bow down to what trump wants this time. he will take it win. what that man has been through, let him have his way. host: orlando from blackwood, new jersey. democratic caller. caller: good morning america. i am calling from the democratic line. that is the partythat's the parr -- that's the party i tend to favor. listening to these calls, democrats, republicans going at each other's throats. it is simple. this individual is accused, let him stand trial on his own. do not speak on his behalf, right? any you speak on his behalf, you are tying all sorts of other issues into the problem.

let him stand on his own two feet and defend the office that he intends to represent. that is the office of the department of justice. the last thing you want is for a director to go into the department of justice and be arrested on his first day because he's a criminal. host: we will leave it at that point. we will take a short break. when we come back, we will talk with two members of congre coming up on the whington journal. we will hear first from sydney kamlager dove on the incoming trump administration's agenda and then mike flood on their priorities in congress. stay with us. ♪

>> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress. from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated and decided, with no commentary, no interruptions and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> if you miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it anytime online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers

appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. this timeline makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> he considers himself a full-time lawyer and a full-time historian. his latest book is called how the best did it, leadership lessons from our top presidents. he chose the first four of eight off the face of mount rushmore. george washington, thomas jefferson, abraham lincoln and theodore roosevelt. he chose 24 distinct leadership traits. he said they were exhibited by these president. the other four presidents included in his best leadership category are fdr, dwight eisenhower, john f. kennedy and ronald reagan.

he lives in dallas, texas. >> talmage boston with his book, how the best did it, leadership lessons from our topdents on this episode of book notes plus with ourost,rian lamb. book notes plus is available on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: we want to welcome to our table this morning, congresswoman sydney kamlager dove. you are the cochair of the democratic women's caucus outreach. much to talk about this morning with you. let's begin with this nomination of matt gaetz to serve as attorney general. what do you think should happen here as far as reports being released, etc.? guest: first of all, thank you for having me here. i think the committee should

release the receipts. the reality is he is being nominated to be the attorney general for the united states. essentially, that is the top cop for the country. if you care about justice, if you care about the law and doing the things you're supposed to do, you should be unafraid of whatever is in that report. sunlight is the best disinfectant. i think it is unfortunate that the votes went along party lines to continue to keep the report from being released. but if they are going to go through a true vetting process on the senate side, and i hope they do, then they should get the report and it should be released. host: another nominee by president donald trump will serve as the panic on chief. you, as the member of the foreign affairs committee, what do you think of that nomination? guest: deeply unfortunate and troubling. he has zero foreign policy experience. he's a newscaster. he is a loyalist to the

president elect. my concern is many of the folks he is nominating to be in his cabinet don't have the experience required for that particular job but they do have experienced in being loyal to trump. in a sense, he and his advisors will be telling them what he wants them to do and not being able to seek any other kind of advice or counsel or dis-centered disagreement. and i think, especially when you are dealing with important issues, you need to hear all sides so that you have all the information and are able to make a reasonable, rational, comprehensible decision that is best and most safe of american people. you won't get anything out of this guy except loyalty to donald trump. host: what's next for house foreign affairs committee when you look at the world map? what will be the issues happening now that will be still

percolating in this next congress for your committee and the work you will have to do with president trump? guest: there's a lot going on. we have a genocide happening in the sudan. we have a conflict in the middle east that is raging and tens of thousands of babies and innocence are being killed. -- innocents are being killed. the pacific region is incredibly unstable. you have continued conflict in the ukraine, where russia actually invaded a sovereign nation and is working with north korea and iran and china in a proxy war against the united states to force us to bow down. meanwhile, you have someone who is nominated as director of national intelligence who was purported to be a sympathizer to both iran and russia. when you are battling bullies,

the people on your side should not be friends with the bullies, trying to help them succeed. so, those are things we will be talking about. we are also going to be talking about the western hemisphere and all of the changes that are happening in south america. those have an incredible impact on what we deal with when it comes to immigration. how we are going to recommit to the comet -- continent of africa. donald trump had a zero africa policy. that is something that should be alarming to us even how fast that consonant is growing and the economic opportunities within it. lots to discuss with foreign affairs. host: here is a headline from reuters, showing china's president with brazil's president as those two leaders meet and others meet with china. other leaders from across the country, meeting with china's leader. what gives you pause about this if at all? guest: as a result of this

