our --our speaker and i am from the vet congressional district. 4throm nevada's congressional districti am the first person of color to represent nevada in our federal delegation. so representation does matter. my home state also received about $6 billion a year of federal funding that comes from information that is collected from the census. so as everyone has stated, this is very important to making sure that we have adequate resources in our schools and our hospitals, for affordable housing, for free and reduced meals for our children, and for small businesses who also receive grants from information that comes from the census. but all of the work that has everyone by the cbc and member of the tri-causus, we are focused to make sure everything a person is counted in the 2020 census. after months of meeting with stakeholders, local organizers, and the census bureau directly, i am excited that census day is nearly among us. invitations to participate will begin to arrive in homes the week of march 12, and with census day approaching, we must now redouble our efforts on removing roadbl

balcerski: well, again, the congressional temperance society was the big surprise. that somehow this burgeoning national temperance movement was able to convince a series of politicians to take on what i thought at that time was a fairly early reform movement. by comparison, abolition, which would become one of the most divisive issues politically in this period, won't have its proponents in congress until the 1840's and more so by the 1850's. to imagine in the early 1830's with there was a group of congressman in favor of temperance was the greatest surprise. then try to think about politically what that meant to be an early temperance reformer in the 1830's. what i have found was that perhaps it was 1/10 of the senate or the house at this time, so it was a minority position. what is interesting, as compared to abolition, as compared to anti-slavery politics, temperance will decline. whereas temperance starts out strong in this period, by the time of the civil war, they move on to prohibition politics, but even that will have its day and decline after 1855. it's so

however, the top congressional doctor, i understand, sent a letter to congressional staff saying the attendee at cpac who contracted the coronavirus had contact with, quote, several members of congress during the conference. that's more than two. i'm just wondering what's the level of anxiety among you and your fellow lawmakers. >> i will tell you there's some very serious and blunt conversations that members -- i was involved in a thread yesterday that went all day between a very significant number of women members. if you're living in the state of washington, you're in the state of california, you're seeing very high incidents of it. they're worried. they raised the question, should we will be in session.

congressional code talkers medal. edmund went with us. we were so glad that he was able to receive the congressional gold medal on behalf of the seminole nation and a congressional medal. >> tonight we meet to immortalize men who were, in a way, meeting for the first time. like edmund harjo, a member of the seminole nation. and during the second world war, a member of the 195th field artillery battalion. one day, in 1944, he was walking through an orchard in southern france and heard one of his brethren singing under a tree. he recognized the dialect as creek. later on, a captain heard the two talking and immediately put them to work on opposite ends of a radio. that coincidence brought these two -- these men onto the stage of history and alongside that elite band that we call code talkers. edmund is with us today. i ask all of you to join me at welcoming him here and thanking him for his service. [applause] [applause and cheers] lewis: and he was the only giving code talker at the commemoration, -- only living code talker at the admirati

welcome to our 2020 congressional cities conference where this year record-breaking attendance numbers here, over 2000 attendees from all across the country, different sized cities and look at the beautiful faces behind me, excitement that we are here, we are loud and where proud of the fact that we come together to bang on the door here of the federal government to make sure that our federal partners listen to us and act and act quickly. local leadership is critical in creating cohesiveness -- cohesion throbber country. cities, towns and villages have tremendous opportunity to usher forward partnership and positivity and a time of growing gridlock and change in washington. the best way to move our communities forward is to promote partnership, leading together with other local, state, and federal leaders. we can all overcome the toughest challenges that's facing our communities, it's our charge and this is what our residents have elected us and this is why we have, washington every single year. in fact, the last 55 years we have come to this conference collectively one voice. issues l

each of the 13 congressional -- congressional districts add up to 72, but they are not evenly proportioned. the heavily democratic districts are worth more delegates. if you win raleigh and charlotte delegates.k up more

