role of congress. after that, cbs white house correspondent major garrett reports on covering the top administration in later today liberty university english professor karen pryor talks about the value in reading great literature. it's a full day of nonfiction authors and books here on book tv. visit batavia .org for a complete schedule. to them. >> ladies and gentlemen we will begin. everyone can get comfortable and get a seat. thank you so much. good evening to all and welcome to our discussion of peter wallison's very timely interesting and important new book, judicial fortitude. i am of the institute and here's a book in case you have not bought one yet. [applause] i have the pleasure of reminding you it is for sale tonight. as we think about the main question this book poses how in the world are we as a society and as a government going to control the ever increasing power of the meditative state or the unelected bureaucracy. if the bureaucracy assumes for itself what impact our legislative powers who or what can restrain them. as peter writes in many instances the measured

interpreted their authority in ways that exceeded the powers they were given by congress, but the courts have not intervened. should the courts be intervening to correct this overreach of bureaucratic will to power? yes, says peter, quoting chief justice john roberts. it is the obligation of the judiciary not only to confine itself to its proper role, but to insure that the other branches do as well. in other words, the judiciary is seen in that quotation and in this book as the keeper of the fundamental structure of checks and balances among the branches of the government. the expansion of the administrative state got its original energy as one of the unfortunate results of the first world war and the american participation in it. with woodrow wilson's faith in the rule of experts, as peter writes, the progressive faith and administrative agencies was anything but pragmatic. and elsewhere he refers to this as an extravagant faith in administrative agencies. but it was a faith that was disappointed and, says peter, it should come as no surprise that the administrative agencies wer

in the congress making his own mark. and then to have joyce beatty quoting president obama, it was very moving. the emotions demonstrated by my colleagues, adam schiff, when he talks about leadership and the challenges facing our nation was a joy to behold. d have the new members speak ut, veronica veronica escobar, one of the new embers, who spoke out. she's also a returning member. ann kirkpatrick of arizona. a woman of great courage who voted for the affordable care act. didn't come back. said it was worth it. and is here again. thank you, ann, for joining us. and there's no better honor than wrap it all ewis up. i'm very, very, so inspired by it all and so grateful to my colleagues for what they have done to place my name in nomination. in the considers of these last days and weeks, it's been my privilege to listen to new members, listen to our members who have been here a while, hear their views about how we go forward, convinced that everything we said in the campaign about a congress, a new congress, that is open and transparent, that is accountable to the people, that is un

for new members of congress. remind people of your organization and what it does guest:. we've been around for 41 years, nonpartisan, nonprofit. what we try to do is improve trust between citizens and congress, trying to give them a good leg up on how to set up their offices, manage themselves, how to hire staff, build websites. all things that these small businesses called congressional offices need. we also train citizens on how to be better citizen advocates, the other part. comes to new members, how is this education done? through a seminar or class? guest: trial by fire, like you'd imagine. they come here if they are house members and get two weeks of to understand the rules they have to live by, a little bit about their jobs, and how to set up a congressional office. not the decisions they have to make. what people don't realize is, setting up the congressional office has all the difficulty of a small business, with the red tape of a bureaucracy. you have to do all the things that a small business does, but also comply with a significant and unusual group of rules and laws tha

challenges facing the new members of congress. all that and plenty more coming up on live from paris. for the very first time in eight years, the democrats have regained control of the house of representatives. in the u.s. midterm elections, it deals a major setback for trump and his administration. the republicans have tightened their hold on the u.s. senate, the house democrats will have the ability to investigate trump's tax returns and explore including his links to russia. let's keep you up-to-date. voters on tuesday were casting members ofts for 435 the house of representatives plus 35 of the 100 seats available in the senate. 36 out of 50 state governors. how do things look in the house of representatives? 119 seats -- 219 seats. it comes to governors, 22 democrats and 25 republicans. many see the election as a referendum on trump, his two years in office, before he faces reelection in 2020. taking to twitter, trump held the midterms a tremendous success. democrats capture and control the house of representatives. nancy pelosi is expected to be reinstated as the speaker of the

numerous city requirement. -- numerosity requirement. perhaps congress should have done what you suggest, but by using the standards act language rather than title vii language, they want to do it title vii did in 1972. why did they use different language? the premiseart with and then turn to the question. the premise of your question is that congress used the definition. i urge the court to look at the definition, it is on the first page of the governance statutory appendix. it is entirely different from this definition. why did congress use a different approach for title vii when everyone understood that the purpose was to mimic what title vii did? i am a chip eating rationale -- ing the rationale to someone not doing their job well, but title vii use language different from the adea. title vii began with language not as expansive about the definition of person, so here we have an extremely expansive definition of adea, or any organized groups of >> expansive in only one way. that entire list of to the disputed any organized group of persons all apply to private entities. >> no