election, countries around the world are reassessing their relationship with us and also their relationship with china. obviously, there will be a lot of posturing that takes place as they -- as we all continue to see who else he nominates to be in his cabinet and policies he saying he will push in the first hundred days. brazil is an incredibly important partner to us. it is a regional power. it is looking to be a global power. we have really worked with them in how we have been dealing with venezuela and how we are going to work with columbia and south africa. so, it is incredibly important that we are signaling to our allies that we want to continue good relationships with them. the fact that that is happening concerns me. we cannot lose friends. host: will the foreign affairs committee that you serve on take up the issue of mass deportation? is it in your purview? guest: it is not.

it's under the purview of judiciary. i suspect that we will bring it up because republicans like the headline. i've been in the committee of natural resources and they talked about immigration. it is not the jurisdictional committee for that. but folks like to talk about it because he gets headlines and gets people riled up when we should be talking about water and federal lands and critical minerals. that happened when we were supposed be passing a budget. host: this is the front page of the new york times this morning, with this image of a reservoir of new york showing the effects of the regions 90 days with barely any rain. you have forest fires starting as well. that could happen or will start to happen in the west. what does the natural -- what is the natural resources committee

doing on this? guest: we are fighting, to be quite honest. republicans and democrats have a different idea on if climate change exists and we have ideas on how federal should be used. republicans in the committees i've been in on say we need to be drilling more and sell more of our public land to private owners. if you don't see a toxin, that means the toxin doesn't exist. all water is clean water, we'll have to worry about it. we can fish until we can fish no more. democrats say we have to pause. may be we don't have to regulate every single thing but we have to think conscientiously about some of these proposals because we are dealing with finite resources. i am looking at that photo and thinking about the climate change that has impacted california. we have also taken pictures that look just like that.

thankfully, we have had a series of storms and heavy rains that have allowed us to fill up our reservoirs. but it is a real thing. if you are talking about wildfires and we have a president elect to wants to get rid of fema, then tell me how counties, communities, neighborhoods, homes and states will survive when we are continuing to deal with natural disasters without getting help from the government. host: we are talking with congresswoman sydney kamlager dove. julian in stamford, connecticut, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning, greta. how are you? host: doing well. question for the congresswoman? caller: all these guests you have on your show and even you tell me how incompetent these cabinet selections are that trump may. mr. buttigieg was the mayor of a small county in indiana. and he destroyed the --

host: it's ok, you believe he destroyed the transportation department. caller: absolutely. plains tires are falling out of the sky. as far as matt gaetz, greta, every time a republican calls, you keep asking them how do you know that? how do you know that? greta, are you 100% sure this really happened? are you? host: your point is that these are allegations. caller: you are not answering my question. host: because the conversation that we have here on the journal is two i moderate it and you give your opinion. you ask your questions and your comments to our guest as well. congressman, do you care to respond? guest: for people who believe in -- some people believe in santa claus and some people don't, some people believe in the easter bunny and some people don't. the reality is something happen because republicans and democrats have asked for an

investigation and have gotten information and have continued to mull it over. there is something on those pages, on those hundreds of pages that republicans and democrats have been reviewing. you can also talk to republicans on that committee who have deep concerns. whether or not they are sharing them publicly might be another thing even the new climate. but just because you don't like something doesn't mean it isn't real. host: ralph in macon, georgia. democratic caller. caller: my concern is that the democrats, we have a tendency to sit back and let the republicans push us back into a corner. i used to march for the right to vote, the right to get jobs, everything. but somehow or another, they have gerrymandered us. you get in office and have a

majority and next time you lose because i feel that we do not do enough to talk to the regular voters. we talk about jobs, we talk about taxes. all of those things are not registering. i say this and i will finish. the people that were demonstrating on the campus, antisemitic, we did not have any democrats to go and talk. we forgot why we were marching. trump is in office and we are going to be setback for years. remember when the national guard came out? five people were killed by the national guard. we are in trouble because we sit back and wait when we get in office and don't do anything.

