pushes these narratives, and it is turning off people like me who are independent because it is so falsely skewed. just like i'm pro-abortion, i think the state should be looking at the abortion rates and have some sort of abortion rights, maybe not to the extent like new york where you can terminate two days after the baby is born, but something logical. in arizona, we had 14 weeks for

abortion, and all of a sudden, they put it on the ballot, and the acted like you are voting for or against abortion, but what we really wanted to vote for was an abortion of six months, and it passed and nobody seems to care, but in six months, that is a little excessive. host: we will take your comments. guest: well, trump did say, and i don't know if he was joking, but he said, -- i'm paraphrasing, but i'm not going to be a dictator, well, maybe day one. that is how he put it, and his administration is preparing executive orders that they intend to issue on day one, so i don't understand what is not factual about that. i don't understand what is not actual about sane people who don't agree with that agenda listen to the assertion that he will be aggressive on the first day and began getting ready to respond to policies that they

have legal questions now, so i don't understand the assertion that that is not factual. what is not factual about citing what he said? i would ask this, and a lot of people who do criticized the news media, and it should not be immune from criticism, but when you say they got something wrong, how do you know that? because you read that someplace, so it is some form of media that you are relying on. and the credibility is established over time. i'm proud to say that the publication i work for established in 1889 has good reputation for credibility that stands up more than a century and that is true for other major news organizations. let's not be so hasty to dismiss news organizations that have tremendous institutional commitment to accuracy and correcting errors when they make them. host: how important to you as a

journalist is your replication? guest: it is essential because unlike the court, whether they are like or dislike, they have to be obeyed. we do not as journalists, and what we do out there is out there every day, and i hear from readers who often when they think of as an error, it is actually newsday which was not true, or viewpoints expressed in an article that sources say, not us as journalists, sources say they disagree with, and confusion among these things is unfortunate. news media has let the public down and not really explaining how it works, how it decides what is credible permission and what is not, how it decides what to publish and what not to publish and what matters and what does not read the public deserves to learn more about how the decisions are made and how facts are verified, but simply

saying, i don't like what i read, therefore, it is not true that is not a fair way to look at what people in the news media worked hard to present. host: you can follow jess bravin 's reporting if you go to x, wsj.com, online, jess bravin, supreme court correspondent with the wall street journal, we appreciate you talking to our viewers. guest: thank you. host: we will take a break, when we come back, we return tour conversations from earlier this morng, republicans control washington. th say they have a mandate. if you agree, you can start dialing in now. we wil get to that conversion in a minute. ♪ >> this is c-span.org/result for

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code to download it today or visit c-span.org/c-span now. c-span now, your front row seat to washington, anytime, anywhere. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are back this morning, continuing our conversation on "the washington journal" about republicans in control of washington. the associated press last night recalling after numerous television networks it already done so. the senate and republican hands and the white house, as well, come january 2025. this morning, republicans are saying that they have a mandate. we are asking all of you, do you agree? all call had this headline we were just showing you about the leadership elections that happened yesterday in the house. speaker johnson was reelected as the speaker for the new

congress, and part of that conversation included the motion to vacate with roll call reporting that the threshold will rise under the house gop. house republican factions agreed wednesday night on the change to the chamber roles that would make it tougher to ask the speaker in the manner that former congressman kevin mccarthy lost his job last year, and after some threatens -- threatened mike johnson with a similar fate. they would raise the bar for members to offer a motion to vacate the speaker's chair by requiring additional members to sign on to such a privileged revolution. after the leadership elections in the house by republicans yesterday, speaker johnson came to the microphone, and this is what he had to say about the parties going forward. [video clip] >> it is a new day in america. yesterday morning, we began on

the steps of the house as everyone was flying into begin work again as we complete the 118th congress, and we celebrated what is a new beginning, a new morning in america, and we begin to date -- would begin today with president trump, and he came to us with a bit of a pep rally, everyone feels encouraged about the days ahead, and he gave us an inspirational message, and he talked about the importance of maintaining unity and standing with the leadership team to go forward. it was very well received, and that set the tone for our day, and we have had a successful day as a conference, and the theme you will hear from all of our members is that we are unified and energized and ready to go. we have to deliver for the american people beginning day one and the new congress, and we will be ready for that. i would like to congratulate the new leaders who are have been elected, and those who have been

reelected who have earned those positions well. this was a group antibody today that worked together and did some extra ordinary things, putting together a leadership team, and i would again like to tip my hat to two of our most important caucuses within the republican conference, the house freedom caucus, congressman harris, and congressman dusty johnson, the main street caucus, who work together with a subgroup of members to work through a deliberate process to come up with the rules, so we come out of this excited to deliver the america first agenda for the american people. [end video clip] host: house speaker mike johnson talking about the agenda for republicans in the house, they control the house, the senate, and the white house next year, and topping the agenda, immigration and the 2017 expiring tax cut, renewing those tax cuts topping the agenda for

republicans. outside of that meeting yesterday with the republicans and president-elect donald trump, c-span caught up with members to get there a lack -- reaction to the meeting, and here's what many of them told c-span about the future of mike johnson's leadership. [video clip] >> it is electric, almost like an ole miss football game. electric. >> he was very funny, accessible, saying hi to members he knows, just giving anecdotes or cracking jokes, he said that mike johnson was hitting very close to him and he said, mr. president, i need one more round, one day before the election, and he said, i'm tired, i do not want to do that. you know the way he was being very funny and personifying and explaining what those last hours or before november 5.

