host: back at our table, congressman peter welch, chief deputy whip. separationabout this policy separating families at the border. we have heard from our callers. some have argued this started with the obama administration. guest: it did not. two things here. when kids and families have come in the past and the bush administration and the obama administration those families were kept together. a day for be given their asylum hearing. that process would proceed.

when come back, peter welch joins us.e will talk about how democrats plan to vote on this compromise bill. and the debate this week on immigration. ♪ >> this weekend, john delaney, the first accredited to clear a run for the presidency offers his vision for america in his book the right answer. how we can unify. you in the book called for an end of partisanship, especially partisanship that rewards vision. what do you mean by that? president should effectively represent everyone. whether they voted for them or not. they should take a pledge never to divide us. that doesn't mean they don't go out there and say why they should vote for me over the but taking it to the step where you are actually cultivating a spirit of division. it is insidious. i do think if you have the privilege of serving we should in addition to swearing to defend and protect the constitution we should pledge to the american people we are not going to say things to divide us. we're going to go out of our way to unify the country. we are stronger when w

host: back at our table, congressman peter welch, chief deputy whip. separationabout this policy separating families at the border. we have heard from our callers. some have argued this started with the obama administration. guest: it did not. two things here. when kids and families have come in the past and the bush administration and the obama administration those families were kept together. a day for be given their asylum hearing. that process would proceed. the zero-tolerance policy was the one that was initiated by president trump and it was intended to separate kids from their families, to send a deterrent message as he saw it to other asylum-seekers, and to put pressure on congress in negotiations for him to get his wall and border security. this is a trump administration policy that thankfully he has reversed. host: the republican speaker of the house has referred to court rulings where during the obama administration they were detaining parents and children together. the court said you cannot detain children. the obama administration decided

congressman peter welch, a democrat from vermont, went to the southern border in texas to see firsthandildren are experiencing. the children being held away from their parents. he described the troubling conditions that he saw firsthand in an op-ed this morning and he joins me now. thank you for being here, congressman. >> thank you. >> can you walk me through what you were allowed to see? >> well, quite a bit. this is led by senator merkley. he was turned away two weeks earlier. this time we were allowed in to several locations. and basically where people were being held is in warehouses, they're clean. but there is no windows. and when you go inside, there are chain link fences that in effect are cages. the kids, all the people that are segregated by age, by gender, and what we saw was a lot of kids in cages. we weren't allowed to talk to them, but, you know, the real issue here is these kids are removed from their parents. they're bewildered and scared. one incident really stood out in my mind, it was three boys and i assume they were brothers, and they're on these thin mats that are

peter welch will share their views. at 7 amspan -- live eastern. join the discussion. >> the c-span bus is traveling across the country on our 50 capitals tour. the bus is on our 50th stop in ineau, alaska -- 58th stop juneau, alaska. >> we are in the middle of a crisis. we are used to having a want of oil money common. -- lot of oil money come in. there are other revenue streams that need to happen. seem s not seems to be -- to be happening fast. without additional revenue bills are facing a lot of crises in a lot of areas. down,re our economy goes the more and more people get upset. up getting destitute and turning to self-medicating. that is a big crisis, too. >> the most important issue is self hunger. it is all linked to poverty. --d insecurity for children it went down and now we are going way back up. we have to give all our money to oil companies for the future. >> one of our big issues in the state is the tourism industry. it is a huge chunk of our economy and growing by leaps and bounds. juneau,to promote especially since tourism in the i

. >> reporter: congressman peter welch represents vermont. he toured the facility yesterday. what can a congressman from vermont to do stop it? >> a congressman from vermont can't do much, but many congressmen and many americans speaking out can turn it around. this is un-american. it's a pauling. it's unnecessary. >> reporter: at this facility where we are, detainees stay here for no longer than 72 hours. border patrol says what they try and do is put the children separated from their parents are other family members already living in the u.s. sometimes that can take up to 57 days. get this, since the zero tolerance policy went into effect in may, more than 1,100 kids just at this facility have been separated from their parents. >> it is a very complicated story. the bottom line is people, despite all they've been through, want to be in this country. they worked hard to get here and they want to stay. thank you, david. >>> a newly open tent city along the texas border is at the heart of the national immigration debate. the trump administration announced the creation of the t

debbie dingell of michigan, don young of alaska, ann wagner of missouri, dan soto of florida, and peter welch of vermont for their bipartisan efforts in placing something as important as fisher house above politics. fisher house provides 100% free lodging for military families, allowing families to stay together while their loved ones are being taken care of in a v.a. hospital or military facility. on any given night, up to 1,000 families are staying in one of the 76 fisher houses in districts all across this country, and their need is only growing. this effort that's the subject of this amendment will help fisher house build new homes and serve more of our military families. fisher house has served over 335,000 families thus far, and provided $407 million of estimated out-of-pocket savings on lodging and transportation to our military families. looking ahead, they have eight houses already under construction and have identified 25 more locations in need of support in their pipeline. fisher house is a highly rated nonprofit, having received an a-plus rating from charity watch, and awarded the

i commend my colleagues -- peter welch. i commend my colleagues. we know that opioid use and misuse is a significant problem in the medicare population. we know we need to do e, not only to bring down opioid prescribing, but to make seniors aware of the dangers of opioid addiction and the existence of alternatives. h.r. 5685 would add educational resources regarding opioid use and nonopioid pain management alternatives to the medicar and you handbook which is emailed to all medicare households each fall. i doant to underscore that it's incremental and limid. i want to reiterate my concern that while democrats wants to work on a package to address the opioid crisis, we need to make sure we do no harm. the trump administration and congressional republicans' efforts to dismantle the affordable care act would do serious harm to our health care system and to individuals suffering from opioid use disorders, specifically. for instance, the trump administration continues to undermine the individual market by promoting junk insurance plans such as short-ter

discussing the issue of immigration were representatives of th leonard lance of new jersey, and peter welch. we begin with leonard lance. table, congressman leonard lance who represents the seventh district. you voted no against what has been called the goodlatte maccoll bill put on the floor yesterday. you joined 40 other republicans and all the democrats to vote no. why? aest: it does not contain path to citizenship for the dreamers and i think there should be such a path. i have worked hard on that issue with colleagues. i think without having signatories on that we would not be discussing this issue as we e