host: let's take your commons, congresswoman. -- comments, congresswoman. guest: i don't know that we don't do enough, we are probably not selling what we do enough. we are in a culture where we like loud and we like liars. it can be very entertaining. to add to some of ralph's consternation, we have faltered when it comes to education. we are not putting enough money into our schools, into our speech -- teachers and people who support special needs. education was a priority and people were fighting like the dickens to make sure they had access to it so they know civics and process and what can be done. we have gotten a lot more apathetic in that space. so, we have succumbed to bright lights and bells and whistles. now is not a time for us to continue to do that. i will say, democrats have been

indeed exposed. we were in the minority last term and the things that didn't happen last term were because of them across. you want us to be fighting against bad things and defending democracy. poison pills that would be put in the budget bills, bad, toxic pieces of legislation that would hurt everyone and discriminate against all americans. we fought against all of those things. i will tell you another dirty secret. we fought against those things with republicans who have been fighting against their house freedom caucus members. there are republicans who know some of these things that pop up on the house floor are bad deals. that's what democrats have been doing. are we going on television and selling it? maybe not as much as we should be. host: -- they were not able to bridge the disconnect with voters.

voters could not get over inflation and the economy and that the harris campaign, in her short amount of time, could not convince voters out there that she would be effective on the issue. guest: she was running a presidential campaign and a special election. she had less than 100 days to introduce herself to the country and separated herself from the president while being vice president. being in a marriage, are you going to go on tv and talk bad about your spouse? you probably won't stay married that long. inflation is really important. it is going up everywhere because of the pandemic and other things that were put in place years ago. a lot of people think if you pass the bill on tuesday, you will feel the effects on wednesday. that's not how it works. we will enter into a time where we will have a good economy. that will be because of biden and not because of trump but folks won't that.

she had an uphill battle. and you have to talk about how people feel. and what it makes you feel like when you go to the grocery store and eggs cost six dollars and a year ago they cost three dollars. we have to help people understand why -- not just why they are feeling that but what happened to make eggs go from three dollars to six dollars. and we have to do a better job of that. and we have to continue to listen to the american people. i don't think the american people want what they are going to get. they just want something different. host: we will go to norfolk, virginia. wayne is an independent. caller: hello, greta and congresswoman dolph. i want to -- dove. i want to make a comment about abortion why it wasn't the big issue democrats wanted to be. i think it is meanly because of a disconnect with being able to discuss the topic. trump came out very bluntly and

said that he wanted to nominate supreme court justices that would rollback roe v. wade and take it to the states. and it seems like according to exit polls, a lot of people may have voted for trump and then voted for pro-choice abortion laws in their states. and i think democrats did a poor job of presenting the counterargument of why it would be better to have abortion at the federal level instead of the state level. because women in states that have very strict abortion laws would not be able to get contraception or whatever it is they need the state level. host: let's take your point, wayne. congresswoman? guest: wayne makes a good point. there's also a lot of confusion about the role of the federal government and the role of the states. a lot of people think i live in a state where abortion is legal, i will be ok, even if somebody gets into the white house that says we will have a national abortion ban, that won't impact

me. i can't tell you have any times i go to the grocery store and they say hi, congresswoman, what's it like going to sacramento? sacramento is not where the capital of the house of representatives is, it is in washington, d.c. or, hi, congresswoman, i want to talk to you about state laws. i don't work on state laws anymore. we still have a lot of educating to do with our friends and neighbors about the responsibility of these kinds of jurisdictions of government and who is response will for what. but, if there is a national abortion ban, it will impact you if you are in new york, wisconsin or in the state of california. host: you are the cochair of the democratic women's caucus outreach read is this one of your issues that you will be talking about? what is this group? guest: this is a group of women, democratic women. we are in the caucus and we talk about things that impact women, which is everything. health care, housing, access to education, childcare. it's dealing with menopause,