, as this court held in reynolds, congress left it to the attorney general to determine whether sorna would apply retroactively at all. so congress declined to make the initial decision as to whether any pre-act offender should be required to register. this is consistent can how congress approached this in the past. congress had previously enacted registration legislation that conditioned state funding on requiring certain things from sex offender registries and in each of those prior cases, congress had not made the law retroactive. so there's nothing strange about congress doing this. as the court held in reynolds, it then gave the attorney general full authority to decide whether the law should be applied retroactively so the initial on/off determination, but then as well, how it should apply, which offender should be included, if it should extend all the way back to 20, 30, 40 years. there was absolutely no guidance provided to the attorney general. >> suppose the statute said that the attorney general shall have the authority to determine the application of the subchapter to pree

online at c-span.org. the midterm election of 2018 changed the balance of power in congress with democrats taking control of the house and republicans holding the majority in the senate. members now prepare for the new congress in january. new congress, new leaders. watch the process unfold on c-span. justice department i.g. michael horowitz on the importance of the job. government on hosted thissted -- conference. [applause] things to talk about here. [laughter] on., nothing going so the first thing a wanted to talk to you about was -- the press has been talking about predictions of increased oversight on the hell. since the ig act -- on , funding has shrunk. as a result, we are expecting to see an uptick of request from congress to inspectors general. so my first question is, what advice do you have for members or staff on turning things over to an ig. what makes a good ig investigation? insp. general horowitz: that's a good question. we do get lots of requests and letters from members throughout congress and chairs of ranking committees. our standing point is ig's is that it i

congress to inspectors general. so, my first question is, what advice do you have for members and staff to turn something over to an ig? what makes a good ig investigation? >> that is a great question and we do get lots of requests. lots of letters from chairs, ranking members of our oversight committees and members throughout congress. i think from our standpoint as igs, it's somewhat good to be popular but sometimes we're a little too popular. in the sense that many of the letters seek to have us try to resolve what are, in essence, political fights or policy battles and try to have igs weigh in as to who is right and who is wrong. and that's clearly not a role. we are not management or policymakers and we are not there to settle, resolve, evaluate political fights. that doesn't mean that the reviews that we do don't touch on significant policy matters and significant political issues. and that's fine. we often talk about what are the most significant policy issues that are being considered within the executive branch on the hill and in the public discussion as we consider the work we

worst, the temmestous congress offers a corrective. she shows us the battles of the civil war began not at ft. sumter but at the u.s. capitol providing a new vision in the origins of what lincoln called our fiery trial. now please join me in welcoming joann freeman. [ applause ] >> you guys are amazing. i feel so welcome. thank you. well i'm really, really pleased to be here this evening to talk to you about my gist published book "a field of blood, violence in congress and the road to civil war" which tells the previously untold story of violence in the house and senate chambers in the decades leading up to the civil war. in the many years i've been working on this book, many years i've been working on this book, i've discovered that most americans know about one violent incident in congress and i find it reassuring that i don't know how much history most people know but when i said i'm working on a book on violence in congress most people could at least do this. yes, there was that guy. so they are thinking of senator charles sumner, the abolishist saernt who was caned while seate

making perhaps our congress should have used the formulation that was used in title vii. title vii is absolutely clear. the public and private employers. picks up on the language of the standards act, noch has no numeral city -- numeral city. using thet that by -- theys act language wanted to do what title vii has done in 1972, they wanted to do that in 1974, why didn't they use similar language? >> let me start with the premise and turned to the ultimate question. the premise of your honor's question is that congress used the definition fro. i urge the congress to use the definition in the flsa. it is in the statutory appendix. it is entirely different from this definition. why did congress use a different approach from title vii when everyone understood -- at least everyone who is talking about it wasrstood that the purpose to mimic what title vii did? attributing rationality to someone who is obviously not doing his job very well, but title vii began with different language pretty amendment from the -- pre-amendment. title vii began with language that was not as expansive about the

. >> leaders of the 116th congress who were elected today talked to capitol hill reporters about their legislative agenda. the new hives minority leader kevin mccarthy who heads the republican caucus and elijah leaders, senate minority chuck schumer introduces the new democratic leadership and later, senate majority leader mcconnell. electedpublicans have kevin mccarthy to be minority leader in the next congress. the current house speaker paul ryan's decision not to run for reelection opened up the top spot in the republican leadership. congressman mccarthy introduced the newly elected leaders at a capitol hill news conference. >> thank you for being here, i want to introduce you to the new republican leadership team. scheme -- steve scully cesarean whip, liz cheney as the conference chair, we have vice , garymr. mark walker palmer as our policy and mr. tom imre is heading up the nrc. he is outworking to win that majority back. i am humbled to have the privilege to serve. i will tell you our number one americato get continuing moving forward. we serve in a divided government and a divi