the erosion of congressional authority has been happening for quite some time. and you know, my friend tom cole and i, we are from different political parties. i'm a liberal, he's a conservative. but we are both institutionalist. we both respect this institution. we both respect the constitution. we think that over the last few decades, congress has been too willing to cede authority that is rightfully ours to the executive branch. the executive branch has been only too willing to take it. at the end of the day, that doesn't serve the american people. i think it undermines the constitution. but it doesn't serve our constituents. we are the house of representatives. we are the closest to the people. we have to get elected every two years. you can't serve in this institution unless you have been voted on by the people. i think we are closer to where the people are. and so on some of these decisions that are being made, we should have a role in them. we are not right now. i think that does not serve our constituents well. so this is a good time to do it. by the way

campaign the congressional campaign a sort of former cia officer abigail spain birger in virginia. the campaign discovered the operative that he had sent in there via a project to cover operative and fired or you also had 6 officer richard sudden who ran a 2017 operation to copy files and record conversations get this in the michigan office of the american preparation of teachers that's one of the largest teachers' unions in the nation suddenly even directed an undercover operative to secretly taped the union's local leaders and find information that could basically damage the organization publicly that's a big deal $11.00 of the people running this operation is the brother of the secretary of education spying on teachers and it's also a big deal when you think about the impact politically of the american federation of teachers is not only one of the largest teachers' union is also the one that backs and helps to fund some of the most progressive but also people who are going to pass legislation and help a lot when it comes to teachers' union funding when it comes to making sure th

i'm not sure that this is our goal as a congressional informant. i want to have better care instead. >> during the joint committee on budget appropriations process reform when they were working through their hearings and their markups, one of the things we heard from house appropriations chairwoman nita lowey is that she had a question of how much was the process versus how much is increasing polarization, the constant need for house members and four senators to fund-raise and to campaign, it's a constant schedule and there's of course always a dynamic of the executive branch. how much of this do you think is leading to overhauling the process from a minor level over a major level? how much of it is increasing polarization in the political system in general? >> if i could just add 100 mid to that? it's not just pour polarization but the split between the two parties this country in control since everything is so much potential to be a potential tipping 0.1 way or the other, and makes it harder to compromise and it's holding us back. >> he just is s

each of these congressional districts are different. ones that are going to be heavily african-american, it may be possible that biden is the only one that gets delegates out of those places. districts that are younger or more hispanic, maybe sanders is the only person that hits the threshold. the other thing about california, the vote count is going to take weeks. there is no conspiracy about it. that is just how they do it out there. they spent a lot of time to verify the ballots and whatnot. we cannot really make any judgments about california for weeks. it is also going to be where sanders gets probably the most delegates and his biggest delegate lead of any of the states. andd on our own assessment many analyst assessments, a lot of us were coming in today assuming sanders was going to finish the day with more delegates. i still think that is the case. we have to account for this late changing environment in which biden seems to be creeping up. if sanders comes out of today with a delegate lead only in the double digits as opposed

i think about my own congressional district. i live in a district that devoted for dwight eisenhower twice, that voted for richard nixon in 1960, 1968, and 1962 by ever-greater margins that voted for ronald reagan overwhelmingly twice and voted for george h.w. bush twice. and all that time, there was a democratic congressman. they're two different figures. and only one time did their party achieve their objective. i look at it now. i will promise you this, if i didn't vote the way my constituents vote presidentially, i would not be there the next time. and in the upcoming election as the guy who used to run politics -- and this has changed dramatically in my life in political life which began in the late '70s to now. about 95% of the people that voted for donald trump are going to vote republican for congress and about 95% of the people that voted against the republican nominee is probably going to vote democrat. so, this polarization inside the population really affects what happens inside the institution. and to think that pol

i know, you know, for the congressional committee, as i was the one who was sharing before the congressional committee, there were some designs that were initially picked out by the committee. we did not necessarily totally agree with those particular design elements, and we began to share our story about our history of the seminoles, and i shared that at one time in our history, the language that our people spoke actually wanted to be eradicated off the face of the earth, but that same language that was so fiercely fought against during this conflict people know as the seminole wars, it actually was the very same language that saved thousands of american lives during world war ii. and once i explained to them our elements and what our desires were as far as the seminole nation, then the united states men in that particular committee agreed the seminoles should have minted on their medal what they desire. it was a great time as a personal moment in my life as well. here in this wing of the museum, it's called the margaret jane norman art gallery. magaret jane was a curator of the museum for