caregiving, employment discrimination, equal pay. it is dealing with protections under the law. and i would think that every person, man or woman, would want to support those kinds of issues. i tell people all the time, are you saying that your mother doesn't deserve the same rights as you or your sister? that's how you have to think about it. host: in mechanicsburg, pennsylvania, independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. my main issue here is the thing about gaetz. nobody in the country cared about voting in trump, a sexual predator. now all of a seven are worried about gaetz? let me tell you something. i called a few weeks whenever they took our right to choose away, the dems and put harris on the ticket. 129 of us immediately became independents. i don't want to hear about the

dems right now and everything that is going on. they did it. they took away our right to choose. they did it. so, let them tuck their heads under their wings, sit back like they have been doing and shut up and have a reckoning. guest: she said a lot of things. i'm concerned about someone who will be the top cop who was allegedly involved in sex trafficking and was having sex with little girls. i would just like to know that, especially given the purview of the department of justice. i am upset, just like dixie, about the results of this election. although, i continue to look at the numbers and i say to myself, donald trump did not get a mandate, he got just under 50%. the electoral college map is redder than i would like it to be. i also think the majority of the american people don't care about all of the distractions coming out of washington and they would

like for us to focus on real issues. i will say a real issue is who do you want having authority over you? do you go and find the worst person or the person with the strangest record or the least qualifications and you take a risk when it is something really important or do you look at all of the potential candidates and say let me find somebody who is qualified? put it all out there so people can see. this seems to be an interactive government he wants to have right now. let's all get involved. host: she also sounded dismayed by the move by democrats where president biden did not run, even though he went through the primary process. guest: i was a biden supporter. i am still in my feelings about a lot of what happened. dixie is legitimate in her angst about that. we also, from a logistical

standpoint, it would have been hard to have an open primary when you have just about 100 days before the election. and so, you want to have an entire year or two before you have an election so you can see all the candidates, they can kick the tires with their speeches, they can get the platforms right and meet the american people. that is a process that takes time. this year, democrats did not have it. we did it to ourselves. i am lamenting that too. but i will not lay down and let trump roll over me. i have fight in me. i will encourage democrats to do your day drinking or whatever but get up and get ready to fight because there are a lot of issues that are at stake. host: fox news reporting valuable pickups, nick begich will win a tight race for

alaska's loan seat. that widens the majority to to -- 219-213 for democrats. guest: adam gray is on track to win in california. california did what it needed to do. the republicans may have a technical majority. they will not have a governing majority. they had a majority last term and were not able to do anything without democrats. it is a loss that mary peltola will not come back to congress but they will be is defunct -- dysfunctional as they were last term. host: explained that, they will not have a governing majority. guest: when you need 218 to get anything done, including you need 218 to pass the rules to bring up a bill and you are in the majority so you control the

agenda. you control the bills that come up for us to vote. you control what we talk about. when you do not even have a majority in your caucus to make decisions about what we are all going to talk about, that's a problem. i get it that we might have all of these different pieces of legislation that come up and folks want to vote their district. but procedurally, you should have the votes to bring a bill up to the floor to be discussed. they don't have that. the rules committee which makes decisions about what bills actually come to the floor, they did not even have the majority. and they have eight seats! so, they have the technical majority on all of the committees, including rules. they should have been able to do more than what they were able to do. host: we will go to luis in springfield, illinois. caller: happy early thanksgiving to most of you.

what does the congresswoman feel about the ballistic missile attack on ukraine by russians? and my follow-up, harris lost not because of biden but lost because of the economy. there's nothing that we could have done without the sum that. host: ok, caller. thank you. guest: we have to sort pieces of legislation in the congress before i got here, which would infuse billions of dollars into our economy. we needed to talk about that and how folks could access those dollars in real ways. unfortunately, we will see the benefits of all of those pieces of legislation in about two years and donald trump will take the credit. i wish we would have sent long-range ballistic missiles to ukraine before we had done so,

right now. the missiles that they had were going right to the brink of russian bases but not getting to the places where they are storing the bombs that they are then shooting over to the ukraine, killing innocent people. the long-range missiles will allow ukraine to actually get to those bombs that are being lobbed into ukraine, killing innocent folks. i am deeply concerned with russia and north korea working in tandem with the ballistic missiles capability that they are sending into ukraine. but they are getting together and helping each other and that is being funded by china. china is funding russia, helping them avoid their sanctions so that they can work with north korea, who can learn from them. they are giving them people, north korea is giving russia people. russia is giving north korea capabilities. host: what can be done in the short term during these rainy