: congress looked at this issue. they worked with it for years and years and years. and i think basically, at the end of the day, congress' answer was enough is enough. if you're an alien, you come here, you commit one of these crimes, you've effectively forfeited whatever right you have to remain at large in the community. and so to be looking back at the bail factors is to defeat the purpose of the statute. and we have two, i think, very powerful examples here, just among the named plaintiffs. right? we have -- so mr. mony preap, he was out for seven years and then he was rearrested for a domestic abuse charge which he pleaded down to battery. we have mr. rodriguez moya -- justice ginsburg: and yet he got cancellation of removal, didn't he? mr. tripp: he did get cancellation of removal. but then we have mr. rodriguez moya, who was out for three years, he got a bond hearing, he was released, and he attempted to murder his ex-girlfriend and succeeded in murdering her new boyfriend. justice alito: now, mr. tripp, what is the definition of the class that was certified by the distr

in the congress, making his own mark. and then to have joyce beatty speaking her own right, but to quote president obama, it was very moving. the emotions demonstrated by my colleague, adam schiff, when he talked about leadership and the challenges facing our nation was a joy to behold. and the new members, to have the new members speak out with us now is congresswoman veronica escobar, one of the new members, who spoke in placing my name in nomination about our shared values. we are also joined by a member who is very special to me because she is a new member -- she is a member of this class, but she is also a returning member. ann kirkpatrick of arizona. a woman of great courage who voted for the affordable care act. didn't come back. said it was worth it. and is here again. thank you, ann, for joining us. and of course, nobody could ever have an honor quite like having this display of friends place my name in nomination and then to have john lewis wrap it all up in such a beautiful way, not about me but about our challenges, and about the need to unify for the future. so i am ve

all eyes are now on the u.s. congress to see what it will do and will join our guests in just a moment after this report from she ever tansey and washington. i here by the way you. are the white house thanksgiving tradition of the president pardoning a turkey took on a grim significance this year a short time earlier donald trump and made it clear he was giving the saudi crown prince a pass in the killing of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi in an eight paragraph statement filled with the rhetorical flourishes the exclamation marks and slogans characteristic of the president's tweets don't trump made his argument king solomon and crown prince mohammed bin simon vigorously denying any knowledge of the planning and execution of the murder of mr khashoggi our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information but it could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic events maybe he did and maybe he didn't our relationship is with the kingdom of saudi arabia donald trump went on they have been a great ally in our very important fight against iran the united s

already had a majority in congress before that election. they added another 21 seats that night. they went up to a super majority in the senate. when the pendulum had swung that far to the democrats in 2008, followed by two incredibly hard years thereafter, and one of the biggest policy lifts ever with health reform, in 2010, that first midterm for obama, the pendulum swung back very, very hard. the democrats didn't just lose the house that year that. they lost 63 seats in the house. they lost six senate seats. it was just brutal. but that shellacking didn't just emerge from the ether on election night itself on 2010. there were signs all through those first two obama years that it was coming. even though obama was sworn in in january 2009 with a 67% approval rating, by the following month, by february 2009, there were little protests starting against him. and starting specifically against the stimulus bill that he got passed to try to stop the desperate and historic freefall of the u.s. economy. he was inaugurated january 20th. by february 16th, there were anti-obama protests in seat

elections for the upcoming 116th congress set to begin in january. kevin mccarthy was elected minority leader and they held a briefing with reporters after the vote. mr. mccarthy: thank you for being here. i want to introduce you to the new republican leadership team. steve scalise as our whip. miss cheney as our conference chair. we have vice chair, mr. mark walker, jason smith as secretary. jerry palmer is policy and mr. tom emmer is heading up the nrc. i'm humbled to have the privilege to lead this conference. i will tell you, our number one goal is to get america continually moving forward. we serve in a divided government and divided country. our goal is to unite us back together again and make sure we win the majority back. we know the challenge of what we're working on and wanted to hit the ground running. we know democrats have a plan. they want to disrupt and want to try to impeach and they want to stall what achievements we have been able to move forward. we know america is too great for such a small vision. we will work through every state. we know where we have our challeng

