jim mcdermott. [applause] >> thank you very much.when i came to washington in 1988, tom foley was the speaker on he said there is a seat the natural resources committee that has to be filled by somebody from washington. you are it. i started my whole career looking over the national forests. the capital is the home of our democracy. everyone can come and see where it started. it is a great day when washington gets to pick its own tree. as far as i know, this is the tallest tree that has ever been here. is the tallest. i think before that it was 86. it is a memorial day if you wish. this tree was blessed before it them fornd we thank that. the forest service keeps these trees safe. they work hard at making it a resource that not only is beautiful and enjoyed by people in terms of walking in a forest, but also deals with the environment. the absorption of carbon dioxide by these trees is a part of our defense against global warming. that theonderful thing pacific northwest is blessed by this. some people say it rains in seattle, doesn'

joining me now is congressman jim mcdermott, democrat from washington. for coming on the show tonight. >> good to be here, al. >> they are holding hearings on aliens with just seven workdays left in this year. what do you make of that, congressman? >> well, it's amazing to watch them while away the hours doing nothing. not only did they have a hearing on that. today they had another hearing on health care, trying to destroy the affordable care act. they still want to destroy it. >> wow. >> they don't want anything for the people. they aren't doing anything about unemployment benefits. milk is going to go to $6 a gallon if they don't pass the farm bill. there's all kinds of things that need to be done. and what are they thinking about? what's out millions of miles in space. it makes no sense at all. >> but today speaker boehner went to the floor, and he called on democrats to come together and work with republicans. listen to this. >> now we're trying to come to an agreement on the budget and on the farm bill. amongstst other issues that are in conference

instead folks like washington representative jim mcdermott always twists jesus's teachings to make it about caring for your fellow man. >> we're the richest nation in the world and when jesus had the five loafs and two fishes, he didn't charge food stamps. he didn't ask anybody how much money they had. he fed them because they were hungry. >> stephen: yeah, maybe. but remember, remember, folks, after the multitudes were fed, the disciples pick approximated up 12 basket fulls of broken pieces that were left over. he made too much. what he should have done was multiplied some it uperware, okay, that's how i would have done t i also would have served olives, evidently. now guys-- (laughter) people love olives. people love olives. doctor says i'm not getting enough pimento. guys like mcdermott make jesus sound like he was some kind of soft touch. thankfully papa bear bill o reilly knows what god really wants. >> you know, congressman mcdermott convinced people by saying jess wus feed the poor, which he would. we all know that. the problem that i have as i stated is are you helping one gro

back to where we started bernie sanders has reintroduced single payer legislation jim mcdermott has introduced single payer legislation to help us to move single payer to state level were part of that effort congressman conyers has never given up on single payer six seventy six were part of that fight so by being part of p.t.a. you're part of the solution i think the major victory and what little time we have tonight on that i think will demonstrate to people were you are honestly making a difference is when you look at syria here we are tonight there are no bombs dropped on damascus right now diplomacy is working and i would argue that it's a result of grassroots organizations stopping this president from moving us into another illegal unjustified war when it came about in syria if you remember the night before the president gave his speech on the tuesday on that monday night over two hundred thirty five vigils were held across this country where grassroots activists said no and were we as progressive democrats of america worked on the inside with alan grayson and barbara lee a small minority

joining me now is congressman jim mcdermott, democrat of washington. and msnbc's krystal ball. thank you both for being here. >> thanks for having us, rev. >> good to be here. >> congressman, paul ryan is saying he agreed to a budget deal so republicans could focus on replacing obamacare. what do you make of that? >> every once in awhile paul ryan tells the truth. the fact is they've never given up on wanting to get rid of obamacare. because they realize that all their efforts to convince the american people that government never does anything good, there's no reason to want government, we don't need government certiis simply not believed by the people. they then say to themselves you know, the people who brought it to us are the democrats. it's not the republicans. they want to get rid of government. and they are afraid this is going to haunt them for the next ten elections. >> you know, krystal, the house isn't in session, but republicans are still attacking the health care law. speaker boehner, for example. his blog posted today, quote, obamacare can't be sold, can't be fixe

democratic congressman, jim mcdermott.legal battle between ryan o'neal and the university of texas at austin. it the university rested its case after arguing this portrait of charlie's angels star fair ral faucet estimated to be worth about $12 million belongs to them. o'neal who, of course, involved in the long-term relationship with faucet is counter suing saying the painting is his and he removed it from her home about a week aftersley died. she will bequeathed it the to her alma mater. o'neal was not included in her will. faith jenkins, prosecutor. it's talk about the difficulty of proving this case. two of the three people are deceased with andy end warhol and farrah fawcett. ryan o'neal clamoring about this. how do you see this playing out? >> there's a new witness that has come forward. she says she just heard about the lawsuit. so she's now coming forward saying that farrah fawcett told her that this portrait did indeed belong to ryan o'neal. and fawcett made that statement several months before she died. so the un