days of the biden administration with these missiles? does it change the strategy or the outcome? guest: i believe everyone was waiting for the results of our election and putin has a cozier relationship with donald trump. i believe that was why biden said yes to the long-range missiles, to stop some things. we know putin likes to sabre radel when it comes to the nuclear option. i don't believe he will use it but he is posturing to show that he is tough and don't mess with him. so, that is of concern. what more they can do, biden has always been one who has leaned on a diplomatic lever. but, quietly also supporting defense. hopefully, we can send them more support before january 20. >> thank you for the conversation.

we appreciate it. >> happy to be here. >> when we come back, we will hear from mike flood on the republican administration and the republican priorities for the next congress. we will be right back. ♪ >> sunday night on c-span's q and a, peggy nunez, former speechwriter for president reagan, talks about her book, a certain idea of america. a collection of her columns from over the past quarter-century. she discusses her time working in the white house and her career in radio after graduating from college. >> walter cronkite was the anchor of the cbs news. he had a radio show.

every day, he did radio commentary. it was written by a wonderful writer named dale miner. when dale reiter was off on vacation, i was one of the people who filled in for him. when i was filling in for dale minor, who was filling for cronkite, cronkite himself took vacation and dan rather came in. then dan rather became the anchor for cbs. and i became the radio writer of his commentary. it was like doing a column every day. >> peggy noonan, with her book "a certain idea of america." >> you can listen on our free c-span app. >> mouse will be in order.

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tell your smart speaker to play c-span radio and listen to washington journal daily at seven :00 a.m. eastern. important public affairs. tell your smart speaker to play c-span radio, powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: we want to welcome to our table this morning, congressman mike flood, republican from nebraska, served on the financial services committee. i want to begin with this headline in the wall street journal. food industry -- for deportation. given where you are in the state of nebraska and the amount of dependence of farmers and livestock on the immigrant population. they say 42% of those working are not legally authorized to work in the country. guest: i can't dispute that number but i can tell you in nebraska, the packing plants of the farmers and ranchers i know,

all of them are verified and very careful about how they hire and their hiring practices. we have ice enforcement at a tomato plant several years ago. we have seen opportunities for ice to enforce the law. by and large, in nebraska, a lot of the immigrants that are living and working there are second and third generation. i live in a community of about 25,000. 15 miles south is a tysons foods work plan. their kids are going on to law school and middle school -- medical school. we have seen and evolution. i'm not saying there aren't illegal immigrants in alaska. but i am confident our packers and meat industry have done a good job of verifying. host: what about getting visas for these workers to work, if they are not here legally to try

to live but they are here to work? what will be the outcome of that under the trump administration? guest: the good thing about the trump administration's we will secure the border. we will start with the remain in mexico practice we had before. we will focus on doing that. i think once the border is secure, you are going to see bipartisan efforts to make sure that our legal immigration system works. when i came into office, in july of 2022, we had a 500,000 visa backlog. most of that was because not a lot of folks were in the office still because of covid. as of a year and a half ago, it was down to 350,000. that should work way better than it is. when it came to the visas for workers, those are important. we have to make sure they work for agriculture and those coming into the country. host: how important are those h-2b visas to the industry that you are talking about in your state? guest: they are very important. one of the things i would change

for the h-2b visa is they are usually done for the growing season, a nine month period. if you are in dairy agriculture, that is a year-round job. we will have an h to be so let's make it fit for what works for the worker and for the folks in agriculture. i would make some modifications to the h-2b visa. i don't think i get to do that until we have a national solution on the border. >> are you in favor of mass deportations? guest: i'm in favor of enforcing the law. we are a country built on the rule of law. americans sent the signal that the one thing they were dissatisfied with president biden with what's on the border and its impact on america. my hometown last january, the norfolk police stopped an illegal immigrant in my community who had crossed the border well over 60 times in 2023. as of the end of january, i want