congress passed away this week, among other accomplishments he was along with first lady laura bush the cofounder of the national book festival in 2001. in 2016 the wilson center held retrospective on his career, this is about an hour and a half [inaudible conversations] >> thank you so much for coming. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon. please take your seats. my understanding is we are live on c-span so behave yourselves. [laughter] >> welcome to valentine's day a bit early, i'm jane herman, president and ceo of the wilson and i can't and we can't imagine what the wilson center would look like today if nobody had been smart enough to put jim in charge. [applause] >> we have no institute, no wilson quarterly, two projects at the heart of what we do. who knows how many friends, how much wisdom we would have missed out on. jim played a special role in my own education, my russian education, we crossed paths while i was in moscow on a congressional delegation and he took us all on a tour of the kremlin, priceless. jim, your command of russia, history and culture shows up eve

union. as sidney george fisher, another legal writer, explained, the president and congress have the power to react to concrete situations, such as the rebellion, and they also have the discretion to choose the most effective means to do so. preserving the union constituted a positive requirement of government, even if the particular means had not been specified in constitutional detail. as timothy hubner explained in his recent study of constitutional issues in the civil war, the constitution would either need to be adequate to meet the needs, or would have to be abandoned. the latter choice was unthinkable. and so lincoln expanded the understanding of constitutional power in his strong reaction to secession. in so doing, he also resolved -- excuse me -- the antebellum debate over state sovereignty versus national supremacy, by asserting the idea of america as a unitary state. one that was empowered by and acted on the authority of the people, the famous assertion that the war was fought so "that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the e

congressional leaders, president trump, and the candidates react to the makeup of the next congress. we will follow the races yet to be decided. all this live on c-span. leaders of the democratic congressional campaign committee hosted in election night watch party in washington, d.c. including minority leader nancy pelosi. this is about 20 minutes. >> how are you doing? good evening, democrats! are you fired up? so am i. folks, it is a great night for democrats and a great night for democracy. let's give it up for nancy pelosi! not only is she responsible for the affordable care act, but for reminding us that when women succeed, america succeeds! thank you, leader pelosi! democrats are a family and i want to give another shout out to someone who has been working tirelessly in recent years, and that is the chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee. i will introduce him shortly. folks, democrats put hope on the ballot, and that's why the american people are electing democrats across the country tonight, including a majority now in the u.s. house of representatives! [applause] w

not or are working. is the lane we try igs.tay out of sigas >> that is how they can help the congress. are there ways that congress can help ids? s?ig >> having hearings on our reports, following up on our recommendations with the agencies that we oversee to see how they have done in terms of implement and our recommendations. it is the same that occurs in our view, it is important with the public's interest in what we do. we want to get the word out as to what we do. tois very important for us the others also b where of our work. -- be aware of our work. and see how they have done in terms of implement in our recommendations. that is part of our role and responsibility. we do it regularly. having others do that as well. whether it is the public or the press or congress, it is very important. some light on these issues matter. the follow-up matters. are not shy about going to the congress but some ig's are maybe less comfortable going up there. affirmativelyest from congress to reaching out to the ig's in their jurisdiction? it is part of our statutory in terms of going and speaking t

christmas music] quick this week on newsmakers, congress member peter defazio, ranking member of the house transportation committee. also with us in the studio, tanya schnider. go ahead with the first question. >> let's start by asking about the infrastructure plan. you plan to start off the session with trying to get the infrastructure plan through. not unlike the one donald trump couldn't get through congress. i wanted to ask you about the politics of why you think republicans would be willing to go along with a big spending infrastructure bill, why you think democrats would go along with something donald trump could campaign on in 2020? rep. defazio: the president will not be able to claim credit that they control the senate, white house, and house. they put forward an absurd plan based on asset recycling, based on privatization, polling, etc., which went nowhere with a republican congress. it would be laughable to talk about that in a democratic congress but when i was at the white house, the president didn't seem to be on board with his own advisors. he expressed an interest

members of congress including the head of the congressional black caucus karen bass. live coverage when they resume here on c-span2. while we wait we were showing a portion of the conference from earlier today starting with comments from congresswoman eleanor holmes norton. >> thank you very much for that very generous introduction. and i am very pleased to welcome reverend al and the national action network itself to the congress of the united states where you belong this morning. i want to thank you for your contributions to our country. you would be introduced as ranking member. something happened on november november 3. [applause] so they call you ranking when you're the lead democrat. you know, when you're the lead republican they call you chair, but we will change all that when the congress opens. we are still delighted, of course, to have you here today. because this is the first day that congress is back after the election. so you are right on time, national action network. you are on time for members of congress to hear your advice and your counsel and your advocacy. now, we ar