he was able to receive that congressional gold medal. >> tonight we meet to immortalize men who were, in a way meeting for the first time. men like >> a member of the 195th field artillery battalion. one day, in 1944, he was walking through an orchard in southern france and heard one of his brethren singing under a tree. he recognized the dialect as creek. later on, it captain heard the two talking and immediately put them to work on opposite ends of a radio. that coincidence brought these two men onto the stage of history and alongside that elite band. he is with us today. i ask all of you to join me at welcoming him here and thanking him for his service. [applause] >> the commemoration, 20th of november. it was in 2013. this little traveling exhibit was designed when we had an exhibit -- a large exhibit from the smithsonian and we added a wasle panels to it that shared by the seminal code talkers in world war ii. palmer, whoe tony thislso a code talker, so is on the gold congressional coin of the seminoles. .his is inscribed in it it translates it to it is good to see. that was a me

throughout the whole congressional year is the night we do the congressional baseball game where democrats play republicans at the washington nationals' field and 5,000 to 10,000 people there and it brings everybody together in washington, d.c., which as many people know is a unique night. and many of the players at that game wear their local minor league baseball uniform to represent their local community in washington, d.c. at the baseball game. mahonningave worn the valley strappers unifrom. and they are outside of youngstown, ohio, right by our mall at eastwood field for 20 years. and young people and families can go watch professional baseball. they can afford it. they can hang out, the five or 10-minute dive. it's an important component of our community. all the ups and downs in our communities in northeast ohio, we have had baseball. and now major league baseball is saying we want to cut over 40 teams. and what we're saying here in the united states congress as congressman bill johnson, republican who also represents part of the area, myself and others are coming together to try to

he would remind us in the congressional black caucus that our caucus was founded on the principle of being the conscious of congress. when mr. cummings spoke, he spoke with moral authority and reminding us we are better than that on behalf of 2 congressional congress, i thank speaker pelosi dedicating this committee room for congressman elijah that would ensure that his legacy would always leave on. i have the honor to introducing the most powerful black man, an icon, the whip, mr. clyburn. [ applause ] >> thank you very, very much madame chair. when i spoke to speaker pelosi sometimes a go about this day, we were involved in a little bit of activities down in charleston, carolina. i sat down to try to write something, what to say? i thought i would spend a couple of minutes talking about elijah, what he meant to me or this party. this body of congress. some of you may know elijah's roots. south carolina. he was born and raise a few miles where i was born and raised. of course, we all came along around the time activities going on, kansas, when i came here i really spent the summer o

you go congressional district by congressional district.ok here, critical to bernie sanders. you want to get more than 15% statewide, you also want to compete and win each of these congressional districts to increase your basket of delegates. one of the reasons, senator sanders is not unique here, but especially in california using spanish ads to try to win over votes and turn them out. [ speaking spanish ] >> this is sort of the battle within the battle, if you will. you want viability, you want 15%, but then you want to be smart within each state to figure out, a, where can i win, and b, what's the difference with the most delegates. >> maybe 183 counting the 14 states. if you look at the democrats with how the voters have done in the first four contests, the group where sanders has done best, he won among college whites in the 14 states and he did well in nevada. this really does frame the question, though, does the momentum, the endorsements, the consolidation allow biden to change any of these patterns? would he be better among latinos

if this doesn't clear the bar for an immediate congressional investigation, nothing does."another instance in 2018, the in another instance in 2018, the same undercover operative who gathered information about the american federation of teachers infiltrated the congressional campaign of former cia officer abigail spanberger, who was running -- and would eventually win -- for congress representing virginia as a democrat. the campaign fired her after -- fired the operative after discovering the operative's identity. well, for more, we're joined by the intercept's matthew cole, the investigative journalist who first broke the story of erik prince's ties to the trump administration last year. prince's ties to the trump administration last year. his latest piece "the fbi is , investigating erik prince for trying to weaponize crop recently been published. it is great to have you with us. let'slet's talk, matthew come at this explosive front page "new york times" piece that really is coming off your investigation. >> what "the new york times" was able to do is figure out where eri