to say 17 times he crossed the border back and forth. that is not a border. that is open. there is no rule. i think by enforcing the law, we will restore respect for the law and then we can work on an immigration system and fix it. host: is that a yes or a no on mass deportation? guest: i think the executive branch has to exercise the power of enforcing the law. however they choose to do that. anything that they do more than the biden administration is better than what we have. mass deportations, if there are a lot of illegal immigrants that they can depart, what does a mass deportation do? how big is mass? are we talking 200 people at a plant somewhere? 5000 in a day? i don't think that is possible. host: you are concerned that you can't pull this off? guest: no. i am, number one, very focused on wanting the border to be

closed. wanting border security. shutting down the fentanyl and sex trafficking and all of the things that are happening. once that is done, i think americans and folks in venezuela and guatemala and all of these other places will know, no more free rides. you don't get a past and come to wherever you want. our system needs to do its job. we have to enforce the law. there are people in this country that are here illegally and they are committing more crimes and bringing more fentanyl and engaged in some kind of human trafficking or sex trafficking. for me, that's a first priority. absolutely. the next step in my opinion is to enforce the law against those that are here illegally and work with the congress to find a way forward on immigration. host: the headline to share with our viewers, -- the land commissioner who owns the ranch

offered up a 1400 acre ranch near the border of south texas to host a mass deportation facility. what have you heard from republican leaders about the 119th congress on the issue of immigration? what legislation gets to the floor person for votes? guest: the first legislation that gets to the floor was h -- is hr two. the house built that we passed that failed to go anywhere in the senate. i think donald trump on his first day has the option to issue an executive order that does just that. i would rather when he comes in on january 20, he could sign a bill into law that codifies that . we have to make sure the border patrol agents are paid and are supported. we have let me give you a quick story. in december of 2023, i was in the el paso station, the eagle

path station on the border. the border patrol agent said they were getting 10,000 folks a day, illegal immigrants, coming into the united states, applying for asylum. they took all 250 border agents to process the 10,000 a day into the united states, leaving that border unsecured for the better part of 10 days in december of 2023. i don't think republicans or democrats or independents want that to happen. that -- this is something i think we can all agree on, we want a border that is patrolled in this state. host: we are talking with congressman mike flood, republican of nebraska. reelected in 2024, 60% of the vote. guest: oh yeah. host: let's go to a republican caller in washington. good morning to you. caller: good morning morning,

greta and representative flood. i have a concern with the mass deportation plan. you have a mom and dad, noncitizens put all of their children are born in the united states. they range in age from two to 14 years in age. what will happen to those children? i could see the parents in a very sad world being deported with their youngest children but then the preteens and the teenagers staying in the country, legally where they should all be allowed to stay because they are all american citizens. host: let's get a response, congressman. guest: here's what i would start with saying. secure the border and enforce the law. the law has not been enforced. and a family situation, every family situation is difficult. but in the situation, the mom and dad that are here in the

united states illegally, there is a way to immigrate into the united states legally. that means oftentimes you go back to your home country and you apply for citizenship and you go through the process. and when i go to the courthouse, the federal district courthouse in lincoln and i am there to see new immigrants raise their right hands and become u.s. citizens with tears streaming down their face, i know they have spent time and effort and they know more about our country than most citizens do because they have passed the test. i saved myself these folks did it exactly right. why should we short-circuit our law? can the process be better? yes. but we have to enforce the law. host: what did you think of the bipartisan bill that was put forth in the senate by senator james lankford, a republican who negotiated it with democrats that would have done several steps on the border to restrict the illegal immigration that is coming in? would you have supported that?

guest: no. i believe hr two is right direction. to be honest, that bill had some a different narrations that i was trying to follow. it is in the senate and i am in the house. it never made it over to the house so i never had the opportunity to review it in full. but i can tell you is our leadership did not feel, based on what they knew from inside negotiations, that that would have moved the ball significantly. host: on the economy, what would be one of the first agendas for this republican majority on the 19th? guest: budget reconciliation is new to me. i am a new member of congress. i am focused on watching that process unfold. we need to get the farm bill done. that is a priority for middle america and all of america as it relates to snap benefits. ultimately, we have to have hard conversations. here is what i'm most excited about. the senate is going to pass 12