>> the midterm election of 2018 changed the balance of power in congress. with changed the balance of power in congress democrats taking control of the house and republicans holding a majority in the senate. they now prepare for the new congress in january. you congress, leaders -- watch the process unfold on c-span. >> >>> the supreme court recently ruled -0 that state agencies and political subdivisions must comply with the age discrimination in employment act regardless of the number of employees they have. the justices heard the oral argument october 1 in which two firefighters claim that their age was a factor. this is about an hour. >> we will here this argument next -- the mount lemmon fire district. mr. rosencrantz? >> may it please the court -- the ninth circuit had two words in the definition of employer. it ignored the second sentence relating to the first and it jumped to the second half of the second sentence without considering the first half. all of this relates to the foundational definition on which the definition of employer is bill. predictably, that wreaks havoc

minority leader in the next congress. paul ryan's decision not to run for reelection opened up the top spot in the republican leadership. a --rs often -- also congressman mccarthy introduced the newly elected leaders at a capitol hill news conference. >> thank you for being here. i want to introduce the new republican leadership team. number one goal is to keep america moving forward. we serve in a divided government and country. our goal is to unite us again. our second go into me make sure that we win the majority back. we know the challenge of a we are working on. we wanted to hit the ground running. we know the democrats have a plan. , try tot to disrupt whatch, to stall achievements we have been able to move forward. we know america is too great for such a small vision. we will work through every state. we know we have our challenges to win back in the suburban areas. we will do just that. america is and will always be the strongest nation on the face of the. i want to introduce our newest member of the leadership team, miss cheney. here andn honor to be to serve with this tea

elections, determining the control of congress, election day is tuesday. see the competition for yourself on c pan. watch the debates from key house and senate races, make c-span your source for 2018 campaign. republican conference chair from washington, met for a debate. olitico lists this race as leaning republican. limb from the community college. our moderator. >> good evening from the campus of wallow while a community college, and welcome to the final debate between washington's fifth congressional district representative, cathy mcmorris rodgers, and her challenger, lisa brown. i am moderating tonight's exciting debate. the walla walla valley chamber of commerce is hosting this debate to highlight important issues within our valley and throughout eastern washington, including women's issues, agriculture, and business. the chamber is presenting tonight's debate with our broadcast partner, northwest public broadcasting, a pbs and npr member station based at the edward r. murrow college of communications at washington state university. the format of this debate consists of four rounds.

to plead guilty to misleading congress in the russia investigation. so we know that michael cohen has previously testified to congress on a number of issues related to the russia probe. he has previously told congress that those efforts have ceased in january of 2016. he also told congress that the president barely knew about it. that was one of the issues we know michael cohen has previously talked to congress about. now we are learning the head of his sentencing coming up later in december, that he is going to be appearing before a federal judge and pleading guilty to misleading congress. this is significant for a number of reasons because the question is how will this impact the president. michael cohen is someone who has previously said he would take a bullet for the president. now it turns out he could be one of the most damaging witnesses to the president and his presidency. and so we could learn more about what the president has learned as it pertains to the russia investigation. we are waiting to find out what happens when we appear before this federal judge. he already pl

congress. she took questions on the leadership election as well as the legislative agenda for democrats when they control the majority next year. this is 20 minutes. nancy: good morning. >> good morning. nancy: it's snowing here. we have great sadness in my state of california. just an unprecedented number of people dead and many missing. it's just we've had these fires again and again. but these seem to be particularly deadly. so our thoughts and prayers and the forces need to be with california at this very sad time. much discussion about fires and causes and the rest. but right now our thoughts and prayers are with those who have suffered, lost their lives, lost their loved ones, lost their homes, impossible to be made whole. so again, it's a very sad time for us in that regard. on the other hand, here, we are celebrating a great victory for the democratic party, but more importantly for the american people. every place i go people say -- not even go, just coming in and every means of communication thank you for saving america. and i convey that gratitude to my colleagues, to the gra

in congress with democrats taking control of the house and republicans holding majority in the senate. members now prepare for the new senate in january. , new leaders. watch the process unfold on c-span. >> this week on newsmakers. we also have in studio with us tonya snyder. and kelly. tonya, go ahead with the first question. >> i wanted to start by asking about the infrastructure brand that you talked about. you plan to start off the session, trying to get in infrastructure plan, not unlike the one that donald trump could not get through progress. i want to ask you about the politics. why you think that republican said be willing to go along with a big infrastructure spending bill. >> -- rep. defazio: the president will not be able to claim credit that they control the senate, white house, and house. there's was based on privatization, polling, etc., which went nowhere with a republican congress. it would be laughable to talk about that in a democratic congress but when i was at the white house, the president didn't seem to be on board with his own advisors. he expressed an