she's chair of the congressional black caucus. madam chairman, thank you, first of all, for being with us. >> thanks for having me on. >> what is the reaction to the bill by the congressional black caucus? certainly i know you were at the table fighting to make sure that what was the original proposed bill would seem to be corporate friendly turned as much as it has. what's the reaction to you now as the bill as it has now been signed after the fighting that speaker pelosi, you and others did. >> well, first of all, thanks for having me on. i think that the changes in the bill exactly as she described what was originally proposed, this is why it's great we have two senators from the congressional black caucus, senator harris and senator booker were over there fighting for all of our priorities. granted, there is much more to do, i am very happy that the congressional black caucus, many of our priorities were included in the bill, hundred dollfundin resources for prisons, child care. we definitely wanted to see mandatory testing, w

what are the storylines we should watch on the congressional front out of mississippi? guest: that's a good question. frankly have been focused so much on the coronavirus and all the other stuff going on in congress i haven't been paying too much attention to mississippi. last week during super tuesday there were some pretty good storylines with alabama, jeff sessions in a runoff in a couple of weeks, president trump going after jeff sessions in the middle of the coronavirus he added extra time to go to take a shot at jeff sessions. what were your biggest surprises on the congressional front and anything we should be looking out for this week or next? guest: i would strongly encourage anyone following the campaign right now to pay attention to black turnout. estate like mississippi is one where black turnout, democrats are hoping they can maintain that momentum through the next few contests. theississippi like alabama, black vote is really the centerpiece of democratic electorate there. sandersone like bernie versus joe biden, that is key. i would strongly encourage fol

so i pillage the congressional globe which was the forerunner of the congressional record.it's all online. and then to realize how little the debates had been exploited. >> do you do your research online? >> happily the congressional globe was online which is the immense resource and so you ponder thousands of pages it is pretty brutal eight-point type to read this that's why it hasn't been used all that much. i did research in ohio a small town near cleveland that is a great collection so the society flung their doors open for days and days i was in the basement reading thaddeus stevens but then got into more funky little libraries. >> it's interesting that you seem to imply and i'm sure i will read about in the book that it was the war that cleaned out the congress and allowed for some clever decision-making and would it have happened but then the southerners all left. and then they left for four years and a few sprinkling of a few members of the house the first and really the only time in american history congress has dominated to be dominated by radicals not coincidenta

one is partisanship and one is congressional power. i think they're in >> ags past, of course havecongress had more power than they do know even if it was more partisan. i think if you can't have both,c at least have the onpower. i think it's a mistake to say that congress has always been a relevant or just a tag along for the executives, that's just not true. there were very >> powerful committee chairs and speakers that basically decided federal mit number of ways, so i think that was true for most of our nation's history in fact. the golden age in power was centered in this building for centuries. >> as a hmid seventies pointing resurgence in congressional power. urwhen is the failure? are you coming to the carter years cars that will hurt me as a georgian if that's were to blame. if we can point to the seventies as a resurgence, and it used to be strong, when is the weakness begin in your view? >> i think it is gradual, i don't think it is anyone decision. i think if you keep on nyolegat delegating authorities as an executive you w

congressional response but we are also because of this perhaps because of the electoral season we are getting more focus on some of these issues than normal because of the fight between progressives and and centrists in the democratic party babs. thank you very much chad we're chancy in washington thank you. you're watching al-jazeera live from london well still ahead it was very hard when i 1st entered after the demolished because i can hear voices in this and in the walls calling for me from the father from my sister. israeli forces demolished the homes of 2 palestinians they accuse of attacking an israeli settlement and in the philippines the senate's a big gamble why some are worried an investigation into the chinese offshore gaming industry could impact a lucrative source of business. hello and welcome by the flooding rain which has been affecting parts of the strata is largely on the way still some heavy rain across parts of queens and heading towards a brisk been but also our weather conditions not looking too bad we've got a few showers along the coast of queensland extending