we are delighted. >> it was great. everybody was having a good time. the president, he was in a good move, and i think you probably will not see that footage, but everybody is in a good move. let's get ourselves organized and do the job. >> [indiscernible] >> absolutely. we are going with the team we have got right now. and they speak all the time now and they have developed a good relationship, and i think we need to stick with what we are working on right now. >> i was with kevin mccarthy, and mike johnson is doing a really good job, and there is no reason to change course at this time, we just need to produce for the american people and mike johnson is the right guy. >> everybody, get behind mike johnson.

we have got to get behind mike johnson, and within these first 100 days, we get everything we can to get an agenda through. we cannot sit here, or it around and play games. we cannot afford to do that. let's get to work immediately, so when donald trump is in the white house since january 20, we can charge forward and get his agenda to the american people, and he's going to save our country, he will save the world. host: house republicans talking to c-span yesterday after they met with president-elect donald trump on the future of the republican party. do you think they have a mandate now that they control the house, senate and white house in the new year? tom, illinois, what do you think? caller: thank you for having me. i have a lot to say about this but i will cut to the chase. i believe the republicans for a

long time now, even before trump , going back to the 90's, have had a threefold agenda through three key things they are doing. number one, they would like to privatize things, and we can see that right now how trump is closing up to elon musk, and they're going to trim the government agencies, the budget, the so-called bureaucracy, which is going to mean a lot of government employees, long-term public servants who will lose their careers and jobs. and it is all about corporate interests, and corporate greed some would say, and business is doing better, which they may think that is good in the long run for the businesses, but do we really want to have that fodder?

host: all right, tom and illinois, i will move on to janet, waiting in illinois, independent. your turn . -- short-term. caller: -- your turn. caller: do they have a cabinet member picked for health and human services? host: i do not know off the top of my head if he has made that pick, why do you ask? caller: he always said he would like abortion rights to go back to the state, and here's my take. i was actually in an e.r.a. demonstration in illinois back in the day, and e.r.a., that amendment never got put into the constitution because it did not go through the state approval, and my take is this, women who are either for or against abortion rights, and i'm definitely for abortion rights for women, it is our body, let us decide, if that e.r.a. had gotten through and had been an

amendment, there would not have even had to have been an issue of who dictates what women can do with their own body. i live in a state now of women who have states with restrictive abortion rights are coming to illinois to have it done if they can afford the travel. why? because abortion rights here are up to the woman. i'm saying women, whether you are pro or against abortion rights, if you would like to take control of your body, we should have gotten the e.r.a. amendment passed when we could have gotten it passed to all the states who made it an actual amendment to the constitution, and we would not even be having a conversation about abortion rights. host: tracking the president-elect picks for his cabinet, if you go to washington post.com, they have filled in the different spots with faces, the health and human services post not yet filled in here with

the washington post tracking. ke,, republican, -- ken, republican, oklahoma. caller: good morning, america. we have been saved by the election, and people saying that there is a mandate. it is kind of a divisive term because of the vaccine mandates and all of that, so it is not a good term, but 75% of polling said the country was in the wrong direction under the democrat leadership, so, there has now got to be change, so it is required by the voters in electing republicans to change the direction of the country for the good because we have insane policy, like men and women sports, open borders, and all

the issues, and 200 government employees, so we have big government invasion with all of our rights, the justice department who was weaponized, all of those things to go after their opponents because that is why the matt gaetz appointment is so concerning to democrats because the justice department was corrupt. so, it is going to be really interesting and calling it a mandate is, not to say divisive, but we definitely have voted for change. host: republicans were able to flip the senate leadership there, democrats not in control in the 119th congress, republicans yesterday chose a new leader and senator mitch mcconnell said he would not seek the top spot.

from usa today, john boone will be the new senate majority leader. he spoke to reporters yesterday about the agenda, and the senate's role in confirming president-elect donald trump's cabinet. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> do you have concerns about president-elect trump's cabinet picks and when it comes to choosing nominees for confirmation? >> as you know, the senate has an advice and consent role in the constitution, so we will do everything we can to process them quickly and get them installed in their position. >> you said that appointments are on the table, will you move forward with that? >> we are going to make sure we are processing his nominees in a way that gets them into position so they can implement his

agenda. how that happens remains to be seen. we would like to make sure our committees have confirmation hearings like they typically do, and that it is reported out to the floor, what i've said this and i mean it, we expect a level of cooperation from the democrats to work with us to get these folks installed, and, obviously, we are going to explore all options to make sure they get moved quickly. >> how will legislators feel about what remains untainted under your tenure? >> the senate, as you know, is by design a place where the minority has a voice in our process, and we will do the job that the founders intended us to do that the american people intend for us to do, and that right now after this mandate election coming out of the

market people to work with the president on an agenda that unwinds a lot of the damage of the biden-harris humor, puts in place new policies that will move the country forward in a new direction. [end video clip] host: the incoming majority leader on using recess appointments, box.com notes that they are allowed under the constitution, and they have said that using them, president trump would be able to appoint whoever he would like without giving the senate the opportunity to question or adjust to the pick. critics noticed that it increases the risk of ideological appointees filling government posts and it significantly expands presidential power. jim, west virginia, democratic caller, you're talking about republicans in control of washington, your thoughts. caller: good morning. i wanted to comment on the

fellow who was just on the program before the open forum. i think his name was bravin. host: jess bravin, yes. caller: i watched midway through where his appearance started. host: the house is about the gavel and. you will have to make it real quick. caller: i thought he was wonderfully bipartisan or nonpartisan. i was listening to him and his opinions, and i think he was careful to not try and speak in a politically oriented way. host: all right, i will have to leave it there. the house of this 118th congress is about to gavel and further legislative session. live coverage here on c-span.