places for discussions on the 2018 elections and what is ahead in the 116th congress. at noon here on c-span at the american enterprise institute. then the smithsonian associates, they will hold a discussion on the midterms at 6:45 eastern. over on c-span two, 9:30 eastern, the brookings institution. then american university journalists. political analysts will talk about the midterms and what is ahead in congress. forick peek for twitter washington journal. former senior editor at cq now. them joining us tomorrow morning to take a look at the elections and more. we start tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. thanks for being with us this evening. coverage throughout the night of the reaction of the 20 18th election. we will show you the president's news conference but we start with the news conference from the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell from earlier this morning. sen. mcconnell: good morning, everyone. networks of the cable on this morning and they said this is probably a rare opportunity to see mcconnell smiled. it is a good morning for senate republicans. --r the course

members. >> thank you so much for your time today. >> host: members of congress joining us throughout the morning to talk about climate change t one is a member of the climate solutions caucus. . om>> good morning. >> host: with the release of the report what do we take away what is the most impressiveor quick. >> it is so comprehensive all over the nation and all over the world from the flooding on the east coast, the hurricane harvey and those out west in california and the floods in iowa and the snowpack in the northwest. and then to be impacted by dramatic changes. >> so this is a real thing. >> host: so what is the answer quick. >> a new green deal in america overall and then to address climate change and then to create the jobs that our necessary to do this work. and number three the reliance on foreign oil or foreign energy. a lot have been driven historically to have the strategic and economic need it isn't energy independence depending on the right policy. . >> so with the idea of green jobs. >> i don't want to talk about yesterday but how can we accomplish all thr

elected a democratic congress since 1983 but no one motivates democrats like donald j trump and the party, hoping this you will be the year to flip this district which include sarasota, manatee and southern hillsboro county. we would like to welcome congressman vern buchanan who was first elected in 2007 and democratic challenger david shapiro, well-known and accomplished attorney. welcome, gentlemen. you both will get one minute for opening remarks. congressman, you get to go first. buchanan: given the opportunity to visit folks in the district. let me give a little background. i'm a blue collar kid who grew up in the detroit area, one of 6 kids, i was the oldest, to give some sense of a little background i remember my father and mother -- i remember asking my dad why the work afternoons? i make another time an hour. that is where i came from. i put myself through college and met my lovely bride in 1976, we got married and separated our 42nd anniversary. we have two big companies together, we started a couple stores. 750 stores across america, sold it, came to florida in 1990 and g

. congress is to be a second balance with the other branches of government, they, the public, are the ultimate check and balance and we want to operate in an open way. transparency so they can see what is at hand. and we are unifying. the one issue that emerged in the campaign, the integrity of government is part of the people's agenda. lower healthcare costs, integrity in government. for a while now, congressman john saar baines has been working on an initiative that has been signed by so many of our candidates as first order of business when we come here. it will be transformative to congress, amplifying the voice of every day americans so they know their voices matter. i'm very pleased to see the energy and entrepreneurial spirit we are bringing and to acknowledge phillips of minnesota. ron escobar of texas. mary kay scanlon of pennsylvania already sworn in as a member of the senate, she has seniority and, andy craig in minnesota. tom malinowski of new jersey. chris pappas of new hampshire. susan wilde of pennsylvania but susan is already sworn in as a member of congress. when

guilty to lying to congress. let that sink in for just a minute. we're 18 months into robert mueller's special investigation and he has the cooperation of a key player steeped in both trump's business and presidential campaign. michael cohen told the court he's guilty of making false statements to congress about the trump tower project in moscow. this is huge. and cohen is already being called back to testify in front of congress. >> what does it mean now about how much we can rely on what the president is saying about any continuing russian financial interests? this i think only underscores the importance of our brangiing mr. cohen back before the committee but looking into the issue of whether the russians possess financial leverage over the president of the united states. >> today cohen officially named the president in court. this is key, because it ties trump to the trump tower/moscow discussions, well past the time that the president claims those business negotiations ended. of course, the president had something to say about it. >> he's a weak person and what he's trying to do i

immigration. does he have the authority to bypass congress in doing these >>ound? amendment birthright citizenship that's got to get to the court maybe the executive order is the way to start that discussion. but when it comes to changing solemn law saying that somebody here illegally cannot apply for asylum, i don't know if you can do that by executive order but i support that policy. right now, people marching on our border if they cross illeg illegally then they ask for asylum. it shouldn't be magnet for illegal immigration, so i support the policy change. not so sure you can do it by executive order but we'll see. >> brennan: the aclu suggests that that is actually contravening congress. and -- >> might want to get another opinion than aclu but the point is, that i do believe asylum laws are being abused, they have become magnets for illegal immigration, people cross the board illegally then apply for asylum, that's not the way it's set up to work. i support the policy change. congress probably should do it but i'm open-minded to the executive order. just don't know the