appropriations bills and the house will pass 12 appropriations bills and we will have a federal budget. we did our budget on time. it was done three months ahead of the time. it was always balanced. no debt. one of the only states in the nation -- we are one of the only states in the nation that cannot take on debt. i think it will be good for republicans and democrats to have a conversation. host: what do you think should be done on the short-term resolution that the government is currently operating under to keep the government open and not shut down parts of it? what do you think should happen? another continuing resolution? guest: yes. i have voted for every continuing resolution to keep the government funded. the government not being funded to me is not an option. at a bare minimum, that is something we have to do. if it were up to me solely, i would say let's get into january and start the budget process. host: this morning, we are

talking with congressman mike flood, republican of nebraska, who has served on the finances can he. we are taking your calls. -- committee. we are taking your calls. timothy. caller: yes, good morning. good morning morning, representative flood and greta. ok. regarding the whole issue, you guys, biden tried to get that through. and of course, trump, as a tactical move, said don't do it because i can use it as a campaigning angle and that's what you get. but, i live up here in northern vermont. the largest farm in the state. and these guys are milking 12,000 cows a day. and i will tell you that most of

his crew, his staff, if you will, are immigrants. and you never see these people. and these guys are shaking in their boots and the irony is the guy who owns the farm voted republican. i know the man very well. and i don't get the irony, i don't get the hypocrisy regarding fentanyl. fentanyl is coming through legal ports of entry, typically by white people. that's another gas lighting angle. regarding the farm bill. i live in an economically depressed area. i can tell you that there are stores that cannot sustain and economy.

the whole nine yards. you have people like elon musk who want to wipe all that out. he is the richest man in the world, brought up in an apartheid regime. host: timothy, i will jump in because there is a lot to respond to. congressman? guest: where should we start? host: we can start with the farm bill because we have not talked about that yet. guest: the house did its work on the farm bill and we passed out a bipartisan farm bill. my sense is that will not go anywhere. we will take it up in january. what is most important in the farm bill for me is our crop insurance program. crop insurance works. this is a federal government that does its job. i am focused on making sure that remains intact without any strings or extras attached to it. we need to get the farm bill pass. i heard a lot about that this fall.

i had people say where is the farm bill? i know, we want to get it done. the house did its job. the senate did not move anything on it. host: how important is the farm bill to the state of nebraska? guest: it is really important. it's important to a lot of folks who are food insecure across the country. he's right. there are families that rely on snap benefits. and that is part of the farm bill. host: we will go to david in lewisburg, west virginia. hi, david. caller: yes. i have a number of topics. the first is about immigrants being farmworkers which is great for now. for my understanding, we are fairly close to ai providing a lot of the agriculture by

machinery. what's going to happen to the workers when that work is not available? host: i want to take that point. congressman, ai on farms? guest: think about the farm back in 1860. people said we will never get any kind of motorized device and here comes the train. it used to be you had nine kids on a farm in iowa to make sure you could raise a crop. today, the tractors drive themselves. we have automated dairies. we are using automation and technology and we are exploring different ways to raise crops that don't take as much water. research is vital and i'm excited about the future. that is a good thing for agriculture. it helps producers increase their bottom line, using ai and automation. there is no easy way yet to harvest the meat off of a pig or

the beef out of a cow. there is still a need for labor through agriculture. it's the number one industry in the united states. i'm not concerned that ai will take those jobs anytime soon. i think that a lot of people, whether you're at a port plant or at a meat yard, you will need a high level of education and training to be able to operate more efficiently to grow and hopefully grow your salary. host: i want to get your thoughts on president elect donald trump's nomination to a couple of posts. matt gaetz, what do you think about his nomination as ag? guest: let me tell you about matt gaetz. i have sat in a chair for the u.s. house of our present lives -- representatives. there are issues where i disagree with tongass men gaetz. -- congressman gates.