administration ramps up, too, december 23rd and the enrollment deadline for january 1st coverage, jim mcdermott, senior member of the house, ways and means committee. >> as we look back at the calendar, it was two weeks ago when they assembled this team, the senate and house strike teams and what was their task versus the daily barrage of messages that we'll see on tap from the white house. can you explain the difference? >> it looks to me like it's all one plan because you really have to keep pushing and letting people know and try and build momentum in the public the real problem here is public education, if you have never had health insurance before, you don't know how it works and you've never applied for it and never done anything, you need to be educated and there's a whole lot of people out there who have not had health insurance before or how to use it. >> there are a lot of people who don't have computers and a lot of people are watching television about this sort of thing, so you have a real public education problem that goes with any major social change like this. it was no different

and so it was -- the congressional black caucus and other democrats, we had jim mcdermott with us, some of our most senior members, john lewis and john conyers, charlie rangel, maxine waters, people who had actually been active in the antiapartheid movement, and so there was a lot of curiosity about that. the affordable care act, he sort of stuck to his guns about it, but i do think that we were able to really break through some of the talking points and really challenge them. >> really? do you think that he's -- look, nobody is expecting him to suddenly say i think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but you felt like he was listening to you? >> i am sure that i changed his mind at all. as a matter of fact, at the end of the trip he asked me was i ready to become a republican. >> so he was hoping for the opposite. >> right. i said the republican party would have to change a lot. >> would you like to state unequivocally here that you are not switching parties? >> i am definitely not going to switch to today's gop, but just let me say -- >> yeah, go ahead. >> chris, i do think

we're right back to where we started bernie sanders has reintroduced single payer legislation jim mcdermott has introduced single payer legislation to help us to move single payer at the state level were part of that effort congressman conyers has never given up on single payer six seventy six were part of that fight so by being part of p.v.a. you're part of the solution i think the major victory and what little time we have tonight on that i think will demonstrate to people where we're you are honestly making a difference is when you look at syria here we are tonight there are no bombs dropped on damascus right now diplomacy is working and i would argue that it's a result of grassroots organization. it's stopping this president from moving us into another illegal unjustified war when it came about in syria if you remember the night before the president gave his speech on the tuesday on that monday night over two hundred thirty five vigils were held across this country where grassroots activists said no and were we as progressive democrats of america worked on the inside with alan grayson a

we want to welcome back to our table congressman jim at mcdermott. weree begin with where we talking to our viewers about president obama. should he fire somebody about the rollout of the health-care website? i think people ought to and think about every major project that has sector, to the private as well as in the public sector. it is impossible to start something as big as this without problems. boeing or yout can look at microsoft. when they introduce a new operating system. windows 8, windows 6 -- there is always problems. this focusing on the first couple of months on everything work simplyt quite is losing sight of the forest through the trees. i think that the president could in the end make a decision about that -- if there was somebody who is egregious and their behavior that is one thing. if they were doing their best, i see any kind of glitch as a reason to be fired. you are going to have them. is -- it is impossible to do this perfectly. you were critical of the president's chief of staff and you andunication with others about informing

next "washington journal," jim mcdermott talks about the health care law and the latest on the budgetotiations. then house armed services committee member duncan hunter will discuss the recent deal with iran over its nuclear program. fnd on the recent launch of "politico" magazine. also your calls, e-mails, and tweets. "washington journal" each morning on c-span. > as you walk in, there are tables out in front with lots of pamphlets. prior to entering the gun show and the pamphlets are how the government is trying to take away your right to own guns and the ehrman is doing this and obamacare is doing -- terrible. those are the folks i wanted to talk to. they were the guys with the leaflets and the ideas. an academic. i am doing researchers -- research on these organizations and ideas and trying to understand the guys and i understand -- i study men who believe the stuff. at me suspiciously. here is what i am. i do not get it. here is my job. i want to understand how you guys feet -- see the world. i want to understand that -- your worldview. to convince meg and i will not convince you

. >> on the next "washington journal" representative jim mcdermott talks about the health care law. then house armed senate services representative duncan hunter talks about iranian nuclear program. and the recent launch a political magazine and the cover story of the relationship dream president obama's cabinet and his closest aides. also, your calls, e-mails, and tweets. >> next, the house judiciary committee examines president obama's use of executive powers. a panel of legal scholars testified of the white house decision to delay -- delayed the employer mandate in the health care law and about the enforcement of immigration rules. this hearing is over three hours. [gavel] >> the judiciary committee will come to order without objection. the chair candy could be says is that any time. the chair welcomes members -- call recesses at any time. the chair welcomes the members. and these instructions will be removed. numbers of the audience must behave in an orderly fashion or else they will be removed from the hearing room. willie 11 of the house rules provides the chairman of the deco