2018 discussion on the midterm election, live on c-span. new congress, new leaders, you can watch the process unfold on c-span. the lame duck congress returns tuesday, the house will get back election funding the federal government and the vote on coast for guard programs and nomination for the federal reserve board. on can watch the house live c-span and the senate live on c-span2. >> as your primary source for campaign 2018, we brought you debates in the most competitive races, only on 160 races from across the country. the voters have decided on a new with new leaders, watch the process unfold on c-span. francine, let me begin with you. >> we are back joined by david of cq roll tributor call, senior editor and francine with , correspondent christian science monitor. let me begin with you, the democrats of the taking back control of the house? francine kiefer: it's hugely a check on the trump administration, that is probably most important aspect the house.ing over they will, i'm sure, use their investigative powers. to begin obably going starting with yesterday's news evelopment of

in 2018 after 2 years heading the library of congress. in 2007 he was a guest on c-span's "q & a." he talked about his tenure as head of the library. this is an hour. >> well, it is really an extraordinary experience. you learn something new every day on the elevators. you talk to somebody, and then your regular rounds and covering a universal collection with a broad outreach. it is just a very, very fascinating kind of encounter with the world of knowledge and with the american people and the wide diversity of people that you come in contact with when you are dealing with a library that is as universal in its collections and as multifaceted in its talents, and as connected as anything as original and important for a knowledge-based democracy as the great library system of the united states. it is and enormous honor and privilege, and it can always be a lot of fun. there are a number of problems. it has the qualities of both a government institution, and of an academic institution, but it a a megalibrary, a kind of an encyclopedia of the world and for congress with our con congression

betting on the next two months between now and january when congress will resume its sessions not to have any earthquake or shake in development now what we witness from this columnist in the turkish newspaper saying that mr trump should look at something that is no clear cut evidence that links the been summoned to the assassination of hush therefore i think this is the most pragmatist really coming from. and by the way the entire crisis has been managed by leaks the drip drip drip you know this is like and not abort so what do you make of that precisely who was camp is the ball and right now turkey says it wants an international independent investigation because it didn't get what it wanted from the americans where does it turn to now to have that investigation started i think that this spider to be huge disparity between what trump has proposed in terms of ignoring the facts and maximizing the financial reward for the united states because of the saudi money versus the how the turks have insisted on having a full story coming from all of the wind their own investigation by having

consideration? guest: it does, the different agencies and their operations. many democrats in this congress actually joined in a lawsuit because we had requested from gao the lease agreement pertaining to the trump e oforation's leas government land, that being the post office where the trump hotel is in washington, d.c. in the past, that information was given to us. after the inauguration, it was denied. those are the kinds of things we will be looking at due to the emoluments clause and the need for elected officials and those in appointed positions not to beginning financially -- not to gain fromfinancial government operations. host: when it comes to the administration itself, are you the body that would look at tax returns? are with waysurns and means. i know there was discussion of waters, but the actual tax matters and subpoena of the presidents tax returns will go to ways and means. the oversight and government reform committee, which is often times where the select committees are formed from the willrs of that committee, be doing questioning, interrogation of actual officials of the

today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. house republicans kevin mccarthy to be minority leader followingt congress paul ryan's decision not to run. members also elected steve scalise minority whip and liz cheney to conference chair. harassment mccarthy introduced the new leaders at a capitol hill news conference. >> thank you for being here. i want to introduce to you the new republican leadership team. our conference chair, liz cheney. >> thank you for being here, i want to introduce you to the new republican leadership team. scheme -- steve scully cesarean --'s the scalise minority whip liz cheney as the conference , chair, we have vice chair mr. mark walker, gary palmer as our policy and mr. tom imre is heading up the nrc. he is outworking to win that majority back. i am humbled to have the privilege to serve. i will tell you our number one goal is to get america continuing moving forward. we ser

cable television companies. and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. department inspector general michael horowitz, discusses the importance of the role of inspector general along with former senator carl levin and nsa inspector robert storch. this is posted by the project on government oversight. danielle: so we have something to talk about. [laughter] on., nothing going so the first thing a wanted to talk to you about was -- the press has been talking about predictions of increased oversight on the hell. since the ig act -- on the capitol hill. since the act passed, years ago, funding has shrunk. as a result, we are expecting to see an uptick of request from congress to inspectors general. so my first question is, what advice do you have for members or staff on turning things over to an ig. what makes a good ig investigation? insp. general horowitz: that's a good question. we do get lots of req