-- gaetz. i watched him debate republicans and democrats, true to form. i said this guy is one of the most articulate, bright, focused members that we have. that doesn't make any headlines. nobody was probably watching except of course your viewers on c-span, i'm sure it was millions. but i sat there and i thought this guy has a gift. do we agree on all of issues, no. as it relates to the ethics situation, personal, i will support what our ethics committee ultimate lead does. they are the ones who understand the lay of the land. i think that housework product has to be protected. there are different ways to do that. sometimes you can show to some in camera.

maybe in the other house. i ultimately will support what the ethics can be does. if i may, the benefit i thing to not releasing that report is first of all, it is our president. second, i think it is a useful tool to get members that have a legitimate ethics issue to resign the post rather than having to go through some type of expulsion. that did not work with george santos. but i guarantee you it worked 100 years before. host: the wall street journal editorial argues that is not the situation. it looks like the congressman is avoiding accountability by getting a promotion by being picked as the ag. guest: listen has a process and needs to go through that process. i'm not in the senate. i respect that process. i'm sure they will make a request to the house. the house ethics committee is capably led with good members on both sides. they will make a decision. from that, we will see where it

goes. host: i want to get your thoughts on the nominee to serve as health and human services secretary, rfk jr. as a represent a from nebraska, do you have concerns about what he has said about america's diet? guest: there is conversation happening at the united nations as well with regards drive died. i think it is incumbent upon folks like me and states like nebraska to bring him to nebraska and show him what good environmental stewards we are and show him the value of protein. three ounces of beef equals three cups of quinoa. to deliver protein into humans, beef is one of the best ways to do it. to the extent he has concerns about the crops that we raise and the food we produce, we need to get him into nebraska so he can see what we do for the world. we are literally feeding the world. we are the number one beef in america. how are beef, nebraska steaks

are on the menu in countries around the world because of our grass fed, corn fed beef. i think rfk jr. will start his service, hopefully after he is confirmed and we hope one of his first stops is omaha. host: joseph in point pleasant beach, a republican caller. joseph, what state are you from? caller: i grew up in new york city and i live in new jersey now by the beach. i had to get out of there because they are ruining the city i love. i have a couple of things to say to greta and the guy from vermont. host: our previous call, ok. caller: did you hear lake and n riley's father the other day, he read a letter that his daughter had written in her diary to her future husband. this was in her diary and i was

driving the car and i listened to it on the radio. joseph, are you still there? host: you faded out. caller: yeah. laken riley's father -- host: we heard about that. caller: the first thing you ask him, can we do mass deportations? if that was your daughter, i have one daughter, if you had a daughter, would you say we can't do mass deportations and it's not feasible? there are 13,000 people walking around here who are rapists and murderers. did you lose a child? there is a family who lost his daughter from a man who had no right to be here. new york city, my city, put him on a plane to be in georgia. i always consider myself a moderate republican, until trump came around.

now i am ultra-ultra maga because people in our country are stupid. host: congressman. guest: stories like this happen all too often and it's part of the problem with an open border. we don't know who is here. there are a lot of really good people searching for a better home that get drugged into a drug cartel process and they cross the border and then they are put into some kind of a house in phoenix where they are forced to work. there are good people being caught up in this. there is a lot more tragedy behind the scenes that we don't know about that occurs. host: the murder trial concluded yesterday, man found guilty of murdering laken riley and is

sentenced to life. julie in atlanta, democratic caller. are you there? caller: yes. host: we are listening. go ahead. caller: i was calling in regards to -- i want the congressman to elaborate on when the illegal people come across the border, of course they pay taxes. and that supports the social security and many other financial needs the company has. and when they are illegal like that, they never get any return on what they have contributed to this country. host: we will take that point. the house is gaveling in early so we will have the congressman was fond -- respond. guest: at the end of the day, we have to respect the rule of a. if we don't have the rule of law, we don't have national

security and for secure to. these are difficult conversations to have. thanks to donald trump's election, we will make progress on the border and tackle these comp lex issues as it relates to the next step. -- complex issues as it relates to the next step. host: do you agree with the caller, the immigrants are paying taxes and what is the ramification of that? guest: they are here illegally so they should not be eligible for benefits. that's my position. host: what benefits are they eligible for? guest: i know that, in some cases, some states extend medicaid to illegal immigrants. we don't do that in nebraska. we have a state law that prohibits that. but i know some states do that. i think that american taxpayer money should go for american citizens. we can navigate these issues securing the border and making sure that the legal immigration system works. i think s