i mentioned in a previous lecture harry truman never got a congressional power of war tonight in korea. he was required to, but dnidn't get it. in 1954 eisenhower asked the congress to grant him the authority to launch an air strike to relieve the french garrison in vietnam. congress led by lyndon johnson turned eisenhower down. it was too soon after korea. memories of the war were too fresh. in 1955 when the islands were being bombarded by the communist chinese, eisenhower asked for what came to be known as the formosa resolution. it granted eisenhower to take whatever military action he felt was necessary. this was granted by a wide margin. again, in 1957 when there was evidence of a communist insurrection in lebanon eisenhower coined the doctrine that gave him the freedom to dispatch u.s. forces to protect u.s. interests in the middle east. congress passed it by an overwhelming margin. johnson made clear when asking for this resolution that i don't ask for anything beyond the discretion granted to dwight eisenhower. while the manner in which the resolution was obtained was in defens

johnson did not tell the congressional leaders by the operations, that was still secret. he described the north vietnamese attacks, as completely unprovoked. we did nothing to deserve this attack. long story short, the resolution sailed through congress, with minimal debate. it passed unanimously, 416 to nothing in the house of representatives. and 88 to two in the senate. only two senators can only weigh morris was my hero, in this episode, he had difficult questioning. he gave him quite a fight, for three days on august 5th, sixth and seventh. he railed against the resolution. you challenge the administration's account, of what it happened, he predicted that johnson will use the resolution as a functional declaration of war. if you read them tug day, they are uncanny in their accuracy. everything he said was going to happen happen. if they were delivered by someone else, really anyone else, they might have influence more members of congress, to reconsider their position. but when morris was not influential. and so it was about the least popular legislator in washington.

districts and these congressional districts are a lot different. once that are going to be heavily african-american it may be possible that biden is the only candidate who get delegates out of those places . districts that are more maybe younger or more hispanic or what have you, maybe sanders is the only person with this threshold and the only other thing about california is the vote count is going to take weeks and there's no conspiracy about it, it's not incompetence, it's just that's how they do it out there. they spend a lot of time to verify the ballots so we can't make any judgments about california for weeks, even though that's the biggest source of delegates and also it's going to be where sanders gets probably the most delegates in his biggest delegate lead of any state. one other point, based on our own assessment and many analysts assessments, a lot of us were coming in today assuming sanders was going to finish with more delegates . i think that's probably the case that we have to account with this late changing environment in which bi

we would like very much, and believe we should have, a congressional oversight board as well. and we're fighting for transparency, oversight, closure when the federal government gives corporations money. we're also wanting to make sure that workers are put first in these situations so when there are direct federal grants and direct federal loans to these companies, they either have incentive or mandate to keep their employees and their benefits and we're making very good progress in that direction as well. small business, we all ache for these small business owners, probably second to the people who have illness in their families, we ache for these folks. we know, my father was a small business man. he had an exterminating business, he would pace the floor at 2:00 a.m. because he hated going to work. i know what people go through. you put your blood, sweat, and tears into your small business and all of a sudden it looks like it's blown away. well, there's a very fine proposal, bipartisan, on small business that i believe will be in this package as well. so there are lots of go

can congressional leaders cut a deal?> our bill recognizes thei structural national crisis that requires a big, structural sponse. >> there are some people still ployed but there are many, many, many who have lost their jobs and one check isn't b goin e enough. robert: and the states, officialse gwith immense challenges. >> you can't buy aentilator right now. globally you can't buy them. robbery next. announcer: this is "washington week."g fund provided by -- [laughter] ♪ announcer: additional funding is provided by t estate of adams and koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corporation for publicoa asting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. robert: good evening. the economic and health crisis that has gripped theation and the world is now moving at warp speed on two fronts. by thelosing bell on wall street on friday, the markets wrapped up their worst

you do not see ads coming out from republicans but we do see from the democratic congressional committee running ads andplaying politics . it's a very serious issue. i don't believe anybody should be a part of area this tax everyone and it's not a partisan issue. with that i'll open it up for questions. yes sir. >> what is the concern in this building where leaders have to be on the same page about it against the building,limited congressional schedules . public galleries, a stepped over ticket in 1918, what are the key things that you see as one of the things in that meeting youwant to accomplish ? >> i know we will have the meeting, we will look at are we prepared for a situation such as this ? others are doing this religious organizations, how can we make sure we do not help spread the disease as well, it's contagious. if something comes to fruition are we prepared to contain it ? deal with it where you have a lot of public going through every single day. is there a screening process in other flatly to see that meeting and see if we have a complete schedule of what needs to be done. >