russia and china. and that congress is free to go in a different direction on saudi arabia but he would only consider ideas consistent with u.s. security so these are all statements coming from the news wires with regards to donald trump and his position. jamal khashoggi i'll just quickly repeat them for you he says that quote could very well be that the saudi crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event had knowledge is the key point there cancelling defense contracts with saudi arabia would only benefit russia and china but the congress is free to go in a different direction if it wishes we will wait for more on that those are only the lines coming off the news wires at the moment we wait to hear more and then hopefully speak to our team in washington about it as well. still got some other news to bring you this is interesting representatives from easter island are in london to seek the return of a statue brought to the u.k. almost one hundred fifty years ago the seven foot carving was taken from the island in eight hundred sixty eight by a british explorer it's one of nine h

writer explained, that the president and the congress had andpower to act -- situations. they also had the discretion to choose the most effective means to go so -- to do so. presuming -- even if the particular means had not been specified in constitutional detail. as timothy hubner explained in his recent study of constitutional issues in the civil war, the constitution would either need to be adequate to meet the needs or a would have to be abandoned. the latter choice was unthinkable. lincoln expanded the understanding of constitutional power in his strong reaction to secession. the antebellumd sovereigntystate versus national supremacy by asserting the idea of america as a unitary state, one that was empowered by and acted on the authority of the people. the famous assertion that the government of so, the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. while the federal government to grow in size and power, after the end of reconstruction in 1877, the old theory of limited government returned. shared by all parts of the country. 1917, the onlyd wars the country faced i

talks about her book the field of blood violence in congress and the road to civil war. she describes the process of researching the topic and says she found that while fights were not always included in the official congressional record, clerk notes and private letters showed more than 70 altercations in the an at tebellum period. this is about an hour. >> i'm please today introduce freeman. a professor of history and american studies at yale university as well as a leading authority on early national politics and political culture. she is the author of affairs of honor, national politics and the new republic. essential research for manuel miranda. while the political scene may seem polarized now, i think we can agree that we're glad to not live in the time when congressmenus today shoot each other as well as poor waiters at the willard that would not serve them breakfast. unfortunately this was the climate of precivil war america. this violence was not merely a result of ill pee ad congressmen, although there were many of those. this stemmed from disagreements over slavery. first ac

uptick of request from congress to inspectors general. my first question is what advice do you have for members and staff unaccountably whether to turn something over to an ig, what makes a good ig investigation? >> that's a great question and we do get lots of requests, lots of letters from chairs, ranking members of our oversight committees and members throughout congress. i think former standpoint as ig's, it's somewhat good to be popular but sometimes we are a little too popular. in the sense that many of the letters seek to have strike to resolve what are in essence political fights or policy battles, and to try and have ig's weight interested was right and who is wrong. and that is clearly not our role. were not management, not policymakers, not there to settle, resolve, evaluate political fights here that doesn't mean that the reviews that we do don't touch on significant policy matters and significant political issues. and that's fine. in fact, we often talk about what are the most significant policy issues that are being considered within the executive branch, on the hill,

one of the most transformative new body of members of congress in our country's history. the biggest victory for the democrats since 19 4 when the i don'te babies came in know if that congress will name itself but we're welcome close to 60 new democrats. 60 new democrats. around 40 in red to blue. we're just waiting for some results in california, georgia, maine, texas, places where we have still question marksing even new york state. we will have won 40 states, may be a net of lower because of two seats we did not win of our own seat bus we'll see what the number is. but i think -- i should have said from the start that winning 3 seats in a voter suppressed,ier my -- gerrymandered map was a wave. was a wave. but now getting up to 40, that's almost a tsunami. we'll see. 30 thrill of it all is that members in our democratic class are women. one on the republican side, happy for this one person but sad to say just one. we are on track to be transformative. they'll decide what their priority is. they will decide how they want to proceed what they want to see and the man for the which th

the house during the 1/16 congress. ongress. to 116th c took questions on the legislative agenda for when she controls the majority next year. this is 20 minutes. >> good morning. this --great sadness in in my state of california. my thoughts and prayers with california at this sad time. much discussion about fires and causes and the rest. thoughts and prayers are with those who have suffered, lost lovedlives and tehiheir ones. time for us.sad -- a very sad time for us. we are celebrating a great victory for the democratic party, and for the american people. you for saving amer aica. i convey that gratitude to my colleagues and to the gra ssroots people, and particularly to our candidates. they had the courage to run. ofy are here in what is one congresstransformative in our country's history, the biggest victory for the democrats since 1974. we have almost 60 new democrats. we are just waiting for we are just waiting for final results from places where there are questions. seats.will have won 40 it may be a net of lower because of two seats, but we will see what the number is. i