. >> host: erik wasson joining us on the phone, a blooper congressional reporter. erik wasson, we reach this deal in the middle of the night. what happens today in the senate? >> guest: look, they're still the process of putting together sledges of language but were expecting votes today in the senate. the housemate adopted by unanimous consent without coming back to vote. that's the goal of house speaker nancy pelosi. it's hard to achieve. we did see a tweet late last that from justin amash, the lone independent panic the deal. he would have the ability to come back and plot unanimous consent. they may move quick enough he won't be able to do that. it's extraordinary if thes house would approve a $2 trillion package, i get the largest in this bill ever contemplated in the united states without an open debate and vote but the maybe what needs to happen because more and more members are self quarantining, two have already tested positive for the virus. both sides, republican-democratic side are looking to try to get this over the life and get those checks americans

on top of the predicted losses the congressional budget office reports that treasuries business friendly regulation combined with the tax planners work around will cause the government it miss out on additional 110 billion dollars in tax revenue. here is what's clear. the tax law that was passed here in december of 2017 did very little to help middle class americans and they sure at the moment did not see the benefits they promised. wages are stagnant and state and local minimum wage increases that driven off limited wage growth that we witnessed. the president claimed in 2017 the tax law would cause the growth. and that never materialized. it grow instead to 2%, as suggested, roughly the same. and surely the tax has worn off and especially now with the coronavirus shaking world markets. with we sound leadership and assurance from the president and hope he will inspire confidence in the government's ability. it's time for the careerists and experts to be heard and now the decrease in people with comprehensive health care coverage that resulted in the 2017 tax law, it was damaging to the

i had pillaged the congressional globe which is the far runner of the congressional record for several books. everything is online. i got into reading debates and realize how little the debates have been exploited. a lot of the rich material in here comes out of debates. were you able to do most of your research online? it is an immense resource. and each session as hundreds is hundreds or thousands of pieces. is pretty brutal tried to read this. it's a has has them and use this much. the library of congress primarily. i did some research in ohio. he is from near cleveland. the ohio state historical society. his pace papers are all there. wonderful stuff. the lancaster i spent days and days in the recent and various other places. the more i got into small places with funky little libraries. more fun it was. >> searching for a ray of hope. it was interesting you seem to apply. you seem to imply that it was the war that cleaned out the congress and allowed for some sort of clever decision-making. and wouldn't have happened without that. it is extraordinary. it just did not know what was

i know you met with other congressional leaders yesterday, about congressional operations. this is a very different work environment. people come to visit the capitol. constituents coming and going. how do you see the potential here and how that could impact [indiscernible] ms. pelosi: we are a place where many people come. especially at this time of the year in the spring. so what we want to do is make sure that our visitors, our press, our staff, and our members take the precautions necessary, or in their own lives, for wherever they do live, but especially when they come to a place like this, where many people come together. so some of what we were briefed on yesterday was in a classified nature. some not. some of it is just about good hygiene and washing down your tabletop and washing your hands for 20 minutes and sneezing into a tissue and throwing it away. you know, that kind of thing. and that is part of the briefing that we received from the capitol physician's office. but from the capitol police, we were assured about -- and i think this will be a public document.

globe which is the forerunner of the congressional record and it's all mine everything is online. i got into reading debates and i realized how little the debates had been exploited. so a lot of rich material comes in here. >> you do most of your research online? >> no. the congressional globe is online which is a great resource and hundreds of thousands of pages and it's pretty brutal to read an eight-point type than to sit in the library reading this and then to do some research and as a great selection wonderful stuff. and thaddeus stevens through lancaster pennsylvania to the historical society just flung their doors open i spent days and days and various other places. >> it was interesting you seem to imply that it was the war that cleaned out the congress that allowed for her that decision-making would it have happened without that? >> but the southerners left on one hand. and andrew johnson he was the only one that remained that's a large part what he was picked so they were union us. so the first and only time in american history congress was dominated to be deeply influen

they had to redo a congressional race because of that. that is what i am concerned about. host: let's do get to the callers. surely in florida. you are on the air. caller: thank you. what i was going to say is that we need to make sure that everybody who likes to vote do vote. if we have to do it by mail, then that is fine, but we can't allow the virus to be the reason for not voting at this time. it is so important that we vote. voting is a way of speaking to the people. it is very important that we vote. host: are you worried that if this pandemic is still ongoing in november that we could see even lower voter turnout than we have in years past? guest: it is a concern but we need to be cautious in how we respond to it. i do think there should be a thoughtful, targeted response by the states and there should be a range of options they develop and contingency plans to allow them to respond. we do not know what the situation on the ground will be in november. it could be we are under the same sorts of lockdowns we are today and in all likelihood we will not be. i do not thi

to -- congressional operations. sure to watch washington journal thursday morning. earlier today, president trump invoked the defense production act in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

never again should a candidate, presidential, congressional, city councilman, never again should they be spied on using these tools that are supposed to go after terrorists, after foreigners. i urge my colleagues in the house -- ones who authored this bill, i urge them to get down here and defend what they have done. i urge them to come down here and explain why they don't want us to have -- they don't want you to have 72 hours to look at this bill. come down and defend that. then for all of my other colleagues here in the house, i urge you to vote no. for my friend in the senate, vote no as well. if this should make it to the president's desk, which i fear it's going to, i fear it's going to be on his desk and he has some unwise or insincere counselors right now, i urge the president if this should make it to his desk to remember what they did to him with this legislation. remember, and i urge him to veto this bill if it should get there this week. thank you. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to make their address -- address their rema

lee: i think oklahoma has five congressional, five seats. i don't know. i'm not sure about oklahoma. so oklahoma is probably 60 percent republican state. i think there is one democrat who one from oklahoma. just barely. but, the democrats, or liberals should have probably 40 percent of the states for 60 percent at the fair distribution. in one multidistrict. if you had multimember districts, you would probably have more than two parties because now parties can compete without having to win a majority see my calf a party does not obligate social democratic party like bernie sanders, but a more modern like joe biden and then at different republican party but i think you would have probably, but that moderate republican reform issue party. more traditional christian conservative free-market party and then one that is like the trump america first. lee: you see the country. matthew: it kind of representing the parties. you might have the other party. i think there are or it depends, he could see more parties. there is nothing sacred about just having two parti

after days of negotiations the white house and congressional leaders appear to have reached agreement on what is by far the biggest stimulus package in u.s. history. democrats voted the bill down twice, arguing that $500 billion allocated for bailing out big business lacked accountability. a white house official says the inspector general and congress will have financial oversight. democrats also pushed for more financial help for workers. sick leave, unemployment benefits, as well as direct cash payments. full details of the approximately $2 trillion package are yet to be released but it reportedly includes $250 billion for direct payments to families, $350 billion in small business loans, and $250 billion in unemployment benefits. >> well, madam president, i have an update for the information of all senators and for the information of the american people. and it's good news. it's good news for the doctors and nurses in emergency rooms around the country who are waiting for more masks and more funding. it's good news for families all across america. at last we have a deal. after days

time congress reassert our congressional of war and matters peace. we must return to diplomacy and peace and stop these endless wars. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this. job. time that we do our congress has been missing in action. thank you and i yield the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. mccaul: thank you, madam speaker. i'm pleased to yield three to the gentleman from virginia, who served in the united states air force for over veteran of d a operation operational ooid orce and enduring -- operation allied enduring freedom, mr. riggleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. riggleman: this bill will continue the fixation on the strike against qassem soleimani iraq. my background does give me an expert perspective on the challenges in the middle east nd the understanding of the current situation on the ground. not only did i deploy directly was the 1, i counter-i.e.d. team chief in and 2007. so our team saw firsthand what forces coul